[0:00] Thank you for the warm welcome. It's lovely to be with you this evening and indeed over the weekend.
[0:16] And we pray that together we know the blessing of the Lord as we seek to worship him in spirit and in truth. And we'll do that just now, we pray, by singing to God's praise from Psalm number 9.
[0:28] Psalm number 9, reading at the beginning of the psalm. And cause on throne sats judging right.
[1:02] We'll sing verses 1 to the verse mark 9 to God's praise. Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart. Lord, thee I'll praise with all my heart.
[1:23] Thy wonders shall proclaim. In people's time I give thee joy.
[1:41] And sing unto thy name. When by my foes were turned in hell, And perish thou thy sight.
[2:08] For thou lifteth thy right and cause On throne sats judging right.
[2:27] The healer, thy rebuke in thine, The wicked overthrown, Thou hast to love their midst of faith, May nevermore be long.
[3:06] O where we know these judgments are, O where we know these judgments are, On them perfect to love, Thou hast to have sigh of faith, And our Lord have come.
[3:40] For joy and joy, For joy and joy, For judgment set his throne, In righteousness to gather the world, Justice to give each one.
[4:21] For yours so will a refuge be, For those that die your past, A refuge will be in times, Of devil to his place.
[4:59] Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let's stand. Gracious and ever-blessed God, we come this evening out of worship, Seeking that indeed in our hearts we may know something of what it is to worship, To bow ourselves before the King of kings and Lord of lords, To humbly sit under your word and listen what God the Lord might speak, For to whose folk he speaks peace.
[5:49] That we might not have that proud and lofty spirit, Whereby we seek to stand over your word and condemnation, But rather that we would have that very real sense, That we come together as a people in the presence of the Almighty.
[6:11] And what a privilege that is for us this evening, That we are able to come aside from the busyness of life, To join together one with another with that, Longing in our hearts to see something of the beauty of your holiness.
[6:31] We come and we confess this evening that we are not worthy of such a blessing as this, That you would look upon us in your love and your mercy, In your kindness and in your goodness.
[6:47] But all the more we come with a spirit of worship as we realize afresh the reality of the fact that We come not with our own worthiness, Our own righteousness, Which your word tells us is as soiled garments, As filthy rags.
[7:08] But rather we come laying before you, Which you have already given to us, The righteousness of your Son, The Lord Jesus Christ, The one who cried out, It is finished.
[7:25] And so we thank you, O Lord, That we can have our identity not in the ebb and flow of the tides of our providence, But rather in the one who is an anchor to our soul, Sure and steadfast, Who cannot be moved, Regardless of how we might feel this evening, The one who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
[7:53] And so we thank you, O Lord, That you are our rock and our salvation, That as we gather over these days, We do so, yes, with an eye to ourselves, But all the more with an eye to what you have done on that cross on Calvary's hill, For you died so that we might live, For what you are doing for us even this day, Revealing yourself to us through your word, Through providence, By your spirit, Throwing near to us as a people, Acknowledging and promising that you will never let us go there with us, Every step of the way as we sojourn through this wilderness that is time, And also giving thanks and praise for what you are yet to do, For as we come and as we remember your death, We do so until you come again.
[8:56] And so we thank and we praise you for that blessed assurance That indeed for those of us who are in Christ, The best is yet to come, That as we look around us and we see in many ways and at many times Nothing but death and decay, We look forward, We look forward to the glory of that hope that belongs to us in Christ, The one who conquered the grave, The one who took the sting out of death, The one who has given to his people eyes that can look beyond the few short years we have here in time, Into that endless age of eternity that we will call home.
[9:46] We acknowledge that this is at times a view that is blurred by our own perhaps unbelief, By that which we are yet to have revealed to us.
[10:01] But all the same we give thanks that you through the lattice of your word We are pleased to reveal something of the glories of your kingdom, Even here in time as your spirit reveals to us the wonder of what it is to be called a child of God.
[10:21] And we pray that for all of us gathered here tonight, That this would be our testimony, That we would not be satisfied with the fleeting things of time and sense, The things that promise so much, Yet time and time again fail to deliver.
[10:39] But rather that we would be found by faith, Through grace, Clinging boldly to your promises. Promises that reveal to us that blessed hope of glory, That can be ours tonight in Christ.
