[0:00] Good morning and a warm welcome to our worship this morning as we gather together to praise our Lord. My name is Thompson Mackenzie and I'm privileged to be leading our worship this morning. As we come to praise our Lord, let's hear the words of the psalmist. In Psalm 121 he declares, I will lift mine eyes to the hills from whence comes my aid. My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. So the Lord who is always with us, who never sleeps, let sing to his praise and his glory in Psalm 100 from the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 100, all people that on earth do well.
[0:56] Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with mirth his praise foreheld. Come ye before him and rejoice. Know that the Lord is God indeed. Without our aid he did us make. We are his flock he does us speak. And for his sheep he does us take. Let's sing to God's praise, all people that on earth do well.
[1:23] O people that on earth do well. Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. And serve with mirth his praise and for him. Come ye before him. Come ye before him and rejoice. Know that the Lord is God indeed. With the Lord is God indeed. He does us make. We are his flock. He does us speak. And for his sheep he does us take.
[2:49] O winter then his cage with praise. Approach with joy his force and dear.
[3:19] O Lord is God indeed. He does us take. But why, O Lord, our God is great. His mercy is O Lord, our God is great. His mercy is forever shed. His strength and all. Thy glory is forever shed.
[3:55] O Lord, our God is great. His strength and all. Thy glory is still. And shall comrade, O Lord, our God is great.
[4:19] let's come before God in prayer Father as we gather this morning we give you thanks that we can come before you we stand before you in awe and like the psalmist of old we lift our eyes to the hills from where does come our aid you are our aid and strength without you we can achieve nothing because you give us our power our strength and you are our guide we thank you for the beauty of this morning for the glory of the sunrise with the dazzling rays through the clouds for the certainty of the sun rising the certainty that it follows the darkness of the night we give you thanks for your creation for the wonders of its power and how it reflects your glory and your greatness yet in that nature we fail to see you and to see it as how it reflects your glory rather we close it out just like we so often close you out from our hearts how we close you out of our hearts and we go our own way for our own sake and for our own desires and yet as we run far from you your love for us has been unchanging ever since the day that you first created man your desire has been for us to be in communion with you to honour you and to give you praise and to walk with you always but we have set that aside and went our own ways but your love for us was so great that from the beginning of time you had set a plan for our salvation you had set aside the gift of your son your son who would come as our saviour that we be redeemed through him that the penalty of our sin the penalty of our ignorance in setting you aside would be paid by him that we could be forgiven and that he would bear our sins upon the cross we would be raised to a new life through him when you raised him from the tomb we give you thanks that in that new life that we are a new creation and that by accepting your son as our saviour we once more can know you as our loving father who walks with us guides us and whose love for us is unchanging so be with us now Lord as we come to praise your name to worship your eternal power and being that we worship you as a father for the gift of Christ your son and for your Holy Spirit for the Holy Spirit who goes with us in our journey through life that each day we may become more Christ-like and our praise to you may be ever greater and more true these things we ask
[8:19] through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen morning boys and girls good to see quite a number of you here this morning and I'm wondering if you sit at school and you have a question and you're unsure of what the answer is what do you do?
