[0:00] According to our needs in Christ Jesus. Let's begin our worship. We'll sing to God's praise in Psalm 25.
[0:10] From verse 4 down to the verse mark 10 to God's praise.
[0:43] Show me thy wish, O Lord.
[0:55] My apostle to the Lord. And do thou lead me in thy truth.
[1:12] Let him mighty share be. Pardon, pardon, pardon, to me shall be sent.
[1:34] I'm not upon thee all the day expecting to attend.
[1:51] Thy tender mercies, Lord. I pray thee to remember Unloving kindness is for thee A being of old forever.
[2:24] My sins have lost on you.
[2:34] Could thou, O Lord, forget After thy mercy, he sing on me And for thy goodness pray God's good and upright is Thou may heal sin and show Thou may in judgment He will guide And make it fast to know The hope of the Lord
[3:41] The hope of the Lord And turn and pray The hope of the Lord And turn and pray The truth To those of you And turn and pray And turn and pray And turn and pray And turn and pray Let's join together in prayer.
[4:12] Let's pray. Lord our God Lord our God As we come before you this evening We just truly give thanks For the privilege we have Of coming together here Around your word and With the freedom that we have To come and to worship Without interference and Without any problems We thank you, Father For the blessing of Coming together And of sharing in your word And we truly pray, Father That you would indeed Show us your ways And lead us in your paths In you this evening For we know that The whole paths Of the Lord Truly are Truth and mercy Sure And we just bless you
[5:13] And we thank you, Father For All that you have done for us We thank you, Father For Jesus coming into this world And that he has Suffered and died In our place On that cause of Calvary We thank you for his sacrifice That perfect sacrifice That has satisfied The divine justice That was required for sin We thank you, Father That he has risen from the dead And so all your people Shall rise from the dead Also to be with him And we thank you, Father That he has ascended To the right hand On the throne on hand Ruling and governing All his creatures And all their actions Until he comes again And even though it seems In this world, Lord That there is nothing but chaos And That there is no control
[6:14] Yet we know That our Lord and Saviour Is in control And we bless you, Father For the way of salvation That you have opened up And we pray this evening Especially That if there are any Who are yet strangers to you That you would bless Your word to them That they might come To know you And praise you And experience the blessing Of that salvation In Christ Jesus To experience Being lifted out of that Mighty clay That sinking sand And placed on the rock That is Jesus Christ Your word Made flesh Help us then, Father In view of all That you have done for us To walk in humility And to seek to give All the praise And the glory
[7:14] To our Lord Help us, Father To constantly express Our repentance For the sins that we have Each and every day If we sin before you In thought And in word And in our All that we say All that we do And all our actions Oh, Father We bless you For your love We bless you For your mercy And we bless you For your grace That enables Your people By faith To believe In your word In Jesus And so we pray Lord That As we Have this time Together That we might Reflect on Your love Towards us And reflect On the forgiveness That there is In Jesus Christ And we pray
[8:17] That That In the time We're together here That we might That we might Truly Encourage Be encouraged Under your word And look to Encourage One another And more Than anything That we would Seek to Uphold One another At the throne Of grace Also Bless us We pray In all of These things Lead and Guide us Lord In your word This evening In our worship And we just Pray Lord That we might Have that sense Of your own Presence Here with us For you For you Have indeed Promised That Where your People Gather together That you Are there In the midst To bless So be with us Then we pray And pardon Our sins In Jesus name And for his Sake Amen Sing again
[9:17] Now This time In psalm 85 Psalm 85 And at Verse 6 And we'll Sing down To the end Of the psalm Psalm 85 And at Verse 6 But in thee May thy People Joy Will thou Not us Revive Show us Thy mercy Lord To us Do thy Salvation Give I'll hear What God The Lord Will speak To his Folk He'll Speak Peace And to His Saints But let Them not Return To foolishness From verse 6 down To the end Of the psalm To God's Place That in The Midnight People To dry Will Burn Not Us Revive
[10:19] To us Thy Mercy Lord To us To Thy Salvation Give I'll hear What God The Lord Will speak To his Hope He'll Speak Peace Until His Peace To the Lord Lord To the To For His To!
[11:10] To them The Lord In The Journey In Yet Is Salvation Yours And peace is mutually.
