[0:01] As the boys and girls head off, we can join together in a word of prayer. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the gift we have of this time together today. We give you praise for it.
[0:17] We find ourselves gathered together in this place of worship. We understand there are so many other places we could be today. And for many of us here, there were many years where this would be the last place we would imagine ourselves to be on this morning.
[0:32] We give you praise that you are the God who rescues your people. From east and west and north and south, from all situations, from all variety of circumstances, you have your people.
[0:44] You rescue your people. You bring them to a saving knowledge of yourself. At this time, and especially this day, we come with simple words, with a simple gospel of our glorious Saviour.
[0:59] We know and we confess that we in and of ourselves have nothing and offer nothing, but you give us in return everything. Help us to understand that. Help us to appreciate that this day.
[1:13] Help us to have that childlike faith which understands that in Jesus we have a free gift. In salvation we have a free gift.
[1:25] Free for us, but it cost our Saviour it all. It cost a lifetime of suffering. It cost the cross.
[1:35] It cost him the agonising hours of mental and physical and spiritual agony.
[1:47] It cost him to be made sin on that cross so that we might become righteous. It cost him it all so that we can come and know we are free and safe and secure in him.
[1:59] Lord, help us this day, if no other day this year, help us this day to truly listen to the gospel. We admit we come to this place and there are so many things demanding our attention.
[2:11] There are so many things distracting the people here today. Distracting us away from you. Distracting us away from the simplicity and the beauty and also the necessity of the gospel.
[2:23] We ask for a short time together, you would give us the sense to listen carefully to your word. Pray just now for your people here. We thank you for this time of fellowship, for this time of gathering.
[2:34] We pray for ourselves as a congregation. We thank you for the gift of what it is to call one another brother and sister. We also remember the wider free church.
[2:46] We pray just now especially for our brothers and sisters down in Scalpy. We thank you for the good work going on there. We pray, Lord, for Reverend Coghill. We thank you for him and his family.
[2:57] We pray, Lord, for their own encouragements. At times they may be small encouragements. We thank you for them regardless. We thank you as you seek to reach out to that place where the gospel was heard over many years.
[3:10] Where the gospel cause now feels at times so small. We also remember our brother and his congregation, the Reverend Scherer in Dunblane. Pray for him and we thank you for him and his family.
[3:23] We pray, Lord, for their recent encouragements of some new families moving to our congregation. But we pray with them as they pray to you for more young families to move in.
[3:34] To assist and to encourage and to be able to engage in the gospel work of that city, of that town. Amen. We also widely pray for our brothers and sisters across this world.
[3:50] We are united together in our one saviour and our one hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember especially today our brothers and sisters in Iran. Remember especially that man Joseph and his family, that beloved brother in the Lord who has suffered much even in his short time in prison.
[4:10] And who suffered many awful things, but who is now free and back home with his family. Lord, we ask you bless him and bless his family. And help them as they recover from what the trauma that they went through.
[4:24] We pray for ourselves this coming week. Of all the events we hope to engage in. That it will be done for your name's sake and for your glory. We pray, Lord, for the events of Wednesday evening.
[4:37] Lord, we know that we do it for your glory. As the word goes out, it does so in power. As we engage in reading your word. As we engage in public prayer.
[4:48] As we engage, Lord, in the sharing of the simple gospel. We give you praise for it. For the opportunity. We ask, Lord, that you would use that simple reading and that simple teaching and that simple prayer to bring some to you.
[5:03] Pray, Lord, for the prayer meeting on Thursday night. That time of togetherness. Lord, you bless it to us. Pray also for the upcoming service a week today. That you give us the wisdom to encourage perhaps some families.
[5:17] We would think of who might be encouraged to come along. That they would feel welcome to come to this place. Knowing that they are loved and cared for. And that they are truly welcome to come here. Lord, they would hear the gospel themselves perhaps for the very first time.
[5:33] Pray, Lord, for the Tuesday presbytery. For all the discussion that takes place in that meeting. For all the decisions and all the ideas and thoughts which must go forward. We ask you to bless these things.
[5:44] We ask you to bless your gospel cause in our island. Bless your gospel cause especially we ask of this time of year with ourselves. The simple gospel would go out. It would have not a simple effect but an eternal life changing effect.
[5:58] We leave that with you. Lord, we cannot change anyone's heart. We cannot change anyone's soul. We leave that alone with you. You change hearts.
[6:10] You change destinations. You take hearts of stone and give instead hearts of flesh. We pray just now for our loved ones. Those we have prayed for for many years and many decades.
