[0:00] Well, a very warm welcome to our service in Stornoway Free Church, and I hope that as we wait upon the Lord, that he will indeed bless us, and that we'll all, as we gather round his word, to hear what God the Lord will speak, that we will know the enriching presence and blessing of God with us.
[0:19] We're going to begin by reading from Psalm 130 in St. Psalms, Psalm 130. This is page 173 of the Psalm Books.
[0:32] From St. Psalms, Lord, from the depths I call to you, Lord, hear me from on high, and give attention to my voice when I for mercy cry.
[0:43] Lord, in your presence who can stand if your sins record, but yet forgiveness is with you that we may fear you, Lord. I wait, my soul waits for the Lord, my hope is in his word. More than the watchman waits for dawn, my soul waits for the Lord.
[1:02] O Israel, put your hope in God, for mercy is with him, and full redemption from their sins his people he'll redeem.
[1:13] Let us now bow in prayer. O Lord, O gracious God, we give thanks for the opportunity that we have once again to worship.
[1:26] We sometimes take it for granted, but you have shown us maybe more than ever in our life, in our lifetime, just what it was that we had.
[1:38] We were able to gather together in freedom, to sing your praise, to enjoy the company of one another, without any threat, without any hindrance, and we're able to hear your word and have your word preached.
[1:54] Now that freedom is no longer there. We long for the day when it will return. And forgive us, Lord, if we were taking your blessings for granted, not just regarding your house, but regarding so much of life itself.
[2:10] And so we ask, Lord, that every single day and every night, that we will have thankful hearts, acknowledging the giver, the great giver, the provider, the sustainer, the preserver, who is the living and true God.
[2:27] And acknowledging all that you do in us and all that you do for us. And recognizing that you do in us and for us far and beyond what we could even ask or think.
[2:39] If our lives were limited simply to what we were asking for, how limited our lives really would be. But you have poured down so much upon us from your own wisdom and from your own goodness.
[2:54] And you have filled our lives and made provision for us every single day and every single night. And there is so much happening we just take for granted.
[3:06] And if our eyes were open to see how it really is and how it really could be, we would get such a shock. And so we pray that we might live in the knowledge every day of the presence of God and of the provision of God.
[3:22] We pray that you will bless your word as we come to it and we give thanks for it. We give thanks that this word is the word of life. It is the word of rule. And we pray today that we may see new things in it.
[3:35] That we may realize that you're speaking to us. Even although we can be familiar with the word, yet today is a new day. And every day is a new day.
[3:46] And every night is a new night. And that means that wherever we are at, the experiences that we go through, although they may be similar to ones we've gone through before, this is a new chapter in our experience.
[4:01] And just as we eat our food every day, and sometimes we eat the same things day after day, but we need these things for nourishment. And so it is with your word.
[4:13] Although we may be familiar with it in its reading, in its preaching, in its singing, yet we realize that this word nourishes our souls. And so we pray that you will nourish us today.
[4:25] And that we might know the riches of your grace. And that we might be blessed by you. We pray, Lord, to bless us as a nation. Bless us in a time of growing uncertainty and difficulty.
[4:38] And as we face all that the coronavirus is bringing into our lives. We pray for our NHS. We pray for all those who are giving of themselves and often putting themselves in danger for the good of others.
[4:55] We ask, Lord, that you will protect us. That you will deliver us. And that we will indeed know that deliverance coming from yourself. And that it might be such that we will be able to honour and praise your great and holy name.
[5:10] Lord our God, we pray for all our carers. Both in homes and in the communities. And all who do so much. And we pray that you will watch over them and protect them.
[5:22] Pray for our elderly at this time and all who are anxious. Because those who are in the latter stages of life will often feel so vulnerable. And they feel so lonely when they're not able to see family and friends in the way that they used to.
[5:36] There's so many of our elderly people who have gone month after month after month. Not seeing their loved ones. And we ask, O Lord, that you will indeed be gracious to them.
[5:47] We pray for our emergency services. For the police and the fire and the paramedics and all the ambulance service.