[11:57] Good things from earth unrighteousness.
[12:09] To doubt from heaven am I. If what is good the Lord shall give, our land shall be yielding peace.
[12:33] Just as to set us in this debt shall hold me for His grace.
[12:53] Well, so we turn with you, then we'll read in the New Testament in the Gospel of John, chapter 14. John, chapter 14. We'll read the whole of this chapter. Amen. Let's hear God's word.
[13:17] Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions.
[13:28] If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
[13:45] And whither I go, you know, and the way, you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
[13:56] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also.
[14:11] And from henceforth you know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us a Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
[14:30] He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how seest thou then, show us a Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?
[14:42] The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very work's sake.
[15:00] Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.
[15:12] And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.
[15:24] If you love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knows him.
[15:43] But you know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more.
[15:57] But you see me, because I live, you shall live also. At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
[16:09] He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
[16:24] Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it, that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
[16:47] He that loveth me, loveth me not, keepeth not my saints, and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, been yet present with you, but the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name.
[17:07] He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you.
[17:19] Not as a world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.
[17:33] If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you, before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, you might believe.
[17:49] Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But at the world we know, that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do.
[18:04] Arise, let us go hence. Amen, and may God bless you, as we do know his word, and to his name, be the praise, and the glory.
[18:16] Now let's bow our heads in prayer, once again. Father, Father, we thank you for that reading of your word.
[18:32] We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for the surety of it. We truly thank you, Father, for all the guidance, for all the instruction, that we have in your word.
[18:50] And we thank you, that you have given us sufficient, in your word, that reveals Jesus Christ to us, and enables us, by your grace, to cry out to him.
[19:03] We thank you, that we have access, into your immediate presence, through Jesus' sacrifice. and we just bless you, and thank you, that we are able to come before you, and that we are able to, to plead before you, to speak with you, but also, to listen for you speaking to us, through your word to us also.
[19:33] And we pray, oh Lord, this evening, thanking you for all, that you have revealed to us, all the marvels, of your word, from the beginning, even, with all, if we are told, of the creation, of this world.
[19:48] We thank you, Lord, for the exodus, that is given, to us in such detail. We thank you, Father, for the laws, that you have given. And we thank you, Father, for, the kingship of David, that points us, towards, the perfect kingship, of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
[20:12] We thank you, for all that we have, in the Gospels, and in, your word, in our, in our, New Testament. And we truly, bless you, for, the way, that all things, from the old covenant, have all pointed, towards Christ, and to this new covenant, of which we are, a part of.
[20:36] And we just, bless you, Lord, for, for all your word, tells us, and the detail of it. We thank you, Father, for, the words, 700 years, before, Christ, went to that cross, in Calvary, where your servant, was given the words, that, he was wounded, for our transgressions, he was crushed, for our iniquities, the chastisement, of our peace, was upon him, but it is, with his stripes, that we are healed.
[21:13] And we just, bless you for that, for that, great transaction, that took place, on that cross, at Calvary. We thank you, Father, that, your word, also tells you, that for each, and every one, of your own people, that nothing, shall ever separate, any of your people, from the love of God, that is in, Christ Jesus, our Lord.
[21:42] We thank you, Father, that your word, truly is, a lamp unto our feet, and a light, to the path, of all, who believe in you.
[21:53] And truly, we have that, surety, that here, we have, no continuing city, but we do indeed, seek, the one, that is to come.
[22:06] So bless us, and keep us, as we go through, this world, step by step, day by day. Be with us, Lord, for, we are so conscious, that, we just cannot, keep ourselves, in any way, and, we are just, so dependent, upon you, to lead us, and to guide us, in your ways.
[22:28] Bless this congregation, pray, and particularly, in this time, of vacancy. And we just pray, Father, that you would, be with them, and that you would, lead them, and guide them, to, the man, of your choosing.
[22:43] And we're just, so conscious, Lord, of, so many congregations, on our island, being vacant also. And we just pray, that you would, that you would, fill all of these vacancies.
[22:56] And, we thank you, Lord, for, for all, that you have done, here, in days gone by. We just pray, Father, that you would come, with that power, once again, because, we are just, so conscious, in our own communities, here, in Calanish, in Bria's Creek, and throughout this whole parish.
