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[0:00] Well, let me extend a very warm welcome to everybody to the service today. My name is Alex Stewart and I am the minister from Meribarabar and Kilarnan Free Church.

[0:20] ! You don't know where that is. Meribar is just about 10 miles north of Inverness just beside Dingwall. This is my first time with you here in Kalanish and I am very happy to be with you. I do pray and trust that the Lord will bless us as we seek him together this morning in worship.

[0:47] And so we are going to begin our service this morning singing to God's praise in the words of Psalm number 27.

[0:58] Psalm number 27. And we are going to sing verses 1 to 4 of this psalm.

[1:17] So we'll sing verses 1 to 4. The Lord's my light and saving health. Who shall make me dismayed? My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid.

[1:31] Well, let's sing these words to God's praise. The Lord's my light and saving health. Who shall make me dismayed?

[1:43] Who shall make me dismayed?

[1:55] My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid.

[2:13] When I am afraid. When I am afraid. My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid.

[2:25] My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid. My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid. My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid.

[2:46] My life strength is the Lord of whom? Then shall I be afraid. Against me, O Lord, stand now, my heart yet pure as it is.

[3:12] O Lord, against me, O Lord, I will be my witnesses.

[3:28] One thing I owe, the Lord, is I, and will it be to hold me?

[3:48] That God is all my life, I may, within God's earth remain.

[4:06] That I love you, dear Lord, be Lord, may I not cry.

[4:25] And God died in His holy place, forever than He inquired.

[4:47] Let's just come before the Lord in prayer. Let's pray together. Our Father in heaven, we come into your presence.

[5:01] And we thank you for the invitation to come into your presence through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, you call us, you command us to come with thanksgiving, with praise, with joy.

[5:22] And Lord, help us to do that today. Set us free, Heavenly Father, from everything that would hinder us. Everything that would stand in the way of our fellowship with you.

[5:38] Lord, we pray that you would forgive us for our sins. We ask you to cleanse us. As we confess our sins before you, we pray, wash us clean.

[5:50] Make us whiter than snow. And so, Lord, help us to lift up our voices this day, to give you due glory, due honour, due reverence, due praise.

[6:05] For there is no one like you, O Lord. No one equal to you. And we are amazed and we are thankful that we can approach you through Jesus.

[6:20] We thank you for the tremendous blessings that you have given to us in Christ. Thank you that you hear us, God.

[6:33] thank you that you listen to us and thank you Lord when we do not even know how to express ourselves at times, when we don't even know what we feel ourselves you understand and you know and so we praise you for your greatness God, we are truly blessed to know you are God and so Lord as we spend this morning time in this morning seeking your face help us to do so in spirit and in truth because your promise is Lord that if we seek you and we seek you with all our heart you say we will find you and thank you Lord because you're not far away from any of us and even though we do not see you with our physical eyes and even though we may not sense you in any way we know you're here because you're promised to to be where your people are gathered and so Lord we seek to stretch out our hands to you in faith this day and may you fill our hands with many many good things this day for we're asking this in the name of our Lord and Savior

[8:18] Jesus Christ Amen Well it's nice to see some younger folk with us here this morning and it's always good to see the older folk as well so just say we needed to add another pew okay one of these benches here we're going to take one of them away or take a few of them away and we're going to put two new ones in what would we need to to measure the distance of the pew that we need what would you use is anyone brave enough to shout out an answer you would need one of these wouldn't you do you know what this is it's a measuring tape so I can measure the distance of the pew that I need or if you wanted to cut a piece of wood for something you would measure to say you need a meter so where's a meter there's a meter so where does that go a meter just goes beyond there so a measuring tape you would need a measuring tape to measure the size of the bench that you need or if you want to cut a piece of wood it's helpful to have a measuring tape okay what if you were making some sauce okay a recipe and it said you need to have 200 milliliters of milk what would you use to to measure 200 milliliters of milk a measuring jug right 200 milliliters comes to to there if I'm right so you would pour that amount in and then you would pour it in and that would measure out 200 milliliters of milk or if you wanted water or some other liquid you can measure the amount you need if you want to cut some wood or measure a window you use a measuring tape to get the distance but here's my question this morning we use a jug to measure liquids we use a tape to measure wood and things how do we measure