[8:42] do you sit there quietly or do you stick your hand up? well when I was at school you would stick your hand up you would wait for the teacher to recognise you and you would get a chance to ask your question so when we've got a problem to solve or something we don't understand we can ask questions so that we can get the answer and this morning I believe at Sunday school later on we're going to learn about a chap called Nicodemus and Nicodemus in John the Gospel of John chapter 3 comes to meet Jesus in the middle of the night because he's got questions that he's looking to get answered so he comes to Jesus who he calls Rabbi a teacher and he says he recognises that Jesus is from God and that he's a special relationship with God so he recognises that if he's got questions about God and how he can come to know
[9:51] God personally the best thing is to ask the teacher the one who knows so he comes to Jesus late in the evening into the night to ask questions about God and Jesus' relationship with God and he asks how he can come to know God similarly in the passage we get to see how we can get to know God and Jesus said that as a man he needed to be reborn he needed a new life and that life came by the guidance of the Holy Spirit and through the faith in Jesus he had to come to a personal knowledge of God but Nicodemus thought to himself how can I be reborn think about it when you're born you're a small child Nicodemus was now a growing man how could he be reborn after all as we get older we grow we get bigger we don't shrink but the problem was
[11:06] Nicodemus was thinking purely intellectually he was thinking as a man and about the physical things of earth and Jesus was saying to him that as well as being born as a baby we also need to be spiritually reborn so as well as being born physically we have to be spiritually born so we have the bit about he was already born to his mother and now he had to know God by being spiritually reborn by knowing God spiritually he could walk in his ways he could follow his commandments and he could get to know God better that would give him a new life and that new life would come through faith in Jesus is our saviour we are reborn not only being physically reborn but through the
[12:10] Holy Spirit spiritually and we are made a new creation and through being that new creation we can have a closer walk with God so this morning you will learn about Nicodemus and the questions that he has for Jesus and how he is reborn spiritually but that isn't something that simply happened 2000 years ago it's that message of that Jesus gives to Nicodemus is just as relevant today as it was then and Jesus tells Nicodemus in John chapter 3 verses 16 and 17 that for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent his son into the world not to condemn the world but the world through him might be saved so Jesus had a message for all the world for all mankind about salvation and that if we come to know
[13:26] Jesus as our saviour we can have eternal life with God so that was a message not just for 2000 years ago but a message for today and it's a message that the gospel tells us that we should share with everyone it's a message that we want to take to the whole world so hopefully your Sunday school today you'll get an opportunity to learn more about Nicodemus and about his chats with Jesus let's sing again to God's praise in our second psalm psalm 16 from the Scottish Psalter psalm 16 and we'll sing verses 7 to 11 let's sing to God's praise in God's glory
[14:38] I bless the Lord because he doth by counsel we conduct God do God humbled In the seasons of the night, my wings bear me in strife.
[15:22] Before me still, the Lord I set, set that his soul at me, Thou never shine at my heart.
[15:54] And I shall not live with thee, Because of this my heart is glad, And joy shall be expressed.
[16:27] In thy my glory, beyond my flesh, In confidence shall rest, Because my soul in him dwell, Shall not be led by thee, Nor will thy gift, Thy holy one, God hath chanted thee,
[17:31] Thou wilt be sure, The path of life, Of joy is there is, O storm, Before thine face, Thou thine bright hand, And thy praise be evermore.
[18:19] Our reading this morning is taken from the New Testament, from the book of Acts, chapter 13, reading from verse 13 to 43.
[18:31] Acts, chapter 13, verses 13 to 43. So here we are with Paul, In his first missionary journey.
[18:47] He has arrived in Cyprus, And is setting sail across to mainland. And we start at verse 13, As he leaves Paphos.
[18:58] Acts 13, verses 13, verse 13. Now with Paul and his company, Loose from Paphos, And they came to Perga and Pamaphilia, And John, departing from them, Returned to Jerusalem.
[19:15] But when they departed from Perga, They came to Antioch and Pisidia, And went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, And sat down. And after the reading of the law, And the prophets, The rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, Saying, Ye men and brethren, If ye have any word of exhortation for the people, Say on.
[19:38] Then Paul stood up, And beckoning with his hand, Said, Men of Israel, And ye that fear God, Give audience. The God of this people of Israel Chose our fathers, And exalted the people, When they dwelt to strangers, In the land of Egypt.
[19:58] And with a high arm, Brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years, He suffered he their banners, In the wilderness. But when he had destroyed seven nations, In the land of Canaan, He divided their land to them, By lot.
[20:14] And after that, He gave unto them judges, About the space of four hundred and fifty years, Until Samuel the prophet. And afterwards, They desired a king, And God gave unto them Saul, The son of Kish, A man of the tribe of Benjamin, By the space of forty years.
[20:37] But when he had removed him, He raised him up, Up unto them David, To be their king, To whom he also gave testimony, And said, I have found David, The son of Jesse, A man after mine own heart, Which shall fulfil all my will.
[20:57] Of this man's seed, Hath God, According to his promise, Raised unto Israel, A saviour Jesus. Now when John had first preached, Before his coming, The baptism of repentance, To all the people of Israel, And as John fulfilled his course, He said, Who think ye that I am?