[23:18] Lord, just so conscious, that, there are so many, even this evening itself, who have no thought, no thought of Christ, no thought of coming, under your word.
[23:30] And we just pray, for them, and we just pray, Father, that you would come, with, that reviving power, that we would see, great days of refreshing, in our midst, once again.
[23:42] we're conscious, Lord, that, throughout our world, there are so many, conflicts going on, and, especially, as, is highlighted to us, between, Israel, and Palestine, and also, in Ukraine.
[24:02] And how we pray, for peace, Lord. We pray, for peace, in this world. Not just, in these places, but also, in so many, other places, places, where, there are conflicts, going on, that, are not recorded, for us, in news items.
[24:18] But yet, we are aware, of them, Lord, and especially, aware, that in so many, of them, your people, have been persecuted, your people, have been killed, purely, because, they have a love, for Jesus, and they are, unwilling, to refute, their love, for Jesus.
[24:38] We just pray, for all, who are affected, and we truly, pray for peace. And as, your word, is preached today, right to the, far corners, of this earth, we pray, that your name, would truly, be blessed, and magnified, and glorified, in every single land.
[24:57] And so, we pray, Lord, as we continue now, and seek, to break, break down your word, and to share it together, we pray, that you would be with us, that you would lead us, that you would guide us, and encourage us, Lord.
[25:11] And all we ask is, in his name, and for his sake. Amen. But before we, look at this passage, let's sing once more, this time in Psalm, 86.
[25:25] Psalm 86, and verse 10. And we'll sing, four stans, as the verses, mark 10 to 13. Because thou art exceeding great, and what by thee are done, which are to be admired, and thou art God, thyself alone, teach me thy way, and in thy truth, O Lord, then walk will I, unite my heart, that I, thy name, may fear, continually.
[25:57] And so on, verses 10 to 13, to God's praise. Because the Lord, and I continue, I thought I said alone It means I am in my head O Lord, let me walk in life
[26:58] You lie in my heart As I lie in May fear continually O Lord, let me walk in life On my heart To me I will give praise And I know He will ask Christ Unto Thy name always Because I mercy
[28:03] Lord, I believe In me let's go Exhale And I hear And as my soul I've taught The Lord And I hear Now we turn back with me then to John chapter 14 And we'll just read verses 5 and 6 Thomas saith unto him Lord We know not Whether they goest And how can we know the way Jesus saith unto him
[29:05] I am the way The truth And the life No man cometh unto the Father But by me This chapter here And the chapters 13 to 17 Are known as Jesus' farewell discourse And it's a very solemn section Of the life of Jesus Where the disciples Are now with him And only the disciples On this Final part Of his journey And the hour has now come And Jesus knows That he must now go To Calvary And die on that cross For the sin Of humanity And I'd like to look at This section of His great speech In the upper room This has Immediately followed
[30:06] The food washing In the previous chapter And Jesus speaks about The place that He's going to go to And he tells his disciples That this place Is prepared For them as well But Thomas As we see here Thomas plainly tells Jesus He doesn't understand this He doesn't really understand What he's telling him And so he asked him there Well How do we get there And What is the way What is this way That you're talking about And Jesus' answer here is It's one of his most important And certainly one of his Most memorable responses Where Jesus says I am the way And I am the truth And I am the life And what we have here Is One of
[31:07] One of seven Great I am statements That John records for us In his gospel John Jesus previously Had said I am the bread of life I am The light of the world I am I am The resurrection And The life I am The door Of the sheep I am The good shepherd I am The true vine And here he says I am the way The truth And the life And this is very significant And it ties in With Old Testament teaching And that That takes us This takes us right back to Exodus chapter 3 Where Moses encountered God At the burning bush And God God God Asked Moses To go And To lead his children The children of Israel Out of Egypt And towards
[32:07] The land of Canaan Towards The promised land And Moses Spoke back to God And he said Well I cannot go to the people How can I go to the people When I don't know Who sent me And God said to Moses Tell the people I am Has sent you And tell the leaders That I am Has sent you In other words I am Is God That's the name That we Associate There From the Hebrew And it also means I will be with you So these I am Metaphors That John records for us In his gospel These seven Where Jesus spoke I am These seven metaphors And here I am the way The truth and the life Then The gospel of John Identifies Jesus As God