[11:05] God's love how do we measure God's love have you thought about that before no how do we measure God's love can we measure God's love God's love is so vast it's so it's so great it's so high it's so wide it's so deep it's so encompassing it's so great but can we measure it maybe in one sense we can't but you know the Bible gives us something to measure God's love by the cross the cross of Jesus in Romans chapter 5 which we're going to be reading today and looking at it tells us that that God demonstrated his love for us in this that Christ died while we were still sinners and so when we look at the cross of Jesus we're seeing how much

[12:18] God loves his people because God so loved the world as it says in John 3 16 that he gave us one and only son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life and so the cross of Jesus shows us demonstrates measures in some way the love of God that God would give us his own son that Jesus would die and so if we ever doubt that God loves us we just need to look at the cross and there we see the love of God that he so loved the world as John tells us that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes not wonderful whoever whoever believes okay well let's sing again this time we're going to sing from

[13:26] Psalm number 72 and we're going to sing verses 1 to 8 of this psalm so Psalm 72 verses 1 to 8 O Lord thy judgments give the king his son thy righteousness with right he shall thy people judge thy poor with uprightness let's sing this to God's please O Lord thy judgments give the king his son thy righteousness with right he shall thy thy people judge thy who with of right!

[14:33] thy! thy people! Then of the mountain shall bring forth unto the people peace.

[14:51] Like wildest angel hills, the same shall do by righteousness.

[15:05] The people's pure ones shall grant the needed children's name.

[15:22] And those shall ihn in Christ's break with them of righteousness.

[15:37] Thank you.

[16:07] Thank you.

[16:37] Thank you. Thank you.

[17:09] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[17:25] We're going to read God's Word now from Paul's letter to Romans. Romans chapter 5. I'm going to read the first 11 verses of this chapter.

[17:41] So this is God's Word. Let us hear what it says to us this morning. Amen.

[17:53] Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

[18:12] And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope.

[18:26] And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.

[18:38] For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet, for the adventure for a good man, some would even dare to die.

[18:54] But God commended this love towards us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

[19:12] For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

[19:25] And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

[19:37] This is the word of God, and we pray that he would bless it to us this morning. Let's continue to sing to God's praise in the words of Psalm number 23.

[19:52] Psalm number 23. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. Let's sing this psalm to God's praise. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want.

[20:16] If he has you, I invite you to sing me.

[20:33] The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want.

[20:44] My shepherd's shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want.

[21:01] Forgiveness Within the hearts of Christ Jesus In heartless of men sing Give while walk in desert hill And with thy fear not ill For thou who art with me and thy thought And shall be come for still

[22:06] My dear good love hath furnished In presence of my voice My dear good love hath with thy love And my cup of the Lord Goodness and mercy of my life Shall surely follow me

[23:07] And in God's hand forevermore My dwelling if there's your name Well just before we turn back to that passage in Romans chapter 5 Let me just pray again This is great Our Father we come into your presence again in the name of Jesus And we thank you for that great privilege And we thank you Heavenly Father that we can bring all things to you Thank you Lord that there is nothing too great And nothing is too small That we cannot bring it to you Thank you that you care Lord I just want to pray for each person here this morning

[24:12] Lord you know us You know us intimately You know us completely You know our past You know our present And you know our future You know the things that maybe We're struggling with right now The concerns that are on our hearts The things that keep us awake at night Lord whatever it is We want to bring these things before you now And ask for your help Would you Gracious Lord Provide help In however you see fit God May you provide May you deliver May you sustain May you save May you provide grace May you provide encouragement Lord whatever it is we need this morning

[25:14] We bring before you And ask Lord would you minister to us I thank you for this congregation And I just pray that you will bless the people here That Lord as they seek to live their daily lives In their everyday context As they live it for you As they live it for you That they may be salt and light To those around them And Lord would you use them In many different ways And encourage them In the things of the spirit We pray heavenly father That we would Grow in our faith That our relationship with you would deepen We pray that you would teach us That you would reveal yourself to us That you would show us Your ways God Pray that you would seek us today

[26:18] And pray that we would seek you Pray that you would captivate our hearts And our minds Our whole being This day and forever God That we would see the awesome wonder Of Jesus Christ To see the phenomenal blessings That have been given to us In him To see the amazing love of God To see the grace of God To see the majesty of God To see the holiness of God Minister to us As they speak Through your word Lord Would you give us Open our eyes To behold Wonderful things From your word God Would you teach us

[27:21] To stay by the spirit That their lives Would not be the same And help us Lord Every day to become More and more Like our saviour Jesus And may we just Seek a life of Following The spirit's leading And giving glory to you And rejoicing The salvation that you have Procured Procured upon us Lord Lord Bless the children who have gone out to Sunday school today We pray you would put your hand on their lives We pray you would put your hand on their lives We pray you would bless their Sunday school teachers and pray that the grace and the power, the love of God would flow through their Sunday school lesson today and that they may grow up knowing the truth of your word and knowing the truth, Jesus Christ.