[21:19] I am not he, But behold, There cometh one after me, Whose shoes of his feet, I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, Children of the stock of Abraham, And whosoever among you feareth God, To use the word of this salvation sent, For they that dwell at Jerusalem, And the rulers, Because they knew him not, Nor yet the voices of the prophets, Which were read every Sabbath day, They have fulfilled them, In condemning him.
[21:56] And though they found no cause of death in him, Yet desired they, Pilate, That he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled, All that was written of him, They took him down from the tree, And laid him in a sepulah.
[22:13] But God raised him from the dead, And he was seen many days of them, Which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, Who are his witnesses unto the people.
[22:24] And we declare unto you glad tidings, How that the promise, Which was made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled, The same unto us dear children, In that he hath raised up Jesus again.
[22:40] And it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my son, This day I have begotten thee. And it is concerning, That he raised him up from the dead, Now no more to return to corruption, He said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
[23:01] Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shall not suffer thine holy one to see corruption. For David, After he had served his own generation by the will of God, Fell in sleep, And was laid unto his fathers, And saw corruption.
[23:19] But he whom God raised again, Saw no corruption. But he whom God raised again, Saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, Men and brethren, That through this man is preached unto you, The forgiveness of sins.
[23:37] And by him all that believe are justified from all things, From which he could not be justified, By the law of Moses. Beware therefore, Lest it come upon you, Which is spoken of in the prophets.
[23:54] Behold you despisers, And wonder, And perish. For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise believe, Though a man declare it unto you.
[24:08] And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, The Gentiles besought that, These words might be preached to them, The next Sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, Many of the Jews and religious proselytes, Followed Paul and Barnabas, Who speaking to them, Persuaded them, To continue in the grace of God.
[24:32] Thanks be to God, For the reading of his holy word, And to his name be the glory and praise forever. Amen. Let's come before God once more in prayer.
[24:45] Let's stand and bow our heads in prayer. Father, as we have had the opportunity this morning, To give praise to your name, We bring before you now our fellow man, For people of all the earth, For wherever they may be.
[25:10] We pray that nations may come together, To aid our fellow man in times of difficulty. We think of the destruction, That we have heard of this week in Libya, By the floods.
[25:25] That we may come to the aid, Of those in need. That we will not judge their needs, And about whether they deserve it or not.
[25:40] But rather we see, Our fellow man in difficulty, And we respond in, A reflection of your love, For all men. And that we reach out, And care for them.
[25:55] We pray for others, Who have been the subject, Of nature's devastation. We think of the recent quakes, And the continuing needs in Syria and Turkey.
[26:10] The media and its focus, So quickly moves on, But the need and the desperation, Of people remain. Let us not be like the media, And just quickly move on, To the next crisis.
[26:25] But to have a care, And desire to show your love, Is ongoing, And is never ending. Father, We ask that, Although we look to bring assistance, And bring aid and peace, That true peace, That true peace, Comes only through you, And that we can use, These opportunities, To speak, Your gospel, And your words, Of salvation, To our fellow man.
[27:07] As we reach out to the world, We pray for your church, That you will continue to guide it, And you will continue, To strengthen it. We pray for your church abroad, That you will continue to, Encourage it to grow strong, That you will raise up, Indigenous leaders, Who know the cultures, Who know the people, And who know the language, And can speak directly, Into people's hearts.
