[0:00] We're going to begin our worship this evening singing in Psalm 89 in the Scottish Psalter.! That's on page 344. Singing verses 1 to 6.
[0:39] And of course we're conscious of the fact that David, as he is here before us in the psalm, is a type or a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ himself in his kingship, the kingship of his saviourhood.
[0:59] And so as we sing these verses, we're very conscious that they do apply to Christ and the kingdom that Christ presides over. Psalm 89 and verses 1 to 6 will stand to sing.
[1:12] The Lord's mercies I will ever sing, And with my life I shall Thy faithfulness Take to the Lord To generations To generations All Thy faithfulness Thou will When
[2:28] Thy faithfulness Thou Thy faithfulness
[3:29] Thou Thou Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness
[4:30] Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness Thy faithfulness! Thy faithfulness O Lord, our God, as we gather once again here in this place of worship, as we do so collectively with our minds focused on those things that we have been singing that are before us in your word, we thank you that we begin our service with certainties, the certainty of your being, the certainty of your kingdom, the certainty of your rule and its precision.
[5:13] And we give thanks to you, Lord, for the certainty of the promises that you give and have given to your people. And we bless you, O Lord, that we find ourselves as we trust in you based upon those certainties for ourselves.
[5:30] And, Lord, we live in a world of uncertainty, and our lives in many ways are uncertain from day to day. And yet we thank you that we draw near tonight to the God who is sure and certain and steadfast in all his ways and in his being.
[5:48] Bless us, we pray, as we familiarize ourselves again with these great truths. And as we come to take them to ourselves, help us, we pray, to feed our souls upon them.
[6:00] And enable us tonight, O Lord, to come with that relish for your word that would come like the psalmist to treasure it in our hearts and to have it in such a way that would express its truth every day through our lives.
[6:15] And we thank you, O Lord, for the many benefits that we have received from you already today. A day that you have set apart, even in the creation of the world, to be a day that is marked by holiness to the Lord.
[6:29] A day that you have set apart as sacred for your people. Lord, while we acknowledge that every day brings elements of sacredness in the way in which we are to dedicate ourselves and our time to you, we thank you that you have given special emphasis to your day as a day that is a reminder to us of the Lord's oversight and especially of the Lord as the Redeemer of his people who gives us peace and who enables us to look forward to the fulfillment of that kingdom that is in the Lord Jesus Christ and over which he is set as king.
[7:09] And we thank you, Lord, tonight for your word to guide us once again. You have guided us many times previously through your word. You have blessed your word to us.
[7:19] You have given us, Lord, times of magnificent consideration, requests and petitions also, Lord, that seek your help during the course of life.
[7:30] We thank you that your knowledge above all of these things ensures that every aspect of our need is known to you and that you are able to meet us at all times.
[7:43] We pray your blessing, Lord, to be with us as worshipers tonight. And we thank you for the privilege of worshiping you, the privilege of having all elements of our worship in which we engage freely available to us.
[7:59] And we thank you, Lord, that even as we sing these words of praise to you, we thank you that we can sing our times of rejoicing and gladness to you, but that we can also sing out the pains and the sorrows of our heart.
[8:14] And we give thanks, O Lord, that such expressions of our pain and of our suffering at times enable us to accommodate these things and to dwell upon them in such a way as would carry them before the Lord for his help.
[8:32] We thank you tonight, Lord, for your church, for the way in which we are a part of that great church of God throughout the whole realms, all the realms of this whole world.
[8:44] And we give thanks that we form part of that great number which no one is able to number but yourself. And we give thanks that your church is undivided, whether it be in heaven or in earth, in the past or in the future or present.
[8:59] You know your people and they come to know you. And we pray tonight for your people, wherever they may be, throughout all the places in the world in which you have set them.
[9:12] O Lord, we pray that you would bless them, bless those of them unable to gather as we do, bless all the gatherings of your people also, bless those who are isolated from others, bless those, Lord, who partake of services online and are able thereby to hear your word and to be joined in that medium with your people as they worship you together.
[9:36] We pray for those who are ill tonight. We ask, Lord, that you'd bless them. They are known to us and unknown alike. And we pray that whether we know them or hear about them, we pray, Lord, that you would help us to carry them before your throne of grace.