[28:42] We pray the same for ourselves, God. We pray for your peoples to gather not only here but across this island and across this country and across this world.

[28:54] We pray for the kingdom of God to come in power. Lord, we confess our weakness before you. We confess our limitations.

[29:07] But yet, Lord, you have called ordinary people like ourselves to be your witnesses. We have no power and strength of our own.

[29:20] But yet, God, you have promised to give us power to be your witnesses. And, Lord, you are true to every promise you utter.

[29:31] You do not lie, God. You speak the truth. And so we rejoice in the help and the power that is made available to us in the Holy Spirit.

[29:44] And we pray for the power of the Spirit today to be at work amongst us. As we praise you. As we seek you. As we look at your word now.

[29:55] We pray that you may speak to us. And, Heavenly Father, I want to pray for anyone who belongs to this congregation, who is not well today. Who is at home or housebound.

[30:07] We ask in Jesus' name. That you would minister to them in their homes. That the joy of the Lord will be their strength this day.

[30:18] And that they would know the fellowship of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit with them in their homes. God, we thank you.

[30:29] That there is no place that you are not present. Amen. And so, Lord, bless us, we pray. For who else can we go to?

[30:40] For you alone have the words of eternal life. So hear our prayers, Lord. And minister to us this day, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if we can turn back to Romans chapter 5 for this morning.

[31:01] And we're going to be looking at Romans 5, verses 1 to 11 this morning. And we'll continue in the evening.

[31:13] Chapter 5 is the conclusion to Paul's teaching about justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

[31:25] Justification is an act of God declaring sinful people to be right before him on the basis of their faith in the Lord's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[31:42] And in chapter 5, Paul writes, therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[31:55] The word, therefore, is connecting all that he's been saying up until this point. Which is, he's been talking about how we're justified through faith in Jesus Christ and not by the works of the law or any good works that we do or any human effort, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[32:23] And that's what he's been talking about up until now. He's been talking about through Romans how the gospel is the power of God for salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.

[32:35] He talks about how the whole world is guilty before him, both Gentile and Jew, and how the whole world needs to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ and no one is justified by the works of the law.

[32:51] And so, that word, therefore, is connecting all that he's been teaching about justification to what he now says. And that is, he now says, because we've been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, he says, we now have peace with God.

[33:12] We now have peace with God. And chapter 5 lays out the fruits or the benefits of justification.

[33:26] And that's what we're going to look at this morning. And we won't be able to get it all in this morning, so we'll do the final one in the evening service. And so, the first thing that I want to talk to you about this morning is peace with God.

[33:42] That's the first thing he mentions. The first fruit of being justified is peace with God. And I want you to note that he says that we have peace with God, and he's not talking about the peace of God.

[33:59] There are two different things. Peace with God and the peace of God. There are two different things. The peace of God is something you can experience in your life.

[34:13] You can experience the peace of God. But peace with God is not something you can necessarily feel.

[34:26] But it does still lead to great joy when you know and you understand that you have peace with God.

[34:38] So, peace with God is positional. It's a legal position. It doesn't matter how you feel. You may feel God is angry with you.

[34:51] But if you have faith in Jesus Christ, you have peace with God. But if we have peace with God, we can also experience the peace of God.

[35:10] Peace with God, peace of God. Paul is talking here, you have peace with God. Augustine once said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in God.

[35:26] Friends, to have peace with God, it means the war is over. It means the war is over.

[35:36] It means you're no longer an enemy of God. And do you know what? There's no greater knowledge than knowing that I have peace with God.

[35:48] That it's well with my soul. That between me and God, it's well. There is peace. I have peace. I have nothing to fear.

[36:04] It's well with my soul in Christ. It might be a surprise to some folk that we're at war with God.

[36:17] And that we are his enemies until we come to Christ. That might be news to some folk. It might be a surprise to some folk.

