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[0:00] Well, once again, a very warm welcome to the evening service.

[0:12] ! And for those who maybe don't know me, my name is Alex Stewart and I am the minister of Mediabara in Kulernan The Church. Mediabara just beside Dingwall, about 11 miles north of Emberness.

[0:32] And it's been good to be with you here this day, to worship with you. And it's good to be back again this evening to worship the Lord together.

[0:44] So we're going to begin our praise of God this evening, singing in the words of Psalm 103. Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 5 of the psalm.

[0:59] O thou, my soul, bless God the Lord, and all that in thee is, be stirred up his holy name to magnify and bless. The psalmist here is speaking to his own soul, to stir up his own soul, to magnify and bless God's name.

[1:17] So let's do likewise. Let's magnify and bless the Lord's name. Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 5 of the psalm.

[1:32] Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 5 of the psalm. Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 5 of the psalm.

[1:47] Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 5 of the psalm. Psalm 103, and we'll sing verses 1 to 6 of the psalm.

[2:10] Forgiveness for me All honest angels Benefits Behold is good on me All thine in it With ease of death Forgiveness be forgives As I am Jesus All can be The tears can be relieved Who does redeem

[3:12] Thy light of life Who has this love for God Who will be with God And caring kindness How caring kindness How caring kindness How caring kindness How caring kindness Who will abandon all good things?

[3:52] The sun is wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide wide come before the Lord in prayer. Let's pray together.

[4:28] Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this opportunity to gather this evening and to sing to your praise and to give glory to you, to meet with you afresh.

[4:40] Lord, we ask and pray that you just set us free from everything that would just hinder, distract, take us away from yourself this evening. Help us, Lord, to come with undivided attention. Help us to come seeking.

[5:00] Help us to come with thankfulness. And as we come, may we know the blessing and the joy of the Lord being our strength. For Lord, you are the true and living God. And there isn't anyone like you.

[5:15] No one is equal to you. And it's our privilege and it's our joy to be able to call on your name. The God who loves us. The God who cares for us.

[5:27] The God who has given us Jesus Christ as a saviour. The God who has prepared for us things that we could not even begin to imagine. So wonderful are they, God.

[5:43] And we thank you, God, that even now you are with us. We thank you that as we go out and conduct our business tomorrow, you are with us.

[5:54] Thank you that there is no place where you are not with us. Thank you that we stand in your grace. Thank you that we have peace with you. Thank you that we have a hope that gives us great joy.

[6:07] And in light of all these things and more, we want to sing your praises, God. Not just from our lips, but from the core of our heart. From the core of our being, we want to give you worship and glory and praise and honour.

[6:26] Because you are great, God. You are excellent. You are praiseworthy. We lift up your name. We glorify you and help us to do that at all times.

[6:39] Help us to do that when, not only when things are going well, but also when things are not going well. When things seem to be out of control, help us to come before you and praise your name.

[6:54] Because regardless of circumstances, you are still good. You are still faithful. You are still on the throne. And you know exactly what you are doing.

[7:06] So help us to trust in you, Lord. To cast all our burdens on you, knowing that you care for us. We ask you, living God, that you may meet with us tonight as we seek you.

[7:19] That you would meet with us. And that you would bless our lives. We ask you for the forgiveness of our sins. We ask you to cleanse us. And we thank you, God, that your word says that if we confess our sins to you, you are faithful and just to forgive us all our sins.

[7:39] And Lord, we rejoice in that, God. We rejoice in that knowledge. Because who could stand, God, if you did not forgive? But yet there is forgiveness with you. So from the depths of our heart, Lord, we say thank you.

[7:52] And so, Lord, would you now open our eyes. Would you open our ears. Would you open our hearts to hear from you, to receive from you.

[8:05] You are the living God. And so, Lord, we don't simply want us to go through the motions of a service. But we want to encounter the risen, resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

[8:21] The living God. So it may each one of us, God, hear tonight. Hear from you. Encounter you. Be blessed by you. For we ask this in the name of Jesus.