[9:50] We pray for those who are seriously ill. We ask that you would be near to them. O Lord, as the end of life may seem very close for them, we pray that you would prepare them and us for that final step from time into eternity, which may come much more quickly than we are ourselves anticipating.
[10:13] Make us ready, O Lord, we pray, and through the gospel prepare us to enter into the realms of glory to be with the Lord himself. We pray that you would bless all families who have lost loved ones in recent times or in times past.
[10:29] We thank you especially for those who have traveled with us on the way and shown to us the way of faith and are no longer in this life. O Lord, we thank you for their witness that it goes on speaking to us.
[10:43] And we pray that you would help us to walk in the ways of faith like them. And your blessing too to those who rule over us, we pray tonight for our government, both in Westminster and here and in our own parliament in Scotland.
[11:01] We ask, O Lord, that in the turmoil of these days that you would give them wisdom. You have called upon us to remember them in prayer before you. And we set them before you, Lord, tonight, though we recognize so many of them.
[11:15] They do not seem to walk in your ways or want to do so. And yet we pray for all of them. And we pray that you would bring to them the light through the gospel that will shine into their own lives and that will enable them to look out on the world in which they live and on the people over which you have placed them in a way that would have regard for God and for his ways.
[11:39] We pray especially, Lord, at this time for the bill about to go through the Scottish Parliament with regard to the end of life. We pray, Lord, that you would be pleased to have this bill fall from being passed.
[11:56] We recognize as you people how important it is that the Lord only has a claim over the time of our birth and the time of our death. And we pray, Lord, that you would grant that there may be a majority that would reject the proposals of this bill and that would therefore enable us as your people to give thanks to you for the way in which, once again, we pray that you would preserve life until you see fit to take us out of this world.
[12:26] Remember those who care for us in palliative care. We thank you for the provisions of palliative care, O Lord. Lord, we pray that you would enhance it and that it might be increased in our land and that resources might be given to it further to enlarge its provision for us.
[12:47] Grant, O Lord, that we may look to you for the provision of all of these things that come to us for our benefit. And so bless us now, we pray, continue to look over us in your mercy and grace to pardon our sins, to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.
[13:04] We offer all of these prayers to you, O Lord, this evening, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and for his sake. Amen. Let's continue to praise God.
[13:16] We're singing this time in Psalm 32. Psalm number 32 in the Sing Psalms version. That's on page 38. We'll sing verses 7 to 11.
[13:28] You are my hiding place, O Lord, my true security. You keep me safe in troubled days. You circle me with joyful praise when you have set me free.
[13:42] I will instruct you by my word and guide you in my way. My counsel I will give to you. My eye will keep your path in view and watch you day by day.
[13:55] So these verses in Psalm 32 from verse 7 through to the end. You are my hiding place, O Lord. You are my hiding place, O Lord, my true security.
[14:21] You keep me safe in troubled days. You are my hiding place, to circle me with joyful praise, when you have set me free.
[14:45] I will instruct you by my word and guide you in my way.
[15:02] My counsel I will give to you.
[15:12] My eye will keep your path in view and watch you day by day.
[15:28] You not be like the horse or new which cannot understand.
[15:44] They must be hurt and kept in check.
[15:55] As they the pride of turn their neck to go where you command.
[16:11] The way its walls will march in peace, but those who trust the Lord is come and let me will surround.
[16:37] Your righteous let your joy abound and face the Lord your God.
[16:53] Let's turn now to read God's word and you'll find a reading tonight in the book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles, chapter 13.
[17:09] And we can begin reading at verse 26. We have an account here from verse 13 onwards of the journey of Paul and Barnabas to arrive in Antioch of Pisidia and where Paul preached there in the synagogue.
[17:27] And so we pick up the narrative at verse 26 where he addresses those in the synagogue. Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
[17:43] For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.
[17:56] And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
[18:09] But God raised him from the dead and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem who are now his witnesses to the people.
[18:20] And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus as also it is written in the second Psalm.
[18:33] You are my son. Today I have begotten you. And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way.
[18:44] I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David. Therefore, he says also in another Psalm, you will not let your holy ones see corruption.
[18:56] For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was late with his fathers and saw corruption. But he whom God raised did not see corruption.
[19:09] Let it be known to you, therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.
[19:26] Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets should come about. Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish. For I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.