[10:57] So we pray for any here, Who are perhaps strangers to grace and to God. Those who are quite happy to live a life separate from you, As we once were ourselves, That you would even this evening open the eyes of their understanding, Convict them of their sin, Convince them of their need of Christ, And convert them, And convert them, We pray, To that glorious way of salvation.
[11:27] You are able, O Lord, We know that. And as we find ourselves perhaps in a day of small things, We are reminded also of the fact that you call us, Not to despise such days, Because although we may be in a day of small things, We come and we worship a great, great God.
[11:48] And so we pray that you might be pleased to revive us again, To renew our communities, To turn our worlds upside down, Through an outpouring of your Holy Spirit, So that even in this community here in Convince, That men and women, boys and girls, Would be found crying out, What must I do to be saved?
[12:11] And that they would know in a very real way, What it is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray for any here who are perhaps struggling in their faith, Those who are perhaps going adrift, Maybe in their hearts, Who are continually aware of the lament of the one of old, Who cried out, My leanness, My leanness.
[12:35] Those who are perhaps longing to know the warmth of the light of your countenance, Shining upon them again. We pray that even during these days, That your word accompanied by your spirit, Would speak to their hearts, And to reveal them, To remind them, Of the fact that you are the friend, That sticks closer than a brother.
[12:58] You will never leave us, Nor forsake us. And that you would draw them back to yourself, With a renewed vigor and zeal, To serve the one, Who has served by giving himself for us.
[13:13] Oh Lord, we pray then, That you would bless your word to us, Read and sung, That all that we seek to do this evening, Would ultimately be to the glory of your name. And all we ask, We ask for forgiveness of sin, In Jesus name.
[13:28] Amen. Well friends, Let's continue singing together to God's praise. This time from Psalm 19. Psalm 19 at verse 7.
[13:39] God's law is perfect and converts, The soul in sin that lies. God's testimony is most sure, And makes the sinful wise.
[13:54] The statutes of the Lord are right, And do rejoice the heart. The Lord's command is pure, And doth light to the eyes impart.
[14:05] We're going to sing verses 7 to 11, To the praise of God, God's law is perfect and converts. God's law is perfect and converts, The soul in sin that lies.
[14:30] God's death in only his culture, The soul in sin that lies. And do rejoice the heart.
[14:44] The statues of the Lord are bright, and to rejoice the heart.
[15:03] The Lord's home of His pure wonder, like to be nice and far.
[15:19] Unsported is the fear of all, a God endured forever.
[15:35] The justice of the Lord are true, but righteous all together.
[15:52] May more than gold give us fine gold, to be beside the eye.
[16:11] That had the honey from the tomb, that dropped the sweeter palm.
[16:28] More over the night shaman's war, how in He His night should fade.
[16:45] And every word no fight it is, for then not keep the same.
[17:06] Well friends, we can turn now to read God's word together. We're going to read from the first epistle of Peter, 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, and we can read the whole chapter together.
[17:34] Let us hear God's word. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
[18:03] Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, you love, in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.
[19:48] unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us, they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
[20:08] wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.
[20:43] And if you call on the Father who, without respect of persons, judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.
[20:53] For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
[21:34] Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit and to unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
[21:58] For all flesh is as grass and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.
[22:12] And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. Amen. We pray God's blessing on that reading of his own holy word.
[22:26] Friends, before we come back to that chapter together, we're going to sing once more, this time from Psalm 51. Psalm 51, reading at the beginning of the psalm.
[22:36] The great psalm of confession. After thy loving kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me, for thy compassions great blot out, O mine iniquity, me cleanse from sin and through thee wash from mine iniquity, for my transgressions I confess my sin I ever see.
[23:08] We're going to sing verses 1 to 7 to God's praise. After thy loving kindness, Lord. After thy loving kindness, Lord, have mercy upon me, for thy compassions take the time all my iniquity.
[23:51] He cleanse from sin and through thee wash from my iniquity.
[24:09] For thy compassions I confess my sin I ever see.
[24:28] and see thee, O king of thy sin and thy sight of this hell.