[5:58] We pray for our Coast Guard and for the lifeboat. And for all who risk their lives for the good of others. We commit them to your care and ask your protection for them.
[6:09] We pray, O Lord, that you will indeed guide us nationally and internationally. We do not know how to go ourselves. We pray that our leaders will look to you.
[6:22] Because if we are simply going in our own wisdom, it will not lead us in the right direction. We will be going this way and that way. We will be reeling and staggering like those who are drunk.
[6:34] We will be going from one crisis to another. It is inevitable. So we pray that we might look to the Lord. Because he alone is wisdom. And so we ask that you will guide and bless and direct.
[6:46] We pray for those who mourn. Those whose hearts are sore and broken. Those who have received bad news. Those who are worried. Those who have mental issues. And who are traumatised over various things.
[7:00] Lord, we commit them to your care and keeping. We pray, Lord, in these days of changing circumstances. Lord, that above all people will be able to see that there is one who never changes.
[7:15] We ask, Lord, that you will be with our young folk. And we give thanks for every provision that is made for them. We give thanks for the virtual Sunday school. For Sunday school teachers. We pray, Lord, that not only the children will be blessed.
[7:29] But parents blessed with them. We pray, Lord, that you will watch over them. And we pray for all our young people. And it's a day of difficulty for them. We feel for them. Because so many who are anticipating the type of future they were looking forward to.
[7:45] Now with the way things are, the job uncertainties. And so many things shutting down or threatening to shut down. It leaves so many people vulnerable and unsure and uncertain.
[7:56] And we pray particularly for our young people at this time. Remember those who are casualties from losing jobs. We commit them to your care. And Lord, make open doors for them.
[8:09] Make provision for them. And deliver us, we pray, as a nation. Watch over us now as we wait upon you. And have mercy upon us. We come before you confessing our sin.
[8:22] Acknowledging that we are sinners through and through. And we give thanks that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. And I grant your blessing then upon us.
[8:32] And remember those in hospital. Those who are unwell. Those who are going through difficult times. We pray for healing and restoration. And we ask, Lord, that your guidance and grace will be known at all times.
[8:45] Forgive us in our sin. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Amen. Just going to wee word to the young folk. A week or so ago, maybe a couple of weeks ago, I went for a walk, as I often do in the morning.
[9:02] It was an early morning walk over to the castle grounds. It had been torrential rain through the night and the day before. And very, very windy. But it had dried up a wee bit.
[9:14] Although it was still looking like it might rain. And when I was heading over towards Caddy Point, walking in front of the castle, I decided, as I quite often do, that I would take the first path up.
[9:28] That makes your way up to the castle gardens and then a way up the back. And there are so many, said before, lovely. And we know it.
[9:39] And I think we're so fortunate to have the wonderful castle grounds. And they made so many lovely paths. And they're broad paths. And they're firm paths.
[9:50] And they're covered with gravel, lovely gravel. And so they're really, really nice to walk on. But before I reached the first path, just as I was coming to it, just a bit past the castle, heading to Caddy Point in the road, I noticed there was like a river running down the path and running across the road.
[10:11] I thought, whoa, that's strange. Anyway, I turned up the path. And I had to watch because what had happened was that there was just like a river running down the path.
[10:24] And it was really spoiling the path because the river was making its own channel. And it was splitting and making sort of like a hole running all the way down.
[10:36] And I said, oh, that's really spoiling what was so nice. But, of course, running water has to get somewhere. And it just forces open. And I was saying to myself, why on earth did they not, when they were doing this, did they not make proper drains?
[10:52] But then I was saying to myself, I'm sure they have made drains because I'm quite sure that there's ditches and good drains in them. Anyway, when I got a bit further up, I saw the problem.
[11:04] And because there had been a real gale and there had been torrential rain, what had happened was that so many of the leaves, as we know, the leaves are falling.
[11:16] And most of them by now have fallen. But then an awful lot had obviously fallen through the night and had been blown by the wind. And into the ditches and the drains that were running.
[11:31] And all these leaves were piling up. And eventually it reached a point where the fast-flowing water and the pile of leaves, that there was a blockage.