[8:33] Amen. Let's continue to sing to God's praise in the words of Psalm 116.

[8:51] Psalm 116. And we'll sing verses 1 to 8 of this psalm. I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear.

[9:03] I, while I live, will call on him who bowed to me his ear. Verses 1 to 8 to God's praise. I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear.

[9:29] I, while I live, will call on him. If I give me his ear.

[9:45] O get the courts and sorrow stood, A fight because was right, The means of hell to hold on me, I live and travel blind, Upon the name of God the Lord, And when I come and say, Even by thy night's sorrow,

[10:48] Lord, I hear thee as we pray, God, next upon us righteousness, In graciousness, Lord, God, since the week I was brought low, He did me ever before, O that thy soul to the return, And to thy quiet rest,

[11:50] For our people that are to thee, Is that thee our next place, For my goodness, O from death, He will evermore by thee, Thou hent my mourning, Thou hent my mourning, Thou hent my tears, My feet from falling free.

[12:43] Well, let's turn to Paul's letter to the Romans, Romans, And read chapter 5, Romans chapter 5.

[13:00] So this is the word of the Lord, And let's hear what he has to say to us.

[13:20] 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.

[13:38] And not only so, But we glory in tribulations also, Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, And patience experience, And experience hope, 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.

[14:01] For when we were yet without strength, Then in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, Yet preadventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

[14:19] But God commendeth his 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 the wrath through him.

[14:34] 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.

[14:46] And not only so, But we also joy in God, Through our Lord Jesus Christ, By whom we have now received the atonement.

[14:57] Amen. May God bless his word to us. Let's once again just bow our hearts in prayer. Let's once again just bow our hearts in prayer. Lord, we are grateful for your mercy to us.

[15:18] We are grateful that we can have peace with you. We are grateful that we can come into the presence of God. Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere.

[15:33] This has been given to us by Jesus Christ. And Lord, we thank you that tonight, Tonight, Here, Gathered together in the name of Jesus.

[15:45] We are in the presence of God. And as we stand before you, As we bow before you, As we call on your name, Lord, minister to us, we pray.

[16:01] Would you encourage every person here? Would you minister to each family here? Would you reveal and make yourself known in wonderful ways?

[16:16] Would you speak a personal word into us this night, Lord? That would fill us with seal and joy and love for you.

[16:30] Would you open our eyes to understand and to know your love for us? And would you bless us with affections of your love each day, God?

[16:45] And would you help us to love you more than anything in the world? More than anyone? Would you give us a love for your son that excels all other loves?

[17:04] Would you help us, Lord, to live for Christ and to die to self?

[17:16] Would you help us to do all things for the glory of God? When we go about our business tomorrow, whatever that may involve, Would you go with us, God?

[17:33] Would you help us to overcome temptation? Would you help us in how we speak, in how we conduct ourselves?

[17:47] Would you help us to live in the freedom that Christ has purchased for us, knowing that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus? Would you give us the courage to speak for you when the opportunity arises?

[18:09] Would you help us to minister to each other and to others, God? For, Lord, we receive from you that we might minister to others.

[18:20] And so, Lord, I pray for this congregation. I thank you, Lord, for the many years of faithful ministry that have gone on in this place.

[18:35] And I pray that as they are in a time of vacancy, that you will bless them. You will bless Thomas Davis's interim moderatorship over them.

[18:52] And that, God, you would lead the man of your calling to them. And then to him. And may you bless them week by week until such a time as various preachers come.

[19:09] Bless them, Lord. Bless the men who will come and share your word here. That it will be comforting, challenging, edifying, glorifying, a blessing.

[19:25] And may you pour out your spirit on this congregation and on this community, God. That they may see the power of God at work. At work.

[19:36] At work in their homes. At work in their school. At work in the various workplaces. And all life that is throughout this community.