[19:42] As they went out, people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Baal and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.
[20:05] Amen. May God bless to us again a reading of his word. Before we turn back to look at one or two things from this passage, let's sing again, singing in Psalm 16 in the Scottish Psalter in verses 1 to 7.
[20:22] Lord, keep me, for I trust in thee. To God thus was my speech. Thou art my Lord, and unto thee my goodness doth not reach. To saints on earth, to the excellent, where my delights all placed, their sorrows shall be multiplied to other gods that haste.
[20:42] Of their drink offerings of blood I will no offering make. Yea, neither I their very names up in my lips will take. God is of mine inheritance, and cup the portion.
[20:54] The lot that fallen is to me thou dost maintain alone. And to me, happily, the lines in pleasant places fell. Yea, the inheritance I got, in beauty doth excel.
[21:08] I bless the Lord, because he doth by counsel me conduct. And in the seasons of the night my reigns do me instruct. These verses from the beginning.
[21:19] Lord, keep me, for I trust in thee. Lord, keep me, for I trust in thee, to God thus was my speech.
[21:43] The heart my Lord, round love to thee, my goodness doth not reach.
[22:00] Who saves on earth to the excellent, where my delight so blessed.
[22:16] Their sorrows shall be multiplied, to other gods that haste.
[22:32] Of their day offerings of blood, I will no offering make.
[22:47] Yea, neither I their very names up in my lips will take.
[23:03] God is of my inheritance, and God the portion.
[23:18] God is of my heart. The Lord hath fallen, is to me, and does not maintain alone.
[23:34] Come to me, happily, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, Bum, I got in beauty doth herself.
[24:07] I bless the Lord because he doth I counsel, he conduct And in the seasons of the night My praise to thee is God.
[24:41] If you turn with me please to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. We can give our minds for a short time tonight. To verses 36 to 39.
[24:54] So reading at Acts 13 verse 36. For David, after he had saved the purpose of God And his own generation fell asleep And was laid with his fathers and saw corruption.
[25:05] But he whom God raised up did not see corruption. Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, That through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.
[25:16] And by him everyone who believes Is freed from everything from which you could not be freed By the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest what is said in the prophets Should come about.
[25:31] Well, we'll read here about Paul's first missionary journey Which took him through the various places mentioned Until he arrived here, as we read here in this passage, At Antioch in Pisidia.
[25:48] It's part of what's now known as Turkey. As he came to Antioch in Pisidia, He did what was his custom at the time He went to the synagogue Where the Jews gathered for worship.
[26:02] And as he came to the synagogue And addressed the people in the synagogue, He took from the Old Testament What God had led him to Declare to the people there A passage that led to The person of Jesus.
[26:17] It's always interesting to note How Paul went about addressing Wherever he was The context in which he ministered the gospel Because he didn't He didn't approach every situation In exactly the same way Although he preached exactly the same gospel.
[26:34] It was always Jesus The death of Jesus And here particularly the resurrection of Jesus as well. But if you compare this with chapter 17 Where you find Paul in Athens At the Areopagus Addressing a large crowd of pagans He didn't begin with the Old Testament He began with a more general revelation Or an emphasis on more general revelation Of God as creator And even found it appropriate to quote Once or twice from the prophets Of the pagans themselves Just to make points that he wished to Set before them That led him to speak about This God that he himself Had come to declare.
[27:15] But here he's speaking to Jews So it's quite appropriate That he goes to the Old Testament Well known by the Jews And takes them from the Old Testament To the person of Jesus.
[27:27] And that's of course important For ourselves as well. Because wherever you start in the Bible You always have to try and trace the line That brings you to Christ.
[27:38] Whether it's in the Old Testament Prior to the coming of Christ Or in the New Testament epistles Or in Revelation After Jesus had come After Jesus had died and risen And gone back to heaven It still always comes back to him.
[27:55] So in your Bible study You always try and trace these lines That take you back to the person of Jesus Because it's in him That everything really hangs together.
[28:05] He is the one That God himself has set As saviour And so everything else goes through him Including the preaching of the gospel itself As we'll see tonight.
[28:17] And so as he presents These various details From the Old Testament He comes to focus especially On King David. And he sets that beside Jesus himself Who is of course the king In the New Testament sense That fulfilled the kingship Of David.
[28:40] And so you find in this passage Some correspondences with David In the person and work of Jesus But also some contrasts Between Jesus and King David.
[28:53] And that's what we're really focusing on For a short time this evening. We'll break it into three parts. Verses 39 Through verses 36 to 39.
[29:05] First of all we'll look at Some details of David's life And death. And then looking secondly at Christ's death and life.
[29:17] And thirdly How the passage ends With an emphasis on Gospel life And death. King David's life and death. Christ's death and life.
[29:30] And then the gospel's emphasis On life but also On death. So David's Life and death Very briefly In the compass in which Paul dealt with it here.
[29:43] Verse 36 David After he had served The purpose of God In his own generation Fell asleep And was laid with his fathers And saw corruption.
[29:53] Now that's really all he says there About God Sorry God says about David But there's a correspondence with And a contrast with What happened In Jesus himself.
[30:06] But notice what he says. He served God's purpose In his own generation. What does that actually mean? Before we go on To look at the following Details about Jesus It's important To stop over that.
[30:19] What does he mean by saying David Actually served The purpose of God In his own generation? Well it certainly leads us To that great question What is the purpose Of human life?
[30:31] Why are we here? What is the purpose We exist? What is the purpose Of living the life We live in this world? This is the great question Of what is the meaning?
[30:42] What does it give meaning To human life? Many people in the world Would of course Answer that question In very different ways And some would even say There's no meaning at all To it You just live your life The best you can And at the end of it That's it That's not what the Bible Of course tells us The Bible tells us Indeed the Shorter Catechism In the first question And answer of the Shorter Catechism Really summed up for us The Bible's teaching On the purpose of human life What is man's chief end?
[31:10] What is the chief purpose? The main purpose For which man exists Man's chief end Is to glorify God And to enjoy Him forever When you look at the overall purpose Of human life Whether you look at Christians Or whether you look at the whole world Who are not Christians at all But as far as God's creation Of human beings is concerned This is the purpose With which they were created This is the purpose For which you and I Must look at life Our own life And the life Of the world in which we live God created us For this end For this purpose To glorify God To give praise to God To bring Him honor and glory But also to enjoy Him forever It's not one side or the other It's glorifying God But it's to enjoy Him forever That's the overarching purpose Of human life But then Paul is talking here About something
[32:11] You might say more specific Something that's narrower Than the overall purpose Of human life What he's talking about here Is God's purpose for David In his own generation So while you can ask that question What is the great purpose And meaning of human life And when I was with you Remember we tried at one time To go through the book Of Ecclesiastes Which really asks All of these questions And ends up with That great summary This is the whole purpose Really the meaning Of human life Which is to fear God And keep His commandments In other words To honor God To bring Him praise And glory To exalt His name But as you look at the way In which Paul puts it here He served the purpose of God In his own generation That asks the question then of me Not just why do I exist But why has God placed me Where I am today In this generation What am I doing
[33:11] With the advantages The benefits That God has given me In this life Where I am now set And so it's the same For yourself tonight In this specific timeline Of our own generation What is God's purpose For me In the span of my life In this world However short Or long it might be That's the question That's really arising For us from this terminology David serving The purpose of God In his own generation So you have to ask The question As I have to ask it Of myself What am I doing With my life tonight Is my life serving To bring honor And praise to God Am I doing the things For which God Has given me The facility Or the gifts By which I can serve Him By which I can show Him To this coming To this generation That I'm part of And the generation to come
[34:11] What's His purpose For me today What does He have What is He Seeking of me to do For Him In the here and now You have to answer That question for yourself I can't answer it for you Under the overarching Purpose of God For all human life To glorify And enjoy Him You bring it down To your own Personal situation In this life And you say Where does that leave me In terms of my Precise Individual responsibilities And privileges In the course of my life Is your life Tonight dedicated To bringing glory To God In this generation Is your life One of serving The Lord And of asking daily What must I do For Him today How am I going to Serve God today In the ways That He enables me
[35:12] To do that David served The purpose of God In his generation He fulfilled What God had given him To do as the king Over Israel And wherever you're set Tonight You have responsibilities At home You have responsibilities To your neighbors You have responsibilities In your place of work You have responsibilities In your retirement You have responsibilities Wherever it is God has placed you But here is something That always follows on From wherever we're placed What will you have me To do Lord In the span of my life In this generation Will my life Will your life Be one of positive influence In this generation That's really What's behind Some of what's behind This reference here In David serving The purpose of God In his own generation I don't want to dwell on that Any further Because we've got more to do
[36:12] In the rest of the passage That David after he had saved The purpose of God In his own generation Fell asleep And was laid with his fathers And saw corruption Now this is moving towards A contrast with Jesus But the contrast Can only be brought out Really if you look at the detail In regard to David First of all What is he saying about David having saved His own generation He fell asleep What does that mean Obviously it's not It's not just a physical sleep Fell asleep Is the Bible's way Of believers in Jesus Believers in God Coming to the end of life In this world And entering into eternity It doesn't mean That when God's people Leave this world They enter into An unconsciousness That they enter into A blissful unconsciousness In eternity That they enter into An eternity Where they're not You might say Awake in their souls Or in their minds Where they're not able To exorcise and function
[37:13] Their minds As they are in this world Actually it's the very opposite To fall asleep In the biblical sense of it here Means to enter into Perfect rest Because one of the things You associate with sleep With sound sleep Especially with calm sleep You associate peace with that Don't you?
[37:37] You associate There's somebody who's at rest And of course the Bible Uses the word rest too To describe the eternity Of those who've left this world This side of the resurrection They've gone to their rest They've gone to sleep They've gone to their peace They've gone to be with Jesus Their souls are at rest They are at rest spiritually There is nothing There is nothing To disturb them How often do you find In this world That your life is disturbed We can have nightmares We can have worries In our mind That cause us to Remain awake Or to have a fitting Sort of sleep Just here and there And here and now But not constantly At peace or at rest So many things In this life That crowd in upon Your mind That really leave you Without the kind of sleep
[38:38] That you'd love to have Nothing enters into The sleep of the saved Nothing enters into The bliss and the peace Of those who've left This world in Christ There is nothing To disturb their rest Nothing to spoil Their peace Nothing of nightmares Coming into their existence No worries to carry with them To disturb them In their peace That's your prospect As a Christian That's something That awaits you You might go through This whole life Filled with worries Filled with anxieties Filled with pains Mental Physical You might have all sorts Of things happening In your life right now That make you just Long for peace Well if you're a Christian If your trust is in the Lord This is what's awaiting you You're going to leave All of these things behind And you're going to enter Into this perfect sleep This bliss This bliss This blessing of peace Where nothing's going To disturb you
[39:39] How different is it With the death Of the unsaved The death of what the Bible Calls the wicked And remember The wicked are not just Those who've led A debauched life And openly been Flagrant in sin The Bible uses The word wicked Just very often Just as the opposite Of the saved The believer And as there are no Nightmares in heaven Hell is one Endless nightmare A nightmare for which There is no waking No rest No undisturbance No end No change No prospect of release That's the nightmare But the contrast
[40:39] Is the peace The sleeping The rest Which the Bible Presents to us As God's Eternal life Given To those who Trust in Christ What is the prospect Tonight For you And for me As you look At your own life As you think Of your relationship With God As you think Of how it is Between yourself And God As you think Of whether you've Come to repent Of sin or not To trust in Jesus Or not Where does that Leave you with regard To your eternity I have to ask The same Of myself Well here is David After he had Served the purpose Of God In his own generation He fell asleep And was laid With his fathers And saw Corruption Saw corruption Means his body Returned to the dust
[41:40] It's something That happens To all Who are laid Into the grave It's what's Ahead of us all We don't like To think about it As we attend Funerals But we often Leave grave sites And cemeteries With some Maybe fleeting Thoughts about ourselves But they soon Pass on But we shouldn't Allow that We should always Say when you look At the grave Or a present At a funeral That's going to be Me in a very short Time But where will I be That's going to be My body Laid into the grave Where will I be Where will I be Conscious of peace Or conscious Of the nightmare Of hell Well Psalm 48 Reminds us That death For the Lord's people The passing of Of us from this world Into the next Does not in any way Interfere with Our peace With being at rest
[42:40] With God Psalm 4 Verse 8 You remember David puts it there I will both Lay me down To sleep And take rest In peace For you Lord Alone Makes me To dwell in safety Or to dwell safely I will lay me down And rest in peace He's surrounded By his enemies He's harassed He's crying out To the Lord In his pain What is the end Of the psalm He's thinking about What's across That bridge In eternity He's thinking I will lay down My life in peace He's certainly Talking about The present life As well That he can still Sleep If God gives him The safety To protect him From his enemies He can still say My life is safe With God I don't need to worry About my enemies Yes he can do that But he's surely Taking us beyond The grave Beyond this life Into eternity This is my future This is the prospect
[43:41] For me He's saying I will lay down In peace And I'll take Quiet rest there Why? Because you Lord Alone Make me dwell In safety And that safety Tonight Is yours In Jesus Christ He is your security And your safety Forever David's life And death But he goes on To speak about Christ's death And life As he brings out The contrast In many ways With David He whom God Raised up Did not see Corruption Let it be known To you therefore That through this man Is preached to you Proclaimed to you Forgiveness of sin Well It says here Jesus died He did not see Corruption He did die And he was laid For a time In the sepulcher But God Raised him up From the dead It's important That we notice How Paul Also In his epistles
[44:42] Emphasizes The death Followed by the Resurrection Of Jesus That at the heart Of the gospel As he passed on To the Corinthians The very heart Of the gospel The kernel Of what he preached This is what he said I passed on I gave to you What the Lord Also gave to me That the Lord Jesus Christ Died According to the Scriptures That he was buried That he rose again According to the Scriptures That is the heart Of the gospel That's the basis Of our hopes tonight That there's a death Greater than the death We ourselves die That there's a resurrection From the dead Which we could never Accomplish for ourselves A resurrection That stands above death And says Death you are now Defeated And without Jesus You don't have that In Christ That's your great privilege That's the prospect That you have Looking into eternity What a prospect it is That you're united
[45:43] To Christ In both his death And his life Well it's saying here That he was He was Raised from the dead And that through him Is proclaimed Forgiveness of sins God raised him up There's a lot we could say About that It's important to realize That Christ really died He wasn't just He wasn't unconscious As he was laid His body wasn't laid In the In the sepulcher As somebody Who was unconscious He was dead He died on the cross He died the death Due to us For our sins Remember always I think I've emphasized This so many times From this pulpit We need to Because it's part Of the gospel The death he died Was the death You and I deserve For our sins Not just the death In terms of Body and soul Being separated And no longer In this world And his body Being laid Into the tomb The death Jesus died Was the death We deserved
[46:43] For our sins The death That is nothing Less than hell That's what he suffered That's what he endured That's what he took To himself But when all that Was over As it was On the cross Itself When he said It is finished Father into your hands I commit my spirit Then his body Was laid in the sepulcher And on the third day He rose again From the dead He's emphasizing here As so often God raised him up Why did God Raise him up Why does it say That it was God Who raised him up Because God Was well pleased With what Jesus Had done To say it Just put it briefly Like that He raised him up Because he was pleased With the death He died That it was sufficient For all eternity To cover the sins Of his people And no other person
[47:44] Could have done that But Christ Has achieved it And if you go to Hebrews And chapter 13 You'll find an emphasis there Which is also important In its own right Where the emphasis there On the resurrection Of Jesus Is that God actually Raised him up In such a way That He brought God again The God of peace Brought again From the dead Our Lord Jesus The great shepherd Of the sheep And these words He brought him again From the dead Actually mean literally He was obliged To bring him back From the dead If we can say Such bold language Of God He had no option But to Bring Jesus Back from the dead Why?
[48:34] Because Christ Had fulfilled All that he came In this world To achieve By his life And death On the cross Wherefore God Brought him back From the dead And you know The resurrection Of Christ In many ways You could say It's God's own Stamp of approval Over what Christ Did In his death On the cross God raised him up So as not To see corruption So that's Christ's Death And life That's where he's Unlike David David was Buried And saw corruption Christ was buried And saw no corruption David was buried And didn't Come back To this world Christ was buried And rose from the dead On the third day Wherefore On account of that Let it be known To you therefore Brothers That through this man Forgiveness of sins
[49:34] Is proclaimed to you And by him Everyone who believes Is freed from everything From which you could not Be freed By the law of Moses So there's David's Life and death There's Christ's Death and life And finally There's this gospel Life and death The emphasis In the gospel He's saying Let it be known To you therefore Brothers He's appealing to them To listen to this point Through this man Through this Jesus Is proclaimed to you Forgiveness Of sins The gospel is good news It's the best news We could actually have Declared to us And why is it good news?
[50:22] Because the emphasis In the gospel Is on life Life in Christ For those like you And I Who don't deserve it But for whom It's provided Through Jesus By him Through him Forgiveness of sins Is proclaimed And when you think of Forgiveness of sins That lies at the heart Of the message Of the gospel That's really what Paul is emphasizing here For these Jews In Antioch In Pisidia And it's a crucial Emphasis Because it means Freedom From condemnation That's really what He's saying Forgiveness of sins Is proclaimed to you And everyone Who believes Is freed from Delivered from Everything from Which you could not Be freed by the law Of Moses Here were these Jews Thinking The law of Moses Is ours God gave us The law of Moses If we obey The law of Moses
[51:23] Then we're right With God We are righteous people And Paul as you see Particularly in Romans And Galatians You read these epistles He's saying No that's not how You come to be justified You cannot be justified By your own efforts However much You keep the law And who knew that Better than Paul Who tried mightily By his own efforts To persuade himself That he was right With God Until he came To meet with Jesus On the road to Damascus And Jesus Knocked him To his knees And actually So Said to Paul That he was actually A persecutor Rather than a righteous man Persecutor of God's people That was the turning point Especially In the life of the apostle And from then on He sought To emphasize At the heart
[52:23] Of the gospel message He preached Here is forgiveness Not one that you can Manufacture for yourself You don't need to Not one you can Create for yourself It's not necessary It's already there In the person and work Of Jesus Who died and rose From the dead And therefore On the basis of that Forgiveness of sins Is declared to you And to everyone Who believes They are freed From the sentence Of the law From condemnation For what the law Could not do Could not be done By the law of Moses And that's such an Important emphasis Right through The course of New testament history And on to our own day There are millions In the world tonight Who think that Being a Christian Means doing everything The best you can And because God is kind He's not going to Reject you God is kind God is good The goodness of God Is nowhere better Emphasized than in the Provision of a saviour For us But it's not because
[53:24] We do certain things Ourselves Not even because Of our faith in him That we're saved We're saved because Of him And because of What he has done And through his Person And through his work Whoever Believes Comes actually To be delivered Freed from What the law of Moses Could not free them from Now that's That's through freedom And I've emphasized It many times In this pulpit Freedom is not The definition The world gives To freedom Freedom for you And for me tonight Is not what the world Especially that Atheistic hostile world To the gospel Says is freedom That freedom Is just casting off These things of the bible These things of religion Especially these things Of the Christian religion And especially Of reformed religion Where Jesus is the Center of everything Do away with that Just follow your own Inclinations Do the best you can As you see your life Developing That's an argument
[54:25] From the pit It's an argument From the devil Who wants to Destroy you And end up With him In a lost eternity Now God is saying Forget about Trying to do the best You can In order to be saved Because I have Someone here Who has done The best he could And that's far better Than your best The best That Jesus is And that Jesus has done And you don't need Anything other than that To be right with God When you reach out By faith And take Jesus To yourself This is what comes Into your possession This is what's marked up On your account In eternity By God This person Is now righteous Because the righteousness Of my son God is saying Has become theirs In Colossians chapter 2
[55:25] And verse 6 You find it put there That again faith And trust in Christ Is emphasized Because faith is Essentially trust in Jesus And Colossians 2 And verse 6 Puts it there Where you find Paul emphasizing How they received Jesus Christ As you received Christ Jesus The Lord So walk in them He's emphasizing for them How they have to continue In the form And way of life That they began When they came to Christ First of all But the word received There is important And it's important To remember That we receive Christ Remember that great Catechism 31 Preceded by the Previous 132 How does the spirit Apply to us The redemption Purchased by Christ The spirit Applies to us The redemption Purchased by Christ By working faith in us And thereby Uniting us to Christ
[56:26] In our effectual calling And in effectual calling Which is the next question And answer in the catechism We're reminded that Effectual calling Involves God persuading And enabling Us to embrace Jesus Christ Freely offered In the gospel So don't go along With the idea Though it may sound Nice That a Christian Is somebody Who believes A certain set Of principles And of promises And of commandments Or you might say The whole Bible A Christian is somebody Who believes that Who believes that To be true Of course a Christian Believes that To be true But a Christian Primarily A believer Primarily A saved person Primarily Is one who has Embraced Christ There is no salvation By just saying Well I believe Everything that's in the Bible But I'm not going to Embrace that way of life That embraces Jesus
[57:27] And tries every day To be true to him That's a Christian life Persuades and enables us To embrace Jesus Christ Freely offered In the gospel And Paul is saying here This is the gospel Through this man Forgiveness of sins Is proclaimed to you And by him Everyone who believes Is freed From the law of Moses Freed from the condemnation The law actually Pronounces Well he goes on To say There's a warning as well He quotes here From the prophecy Of Habakkuk Beware therefore Lest what is said In the prophets Should come about Look you scoffers Be astounded And perish For I'm doing A work in your days A work That you will not believe Even if one tells you In other words He's drawing from That condemnatory note In the prophet Habakkuk That reminded the people
[58:27] Of his day Of the consequences Of not believing And trusting in God And it all comes down To this at the end Of the day friends Doesn't it The cross As it divided Two individuals At Calvary From each other So it divides Humanity Into two types Of people Those who believe And those who don't Those who are saved And those who are not Those who will not Be saved And those who will be That's why it's so important For you and for me Tonight With the wonderful Privilege that God Has given us Of freedom To hear the word Of God To hear the gospel To hear the good news That through Christ Is proclaimed to us Where God is saying to us Here is acceptance With me Here is righteousness Here is something That I guarantee
[59:27] I will always respect And I will always accept When you receive my son By faith By trusting in him When you take him To yourself When you make him Your own When by faith The faith God gives you You come to receive him Then you receive His righteousness You receive God's acceptance God's friendship And you receive Everything the Bible Tells you Comes in Jesus himself For you As a saviour Through this man Forgiveness of sins Is proclaimed to you And everyone who believes Is freed From everything From which you could not Be freed By the law Of Moses In other words It's really saying to us Very strongly And very clearly Very graphically
[60:28] In many ways And because of the type Of people you and I are We need to have it that way And God in his kindness Has given us This gospel Where life and death Are set out before us Where it tells us Trust in the Lord And you will not perish Don't trust in him Continue without Giving your life to him And you will perish You will perish Forever But that's not going to be you Is it?
[61:07] Surely Surely you tonight Are going to say Even if you've never Said it before I must Come to Jesus I must receive him I must embrace him I cannot afford For time Or eternity To die without him May it be so Let's pray Eternal God We give thanks For the gospel We give thanks For your kindness And love In providing us With such a glorious Message of salvation Lord we pray That you would grant us To use that faith And trust in Jesus That would bring us Into that right relationship With you And when we have done so Lord enable us To proceed in it To know you better Day by day And to come to welcome All that you bring to us By way of further assurance Of the Lord
[62:08] Of the Lord Of your people Bless this congregation We pray Continue to provide For them We thank you For them We thank you For their witness We thank you For their support We thank you For all that it means To us to be here Tonight And we thank you Especially for The way in which You have continued To bless them Down through the years We pray that you Would provide them With one to lead them In the things of God We ask that you Would help them To focus upon One who would become Their minister In due time And graciously hear us Now and accept us For Jesus' sake Amen We're going to conclude Our service tonight Singing in Psalm 85 Psalm 85 That's in Sing Psalms Singing verses 8 to 13 Page 113 If you're using the Psalm books Page 113 We'll sing from verse 8 I will hear what God the Lord says
[63:09] To his saints he offers peace But his people must not wander And return to foolishness Surely for all those Who fear him His salvation is at hand So that once again His glory may be seen Within our land Verses 8 to the end of the Psalm To God's praise Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen For all those who fear Him, His salvation is at hand.
[64:12] So that once again His glory may He sing within our hands.
[64:26] Come to our head together, righteousness and peace and grace.
[64:41] Righteousness lives down from heaven, from the earth's faithfulness.
[64:54] What is good the Lord will give us, and our madness truth will be.
[65:09] Righteousness will go before Him, and His royal way be given.
[65:20] Amen. If you'd like me get to the main door, please, after the benediction. I'll shake hands with you there. Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore.
[65:36] Amen. Thank you.