[0:00] Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, as we gather in your name this evening hour, we thank you for the shelter of this place.
[0:14] We thank you for the peace that we can have, the calm that we enjoy in the midst of coming round your word when all around us there seems to be the storms of life as well as the natural storms.
[0:27] We thank you for the great joy that there is in coming among your people and together to worship you, whether it's hearing the word and the presence of one another here or whether we tune in online at home.
[0:42] We do pray to know your peace with us and to know that you are near, that you are speaking to us. And we thank you for these words that we have sung together, the words that speak about the enduring nature of your city and the citadels, the towers that surround it.
[1:02] And speaking of the great wonder of the strength of your place and where your people gather, for it is a city that will always endure, the city of the Lord.
[1:14] And we thank you that you are the one who keeps it secure, that you keep your people secure down through all the generations. We thank you that we can, with the psalmist, reflect and look back and contemplate your steadfast love, the steadfast love that the psalmist was able to see in his own experience and that God's people saw in so many different ways, that enduring steadfast love that you have surrounded your people with.
[1:44] And we thank you that that is an unchanging love, that your steadfast love is towards us this day, that the same strength and security that you gave your people then, that you give to your people today, and that we have that great assurance that whatever rocks this world, whatever shakes the world that we live in, and knowing ultimately that the great shaking that will come in the day of judgment, that there is a security in you, and that all who believe and trust in you, they will never be taken from you.
[2:19] And so we thank you for your great steadfast love in that way. And we pray that so many others would come to know and experience it for themselves, that even this evening as we read your word together, as we are reminded of the great benefits that you show towards us, all that is ours in Christ, that it would become fresh and anew to us all, and especially to those who have never tasted it before, that it would become a moment that would open their hearts to receive your word, and to enjoy the warmth and the blessing of it.
[3:00] Our hearts that are hard, Lord, we know that you are able to melt them. We know that, for you have done it to your people. You have done it to us in the past. You have done it to people down through all the generations.
[3:12] We think even of the Apostle Paul and how strong he was in his opposition. He was persecuting the church, putting your people to the sword, bringing them so much cruelty, breathing out cruelties, as the word says.
[3:29] And yet in a moment, you brought him to see the power of God, and to see the wonder of Christ, and to know your spirit working in him.
[3:40] And we thank you that they marveled at Paul, in the same way as they marvel at, we can marvel at the people that you bring to faith to this day. We see so many lives transformed, even when we look at ourselves, Lord, the things that were impossible for us to do because of the sinful nature that we have, and how you brought us to know your grace, your mercy.
[4:02] And we do thank you for that, and help us to always have that before us, in order to lose our wonder at the precious nature of your covenant promises, of all your steadfast promises towards your people, that we will keep them always in mind, and long to know them more and more, not just for ourselves, but for all around us.
[4:25] In the midst of troubles, anxieties, fears, and worries that so many people have, we pray for the peace of God that passes understanding to surround your people in so many different ways.
[4:37] And we do thank you again for the church that you are building, that we are part of. We are not just a congregation here, but we thank you, Lord, that today is a day of worship to you, a day that has been put aside for that very purpose from the very beginning of time, a day set aside when we put everything else to one side and come to worship you, to fellowship with your people, to look to you, to refresh ourselves in you, in all our activities of the day, that we would find our rest in you and refreshment for today, and also as we go into the week ahead, that it would be an encouragement to us to feel and know your presence here and to go out into the working week ahead, or school week, or whatever we are involved in, whatever we are doing, to know that refreshing power of your Spirit with us, to know the joy of the Lord as our strength, and to know the wonder of your grace and salvation.
[5:36] And we pray, Lord, that your people near and far would know and experience that day after day. For your people are to all ends of the earth, as the Word describes the great vastness of the world in which we live, and we see it so much ourselves as we see the wonder of satellite images and the enormity of the world, and yet the enormity of the number of people, yet the wonder of your knowledge towards us, that there is no one and nothing hidden from you, but that when the sun rises from the east to the west throughout your days, that you have that knowledge of your people.
[6:20] And even as the sun sets and as people go to sleep, as they lay down in the watches of the night, we know that you never slumber or sleep, as the Word reminds us, and that you are one who is constantly watching over.