[19:51] And may we pray you be at work powerfully in our gathering tonight. Because, God, we have come to seek you, the living God.

[20:03] And we believe there is power in you. We do not have power in and of ourselves. But you have power, God. The power to help us.

[20:14] The power to bless us. The power to save us. The power to provide whatever we need. Whatever our problems are. We bring them before you.

[20:25] And so will you encourage this people, God. Week by week. And month by month. Year by year. To faithfully, humbly follow you.

[20:38] And as they do this, Lord. As they meet for prayers. As they meet to worship. As they go out to minister. As they go out and to come in. Lord, that they would see the power of God working in their midst.

[20:50] And Lord, may you save many in this place. To the glory of your name, God. Amen. Let's turn to Psalm 107.

[21:15] And we'll sing verses 1 to 9 of this psalm. Psalm 107.

[21:26] Verses 1 to 9. Praise God for he is good. For still his mercies lasting be. Let's sing this to God's praise.

[21:37] Praise God for he is good. Praise God for he is good. For still his mercies lasting be.

[21:54] Let God redeem his hope to me. Let God redeem his hope to me. From the end misanately.

[22:09] And gather them all the lands. From north and east and west.

[22:26] They say in deserts, but this way. No city's country's race.

[22:41] For thirt and ungodly and peace. Their soul and saints and praise.

[22:57] They try unto the Lord. And keep them free from their distress.

[23:12] The most open a window. The righteous he could guide.

[23:28] For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain.

[23:45] For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For now and rain. For His goodness lain, and for His works of wonder good, and to the sands of pain.

[24:16] For He the soul, the longing is, that fully satisfied.

[24:31] Where trekkies He the hungry, so He'll have undone me.

[24:56] Well, let's turn back to Romans chapter 5. Amen. This morning we began looking at some of the fruits of being justified by God.

[25:13] To be justified means to be declared as righteous by God on account of our faith in Jesus Christ.

[25:23] And we've already seen that on account of being justified, we have peace with God. And that we have access to God.

[25:37] And that we have a joy and a hope now, even in the midst of our trials, even in the midst of our suffering.

[25:48] These are some of the fruits that we have from being justified. And I want to continue looking at what Paul teaches about the fruits of justification.

[26:02] And tonight we're going to look at one more, which is God has poured His love into our hearts.

[26:13] And we're going to have four subheadings under that. But this is the fourth thing. God has poured His love into our hearts.

[26:24] And He's done that by the Holy Spirit whom He's poured into us. So we read in Romans 5 verse 5, Paul writes there, And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

[26:41] What Paul is saying is, We know that this hope that we have in God will never prove futile.

[26:59] That's what he's saying here. We know this hope that we have now in God is never going to prove futile. And we know this because He's given us the Holy Spirit.

[27:19] Every believer, every Christian has the Spirit of God indwelling them. They're born again, born of the Spirit.

[27:32] God is love. And to receive God the Holy Spirit is to be filled with love. Because you are justified, The love of God is poured, Is what it's saying here, Is poured into your heart.

[27:54] And He has done this by the Holy Spirit. By giving you the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, Paul teaches in Galatians 5, is what? Love. That's the first thing that's mentioned.

[28:05] And because the love of God is poured into the heart of the believer, Paul writes in Romans chapter 8, verse 15, For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, But you have received the spirit of adoption as sons.

[28:28] He said, You received this. You received Him. And Paul goes on to say, By whom we cry, Abba, Which means Father.

[28:41] We cry Abba. We cry Father. Towards God. We call God Father. Because of the love of the Holy Spirit within us, We cry out Abba.

[28:56] Similarly in Galatians 4, verse 6, And because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts, Crying Abba.

[29:11] Crying Father. As I said this morning, You know you are no longer an enemy of God, Because you have peace with God now.

[29:23] And the spirit enables you to say, Father, Towards God. You have experienced the love of God in you. Some struggle with this for various reasons, And I'm not going to go into them tonight, But some doubt the love of God for various reasons.