[24:46] But when thou speak O king of thyoof through the ChGM room sing the glory of thy grace and infer fingers The buscando Jehovah iniquity Iniquity Was born the womb within My mother also belongs to In guiltiness and sin Behold the heavenly inward parts
[25:51] With truth delighted arm And wisdom thou shalt make me know Within the hidden parts With his soul strengthen me I shall be cleansed so He washed of me And then I shall be whiter Than the stone
[26:52] Well friends for a short time this evening Let's turn back to the chapter we read together 1 Peter chapter 1 I'm going to read the verses 18 and 19 For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold From your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers But with the precious blood of Christ As of a lamb without blemish and without spot Especially those words With the precious blood of Christ I'm going to begin by reading words of an old hymn Written by the hymn writer Robert Lowry in 1876
[27:57] Who can wash away my sin Sorry, what can wash away my sin Nothing but the blood of Jesus What can make me whole again Nothing but the blood of Jesus These are words that tell us tonight A truth that I hope I pray that all of us gathered in here Know for ourselves A glorious reality A powerful reality The reality that it's only the blood of Jesus Christ That will cleanse us from all of our sins But I wonder friends this evening If we're being honest with ourselves and me with you When was the last time we paused and we reflected
[28:57] Just on how important these very words are When was the last time we really thought about the implications Of the precious blood of Jesus As we join together on this communion weekend On this Friday evening I hope that's what we're going to do together As we come to the text that we have before us For as much as you know that you were not redeemed With corruptible things as silver and gold From your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father But with the precious blood of Christ And so here we are then in 1 Peter And just by way of context We know that this writer This scribe of this epistle He's the same Peter that we've met once before He is of course the Peter who at another time
[30:01] Denied Jesus three times He is the Peter who by personality Was brash and bold and impulsive Who spoke without thinking Yet nonetheless the Peter that we have before us here Is the Peter that the Lord still chose to use We see this throughout scripture He was the spokesperson if you like For the twelve disciples Whenever something needed to be dealt with He seemed to be the one who would take the reins And lead the other men We see this in Acts chapter 1 verse 15 We see that it's Peter himself Who sets the ball rolling When a replacement for Judas is needed Then in Acts chapter 2 On that great day of Pentecost We see that it's Peter who stands up In all of his fullness To affirm the authenticity
[31:03] Of the spirituality of the people You'll remember that On that great day of Pentecost As the Spirit was working mightily Those around who perhaps weren't Being affected themselves by the Spirit They threw accusations They cast aspersions They said that the people of God Were in fact drunk Peter said no He stood up and he boldly spoke On behalf of God and his people To say that this was indeed A work of the Spirit Time and time again We see this with Peter Yes he had faults and failings And that's what's so refreshing About scripture Isn't it friends That the Lord never glosses over The faults and failings Of the saints of old When we read autobiographies We perhaps read the details Of the lives of those Who have passed on Who've lived rich lives
[32:03] In many ways Yet we only really get The good bits We're never really left Finding out who the real person was But that's not the way it is In scripture Because we see that With Peter He's a person With a past Yet a person Who's not defined By his past But defined By his Saviour Now it's thought That this epistle It was written around A.D. 64 To 65 And this is an Extremely significant Point In the history Of the Roman Empire In July of A.D. 64 The city of Rome itself It was completely destroyed By fire It was thought even That this city Had been set alight By the emperor The emperor Nero On purpose We might wonder why Why would the emperor Of a city Decide to
[33:04] Set his own city Alight Well there was a reason For this He wanted to Burn down the city So that he could rebuild It bigger And better But as he did that Resentment set in The people Were outraged They lost their home They lost their livelihood They couldn't believe That their very own Emperor Set in And so There was mutiny If you like In the ranks Someone Had to come To account For such An atrocity What happened Well as often happens When a negative light Shines On a leader The leader then Shines the light Elsewhere And so to take the heat Off himself What the emperor Did was He turned the light On the young And early church He turned The light of blame Upon Christians
[34:04] He pinned the blame He pinned the blame Upon those Who were an Easy target Those Who weren't Strong If you like In and of themselves Humanly speaking At least And so Consequently What happened Was that There was Rife persecution All throughout The Christian Community So that They wouldn't Fear Of Their lives Why is this Relevant Well it's relevant Because What Peter is doing Is he's writing Here To those Weary And tired Pilgrims And as he writes To these Weary and tired Pilgrims What he's seeking To do Is to Encourage them Tonight You might be Feeling Weary And tired I've no doubt That many of you Are It's a battle It's a warfare Being a Christian It's not easy It's not a walk