[33:08] And we have that Very clearly here In the word So I just want to look at this Very briefly With These three points I am the way And then secondly I am the truth And then finally I am the life So First of all And I am the way If you're on The way to somewhere On a journey Then There are certain Aids that That we can have There can be Signposts To give us Direction And to help To keep us On that way You might have A map To guide you And now In this modern age You might have Sat-nav In your car That's going to help you And take you Wherever you want to go It gives you Precise directions On A recognised route But if you ask Directions Then you may be
[34:08] Told to take Many turns To get to your Destination And it could well Be that you'll get Lost On the way Trying to follow The directions You've been given But if that Person who gives you Directions Actually comes with you And leads you there Then That's a very Different story And that's the best Help that you could Get And it's exactly The same With our Spiritual life Because You can ask Someone Well What is this Way And how do I Get on this Way And whoever You ask Well They may well Give you good Advice And they may Well indeed Give you proper Guidance But it's no Substitute To asking Jesus To going to Jesus And to asking Jesus For him To lead you There Because he is The only one
[35:08] Who truly Knows The way And For each one Of you here You will be in One of two ways Right now As the Bible Puts it to us You are either On the broad way That leads to Destruction Or You are on that Narrow way That leads To life In other words If you are on that Broad way That leads to Destruction Then You don't have A personal Close relationship With Jesus You don't have Faith in Jesus Christ For those who are On what's called The narrow way That leads to Life Then they are Those Who are walking With Jesus And Jesus Is leading And guiding Them Each step of the Way here To take them Home He says
[36:10] I am the way We might ask The question Well The way to where? Well It's the way To the Father The way to heaven That's the main Emphasis In this statement And we read In In Matthew Chapter 27 At verse 50 What it tells us Is that Jesus This is Jesus On the cross When he had Cried again With a loud voice He yielded up The ghost And behold The veil Of the temple Was rent In twain From the top To the bottom And Hebrews Follows In chapter 10 Follows that passage As well Hebrews chapter 10 And at verse 19 And what it tells us here is
[37:11] Having the earth For brethren Boldness To enter Into the holiest By the blood Of Jesus By a new And living way Which he has Consecrated for us Through the veil That is to say His flesh Through the veil Or shall we say Through the curtain And I'll explain What I mean by that And so we might ask then Well What does this This torn veil Or this torn curtain What does it signify To us The emphasis here Is on covenant And it's on What we call New testament covenant A new covenant Which replaces The old covenant That God had For the children Of Israel It's a new way And as Jesus says
[38:12] It is The only way Through him In Hebrews chapter 9 Verses 1 to 3 It speaks there Of the day of atonement And In the old testament On that day of atonement Only The high priest Was allowed to enter Into the holy Of holies There was The entrance At the tent There was the entrance Into the holy place And then there was The entrance Through this curtain Into the Most holy place You can read about this In Hebrews chapter 9 And Hebrews chapter 10 It's It's very interesting How it leads us Into the new covenant But The point is That Only the high priest Was allowed in Once a year Into the most holy place Call it the most holy Or the holy of holies Whatever They were only allowed in Once With that With that
[39:13] Sacrifice On the day Of atonement And that was the entrance Into God's Immediate Presence Now when Jesus Died On the cross What we have There Is Is That That We're told That When he When he gave out His last breath And committed His spirit Into the hands Of the father The curtain In that temple That wasn't far away In Jerusalem That curtain Was torn From the top To the bottom And that has real Spiritual significance Because now All of God's people Through faith In Jesus Christ Have entrance Into The immediate Presence Of the father Through Jesus And through his Sacrifice At Calvary And they have That by They have that
[40:13] Entrance By believing By trusting Through faith In Jesus Jesus is the one Who has opened up This way of salvation He has suffered In our place But he is the one Who has overcome He is the one Who has been On this way That only he Could have been on And he is the one Who has conquered He came into this world He was sinless But he was made To be sin For us It's that great Transaction That's recorded For us In 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 That he was made To be sin So that we Those who come To faith In Jesus Christ So that we Might be made The righteousness Of God In him That's a great Transaction That took place Through Jesus' Sacrifice At Calvary And he Finished his work At Calvary And no man
