[0:00] On Wednesday, I think it was Wednesday, I don't need to tell you what happened, but everything went instantly dark. There was a power cut. Apparently there was a fault down at the battery point power station.
[0:15] And we were in darkness for quite a, for probably over an hour. But it just went, in a moment, everything went dark. And I'm sure that, like in a lot of houses, you were looking, or somebody in the house was looking for a torch or looking for a candle.
[0:33] And very often we keep torches, we keep candles somewhere where we can get to them quite easily, because we never know when a power cut is going to happen.
[0:44] Because quite often, particularly when it, or sometimes when it's really, really windy, sometimes when there's a real storm, we might get a power cut. But nobody was expecting it on Wednesday, because the weather was fine.
[0:58] And then all of a sudden, bang, everything went black. And that's why it's always a good idea to have a torch or a candle or something handy. Know what it is.
[1:09] And also to have a spare battery. Because just because you have a torch in the house doesn't mean it's working. It's always good to check that the torch is actually working.
[1:21] That the battery is working in it. And it's always good to have a spare one, because sometimes a power cut might go on for quite a long time. Way back in Jesus' time, of course, they didn't have electricity.
[1:36] And you couldn't just switch on and off a light. In those days, what they had were lamps. And it's not that terribly long ago that that's what people still had. It's not that long ago since houses got electricity.
[1:49] Some people in here, it was in their lifetime where houses got electricity. So it's amazing. It's not that long ago. But way back in Jesus' time, there was no electricity.
[2:02] And they had lamps. And it was oil that they used for the lamps. And it was always wise to have a little extra oil, just in case you ran out.
[2:14] And Jesus told a story about his coming back into this world. Because Jesus is going to come again. And Jesus always tells us, I want you all to be ready for the time I come back.
[2:30] Because you don't know when it's going to be. Not even the angels in heaven know when that's going to be. But he said, I want you all to be ready. Because just like the power went off at 16 minutes past 5 on Wednesday, there's going to come a time when Jesus will just come like that.
[2:48] All of a sudden, he will appear in all his glory. And he told this story to help us to be ready. And there was about a wedding. And there were 10 bridesmaids.
[3:01] And the wedding, of course, was at night. And it was a wee bit different to the way you'd have weddings today. But everybody waited for the bridegroom to come. And when the bridegroom would come, everybody would go into the house or the place where the marriage was to take place.
[3:19] And these 10 bridesmaids were all waiting for the bridegroom to come. But he took ages to come. And they all began to fall asleep.
[3:30] They all got drowsy. And they began to nod off. Five of the bridesmaids were very wise. And they took a little extra oil with them.
[3:42] Just in case. They were kept in case there was a delay. But five of them weren't so wise. They didn't take any extra oil. And then all of a sudden, the shout came.
[3:55] The bridegroom is coming. And, of course, they all got up. And they were all ready. They all got excited. But the five who didn't take any extra oil, when they tried to trim their lamps to get the flame up again, they realized, oh, no, we're out of oil.
[4:12] So they had to go away to try and find some oil. But the bridegroom came. And everybody who was there, including the five wise bridesmaids who had the extra oil, they all went in to the wedding.
[4:32] And the door was closed. And, in fact, the door was locked. Then the other five bridesmaids came. They were a lot later. And they came. But they couldn't get in.
[4:43] And they were knocking at the door. But, you know, they were told they were too late. And that's what Jesus is saying to us. Look, he said, I'm going to come all of a sudden.
[4:55] And you don't know when. I want you to be ready. And the way to be ready is to trust me. That's it. Ask me to come in to your heart, into your life, to become king in your life.
[5:12] That's all. And if you do that, then you'll be ready. So that it doesn't really matter when I come. Morning, afternoon, evening, through the night.
[5:24] Tomorrow, next year, ten years from now. It doesn't matter when. As long as you're ready. So that's what we do every time we come together.
[5:37] We speak about Jesus. We invite people. We ask people to take Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. I hope you will do that. If you haven't already done that, ask Jesus to come in to your heart.
[5:50] I'm going to sing again Psalm 25 from Sing Psalms. And we're going to sing from verse 7. Psalm 25 from verse 7.
[6:02] And we'll sing to the end of verse 15. I'd put down to the end of verse 17, but to the end of verse 15. Psalm 25 from verse 7.