[29:48] Sometimes it has to do with their experience in life, Sometimes it has to do with their own relationship to their earthly fathers, And people have difficulty trying to comprehend the love of God for them.

[30:01] But that's a sermon for another day. But the relationship between the believer and God, Has changed, And it's changed for the better.

[30:12] And you experience it to some extent, Because God has poured the Holy Spirit into your heart. And by doing this, The Spirit moves in you to cry out to God as Father.

[30:28] And, Can I say this to you? If you want to experience the love of God, More in your life, First of all, You need to understand, What the scriptures teach on the love of God.

[30:50] You need to understand, That this is the plain, Black and white teaching of the scripture. That God loves his children. But if you want to experience the love of God more in your life, You also need to, To pray, To your Father in heaven, To know his love for you.

[31:19] And I don't know, If you address, God as Father, Or not, But can I encourage you to do that? To address him as Father, Father, Because this is the way Jesus taught us, To address him.

[31:36] Our Father, Who is in heaven, Hallowed be your name. That's one of the greatest privileges of the Christian, Is to call God, Their Father.

[31:49] But I also ask you, To pray, To the Lord, To reveal his love to you, To help you understand it, But also, To ask him that you might feel, The affections of his love, For you.

[32:12] And at different times, And in different ways, He will let you experience that. And in case, You think, I'm, Lost my, Off my rocker on this, Paul prayed, This for the Ephesian Christians.

[32:34] In Ephesians chapter 3, Verses 17 to 19, Paul is praying here, And he's praying that they be, Rooted, And grounded in love. And then in verse 18, That they may have strength, To comprehend, With all the saints, What is the breadth, And length, And height, And depth.

[32:57] And then in verse 19, And then he says this, And to know, The love of Christ, That surpasses, Knowledge.

[33:09] To know the love of Christ, That surpasses knowledge, That you might be filled, With the fullness of God.

[33:23] What does it mean, To know the love of Christ, That surpasses knowledge? You can't, It goes beyond your knowledge, It goes beyond your understanding, And it's something you experience, And it's beyond the intellect, Yes we need the intellect, To understand what the scriptures say, But Paul is saying, Not only that you would understand, That you would experience, What can't, What goes beyond, Knowledge.

[33:59] So, I don't know if I said, But my first subheading was, That we experience, God's love, I think I forgot to say that, But secondly, As a result of, God, Pouring his love, Into our hearts, We too love, We also love, This is a fruit, Of the justification, Of faith in Christ, The fruit of justification, Is experiencing, The love of God, In our hearts, And not only do we, Experience his love, For us, We also, In turn, Love God, And love others, Love especially, The family of God, And this is a big thing, In scripture, Galatians 5, 22 to 23,

[35:04] Tells us, That the fruit of the spirit, Is love, So if the spirit of God, Is in the believer, And nobody can be a believer, Without the spirit of God, Then the fruit of love, Is in the believer, For the fruit of the spirit, Is love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control, No, 1 John 4, 7 to 8, Beloved, Let us love one another, For love is from God, And whoever loves, Has been born of God, And knows God, Anyone who does not love, Does not know God, Because God is love, 1 John 4, 19 to 20, We love, Because he first loved us, If anyone says, I love God, And hates his brother, He is a liar, For he, For he who does not love, His brother whom he has, Seen, Cannot love God, Whom he has not seen, Friends,

[36:06] Hearts that are transformed, By the love of God, Is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, In a person who has been justified, By faith, In the Lord Jesus Christ, It's not, Perfect, It's not all it's going to be, But it's there, And it needs to grow, As we, Live our life for Christ, So we experience God's love, We love God, And we love each other, But the third thing, I want to mention here, Is that God has demonstrated, His love also, There is another reason, That the love of God, Strengthens our hope, And that is, God has demonstrated, His love, Romans 5, 6 to 8,