[41:14] Could do it No one else Could have done it But Jesus The Son of God He is the one Who knows the way The way to the Father And through his sacrifice He fulfilled Every aspect Of the law Of God The law Is fulfilled Through Jesus' Sacrifice And now we are In this new covenant Which is A covenant Of grace A covenant Of grace And that is Through The loving The loving Father That we have That he has Poured out his Mercy Upon us And when You come to Faith In Jesus Remember On your way Step by step In this world He won't Leave you alone He never Leaves any Of his people To be on their own They will never Be found out To be second
[42:14] Guessing At any Kind of Junction in life And yes We know That we have To make decisions But Each and every One of God's People They lean upon His word They lean upon The guidance Of God And he takes Each one of his People Guided by his Own Holy Spirit Every step Of the way Until they Reach That heavenly Home That each and Every one Aspires to Jesus then Is the only Way to God And he claims That very Clearly here And what that Tells each One of us Is that There is Absolutely no Way we could Have done This That any Of us Could have Done it Because every One of us Is sinful We are sinful Human beings And we could Not have done That in any Way by Ourself We can't Work or Earn our Way into God's Favor
[43:14] And Peter Confirms this In Acts In chapter Four Where he tells Us this Jesus Jesus He is the Stone that Was rejected By you The builder Which has Become The corner Stone And there Is salvation In no one Else For there is No other name Under heaven By which You may Be saved So there we Have Jesus In the way Secondly We are told That Jesus Says I am The truth Well In our Culture today There is one Question That surely Every one of us Has is When we look At the news When we look At things That come up On the Internet Or we read In the newspapers Or whatever It is a question Isn't it What is truth What can I Really believe
[44:14] Here What is all This about And it is Hard to Identify it The way Things are Today And many People Search in So many Different Directions For this Truth This Search that You have Deep down For real Truth And abiding Truth And Amazingly They turn Their backs On this Gospel And they Don't look In this Gospel Or on This book That God Has given Us For the Truth Someone Recently Said to Me That He had Great Difficulty Accepting That being Saved Rested Solely On one Thing And on One Person The cross And Jesus He just Not He just Couldn't Figure this Out In his Mind At all But that
[45:15] Just leads Us to a Deeper Question What is The truth Of God's Love for Humanity And we Have the Answer And John Gives us The answer In the Third Chapter In verse 16 That God So loves The world He so Loves you And me And all In this World He God So loves The world That whosoever Would believe In him Will not Perish But have Everlasting Life Eternal Life With him In that Covenant With him And we Can ask I've quoted From the Word of Different Places And we Can ask Well With that And with So many Things we Hear about The Word Of God How can We know It's True Well If you Go into A courtroom And there's A trial Going on Then there May be Circumstantial Evidence And there May be Evidence That points Directly To whatever
[46:16] The misdemeanor Was Whatever Has Happened But in A courtroom If someone Who is An eyewitness Gives Testimony In that Courtroom That's When people Sit up And they Take note And they Listen Well what We have Here in John's Gospel Is an Abundance Of eyewitnesses And we Have eyewitnesses To Jesus' Birth To his Life To his Words To his Miracles To his Death To his Resurrection To his Ascension We have John the Baptist With the Great Words That he Had Behold The Lamb Of God Who takes Away The sin Of the World That was Revealed to John the Baptist At that Time As Jesus Came towards Him On that Day But we Especially We especially Have the Father's Word Of Confirmation At
[47:16] Jesus' Baptism And at The Transfiguration Where he Tells us This is My Beloved Son In whom I am Well Pleased Listen To him So we Have All of These We have Eyewitnesses To all Of these Accounts Verified In this Word And the Word also Verifies As Jesus Poured out His own Life On the Cross As a Sin Bearer The Substitute For his Beloved People He made Atonement For sin Through the Shedding Of blood And he Suffered Physically He Suffered Spiritually And in That three Out of Darkness Of the Cross He Endured The Full Undiluted Wrath Of God Against Sin That's What we Know From what The Bible Explains To us About that Word God In his Mercy Has not Given us