[6:23] Who as of yet show little to no sign of caring for the gospel. We ask you bring them to a saving knowledge of yourself. Pray just now for those who are showing some interest.
[6:34] Those who are seeking. Even those who join with us here week after week. who are wanting to know more. And who are on the edge as it were of giving their lives over to the Lord Jesus Christ.
[6:46] Lord, we ask that your word would give them even this day that final push to coming close to you. Pray just now for those who are suffering and those who are sick.
[6:57] Those in our congregation but also those in our community. Those who are going through health worries just now. Health problems. Lord, you alone know the details and the complications and the stresses and worries of that.
[7:11] Pray just now for family members who are so worried for their family. Pray just now for family members who are worried for the physical health and the mental health. And also the spiritual health of their family members.
[7:24] Pray just now for any here who are anxious. Who are going through dark days and hard days. Who find themselves at times wondering how they can go on. Lord, we ask you be with them and encourage them.
[7:35] Pray just now for those here with loved ones so heavy on their mind for various reasons. Lord, we ask you to encourage them today. Pray just now, Lord, for those here who want to come out on your side.
[7:52] Who want to proclaim that they are yours. But who are feeling stuck. Who are feeling as if they just are so close. But yet so far, we ask your word would give them that push even today to come out on the side of the Lord.
[8:06] Help us, Lord, we ask the congregation. Help us to faithfully serve you. That all our goals would be the goals of you. That we understand as we have reminded ourselves the last few weeks.
[8:18] If you're not in it, then there's no point doing it. Unless you build the house. Unless you watch over the city. We're doing all our building work. All our preaching work in vain.
[8:31] But we trust you are in it. We trust you are building your kingdom in Tulsa. We trust you are building your house here. We give you praise for that. Help us to be living stones and to serve you well.
[8:42] We trust that this city, that this village, that North Tolstoy belongs to you. That you're truly watching over it. Help us then to be faithful servants. Diligently seeking how we might serve you in our homes, in our village, in the week to come.
[8:58] We'll leave these things with you. Understanding we can save no one. But you working through us. You use us to point those around us to Jesus. We as living witnesses of our living saviour.
[9:11] Lord, help us this day to concentrate on your word. To lay aside the stresses and worries of this world. And for a short time to listen simply and clearly to your clear, glorious gospel proclamation.
[9:27] We ask all of these things, confessing sin before you. And we have indeed sinned before you this day and this week. In our thoughts, in our words, in our actions, we have made ourselves unclean before you.
[9:39] We thank you that if we are yours, then we are called clean, eternally clean because of the finished work of our saviour. Asking all these things in and through and for his precious name's sake.
[9:55] Amen. Let's turn to read in God's word. Reading that glorious chapter, John chapter 3. The gospel of John chapter 3. A chapter we read, of course, countless times before.
[10:09] John chapter 3. It's on page 834. Page 834. We can read verses 1 down to verse 21.
[10:22] John chapter 3, verses 1 down to verse 21. Let's hear together the word of the Lord.
[10:33] Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
[10:51] Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
[11:08] Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
[11:24] Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows what it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
[11:37] So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
[11:51] Truly, truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
[12:03] If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
[12:17] And as Moses lifted up a serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
[12:27] For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
[12:45] Whoever believes in him is not condemned. But whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
[12:57] And this is the judgment. The light has come into the world, and people love the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his work should be exposed.
[13:16] Whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. Amen and so on.
[13:27] Give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word. Let's sing once more this time from Sing Psalms and Psalm 40.
[13:39] Sing Psalms and Psalm 40. That's on page 50 of the psalm books. Sing Psalms, Psalm 40 on page 50.
[13:54] Sing verses 1 down to verse 5. I waited long upon the Lord. He heard my cry and turned to me. He raised me from the slimy pit, and from the mire he pulled me free.
[14:08] Psalm 40, verses 1 to 5. To God's praise. I waited long upon the Lord.
[14:23] He did not cry and turned to me. He raised me from the slimy pit, and from the mire he pulled me free.
[14:52] He sent my feet of solid love, a blessed sin, and from the Hadou.
[15:04] He lifted me from the ground, he tilted, guerre hedid not down, and he looking for me, he came and turned to me. God's love, you see him all, you see him all, he is, you see him life is, and he carried my heart.
[15:23] A joyful man, a joy in theole. Thank you.
[16:01] Thank you.
[16:31] Thank you.