[37:07] For while we were still weak, At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly, For one will scarcely die, For a righteous person, Though perhaps for a good person, One would dare even to die, But God shows His love for us, In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, In other words, If God sent His Son, Jesus, Now, To die for our sins, Then He will surely, Make sure, We are saved, All the way to the end, So let's look at that, In a little bit more detail, First of all, Paul says, At the right time, God sent His Son, To die for our sins, You know friends, Death was no accident, The death of Jesus, Was no accident, It's the perfect,

[38:08] Plan of God, That was put into action, At the right, Time, It was the perfect, Plan of God, Galatians 4, Verses 4 to 5, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, Born of a woman, Born under the law, To redeem those who were under the law, So that we might receive adoptions as sons, Secondly, When did God do this, And for what kind of people did He do it for?

[38:45] First of all, He did it while we were still weak, That is, When we were totally unable to save ourselves, When we were totally, Modally, Spiritually bankrupt, Unable to do anything to make ourselves acceptable before God, You've perhaps heard it said that, God helps those who help themselves, When it comes to salvation, Paul disagrees, God helps those who are utterly, And absolutely helpless, And crying, God save me, Have mercy on me, And when it comes to salvation, That's every single one of us, Regardless of who we are, So He did it while we were still weak,

[39:48] He also did it when we were ungodly, Says Paul, When we were unlike God, When we were against Him, When we hated Him, And wanted nothing to do with Him, And thirdly, He did it when we were, He says, Sinners, Jesus never died, For any righteous person, He died for sinners, Those who broke God's law, There are not two classes, Of people in the world, Sinners and non-sinners, Because all of us, Have sinned, All of us fall short, Of the glory of God, So He did it while we were sinners, But He also did it, When we were enemies, Says Paul, Psalm Storms, Makes the comment on this, He says, Don't, Don't water down that term, It means everything you think it means, Rebellious, Insolent, Haughty,

[40:49] Adagant, Self-righteous, Repulsive, Disobedient, And defiant to God, And all, That he represents, And says, So when we were powerless, To save ourselves, When we were ungodly, When we were sinners, When we were enemies of God, Christ died for us, Isn't this, The greatest demonstration, Of love?

[41:22] Isn't this the greatest demonstration, Of God's love for us? When we're against Him, When we hate Him, When we're no interest in Him, When we can't save ourselves, That's when He died, To save sinners, As it says here in Romans 5, Verses 7 to 8, For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, Though perhaps for a good person, One would dare even to die, But God shows His love for us, In that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, What someone, Might reluctantly, Do for a good person, God did out of love, For evil, Rebellious, Sinful, People, And here in, Is the glory of God, Magnified, You know, Someone might say,

[42:23] I would die for my child, In less than a heartbeat, But could we say, We would die for the person, Who murdered or abused our child, Romans 5, Verse 8 says, But God shows His love for us, In that while we were still, Sinners, God haters, Insolent, Arrogant, Proud, Boastful, Resentful, Etc., Christ died for us, The fourth thing is, God's love, Gives us hope, For our future salvation, We talked a little bit about this, This morning, But Paul puts another angle on this, In verses 9 to 11,

[43:27] He restates, What he said, In a slightly different way, And with an emphasis, On our future salvation, Romans 5, 9 to 11, Since therefore we, Have now been justified, By His blood, Much more shall we be saved, By Him, From the wrath of God, But 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, More than that, We also rejoice, In God, Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Through whom, We have now received, Reconciliation, Friends, The Bible speaks, Of our salvation, In three, Senses, It speaks of us, As, We are saved, Through faith in Jesus Christ,

[44:28] Right now, Through faith in Jesus Christ, You are saved, We are justified, It's all ours, It's all guaranteed, Here and now, In Jesus Christ, But then the Bible also talks of salvation, In another sense, In that we are being saved, We are saved, We are being saved, And this is referring to, The process of sanctification, Where God is chipping away at us, And getting rid of all these things, That are un-Christ-like, In our lives, And we'll spend the rest of our days, Going through that process, But the Bible speaks of, We are being saved, That God is working out, His salvation, In us day by day, In the process of our sanctification, And then when the Lord Jesus Christ, Returns,