[11:42] There were so many leaves. And I saw this point and it was just jammed. The drains were jammed with leaves. And water has to get somewhere.
[11:52] So it wasn't the fault of those who had made, because they had made beautiful drains for the water to go normally. But because it had been so wet and so windy and so many of the leaves falling off the trees, there was a jam.
[12:07] And what had been beautiful got all spoiled. And, you know, I began to think, that's a bit like ourselves. Because God has done so much for us.
[12:18] And he's made our life so rich with so many things. And he's filled our life with blessings. And he's given us a book, the Bible.
[12:30] And in this book he has shown us how to live. That we are to trust him, the Lord Jesus, and to follow him. A couple of weeks ago we spoke about that, about following.
[12:43] About following the Lord Jesus. And I should have said then, it's a word that we use here a lot. It's a lovely word when somebody becomes a Christian.
[12:56] And we say, I heard so-and-so has started following. That's all you need to say. That they're following Jesus. Well, we should all be following Jesus.
[13:07] And if we're following Jesus, then we have to keep to what Jesus is saying. And we have to see what his word tells us. And the more that we live following what Jesus wants us to do and live as Jesus wants us to live, the more like Jesus we will become.
[13:27] And our lives will be full of his love and his joy and his peace. And all of these things will be flowing through us. And it won't just be good for us, for you and me.
[13:41] It will be good for other people as well. Because we will begin to look more and more like Jesus. And that's the greatest thing that could ever happen. Not only to you, but for other people as well.
[13:53] But, here's the problem. Far too often, we allow, just like these leaves clogged up, we allow sin to come in.
[14:05] And block all the lovely things that Jesus has for our lives. And if we have the sin clogging up our lives, and if we're giving in to sin and following sin, and allowing sin to rule, sin to have charge of our lives, then rather than our lives being beautiful, they begin to get a bit messy.
[14:32] And not only do we mess things up with ourselves, but we can mess things up for others as well. So instead of what should be looking beautiful, it can begin to look a bit messy and not very nice.
[14:46] So we need every day to ask the Lord to help us with regard to our sin, and to forgive us our sin. And that every day that we will want to become more and more like Jesus and say to him, Lord, may help me to see you, so that my eyes will be fixed upon you.
[15:08] And may your love, and may your peace, and may your joy, and all the beautiful things that you are, flow into my life.
[15:19] And that it won't be clogged up by sin, but that it will flow beautifully, not only for my good, and for other people's good, but most importantly of all, Lord, for your glory.
[15:34] Let's say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[15:44] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[15:55] For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever. Amen. We're going to read God's Word now in the prophecy of Micah.
[16:06] We're into the minor prophets now. The prophecy of Micah. Micah, and we're going to read in chapter 7. Micah chapter 7.
[16:22] What was me? For I have become as when a summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned. There is no cluster to eat, no first ripe fig that my soul desires.
[16:36] The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind. They all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what is evil to do it well.
[16:50] The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul. Thus they weave it together. The best of them is like a briar, the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
[17:04] The day of your watchman, of your punishment is come. Now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a neighbour. Have no confidence in a friend.
[17:17] Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms. For the son treats the father with contempt. The daughter rises up against her mother.
[17:27] The daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord.
[17:39] I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall rise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.
[17:53] I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light.
[18:06] I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will look upon her.
[18:17] Now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. A day for the building of your walls. In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
[18:28] In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the river, from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds.
[18:45] Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
[18:59] As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show them marvellous things. The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall lay their hands on their mouths.
[19:13] Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the dust like a serpent, like the crawling things of the earth. They shall come trembling out of their strongholds. They shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall be in fear of you, who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance.
[19:36] He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in steadfast love. He will have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot.
[19:47] You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
[20:02] Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word. And I want us to consider verse 7 of chapter 7.
[20:12] Now, Micah was a country prophet and he prophesied at the same time as Isaiah.
[20:30] Isaiah was more a royal prophet. Isaiah prophesied to kings and to princes. He was more the prophet of the palace, whereas Micah was somebody who seemed to prophesy more in the countryside to the rural parts.