[6:34] And so we pray, Lord, for all your people, near and far, that you would bless them, that you would encourage, that you would remember those who are persecuted, that you remember those who are in very difficult situations and circumstances, whether it's in times of fear or worry or natural disaster, war or famine.
[6:56] There are so many things going on, O Lord, in this world, and we just pray for your goodness and mercy to be over us. We do remember the cause of your church here.
[7:07] We thank you for all our people and for all the endeavors to reach out with your Word. Again, we commit the vacancy at this time to you and the committee that meet on Tuesday evening for your blessing and wisdom and guidance towards them.
[7:22] We pray, Lord, for patience as we wait upon you in these things and that you would ultimately guide us, Lord, that you would show us your will and that your will be done.
[7:33] We remember, too, the prayer meetings through the week, thankful for all that takes place where people gather in your name, whether it's in Laxdale on Tuesday evening, in the Seminary on Wednesday and Thursday for English and Gaelic, we thank you for that unity in prayer.
[7:51] We pray that you will build us up in that way and help us always to be a praying people, coming together to worship you and to wait upon you, to look to you in dependence for all things.
[8:04] We thank you, too, for being able to pray for so many different matters going on around us and as we think of that response that we see on our bulletin that was involved with Tesco and just the wider issue of the Lord's Day in our islands and far and wide.
[8:21] Lord, we do pray for blessing and peace to reign over your day and over your people and that you would bring people to see the wisdom that there is in rest.
[8:33] It is not just something that Christians seek to demand of people, but it's something that you and your wisdom have given from the very creation of the world, an appointment that the more people try to do, the more they see that there is no end to work, there is no end to tiredness or frustrations or no end to the life and the wheel that we seem to be so often caught up in.
[8:59] But yet, O Lord, we thank you that you give a break in the week and it's a wise day to use for your glory and ultimately for rest for all things.
[9:10] And so we pray, Lord, for people to see and know the wisdom of God in all of that. And we pray too, Lord, for our young people.
[9:20] We thank you for them, for the Sunday school, the creche, the tweenies, for the explorers, the YF and all that goes on with all our young people. We ask your blessing on all that is done for them and upon them in school as well, with the teachers and staff and primary schools and the high school.
[9:38] And we pray for protection, for blessing, for help for those who will soon be sitting prelims in these coming weeks. As we prepare for them, Lord, take away anxieties, fears and worries that they might have.
[9:50] I help them to lean upon you and to trust on you and to pray to you for help in the midst of it. We do pray for students away from home as well. We remember them, Lord, and ask your blessing over them, many as they go back to universities and colleges in these coming weeks, that you would bless them and watch over them.
[10:09] We remember those belonging to the congregation here in the past who have gone on to serve you in ministry in different ways.
[10:21] Remember Muriel, thankful for her, for her ministry in Cambodia. Remember Scott and Fiona and the girls as they are in North Harris now. Bless them, Lord, be with them.
[10:33] Remember Muriel Campbell as he has moved away to Enoch Bain and awaits an induction there. We pray for your blessing over him and the family. And as they settle there, as the induction comes around, Lord, that your blessing be on the congregation.
[10:48] Think of Roddy Barvis. He's been connected to this congregation in the past. And as he comes to us in a few weeks' time, Lord, we pray for encouragement together as he springs to us the work of international mission too.
[11:01] And just ask your blessing on him in that work. And so in all these things, Lord, we look to you, thankful for the gift of prayer and yet so much that we could still pray for, that you know our hearts, Lord.
[11:14] You know our desires. You know our needs. And so we lay them before you and ask in all things that you will hear us, you will pardon us for our sin, and that your will be done in all things.
[11:25] So go with us now. Bless your word as we sing it, as we open it up, reading it together and sharing from it, that you would guide us in all of our thoughts. For we ask it all in Jesus' name and for his sake.
[11:38] Amen. Sing. Sing. O God, what time thou didst go forth before thy people's face, and when through the great wilderness, thy glorious marching was.
[12:15] Then at God's presence shook the earth, and drops from heaven fell, the sign I shook before the Lord, the God of Israel.
