[0:00] And welcome to our service this morning. If you're visiting with us, we're glad to have you with us as we come before God in worship.
[0:15] And we seek his blessing in our time together under his word. We're going to begin by singing to God's praise from Psalm 135.
[0:27] Metrical Psalm 135. And from verse 14 to verse 21.
[0:40] Verse 14 to the end of the psalm. Psalm 135. For why the righteous God will judge his people righteously.
[0:53] Concerning those that do himself, himself repent will he. The idols of the nations of silver are and gold. And by the hands of men is made their fashion and mould.
[1:08] Mouths have they, but they do not speak. Eyes, but they do not see. Ears have they, but hear not. And in their mouths no breathing be.
[1:18] Their makers are like them, so are all that on them rely. O Israel's house, bless God. Bless God, O Aaron's family.
[1:31] O bless the Lord of Levi's house, ye who whose servants are. And bless the holy name of God, all ye the Lord that fear. And blessed be the Lord of God from Zion's holy hill, who dwelleth at Jerusalem.
[1:49] The Lord, O praise ye still. Psalm 135 from verse 14 through to the end. For why the righteous God will judge his people righteously.
[2:03] Or why the righteous God will judge his people righteously.
[2:20] Weu die little FRANSだannonce. Their eccles tyres on the WWE, where their heart will be.
[2:34] roasting hazır. Verify зав CHap. The idol's heart and earth to picture his people righteously. The angels of the nations of the land of God, and I, the man, saw him with me, and I shall not be born.
[3:07] Oh, and I shall not be verse back, and I shall not be.
[3:24] Your child is not to give up your dead, Then I must know it may be.
[3:42] Then make your child like them so hard, All that on a daily night.
[3:59] O Israel, Jesus, bless God, bless God, O Israel, God's family.
[4:13] O bless the Lord, God's people, In your will, and your will, and your will, And bless the Holy Spirit, O God, Only the Lord that fear.
[4:46] And bless the Lord, God, From Sire's holy hill, Who dwelleth at Jerusalem, And the Lord, O British, Let us join together in prayer.
[5:24] O Lord God in heaven, As we come before you, Calling upon your name in prayer, Help us to recognize that Our worship has begun with the singing of your praises, Magnifying the name of the God, Who is God over all, The only living and true God, A God who is eternal, Unchangeable in your being, Possessing wisdom, power, holiness, Justice, goodness, and truth.
[6:04] And like the created deities of this world, Who may claim to possess Faculties and characteristics That make their claim of deity To seem as if they have The right to it.
[6:26] But the truth is that in reality They are incapable of exercising These attributes in any meaningful way, If at all.
[6:39] We acknowledge that you are the God Who is the hearer of prayer. So when we offer our prayer, We believe that you are not only Able to hear us, But to answer our prayer.
[6:54] We confess that we are not Articulate in any meaningful way. Sometimes our words are stuttering And stumbling words That are not in keeping With the need that we have.
[7:11] As we call upon you, We know that we have Peculiar needs. We have specific needs. We have needs that Far exceed our understanding Of how they may manifest themselves.
[7:29] We acknowledge that. And often we have been struck down Even as we We thought that we could Pour out our heart In the presence of God.
[7:39] And yet we found ourselves Silent. And we acknowledge that In that silence You heard us perhaps more Clearly Than if our words were multiplied.
[7:57] There are times When the sigh that comes deep From within Says more about Our predicament Than we could ever Hope to articulate.
[8:07] And we have found ourselves At times in such Situations. And we confess The need that we have To acknowledge The God who has heard us Even When these silences Were so much in evidence.
[8:24] We pray for those We pray for those Who cannot pray Today. Those who may find themselves And they say Well If our prayers Are anything to go by And we compare ourselves To those that we have Heard pray Our prayers are nothing.