[35:04] In the park If you like And at times We feel like Giving up Perhaps Left to ourselves And so Peter Writes this letter Yes To the church Here But also To you And To me And what he does Is He tries to Encourage us So that we would Remain positive So that even When we ourselves Find ourselves Perhaps in the dark Days of our Providence We don't become Bitter We don't lose Faith or hope We always Remember not To trust And I know It's easier said Than done But not to trust In our circumstance But rather In the person And in the work Of the Lord Jesus Christ And what better Way to start This first Part of this letter By making Direct reference To something That is of Primary importance To their faith
[36:05] To your faith To mine To the whole Of the gospel And that is The precious Blood Of Christ Now the Bible Is a book That is full of blood Full of blood I think there are Around about 450 references To blood All through The pages Of scripture From Genesis Through to Revelation Blood Is central It's central To the whole Redemption Narrative And that's not Without reason Because the very God who's Designed blood And it is God who's Designed blood And blood Had to be designed Because it works So wonderfully And so powerfully The very God Who designed blood To work in such A miraculous way In our bodies Is the very God Who's chosen To have blood At the very heart Of the plan Of salvation So that this Crimson thread
[37:06] Runs right through The story Of redemption But why is this Well to answer that We go back To the garden Of Eden I don't need to Remind you What happened there Upon disobeying The order of God Not to eat Of the tree Of the knowledge Of good and evil Yes Adam and Eve Could have everything Else in the garden Apart from this One tree Not to go near it Yet what did they do They disobeyed So that Adam As the federal head The covenant head He plummeted The human race Into that state Of sin And misery Communion between Man and God Which had been Uninterrupted Was now interrupted It was now Interrupted By that great Cloud Of sin So that this Great chasm Was now formed Between God And between man
[38:07] Between you and me That's why We need Jesus Christ To bridge That chasm To take us And to allow us To have that fellowship With God The Father How does that happen?
[38:24] Well it all Comes back To the blood And even when we Go back to The Old Testament There in Leviticus 17 It's maybe not a book That you choose To read often Yet it's a book That if you Dig deeply enough You see It's so full Of Christ Leviticus 17 What do we read there?
[38:48] We read a statement That is central To all that we're Thinking about This weekend For the life Of the flesh Is in The blood The life The life Of the flesh Is in The blood Physically speaking That is true When the blood Fails to reach The cells in our bodies The members of our bodies What happens?
[39:16] Those cells Those members They gradually Begin To die When the heart Ceases to pump The blood Around our body What happens?
[39:27] We We Ourselves We die The life Is in the blood And we die All because Adam Took That fruit And Adam Took As Adam Took that fruit What happened Was That his blood Was contaminated By sin So that you And me As his seed Our blood Is also Contaminated By sin So that process Of death And decay Began to take place Not only in him But in all His offspring It's quite a bleak Picture But of course We're left Where we're in that Hopeless and helpless State of death And decay After all That's why we're here I hope This weekend To remember That in him We have life Because as we think Friends About our physical body It's wonderful How the Lord Chooses to use Pictures in his word
[40:28] That we can identify with Because as we Think about Our physical body And as we think About how Our physical body Can only function With blood We then remember That if we are his Tonight That the Bible Tells us We are part Of another body We are part Of the bride Of Christ The church Of Christ And we're reminded Of this in 1 Corinthians 12 For us For us the body Is one This is talking about The body of Christ The bride of Christ The people of Christ For us the body Is one And has many members But all the members Of that one body Being many Are one body So also Is Christ So you and me Tonight If we're his We're all part Of the body Of Christ Christ Is the head
[41:29] We are all The body And there's Quite a refreshing Reminder here For us And it reminds us That as the body We're not called This is just a little aside But perhaps It's a helpful aside For you tonight If you're struggling For assurance That we're not all called To be clones Of one another You might be thinking Well I'm not like that person So I can't possibly be A member Of the body of Christ You maybe think Of a godly mother Or grandmother Or father Or office bearer In this church Or whatever And you look To that person Or you remember That person And you think Well I'm not like them So I can't Possibly be saved And I don't have The gifts Of that person So how can I Possibly be a Christian Maybe that's holding you back Maybe Because you're Comparing yourself To others You're not able To allow The Lord To show you Perhaps Who you are
[42:30] In him Because what do we read In verse 12 Of that In verse 15 Of that chapter For us The body is one And as many members And all the members Of that one body Being many Are one body So also is Christ In verse 15 If the Excuse me If the foot should say Because I'm not a hand I'm not of the body Is it therefore Not of the body And if the ear Should say Because I'm not an eye I'm not of the body Is it therefore Not of the body If the whole body Were an eye Where would be The hearing If the whole Were hearing Where would be The smelling But now God Has set The members Each one of them In the body Just as He Pleased Then verse 20 But now indeed
[43:31] There are many members Yet One Body There's a diversity In the body of Christ And it's important That we come back To this Time And time Again You are you He has created you As Yourself With all the gifts That you Have to offer You might not be the same As the person beside you But that's okay There's diversity In the body But there's also And this is important There's also unity There's diversity But there's unity What is it that unites us?