[45:30] We will be glorified, Our salvation will be completed, We are, And this speaks of our, Future tense of salvation, When it will be completed, At the return of Jesus Christ, When, When Christ will bring in, A new heaven, And a new earth, With our new resurrected, Bodies, And this we are waiting for, So we are saved, We are being saved, And we will be saved, It's the language, Of the Bible, But here, And now, The love of God, That's poured, Into our hearts, By the Holy Spirit, Gives us, This great hope, For that future day, Now, We have that hope, But he says, Since therefore, We have now been, Justified by his blood,

[46:31] Much more, Shall we be saved, By him, From the wrath of God, 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, In other words, If God, Sent his son to die, For you, While you were his enemy, Christ died, When we were his enemies, How much more then, Is he going to save you, Now that he's reconciled, To you to himself, If he sent his son, To die for you, While you, We were enemies, How much more, Now that he's reconciled, Is he going to save us, On that day, If he did it, When we were, At our worst, God has demonstrated,

[47:41] His love for you, In sending his son, To die for you, Therefore, How, Could you possibly, Experience, His wrath, On the day of judgment, Is what Paul is saying, There's no way, You can experience it, If he sent his son, To die for you, While you were his enemy, There is no way, You can experience, His wrath, On that day, The demonstration, Of his love, In the crucifixion, Of his son, In your place, You who believe, And in my place, And the resurrection, Of his life, From the dead, Is the absolute, Guarantee, That you will not, Experience, His wrath, That's what Paul is saying,

[48:43] Jesus, Died for sinners, And was raised to life, To save, Sinners, He saved you, He's saving you, He's going to complete, That salvation, And friends, Nothing, And absolutely, Nothing, Can, Explain this, But the love of God, Have you got an explanation for it, Why God should do this, I don't, I don't have any other explanation, But the love of God, And by the way friends, We must never think either, That it was Christ's death, On the cross, That moved the Father's heart, To love us, Never think that God was reluctant,

[49:45] To save you, And he goes, Oh, Well, Because my son died, For you then, I have to save you, You put your trust in him, No, No, No, No, No, No, Never think that, No, It was the love of the Father, For you, That moved his heart, To give his son, To die for you, For God so loved the world, That he gave, His son, And it was the love of the son, For you, That he was willing, To endure the humiliation, The suffering, The shame, The barbaric treatment, To lay down his life, For you, On a cross, Because God loved you, Jesus died, For you,

[50:47] To reconcile you, To God, God, Save his son, For all his children, I quote again, Sam Storms, And he says, It is logically, Theologically, And biblically, Impossible, That God would love you, Less now, Now that you are his child, Than he loved you then, When you were his enemy, It is logically, Theologically, Biblically, Impossible, That God would love you, Less now, That you are his child, Than he loved you then, When you were his enemy, There is a hymn,

[51:50] That says these words, How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That he should give his only son, To make a righteous treasure, In Romans 5, Verse 11, It says, More than that, We also rejoice in God, Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Through whom, We have now received, Reconciliation, More than that, We also rejoice in God, Through our Lord Jesus Christ, He's saying, We rejoice now, Here and now, We rejoice in these things, And do you know this friends, God, Wants you, To, Rejoice, In him, That you, Are reconciled, To him, He wants you,

[52:51] To rejoice in it, He wants you, To delight in it, He wants you, To praise him for it, And fill the fullness, Of that joy, For all of these things, Rejoice friends, Rejoice, Paul says in the Philippines, I say again, Rejoice, Rejoice that you are reconciled, To God, Delight in his love, For you, And if you're here tonight, And you're not reconciled to God, Let me say this, You can turn to him, You can turn to Christ, In faith, Tonight, And you can ask him, To forgive you, And reconcile you, To himself, And do you know what he will do?