[8:42] Or maybe Their need is that Their words are Ineffectual And that they are not heard And that they have prayed Copious prayers That they have Come before God And their words Have come from their lips In numbers Just like One of The servants of God In the Old Testament Your words Speaking of one Who Who came Before you As Hannah of old did And she was crying Out of her Childlessness And the Persecution That she suffered At the hand Of her handmaid And she saw Herself As crying Incessantly To a God Who was not able To remedy her need And yet In your time You answered And made provision For her And she acknowledged that
[9:42] And we see That so often That time Is not something That That restricts Your impact Upon our lives And we have to learn To wait upon the Lord And to know What it is To To wait With patience And to wait With longing And to wait With expectation And to wait Believing That you are able To answer us And as we Pray today We pray for Your blessing Upon your word We have done So before We have done So repeatedly We have done So and we We are grieved By the way That we Come with Your word And we Proclaim your word And we read Your word And we ask Others to read Your word And yet It seems It seems It seems That that word Is not blessed It seems That there are Not hearing
[10:42] Ears In the company That gather To hear the word Preached But we give thanks That we can trust In the God Who said You did say To us That your word Will not Fall to the ground Without it Prospering In the way That you Intended To prosper We pray That today Even In this Service That you Would bless Your word And that Those who Hear it Would hear With believing Hearts And that they Would exercise Faith In the things Of God Looking unto Jesus The author And finisher Offered So bless Us Under your word We pray Bless All the needs That are Represented Here The ones That we May know Something of The ones That we Know little About We know That there Are hearts That are Broken We know That there Are homes That have Been shattered In different Ways With Bereavement
[11:43] And with The experience Of Illness And Sometimes That illness Is of Such a Sort That it Cannot Be Bring Healing We pray That you Would remember All who Have to Deal with Such Situations That you Would remember Them And minister To them So we Pray for Those that We know Of our Own number Who are Sorrowful As the Voice of Death Has been Heard Within our Community We pray That such A voice Would Not go Unheeded But that You Would Encourage Us To look To our Own end So that When the End Comes Us Come It must For every One of us That we Are found Ready You are Telling us So often In your Word That we Are not Only to Be ready For death But to Be ready For judgment The coming Of the Son of Man We know Not when But you
[12:45] Tell us Be ye Also ready For in Such an Hour As you Know not The Son Of Man Will Come And there Is no No uncertainty About that Fact and we Pray for Wisdom To be Ready Remember the Preaching of the World Here in this Place and in Every Gathering of Faithful Today Wherever they Are met We think Especially Of our Neighbouring Congregation of Carly As they Met to Remember The death Of Christ Until he Can bless Them in Their Gathering Bless them In the Remembering Of him In his Death And all Other Congregations That have Such a Desire We pray For the Preaching of The Word In particular To the Far Corners Of the Earth Where there Is hostility To the Gospel May The Enmity That is In the Heart Of man Be Deflected May May those Who have An intent To destroy
[13:45] The work Of God Be held From doing What they Would Purpose We Remember From your Word How the Apostle Paul In his Foolishness When he Was yet To come To know The Christ Of God For himself That he Went out With The With the Desire Breathing Threatening And Intent On Murder Because He had Such Hatred For the Christ Of the Gospel And for Any who Would choose To follow Him We know That only You can Change Such Hearts As you Did his And we Remember Before you Any part Of the World Where such A spirit Reigns Remember The missionary Activities Of the Church Bless All that Is done To bring Christ To the Attention Of the Blind
[14:45] The deaf The lame The hot We pray That you Would Heal All Who hear The name Of him Just as His name Was proclaimed In his In his own As he Walked The dusty Streets Of these Places That knew Him Personally And physically And there Were those Who stretched Out their Hands To touch The hem Of his Garment And their Healing Was assured May we do That even In our own Decreptitude Today Remember The places That need To be Remembered By us Especially We think Of Ukraine Where the War is Ongoing We think Of the Yemen Where civil War reigns We think Of the Places In the World That there Is ongoing Hostility Most of It is Not Brought to
[15:45] Our Attention But we Know it Is there Still We think Of the Places That are Suffering From the Ravages Of natural Disaster We remember Pakistan And the Subcontinent There We remember Canada As well And the Border Borderlands There That are On the On the Periphery Of the Ocean And to Find The terrible Surges Of flood And tide Wreaking Havoc And devastation And creating Such fear In the Minds of Men And whom You are The God Of heaven And earth You are The God Who controls These things And yet You are Pleased To allow All these Things To go On We cannot But seek Mercy We do not Deserve the List of Them But we Cry out Nonetheless That you
[16:46] Would show Favor To this Fallen Race That we May look To the God Who is Able to Bring Healing To all Our Hearts Bless Bless Bless us Now As we Continue Before You Reading Your Word And Seeing Your Places And Seeking To Meditate Upon The Truth For Give Sin In Jesus Name Amen We are Going to Read from The scriptures Of the New Testament The gospel Of Jesus Christ According To Matthew Matthew Chapter Thirteen We will Read from The beginning Down to Verse Twenty Three Matthew Chapter Thirteen The same Day When Jesus Out of The house And sat By the Seaside And great Multitudes Were gathered Together Unto him So that He went Into a Ship And sat