[36:30] Psalm Storm says this. One of the more difficult and frustrating responsibilities that all Christians share is trying to persuade people whose lives are outwardly prosperous and peaceful.

[36:48] That they are in fact at war with God. Friends, the Bible clearly teaches that outside of Christ we're the enemies of God and are at war with him.

[37:07] Let me just quote a few passages. Romans chapter 2 verse 5. But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you're stowing up wrath for yourself on a day of wrath when God's judgment, sorry, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

[37:26] Romans 5.10 For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.

[37:42] Philippians chapter 3 verse 18 For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

[38:00] Colossians 1 verse 21 And you who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

[38:23] Ephesians 2 verses 1 to 3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in our passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath and the rest of mankind.

[38:57] And just one more. James chapter 4 verse 4 You adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

[39:09] Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. And of course you understand what is meant there. The friendship of the world is to accept and to follow the philosophy, the anti-God philosophy of the world.

[39:25] R.C. Sproul says this, There is foundational anxiety that can never be quieted apart from justification.

[39:44] A person cannot be filled inwardly, no matter what he does, no matter what he has, if he is estranged from his creator, he is at war with God.

[40:00] But do you hear what has been said here? Through faith, in Jesus Christ, we have peace with God.

[40:14] The war is over. We are no longer his enemies. If your faith is in Christ, you are at peace with God.

[40:25] You are not his enemy. We are the friends of God. One of the greatest passages in scripture, John 15 verse 15, Jesus says to his disciples, No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing.

[40:45] But I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my father, I have made known to you. Did you hear that? Jesus says, I call you friends.

[40:59] If you are a believer, God Almighty is your God. He is your father. But you are also the friend of God. Another amazing verse, Isaiah 41 verse 8.

[41:17] But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen. Listen to these words. The offspring of Abraham, my friend.

[41:31] Isn't that amazing? God says, Abraham, my friend. Jesus says to his disciples, my friend. Jesus says to his followers, to you, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, you are his friend.

[41:48] That is incredible. And I want you to understand that. I want you to know that is what the Bible teaches. To have peace with God is not only the end of hostility, but it's the beginning of an intimate, personal friendship and love with God.

[42:18] Amen. And so I ask the question, do you have peace with God today?

[42:40] Do you have peace with God today? You may have heard it said by some, if our life were to end today, would you be received as the friend of God or the enemy of God?

[42:56] Faith in Jesus Christ brings us peace with God.

[43:09] And only faith in Jesus Christ will bring you peace with God. Well, the second thing that Paul speaks about here is access to God.

[43:24] We've got peace with God, but we also have, secondly, access to God. Romans 5, verse 2, through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.

[43:37] And I want to ask the question, what is the grace in which we stand and have access to?

[43:53] I suggest to you that it is the grace of God. Friends, grace and God are not two separate things.

[44:10] Because God is grace, just as God is love. When you ask, what is God? Who is God? We can say God is love. But we can also say God is grace.

[44:21] We can also say God is merciful. We can also say God is holy. God is righteousness. But God is full of grace. This is who he is.

[44:32] What he's like. John 1, verse 14, And the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glorious of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[44:50] And so, just as God is love and God is holy, so too is God gracious. God is grace, you can say. And to have access and to stand in grace is to have access into the presence of God, which is to be in the presence of grace because God is gracious, God is loving, etc.

[45:21] Now, to have access into this grace, it implies that that access was denied to us at one point, that we didn't have access to that grace.

[45:45] If we go back to the Garden of Eden for a moment, Adam and Eve walked 24-7 in the grace of God.

[45:58] They had access to him. They walked in the garden with him. They spoke with him. They fellowshiped with him. But the very day they sinned, they lost access into his presence and were put out of the garden and an angel guarded the entrance with a sword that turned every which way.

[46:23] They couldn't come into the presence of God. And throughout the Old Testament, through the animal sacrifices, through priests, through the temple, tabernacle, temple, and all the laws that were surrounding that, it was being constantly taught that God is holy and no sinner can come into his presence because he is holy and we are unholy.

[47:00] There are many things that these things teach us. They teach us that we cannot come into the presence of a holy God or rather sacrifice for our sins. But you know that when Jesus died on the cross, you know that the temple that separated the, it's not the temple, but the curtain in the temple that separated the holy place from the most holy place, you know it tore into you from top to bottom and the way into the most holy place was exposed when Jesus died and it was signifying that the way into God, the way into the presence of God is now opened up through Jesus Christ and that in Jesus Christ we have access to God 24-7, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, all your life as a believer, you have access into the presence of

[48:03] God, constantly. You don't have to be in a church, you don't have to be, there's no, anywhere you are, wherever you are, you have access into his presence, all the time.