[44:12] What is it that makes us? Yes different But yet all members Is it our attendance here tonight? Is it the fact that we are Good people?
[44:23] I was speaking to someone today Who claims to be an atheist And we got into conversation And he was just talking about People being good people And that's what he saw Christianity as Someone who's a good person And so many Perhaps even in our own communities Perhaps even those Who've been brought up in the church See that As the identifying mark Upon the Christian Someone who's a good person He's a good man Or she's a good woman But that's not what God says It's nothing Nothing But the blood Of Jesus Christ That unites us As His Body We can never Ever Identify As a member Of the body of Christ As a child of God If we have no And we're talking spiritually now If we have no spiritual knowledge
[45:24] Of the blood Of Jesus Christ Why? Because the life Is in The blood The blood of the one Who's not dead But very much alive Right now At the right Hand of the Father So that it's the blood And the blood alone That will help us And enable us To keep on Keeping on When nothing Else Will When we look at ourselves Friends When we measure Our godliness Upon our performance This is not to Suggest that we shouldn't Seek obedience Absolutely But when we base Our full assurance On our performance And our goodness Before God What happens We despair We're discouraged We lack assurance That's why we need The blood Central To all That we do And all who we are
[46:25] As the body Of Christ For the life As we read there In Leviticus For the life of the flesh Is in the blood And then it goes on To say And I have given it To you Upon the order To make atonement For your souls For it is the blood That makes atonement For your souls It's a lovely word Atonement And if you break The word down It's Three syllables in it At Own Ment If you break it down Into syllables Would you come up with Are three words At At One Ment Atonement At One Ment That's really What atonement is It's bringing us So that We are No longer Distanced From God But now In Christ Through the blood Of Christ
[47:25] We are at One With God The word Atonement Literally means To pay a ransom And of course The term ransom It's often Associated with That idea That something Is needing To be released From captivity Or bondage And of course In order for Something to be Released From captivity A price Needs to be Paid What's the price The price Is a blood The life Blood Of Jesus Shed To cover The death Blood Of sinners Without the Shedding of blood What do we read There is no Remission of sins There's no Forgiveness There's no Hope Tonight friends And this is the good news This is a reminder The price Has been Paid We know in the Old Testament We have shadows Of that price Being paid
[48:27] We have Reminders Of Or pointers Should I say Of what's Yet To come We know that We read there It's not possible For the The blood Of bulls And goats To take away Sins But blood's Involved In fact All throughout The Old Testament Worship We see blood Involved Time And time Again Verse 19 Of Hebrews 9 For when For when Moses Had spoken Had spoken Every precept To all the people According to the law He took the blood Of calves And of goats With water And scarlet Wool And hyssop And sprinkled Both the book And all The people Saying This Is the blood Of the testament Which God Hath enjoyed Unto Enjoyed Rather Unto you Moreover He sprinkled With blood Both the tabernacle
[49:27] And all The vessels Of the ministry And almost All things Are by the law Purged with blood And without The shedding Of blood There is No Remission Yet tonight Friends We are no longer Looking at Shadows And types But rather We come Tonight Focusing On the blood Of the everlasting Covenant So that when Christ died On that cross Every drop That was shed For you and me Sealed Our Pardon Sealing That Covenant That we can Have full Confidence And assurance In Tonight Blood in which There is life And life Eternal Blood Which brings Peace Between God And man Imagine having That peace You might not be A Christian here Tonight And you're looking