[17:46] And the Whole Multitude Stood on The shore And he Spake many Things unto Them In parables Saying Behold A sower Went forth To sow And when He sowed Some seeds Fell by The wayside And the Fowls Came And devoured Them up Some Fell upon Stony Places Where they Had not Much Earth And forthwith They sprung Up Because they Had no Deepness Of earth And when The sun Was up They were Scorched And because They had No root They withered Away And some Fell among Thorns And the Thorns Sprung up And choked Them But And other Fell into Good Ground And brought Forth Fruit Some And hundred Fold Some Sixty Fold Some Thirty Fold Who Hath Ears To Hear Let Him Hear And the Disciples Came And said Unto him Why Speakest Thou Unto Them In Parables
[18:47] He Answered And said Unto Them Because It is Given Unto You To Know The Mysteries Of The Kingdom Of Heaven But To Them It Is Not Given For Whosoever Hath To Him Shall Be Given And He Shall Have More Abundance But Whosoever Hath Not From Him Shall Be Taken Away Even That He Hath Therefore Speak I To Them In Parables Because They Seeing See Not And Hearing They Hear Not Neither Do They Understand And In Them Is For The Prophecy Of Esaias Which Say By Hearing He Shall Hear And Shall Not Understand And Seeing He Shall See And Shall Not Perceive For This People's Heart Is Wax Gross And Their Ears Are Dull Of Hearing And Their Eyes They Have Closed Lest At Any Time They Should See With Their Eyes And Hear With Their Ears And Should
[19:47] Understand With Their Heart And Should Be Converted And I Should Heal Them But Blessed Are Your Eyes For They See And Your Ears For They Hear For Verily I Say Unto You That Many Prophets And Righteous Men Have Desired To See Those Things Which Ye See And Have Not Seen Them And To Hear Those Things Which Ye Hear And Have Not Heard Them Hear Ye Therefore The Parable Of The When Anyone Heareth The Word Of The Kingdom And Understandeth It Not Then Cometh The Wicked One And Catcheth Away That Which Was Sown In His Heart This Is He Which Receives Seed By The Wayside But He That Received The Seed Into Stony Places The Same As He That He He He He The Word And Anon With Joy Receiveth It Yet Hath He Not Wrote In Because
[20:49] Of The Word By And By He Is Offended He Also That Received Seed Among The Thorns Is He That Heareth The Word And The Care Of This Word And The Deceitfulness Of Riches Choke The Word And He Becometh Unfruitful But He That Received Seed Into The Good Ground Is He That He Heareth The Word And Understandeth It Which Also Beareth Fruit And Bringeth Forth Some And Hundred Fold Some Sixty Some Thirty And So On To The Lord That His Blessing To A Reading Of His Word And To His Name Be In Praise Boys And Girls Before You Go Out To Sunday School This Morning I Believe You Are Going To Continue Looking At The Story Of Of Jacob And
[21:49] There Came A Time In The Life Of Jacob When He Had To Leave Home And When He Left Home It Was In Very Dubious Circumstances They Thought It It It Was Better That He Go Away And It Would Be Safer For Him And We Are Told That He Took A Journey On His Way To His Uncle's Home And When He Was On That
[22:50] Journey He Settled Down For The Night He Didn't Know Where He Was Going To Sleep But He Was Out In The Open And He Found A Place And He Lay Down To Rest And He Found A Stone We Are Told Which He Put His Head On And That Stone There Is A Myth Concerning It It's Called Jacob's Stone And It's Some Stories Concerning It Suggest That That Stone Was The Same Stone That Is Called The Stone Of Destiny And That Stone Came To Be Brought Into The Nations Ireland First I Think And Scotland The Stone It Is Suggested To Be The Stone That
[23:50] The Kings And Queens Of The United Kingdom Have Sat On The Day Of Their Coronation You Try And Remember That When We Will See The Coronation Of King Charles The Third The Stone The Throne On Which Is Going To Be Sitting When He's Crowned Has That Stone On It Now That's A Myth There's No Certainty That That Story Is A True Story But It's A Story Connecting Us Back To What Happened To Jacob But What Is True However True The Story About The Stone Is That When Jacob Slept He Had A Dream He Had A Vision And In His Dream He Saw Angels And The Strange Thing About The Angels Was That He Saw
[24:50] Angels Not Coming Down From Heaven On A Ladder To The Ground But Coming Up From The Ground To Heaven You Think That The Writer Of That Story Had Made A Mistake But No The Story Is Quite Specific Jacob Dreamed That He Saw Angels Ascending And Descending On The Ladder You Think He Would Have Got That Right Because You Can't Be An Angel Who Lives In Heaven And You Would Expect That Coming Down From Heaven Would Be The Right Order But According To The Bible What Jacob Saw Was The Angels Going Up And Then Coming Down I Don't Know Why It Said That But One Thing That Was Certain Is That Jacob Knew
[25:51] That At The Top Of That Ladder Was God And The Angels Were From God And They Were He He Saw The Angels And He Heard God And That Was Something That He Never Ever Forgot And I Know I Was Reading A Bit About This The Other Day And During Times Of Of God Working In The World He He Has Spoken Of This Recently One Thing That Happens When There Is A Spiritual Awakening When There Is God Working In The Lives Of Men And Women One Thing That Is Often The Case People Will Hear Angels Angels They Hear Sing Angels And Something That Is Very Difficult For You To Explain
[26:52] How I Can't Hear Angels Today I Don't Think I Can Anyway But I Know That Those Who Have Heard Angels Sing Nobody Will Tell Them That They Didn't Hear Them And Nobody Will Tell Them That What They Heard Was Anything Other Than These Angels And That They Will Always Remember That And Those Who Who Came To Know Jesus Christ During Times Of Revival And Who Experienced That They Never Ever Forgot That Jacob Knew What Was Happening He Knew That It Was God That Was Speaking He Knew It Was Angels From Heaven When He Woke Up He Didn't Forget The Experience He Anointed The Stone And Said He Called The Place Bethel He Called It The House Of God Because