[17:02] Let's turn back to that most famous of passages and one I'm sure we've all heard plenty of sermons on John chapter 3 verses 16 and verse 17.
[17:13] If you recall we've been doing a very short series the last three weeks looking at just some of the elements of the incarnation. And we saw first of all we saw the people of Jesus.
[17:27] We saw these four women of Christ's family three. Last week we then saw the prophecies of Jesus. We looked at just one of the 350 odd prophecies which talks so clearly about the coming Messiah.
[17:45] Finally today we can look at the promise of the incarnation. The promise of what it means that God became man.
[17:56] Of why that's so important. Now I'm so aware when we come to chapters like this and verses like this and even sermons at this time of year.
[18:08] We've heard it all before. You've heard it all before. You've heard these sermons. You've heard the same topics. And let's be honest. It is so easy just to switch off.
[18:20] We all do it. We all do it in church quite often. Let's be honest again. It's so easy to switch off and not to hear and to understand the beauty of what's being said.
[18:31] We hope today that we'll be a simple look. Now of course every sermon I strive not to be simple but to at least be clear and be understandable.
[18:43] But today especially we come to what is a glorious passage. We can take it in hundreds of different ways. But looking at John 3.16 and touching on verse 17.
[18:55] Just very simply and very straightforwardly and clearly on one track. Looking at the gift of Jesus. What this verse tells us about the gift of Jesus.
[19:11] Very three simple headings. First of all the giver. Who is the giver of the gift? Then we can see the gift itself. And then the recipients of the gift.
[19:26] So the giver, the gift and the recipients. I was trying very hard this morning to think of a third point that started with G. But I couldn't think of one. So we've got the recipients.
[19:38] The gift, the giver, the gift and the recipients. Again, simple and concise.
[19:48] Not for lack of words. But concise because I worry if I say too much you'll be distracted and you won't hear what's being said in the glory of this passage.
[19:59] First of all then, the giver of the gift. Who is the giver of the gift? In verse 16. For God so loved the world.
[20:11] Of course, the giver of the gift is God the Father. And he is the ultimate gift giver. He is the ultimate giver, we could say in general.
[20:23] He is the ultimate giver in that he gives us, of course, all our life. Every breath we take is quite literally a gift from God.
[20:34] Every second we have of life, it's a gift from him. Every time you inhale and exhale, God is showing his mercy towards you. And we forget that.
[20:46] And we take it for granted. Of course, breathing is the most natural thing we do. And we can break that down into how we do it with our lungs and the composition of the air that we breathe.
[20:57] We know the mechanics of it all. But we forget that every day we have is a gift. Now, that saying has become so overused. It's become so tweezed, so well used.
[21:11] We forget how important it is. Every day we have is truly a gift from God. He is the giver of all life. But even with that, within our lives, he is the giver of all good gifts.
[21:28] And the glorious thing is that he gives us good gifts whether we thank him for them or not. Your family. Your relations.
[21:38] Every good thing you can think about in your life, in your personal life, in your wider life. Every good thing. Every truly good thing.
[21:50] It's a gift from God. All of it. Now, often we don't thank him for any of these things or indeed many of these things. But we're all a gift from God.
[22:00] He is the ultimate giver of good gifts. Every day, every second, he is giving us the gift of life. And within that life, every good thing comes from him.
[22:15] It's a simple truth, but it's also the most expansive truth. Everything we know from the very universe itself down to our own bodies, our own minds, our own daily experience.
[22:29] A gift from God. For all the gifts he gives, we see here the ultimate gift is the gift of his son.
[22:40] We'll see that in a second. And note how the father gives the gift of his son. He does so out of love.
[22:52] For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. Perhaps we often think, and even Christians, we often think that God gave us Jesus.
[23:09] That God sent the son out of some formal requirement that was put upon him. God was somehow, with respect, duty bound to send the son.
[23:22] And God did so. He sent the son because he somehow had to do it. He did so just mechanically. He did so coldly.
[23:33] We perhaps think that we are then made lovable because the son came. If I was asked the question, why does God love the Christian?
[23:48] You might answer, well, God loves the Christian because Jesus made the Christian lovable. Through what he did. Through his life, his death, his resurrection. That might sound good.
[23:59] But it's awful theology. God did not send Jesus to make us lovable. To make us savable. Why did God send Jesus? Why did God give us the gift of Jesus?
[24:12] Well, this verse tells us. For God so loved the world. The opposite is true. The son wasn't sent to make us somehow lovable to the father.