[20:49] Micah prophesied in Judah. Now, if you remember your Bible history, in the time of David, David, of course, was king of the whole of Israel.
[21:00] And Solomon, his son, followed on and was the king of Israel. It was a time of great peace. And then Solomon's son, Rehoboam, became king. And during his reign, there was a division because Israel followed a man called Jeroboam.
[21:18] And Jeroboam became the king of Israel. And sadly, Jeroboam became known as Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who led Israel into idolatry, into sin.
[21:30] Whereas Rehoboam, he was Solomon's son, and Judah followed Rehoboam. So the two kingdoms had split.
[21:42] And the kingdom of Israel went into a downward spiral. And they had a succession of wicked kings. And Israel went into, eventually, into apostasy and just turned their back completely upon God.
[21:56] And there were many prophets came and warned them of what would happen, that God's judgment would come upon them and they would end up in captivity, which is exactly what happened. Judah, on the other hand, had a mixture of good kings and bad kings.
[22:11] They had some superb kings and men who reformed the land, people like Josiah and Hezekiah. But they also had wicked kings that led the people away into idolatry and apostasy.
[22:24] and Judah had a succession of prophets as well. Prophets, as we said, like Isaiah and like Micah who were warning because things were getting worse and worse.
[22:37] And God was saying, even although you are my covenant people, you are going to end up in captivity. I will restore you again. But this is what's going to happen. But of course, they wouldn't listen.
[22:49] So Micah's prophecies, a lot of them are very difficult and hard prophecies. And yet, spread throughout the prophecy of Micah, we find absolute jewels, beautiful texts and words of great comfort.
[23:07] And that's the way God does with His people. Even although there are times when things are going to be bad, for God's people there is always the ray of hope.
[23:19] Now as you see, Judah had many glaring national sins. There was idolatry and covetousness and oppression and violence and bribery, corruption, all these things.
[23:33] And so, Micah, is warning the people of what is going to happen. And it appears that the situation in the land is really low because at the beginning of the chapter it shows us how low things have become.
[23:46] There are no godly people about. It's just as you would long to go and gather the first ripe fruits. You know, when you planted something, supposing it's potatoes and you planted the potatoes and you're waiting and waiting and waiting for the first and sometimes you even put your hand down into the soil and feel down and say, oh, there's a few there and you're longing for the first ripe fruit.
[24:10] You just can't wait until you have your first meal of potatoes. And it's the same with whatever it is. Well, that's how it was for Micah. He was looking for the godly person so that he could enjoy fellowship and communion with them.
[24:24] But there were none. He couldn't find them. And so things have become really, really bad. and the order of the day was corruption and bribery and even the leaders, they were out for their own personal gain and greed was in it and corruption all the way through it.
[24:41] And things have become so bad that by verses 5 and 6 we see that there was even betrayal and treachery in a person's home. A man's enemies are the men of his own house.
[24:54] And isn't that tragic? The place where you ought to feel the safest. The place where there's the greatest level of trust and even there there's treachery and betrayal.
[25:06] So Micah has come to this point and he says it doesn't matter where I look. Whether I look to the highest in the land. No. I can't find anything that's trustworthy, anything that's dependable.
[25:19] I look at all the different systems, the judicial systems. I look at the way things are run. Bribery, corruption. And then I look into home life and even there you cannot trust, you can't depend.
[25:35] The closest, the nearest, the nearest can't be trusted. And to a certain extent that is one of the things even in life that we discover because of sin. That there might be a time and you might have come to this place where you say there is really nowhere in the whole universe that I can go to find someone that I can totally trust in and depend in.
[26:01] But that's where Micah was. Micah had come to that place from the home all the way up to the palace. There was corruption, there was deceit, there was treachery, there was betrayal.
[26:14] And that's why we find that he turns around and he says, you know, there's nowhere else I can go. But as for me, I will look unto the Lord.
[26:25] I will look to the Lord. And that implies a look of faith. Because we won't look to the Lord unless there's a spark of faith there. Any person who's looking to the Lord is looking because there is something in their heart.