[27:52] It Was Such A Good Experience To Him And I Think That Everybody Here Who Ever Has An Encounter With God In Whatever Way If God Is Speaking To Us We Know That It Is In We Know That Is The Case And We Never Forget It I Would Hope That If It Has Not Been The Case For You Yet That It Will Be Soon That You Will Know God Is Speaking To You And That You Will Never Forget It And That Your Life Will Be Changed Because Of It And I Hope That Is True For Everyone Here Not Just The Boys And Girls But Mothers And Fathers And Grandparents As Well We're Going To Sing As You Go To Some Discourse From Psalm 1 The First Psalm We're Singing The Whole Psalm That Man Hath Perfect
[28:53] Blessedness Who Walketh Not Astray In Counsel Of Ungodly Men Nor Stands In Sinner's Way Nor Sit In The Stornish Chair But Places His Delight Upon God's Law And Meditates On His Law Day And Night He Shall Be Like A Tree That Grows Near Planted By A River Which In His Season Yields Fruit And His Leaf Fadeth Never And All He Does Shall Prosper Well The Wicked Are Not So But Like They Are Into The Chaff Which Wind Drives To And Fro In Judgment Therefore Shall Not Stand Such As Ungodly Are Nor In The Assembly Of The Just Shall Wicked Men Appear For Why The Way Of Godly Men Unto The Lord Is Known Whereas The Way Of Wicked Men Shall The First Psalm To God's Praise That Man Hath Perfect Blessings
[29:53] That Man Hath Perfect Blessings To All The Lord Has Been Them And counsel of ungodly men Your chances in the way Your sickness in the storm Your state But this and this delight
[30:55] Upon God's love And the digits On His walk In the night He shall be like The cross In the darkness In the blind A river Which Yahweh See Jesus Is Good And Hilling As Please
[31:55] And all ye just shall prosper well, The wicked are not so, but thy day I am to the sky, Which in the highest human flow.
[32:35] In judgment and portion of the sun, Such as the new blood we are, Nor in the sand beyond the dress, Shall with this land appear, Far away the way of all the earth, Unto the darkness dawn,
[33:36] Where as the wing of the men, Shall with this land beyond the earth, I would like us to turn to the passage of scripture that we read.
[34:04] And we can read again at verse 17.
[34:16] Matthew chapter 13, verse 17. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men Have desired to see those things which you see, And have not seen them, And to hear those things which ye hear, And have not heard them.
[34:41] And so on. Now the passage that we're looking at this morning, We're not really going to focus on the account that we have here of a parable, That the Lord has given.
[34:59] But rather to try and fix our attention on what the Lord means us to do with these parables.
[35:11] This is the parable of the sword. That's how it is described. And it's one of a number of parables that we have in this chapter.
[35:23] There's eight parables in total in this chapter. Four of them are designed to be heard by the general public. Four of them are specifically for the ears and the attention of the disciples.
[35:40] They're all given the title, I suppose, Parables of the Kingdom. And we could ask the question, I suppose it's a legitimate question to ask, If there are eight parables, are they connected?
[35:57] Are they meant to convey the same truth? Are they, Can we glean the same truth from each of them?
[36:11] Is Jesus meaning us when he teaches these parables to connect them? And to understand that, As he does sometimes, There's no question that he would speak in this way, And as if it is fixing a nail and hammering at home.
[36:32] A truth really wants to be brought home with power. Well, I think, If we understand any one thing from all of these parables, Together, Is that what's important, And what's necessary, Is that we understand that The Lord God, In the person of Jesus Christ, Is speaking to the hearer.
[37:04] And he expects those who are hearing him, That they listen to him. It's a simple truth. He's not wanting his words to be redundant.
[37:18] He's not wanting his words to be passed over, As if they're of no consequence. He wants us to listen attentively, To what he has to say.
[37:29] And, You know, One of the commentators was saying, Is it just an exercise in supplying information?
[37:41] Is that Jesus is, Is he just wanting to provide information? And that information is going to be gathered, And stored.
[37:54] And sometimes, That is the kind of, Scenario that we have in life. We are met, With different situations, Where, The person who speaks, Is simply presenting facts, And these facts, Are meant to be, Heard, And assimilated, And, Well, Put into use in some way.
[38:20] All of them, Or part of them, Or whatever. No, Jesus is not in the business, Of simply, Teaching, For no other reason, Than that he is a teacher.
[38:33] Because he is a teacher. He is, A rabbi, He is a master. He is meant to be, Listen to as one who teaches. But his teaching is always, Always, An end reserved in view.
[38:48] He says in verse 9, Who hath ears to hear, Let him hear. Then in verse 13, Downwards, Therefore I speak I to them in parables, Because they see not, And hearing they hear not, Neither do they understand.
[39:06] In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, Which says, By hearing ye shall hear, Shall not understand, And seeing you shall see, And shall not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest at any time they should see, With their eyes, And hear with their ears, And should understand with their heart, And should be converted.
[39:29] And I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, For they see, And your ears, For they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men, Have desired to see those things, Which ye see, And have not seen them, And to hear these things, Which ye hear, And have not heard them.
[39:47] Hear ye therefore, The parable. The emphasis, Seems to be, On the need, For what Jesus, Says, To be heard.