[27:39] We pray that your spirit, Will move them, Whether they hear your gospel, For the first time, Or whether they have heard it before, That it will move them, To accept your son, As their saviour, And that your church, Would continue to grow, And we thank, We give you thanks Lord, For a church that continues to grow, Across the world, Even in the face of persecution, Think of, The Muslim state, The Islamic states, Where your word, Is so often, Violently, Curtailed, But we think also, Of other countries in Asia, And India, And Nepal, Places where, Your word is also, Thwarted, As you try to, Put it down, And to persecute your church, And we pray, For your church at home,
[28:40] We pray, That you will give us the courage, To speak out, Against injustice, And to speak out, Against the wrongs, In our society, That we will speak out, Where society, Goes against all, That you have taught us, The teachings, Of your scripture, And the blueprint, That you have gave us, For life, We pray, Lord, For our leaders, The ones, Who so often, Are involved, In passing, Such legislation, That, You will guide them, And that you will use them, For your purpose, Because although, They may be the rulers, Of this world, Lord, You are the one, Sovereign God, You are in control, Of all things, And you will use, All things, To fulfill, Your plans, As we have read,
[29:42] In the chapters, This morning, People will persecute, Your church, People put, Your son, To death, But you used it, For your glory, Lord, We pray, For our young people, As they, Now study, The word together, That they will, Grow, In their wisdom, And knowledge of you, And come to accept you, As their saviour, We pray, Lord, That you will protect them, From, The wider society, And, Satan's, Desire, To see them, Break away from you, Rather hold them close, Strengthen them, In their faith, And enable them, To come into, A full, And, Relationship, With you, A relationship, Which will go with them, Through their lives, And the relationship,
[30:43] That will grow, And through which, They will be happy, To share their word, Your word, With their, Fellow friends, And associates, These things, We ask through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and saviour, Amen, Let's sing again, To God's praise, In our, In Psalm 32, Psalm 32, Verses 1 to 5, Oh blessed is the man, To whom, Is freely pardoned, All the transgressions, He hath done, Whose sin is covered, Blessed is the man, To whom the Lord, Imputeth not his sin, And in his spirit, There is no guile, Nor fraud, Is found therein, Psalm 32, Let's sing, To God's praise, And to God's glory, O blessed is the man,
[31:44] To whom, His freely pardoned, All the transgression, He hath done, Whose sin is covered, Blessed is the man, To whom the Lord, The beauty, Lord, Is saved, And in his spirit, There is no guile, Nor fraud, Is found therein,
[32:45] When as I did, Reclaim my speech, And silent, And silent, Would my child, My bones, And watched, And guard, Because I holdeth All day long, For upon me both day and night, Thine hand is heavy light, So that my moisture garnishes in sufferer thereby.
[33:53] I there upon have unto thee my sin of knowledge, And likewise my iniquity I have not committed.
[34:28] I will confess unto the Lord my trespasses day, And of my sin that we lead, Forgive me iniquity.
[35:11] Before we look at the passage, let's briefly bow our heads in prayer. Father, we thank you for the reading of your word, And may the words of my mouth and the thoughts of our minds and hearts Be acceptable in thy sight.
[35:29] These things we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Redeemer. Amen. So this morning as we look at this passage from Acts 13, We want us to pay particular attention to verse 39.
[35:46] And by him, all the, sorry, verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, That through this man is preached unto you, The forgiveness of sins.
[36:00] That through Christ, we have the forgiveness of our sins. But what does forgiveness mean for you as an individual? Is it something that you have experienced yourselves?
[36:15] Is it something that you are unsure of? Or is it something that you feel is irrelevant to your life at this present time? This morning's passage, and in particularly verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, That through this man is preached unto you, The forgiveness of sins.
[36:39] We see God's plan for redemption of man, And for the forgiveness of his sins. We see the clear, the wonders of forgiveness, Through Christ's sacrifice on the cross.
[36:55] And we see the dangers of rejecting God's offer of salvation through Christ. It's something that is offered freely to us, But it's something also which if we refuse and reject, There is also a penalty, a consequence.
[37:13] So first, what is this sin? What does sin mean? Sin is an action or an omission against God's law.
[37:26] So it's to do something deliberately, Or to admit from doing something that God has commanded of us. Paul declares to us in this passage, That by Christ's death, His hearers are clear of all wrongdoing.
[37:45] They are forgiven of their sin through Jesus Christ, And his death on the cross. In preparing the service this morning, I was making notes on my phone.
[37:57] And one of the things that came to mind was, How powerful is some of the buttons on our phone? And in one button in particular, The clear button, Or the delete button.
[38:12] We make a mistake, We hit the delete button, And the mistake is gone. It vanishes. It's never to be seen again. How good it would be in life, If we had a delete button.
[38:27] You make a mistake, You hit the delete button, And it's gone. It's never more cast up to you. The message of verse 38, Is exactly that.