[48:17] The detail Of that Because we Couldn't Stand it As mere Mortals As human Beings But we Do know From God's Word That he Endured That And he Had the Victory Over sin And over Death And it's Through that That we Can understand The words Of Psalm 85 That we Have sung This evening That love And truth Are made Together And righteousness And peace They embrace That's how We have Understanding Of that Psalm God God Has gifted Us His Son And now He has Given Every one Of us The opportunity To believe He's given Every one Of us The opportunity To take Him To take Him At his Word I just Pray That you Would do That this Evening Take God At his Word As he Gives it To us And we Don't deserve This This is Totally Undeserved But this Is God's Astonishing Grace
[49:17] The grace That he Displays Towards Every person Because This word Tells us That When Jesus Came He didn't Come to Judge the World But that Everyone Would come To repentance And that's That's what he Wants That everybody Would come To repentance God responds To the genuine Prayer and Cry of a Person who Truly seeks Jesus Let me ask Just now Let me ask Any of you Who are here This evening And who are Not in a Saving relationship With Jesus Let me ask This question Have you ever Or when was The last time You actually Bent the knee And pleaded With Jesus To come Into your Life Truly Pleaded With Jesus And not just Doing it once But doing it
[50:18] As often As it requires Until He comes Into Your life Because he Tells us That those Those Who truly Call upon My name I will In no wise Cast out I will Come to Them We're told In this word Knock And the door Shall be opened Ask And it will Be given To you Seek And you Will find And we Have accounts In the Gospels Throughout the Bible Of persistence And persistence In that Call And persistence In that Pleading And that's What may be Required To bend the Knee And to persist In pleading to Jesus And he will Come When it comes From a genuine Heart Looking To have him As your Saviour The question
[51:22] Is asked In Acts Chapter 16 The Philippine Jail And asked What must I do To be Saved And it's Believe in The Lord Jesus Christ And you Will be Saved And that's A personal Responsibility That is on Every individual To seek The Lord While He may Be found And we Cannot avoid That personal Responsibility Because And I say That because Nobody else Can do it For you It has To be you Because the Relationship Any Christian Will testify Each and Every one In here Tonight Every Christian Every one Of the Lord's People They will Testify That their Relationship First and Foremost Is a Personal Relationship With Jesus It's a One to One A very Personal Relationship With Jesus A closing In with Jesus That happens
[52:23] Because of The mercy And the Love of God And God's Ear Listening To the Cry Of the Repentant Person And the Persistent Person Crying out For mercy To the Lord And it's This truth That sets You free So many People think That when a Person comes To faith They think That Oh there's All these Rules and Regulations Laws and Everything I don't Think I Quite Want that And I Don't Think I Want to Be in That Position But the Truth of The matter Is that Every person Who comes To faith Now has A very Real and Genuine Freedom In Christ Jesus They have A freedom Of life In Christ Jesus And it Is just So wonderful And for
[53:24] The person Who doesn't Have that Relationship With Jesus Actually It's you Who is Tied up With rules And regulations And everything Else that Is keeping You from Coming to Jesus So the Very opposite Is true With the Lord's People They have This freedom They have This great Life And we'll Look at That very Shortly And very Briefly Jesus Says No one Comes to The Father Except by Me In this Day and Age That's a Very offensive Statement Isn't it But that's The truth Of God's Word And that's The truth From the Lord's Lips Himself Nobody Comes to The Father Except Through Me He's the One who's Opened up This new Way Of salvation And he Offers Life This eternal Life to All who Believes And here We're on Our final
[54:24] Point Jesus Says I am The Life In the Old Testament In the Old Covenant The Torah The Book of The Law That That Was That was The Book of Life At that Point And God Guided And Instructed His People In Life Giving Faith Through Following The Law Through That Practice But now In our New Covenant Through The New Testament And Through The Sacrifice Death And Death Of Jesus That Jesus Has Now Become The Life Giver He Says He Tells Us In John Chapter 10 He Says I Came That They May Have Life And Have It Abundantly This Abundance Of Life Real Life Real Understanding In And Through Jesus Christ And
[55:27] Jesus He Has Life In Himself We're Told That John Tells Us That In Chapter 5 He Says Truly Truly I Say To You An Hour Is Coming And Is Now Here When The Dead Will Hear The Voice Of The Son Of God And Those Who Hear Will Live For As A Father Has Life In Himself So He Has Granted The Son Also!
