[0:00] Welcome to our service this morning. Special welcome to any who may be visiting with us today.
[0:14] As we come before God in worship and we seek his word to be blessed to us, we can look to him to do that. We're going to begin by singing from Psalm 89.
[0:27] Psalm 89, we can read from the beginning of the psalm. Psalm 89, from the beginning, God's mercies I will ever sing.
[0:40] And with my mouth I shall thy faithfulness make to be known to generations all. For mercy shall be built, said I, forever to endure. Thy faithfulness even in the heavens thou wilt establish sure.
[0:54] I with my chosen one have made a covenant graciously. And to my servant, to my love, to David sworn have I. That I thy seed establish shall, forever to remain.
[1:09] And will to generations all thy throne build and maintain. The praises of thy wonders, Lord, the heavens shall express. And in the congregation of saints thy faithfulness.
[1:23] For who in heaven with the Lord may once himself compare, who is like God among the sons of those that mighty are, create fear in meeting of the saints as due unto the Lord, and he of all about him should with reverence be adored.
[1:40] O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, who art Lord in mightiness is like to thee, who camp us round heart with thy faithfulness.
[1:52] We're going to sing from verse 3 down to verse 8. I with my chosen one have made a covenant graciously. I with my chosen one have made a covenant graciously.
[2:19] And to my servant, to my love, to David sworn have I.
[2:35] That I thy sickish ambition forever to remain.
[2:51] And will to generations of thy throne build and maintain.
[3:06] The praises of thy wondrous war the heavens shall express.
[3:23] And in the complications of sins I've been forgets.
[3:39] For who in heaven with the Lord may watch himself compare.
[3:55] Through this iron fall of the biblical Eleven.
[4:20] the stage is true unto the Lord and the all of permission with reverence be adored O thou dark thou Lord almost for nor in thy end since I do thee her compassion dark with thy faithfulness let's try together in prayer just pray
[5:24] O Lord of God as we gather in your presence this morning we give thanks that we are able to do so that we have the physical health and strength that enables us to meet in this place that we have the disposition of mind and heart that enables us to come with a measure of pleasure in being able to gather with those who are engaged in the worship of God while we may question the way in which we think of the privilege of coming to God's house and reflect on the word of the most high God your word to us that tells us of a generation of people who joined into the house of
[6:32] God go up they said to me and the Jerusalem of old was the focal point of their worship and the excitement and the enjoyment and the pleasure they derived from coming to such a place because this was the place of your disclosure self-disclosure revelation manifestation the place where you were pleased to to speak to them and sometimes they discovered all too well what God was saying because your word was so personal to themselves it was at times discreet and at times no one but themselves knew how relevant that word was and their situation and their circumstances were hidden from all else but the God who was addressing their need and there were other occasions when you dealt with them not as an individual but corporately you spoke into the congregation of your people speaking to them sometimes as a forward race sometimes as those who were degenerate and disobedient and disobedient and living a life that belied their profession at other times you spoke lovingly and tenderly and revealed yourself to them as their God and the one who was able to address them in a way that lifted up their hearts not as those who were stubborn or persistent to the truth but those whose hearts were made glad by the promises that you set before us to encourage us in the way a way that is often fraught with difficulty and these difficulties are multiplied in the experience of your people those who have come to know Christ as their saviour their experiences the experience of those who heard God speak to them through the gospel saying to them take up your cross and follow me and they have found that indeed that cross was a cross that was heavy to bear and a cross that carried with it many of the challenges that living the life of a saint in a sinful world is hard and difficult and their own inclination to sin is something that marks them out as those who often feel the sorrow apart as as those who pour out their hearts to
[9:30] God with penitent hearts we pray that your blessing upon us today regardless of need any who may be strangers to you we pray that that estrangement would be taken away that they would be drawn into the folds of your love as it is in Christ Jesus that they would see in him what their longing heart craves for this world has never satisfied any who belong to it they are always looking hither and thither for something that will satisfy the longings and the cravings of soul that none but God in Christ can satisfy may they find themselves today having these longings met in him we apply to you for mercy in order that that may be the case bless the children as they prepare to go out to