[6:15] Do not recall my sins of youth or my rebellious evil ways. Remember me in your great love. For you, O Lord, are good always. Because the Lord is just and good, he shows his paths to all who stray.
[6:30] He guides the meek in what is right and teaches them his holy way. To those who keep his covenant laws, he shows his love consistently. For your name's sake, O Lord, my God, forgive my great iniquity.
[6:46] Who then are those who fear the Lord? He'll teach to them the chosen way. That they may prosper all their life. Their children in the land will stay. God's friends are those who fear his name.
[6:59] With them his covenant he will share. My eyes are always on the Lord. He'll free my feet from every snare. Psalm 25 verses 7 to 15.
[7:13] Junus Finart, do not recall my sins of youth. Amen. Do not recall my sins of youth.
[7:30] For my repentance he will wait. Remember me in your great love.
[7:45] For you, O Lord, are good always. He shows his path to all who stray.
[8:09] He guides the meek in what is right and teaches them his holy way.
[8:25] To those who keep his covenant laws. He shows his love consistently.
[8:40] For your name's sake, O Lord, my God, forgive my great iniquity.
[8:56] To those who fear the Lord. He'll teach to them the chosen way.
[9:14] What they may prosper all their life. Their children in the land will stay.
[9:29] What friends are those who fear his name. With them his covenant he will share.
[9:46] My eyes are always on the Lord. Feel free my feet from every snare.
[10:06] Let's turn to read God's word. Two readings. First of all in 1 John. John's letter. 1 John chapter 4. And we're going to read from verse 7.
[10:18] And then we go to John chapter 15. And we're going to read from verse 9 to verse 17. So John, 1 John. It's on page 1229 in the ESV.
[10:30] 1 John chapter 4 verse 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God. And whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
[10:44] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us. That God sent his only Son into the world, so that he might live through him.
[10:59] In this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[11:14] No one has seen God if we love one another. God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him, and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
[11:30] And we have seen and testified that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
[11:44] So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
[11:56] By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
[12:08] There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
[12:20] We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
[12:35] This commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must also love his brother. Now we turn to the Gospel of John chapter 15.
[12:47] John chapter 15. And we'll read from verse 9 to verse 17. And it's this section I want us to look at this morning.
[13:01] Page 1087. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.
[13:13] Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
[13:25] This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.
[13:38] You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends.
[13:51] For all that I have heard from my Father, I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
[14:10] These things I command you, so that you will love one another. Amen, and may God bless to us this reading of his holy word. I'm going to sing now from the Scottish Psalter, Psalm number 85, the tune is Denfield.
[14:24] Psalm number 85, and the tune is Denfield. I'm going to sing from verse 6 to the end, that's page 340. Psalm 85.
[14:35] That in thee may thy people joy, will thou not us revive? Show us thy mercy, Lord, to us do thy salvation give. I'll hear what God the Lord will speak.
[14:47] To his folk he'll speak peace, and to his saints, but let them not return to foolishness. To them that fear him, surely near is his salvation, that glory in our land may have her habitation.
[15:01] And so on. Psalm 85, verses 6 to the end on page 340, and the tune is Denfield. That in thee may thy people joy. Amen. Ар 는 12記 hour, but let you sing from verse 6 to the end on page 340, and the tune is send band to Listeniva Na'an, where the Lord will never beorial.