[48:17] And I was reading a story in relation to this, and it was a story that took place just following the Civil War in America, and a dejected Confederate soldier came to the White House, and he wanted to speak to the President, who at the time was Abraham Lincoln, but he was denied access every time, and a young boy approached the soldier and asked him why he was so sad, and the soldier explained to him how he desperately wanted to see Abraham and speak with Abraham Lincoln, but every time he tried to make his way into the White House, the soldiers would block his entrance with bayoneted guns.

[49:07] And so the boy motioned to the soldier to follow him, and when they arrived at the door, the two guards came to attention, stepped back, and opened the door.

[49:21] And so this boy led the soldier all the way in, and led him straight to the office of the president, Abraham Lincoln, entered the door, went into the office where Abraham Lincoln was present, and took this confederate soldier right into the presence of the president.

[49:45] The boy's name was Tad Lincoln, the son of Abraham Lincoln. I think you know where I'm going with this.

[50:02] We, too, have gained access to the Father through the person and work of his Son, Jesus Christ.

[50:15] he leads us right into the presence of the Father. But you know what's interesting?

[50:27] It's what's being said in Romans 5 is it's not just that we have access into the presence of God, which we do, but it's saying more than that.

[50:43] It's saying that we have come into the presence of God, into this grace, and it's saying, and that's where you remain.

[50:56] In the presence of God, in the grace of God, you remain there. It's not that we come in and out of it. We have come in and we remain in grace, in the presence of God.

[51:10] Romans 5, 2, through him we have also obtained access, by faith, into this grace in which we stand, he says. We stand there, we remain there.

[51:22] As a believer in Jesus Christ, you're constantly in the grace of God. As a result of justification, we constantly stand in the grace of God.

[51:40] God. Well, the third and final thing is for this morning's message is the third benefit is joy and hope in God.

[51:55] We've got peace with God, we've got access into his presence, we also have joy and hope in God. Romans 5, 2 to 4, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

[52:07] More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

[52:22] As one who is justified in Jesus Christ, you have a real hope of the glory of God.

[52:38] that is, right now, you have a real hope that you're going to see God in all his glory.

[52:55] And you're going to be with him forever. You're with him now forever, but you're going to seek him in the fullness of his glory and remain in that fellowship with him for eternity.

[53:08] joy. And that hope gives you a real sense of joy in the here and now.

[53:24] Joy doesn't always mean you're beaming from ear to ear. You can have joy in the midst of your sorrows. you have this real hope of seeing the Lord of glory.

[53:44] You know, the word hope is used in all kinds of contexts today and it's used in the world in such an uncertain way. You know, I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow or I hope war doesn't break out.

[54:03] You're saying it was such you want it to be that way but you have no guarantee it's going to be that way and that's the way hope is often used. But the word hope in the Bible is absolutely certain steadfast sure because because God promises it and if God promises something then it's going to happen because God cannot lie.

[54:35] And this hope which is confirmed in us who believe by the work of the Holy Spirit the work of the Spirit within us this is an anchor for our souls and it carries us through many difficult days things.

[54:57] But you know the hope of the glory of God also extends to a hope that we too ourselves will be glorified with the glory of God one day.

[55:12] You can look further in Romans 8 30 and those whom he predestined he also called and those whom he called he also justified and those whom he justified he also glorified.

[55:29] Right now we're not perfect. We fall into sin we sin our bodies are weak they're aging they're decaying they're dying they're subject to weakness etc.

[55:40] but we have the hope that we're going to be made perfect one day. Perfect without sin and perfect without decaying aging dying bodies.

[55:57] We will be made perfect without sin and we're going to receive perfect without sickness or weakness or aging glorified bodies.

[56:10] which are all part of God's promise of salvation. You know should we die before Christ returns our salvation is not complete until Jesus returns until the resurrection and your body is resurrected and you receive the glorified body.

[56:33] This is God's promise to all who believe in him. and without faith in Jesus Christ we cannot have that hope.

[56:49] But all who believe can have that hope. Everything can change by turning to Christ and surrendering to him and receiving this promise of salvation and have this hope in your own soul.