[38:41] That God has created a delete button for man. That through Christ, We have the forgiveness of our sins. That they are gone from us.
[38:53] Be it known unto you therefore, Men and brethren, That through this man is preached unto you, The forgiveness of sin. Through Christ, We have a delete button, Where our sins are taken away from us.
[39:09] But, Have you called upon God, To activate that delete button? Have you called upon Christ, For the forgiveness of your sins, By accepting him, As your saviour?
[39:24] Or, Are you like so many of us, Still haunted by, Your wrongdoings, By your sins and failures of the past? Do we continually, Go back the way, And recall our sins?
[39:42] Many of us, Will have expressed, And experienced, God's forgiveness, God's forgiveness, Some of you may know, About God's forgiveness, And yet, Be slow to call upon him, And to claim it for yourselves, Instead of, Claiming Christ as our saviour, And hitting that delete button, We hit, The recall button, We hit the button, That causes us continually, To call back, All the sins, And all of our wrongdoings, And you know what, Satan loves it, Because when we do that, We do his work for us, For him, Because, We undermine ourselves, You undermine, Your, Yourself, And you undermine, The forgiveness that God, Has planned for you, You reinforce, The idea, That forgiveness, And salvation,
[40:43] Is beyond you, It's something, That you are not worthy of, If we think of, The parable, Of the prodigal son, The son goes to his father, He asks for his share, Of his inheritance, Even though the father hasn't died, And he heads off, To a foreign land, He heads off, Looking to, Make his way in the world, And the best we can say, Is he lives a loose life, And soon his money is spent, It's squandered, And the son, No longer sees himself, As worthy, As being his father's son, He falls in difficult times, There's a famine in the land, And as a Jew, He's forced to feed pigs, How low can he go, And he realises, He's the peapods, The pigs are eating, Is more than he has, And he thinks to himself,
[41:44] I can go back to my father, Not as a son, But as a hired hand, I can go back to, My father as a servant, And he, Will make sure, That I have more, Than I ever have here, So he heads home, The father sees him, Coming from a far distance, And the father, Who's waited long, For his return, Runs to meet him, And he has a great celebration, The father is pleased, To see his son return, And so it is, With God, He longs to see our return, In Luke 15, We hear how, The heavens celebrate, At the return, Of one repentant sinner, Than the 99 righteous, Who are already there, Verse 38 declares, That in Christ, Your sins are forgiven,
[42:45] That in Christ, You have a new life, And a new beginning, The problem, Too often, Is our, Definition of forgiveness, So as we're, Working our way, Through the sermon, Uses the phone, To look up, A definition of sin, Sorry, Definition of forgiveness, And this is the definition, That comes up, It's an intentional decision, To let go of resentment, And anger, Though the hurt, And the fence, May always be with you, Just think of that, It's an intentional decision, To let go of resentment, And anger, Though the hurt, And the offense, May always, Be with us, And that, Is a real problem, Because, It means we're actually, Not letting go, Of our wrongdoings, That they're still with us,
[43:47] The pain, And the hurt, Is still with us, And if you think back, To the days, Before computers, It's almost like, If we remember, TipX, And for younger folk, In the audience, TipX was a white fluid, We used to dab, Across the mistakes, We make, And, It's like tipX, Because, We can move on, From our mistakes, But, They're still with us, We could hand in, We could hand in, We could hand in, We could hand in, We could hand in, We could hand in, To teachers, And lecturers, And they would have known, That we made a mistake, Because although, It was covered up, It was still there, For people to see, That is what we do, With our sins, If, We see forgiveness, Has been an intentional, Intentional, Decision, To let go of the, Resentment and anger, But the hurt, And the offence, Is still there, We can move on,
[44:48] From our mistakes, But the act, Is always before us, It's still, On the page, How far, Is God's, Forgiveness, From that definition, In the Psalms, We learn, That it's the polar opposites, Forgiveness for God, Is something, Far, Far greater, In John 1, 29, John the Baptist, Cries as he sees, Jesus, Coming towards him, Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away, The sin of the world, Jesus, Removes our sin from us, Biblical idea, Of forgiveness, Is that, Our sin, Is lifted, Off of us, It's taken from us, John Bunyan, In his book, Pilgrim's Progress, Gives a great example, Christian, One of the main characters, Or the main character, Is weighed down,