[12:46] O God, how to thine heritage did send a plenteous rain, whereby thou went and weary was, didst it refresh again.
[13:20] Thy congregation then did make their habitation there, of thine own goodness for the poor.
[13:46] O God, thou didst prepare, the Lord himself did give the word, the word abroad did spread.
[14:10] Great was the company of them, the same who published it.
[14:31] We'll turn and read God's word together now. We're going to read first of all in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. Gospel of John, chapter 1, we're going to read from the beginning down to verse 18, and then we'll turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 103.
[14:51] So our first reading is in the Gospel of John, chapter 1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
[15:03] All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
[15:18] There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
[15:34] The true light which enlightens everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
[15:48] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God.
[16:03] And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glorious of the only Son, from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness about him, and cried out, This was he of whom I said, He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.
[16:25] And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
[16:37] No one has ever seen God. The only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. Then we'll turn to a reading in Psalm 103, in the book of Psalms.
[16:51] And we can read from the beginning of the Psalm, down to verse 13. Psalm 103. You'll find this around page 602.
[17:05] We read from the beginning, down to verse 13. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name.
[17:16] Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities. Who heals all your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit.
[17:27] Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy. Who satisfies you with good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.
[17:42] He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
[17:55] He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
[18:06] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him. As far as east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
[18:19] As our Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. And so on. And may God bless these readings from his word.
[18:33] Before we come and look at this passage together, we'll sing again in Psalm 147. The Sing Psalms Version, page 193. We're singing from verse 14 down to the end of the psalm.
[18:50] Psalm 147, page 193. At verse 14, We'll sing from verse 14 down to the end of the psalm.
[19:17] The Lord will grant you peace within The borders of your land, And finest wheat will fill your fields From his sustaining hand To all the corners of the earth, The Lord's commands proceed For when he speaks, His word goes forth
[20:21] Through all the world with speed He spreads the snow As wool the frost Like ashes on the land He hurls forth, I say Hail like stones Who can such gold withstand But when he sends His mighty word And makes the warm wind The frozen waters
[21:25] Start to melt And once again To flow To Jacob God Declares His word And makes His doctrines Known His ordinances He reveals He reveals To Israel Alone He has not dealt In such a way With any other race
[22:29] To us To us Alone He shows His laws O praise The Lord Of grace We can turn back Together To our second reading In the book of Psalms In Psalm 103 This evening We're going to look At the section From verse 6 Down to verse 13 But just Bear in mind Verse 2 Which is the theme Of the psalm That we started Looking at a couple Of weeks ago In verse 2 It says Bless the Lord O my soul And forget Not all his benefits Forget not all his benefits And then in the psalm It goes on to outline The benefits That are ours Through God And so we continue That theme In verse 6 To verse 13
[23:30] This evening We're going to look At some of the benefits That we find here In verse 6 It says The Lord Works righteousness And justice For all who are oppressed He made known His ways To Moses His acts To the people Of Israel And so it goes on We all experience Times of reflection In our lives In different ways We come to points And experiences Sometimes it can be Because of appointed days Or special days That come our way Rememberance day Is always a time Of reflection When we look back And remember Great sacrifice Made for us Our new year's day It's always a time When we reflect We've just had that And I'm sure Many of us Spent some time There reflecting And looking back On our own lives Or on the past year The lives of others It's a time Of just looking And seeing What's going on Around us So we can see it In a broad way