[24:26] The son was sent to redeem and rescue his people because the father loves us. He loves us so much he sent the son.
[24:39] And this is not just some airy, cuddly love. This is love fully enacted. And the incarnate son of God sent from glory down to his own creation.
[24:50] Everything we've covered about that. This is the most visceral, real sense of love. God loved us so much he sent his son.
[25:04] This is the father who is the giver of all good gifts. Who loved us so much he gave us the son. Ephesians 2 verse 4 goes in the greater detail, of course, for this.
[25:18] I'll read it for us. But God, being rich in mercy. Here's our point. Because of the great love with which he loved us.
[25:32] Even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. And so on. In that glorious chapter.
[25:43] The gift the father gives us. The gift of the son. It's not given begrudgingly. It's not given unwillingly. Yes, the gift will cost.
[25:56] And it will cost a lot. And we'll see that in a second. But it's a lovingly given gift. It's a gift given because the father loves us.
[26:07] Sometimes, perhaps, and I won't speak for yourself or myself, but just sometimes, there's some gifts we give. And we give them because we've been doing it for years.
[26:18] There's Christmas cards we send out to far-flung people. We've done it for years. We just keep on doing it. That is not how the father gave his gift.
[26:29] It's not just some cold, detached gift giving. The father gave the son clearly out of his love for those he sent the gift to.
[26:42] For those he sent the son to. The father, God, he is the perfect father. He is the perfect example a father should be.
[26:55] And parents, think of yourselves as you give a gift to your children. As perhaps this time of year you're planning to give gifts to them. Do you do so out of sheer necessity?
[27:10] Do you think, well, it's Christmas time. It's Christmas time again. And sometimes I have to get something for them. You know, I'd better get them something. I'm sure you don't.
[27:21] You love your children. And because you love them, you want to do something for them. Well, think how much more love the ultimate father has for his people.
[27:32] He loved us so much. With that great love Ephesians 2 talks about. He gave us the gift of the son.
[27:43] And since the gift of the son is given in love, dear friends, it should be received in love. It should be received in love. So the giver, of course, is the father who gives all good gifts.
[27:57] Then we say the gift itself or the gift, which is, say, more properly, the gift himself. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.
[28:11] Here we see the ultimate gift giver, the father giving the ultimate gift, the son. Now, of course, many of us here have received, I'm sure, many great and wonderful gifts in our lives.
[28:27] Practical gifts. Gifts which are food related, I'm sure often well received. But in Jesus, we see the ultimate gift.
[28:38] Now, we've heard that before, that there's no new theology here. But we're so apt to forgetting the beauty and the wonder of the gift we find in Jesus.
[28:49] In Jesus, we find a gift in both the person of Jesus and who he is. But also we find a gift in what he does. What he has purchased for us.
[29:01] He himself has a gift. But then he gives us a gift. There's a glorious beauty of it. As we receive the gift of the son from the father, we receive Jesus.
[29:14] But also we receive the many gifts he then gives us himself. Matthew 20, verse 28. We see the reality of a son, even as a son of man, came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[29:35] In the giving of Jesus, we have a savior given to us. Who then himself gives his life for his people.
[29:46] And we can't separate Jesus away from the gifts he gives us. The gifts we receive in knowing him. In other words, you can never and we can never have the gift of eternal life without having Jesus first.
[30:08] We can't separate the gift from the giver. Jesus comes as the gift. As we accept Jesus and look to Jesus and take that free gift of Jesus, we then receive the blessings of that gift.
[30:27] First and foremost, eternal life. All that to say, you cannot and we cannot have eternal life. You cannot and we cannot hope to know God or get close to God without first seeing, acknowledging and accepting the gift of Jesus.
[30:48] It's in him we receive all the benefits of the gift. We must first accept the gift.
[31:00] The simple gift of a son given to those who need that gift. Friends, you will never get close to God by yourself.
[31:12] You will never enter heaven by yourself. It is only through the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ we get the blessings of the gift. That makes sense.
[31:25] That makes perfect sense. You can't, we'll bring it right back down to our level. Say you're very fortunate this Christmas. You're a very, very kind giver and someone buys you a brand new car.
[31:39] Well, that car won't take you to where you're going unless you first accept the gift of the car. You say, well, I want to be saved and I want to know God and I want to know that God loves me and I want to have eternity in heaven with God.
[31:56] But I don't want Jesus. I don't want to humble myself before him. My friends, you can't have it both ways. You accept the gift first and then flows the blessings from the gift.