[10:30] Sunday school bless them as they are taught by the teachers in Sunday school encourage them to see the truth as the truth of God and to take that truth into their hearts and that it may be a ballast to them in a world that knows much of the tossings and turnings of the storms of life may they be prepared by the world to face whatever these trials may be even in their youth may they have the wisdom that comes from on high that only God in mercy can supply we pray for all our community our congregation here and also lie beyond its boundaries who those who are present and to the sound of the gospel we pray for them as we pray for ourselves we remember amongst us those who are grieving and sorrowful today the voice of death is seldom silent and once again even today we have been reminded of that and we pray for our friends who have lost a family member and we pray that you would bless them and keep them and turn their eye to yourself as they and we must in the times of sorrows and sadnesses and griefs that assail us from time to time we pray for your blessing upon all who are in such straits and we remember again the royal household as the mourning process is coming to an end officially when the funeral service will take place tomorrow of our late queen we pray that all that has been done in the name of the lord would be blessed and the world that has been on the lips of some would be sanctified so that it makes sense and makes a meaningful part of this process that we must undergo we remember our new king and queen concert and we pray for the family as a whole we pray for the blessing of god to be upon all who gather on the morrow and all the ways in which the service will be communicated throughout the world we give thanks that amongst all that is done amongst all the pomp and the ceremony that the word of god will be at the heart of it and we pray that that word your word that you would be pleased to bless it and that your promise would be fulfilled that it will not fall to the ground without prospering in whatever way you have purposed for it so remember us each one fellow mourners we ask that you would remember guide us keep us remembering the needy of this world those who are hungry and thirsting and those who are cold and those who are hopeless those who are bereft of many creature comforts that so many others take for granted we pray for the nations of the earth that are torn asunder by war and the aftermath of it we think of those who are suffering from the devastation of natural disaster we pray
[14:24] Lord that you would keep us from that and that you would enable us to be mindful of those who are suffering that we may suffer with them even as we pray for them we ask now that you would continue to we might go gathering with a sense of your presence that as we read your word and as we think about what your word is saying to us that we may apply it to our own hearts and minds and that it may yield fruit to the glory of the God who is God over all guide us in this truth and pardon us in Jesus name Amen We are going to hear the word of God as we have it in the gospel of Jesus Christ according to Matthew Matthew chapter 16 Matthew chapter 16 The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came and tempting desired him that he would show them a sign from heaven he answered and said unto them when it is evening he said it will be fair weather for the sky is red and in the morning it would be foul weather today for the sky is red and cloudy oh ye hypocrites you can discern the face of the sky but can you not discern the signs of the times a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet
[16:08] Jonas and he left them and departed and when his disciples were come to the other side they had forgotten to take bread then Jesus said unto them take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees and they reasoned among themselves saying it is because we have taken no bread which when Jesus perceived he said unto them oh ye of little faith why reason ye among yourselves because you have brought no bread do ye not yet understand neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets he took up neither the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets he took up how is it that you do not understand that I speak it not to you concerning bread that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the
[17:08] Sadducees then understand they how that he not beware of the leaven of bread but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples saying whom do men say that I the son of man am and they said some say that thou art John the Baptist some Elias and some others Jeremiah or one of the prophets he said unto them but whom say ye that I am and Simon Peter answered and said thou art the Christ the son of the living God and and Jesus answered and said unto them blessed art thou Simon bar Jonah for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but my father which is in heaven and I say also unto thee that thou art Peter and upon this rock
[18:08] I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ from that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised again the third day then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying be it far from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee but he turned and said unto Peter get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me for thou savourest not the things that be of
[19:12] God but those that be of men then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me or whosoever will save his life shall lose it and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it for what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with his angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works verily I say unto you there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom amen and may the lord that his blessing will be of his word to his name be the praise my boys and girls