[15:43] Today world may seem справ аль la Return to foolishness Do them that fear Him surely near Is His salvation That glory in earth and in earth Her habitation With mercy, righteousness And peace is mutually Truth streams from earth
[16:46] Unrighteousness Loosen from heaven high If what is good the Lord shall give Our blood shall yield in grace Just as to set us in His stead Shall go before His face Let's turn again to the chapter Second reading in John's Gospel Chapter 15 I'm going to read all that we read from there But read just from verse 12 To verse 14 This is my commandment That you love one another As I have loved you Greater love has no one than this That someone lays down his life
[17:47] For his friends You are my friends If you do what I command you No longer do I call you servants For the servant does not know What his master is doing But I have called you friends For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you Now this is a beautiful section here Where Jesus is talking to His disciples In a very, very intimate way It's all about love Friendship It's about fellowship It's about abiding Indeed in this section From the beginning of this chapter I think this word abiding Is one of the key words I think if you read through In the first few verses I think it's I think like from about verses 1 to 10 You'll find this word abiding Or a similar word Meaning something similar About 10 times So you can see that it is a It's a key word
[18:48] And Jesus is talking here About abiding Keeping in fellowship with Him And living in fellowship with Him And of course To abide To continue in fellowship Is something you have to work at Relationships Is something that you have to work at And it's something that Jesus Is really, really strong about The importance For the Christian Of working at Abiding in Him And abiding in each other's love Love is at the very centre Of the Christian faith And it's a The Christian faith Is all about Relationships And You have to work at a relationship Because for instance Very often you'll find It's very easy to To For friendships To fall apart Even for marriages To fall apart When people stop Communicating When When people stop Talking
[19:48] And That's why It's so important Jesus is stressing The importance Of this abiding Of this Communicating Of this Friendship That it's so important Now of course We know that In order for friendship To work It has to be worked Both ways It's not just that One person is communicating Or one person Is there It has to be It's both ways And so it is With ourselves And with the Lord It's not just about us Telling the Lord And but of course It's one of the great privileges That we have Of going to the Lord With everything We're invited We're told to To come to the Lord With everything And I don't know today What your issues Or problems Or worries Or sorrows Or things There's nothing too little To take to the Lord And nothing too big The Lord says In everything By prayer Maybe you're saying I don't know how to pray properly Now just Just speak
[20:48] To the Lord And even if you can't Get the words together You know When there's that Deep rooted desire In your heart That is It's a desire of faith That's going heavenward And you're trying to say The Lord I can't even get the words Lord But you know in my heart What I'm trying to What I'm trying to say to you Even that In itself is prayer The Lord hears The Lord understands And the Lord promises To answer But as we say Communication Is not just one way And we've always got to learn To listen To what God is saying to us Because He's speaking to us as well And that's Surely one of the things I would say I would say it's At the very heart Of what we're doing here Yes we're seeking To worship God To bring glory To his name In what we're doing But we've also come here Today To hear What God the Lord Is saying to us Because he is speaking to us We just sang there In Psalm 85 I'll hear what God the Lord
[21:50] Will speak To his people He'll speak peace It's like little Samuel Said to To the Lord When he was speaking Speak Lord For your servant Hears Your servant Is listening And so when we come to church We should have a prayer In our hearts Saying Lord Speak into my heart Help me to Hear What you're saying Today Open my ears Spiritually To hear What you're saying Now friendship Is one of the Great blessings In life Human friendship Is one of the The great blessings In life Probably one of the Most beautiful things In the world And it Resembles Or it's taken its heart From the Godhead There's something of the Trinity In human friendship Because remember Right at the very Very beginning When God Created this world