[32:09] The only begotten son of God. As this verse tells us. He gave his only son, his only begotten son.
[32:20] And there's future plans to delve more into that glorious reality. But just for simplicity today. The son is the most precious gift the father had to give.
[32:33] The most precious gift. And if you come to know Jesus for yourself, you receive the best gift God has ever given mankind. If you come to know Jesus, you receive with that free gift.
[32:50] You receive then eternal life. You receive then that peace with God. You receive then the blessings of knowing brothers and sisters in this life.
[33:01] You receive then the sure hope that one day you go home to the Lord and you will spend eternity with the brothers and sisters who have gone before you. But you can receive none of that.
[33:15] There is no hope. There is no heaven. There is no life. There is no peace. There is no happiness of God until you first accept Jesus himself.
[33:27] There is no peace. And from that free gift you receive everything else. Simple as that. The gift he gives us is a gift we see of eternal life.
[33:41] Whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. The beautiful thought, friends, is that for the Christians here today, our eternal life has already begun.
[34:00] Our eternal life has already begun. It doesn't make much sense, does it? We will die. Of course, we know that. We will all face physical death. But the Christians here, whether we ponder it much or not, we should.
[34:13] The Christians here know for certain that because we have accepted the free gift of the Father in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can know for certain, and indeed we do know for certain, that when we close our eyes in this life, we open them again in his glory.
[34:34] Our eternal life has begun. Our everlasting souls are now safe and secure in our Lord. And yes, there will be a momentary closing of eyes opening again.
[34:47] But that's all it is. It's all it is. When a Christian's final moment takes place, no matter how painful it might be physically, or how distressing it might be for ourselves or our families, we know that can be so horrifying.
[35:01] And we still go through the physical plane of death and the suffering with that. We can't avoid that, we know. But our souls at this moment, the Christians here, are safe and secure in Jesus.
[35:15] And nothing and no one, not height, nor depth, not principalities, not power, not Satan himself, can what? Can separate us from the love of our Saviour, who keeps us and holds us and knows us as his own.
[35:33] The Christians here have already begun the eternal journey of eternal life. Yes, one day we'll carry it on in glory, and then one day we'll carry it on in the new heavens and the new earth.
[35:46] We've already begun that journey. Eternal life is already here. We can't bargain, dear friends, about eternal life from God.
[35:57] We can't again have that gift of eternal life. You can't hope to see heaven without first knowing Jesus. There's no way around it.
[36:09] There's no shortcut. You ever come to know Jesus and have eternal life with him, or you never know Jesus and you never have eternal life with him.
[36:20] The maths is very simple. The equation, the image is simple. It's with Jesus, everything. Without Jesus, nothing.
[36:36] The glorious truth today is, of course, a free gift. It's a free gift. Well, how then is the gift received?
[36:49] It's received like any other gift. It's being freely offered just now, yet again. Yet again, freely offered. How do you receive any free gift?
[37:01] Do you take it? It's yours. It's yours. And myself and every minister before me, and as Christians here together, we have at times, to our shame, perhaps overcomplicated it.
[37:17] But quite simply, it's a free gift. Take it. It's been bought for you, prepaid for you. Take it. It's yours. It's been prepaid with the blood of the Saviour.
[37:32] He has finished the work. My friend, take it. And the sad, and it feels almost offensive to say it, but it's the gospel truth.
[37:44] The only reason you have not yet received is because you have not yet asked. That's a scriptural truth. Do you want to be saved?
[37:57] Ask to be saved. Come to Christ and be saved. It's not complicated. Now, of course, when you are saved, there's a lot to grow and to learn in, but you have eternity for that.
[38:10] Until that point, nothing else matters but take the free gift. It's for you. Don't wait, as it were, perhaps, for a sign.
[38:20] Perhaps that's what you're waiting for. My friends, it's not likely to come. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is not likely to come. And if that doesn't sound good, then take this as your sign.
[38:35] This is your sign. Come. If you're waiting, wait no longer. Come to Jesus. Yet again, you're being told from God's word, the free gift is yours.
[38:45] Take it. And you think, is it that simple? Who's the gift really for? We can conclude here with the recipients of the gift. It is that simple.
[38:56] Who's the gift for? For God's loved the world, he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
[39:07] Quite simply, who are the recipients of this free gift? Who are they to be? Well, there's one qualifier here in this verse.