[53:48] Do you know what he will do? Will he tell you to get lost? No. Will he tell you no?

[54:00] No. If you come to him, Humble yourself before him, Say, God have mercy on me, A sinner, Save me. Do you know what he's going to do? He's going to save you.

[54:13] He's going to forgive you. He's going to wipe away your sins. He's going to reconcile you, To himself. He will save you. And he will, Be in the process of saving you.

[54:26] And he will come back to receive you, For himself. God could not make it any plainer, Any simpler, For us, To be saved.

[54:40] We have to turn around and say, No, Thank you God. I will continue as I am, Without your love, Without your mercy, Without your salvation.

[54:50] God has moved, Towards you. He's made the first move. He's made salvation available. And what our part is, God will not force us to believe.

[55:05] God will not force us to repent. We must come to him, In faith. We must come before him, In repentance. And follow him. God will be true to his word.

[55:23] So the fourth fruit that, I share with you tonight, Is that God has, Poured his love, Into your heart, By the Holy Spirit.

[55:39] And the spirit in you, Brings changes within you. And you start to, Begin to relate to God, Differently. You start to, To call, To, You know, There's no longer that, Hostility.

[55:56] There's a friendship. There's a reconciliation. There's, There's a love there. You know, Before I ever became a Christian, I didn't want to be in church.

[56:10] I didn't want to follow Christ. But when God saved me, When God poured his spirit into me, He changed my heart. And that's what he's done with you. You now love God, Because the love of God, Has been poured in you.

[56:25] Do we love him, What we want to love him, Are we, Without sin? No. But do you want to follow him? Yes. You want to, To love him?

[56:38] Yes. God's poured his spirit. The love of God into your heart. And God will do that. God will bless you.

[56:51] And all who come to him, He will never drive away. You have to walk away yourself. You have to make that choice, To walk away from his salvation.

[57:03] But God is offering it to us freely. God will pour out his love into your heart, By his spirit. And you can know, That you will not, Face his wrath, When you stand before him, On the day of judgment.

[57:22] And every single one of us, Will stand before him, On the day of judgment. But you can rejoice in this hope now, If you put your trust in Jesus, That you will not experience his wrath, On that day.

[57:38] You can experience his love, Now. And for all eternity. Let me just pray. Lord, Would you move among us tonight?

[58:06] And would you, by your spirit, Make alive your word? I pray that your word, Would fall on good soil, I pray that it has fallen, Good soil, I pray it's going to bear fruit, Here in our lives today.

[58:22] That will result, In bringing glory to your name, And it will result, In much blessing and joy, For each one here, This night. So Lord, I pray that you would silence, The voice of the accuser.

[58:37] And that you would set your people free, To know your love. And to rejoice in it. And to snap every chain, That shackles us.

[58:50] In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So our closing psalm is Psalm 36.

[59:08] Psalm 36. And we'll sing verses 5 to 10.

[59:22] Psalm 36, 5 to 10. Thy mercy, Lord, Is in the heavens, Thy truth does reach the clients. Let's sing this to God's praise.

[59:34] Thy mercy, Lord, Is in the heavens, Thy truth does reach the clients.

[59:55] Thy justice is like mountain tree, Thy judgment keep us blood.

[60:15] Lord, Lord, Lord, For thou please, there must not be, thou precious is thy grace.

[60:34] Their body shall go off thy wings, men's sons, their blood shall please.

[60:54] They will survive as all thy hosts, God, he will satisfy.

[61:11] From rivers of thy precious blood will drink to them, provide.

[61:31] Because of thy, the fire that you, remains alone with thee.

[61:52] And in the curious light of life, we clearly shall see.

[62:11] Thy working hand is a rhythm, continue that being old.

[62:31] And still on men, the brightened heart, thy righteousness bestow.

[62:53] Let's close with the benediction. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.