[24:30] We can also see it In a narrow way In our own lives too When we think of Our own personal Reflections Or remembrances It can be Maybe a significant date In our own experience In life It might be a special occasion A happy occasion It could also be A sad occasion That brings to mind Things from the past Or even things In the present That we reflect on So we have them In a personal way And in a broad way In a general sense too But we also have Moments of remembrance When we see In the scriptures too When you look Through God's word You find That God God has always Put that significance Of remembrance Into the hearts Of his people You think of The Old Testament And the remembrance Of the deliverance The exodus From Egypt He gave them The Passover Something that they Were to remember In all the generations Afterwards To remember The deliverance That God Had given to them And then you see
[25:31] In the New Testament As we see the Passover Being replaced By the Lord's Supper And the deliverance From sin For God's people Through the sacrifice Made by Jesus Christ So we have the Lord's Supper That we continue To remember And it's a time Of reflection Personal reflection Congregational reflection And just reflection In general As to the benefits That we read of Here in Psalm 103 For example We reflect on God's goodness To us And in many ways We're seeing in this Psalm David reflecting And looking back In his own experience And also Looking forward In his own experience Too And in his reflection You see Sometimes it's a very Personal reflection Very intimate to himself Other times It's looking in a broader Sense as well But what he's doing For us Is showing us The benefits That are ours In Christ And for ourselves This evening We're thinking of it Under that heading
[26:31] The believer's benefits To know The benefits That he's speaking of here We must as a people Have faith In the Lord Jesus Christ To enjoy These benefits In their fullness And David here Is just looking at In this sense And from his very soul It begins with that sense In the Psalm In verse 1 Bless the Lord Oh my soul And all that is within me There's a sense Of everything that I am Everything that I have I want to praise it I want to give praise To you Lord For all of your benefits To me And so we began Looking at this Psalm A couple of weeks ago Looking at the benefits And we saw In verse 1 to 5 The benefits That David Outlines for us We saw forgiveness Healing Redemption Crowning And satisfying And we went into The details Of just what These benefits Mean And meant And we want to
[27:31] Continue that theme This evening By looking at this Psalm And see the benefits That we see In verse 6 to 13 And there's four I want to highlight To us this evening But before we Before we do come Into the details Of it Before we look At it some more I want to first Share something That Charles Spurgeon Said about this Psalm It's like a chord With me And it just Helps us to see Just the wonder Of these words As we look at them He's got away With words Charles Spurgeon So I don't mind Quoting him His words Are more eloquent Than mine But he says this As in the lofty Alps Some peaks Rise above all others So among even The inspired psalms There are heights Of song Which overtop The rest This 103rd Psalm Has ever seemed To us To be the Mount Rosa Of the divine chain Of mountains Of praise Glowing with A ruddier light
[28:32] Than any of the rest It is as the apple tree Among the trees Of the wood And its golden fruit Has a flavour Such as no fruit Ever bears Unless it has been Ripened In the full sunshine Of marshy He's got away With words All right But what you see Him saying there Is basically that Although all the word Of God Is precious We're not Putting it on A pedestal In that sense Every word Is God breathed But yet he says There are these ones That just seem to Rise higher Than the others The mountaintops Mount Rosa Is one of the highest Peaks In the Alps And he's saying On its pinnacle You're just seeing The height The wonder The glory of it And that Psalm 103 In the midst of others It rises above And just shows us The wonder Of God's mercies And God's benefits Towards us And so this evening We want to continue To climb this mountain
[29:33] To see What David is saying To us About these benefits And just see The wonder Of these benefits To all who believe In the Lord Jesus And so like I said There's four I want to look at This evening Four benefits From verse 6 To verse 13 The first one Is this God acts For us That's one of our benefits The second one Is he is merciful And patient The third one Is he is gracious And the fourth He is compassionate So we want to go Through these four First of all God acts For us We see this In verse 6 And verse 7 I'm sure You've either Said it Or you've heard This said Maybe you've said it Today Maybe you've said it More than once today Do I have to do Everything myself Maybe you've just said it In the last hour Before coming out To church Do I have to do Everything myself You've asked someone
[30:33] To do something And the usual reply Is in a minute And a couple of hours Later you come back Nothing's done Do I have to do Everything myself As David reflects On the benefits here It's almost like He's being reminded Of God Who's saying Do I have to do Everything myself For you But not in a way Of having a goal But in a sense Of just realising As David would And we should Our own helplessness That we cannot act In the ways that God can And the way God has For his people That we realise That our cause Is hopeless Except the Lord Act on our behalf He says there in verse 6 The Lord works Righteousness and justice For all who are oppressed He has made known His ways to Moses His acts
[31:34] To the people Of Israel And what we see here Is left to our own devices We stumble And we fall Left to our own devices We would say to the Lord In a minute I'll sort it And yet we leave things We leave things undone But the great benefit That we see here Is that the Lord Acts for us And we see He acts here In two different ways He acts in His actions In what He does But also in what He says In His words The Lord acts for us How do you deal With the sin In this world How do you make things right We would love To put everything right In this world We would love To have justice In this world To those who are oppressed We would love To be able to take them Out of that oppression To right every wrong
[32:35] In this world But we can't We can't do it And when we look At ourselves Our own righteousness Our own actions They're just like Filthy rags Before the Lord There is nothing That we can put right In this world By ourselves Because we are spoiled We are marred By sin But what we find here Is that the Lord Works The Lord Acts He acts righteously And He acts on justice To all who are oppressed And He speaks He has made known His way to Moses His acts To the people of Israel He has continued To speak To His people And that's what we sang of In Psalm 147 The last psalm That we just sung In verse 18 It says But when He sends His mighty word And makes the warm winds blow The frozen waters
[33:35] Start to melt And once again To flow It's this image Just like what we've seen Overnight Last night How the snow And the ice Was there But when that warm wind Comes It disappears How quickly It's gone today And that's The way we can see That God acts That in the same way That as He speaks And as He acts He is able to do things That we could never do Ourselves It's impossible If we were to think Of this for ourselves And think Well We have to sort These problems We have to sort The injustice To people We have to sort Our own righteousness We have to be right With God By ourselves It would be such A burden That we could never Carry it We could never manage it We could never do it But the benefit That we have Is that the Lord Works And the Lord Acts God has acted On our behalf There is no justice
[34:37] That we could achieve Ourselves There is no salvation That we could achieve Ourselves It is He That acts And we thank God That He does The Lord has Acted on our behalf The Lord has showed This towards us We saw it In the last time We were looking at it How He redeems Our life How He All these benefits He forgives In our iniquities He heals our diseases We can't do it Ourselves But yet we are Precious To Him He crowns you With steadfast love And mercy It says in verse 4 And we see this again In verse 6 and 7 How He acts In His steadfast love And mercy Towards us We hear the wind This evening Going up again And bad forecast Again overnight We see storms Coming And so often Storms bring damage With them A few years ago During one storm
[35:39] That came our way There was a barge It was a salmon feed barge That was moored And it broke Its mooring I can't remember Exactly where it was But it ended up Drifting in the minch And it ended up Being sunk Because it had drifted It had been damaged It went on the rocks It wasn't old It had just been Fairly newly built Cost a million pounds But after I'd been Raked On the rocks The question was being asked Is it worth salvaging?
[36:08] Is it worth doing anything To try and Get it back? Something that cost A million pounds You're thinking Surely There's got to be Some benefit In getting it back Something can be done But even the question Being asked Is it worth it?
[36:23] And you think to God Well The way God acts The way God works Does he act in that way? Does he look on us And say Is it worth Saving these people? Is it worth The difficulty?
[36:37] Is it worth The hassle? Is it worth That what he says Yes We know that God Didn't count up a cost For our salvation And say I'm not sure Is it worth it?
[36:50] Because as we see The words that are used here Who redeems your life From the pit? He's saying It is worth it My action is worth it He took action He acted on our behalf Because what was impossible For us He did He did in his son Christ Jesus He acted For us So we have the benefit There Of God's action And God's Word To us As we read In John 1 We read of the word Who became flesh And dwelt among us And we have seen His glory Glory of the only son From the father Full of grace And truth The Lord Has acted And the Lord Has spoken And so he continues To give us This benefit He communicates To us He speaks To us He acts For us The second benefit We see here
[37:50] Is he is Merciful And kind He is Merciful And kind The Lord Is merciful And gracious Slow to anger And abounding In steadfast Love Patience It's something That we don't Always have Again you think of Do I have to do Everything myself?
[38:14] You're asking that Out of impatience Have you ever had Your patience Tested? It's not so much A question to ask us How many times Have you had Your patience Tested?
[38:26] I'm sure we could say Many times And we've tested People's patience Ourselves Many times But have you ever Asked yourself I wonder Have I tested God's patience?
[38:39] Are my actions Are what I'm doing The way I'm living Is it testing God's patience? Patience The question again Should be Have I tested It shouldn't be Have I tested God's patience But how many times Have I tested God's patience?
[38:55] You see it with The children of Israel In the Exodus Testing God's patience Again and again With the way that They were treating him The way that They were acting No matter what he did For them They seemed to just Do their own thing And we're the same I just have to look At my own life And examine How many times Have I grumbled Or complained to God How many times Have I said God You don't know What you're doing I'll do it my way We do it all the time We're testing his patience And yet here we read The benefit that we have That he doesn't act As he should Towards us Or that he could Towards us The Lord is merciful And gracious Slow to anger And abounding In steadfast love How do you know When someone's angry Against you?
[39:49] If it's getting serious If it's getting to a point Of rage Quite often It's the nostrils That give it away They start flaring There's a real anger And we're not here Talking just In a bad mood With someone We're not talking about I'm not talking to you At the moment We're talking A serious kind of anger That the Lord Restrains from Because you see The words that are used there The Lord is Merciful and gracious And especially The Lord is slow To anger The literal translation Of slow To anger There is His nostrils Don't flare In anger That's the literal Translation It doesn't Go to the point Where his nostrils Flare Because if it did We could never stand We could never stand Against God's anger And God's wrath We could never Stand Psalm 130
[40:50] Speaks of that Who could stand? Who could stand Before you Lord? We couldn't But the benefit That we see here Is he is merciful He is gracious He is slow To anger And abounding In steadfast love His ways Are not our ways His thoughts Are not our thoughts He doesn't act Like we do He has a greater Patience Than we do The Lord In other words God's mercy It's relentless It's unending He wants his people To be saved That is his longing That is his desire Because a day is coming When that wrath Will come But in his mercy Just now He is gracious And slow To anger It is not never ending Because there is a warning There is a warning There for us as well It will not always
[41:50] Be so He will not leave The guilty unpunished He will bring justice As it says To the oppressed But he will bring Judgment upon All who reject And all who Put him away All who ignore him You ignore him At your peril But today We live In a day Of his mercy He is slow To anger And so it is a day To respond This is one of the Great benefits For you If you are not Believing this evening That he is patient That he is slow To anger But it is a warning It is a warning Of the serious nature Of who God is That he will On the day of judgment Pour out That anger And we cannot stand Then The Lord is merciful And gracious Slow to anger And abounding
[42:51] In steadfast love But he will not Always Chide Nor will he Keep his anger Forever We also see It is closely Linked to this As well His gracious Nature As well We mentioned The word Gracious There But it goes on In this psalm As well In verse 10 He does not Deal with us According to our sins Nor repay us According to our Iniquities As we come in To worship God As we come We realise Our sin We realise Our sins That are many And worse Than we want To believe And it sounds A strange benefit That that's one of The benefits We have When we come In to worship God But God shows us As we are He is merciful He is gracious He is slow To anger But when he shows us
[43:52] Our sin It's in a benefit Way as well Because it helps us To understand That in our sins That are many His mercy is more As the hymn says We realise How much We have Fallen short Of his glory We realise How far away We are From where we Should be As we come in To worship A holy God As we come Before his word We realise He does not Deal with us According to our sins Nor repay us According to our Iniquities What's he talking about?
[44:26] Are we not good people? No We're not But he is Gracious He is gracious And we should Never lose sight Of that The great cost Involved for our sins To be forgiven The great cost If he was to deal With us According to our sins We would be lost But what did he do To deal with our sins?
[44:50] He sent Christ He sent Christ That he would take Our sins For us Because we couldn't Do it ourselves We see there His action Towards his people That he might Save them From their sins He sent his son Martin Luther Described it In this way He said Although out of pure grace God does not Impute our sins To us He nonetheless Did not want To do this Until complete And ample Satisfaction Of his law And his righteousness Had been made Since this Was impossible For us God ordained For us In our place One Who took upon himself All the punishment We deserve He fulfilled The law For us He averted The judgment Of God From us And appeased God's wrath Grace Therefore Cost us Nothing But it cost Another much To get it For us
[45:50] Grace Was purchased With an incalculable Infinite Treasure The son Of God Himself The wonder Of God's Grace So as we read Here in verse 10 He does not Deal with us According To our sins That is The wonder Of his grace Now when you think Of that grace It's not just For a moment When you think Of the hymn Amazing Grace You think of the author Who wrote it John Newton And the wonder Of that grace That saved him That grace That saved A wretch Like me But he's not just Talking about A moment's grace Because he goes on To express it In that way It's much more Than just about The grace Of conversion Because he says Through many dangers Toils And snares We have already Come It's this Ongoing grace It was grace That brought us
[46:51] Safe thus far And grace Will lead us Home So it's not just Grace For a moment But grace That keeps us Day by day Grace That will see us Home Is that not A wonderful benefit Is that not Something that we Should be so Thankful to God For That as we Believe in him We have that grace Not just for a moment But for every moment Of every day And the grace That will sustain us And see us Home Give thanks to God If you know this grace And if you don't Pray Pray to know That wonder Amazing grace That is able to save Saved a wretch Like me Not just John Newton Would say that Any sinner Could say that We are saved As wretches By the grace Of God
[47:51] He is gracious The fourth And final Benefit We see here He is compassionate He is compassionate When you look at Verse 11 Through to Verse 13 For as high as the heavens Are above the earth So great Is his steadfast love Towards those Who fear him As far as east Is from the west So far does he Remove our Transgressions From us Then you have These words In verse As a father Shows compassion To his children So the Lord Shows compassion To those Who fear him The benefit Of a compassionate God He doesn't deal With our sins According To our sins But instead As far as East is from The west He has removed Our transgressions From us Why Because he has
[48:52] This relationship Of compassion As a father To his children We have We have this Great benefit Of being In the family Of God We read it Throughout the scriptures We read it In John chapter 1 Of how we are Children of God He describes In the letter Of 1st John We see it there In chapter 3 As well See what kind of love The father has given To us That we should be called Children of God And so we are The reason why The world does not Know us is that It did not Know him Beloved We are God's Children Now There is this Relationship That we have Through faith In Christ We are God's Children And there are Benefits in us In us For us In that We know God As our father As far as East is from The west He has removed
[49:52] Our transgressions Why as a father Shows Compassion To his children And what a benefit We have To know him As our father We all have Different experiences In life Of when we were Children And I remember Growing up Myself When I was young If I did Something wrong The first instinct Was to try and Hide that wrong From my parents I don't know How much Super glue I went through Trying to hide My faults From my parents Because it would So often happen If I was playing With my sister It seemed to be That something Would bounce off me And I would Kick something And would always Knock over An ornament And you were There trying to Glue it back Together before They would see It was Far too obvious When they came Home that Something was Wrong We cannot Hide it But it's Our natural Instinct To try and Hide it From our Parents And we see It's an instinct
[50:52] That is in man From the very Beginning Because as soon As Adam and Eve Had done wrong In the garden Their first instinct Was to hide To hide away It's just In us And yet When we see A compassionate Father here We see He's not out Just to punish Us He's out To heal us To restore Us In right Relationship With him As a father Shows compassion To his children So the Lord Shows compassion To those Who fear him That when There's a right Fear When there's a Right fear It is Knowing that We have Let someone Down That we have Failed someone And we're afraid Of those Consequences But the Lord Shows us This compassion Shows us This steadfast Love Compassion Towards those Who fear him
[51:53] In the great Distances That we see Mentioned here As high as the Heavens are above The earth So great Is this steadfast Love towards Those who fear him And then we see It was sin As far as east Is from the west So far as he Removed our Transgressions From us There's love And there's Transgressions And there's This great Distance But there are So many Verses that Remind us That God Is gathering His people From a distance And one of Them is in Deuteronomy 30 verse 3 And it really Speaks about This relationship Of the father Towards his Children Showing compassion And it says Then the Lord Your God Will restore Your fortunes And have Compassion on You And he will Gather you again From all the Peoples Where the Lord Your God Has scattered You He is bringing His people In He is bringing His children In He is bringing His children Home It's like the Parable of the Prodigal son That speaks of That compassion
[52:54] Of the father Who saw his son Coming back From a distance And he ran Towards him He showed him Not what he Deserved But he showed Him mercy He showed him His steadfast Love He showed his Compassion And God Has that Compassion Still Towards those Who fear him And it's Always in the Midst of Everything Going right We are so Often taught The compassion Of God When things Are not going Our way The way that We would want Them to go And in great Difficulty Sometimes We see the Steadfast love Of God That is Unchanging There was a Missionary called Alan Gardner And he Spent many Of his Years As a Missionary To different Parts of South America And he Suffered Many Troubles During his Years as a Missionary And ultimately During his Mission
[53:54] He lost His life In 1851 At the age Of 57 He died Of starvation And disease Having become Drifted away From where He'd been Staying And ministering In He was Abandoned In a Shipwreck Almost And he Was left By himself He starved To death And it Wasn't a Quick death It was Something he Suffered a Lot in And it Took time But he Had kept A journal Even in Those latter Days A journal That you Can still See to This Day And in It he Was writing Down his Own thoughts And quotes From the Psalms And different Things One point He wrote Down the Verse From Psalm 34 Verse 10 The young Lions Do lack And suffer Hunger But they That seek The Lord Shall not Lack Any good Thing In the Midst of His Starving He was able To write These words Although We're hungry Those who Trust the Lord Those who Seek the Lord Shall not
[54:55] Lack Anything Good What a Testimony And the Last words That he Wrote Before he Passed away That they Found in His diary Was I Am Overwhelmed With a Sense of The Goodness Of God The Compassion Of God That in The midst Of such Difficulty And trials And sorrow Knowing his Life was Coming to An end He was Overwhelmed With a Sense Of the Goodness Of God What a Benefit We have In knowing Christ What benefits Are ours Through faith In him We have So many We could Unpack so Many more Even in These few Verses We'll come Back to the Last few Verses Another time But the More that you Look at this Psalm The more You look at The word Of God You realise The benefits That are ours In Christ The benefits That we have Through faith May we
[55:56] Long for Them more May we Thank God For them More That he Doesn't act Towards us As we Deserve But that he Is merciful Gracious Slow to Anger All of These things That we Might find Hope In him Let us Pray Our Father in Heaven We do Thank you For all Your Gracious Benefits Towards us They are More than We can Number And the More that We see The more That we Seek to Understand How Little we Know of Them And yet The wonder Of them Lord We thank You for Your Grace Your Mercy Your Slow to Anger All of These Things You do Not Deal with Us As we Deserve We Thank You For That And we Pray to Know Your Grace More and More Lord Pardon Our Sins Pardon Our Forgetfulness Of You And all Of These Things As we Ask it In Jesus Name Amen Amen We'll
[57:00] Bring our Worship To Our Close By Singing In Psalm 32 In The Scottish Psalter Page 244 Psalm 32 We'll Sing From Verse 6 To Verse 8 For!
[57:53] For This Shall Every Godly One His Prayer Make To Thee In Such A Time He Shall Thee Seek As Found Thou Mayest Be As Found Thou Mayest Be As Found Thou Mayest Be In Such A Time He Shall Thee Seek As Found Thou Mayest Be Surely When Floods Of Waters Great Do Swell Up To The Prim They Shall
[58:53] Not Overwhelm His Soul Nor Once Come Near To Him Nor Once Come Near To Him They Shall Not Overwhelm His Soul Nor Once Come Near To Him Thou Art My Hiding Place Thou Shalt From Trouble Keep Me Free Thou With Songs Of Deliberance About Shall Come Pass Me About
[59:54] Shall Come Pass Me About Shall Come Pass Me Thou With Songs Of Deliberance About Shall Come Pass Me I Will Instruct The And The Teach The Way That Thou Shall Go And With Mine Eye Upon The Set I Will Direction Show I Will Direction Show I Will Direction Show And
[60:54] With Mine Eye Upon Me Set I Will Thy Direction Show After the benediction I'll go to the door to my left.
[61:09] We'll close with the benediction. Now may grace, mercy and peace from God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore.
[61:20] ! Amen. Thank you. Thank you.