[55:48] To Have Life In Himself And One That I Spoke About Is Jesus Says I Am The Bread Of Life And Yet Another I Am Statement That John Tells Us In Chapter 11 When John Had That Great Discourse With Martha Where Jesus Said To Martha I Am The Resurrection And The Life Whoever Believes In Me Though He Die Yet Shall He Live And Everyone Who Lives And Believes In Me They Shall!
[56:26] Never Die They Shall Never Die Spiritually They Shall Never Die Eternally And He Asked Martha Do You Believe This Martha And She Said To Him Yes Lord I Believe That That You Are The Christ The Son Of God Who Is Coming Into The World And It Is This Abundance Of Life That Jesus Offers To Each And Every Person He He Himself Rose From The Dead To Resurrection Life And It's Because Of That This Life Is Now His To Give And It's Only He Alone Who Is Qualified To Give That Life To You Jesus Does Just He Doesn't Just Offer Life But He Offers Peace He Offers A Peace That The Word The Word Tells Us It's A Peace Which The World Cannot Give It Passes All Understanding And If You Were Going To Go To
[57:26] Any Of The Lord's People Here This Even And And And Ask Them The Question Well Can You Explain To Me What This Peace Is What Is This Peace Nobody Can Explain It It Passes All Understanding It's A Precious Precious Gift Of God That Every Believer Experiences But We Cannot Explain It But It's Wonderful And It's Not Just That Either But God Also Gifts Every One Of His People His Love That Is Shed Abroad In The Hearts Of Each One He Also Gifts His People Joy A Joy That The Word Tells Us That His People Experience A Joy That Is Inexpressible And Is Just Full Of Glory The Glory And The Praise Of The Lord So He Gives Us Life He Gives Us Peace
[58:26] He Gives Us Love He Gives Us Joy And He Gives To Each One Of His People His Grace His Grace His Precious Precious Grace Spirit The Holy Spirit Dwells Within Each And Every One Of God's People Precious Gift Of God When You Come To Faith In God You Are No Longer An Enemy Of God You Are A Child Of God Adopted Into The Family Of God A Personal Closing In With The Christ Of God That's What This Is Jesus Is The Way And The Truth And The Life But
[59:27] There's Of No Value To You Unless You Believe Truly Believe And Embrace This Truth And Commit Yourself To It And As I Mentioned That Requires A Personal Response From You It Requires A Personal Response!
[59:46] Jesus Is Asking Again This Evening He He Will You Come To Me Come Now Just Just Come As You Are Don't Try And Sort Yourself Out Come Exactly As You Are And Exactly As You Find Yourself This Even Even This Moment In Time Just Come come to me the precious precious invitation from Jesus if you're going to come to Jesus in that way I think the words of the hymn writer summarize it all you come as you are nothing in my hand I bring is simply to your cross that I clean precious words that are testimony of each and every one of God's people if you come to him cry out to him he will have mercy and he will provide for you exceedingly abundantly more than you could ever ask for or even think of that's how marvelous life in Jesus Christ is and he will never leave you he will never forsake you
[61:03] Jesus says I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life nobody comes to the Father except through me may these words be blessed to you in whatever situation you find yourself tonight and may it truly be that each and every person here this evening would indeed find themselves in that personal loving relationship with Jesus Christ let's pray oh Father as we come to you once again we thank you thank you for all that you have done for us we thank you for all that all that we experience for all the blessings that you pour down upon each one of us each and every day so often we're prone to look on the difficulties and the dark side of things and yet you pour blessing upon us each day as well help us then to count our blessings and especially to keep looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith
[62:24] Amen well let's close the words of Psalm 119 and at verse 33 Psalm 119 and at verse 33 I will sing four verses from this section verses about 33 to 37 teach me O Lord the perfect way of thy precepts divine and to observe it to the end I shall my heart incline verse 33 to 37 to God's praise Amen Take me O Lord the perfect way of thy precepts divine and to observe to the end
[63:32] I shall my heart incline it under planted unto me so so see by your shine!
[63:58] in with my whole heart I shall O celebrate my glory in thy love thy love love in!
[64:22] God to go! bid me Lord I need thy heaven my heart unto thy heart heart unto thy heart unto!
[64:43] my heart!! to be in mine! God!
[64:55] ! will in heaven God will! will in humanity!
[65:08] will be be to me give me a moment just to go to the moon door after the benediction I would appreciate that.
[65:35] Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with each one of you now and always. Amen.