[20:27] I'm sure that you've been told by mums and dads and others who know you that if you're a good boy or a good girl that you'll go to heaven does anyone ever say that to you if you're good then you'll get to heaven and sometimes we do say that and I wonder what you think if you're bad does that mean that you think then you're not going to heaven and if it was as simple as that then I think most of us would have real problems because I don't think there's any person in here especially the minister who's good enough to get to heaven believe it or what and I don't think I ever was good enough to get to heaven now you might think that's strange how can the minister say that that he's not good enough to get to heaven well what
[21:40] I mean by that is that the word of God the Bible tells us that the things that we should do the things that God wants us to do and those who are good will want to do these things but sometimes the people who are good will do bad things or they might not do exactly the very things that God wants us to do there's one example that you're going to be looking at today I think and that's the person of Jacob in the Old Testament the story of Jacob is the story of somebody who was to be honest not very good many of the things he did were bad things there's no getting around it I've heard some people try and defend
[22:43] Jacob in some of the things he did but sometimes what he did was very wrong and yet he had a good grandfather and a good father who taught him what he should do and how he should live and not only that he was told by God himself that he was going to be somebody that God would be good to that he would be blessed by him but unfortunately Jacob was not very good at listening to what God was saying and sometimes even though he knew God promised that he was going to do good things to him and for him he couldn't wait and when he couldn't wait he would sometimes do the wrong thing in order to get what God had promised to give him anyway that tells us something not so much about
[23:48] Jacob it tells us something about God it tells us about the goodness of God to bad people that God is a God of grace a God of mercy a God who is often so kind to us even when we are not the way we should be before him and that's the wonder of the gospel but even we speak of it as the good news but it's the good news to bad people to all kinds of people and if it was just to the people who were very good or nearly good then most of us here would probably not be very happy because the gospel we would think is not for us but it is it's the story of
[24:51] God's goodness God's patience God's kindness so that again and again he will tell us and teach us and work in our lives so that we learn the kind of God that he is and the kind of people that we are who need him to be better than we are by trusting in him and I hope that that wasn't too mystified too we're going to sing some verses from Psalm 61 Psalm 61 we're singing from the beginning of the psalm O God give ear unto my cry unto my prayer attend from the utmost corner of the land my cry to thee I'll send for time my heart is overwhelmed and in perplexity do thou me lead unto the rock that higher is than I for thou hast for my refuge been sheltered by thy power and for defence against my foes thou hast been a strong tower within thy tabernet
[26:03] I forever will abide and under covered of thy wings with confidence me hide for thou the vows that I did make O Lord my God didst hear thou hast given me the heritage of those who name that fear a life prolonged for many days thou to the king shalt give like many generations be the years which he shall live these verses psalm 61 God give ear unto my cry and to my prayer again O God give ear unto my cry unto my prayer again from the heart of the land my guide to the ascend walk
[27:16] I in my heart with overwhelm and in perfexity to thou who may lead unto the cross of Zion is tonight for thou who has been for my refuge been a shelter by thy power and more defense against my hope thou hast been a strong die people within thy goat buried life forever with about us and under co were given thy wings
[28:48] With confidence behind For thou the vows that guide me O Lord, my daughter's dear Thou must give me the heritage Of those I need not fear A life brought on for many days Thine truth the king shall kill Like many generations
[29:55] Thine years which he shall live We can turn for a short while this morning To the passage that we read The Gospel of Matthew chapter 16 We can read at verse 6 Then Jesus said unto them Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees And of the Sadducees And they reasoned among themselves Saying it is because we have taken no bread Which when Jesus perceived He said unto them O ye of little faith Why reason ye among yourselves Because ye have brought no bread Do ye not yet understand
[30:59] Neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand And how many baskets ye took up Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand And how many baskets ye took up How is it that ye do not understand That I speak it not to you concerning bread That ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees And of the Sadducees Then understood they how That ye bad them not beware of the leaven of the bread But of the doctrine of the Pharisees And of the Sadducees O ye of little faith O ye of little faith O ye of little faith It has been said to me on more than one occasion That the modern day Christian Is nothing like the Christian of a past generation