[45:49] By the burden of sin, It's like a giant, Rock sack, In his back, And each time, That he sins, That burden, Becomes greater, It weighs him down, More and more, But he comes, To the cross, The burden of sin, Falls from his shoulders, It rolls down the hill, And into, The empty tomb, His burden, Is gone, It's lifted, From his shoulders, If you come to Christ, And claim Christ, As your saviour, Your sin is removed, And it is laid, Upon Christ's shoulders, Christ, Beared it, For you, On his cross, At calvary, And he didn't, Simply die, On that cross, At calvary, But he was laid, In the grave, And he was risen, On the third day, And just as, Our sins are taken from us, And placed upon Christ's shoulders, So,
[46:50] We, Are clothed, In his righteousness, In his resurrection, When we, Accept him as our saviour, When we, If you confess your sins, You're weighed down, No more, We are lifted from you, Isaiah, God says in Isaiah 43, 25, I, Even I am he, Who blotteth out thy transgressions, For mine own sake, And I will not remember thy sins, So God, Not for our sakes, But for his own sake, Casts away our sins, And he will remember them, No more, Paul writes in Colossians, How Christ, Took his, Our sins, Onto himself, In 2.14 he says, He took it, Out of the way, Nailing it, To the cross, Jesus dealt, With our sins, On the cross,
[47:51] That we, May have forgiveness, God, God, God doesn't keep our sins, Ready to cast up, Rather, He casts them from us, As far as the north is, From the south, He doesn't put them aside, Waiting for the moment, That he can throw them back at us, And say, Ha ha, I knew you would do that, Remember you did this before, Rather, He takes them from us, And casts them aside, We see in the passage, The centrality of the cross, Christ's sacrifice for you, By the sharing of his blood, And, On the sharing of his blood, He, Cleanses, Your sins, And removes them from you, Your sins are gone, God has promised that through Christ, There is a plan for man's redemption, He is a plan, For restoring man, To a proper relationship with him, Paul highlights this,
[48:53] With a brief and potted history, Of the Israelites, In verse 17, He highlights that, The Israelites were God's chosen people, Not for, What they had done, They weren't in some, Two thousand or six thousand euro, X factor, Showing how gracious they were, Rather, God chose them, For his glory, And not because of anything, That was worthy in them, And similarly today, He calls us, To come to heaven, As a saviour, Not because of anything, That you have done, Not because, Of our worth, But because of his grace, And mercy towards us, God made the plan, Knowing that man would fall, God is omniscient, He knows all things, He knows man's frailties,
[49:54] He knows your weaknesses, And he set his plan, For your redemption, And it was decided, From the beginning of time, In Revelation 13, 8, We read, The book of life, Of the lamb, He was slain, From the foundation, Of the world, God had a plan, To redeem us, Through the death, Of his son, When his people, Trust in him, They are blessed, And even, As we see, Deported history, He sees, He permits them, To have things, Which are not always, In their best interest, But which, They so desire, Even, When he has pointed out, The faults, The people, Had rejected God, As their king, And wanted, A king to be like, All the other nations, And God gave them, Their wish through Saul, But he had warned them, Of the dangers of a king,
[50:57] And the problems, That it would have, Of how he would, Tax their people, How he would enlist, Their young men, Into their armies, But he gave them, Their wish, But when Saul, Refused, To keep God's commands, And follow, What he desired, God withdrew, His blessings from him, And he raised up David, In verse 22, We read how, David was a man, After God's own heart, That God had seen, That he would fulfill, God's desire for him, And from David's line, Because of that, He would bring forth, A saviour, One who would forgive, Your sins, And who would take away, Your sin, He would raise up, His son, The Lord Jesus Christ, Verse 25, John the Baptist, Proclaims, The high rank, Of the saviour,