[40:05] And not just to be heard, But to be heard, So as to, Put into practice, Whatever they hear, Requires, To be put into practice.
[40:17] So I was thinking, Well if, With the emphasis on hearing, As a, A foundation for this, I want you first of all, To think about, The passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who wants us, To hear what he has to say.
[40:40] And we sang, First of all, A psalm, That, Brings, To our attention, The God of heaven, And, The, Multitude of, Deities, That, Present themselves, As gods, But are no gods, And one thing that, Makes them stand out, In contrast with God, Is their inability, To do what God, Does.
[41:16] God, Is able to speak, They cannot, God is able to hear, They cannot, Do you remember, You know these words, In the, In the psalm, That we were singing, Together in psalm 135, And, Not only, Is the psalm, They are speaking to us, About the inabilities, Of these gods, But, More importantly, The ability that God, Has, And, What I would want us to do, Is to understand, That the God, Who, Who has given us, His word, Expects us, To hear his voice, And to hear it, Without you to understand, And to hear it, With discernment, We must,
[42:17] Seek a spiritual, Apprehension, Of what God, Conveys to us, In his word, And there is no other, There is no getting away, From this, Jesus, Uses this parable, To teach a particular truth, And he, Refers to the old testament, And the words, That God gave, To the prophet, Israel, Prophet, Isaiah, And, We will refer to these words, Again, But, What is true, About the prophet, Jesus, Refers to that, And sees that, As something, That is applied, That applies, To many of his hearers, To this day, Not just the day, Of the prophet Isaiah, But the day, That he speaks to, And as he speaks, To our day, There are those, Who are,
[43:18] Unprofitable hearers, There are those, That the word, Comes to, And they do not, He did, Now there might be, Many reasons for that, But I was thinking, Of it in this way, Some of us, Are musical, Some of us, Are more musical, Than others, Some would argue, That they are tone deaf, If for example, You have a conductor, Who is conducting, A symphony, An orchestra, And they're given, A piece of music, To, To perform, Some of us, Would listen to that, An orchestra, Perform, That piece of music, With a measure, Of pleasure, Because we can, We can discern, The music, We can discern, The parts of the,
[44:20] Of the music, And there's a melody, Or there's a, Whatever, That we can follow, We're appreciative of the music, But there may be, Others, Who are not able, To say that, I know that, Some people speak of, Of certain, Kinds of music, And, They can't tolerate it, At all, It's just a doge, It's a drone, It's, It's not attractive, To their ears, For whatever reason, But there's one person, Who's responsible, Who's responsible, For the orchestra, And he brings together, All the parts of, Of the orchestra, And, His ear is particularly, Mindful, Of every, Segment, Of that orchestra, Whether the person, Is playing the flute, Or he's playing the harp, Or whatever, His, His ear, Is finely tuned, To every, Every part,
[45:22] Of that orchestra, And he knows, If anything, Is not the way, It should be, Now, What God is, In a sense, Saying to us, He appreciates, That we cannot, Hear, With the discernment, Of, The conductor, We can't, We can't, Take God's word, And understand, Every fine detail, Of it, And appreciate it, For all that it presents, To us, By way of teaching, God knows that, But, Every one of us, Knows that, When God is speaking, To us, Through his word, That we should, At least, Be able to discern, The voice of God, In his word, We should be able, To discern, What he has to say to us, That it can be, Understood, And that there's nothing,
[46:24] In what he is saying, That cannot be, Appreciated, Appreciated, Appreciated, Appreciated, Appreciated, Appreciated, Appreciated, And if there is, A fault that is not, With the orchestra, If there is a fault, That's not with the musicians, There could be, A problem, With regard, To, Our own hearing, Now, As I said, When God is speaking, To us, In his word, He is speaking, To us, As a God, First of all, Who is unlike, These other gods, Who pretend to be, What they're not, And part of what makes him, Someone that we can go to, Is the fact that he is a God, Who not only speaks to us, But allows us to speak to him, And when we speak to him, His ears are not deaf, His ears are able to hear,
[47:27] The petitions, And the cries, And the complaints, Of all, Who are, In the word, It is not, Inability on his part, That prevents him, From hearing, And, I think, You know, If you go to that psalm again, It might profit you to, Think about that psalm again, Psalm 135, Not only, It's a description, Given to us, Of the, Of the difference, That there is, Between the only living, And true God, And the gods, That are mere idols, Created by man's hand, But, It, It concludes, With these words, That their makers, Are like them, But it doesn't stop there, It says, So, So, Are all, That on them rely,