[39:18] Whoever believes in him. Whoever believes in him. That is the one qualifier. That is the one essential to receive this gift.
[39:31] It's for everyone, everywhere, who comes and puts for hope and faith and trust in Jesus.
[39:44] And the word here, whoever or whosoever believes in Greek, it's one simple word. It's three letters. It's pas. It's P-A-S effectively.
[39:56] Pas. And that small three-letter word of whoever, the free gift is for pas. That three little letters, it means that.
[40:07] I went to a dictionary for it. It means the whole, everyone, everything, all. That three-letter word is the most broad word that was available in the Greek.
[40:21] Pas. We've talked before about panta, which means everyone, everything. Well, pas is the root of that larger word, panta. It's the smallest word that means the biggest possible intake.
[40:35] It is for everyone, everywhere, who believes. Quite simple as that. Who can claim the free gift of the Son today?
[40:48] It's for everyone here. From there to there, you're all included. Every one of you can claim this free gift today. It's for all.
[40:59] It's for pas. It's from the youngest to the oldest. Our young friends next door to the oldest, unsaved, as of yet person here. It's for you.
[41:09] The gospel's for you. The free gift is for you. It's from the most holy person here. The most pietistic in their lives. The most well-living, clean-living person here.
[41:22] To the worst person here. It's for you. It's the wisest person here. With the most learning and biblical knowledge and world knowledge.
[41:33] To the most clueless of us. It's for you. It's from the person here. And you're concerned for your soul.
[41:44] For your salvation. The person here. You've not ever concerned. Seriously concerned for your soul. It's for you. To the strong.
[41:56] And to the weak. To the big. And to the small. Again. It's one. Three letter word. Which takes in. Everyone. Everywhere. Dear friends.
[42:09] The gospel is for you today. I'm not just saying this. Because it's what I'm being paid to say. It is the gospel truth. It is for you to come to Jesus.
[42:21] And every day you don't come to Jesus. You are giving and throwing in the Lord's face. The free gift. He has given you. Simple as that. Our hope and our prayer is.
[42:36] We could all say with the apostle. As he declares the glorious truth. It is no longer I who live. But Christ who lives in me.
[42:49] And the life I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of God. Who loved me. And gave himself for me.
[43:01] That is. The true meaning of course of Christmas. We have a saviour. The Lord Jesus Christ. The son of God. The Christians here can say.
[43:12] And our prayer is. You can all say one day. Who loved me. And gave himself. For me. Let's bow our heads now. A word of prayer.
[43:24] Lord we thank you for the gift of your word. We thank you for the promises we find in it. Help us this day to receive that free gift. To wait no longer.
[43:35] Not to wait for any more signs. Or wait for any more hints or clues which will never come. Help us not to go to our graves waiting for hidden messages. Help us to listen perhaps.
[43:46] After many years. Listen to the first time to your word. The free gift is for everyone and all who come to believe. And all who come to realise they need a saviour. That saviour came to save all who come to him.
[43:59] It's in that free grace. We give our thanks today. That saviour who loves his people so much. He came to live and to die for us.
[44:10] In his name and for his sake we ask these things. Amen. We can close our praise singing. In Psalter and in Psalm 67.
[44:24] Scottish Psalter, Psalm 67. The first version of the Psalm. Scottish Psalter, Psalm 67.
[44:36] And the first version is on page 300. Of course this is the Psalm that Christians sing with hearts full of understanding. That this is our hope that the day is coming and will soon come.
[44:48] When we will live in a world full of the Lord's knowledge. And full of those who praise the Lord. Psalm 67, the first version. Lord bless and pity us.
[44:59] Shine on us with thy face. That the earth, thy way and nations all may know thy saving grace. Let people praise thee Lord. Let people all we praise. Let the nations be glad.
[45:11] In songs their voices raise. Psalm 67, the Lord's praise. Psalm 67, the Lord's praise. Let the nations all may know thy grace. Oh, yet that it fears shine on us with thy face.
[45:33] But dear, thy way and nations all may know thy sin.
[45:45] Sing, the nations all may know thy grace. Let people praise thee Lord.
[45:57] Let people all we praise. O Lord, let them know thy grace.
[46:07] O Lord, let them know thy grace. The nations all may know thy grace. God bless thee.
[46:25] In the慢 andésus- measure, The earth, the earth shall live, Our God shall bless His name.
[47:17] The God shall bless His name. The earth shall live, Our God shall bless His name.
[47:37] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, And the love of God the Father, And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit with you now, now and forevermore. Amen.