[50:28] For peace In the world We all know What that's like Even as Christians We can lose Our peace With God Our peace The peace Of God I suppose I should say Although we Always have That security In him But we don't Always feel it We don't Always know It in ourselves Maybe you're not A Christian here Tonight And you're looking For peace Can I ask you Where your source Of peace Is Where do you Go Does it Give you Peace Yes For a time Where do you Go then You go to Another source And another source So you're Continually Looking As the Bible Says For peace Peace Where there Is no peace Romans 5 7 To 11 For scarcely A righteous Man Will one Die Yet perhaps For a good Man Someone Would even Dare to die But God Demonstrates His own
[51:28] Love Toward Us In that While we were Still sinners Christ died For us Much more Than having Been justified By his Blood Another way Of thinking About the word Justified Just as if I hadn't Sinned Justified By his Blood We shall Be saved From wrath Through him For if When we were Enemies We were Reconciled To God Through the Death of his Son Much more Having been Reconciled We shall Be saved By his Life Peace Restored The fragmented Relationship With our Creator It's healed Healed By the Blood And you Notice that There's something Special Maybe you Know this Yourself When You've Maybe been Estranged From someone For a While Feuds And
[52:29] Disputes And fallouts Happen In families And communities And workplaces They happen Sadly The reality Of the Fall Of man And maybe They go on For years Maybe even Decades Maybe You're in that Position yourself Just now But there's Nothing More precious When those Who have been Estranged One from Another Come back Together again When forgiveness Is shown When relationships Are restored We see that With the Prodigal son The one Who spent All of his Inheritance On riotous Living Eating Drinking And being Merry For tomorrow He would Die And yet After having Done all That He comes Back to the Father And the Father is Waiting With open Arms The Relationship Is restored The father Never stopped Loving the Son Although the Son Went far
[53:29] From the Father Yet the Father Waited For the Son Until the Son Came back And that's What we Have in Christ We have That Friendship That Fellowship With the One who Inhabits Eternity A God Who is Vast Beyond All Measure Yet One Who Through The Precious Blood Of His Son Gives Life Eternal And because Of this Tonight What do We do We Rejoice We Rejoice In a Blood That gives Us Atonement But a Blood That also Cleanses I don't Know if You've Ever Had Anything Stained By Blood You'll Know that It Leaves A Deep Seated Stain A Stain That's Difficult To Remove And And Really There We Have The Great Paradox Because The Blood Of Christ Instead Of Staining What Does It Do It
[54:29] Washes Out The Stain Of Sin That's The Wonder Working Power Of The Blood As The Word Itself It It Doesn't Matter How Contaminated They Are With Sin It's Not That It Doesn't Matter But In The Context Of What We're Saying It Doesn't Matter How Contaminated The Are With Sin Scripture Tells Us That The Blood Of Jesus Christ Will Cleanse Us Will Make Us Clean Will Remove From Us All Of Our Guilt All Of The Filth All Of The Darkness That Overshadows Our Heart So That In The Eyes Of The Father He Cannot See Anything But That Which Is Unspotted Beauty As We Find Ourselves Adorned With The
[55:29] Cloak Of Christ's Righteousness But A Saviour What Does The Hymn Writer Say He Says There Is A Fountain Filled With Blood Drawn From Emmanuel's Veins And Sinners Plunged Beneath That Flood Lose All Their Guilty Stains Now The Church In Rome Needed To Be Reminded Of This As They Navigated Their Way Through Persecution Through Challenges And You know Friends Tonight It's Our Communion Weekend We Need Reminded We Need Reminded Every Day Because The Reality Is And I Include Very Much Myself In This We Lose Sight Of The Blood That's Why This Lord's Day What Has The Lord Done In His Wisdom He's Given Us A Reminder We're Taking Of The Wine Symbolizing What Symbolizing The Blood To
[56:30] Be Reminded Of The Power The Life Changing Power Of That Shed Blood To Lead Us To Worship And Praise Let Us Seek That Spirit Of Worship And Praise Let Us Not Be Content Coming Out Of Routine Or Ritual Going Through The Motions Of Taking The Wine And The Bread As We Always Do That The Lord Would Be Pleased To Reveal Himself Afresh Even In These Elements Accompanied By His Word Of What He's Done And What Is Ours Through What He Has Done Bridging That Gulf That Great Gulf Between Us And God Bridging That Great Gulf With A Path That Is Stained By His Precious Blood You Know If Anyone Should Have Lacked Assurance It Was Peter When You Consider What He Did You Often Wonder How We Would Have Dealt With Peter In Our Church