[22:51] And when he Created Adam Right over Everything in this universe From the sun The moon The stars Right down Into planet earth And all the different things The trees The seas Everything God was saying Over everything It is very good Like a Great Sculptor Or a great Painter Would be standing Back and admiring What he was doing The Lord Seems to At the time There's every so often There's this stop And he's looking at everything And he's saying It is very good But there was one thing Even in paradise Even in Eden That God said Is not good And of course That when God Created Adam That wasn't Him He wasn't finished his work We're told That on the seventh day He rested That was when he had Completed the work But after he made Adam He wasn't finished Because it tells us
[23:52] There was one thing That God said Wasn't good Not that there was Any blemish Or any sin Attached to it But it was The loneliness Of Adam In Eden And that we find God saying It is not good For man to be alone I will make A help me for him I will make One who will correspond And identify with him And so there's something Of the Godhead In friendship Because we find That that's part Of what Jesus is saying Back in verse 9 He says As the Father Has loved me So have I loved you Abide in my love And so There was an eternal friendship An infinitely Eternal friendship With Father And Son And Spirit And that is reflected In what God did In Eden Where he made us In his own image So this whole idea Of loneliness In fact
[24:52] Loneliness probably Is one of the most Difficult things To bear with In this world That's why I suppose Solitary confinement Is one of the The worst tortures A person Can really have Locked away For a person To be locked away On their own For years and years Must be one of the Most torturous Things that a person Can experience Because we're not Made for solitary Confinement We're made For company For friendship And friendship In life As we say Is one of the Most beautiful things Loneliness Is one of the Most difficult things To deal with So we find that God at the very Beginning In a Sinless world Is establishing Friendship And you know Sometimes people Talk about Glory And they wonder Will glory Will we have Any awareness Of one another I don't even think That these things Come into consideration
[25:53] Scripture doesn't Go down that road I think it takes it As a given Because in Eden In paradise In before sin Ever entered Into the world There was a need For companionship And friendship People say We will so be Taken up with The Lord Jesus Christ We won't be aware Of anybody Or anything else We won't need Anybody or anything else Yes and no Adam walked with God in the garden And this is through The way we're made We need each other And we need God We need both Because the Bible Makes it very clear That we're not just Physical beings We're also spiritual And the only place We can get Spiritual satisfaction Which is a huge Part of our life Even in this world Is in our Relationship with God If we try and
[26:53] Satisfy the Spiritual needs Of our life Anywhere else Will be left Empty It can only be Found in God But we also see That we need One another We needed one another In the garden And I believe That that will be Part of glory As well Yes Christ Will be at the Very center He will be the One who will Fill our mind But we will also Enjoy One another We will be In the most Profound Close Bond of love With one another In glory With no Nothing That will in any way Separate or spoil All these One This wonderful Fellowship And abiding That we will Enjoy in glory But I believe That the Togetherness With one another In glory Is an integral Part of the Wonder And the weight Of glory That we will With Christ Of course At the very Center So we see here
[27:54] That friendship Is one of The great things That has been Established In this world And in a sense One of the things There are a few things That differentiate The Christian faith From a lot of The other faiths In this world One of the great Things is That God Wants to be A friend With us Now you go to A lot of the Other religions Who have Many other Gods You don't find At the heart Of their religion Them That The God They worship Is the God Who wants to Come right down With them And be a friend With them And interact With them And be one With them Their gods Are much more Remote and distant And that's part Of what Really separates And distinguishes The Christian faith Is that Our God Is somebody Who wants to Be involved
[28:54] Who wants to Come right in With us And be part of us And that's why Jesus then goes on And he says You're no longer Servants But you're friends And that's a Great difference Because a Servant Or a slave Will always Remain that Within the Household But the Friend The servant Cannot become The servant Cannot become Part of family But Jesus Is saying With you It's different He calls He calls His friends He calls His brothers We're his Brother His sister His mother There's so many Different Bride So many Different Distinguishing Identities Given to us In scripture As to what We are But this This is what It's about At the very Heart Is this Friendship You are My friends Now as we know Friends are Important in life