[48:29] Those who, Look to false gods, Do not appreciate, Their inability, To hear, Their petitions, Or their prayers, Or their complaints, Unlike this God of ours, Who is the God of the scripture, The God of the old, And the new testament, The father of our Lord, And savior Jesus Christ, Whose hearing, Our petitions, Is all important, To the believer, Because, If he is not able, To hear us, Then, Where is the problem, With us not being able, To hear him, If, If, If there is, A deficiency, On his part, Then, The deficiency, On our part, Is excusable, There is, A reason for it, There is an answer to it, There is, A problem there,
[49:29] That is just, A problem, Of our making, But God says, No, I am able to, Not only speak to you, But you are able, To speak to me, And to hear me, In the book of Exodus, Just to give you, One example, It says, When you, When you remember, The children of Israel, They were for a time, In bondage, They were slaves, In Egypt, And, You know, It is something, Worth considering, What was it, That eventually, Made them, Cry out to God, At what stage, Did they feel, It necessary, For them to cry out to God, Was it something, That they were, They were doing, Regularly, Was it something, That they were always doing, It seems not, But, We read in Exodus 2,
[50:32] Verse 23, Israel sighed, By reason of their bondage, And they cried, And their cry, Came up to God, By reason of the bondage, And God heard, Their groaning, And God remembered, His covenant, With Abraham, With Isaac, And with, Jacob, Now, Without wanting, To labor the point, I know, I know, That it's, A fact, That we, As individuals, Can go, Very far, On the way, Before, We find ourselves, On our knees, Crying out to God, As long as, We're able to manage, As long as, We're able to struggle on, As long as, We're able to, To, Do our best, God is the God, Of the last resort, For many of us, And maybe, That was the case, For Egypt, For Israel, In Egypt, But that's just,
[51:33] One example, But the emphasis, I want to bring, Before you, Before we even look, At this parable, Or anything connected with, Is that, The God, That, Is speaking, To us, Is that God, Who speaks, To us, In order that, We hear him, And, He, Is able, To hear us, When we speak, To him, Therefore, He says, When he's writing, When the prophet, Is writing, Moses, Is speaking God's word, I think it's in Deuteronomy, Now, Hear, Harken, O Israel, Unto the statutes, Unto the judgments, Which I teach, Again, He says, Hear, O Israel, The statutes, And judgments, Which I speak, In Eurya's, This day, That you may learn, And keep, And do them,
[52:36] Now, Despite that, Command, Despite that, Call it advice, If you will, Despite that instruction, How many people, Are actually saying, To themselves, Well, Is God speaking, To me?
[52:50] We find, The first, Place, That God speaks, To us, His word, But he speaks, To us in providence, He speaks, To us in the testimony, Of his people, He speaks, To us in many, Different ways, Are we, At any point, In our life, Asking the question, What does God, Saying to me?
[53:10] What does God, Have to say to me? Now, Jesus here, Quotes the words, Of the prophet, Isaiah, And, He quotes it, In the context, Of a parable, And the parable, Is a parable, Which I suppose, He explains himself, He tells us all, About this parable, This is what happens, To the word, The word is preached, And the word, Is heard, But it is not heard, In the way it should be, And it gives us, A very clear, Illustration, Of what happens, To the word, That is proclaimed, I don't think, There is any difficulty, On the part of any one of you, Who reached this parable, To understand, What Jesus is saying, I mean, He is not treating us, As idiots, He is not treating us, As people, Who have no understanding, He says, This is how it is, The word comes, And the word, Sometimes,
[54:11] It is, Like the seed, That is sown, By the wayside, It's eaten by the birds, It's, It doesn't, It doesn't grow, To fruition, Stony places, The same, The thorns, And then the good ground, But Jesus wants us all, To understand, The reason, Why, We have the opportunity, Now, These words that we began with, We emphasized, That we have privileges, That the prophets of the Old Testament, Did not have, That we have the privilege, Of gospel, Blessings, Gospel, Preaching, Gospel, The word of God, In our own town, The word of God, In the life, History, Of most of you,
[55:13] And yet, We do not hear, What God is saying to us, We do not listen, To what, God is saying to us, John Elmer Kai, In his commentary, On the passage, That Jesus quotes, In the, From the prophet Isaiah, He points out, That, The people, That the prophet, Was sent to, And he, You know, When I became a minister, Of the gospel, I have to say that, I went out, Full of optimism, I went out, Certain, That, What I would do, God would bless it, Bless the preaching of the word, And, You know, I was fairly optimistic, That that would happen, But the prophet Isaiah,
[56:16] He was given, Given, Given a call from God, To go, And preach, To the people, And he was told, At the very outset, Of his, His ministry, You know, This is what, This is the kind of people, That you're going to be preaching to, A people, Whose ears, Are going to be closed, Whose hearts, Are going to be hard, Whose backs, Are going to be stiff, And unyielding, To the word, That's the ministry, That he was given, You say to yourself, Well, What, What kind of person, Would be able to go, And do that, And, The kind of person, Is somebody who was obedient, To the call of God, And what John L.