[51:57] Who was to come, We read in verse 25, And as John fulfilled, His course, He said, Whom think ye, That I am, I am not he, But behold, There cometh one after me, Whose shoes of his feet, I am not worthy, To loose, John, Proclaims, The coming of Christ, As our saviour, One whose sandals, John the Baptist, Would not be fit, To untie, Now the Jews, Awaited the Messiah, And yet, We read later, How they put him to death, How could this be, Well part of the problem, Was the type of Messiah, That many expected, To come, That was to come, They expected the Messiah, To come as a great leader, To come as a great man, Who would free, Israel, And once more establish it, Amongst the nations, So you can imagine,
[52:59] They are waiting, For this temporal leader, This leader, Who would throw off, The slavery of Rome, And would once more, Establish a free nation, But rather, God had different plans, God sent his son, To come as a baby, As an outcast, Born in a stable, And a refugee, Who had to flee, Hehered, He sent, The saviour of the world, To be a sacrificial lamb, For the world, He would be a sacrifice, And an atonement, For sin, He would reconcile, God, And man, He wouldn't be, A great leader, Who would come, From a great, Dynasty, He would be, An ordinary man, Who was both, God, And man, Paul explains, The gospel, And why,
[53:59] The Jews in Jerusalem, Put Jesus to death, Even though, They were waiting for him, And even though, They could find no fault, They condemned him to death, Because they did not understand, The scriptures, That they read, Each Sabbath day, In the synagogue, The Old Testament scriptures, Would be read, And also, Would be read, The prophets, The words of the prophets, But the people, They heard it, Were deaf, They would close their ears, And they heard, What they wished to hear, They heard, For example, In Isaiah 9, 7, Of the, How he would increase, The government, Of the people, How there would be, An eternal, Leadership, And there would be, Justice forevermore, How guilty, Can we be of that,
[55:01] That we take, Part of a message, The part that appeals to us, And set the other part aside, How often, Do we take, God's message, Of salvation, Of, Of his love for man, That set aside, The need, For us to repent, And believe, And to change, Our lives, This ignorance, Ensured the fulfillment, Of God's plan, We see especially, How it fulfills, The prophecy, In Isaiah 53, That, There would come, A saviour, One who would, One who would, Bear the iniquities, Of man, Who would suffer, For man, That that wasn't something, That the Jews, Wish to hear, They wish to hear, About the great, The idea of a great man, Who would be an eternal leader, In verse 35,
[56:03] We see, The, The future, That God had planned, And Paul, Paraphrases, Psalms 16 and 10, Verse 35, Reads, Wherefore, He saith, Also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer, Thine holy one, To corruption, In Psalm 16, Verse 10, We read, For thou will not leave, My sin, My soul in hell, And neither will thou, Suffer thine holy one, To see corruption, In verse 35, We see that, When David died, He would die, He would be laid in the grave, And he would see corruption, Just like any other man, But Jesus, When he died on the cross, For your sins, He would be laid in the grave, But he would not see corruption, He would not remain there,
[57:06] Rather on the third day, He was raised to a new life, A life eternal, And a life which we share, With him, If we accept him, As our saviour, Verses 32 and 37, Paul declares, The good news, Of that resurrection, He declares, And we declare unto you, Glad tidings, How that the promise, Which was made unto the fathers, God has fulfilled, The same unto us, Your children, And that he has raised up, Jesus again, As it is also written, In the second psalm, Thou art my son, This day I have begotten you, We have the good news, Our saviour is risen, And he now intercedes before us, Before our heavenly father, But as I said, At the beginning of this sermon, There is also a warning, In verse 41,
[58:07] Behold ye despisers, And wonder and perish, For I work a work in your days, A work that ye shall in no wise believe, Though a man declare it to you, Here, Paul is, Recanting the verses from Hadacook, It's a warning, That, We, Will be condemned, And we will perish, If we do not accept, The good news, That Christ has came, For the forgiveness of our sins, And to raise us to a new life, If you reject God's offer of forgiveness, Through Christ, There are consequences, There's a penalty to be paid, You have an opportunity, You have the chance, To accept Christ as your saviour, But reject it, And you will perish, We think back to Luke 13,