[57:15] Titus 2 verses 11 to 13 For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our blessed hope.

[57:36] And what is this blessed hope? The appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. That's our great hope.

[57:49] The appearing of Jesus Christ. We forget about this. We live on our lives day to day but everything is marching forward to that day.

[58:01] Every day is a bit closer to it. I don't know when it's going to be. But lift up your heads. Your salvation draws nigh as the scriptures say. Don't lose sight of this and go.

[58:15] In fact the Bible tells us we need to live our lives in the life of Christ's return. Sure in this life we have tribulations many tribulations persecutions as the followers of Jesus Christ.

[58:41] But Paul says even these things are a cause for rejoicing. Romans 5, 3 to 4, more than that we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope.

[58:59] Peter puts it like this in 1 Peter 1 verse 67 In this you rejoice though now for a little while if necessary you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

[59:27] James says it this way verses 1 chapter 1 2 to 4 Count it all joy my brothers when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and that steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking in nothing Jesus puts it like this Matthew 5 10 to 12 blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you don't misunderstand me no suffering is pleasant I don't want to suffer no suffering is pleasant and suffering is not something to rejoice in in itself in the suffering itself but we can rejoice in what the suffering is producing in us because these sufferings are not meaningless they're not even if we can't always make sense of them they're doing something they're producing amongst many things endurance and character that strengthens your hope in God psalm storm says

[61:32] I can't count the number of times people have said to me that they fear they aren't true believers they live in fear that they are hypocrites that their faith is ill founded and that this thing called hope in which they have put their confident expectation will never ultimately come to pass but Paul says that one of the beautiful things about our endurance of trials and tribulations is that it builds in us an ever increasing confidence that we will inherit all the promises God has made and we'll just bring it to a close just a few very brief words Paul also says this about hope in Romans 5 verse 5 and hope does not put us to shame people put their hope in all kinds of things people or things all the time and many end up disappointed and shamed that they ever trusted these things listen if you put your trust in me which I very much doubt you would do that but just saying if you were to put your trust in me at some point you're going to be disappointed in me because I'm going to do something

[63:00] I'm going to say something I'm going to fail to say something I'm going to fail to do something that will disappoint you why because I'm just as weak and vulnerable as the next person because I'm not any better than anyone else but our hope in God will never end up disappointing us it will never end up putting us to shame never Psalm 25 verses 1 to 3 to you oh Lord I lift my soul oh my God in you I trust let me not be put to shame let not my enemies exalt over me indeed none who wait for you shall be put to shame people may call you a fool for trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ they may brand you as a religious nutter etc all the things that go with it but the day will come when God will exonerate you publicly as his child as his son as his daughter and they who thought to shame you to humiliate you will be put to shame if they do not turn to

[64:34] Christ on that day let us pray father in heaven we want to say thank you for your word thank you for the teaching of scripture and I just pray Lord that the Holy Spirit would help us help us to understand help us to realize help us to apply help us to leave out these things knowing that God we have peace with you knowing that we have access to you knowing that we have joy and hope in you God Lord may these things be an anchor for our soul today as we look to the Lord Jesus Christ and Lord I pray if anyone here today doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that they would hear your voice calling them to put their trust in you to know you so Lord let not your word fall to the ground today but let it achieve the purpose for which you have sent it out in Jesus name

[65:39] Amen Well let's close by singing Psalm 32 Psalm 32 and we're going to sing verses 1 to 6 O blessed is the man to whom is freely pardoned all the transgression he has done whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes not a sin and in whose spirit there is no guile nor fraud is found therein let's sing this to God's praise God God God God God God God God God To sing this song away.

[66:51] Blessed is the one who honors In beauty and art is seen.

[67:08] And in this day there is no guy nor trot and rain.

[67:25] When I shall reclaim my trees And silent was my tongue My bones and walls The door he does I hold it all day long For upon the holy of life Thy hand is heavy light So that I might be done with him

[68:25] In summer's drug there crying I there upon the land to thee My sins acknowledge it And I twice might live with thee I have no courage I will confess again to the Lord My death's process that I

[69:26] I've gone by sin Like we did For him iniquity For his holy holy one Is filled with beauty In such a time In such a time Is he As I am the best being Surely my blood So all Turkey

[70:27]  To swell up to the rain They shall not go Over at the rain Your heart's Come near to him Now let's close with the benediction Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ The love of God the Father And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit Be with us all Amen