[57:10] Says, Their spiritual faculties, Had become so dull, That they could not, Understand, Or perceive, What was being said, To them from heaven, These were people, Who were covenant people, People who understood, The word of God, To a degree, Who knew God's promises, But did not retain them, And, Yet the prophet, Had to go, To them, Now, What we need to do, When we come to the likes, Of this parable, Is understand, Is that the gospel, Very simply, Is preached, So that we can hear it, And believe it, And act upon it, Jesus compares, The hearer, And the doer, Of the world, To somebody, Who built his house, On the rock, Do you remember, That illustration, That he uses, The wise man,
[58:12] Is the wise man, Is the man, Who builds, Upon the rock, And the wise man, Is the one, Who hears, And does, What God's word, Is saying, So the importance, Is not just, To be, Under the sound, Of the word, That is important, I would hate you, Not to be, In church, I would hate you, Not to be, Where God's word, Is preached, But I would rather, It more, That the word, That is preached, Would be listened to, And heard, With discernment, And understanding, John's price, One of the, American, Creatures, Says concerning this, The first ingredient, In the capacity, To understand, Spiritual truth, Is not, Intellectual capacity, But a moral,
[59:14] Disposition, Towards God, They did not believe, Because they were not, His, Sheep, Their incapacity, Derived from their, Relationship with them, Or lack of it, We must, Hear God's word, With faith, We must hear, God's word, With belief, We must hear, God's word, With trust, We must hear, God's word, With love, Words that you understand, That you know, What they mean, But they must all, Be brought to bear, Upon the word, That you're listening to, Because, When God speaks to you, He doesn't speak to you, As your enemy, He speaks to you, As somebody, Who in love, Has sent a son, Into the world, Who in love, Has presented the gospel, To you, Who in love, Has sent to you, To come to him, Now in the context, It shows that the one, Hearing, Is somebody,
[60:15] Who is submissive, To the will of God, Somebody, Who is, Not there, To argue a point, I wonder if that's, The way you are, You can ask this question, Of yourself, Because, Because I remember, You know, I can go back, A fair bit, In my memory, But I remember, What it was like, Before I was converted, And if a preacher, Was speaking to me, And sometimes, They were, And I knew, They were speaking to me, And under my breath, In the depth, Of my heart, I was challenging them, Go on then, Convince me, Go on then, Make me believe, What you have to say to me, And I was saying to them, Although they weren't hearing me, I'm not prepared, To believe your word, Because I thought, It was just the word, Of a man, The word, Of a minister, Was filing away the hours, Or whatever, We're used enough,
[61:17] To, To our parliaments, And we have, The government, Presenting, Their opinion, Presenting, Their, Decisions, And, Their, Coming to enact, Their laws, Of course, The opposition, They are, Opposed, That's the name, What's the name suggests, So it doesn't matter, What the government says, The opposition, Usually says, Opposite, Usually, They, Even if they, Believe what they're saying, They will find a way, Of disagreeing, Or making a statement, That suggests, I can't agree, With what they have, Now if your stance, If your attitude, To the gospel, Is like that, If you're hearing the gospel, And you're saying, Well I'm hearing you, But I'm not believing you, I'm hearing you, But I'm not listening, I'm hearing you, But I'm not willing, To take it on board,
[62:18] Then something is wrong, Something needs, To be put right, Christ is speaking here, To his disciples, And to others, And he says, When I speak, I speak to you, So that by hearing, What I have to say to you, You are hearing, As students, Of my word, You are hearing, The doctrines, The teachings, That will do your soul good, You are hearing things, That you need to put into practice, In your life, And the word of Christ, Carries that weight in it, Because of who he is, And sometimes, You know, You have to remember, That this goes on, Not just at the beginning, Of your life, Or, Or even before, You begin your Christian life, But the Christian, Is somebody, Who is sitting,
[63:19] At the feet of Christ, The way disciples, Sat at the feet of Christ, And sometimes, He says, To the believer, This is what you must do, And sometimes, The believer says, How can I do that?
[63:37] How can you expect me, To do that? How can you expect me, To behave like that? How can you expect me, To keep under check, Keep checking, Check what it is, That I am so naturally, Inclined to doing, But if they are, Christian believers, They are submissive, To the will, That Christ has revealed, To them in his word, So that they know, Whatever he says, He says it for my good, Now what Christ, Is teaching here, Returning to the parable, Just, The essence of it is, He's saying to you, You will find, When the word comes, That the word, Will be confronted, By, What is opposed to it, There is in this world, Opposition,
[64:37] To the word of God, This week, I received, A newsletter, From, A body, It's a Christian organisation, Called, The Middle East Reformed Fellowship, And they just describe, Their ministry, Usually, They're speaking to, To Christians, And, Evangelising those, Who are, In parts of the world, That, That have a very small, Christian constituent, Body, But they're talking about, The practical, Usefulness, Of, The, Internet, And one thing, That they say is, If it wasn't for the internet, We would not be able to, Access, Many parts of the world, That are closed, To the Christian, We couldn't speak to, Christians in Saudi Arabia, We couldn't, Speak to Christians, In Pakistan,