[57:31] Courts When You Consider Really What He Did He He Denied Christ Three Times Curshing And Swearing Publicly For All To See The Most Horrendous Denial Of Christ You Would Think That He Would Be One Who Would Have This Haunting Him For The Rest Of His Life And Perhaps He Did No Doubt He Was Ashamed Of That But It Didn't Define Him It Didn't Define Him It Didn't Paralyse Him In His Christian Service Because What We See Is That The Lord Calls Him To Go And That's What He Did Even In Writing This Epistle To Strengthen His Brethren You Might Have Sins In Your Past That Are Paralyzing You Sins Even That You Committed In Your Heart Today That You Debar You From The Lord's Table You Confess These Sins To The Lord And
[58:32] Remember That The God Who Called Peter Into Service Is The Same God That Calls You Into Service Tonight Even To Take That Step Of Obedience By Faith Not As A Finished Article But Rather One Who Trusts In The Shed Blood Of The Saviour Putting Your Trust In Him Identifying Yourself In Him Not In Your Circumstance Or Even In Your Sin So That Yes You Might Lack Assurance But As You Reflect And As You Come And As You Partake Of These Elements You Find That Blessing And It Does Blessing Follows Obedience It's Such A It's A Snare Of The Devil I Believe And I Know I Say This Often At Communion Seasons But It's True That's What People
[59:32] Say Too True You're Not Good Enough Neither Am I Neither Is Your Minister Neither Is Anyone That's Ever Sat In This Church That's The Point You're Not Good Enough But He Is And All That He's Done And All That He's Doing Is Sufficient For Anything That You Have Ever Done You're Covered By The Blood Of The Everlasting Coven That's Where Your Strength That's Where Your Assurance That's Where Your Authority Lies Tonight That's Why He Asks You To Come In Worship And In Praise To Worship Him And To Remember Him So That We Can Confidently And Experientially Put Amen To The Words Of The Hymn Writer When He Said I'm Going To Close By Sharing These Further Verses Of The Hymn I Opened With Nothing Can For Sin Atone Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus
[60:32] Not Of Good That I Have Done Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus Now By This I'll Overcome Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus Now By This I'll Reach My Home Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus Oh Precious Is The Flow That Makes Me White As Snow No Other Fount I Know Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus Amen Let's Pray Forgive us We pray O Lord This Evening For Not Trusting In You Perhaps As We Ought As We Reflect Upon The Sinfulness Of Our Own Hearts We Are Grieved O Lord We Seek Forgiveness And Mercy But Help Us Not To
[61:33] Look For Peace In And Of Ourselves But Rather In The God Of Forgiveness And Mercy That We Would Flee To Christ As Those Who Seek Shelter And Solace Not In Our Own Good Works But Rather Under The Shadow Of Your Wings For You Are The One Who Promises To Comfort Us And Lead Us And Guide Us So That As We Come In Obedience We Know That Although We Still Struggle We Have That Renewed Desire For Obedience To Serve You So We Pray That Your Spirit Would Accompany All That We've Sought To Do And Say This Evening Forgive Us For Anything Said Amiss And Forgive Us For Jesus Say Amen We're Going to Conclude Friends Singing To God's Praise Psalm 16 Psalm 16 At Verse 8 Before
[62:36] Me Still The Lord I Said Sit That Is So That He Doth Ever Stand At My Right Hand I Shall Not Move It Be This Is This Is David Writing This Psalm The Adulterer The Murderer And Yet His Confidence Is In The Lord I Shall Not Move It Be Because Of This My Heart Is Glad And Joy Shall Be Expressed Even By My Glory And My Flesh And Confidence Shall Rest We'll Sing to the End Of The Psalm To Praise Of God Before Me Still The Lord I Said Be For Me Still The Lord I Say Still In His Soul
[63:36] That He Canенер I Ever Okey While I shall R Vince architectural Father through He Because of This body 그래서 proactive part
[64:38] Because my soul In vain to dwell Shall not be there I need no prayer I will forgive my holy one For a rapture you see Now will it be sure Oäusin is not yet
[65:40] But through my life after we stand for the benediction if you just give me a chance to get to the door and to meet you on the way out we'll stand for the benediction in the name of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Spirit rest on and abide with you now and forevermore Amen