[32:02] And those who say that to me might be right And on the other hand Very often if you explore further What they are saying or why they are saying it You would probably discover that they are very broad generalisations Which because of their breadth can be wide off the mark What the Bible teaches us about God's people Whether they are male or female Whether they are young or old If they are young or old If they are God's people They are men and women Boys and girls of faith Every one of them Must possess faith In order to be one of God's people And by faith I mean saving faith
[33:06] They must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Christ as the only redeemer Of people in this world The only person who is able to save us from our sins And all God's people believe that Every one of them Without exception If they don't believe that If they don't believe that Then whatever their faith is It's not the faith that the Bible presents to us As faith I know there are many faiths in the world There are many beliefs in the world There are many religions in the world But Jesus is concerned with saving faith He is concerned with the faith that saves And all of these other faiths
[34:08] That are divorced from Him Separate from Him That do not include Him They cannot and will not save No matter how attractive they may appear No matter how much they appeal to our desire to be actively engaged in doing something Working out our own salvation Which is what appeals to us, humanly speaking If we are doing something Then that something surely will count at the last But that is not the truth of God When we look back as Christians Some previous generations There is no doubt That we will find examples of faith That we cannot find Many current examples That compare to them
[35:10] I don't know why that is Maybe it is It is not even accurate to say that Because we are not aware of the work of God in the world As the world Because there might be places in the world Where these kinds of examples of faith That draws attention to the way that it is lived and worked out Might not be as obvious in our culture In our generation But that doesn't mean that it is not there But the point I want to make is not that it is not there as much as to say that The things that we are attracted to The things that we are attracted to The things that we are attracted to That belong to our past generation We have to remember that these examples that are cited and that are recorded
[36:14] Are usually singular occurrences They are not They are rare examples Everybody Everybody Was not in doubt With that Same caliber of faith There might have been many hundreds of thousands of people who lived at the same time As these people whose faith is highlighted and who lived lives that demonstrated such faith They lived alongside them But their names are not recorded Their memory is not preserved Their works are not written down Because they were just ordinary men and women who lived their lives But they were living the life of faith alongside these people
[37:16] Who were perhaps of a different caliber Now all you have to do is go to the Bible How many Moseses do you know? How many Elijias do you know?
[37:27] How many Elijias do you know? How many Elijias do you know? How many Elijias do you know? How many saints in the New Testament do you know? How many saints in the New Testament do you know? Peter, Paul and John and all the disciples of Jesus Alongside them there were many ordinary men and women whose names are not included in the Bible And yet God worked in their lives in a very clear way And endowed them with saving faith The faith that saves Enable them to put their trust in Jesus the same way That these other most notable Christians did Now I don't know, I can't explain to you why There are people who have such great faith And why everybody does not have such great faith
[38:32] Why everybody does not demonstrate this in their lives But I do know, the Bible tells me That Jesus Christ tells me That there were those that he spoke to Who had great faith Who believed him sincerely And by their lives they testified to the faith that they possessed And their willingness even to go to death because of that faith But at the same time He had to speak very strongly to those who he said Had small faith, weak faith, little faith And I don't think Jesus was ever somebody who got things wrong Why would he be angry with anybody Because their faith was little If there was nothing they could do about it
[39:39] If they were not They were not able to exercise faith To the same degree that those who Who manifestly showed that they were able to do that That they didn't do that How is that possible?
[40:02] I don't have an answer for it But I do think that Jesus here Is reminding us of the responsibility That every one of us has With regard to faith in Jesus Christ That Jesus through his word Has placed at their disposal Sufficient material to strengthen And encourage and nurture and build up faith To the degree that it should be lived out in our lives Every single one of us Every single one of us without exception He commands us To believe on the Lord Jesus Christ And be saved And if we do not Heed our command Who is at fault?