[29:54] We say a friend In need Is a friend Indeed One of the Things we do With friends Is we share We share With friends We tell Friends Things that we Wouldn't tell Others You wouldn't Walk in off the Street if you Were down in Glasgow Walk into a Shop and Start telling Somebody your Life story And all your Problems and All the things That are Secret Things that Belong to the Family or to Your closest Friends You wouldn't Start telling That to a Complete stranger You see That's part of What friendship Is Because we've Learned to Trust one Another And to Share with One another And that's What the Lord is Saying Look I want to Share with You I want You to Share with Me But I Also want To share With you We sang That If we had Sung in The traditional Version it Says in Psalm 25 The secret
[30:55] Of the Lord Is with Them that Fear him And sometimes Translators find This actually A wee bit Difficult to Translate Because the Hebrew For friendship And for Secret is Very similar It's almost Really the Same word So really What the Lord is Saying I want You I want To be Friends With you In order That I Will reveal Some of My secrets To you And you Know that's What happens When we Come to Faith in The Lord Jesus Christ We come To see Things From the Word that We never Saw before And I Think it's One of The One of The Identifying Features Or marks Of a Person Who is Coming to Faith in Jesus Is that They're all Of a sudden Beginning to Say Oh you Know The Bible's Beginning to Make sense To me You know I come to Church and I hear Things that Oh before It was just
[31:55] Flying over But it's Now beginning To grip me I'm beginning To understand When I Read the Word Things I It was Kind of A blur To me In the Past but Now Now it's Beginning to To make Sense That's Because You are Becoming A friend And the Lord is Revealing The Secret He's Opening Your Heart Once You become A friend Of Jesus You begin To understand What he's Saying to You And that's Part of The Part of The Wonderful Thing About The Christian Faith That's Another Thing That Makes A Christian Faith So Different From All the Many Of the Other Faiths In this World You know When And I'm Sure Like you Have You read A lot Of Different Books And this And that And there Are some Things that Have been Written by People who Aren't Christians And even Things that Might be That you Might read Out of Other Religions And you Say You know That's Actually That's A great
[32:56] Thought And We've Got to Be Honest And say When you Come across Something that's Really good It grips You You've Got to Say Hey That's Good That's That's A great That's That's Actually a Real Truth That's Really Profound And we Can be In many Ways You can Be Impressed By Things You read But Here's The Here's It It Begins To It Begins It Begins It's Like it Begins To Move Around In You It Becomes Living It's Not Just That You're Impressed With A Particular Truth That You Might Read Or A Thought That You Might Read In Something Else The Bible Comes Alive Because This Is The Word This Is The Word Of God And This Word Begins To Move Around And Speak And Interact With Us And Affect Us And Influence Us And Move Us In Particular Ways Because This Is The Person This Is
[33:56] Jesus And So This Is All Part Of The Friendship That We're Talking About Here And So Jesus Is Saying This All That I Have Heard From My Father I Have Made Known To You Isn't That Absolutely Wonderful And That's What We're Saying Here About The Secret Of The Lord All That I Have Heard From My Father I Have Made Known Unto You Often We It's Funny Again In Life When You Look At Your Circle Of Friends And Looking At Your Wide Circle Of Friends It's Often Interesting I How Did I End Up I Not Just Talking About Somebody You'll Nod To On The Street But You Know Everybody Has Their Circle Of Friends And I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
[34:56] I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Jesus Tells Us Why We End Up With Him As A Friend And It's Very Simple Because He Says I Chose You I Chose You To Be A Friend Of Mine And I Think That's Absolutely Wonderful Verse 16 And Following On About Where He Says I Call You I Have Called You Friends For All That I Have Heard From My Father I Made Known To You You Did Not Choose Me But I Chose You So That's How Today If You're A Friend Of Jesus It Is Because He Chose You As A Friend And I Can't Think Of Anything More Wonderful In The Whole Wide World Because If You Have Jesus As A Friend Yes Life Might Be Tough For You Right Now But You Couldn't Have A Greater Friend
[35:56] Because He's A Friend Who Will Never Let You Down Maybe Just Now You Know It's Possibly You're Here Today And You Feel You've Been Let Down And The Story's Not Over Yet You Know We Make Our Judgements Now We've Got To Wait Because There Come A Day When You Will Really Understand How Jesus Has Been A Friend At All Times And That's One Of The Great Things That We Have To Have Jesus As Our Friend Because He Chose You To Be His Friend And Then We See Something Else About This Friendship It's A Friendship Not Only That Will Never Let Us Down But It's A Friendship That Has Done Everything That Is Possible For Us To Be Done Because Jesus Tells Us In Verse Thirteen Greater Love Has No One Than This That Someone Lays Down His Life For His Friends And That Is At The Very Heartbeat Of