[65:39] Parts of these, Countries are closed, To the Christian missionary, But through the, Internet, They're able to do that, But at the same time, They make this observation, That the internet, Is not exclusively theirs, For any good, That they are able to do, There are many, Other, Organisations, And many other, People, Who use the internet, Not to do good, But to do harm, Now you know that, To be the case, Without even thinking about it, On the, On the level of, Evangelising, You know the evil, That the internet, Can introduce, Into the lives, Of many people, We were dependent, Upon the internet, When COVID struck, Because we couldn't, Meet publicly, The church services, Had to be accessed, Through the medium, Of the internet, And God be praised, That was there, But for every sermon,
[66:40] That was preached, For every testimony, That was heard, For every reading, Of the Bible, That was there, Tenfold, If not much, More than that, You find, Evil, Of all sorts, Presented, And it's, Set before you, Now Jesus, Is saying to us here, This is the day, Before the internet, When the seed, Is sown, When the seed, When the, When the sower, Goes out, There is always, There is always, The danger, That that seed, Will not, Come to fruition, I was reading, Just yesterday, Some passages, From the book, That talks about, The revivals, Of the 39, And 49 revivals, In the island of Lewis, Called sounds, From heaven, And something, That I was aware of, And reminded of, Was how many people, Talking about, Their personal experience,
[67:42] Of coming to faith, That they spoke about, Strivings of the spirit, What are strivings, Of the spirit, Well strivings, Of the spirit, Were when people, Were presented, With gospel truth, And from within, From within themselves, They did everything, In their power, To resist, The spirit, Bringing the truth, To bear upon their hearts, And minds, There was a struggle, God's word, Was coming to them, This was in the time, Of revival, The spirit of God, At work in a community, Even people there, Who had no knowledge, Of God, As far as, Being in a relationship, With God, Was concerned, One person, Was approached, By an elder, I think it was, And he was invited,
[68:42] To come to church, And he said, No, I'm not going to church, I know, He said, There's something, Supernatural, Going on in the community, Just now, But I don't want, To be part of it, I don't want, Any part of it, That's strange, That's very strange, That a person, Can know, That God is working, And not want, God, To be at work, In their lives, And yet, I think, It's just something, That Jesus, Is putting his finger, On here, People know, That I am speaking, People know, The words, That I am speaking, But I am, Not being heard, I am not being listened to, Verily I say unto you, That many prophets, And righteous men, Have desired,
[69:43] To see those things, Which you see, And have not seen them, To hear those things, Which ye hear, And have not heard them, Ah, well, There you go, I wonder if their eyes, Were looking forward, To a congregation, Like in Calanish here, And they are saying, To themselves, I wonder what it will be like, When God's spirit, Is poured out, I wonder what it will be like, When the gospel is preached, I wonder what it will be like, To be able to meet, Freely, Under that gospel, All of these privileges, You have, All of these privileges, That we have, And yet, They were denied, The prophets of old, The word of God, Was not,
[70:44] As freely available, The spirit of God, Was not so prevalent, In the, Accompaniment of God's word, But you don't, You don't, Have that excuse, You don't, You can't say to God, In the day, Great day of reckoning, Oh, I didn't hear you, You can say, I didn't listen, You'll have to, If you didn't, There'll be no hiding place, There'll be no place to go, The gospel, Leaves no one, With an excuse, The wicked one, We are told, Catches away, That which was sold, Maybe that's what's happening, Too often, I think, In all our lives, That has been our experience,
[71:47] Well, May God, In his mercy, Bring home to you, The truth, That Jesus, Conveys here, That we must hear, Hear, The parable, Hear, The word, Hear, What Jesus has to say to us, And we hear it, If we listen to it, He that receives seed, Into the good ground, Is he that hears the word, And understands it, Which beareth fruit, And bringeth forth, Some 100, Some 60, Some 30, Jesus knows, That we're all different, We've all got different capacities, We've all got different, Measures of ability, But that's not what counts, What counts, Is that we, Hear, To the saving of our soul, In acting through, Of each of us, Let us pray, Lord, We give thanks, That your word is, Essentially, Simple, There is never going to be, A person,
[72:48] Standing at the last day, Before you, Who will say, That they did not, Understand, What you were saying, To them, And on the basis, Of that failure, To understand, That they will be, Excused, Because of the difficulty, Of the message, There is always, An excuse, But they are, But excuses, Never reasons, We give thanks, For the provision, Of the gospel, For the invitation, To come to Jesus, And to, Avail ourselves, Of all that he is, To the sinner, We pray for mercy, For grace, To help in time of need, We ask all, Pardon in him, Amen, Going to conclude, Singing the words, Of Psalm 126, Psalm 126, We sing the whole, Psalm,
[73:48] When Zion's bondage, God turned back, And as men, That dreamed were we, When filled with laughter, Was our mouth, Our tongue, With melody, They among the heathens, Said, The Lord, Great things for them, Hath brought, The Lord hath done, Great things for us, Which joy to us is brought, We sing the whole, Psalm, When Zion's bondage, God turned back, When Zion's bondage, God turned back, As men that be dwelling, Then filled with glory, And washed of night,
[74:55] The belly hath said the Lord, If His heart they must yêu, The Lord hath done, If His foyer, When joy to the sins brought.
[75:30] As thieves of water in the sand.
[75:41] A whole cage darkly calm. Good to Meg on Him.
[75:52] God a great unto you.
[76:04] Tenط God morn, it can bless bring in the piscines.
[76:40] Rejoice in salvation. Now may grace, may she, and peace from God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit rest and abide with you all now and always.
[76:55] Amen.