[40:52] The command is not A command that is delivered Without reason And the disobedience The culpability The The end product is ours Not God's Strangely because I suppose strangely I have to say Because of the current situation We find ourselves in With the death of the Queen I was reading recently I just came across it by accident A story of a woman Whose faith was a strong faith She belonged to North Tolstair At the turn of the last century And she was very well known because of her Her mystical properties She was able to speak of things that others couldn't understand And At the time King George V died
[41:54] He died in 1936 And his son, Edward, was going to take the throne after him But you know the story But you know the story That Edward abdicated in order to marry Wallis Simpson So it was his brother who became the king George VI And his brother is the father of the late Queen Now the strange thing for me was this That at the time that happened this woman Was convinced of her need to pray for the royal family And she encouraged others to pray for the royal family And that's not strange
[42:55] I hope you're praying for the royal family at this present time You're praying for them because they're mourning And because their grief is genuine And you want the future, whatever it holds for them To be a good future And she encouraged people to pray for the royal family But what she said was interesting She said Remember, she said, the young girl Because this young girl is going to carry a great burden And people didn't really understand Why she was speaking about this young girl But the young girl that she was praying for Was Princess Elizabeth And there was no thought at that time That she would ever be queen Or that her father would die prematurely And that she would take the throne At such a young age
[43:59] And how this woman came by such information There's no way that we can answer Humanly speaking It doesn't It doesn't I mean it doesn't Make sense How can any person Have such insights into the future That Common sense seems to Go against But she did And her answer at some point in her life Was To somebody who was asking her about her faith Always Always believe Always believe What God says And take him at his word And I've heard that said so often About the men and the women of faith That whatever God said And they knew it was God that was saying it
[45:03] Through his word They took that word as gospel You know what I mean You know what I mean They took that word to be true However unlikely it seems However It seemed to work against The probability If that word was God's word She was prepared to go She was prepared to go With that word And You know this really Is what lies at the heart of faith Christ Commends his faith to us He condemns it to lack And here at this point in this Account of the gospel We find Jesus Addressing his disciples And pointing out Their little faith And why
[46:06] Why is such Criticism Merited When it comes to the disciples Of all The people That he knew in the world These are The most Believing of people You know Peter once said Lord We have left all And followed you Not just to say What more do you want us to do We've left everything And we're now serving you We're following you Wherever you take us We're going And whatever Peter meant by it I'm sure all the disciples Could say the same And yet Jesus is here Speaking to them As his closest followers And he says O ye of little faith So what is it About their actions That concern him And what Has that warning
[47:08] To do with us? Here today When the faith When the faith of the disciples Is held up to scrutiny What do we understand By the practice of faith And the experience of believers I'm sure You might have You might have Your own personal opinion What faith is like Especially if you don't have it You look at You look at Christians You say Well a Christian has faith And you say That's good And this is how faith works These Christians will believe anything That's what faith is It's willing to believe anything It doesn't matter what it is If it's in the Bible You believe it We know better And that faith is And that faith really Is an obstacle To genuine life In this world
[48:10] Christians are hamstrung By faith Because they're expected to believe The unlikely The improbable That's not the case Theologians will tell you That it is of the essence Of faith To place Your trust in something Or someone Professor Donald MacLeod In his lectures Used to say There needs to be An intellectual commitment And the submission Of mind To the truth of the Gospel And that's important Because when we think of faith Generally We might think of It being an emotional experience Entirely emotional But it's not just emotions But emotions Fall apart of it We must believe In order to be able To trust
[49:12] Some of you will at least Some of you at least I think Will know this chapter In Paul's epistles Well this one Maybe Paul wrote it Maybe he didn't The epistle to the Hebrews In chapter 11 It begins The faith Is the substance Of things hoped for The evidence Of things not seen For by it The elders obtained A good report Through faith We understand That the worlds Were framed By the word of God So that the things Which are seen Were not made Of things Which do appear By faith Abel offered unto God A more excellent sacrifice Than Cain And so on The faith That is spoken of here Is a faith That is Witnessed to By all these Famous saints Of the Old Testament Who lived their lives By faith
[50:14] And who trusted In God In verse 6 he says Without faith Without faith it is impossible To please him For he that comes to God Must believe that he is And that he is a rewarder of them That diligently seek him Of course there is much more The scripture tells us About the nature of faith What they believe And who they believe Leads them to a life long commitment To that passion And it is plain That what is the same in essence Is not the same in practice In the experience of those Who have faith Everyone who has faith Is trusting the same God The object of their faith Is the same Christ Who the gospel speaks of They have rested On Christ They have received Christ
[51:15] And so on All of them are the same Every Christian The world over Wherever they are Whatever point in their Christian experience they are in They are all alike They are not different There is nothing about them That is different God is the source of their faith And yet all who by grace believe Do not do so in the same way What do I mean by that?