[36:56] Jesus Friendship That's Really How He Has Become Friends With Us Because He Gave His Life For Us And You Know The Amazing Thing About Jesus Giving His Life For Us Is That In A Sense And As We Know The Supreme Sacrifice And That's What Is Being Remember Today Is A Person Lay Down Their Life For Another But When Jesus Lay Down His Life You Know It Was Different Every Person In This World Who Lays Down Their Life And Please Don't Get Me Wrong Because I'm Not In Any Way Under Valuing The Incredible Sacrifice But Everybody In This World Is Already Under The Sentence Of Death Because That's The Way We're Born Jesus Wasn't Jesus Was Not Under The Sentence Of Death
[37:57] So When Jesus Laid Down His Life Really He Did The Impossible Because Jesus When He Came Into This World Took A Body That Would Die That's Why He Took A Body Just Like Your Shelves A Body That Would Die So That He Could Go Through Death But It Was More Than That Because The Wages Of Sin Is Death And Because We're Sinners We're Going To Die Jesus Wasn't A Sinner So The Wages Of Sin Was Not In Him And That's Why He Says Nobody Can Take My Life From Me It's Only Me That Can Give My Life Up And That's What He Did Jesus Handed Himself Over Jesus Gave Himself Over In Fact He Was So In Control That At The Point Of Death He Dismissed His Own Spirit So
[38:58] When Jesus Says About Laying Down His Life He Does It At A Level That Goes Beyond What Any Other Person Ever Did So It's The Most Extraordinary Thing Now As I Say Don't Get Me Wrong Because Today We Remember And I'm Sure There's When You Look Through Your Family History I'm Sure There's Hardly A Home Here That Has Not Been Touched By The History Of War And There Has Been So Much Grief In This In This Very Island Over The Supreme Sacrifice Just Take a Walk Up To The War Memorial And See All The Stones There And The Massive Lists Of Names Every Name There Gave Their Life Every Name There Brought Hurt And Pain And Brokenness Into Families And Every Family Has One Way Or Another Been Affected By It And It Is
[39:58] Where We As We Said We Are Enjoying Today The Liberty And Freedom That Was Paid For In These Wars But What We're Saying Here Is That Jesus Went Even Beyond That So That He In His Dying For Us He Went As Far As It Was Possible To Go And Then Jesus Says Just As The Father Is Taking It Back And Just Moving Very Quickly As The Father Has Loved Me So Have I Loved You Abide In My Love There's A lot Of Things We Could Say Here But Very Briefly There's Obviously There's A Difference Between The Father's Love The Love Between Jesus And The Father In That We Could Say It's An Infinite Love And So There Are Similarities And That's What Jesus Is Highlighting For Instance The Father Loved The Son With An Everlasting Love And Jesus Loves Us With An Everlasting Love Before
[40:58] You Were He Loved You I Find Can You Get Your Head Around That I Can But It's A Fact I Believe It I Have No Problem Believing It Can't Quite Understand It But I Believe It That's What Faith Does Faith Helps You To Believe It Takes You A We Step Beyond What We're Actually Able To Understand Because I Cannot Understand How How From Away Into Eternal You Know We Talk About Something As Being Old As The Hills Because The Hills Seem To Be Always There Whatever Else Changes The Hills Are There While Way Before The Hills Ever Were You Were Loved By Father And Son And Spirit Find That Quite Extraordinary And Also It's An Unchanging Love See Love It Is Possible For People Who Are In Love To Fall Out Of Love
[41:58] Love You Know The Wonderful Thing Here Is Jesus Never Falls Out In Love With Us And I Think That's One Of The Things Sometimes We Find It Difficult To Understand Because As Sinners We Sometimes Say Oh Maybe I've Gone A Step Too Far Here Maybe Jesus Is Going To Say Oh That's It I Made A Mistake I'm Giving Up On You No It's Our Love That Never Changes Every Single Day Irrespective Of What You've Done Still Loves You That's What Love That's What Love Is Love Doesn't Change True Love Doesn't Change Despite What We Are And Who We Are And So He Continues To Love Us With This Unchanging Love But Jesus Also And Finally We Come To This Stresses The Importance Of Obedience In Order That We Will
[42:58] Experience His Love That We Will Know It Because Jesus Tells Us These Things I Have Spoken To You That My Joy May Be In You And That Your Joy May Be Full This Is My Commandment That You Love One Another As I Have Loved You And Then He Goes On To Say You Are My Friends If You Do What I Command You And Then He Says You Did Not Choose Me But I Chose You And Appointed You That You Should Go And Bear Fruit And That Your Fruit Should Abide And So On Now We See Here The Importance Of Obedience And It's Obedience Out Of Love When You Love Somebody You Want To Do What You Know Pleases That Person And That's What's At The Heart Of This And This Is Where It's Very Important That In Our Christian Walk That