[26:40] You see, looking and believing go hand in hand. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. So it's in the looking that salvation comes.
[26:51] It's in the looking that believing comes. They look to him and light and wear. You see, when we look to the Lord, light comes into our heart, into our life.
[27:04] And you see, the wonderful thing is that we never stop looking. And once we look to the Lord, and as we look to him, his light comes into our life.
[27:16] And we begin to see and we begin to understand things that didn't make any sense now begin to make sense. The way of salvation, all of a sudden we see it.
[27:29] For years we've heard about it, but all of a sudden it makes sense. The word of God is opened up because the light has begun to dawn.
[27:40] And the moment you look first, from the first moment that you begin to look to the Lord, you will continue to look to him all the days of your life. And that's what faith does.
[27:52] Faith keeps looking whatever the situation. In fact, in the next verse, Micah talks about two terrible situations that happen in the Christian life.
[28:03] There's darkness and failure or falling. These are two awful things. No Christian wants to be in darkness. No Christian wants to fall.
[28:16] And yet sadly, they're both realities within the Christian life. And the Bible is full of examples of saints falling.
[28:29] In verse 8 it says when I fall. That's what it says, when I fall. It's part of, sadly, part of Christian life. And in passing, that's not what we're looking at just now.
[28:41] Let's ask, because it's something that happens to us. What causes the Christian to fall? What causes the Christian to fall? The Christian won't fall to the place where there's no recovery.
[28:56] Sometimes these falls are painful. And I'm sure we all remember in life, many times that we've fallen, and very often they've been painful, while spiritually they're often even more painful.
[29:08] What causes us to fall? Well, sometimes it can come about because God is withdrawing his influence and his spirit within a community.
[29:21] And where it becomes much harder as a Christian, where there is a sense of deadness, where the spiritual vibrancy that was once there, it's no longer there.
[29:33] God will never leave his people. He will never abandon you as a Christian, but you might not be experiencing a felt sense of his presence.
[29:45] And everything might be dry, and you might be finding you really, really struggling. Well, these can be dangerous times, and we're more susceptible to falling in times like these, rather than when we're really conscious of the Lord's presence and power amongst us.
[30:02] sometimes we fall because we become overconfident in ourselves, and we sometimes think that the grace that has been holding us is somehow ourselves, so we stop depending upon the Lord the way that we should, and then, bam, we're gone.
[30:22] Again, sometimes we fall when we get too caught up in the world, because the world has had deadening impact upon our souls. And when the cares of this life, remember, in the parable of the sower, the cares of this world were like a stranglehold on the good seed that began to choke it.
[30:41] And that's what happened to us as well. If we become too involved in the cares of this world, our spirituality would be strangled, and we're really prone to fall.
[30:54] And again, sometimes we can fall and end up in darkness because we're not being vigilant. We're told to watch and pray lest you enter into temptation. And once we're into temptation, then it's only a step to falling.
[31:08] Remember, temptation is not sin, but temptation leads to sin. And once we're yielding, once we're in the sphere of being really tempted, unless God grants us great grace, it's almost inevitable that that would fall.
[31:25] but verse 8 shows that despite the falling and despite the darkness, neither situation is beyond recovery. Why? Because the prophet is looking to the Lord, and it tells us, this is the beauty of it, because he is looking to the Lord, verse 8 says, though I fall, I shall rise.
[31:50] Though I am in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me. See, that's the result of looking to the Lord. When you fall, you rise. When you're in darkness, the Lord will become a light to you.
[32:06] And you know, sometimes the darker the surroundings, the clearer you can see the stars at night. You know, if you're out at night and there's loads of street lights and house lights and everything around, sometimes unless the stars are really, really bright, you might struggle to see them.
[32:24] But then, if you're out in the, away from street lights and it's just, everything around you is dark and you look up and you see the stars, no problem, they're shining there.
[32:39] And that is also true spiritually very often because it is sometimes when we're going through the darkest circumstances and we're struggling in life and things are going against us and yet we're looking to the Lord.
[32:55] Sometimes in the darkness that his promises appear brightest and we're able to cling to them in a way maybe that we didn't before. So this is one of the things that happens.
[33:07] And faith looks to the promises and faith looks even past the promises. Where? To the God of the promises. And that's what Micah is doing.
[33:18] He is looking to the God of the promises. The God, the covenant keeping God. And as we said all around him there was treachery and betrayal and failure and he couldn't find anyone, anywhere that he could, as it were, any rock for his feet.
[33:36] But you know, here we are, we discover in the darkness that there's only one rock for our feet. There's only one light to guide our path.
[33:48] There is only one shelter from the storm. There is only one that is faithful in the midst of all the lies and deceit. And that's our Lord. And we have to look to him.
[34:01] Maybe as you look back over your life, there's been a lot of hurt. There's been a lot of things that have distressed you. Maybe there's brokenness in your life.
[34:14] Well, you know, there is only one place in all the universe that we can really, really get a remedy for the hurt in our lives. And that is from the Lord. I mean, we support one another and we help one another and we're involved with one another.
[34:28] And that is only right. And we seek to do what we can for one another. And seek, you know, to help. But you know, at the end of the day, it's to go to the Lord.
[34:42] And it's amazing how many people will talk about the healing that they have received from the Lord. So here is the Lord in his word. And the prophet is telling us who is the one we have to look to.
[34:55] Here he is, the eternal, unchanging God. He is a rock that we set our feet upon. You know, if you're out for a walk on the moor and you're walking along quite the thing and then all of a sudden you come to this marsh and you look that way and you say, I can't see a way around this.
[35:15] So what you try and do is you try and identify in that marsh parts that you think there might be a wee bit and you say, well, there's a pile of rushes there and it looks like that might be solid.
[35:26] And we've often done that. We've negotiated our way across by trying to find the wee bits that are firm and jumping to that bit and to that but sometimes it doesn't work but often we manage to get across by finding the bits that look a wee bit more solid.
[35:42] And you know, in a sense that's what we're doing spiritually as well because often as we go through life we find ourselves sinking, sinking in all the problems and the difficulties and all the traumas that come along and the only thing we can do is to bed ourselves down and to put our feet upon the rock that is Christ and to find this firm place for us.
[36:05] So that's what the prophet is doing, looking to the Lord and he says, I will wait for the God of my salvation. It's not a lovely description. God of, the God of salvation and that's who he is.
[36:19] This is the God, the God of salvation who has planned our rescue package to save us and to draw us to himself because we couldn't save ourselves, we were hopelessly lost and the thing is we didn't even know we were lost and so here is the God who didn't hold back from, in order to save us, from giving what was most precious to us where he gave his only begotten son.
[36:49] The saving that God has done is beyond our understanding. Here we are, we're lost and God in glory says, I am going to save and so he prepares this rescue package which involves sending his son to the world and the son says, to do thy will I take thy light and the son didn't hold back, the father didn't hold back from giving the son, the son didn't hold back from giving himself even although he was sweating drops of blood at the prospect of what he had to do, he gave himself all the way and in time God searched us out, searched us out in our fields of lostness and he rescued us and he gave us the grace to embrace his son and to discover that the salvation is a gift and he reached out to us with salvation and enabled us to embrace
[37:51] Jesus Christ as he is freely offered in the gospel. But you notice that the God of salvation is a personal God the God of my salvation. Yes, God is our creator, our provider, our sustainer, our preserver.
[38:08] He's all of these things for everyone. But when it comes to salvation, it comes to another level. It goes much deeper. And he loves us as if we were the only one in the whole world that he was loving.
[38:24] That's what he does for all his people. It's as if you're unique and that there's nobody else in the universe and that God is putting all his love upon you. But it is that for all his people.
[38:36] This is what it says, the Lord, my God. Isn't that beautiful? It's a personal. The Lord is my shepherd, my Lord and my God. This is part of the wonder of the salvation is that God makes himself known to us.
[38:53] Once we come to embrace him, we realize we're now family. That we are now in his kingdom. That we are subject to his rule. That we enjoy his fellowship and his presence.