[51:47] There are personal traits There are natural traits There are certain things About their character That may intrude into their relationship Of faith with God You know we spoke of Jacob Jacob was a man of God The Bible tells me he was He is listed amongst those Who are people of faith And yet in his characteristics His human characteristics There were many sides to him And it was so obvious In the way that he chose to live his life That these things should have been moulded By God's grace With God's help That he should have responded more To the truth of God And done what God expected of him Than he did And that led him into all kinds of Situations that were painful to him But when he speaks here to the disciples
[52:53] He is speaking to people Who have a shared experience They know him personally They have seen him do great works They have seen miracles performed by him They have heard words come from his lips That no other could possibly utter And they have this access to the passion of Jesus That is the like of no other And yet Jesus turns to them and says I am listening to you And you are talking amongst yourselves And your thinking is wrong What your thinking displays to me is That you have lost sight of this truth This truth concerning me Who I am What I have done What I am yet to do
[53:54] These things you know Because I have told you These things you have seen Because you are witnesses To the good things that I have done And the great things that I have done And yet in this situation Where you are listening to Sadducees and Pharisees And their conclusions You have listened to them And you have forgotten what I have said And what I have done And I think that is the key issue here For the disciples What brings the criticism of Christ Is that You know they had They had seen what he had done They had seen the miracles And yet very quickly Because of the fact that When Jesus spoke to these Men Pharisees and Sadducees They had lost
[54:56] Their awareness of who he was Their awareness of who he was When I was looking at this I was reminded of Of somebody who Who was at one point in his life And he would quite readily Have confessed to it He was a notorious Wastel Wastel He spent his wages And drink And he Very often By the end of the week He lived in Glasgow He belonged to these islands And he had sold his furniture To the pawnbrokers To get money to buy more drink But He was marvellously converted And he used to say to those who met him To question the power of Christ To perform miracles He said
[55:58] You question the miracle of Changing water into wine Well he said I know Something greater than that He changed furniture He changed whiskey into furniture And by that he meant his own life His own life was transformed by God's grace And he never forgot that miracle He never forgot the power of God In his experience That enabled him To speak to others And I met him more than once And I remember hearing of him Very fearlessly And he was a big person Physically But standing on a Glasgow bus Telling people Do you know the Lord?
[56:45] And if they didn't They certainly did Know of him By the time they got off the bus Whether they liked it or not But that was somebody Who witnessed the power of God In his life And he didn't forget it And because of that knowledge You know The disciples Should not have allowed Questions to enter into their thinking And this is exactly What Jesus is critical of We might think that We've been too hard on them Because you feel Empathy If you're a Christian You feel empathy with the disciples Because very often Our faith is weak And we're not as strong As we would want to be We're not as As powerful In our proclamation of truth As those others of great faith were Those that are highlighted in the
[57:49] In the histories of the Bible And those who are highlighted in our own Christian background People who stood out because of their strong faith And we're so unlike them And therefore When we see somebody like ourselves We have empathy We say Well, I understand where they're coming from And well Jesus knew where they were coming from When When the Lord is speaking to the disciples He's speaking to them In a particular context Let's go back to the verse The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came And tempting Desired to him that he would show them A sign from heaven Now that these are two Jewish bodies Two groups of Differing theologies The Pharisees Believe
[58:52] Certain elements of the truth The Sadducees believe something different Sadducees think what's I like by most is The Sadducees The Sadducees had great difficulty They refused to believe They refused to believe that the dead would rise The resurrection was something that could not possibly happen And yet here they were together As is often the case Even though they were divided theologically They were united in their opposition against Christ And they thought to themselves And they thought to themselves We're going to undermine this guy who's teaching this generation to believe the truth of God in a particular way which we don't agree with I think C.H. Spurgeon calls what they follow is Spiritualism Opposed to rationalism But whatever it is Whatever the theological position
[59:55] The point I want you to take with you is this That these people came in contact with the disciples And what they believed And what they believed And what they taught And what they wanted Jesus To respond to So that he was answering to them Was something that was rubbing off on the disciples Their demands attacked his Lordship If you are the son of God If you are the son of God You will tell us You will show us You will describe to us How you are going to live How you are going to do great things Do more so that we can see And so that we will believe But Jesus is saying to them Beware the leaven of the Pharisees The leaven of the Pharisees The leaven works in the same way that he stirs when you are making bread But works its way through the door
[60:57] So that it rises Something small and it spreads throughout the whole land That is what he is saying This contact that you have with unbelievers This contact that you have with the rational approach to the word of God This contact that you have with people who reject the truth of God It is not going to leave you untouched It is going to affect you Where is it going to affect you?