[43:58] Every Day We Have An Appreciation Of What Jesus Does You Know One Of The Worst Things In Friendship Is Apathy Where You Stop Still A Friend But You Stop Really Caring You Have You Ever Tried To Tell Somebody Something That's Something That's Difficult For You Or Something That's Sore For You Something That's Hurting You And You See Okay They're A Friend But You See In Their Eyes That They're Utterly Bored They're Completely Disinterested And When They Speak To You They Speak About Something Else That Hurts Doesn't It And I Think There Must Be Times When We Really Hurt The Lord You Look At An Example Even In In Jesus In Gethsemane Remember He Was In Great Agony And He Took His Disciples And He Said To Eight Of Them You Stay There And He Took The Three Peter James And John With Him A Bit Further Then
[44:59] He Said You Just Wait Watch And Pray With Me And He Went A Little Further And Of Course He Went Into All His Agony And His Prayer And He Came Back His Friends What Were They Doing Were They Praying With Him No They Sound Asleep And He Woke Them I Said Watch And Pray And Then He Went Away Again When He Came Back How Were They Sound Asleep Here's This You Know That's Why It Says In Scripture Comforters Found I None Not Even Amongst His Closest Friends Were Their Comforters Truly He Trod The Wine Press Alone So Here We Have This Really Amazing Or These Amazing Statements Of Jesus Today The Question
[45:59] Is Do You Know The Love The Joy The Peace The Friendship Of Jesus If You Do Then You're The Most Blessed Passion In This World If You Don't Can I Urge You To Seek It It's Not About Doing This And That You Know A Passion Can Be Very Religious But You Can Be Religious Without Being A Friend In Order To Be A Friend You've Got To Know You've Got To Know Jesus Maybe Today You Say I Probably Know Less About Jesus Than Anybody Else In This World You know I Think I Think We Often Look Around And We Look At Other Christians And We Think Oh my That's a Good Man That's a Good Woman That's a Person Who Knows The Lord Well I Think We Often Do That Because We Often Think I Wonder If There's Anybody Who Has Such A Dim Vision Of God Is
[46:59] There Anybody Who Yes I Love The Lord But Oh Man I Just Wish I Could See Better You Know Something I Think We're All Like That I Think Every Single One Of Us Is Seeing Exactly The Same Thing But The Fact Of The Matter Is Are You Saying Even If It's Only You're Only Seeing A Little Bit I Do Love The Lord I I Would Hate Now To Ever Be All Alone In My Life And Actually You Know I Really Want When I Die To Go To Be With The Lord If You're Speaking Like That Then I Would Say You Are Already A Friend Of Jesus Let Us Pray For Hearing What Your Word Has To Say To Us Of Revealing Something Of Yourself To Us Give Us Lord Hearts That Will Understand That Will Lay These Truths Lay Them Into Our Heart In A Way
[48:00] That Will Affect Us Or Be Merciful To Us We Pray We Come Before You Today With All That We Are Seeking Blessing Pray To Bless A Cup Of Tea And Coffee In The Hall Afterwards We Give Thanks For All The Different Friendships That We Enjoy Help Us Lord To Love One Another Because We Have To Confess Lord It Is So Easy Not To But Lord We Pray That We Will Have This Friendship And This Love And Help Us To Remember That Our Love Has To Be Modeled Upon Jesus Love Lord May We Be Challenged By These Things Do Us Good Then We Pray And Take Away From Us All Our Sin In Jesus Name Amen Our Concluding Singing Is From Psalm 36 And Sing Psalms Psalm Number 36 From Sing Psalms And The Tune Is Huddersfield We're
[49:01] Going To Sing Verses 5 To 10 Psalm 36 Verses 5 To 10 And You'll Find That On Page 44 Your Steadfast Love Is Great O Lord It Reaches Heaven High Your Faithfulness Is Wonderful Extending To The Sky Your Righteousness Is Very Great Like Mountains High And Steep Your Justice Is Like Ocean Depths Both Man And Beast You Keep How Precious Is Your Steadfast Love What Confidence It Brings Both High And Low Find Shelter In The Shadow Of Your Wings They Feast Within Your House And Drink From Streams Of Your Delight For With You Is The Source Of Life In Your Light We See Light Psalm Psalm 36 5 To 10 The Tune Is Huddersfield Your Steadfast Love Is Great O Lord Love
[50:16] Dear For that is wonderful At standing through the sky Your righteousness is very great Like mountains high on sea Your justice is my caution death Both man and beast to keep How precious is your steadfast love What confidence it brings O high and low
[51:20] I'm sheltered in The shadow of your wings Lift peace within your hearts and dream From streams of pure delight For with you is the source of light In your life we see light To those who know you as their God Your steadfast love impart Maintain your righteousness
[52:24] To those of pure and of right heart 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 Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen