[0:00] We're going to begin our service with the singing of Psalm 46 in Gaelic.
[0:12] These verses sung to the tune Stroudwater taken from the Salam, volume 2 CD. God is our refuge and our strength in straits a present aid.
[0:25] Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. Though hills amidst the seas be cast, though waters roaring make an troubled bee, yet though the hills by swelling, seas do shake.
[0:40] Shedia his chairman going gubyach, ar spionag e sartrish. Shedia his name gubyach, ar spionag e sartring.
[1:05] Whom is an engine gubyach ru mijabiwa putting on the way wap ar spionag e sartrish. Shedia his syndrome gubyach, ar spionag e sartrish. Shedia his name gubyach.
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[3:36] Let us hear the word of God. I'm going to read from the scriptures of the New Testament. And we're reading from the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians and chapter 5. 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
[3:53] Say, Darker 1. house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hand eternal in the heavens for in this we groan earnestly deciding to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked for we that are in this tabernacle to groan being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest of the spirit therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him for he must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every man everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences for we commend not ourselves again unto you but give you occasion to glory on our behalf that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance and not in heart for whether we be beside ourselves it is to God or whether we be sober it is for your cause for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again wherefore henceforth know we know man after the flesh yea though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth know we him no more therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature all things are passed away behold all things are become new and all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself not imputing their trespasses and has committed to us the world of reconciliation now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him amen and may the Lord add his blessing to this reading of his word and to his name be the praise
[7:54] the praise let us come before God in prayer let us pray O Lord our God as we come together in this act of worship we pray that you would make yourself known to us as our God who is not only the the giver of prayer but the hearer and answer also you have given to us not just the desire for prayer but the capacity also you have made us spiritual creatures we differ to the rest of creation because the image in which we are the image in which we are created makes us spiritual as our God is spiritual you are spirit your word tells us
[8:58] God is spirit you are infinite eternal unchangeable in your being and we give thanks that such a God has an interest in creatures such as we are we come confessing our sin because we cannot but confess our sin when we come into the presence of a holy God and we acknowledge our lack of holiness because we sin daily in thought in word and in deed and we are mindful of the fact that not only are we creatures in the presence of a creator unholy beings in the presence of the holy God that we are creatures of the dust and that this world in which we live is a world that is reminding us daily of the fact of our creaturehood and the brevity of our human existence we pray that you would remember us each one remember our homes and our families that you would pour a good blessing upon us and that you would draw near to us in order that we might draw near to you and that we might discover the reality of the privilege that we have as we access the throne of grace we give thanks for the Christ of whom we spoke in the reading of your word a Christ that died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him who died for them and rose again we give thanks that you have given us the ability by grace so to live our lives to your glory we confess our shortcomings in that regard we pray for further grace to enable us to be wholehearted in our commitment to yourself our God that we would walk before you and do so with a sense of being in your presence always you are a God that is not far from us ever near even though we might put you so far distant in our thinking we pray forgiveness for all the ways in which we are guilty of that sin remember all that we commit to you today remember those who are unwell we pray for their healing for their recovery for your blessing to be their portion here in this world we pray for grace to enable us to look unto Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith to examine our lives in the light of who he is and what he expects from his people those who have life in him and that life is life everlasting and may we examine the life that we have in the light of that expectation we pray that you would remember all our homes and families pour out your spirit upon us that we may turn to you with genuine repentance for our sinfulness and desire for new obedience may your spirit be poured out upon us through the gospel of your grace may you accompany with might and power all that is wrought in our midst by your own hand even through the agency of others we pray for the preaching of the word we pray for the preachers of the word we pray for those who are hearers of the preached word that the blessing of the most high would be upon all that is done
[12:59] in your name to the ends of the earth remember the sin sick world in which we live and the ravages of sin that are seen daily in our midst not just the moral condition in which we have descended but also the other issues of life even death itself we pray for your blessing upon those who seek to alleviate suffering in the world especially at this time of global pandemic may nurses and doctors be encouraged may all the carers that assist them be strengthened in their duties and enabled by grace to do all in their power to assist others may those who are seeking remedies for this virus may they be encouraged and may the remedies that they provide be long-lasting and may the nations of the earth that are in particular sufferings including our own may they know to look to God and to lift their eyes beyond the the situation and to the God who is sovereign in all these things remember governments remember the Westminster Parliament remember Holyrood remember local government and all who seek to serve you in whatever capacity we pray for the Queen and the household we pray for the governments of the earth and remember places where discord reigns and where strife is ever present and fear reigns
[14:42] Lord help us to wait upon you that we may know that you are the God of peace and the God who has promised that peace would reign so hear us and continue with us blessing your people those who are in need of being remembered and those who remember you in this way so bless us together around your word forgive our sins in Jesus name we would ask it forgiveness of sin in him amen amen I'd like us to turn now to the first chapter of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians Paul's epistle to the Ephesians in chapter 1 and we're going to read verse 7 we can read verse 7 and 8 in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence as some of you may know we've been looking or we began to look at this passage the first chapter in Paul's epistle to the Ephesians and we considered the introduction and the first few verses and the most obvious characteristic of what we have read up until now is the focus that Paul wants the reader to have upon Christ that is similar to his own he is Christ's apostle he is writing to Christians in Ephesus who he describes as the faithful in Christ Jesus he is writing as an apostle speaking on behalf of Jesus Christ he is after all his under-shepherd together he the writer and they the reader are elect in Christ Jesus they are to live their lives as before him in a world that belongs to him they have received from him the spirit of adoption all of these elements appear at the introductory verses or in the introductory verses of the epistle
[17:23] Martin Lloyd-Jones in his comments quite minute comments on these passages he says every blessing that man ever enjoys from God is always in and through him in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and as Paul continues Jesus Christ remains his focus there are a number of things I want us to consider from this verse in particular first of all he speaks of redemption in Christ in him that he reminds us that redemption always comes with a cost there is a question that needs to be answered what does he redeem or who does he redeem in what sense is that redemption spoken of in that fashion and in the specific source from which this redemption comes to be applied according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded to us word in all wisdom and prudence the word redemption is a word that you find more often in scripture than you do find it in in modern day life of thinking of ways in which we might use the word in the sense or the closest sense that is used in this passage the word of the word but it doesn't have a common usage perhaps if we think of the likes of a pawnbroker where a person may have an item of value that he wishes to commit to that person in exchange for its monetary value or the monetary value that's placed upon it because he wishes or she wishes to to have the money rather than the item but on some occasions the item is want they want the item to be recovered for example a watch or a bit of jewellery or some valuable item so for the time the person who's the pawnbroker has that in its his possession it belongs to him but the person who gave it to him has the right to buy it back and that's the word that's used you can redeem that object and pay back whatever it was that its value was with obvious discount for the service that's given but the word redemption alerts us to something that is bought or something that is purchased many evangelists focus on the word salvation and they encourage you to go out and act as evangelists in the world and be witnesses to the truth of God as you live your life in the world and they challenge you to be direct and speak to people and ask them the question have you been saved or are you saved and the question could easily be are you redeemed or have you been redeemed but very often the focus is on
[21:23] salvation but with the word redemption it's not just the idea of salvation that's prevalent but also a reminder of the cost implications for that salvation James Montgomery Boyce quotes the words of B.B. Warfield as he addresses the theological students at the beginning of Terim at Princeton Theological Seminary and this is what he said there is no one of the title of Christ which is more precious to the Christian heart than Redeemer this is this he said is because Redeemer is the name specifically of the Christ of the cross whenever we pronounce it the cross is placarded before our eyes and our hearts are filled with loving remembrance not only that Christ has given salvation to us but that he paid a mighty price for it
[22:36] Paul himself refers to this as he writes his epistle to the Corinthians he says you are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's again he says you are bought with a price be not ye therefore the servants of men then we have the words of the Apostle Peter for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot the Bible brings the cost or the price of redemption to our attention repeatedly sin has a cost and it is no small cost
[23:38] Jesus in a parable the parable of the man who built bigger barns to replace the barns that he had and the question that he asked what is it what will it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his soul lose his own soul the price the price type of the soul is not stated but it is highlighted it is something that is precious and nothing other than the precious blood of Christ could possibly redeem it the Greek word is usually explained in terms of payment of a ransom in Calvin's explanation of what needs to happen because of sin he says that God could not but bear enmity towards the sinner because of sin it is corruption that is totally adored with
[24:49] God's holy nature we may choose to ignore our sins turn a blind eye to them and it may well be that to our shame that we have more severe with the sins of others but God has no sin and he is intolerant of ours he condemns sin and the sinner and yet Christ acts as our redeemer our redemption is in him and if we are not redeemed in him we are not redeemed at all we are still in our sin we are still the focus of God's displeasure nothing we do can change that but as the word teaches as the bible brings to our attention again and again it is through his blood that we have redemption the blood is not speaking about the blood that flowed through the veins of Jesus Christ although that was the blood that was literally shed there's no question that when he was crucified and the nails pierced his hands and the thorns pierced his brow and the spear pierced his side that it was his blood that was shed but he is talking in particular and the scripture when it speaks of the blood of Christ is talking about the import of the sacrifice that Christ offered that it was an atoning sacrifice given by
[26:26] Jesus on the cross John the Baptist anticipated this and did as did the many saints of the Old Testament behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world Principal Emeritus Donald MacLeod writes the cross ransoms the sinner and sets him free it is a great emancipation we are redeemed from the curse of the law we are redeemed from the power and the guilt of sin we are redeemed from the fear of death therein is the cost the redemption of the sinner comes at a price it is through his blood the sins of the sinner deserve death God has made it so we could not avoid the outcome of our sin and God's displeasure if we remain debtor
[27:27] Christ took the place of the sinner the apostle John in Revelation he states that Christ loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood he describes the psalm of praise on the lips of the glorified saints worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing worthy is the lamb he alone is worthy because he has paid the price he is the surety for a broken law the blood and the forgiveness are linked together it is the forgiveness of sins a total forgiveness not meant to be stirred up if there is a change of circumstance sometimes when we are wronged and the person that has wronged us comes asking for forgiveness we say yes we'll forgive you perhaps there's a measure of reservation dear forgiveness but only just but we say yes we forgive you and then somewhere down the line maybe months later maybe even years later that person commits another wrong against us and then we remember the first round we remember what we said was forgiven and it is brought up again as if from the depth it shows that our forgiveness was shallow and it didn't mean what we said it meant if
[29:24] God behaved like that towards us how would we fear if he said one day that we are forgiven for our sins and yet our sins were held against us constantly what kind of God would that be what kind of forgiveness would that be what kind of redemption would that be Martin Lloyd Jones says of the forgiveness of God we have forgiven absolutely once and for all the forgiveness is final we are completely reconciled to God by the death of his son God has dealt with our sins in such a thorough manner in Christ and by his blood that he has put them away once and forever and will never see them again we read in Paul's second epistle to the
[30:24] Corinthians chapter 5 words that speak of that very thing he hath made him for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him God has in Christ reconciled the world to himself by not imputing their trespasses unto him he has committed unto us the word of reconciliation policies he tells us the reality of the power of the sacrifice for sin offered by Christ why would God do this well because he willed it and it is a will out of which the riches of his grace is made known if you are asked the question are you a sinner yes you say am a sinner what does your sin deserve from
[31:30] God well if we are familiar with the shorter catechism we know that every sin deserves the wrath and curse of God God has given us what we do not deserve some Greek scholars say that the word for forgiveness has at its heart the idea to send away that compares to what happens in the Old Testament sacrifice of the scapegoat where we see two goats and both form part of the one sacrifice one is slain one has its blood sprinkled but the other is led out into the wilderness by the hand of a strong or a fit man released into the wilderness a sacrifice that reminds us of what God is doing with our sin the psalmist in Psalm 103 tells us that as far as east is from the west so far has he removed our sins or our transgressions from us what better way to describe the riches of his grace there are many words that we are familiar with that are familiar to us and we use them often but that does not mean that we appreciate what they mean grace is one of these words it's a very rich word very deep word and we use it often and yet there's so much contained in it especially when it comes to the redemption of sinners by way of the cross of
[33:19] Christ you remember the hymn Amazing Grace composed by someone who understood something of the grace of God somebody who considered himself a vile sinner and his deeds were a constant reminder to him of how far from God he lived his life and yet God came into his experience and he experienced salvation at God's hands and his confession was you have paid for me ten thousand times more than I am worth and ten thousand times was probably in his estimate a very limited understanding of his true value of the salvation of his soul is that what you understand by grace today is that what you appreciate by the word grace
[34:33] Paul writes here that the that the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence as we said before this statement of Paul's goes on from verse 3 to 14 it's an outpouring of words that perhaps are so many because the truth that he is endeavouring to present is so profound well may God help us to think about these things to think especially of the Christ of which he speaks whose death on the cross is the means by which we are redeemed from the cost of our sins may God bless to us these thoughts let us pray most gracious
[35:36] God hear our petitions bless us each one according to the needs that we have may we look upon Christ and may we see in him all that our heart craves pardon us and our sins in him amen