[61:27] It is going to impact upon your faith It is going to undermine it It is going to weaken it It is going to make you think that what you believe is not what you should believe And that is the problem that Jesus is addressing here when he is speaking to the disciples He is speaking to a person or people whose faith is a genuine faith but it is under attack Now the gospel being preached in your hearing is a gospel that encourages you to faith It encourages you to believe And for the moments that you are under the word many of you will perhaps say yes I believe I think you have got something I think you have a truth there that I can accept
[62:29] Accept And your mind may be working like that for a while How long can that last? I know God must work in your heart And God is working in your heart all the time that he confronts you with his word But how long will you be exposed to something that contradicts what you have now Just almost Just in the weakest possible way Said to yourself Well I think I can believe that One of the most marvellous descriptions of the devil's work in the world is found in Pilgrim's Progress And he is so graphic in the name that he gives the characters that appear in that book In one of the parts of the book there was this character called Little Faith And he lived in the town of St. Cyr
[63:33] He fell asleep once We are told that where he slept was called Dead Man's Lane And while he slept Three brothers attacked him and robbed him Notice the name of the three brothers Faint heart, mistrust and guilt And they got a hold of his purse And if it was not for the intervention of another Whose name was Great Grace They would have done for him And what is Bunyan telling us in his own Inimitable way He is just describing The assaults that are made Upon your heart And upon your mind When you are sitting listening to the Gospel Or shortly afterwards The very things that you have heard And you think to yourself Are at least true And truths that you can believe in
[64:37] And passions you can trust in And so on What happens? Well, there are insinuations made There are attempts made to undermine what you have heard So your fearful heart And your Failure to trust God's Word as the truth And your inability to master your own guilt Because your guilt is great Your sins are many And you can't overcome them Which is all true Because you need the help of God And that's where faith comes in Jesus is telling us here When you expose yourself To anything or anyone That works against the truth That God has given you Upon which your faith can be fixed The very thing that is used to strengthen faith The very thing that is used to deepen faith The very thing that is necessary
[65:40] For your faith to be productive Of the life that is fruitful The world in which we live Is constantly against it Show me the proof Where is your God?
[66:02] Why does your God work the way he works? Have you ever had such thoughts? Where did he come from? What is the end product? What we need to do is Look at how Jesus goes on Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees And the Sadducees Beware of it Understand that This world in which we live Is always working against What God is doing What he is doing in the church What he is doing in the world as a whole What he is doing in your life As an individual I will give you some homework Do you go home?
[66:49] Think for yourself Of any occasion in your life Where you felt the Lord Jesus Christ Speaking to you personally Speaking to you personally Directly To where you are Or where at that moment And that there was no doubt in your mind That that was the case And when Did the doubt enter in?
[67:19] When Was the process of all the erosion Commenced? Because if you haven't come to faith If you haven't put your trust in Christ If you are still saying What if?
[67:37] Or some other equivalent Then clearly You are not even Of the little faith variety You are of the no faith variety And without faith we cannot Please God And may God encourage us Through this world to reflect on The dangers of we Who have Have faith Are exposed to And the great danger there is If we don't come to faith What the outcome will be for us Let us pray Dear so Lord Who bless us under your word May your word convince us Of the danger that we are in In this world that is lying in sin Go before us as the breaker up of our way Who we cleanse us from every sin In Jesus name Amen Amen We are concluding Psalm 34 Psalm 34
[68:40] And we are going to sing Verses 11 to 16 Four stanzas O children Hither do ye come O children Hither do ye come And unto me give ear How shall you teach to understand How ye the Lord should fear O man is he that life desires To see good would live long Thy lips refrain from speaking guile And from ill words thy tongue Depart from ill do good Seek peace Pursue it earnestly God's eyes and the just His ears are open to their cry The face of God is set against those That do wickedly That they may quiet out from the earth Cut off their memory These verses O children Hither do ye come And unto me give ear O children Hither do ye come And unto me give ear
[69:46] I shall use it to understand How ye the Lord should fear What man does he that life desires To see good would live long Thy lips refrain from seeking guile And from ill works thy tongue Depart from ill do good Seek peace Pursue it earnestly God's eyes and the just His ears are open to their cry
[70:48] God's eyes are on the just His ears are open to their cry The fist of God is set against those Those that do wickedly That he may quiet out from the earth Cut off their memory Amen Now may grace, mercy and peace From God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Rest and abide with you all Never and always Amen