[39:07] That we are his portion in this world. And he makes his word through the spirit real in our life so that there's this identity and we say, you know, I belong.
[39:18] I belong to God. And it's not because of anything within ourselves. It's because of his grace, because of everything that he has done. And so, as we say, in this broken world, in this changing world, in this uncertain world, with an uncertain future, let's look to the Lord.
[39:40] Because he alone is unchanging. He is the future. And if we are in the Lord, our future is in him and our future is safe. And it says, my God will hear me.
[39:54] Of course he will. Of course he will. Not because I and myself deserve to be heard. Or I and myself am good in any particular way.
[40:05] No. He will hear me because he loves me. You see, I am his child. And it's an inevitable conclusion that we come to.
[40:17] This is kind of the argument that Paul gives in Romans. Remember what Paul, he's arguing from the greatest down to the, from the greater to the lesser. This is what he says, He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how shall he not also with him graciously give us all things?
[40:40] if God gave his son in order to save you, surely he's going to listen to you. That's the obvious conclusion.
[40:52] And how wonderful to know that God hears. You know, today you might be saying to yourself, you know, there's nobody listening to me. With all my hurt and with all my sorrow, and it doesn't matter who I go to, and I talk to people, but I know they're not really listening.
[41:08] They have their own worries and their own concerns. They're not really listening. But there's one ear that is always open. The one ear that will never close to you.
[41:20] And so, we have this wonderful freedom where we can go and pour ourselves out upon him. My God will hear me. And Micah's faith says, I will wait for the God of my salvation.
[41:36] You know, God loves to demonstrate his power. And God loves to be the one that shows, I'll save you. And particularly just now, the church should be looking out at this moment where we are facing this pandemic and all the fallout from it and all the crisis that it brings.
[41:57] Is this where we're looking? Yes, we're looking for the vaccine. We're looking to medical research and medical resources and scientists saying, that's right. But let us make sure that that is not the furthest that we look.
[42:13] Our main focus should be upon the Lord and wait for his salvation and his deliverance because he is able to do and we must see his hand in that deliverance.
[42:25] the Lord often in scripture says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now, when he says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, it doesn't mean that you stand idly by with your hands in your pockets whistling and just saying, oh, well, I'll think about something else.
[42:40] When we stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, it means standing still looking to the Lord, standing still waiting for him to work. And that's what he did for Israel in the banks of the Red Sea.
[42:55] That's what he did for Judah when Jehoshaphat was facing this incredibly large threefold army. The Lord is saying, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.
[43:09] And so Micah is telling us, stand still, stay, wait, wait for the Lord, wait for him to work. And you today ask the Lord that he will work in you.
[43:22] And you know, the wonderful thing is, he won't disappoint. If you bring your concerns to the Lord and roll them on to him and give them to him and wait for him, he will do.
[43:38] May we all today look to the Lord. And if you've never looked by faith before, if you've never looked to the Lord for salvation, I would urge you even today, look to him. May you look to him enlightened way.
[43:51] Let's pray, Lord, we give thanks for being able just to reflect for a little on your word. And we pray that you will give all your people a portion from it.
[44:02] Bless us in and take away sin in Jesus' name. Amen. We're going to conclude singing from Psalm 62 from the Scottish Psalter. We sing verses 5 to 8, Psalm 62.
[44:17] My soul wait thou with patience upon thy God alone, on him dependeth all my hope and expectation. He only my salvation is, and my strong rock is he.
[44:29] He only is my sure defense, I shall not move it be. Verses 5 to 8 of Psalm 62. My soul wait thou with patience.
[44:40] My soul wait thou with patience upon thy God alone, on him dependeth all my hope and expectation.
[45:07] He He only my salvation is, and my strong rock is he.
[45:23] He only is my sure defense, I shall not move and be.
[45:36] In God my glory blessed is, and my salvation sure.
[45:52] In God the rock is of my strength, my refuge most secure.
[46:07] Ye people place your confidence in him continually before him pour out your heart, God is now refugized.
[46:36] Now may the grace, mercy and peace of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest and abide upon each one of you now and forevermore. Amen. Thank you very much for joining in with us in our service.