[59:10] Where we're told, To force our way through the narrow door, Because a time will come, When that door will be closed, And you will be in the outside, And those who are in the outside, Will be in sorrow and grief, As you watch, The others celebrate, Their life with Christ, We, And you have the free offer of forgiveness, Through Christ, Forgiveness, And power, To overcome sin, Are not something, That is within, Your human capacity, There is nothing, That you can do, To earn forgiveness, For your sins, It only comes, Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, Only God, Can forgive, And give us the power, To live, In obedience to him, By the Holy Spirit, Through Christ, So what does,
[60:10] Forgiveness mean for you, As I said at the beginning, You may see it, To something, That is not relevant, To your life, But rather, It is something, That is extremely relevant, To your life, It is something, That has implications, For your life, Not just today, But for all eternity, It is not something, To be unsure of, All of us are unworthy, And all have sinned, Against God, But through his Holy Spirit, Christ calls you, To him, To accept him, As your saviour, And to know, That your sins are forgiven, Be assured, That through Christ, Knowing sins, Are beyond forgiveness, Although, We are not worthy, Of forgiveness, God in his mercy, Seeks us,
[61:11] To come to him, To have a new life, And for our sins, To be forgiven, Through Christ, The good news, Is that forgiveness, And salvation, Through Jesus Christ, Is freely offered, And as it was offered, Two thousand years ago, On the cross, As it was offered, By Paul, As he preached, So today, That same offer, Remains, You are forgiven, And saved, Only, By trusting, In the person, And the works, Of Jesus Christ, As your saviour, We are not saved, We are not saved, By our own ends, By our own efforts, But only, Through Christ, Therefore, We should give thanks, To the Lord, For the offer, Of forgiveness, That he gives to us, Let's bow our heads, In prayer, Father,
[62:12] Father, We thank you, For the message, Of your word, That you, Are our holy father, Who calls us, To a right relationship, With us, With you, Who calls us, Back to yourself, Knowing that, We cannot meet, Your standards, That we can, Not, Know you, By our own efforts, You have given us, The gift of your son, The son, Through whom, We can once more, Come into a right relationship, With us, The son, Who today, Intercedes for us, Before you, And we give you, Thanks Lord, For the power, Of the Holy Spirit, To move our hearts, To accept you, As our heavenly father, Through Christ, Your son, These things, We give thanks,
[63:12] Through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, Amen, Let's sing again, To God's praise, As we close our service, This morning, In Psalm 130, Psalm 130, From the Scotty Psalter, And this psalm, Is just, So appropriate, For, The message of forgiveness, Lord, From the depth, To thee I cried, My voice, Lord, Do thou hear, And through my supplication's voice, Give an attentive ear, As we cry out, For forgiveness, God hears our call, God hears us, And he listens to us, Lord, Who shall stand, If thou, Lord, Should smark iniquity, But yet, With thee, Forgiveness is, That fear, Thou mayest be, So if God held our sins against us, We would have no chance of forgiveness, But we are the God,
[64:12] Who cares, And loves us, I wait for God, My soul doth wait, My hope is in his word, More than thee, That for morning watch, My soul waits for the Lord, Our hope, Is in his scriptures, He tells us, Of the opportunity for salvation, I say, More than they that do watch, The morning light to see, That Israel hope in the light, For with them mercies be, Our salvation is by God's grace, By the mercy that he shows to us, Out of his deep and unending love, And plentious redemption is ever found with him, And from all his iniquities, He Israel shall redeem, Through God we have redemption, Not through ourselves, So let's sing to God's praise, And to God's glory,
[65:13] Psalm 130, Lord from the depths to thee I cry, My voice Lord do thee hear, And to my supplications voice, Give an intent of the earth, Lord from the depths, To thee I cry, My voice Lord do thee hear, And to my supplications voice, Give an attempt to the earth, Lord from the prisoners, Lord from the seize wills,
[66:14] Lord from the supreme world, And to my act in silence, Nobody will indeed dreamed, But yet with thee, For him is this That fear the mayest be I wait for God My soul does Which my hope is in his word More than me that For morning wash My soul is born to go
[67:21] I say more than They love to watch The morning light to see Let Israel In the dark Or let him Excuse me And plenteous Redemption Is ever found With him And from all his
[68:26] Iniquities He is The Church of Re May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Go with us now and forevermore And the people of God said Amen Okay Amen Oh