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[0:00] I want to extend a very warm welcome to everybody this evening and trust that we will know God's blessing as we worship God together here at Stornway Free Church.

[0:12] And wherever you're watching, we pray that the presence of God and the Spirit of God will bring His Word as a blessing to your soul. We're going to begin by reading from Psalm 1, Psalm 1a and sing Psalms.

[0:27] Blessed is the one who turns away from where the wicked walk, who does not stand in sinish paths or sit with those who mock. Instead, he finds God's holy law, His joy and great delight. He makes the precepts of the Lord as steady day and night.

[0:45] He prospers ever like a tree that's planted by a stream, and in due season yields its fruit, its leaves are always green. Not so the wicked, they are like the chaff that's blown away. They will not stand when judgment comes or with a righteous stay.

[1:03] It is the Lord who sees and knows the way the righteous go. But those who live an evil life, the Lord will overthrow. Let us now bow in prayer.

[1:16] Lord, our God, as we come to you this evening, we pray that we might know that you are our God. Every time that we come, there's a new opportunity given to us where we're able to meet with you.

[1:30] We come, Lord, despite our failings, despite our faults. And we come with our failings and with all our faults. And we give thanks that we come to a God who is merciful, who delights in mercy.

[1:45] And He loves to hear the cry of His people who call for mercy. He loves to hear the cry of any who call for mercy. The great cry of the public, Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner, or the sinner, is the cry that the Lord will never close His ear to.

[2:05] Because when any person comes with a sense of their own failing and failures, of their own unworthiness before you, with a sense of their sin and all that they are within themselves, and they fall upon your mercy, then you are a gracious God who does delight in mercy.

[2:25] And we pray that we may experience that this evening, that all of us may come with that penitent spirit, with that repentant spirit before you, recognizing that you are the great God who alone art able to forgive sin.

[2:42] What a wonderful thing it is that you pardon sin. Help us always to remember what is involved in the pardon of our sin. That it involves the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died in our place, in our room and in our stead.

[2:58] And we pray that we might never take God's forgiveness for granted, but that every day that there might be a sense of the amazement of what you have done.

[3:09] Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. No wonder John Newton said that, and we say it as well. Lord, we pray then as we worship you, that we may be able to exalt you within our mind, within our heart, that we will seek to give you the honour and the glory that is due to your name.

[3:30] We know we can't, and we would want to. And we have to confess, Lord, that sometimes when we come to you in prayer, our hearts are eager to meet with you. But we also have to confess that there are other times when we come in prayer and we're laboured.

[3:47] When we come and we know that because of our sin that we cannot meet with you in the way that we should. There are times we come and you seem far off.

[4:00] And even although we call upon you and want to meet with you, it's almost like the heavens are brass. But we know, Lord, that all these different experiences are part and parcel of what we go through.

[4:13] But may we discover a growing delight to be in your presence, to be in your company, to enjoy your communion and fellowship, to know that you're with us and that you will speak peace into our souls.

[4:27] Lord, we pray that we might reflect upon the fact that you are God of heaven and earth, that you control all things, you rule ultimately over all things.

[4:39] And although there are many things that go on in this world because of sin, and it's the fruit of sin, the legacy of sin, and so much of the disruption and the chaos and the carnage that takes place in this world is an expression of the sin that prevails.

[4:56] And we see the extent of the opposition to you through the God of this world that is utterly opposed to you. And yet we know, Lord, that above and beyond all this, that you are going to work everything to a predetermined end.

[5:14] And that one day your glory will be displayed in a way where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

[5:27] And so we pray then that we may have this exalted view of you and that we may seek to walk worthy of the high calling to which we have been called. Pray to bless any who still do not know you as Lord and Saviour, who believe in you and who want to know more of you and indeed who in many ways there is a desire within the heart that they will one day come to that place and that point where they will really be able to say, My Lord and my God, we pray that even tonight that they may come to that place and point where they will know you and embrace you as Lord and Saviour.

[6:09] Lord, we pray to bless your word then to us and that we may hear what God the Lord speaks. We pray, Lord, that we might be challenged if need be, directed, that we might be encouraged, that we might be rebuked, and all these different things as we come under your word.

[6:26] But we pray that your word will be real and relevant to us. Lord, we pray for those who are ill, those who are undergoing treatment, those who are facing difficult times.

[6:37] Lord, we pray that your presence and peace may be with them. We pray that there might be healing and recovery for them. Pray for those who have undergone surgery or waiting for it.

[6:48] We pray, Lord, that your blessing will be upon them. Pray for those who mourn, whose hearts are sore because of death, because of the passing of loved ones, that breaks up homes and families and leaves in its wake so much pain and heartache.

[7:06] We long for the day when death will be no more. Oh, Lord, that's one of the wonderful things, one of the beautiful no more that will be spoken to us about glory.

[7:18] There are no more tears and no more death. We long for that day, Lord. We pray to bless them those whose hearts are broken and sore, those who miss loved ones.

[7:31] And particularly as we come into the last month of a year and people often begin to reflect over the year and over the years, we ask, Lord, that you will be close to them and near them.

[7:44] We give thanks, Lord, for the vaccine that has been discovered and is going to be rolled out. And we pray that this vaccine will prove so effective in the controlling of this pandemic.

[7:57] And we pray that this year comes to our conclusion and our new year dawns, that in this time that we will discover that you indeed have done great things.

[8:09] We do acknowledge science and the place that it has to play in this, but we know that above and beyond it all, that you are the one who has given the mind and given the wisdom and given the understanding.

[8:23] And so we acknowledge and we are indebted to you for what you have done. And we give thanks, Lord, for those who have given so much of their time and energy and talents to bringing this vaccine out and to the fore.

[8:40] And we pray that it will have a major impact for good upon society. Lord, we pray for all those who have suffered because of COVID and because of just all the distressing aspects to it and the way that it has prevented families from being with loved ones.

[9:00] Oh, Lord, our God, we ask that you will help all those who feel so distressed because of it, those, Lord, who feel entrapped because of it. Lord, we give thanks for all our care workers and homes and who visit our homes and all our NHS staff.

[9:18] Lord, we are indebted to them for all that they have done and all that they do. Lord, our God, we pray that our leaders indeed will turn to acknowledge you, that we will hear them speaking about you because you seem to be the one name that isn't really spoken about.

[9:39] Oh, Lord, that there will be a God consciousness growing within the heart of our leaders in our land. We pray for this. We ask, Lord, that you will bless then the word to us as we come under it and that you will indeed do us good and that you will have mercy upon us and that you will cleanse us from all our sin.

[10:02] In Jesus' name we ask all. Amen. Just to say a wee word to the younger folk. The other day I ran across to the house that's been built next door and then I had to run to the shop.

[10:24] And of course when you go onto a building site, which is what is happening next door, then obviously all around there's a lot of, there's quite a bit of a mess.

[10:35] Every building site is like that because particularly when it's wet as it has been and there's been probably cement and sand and the ground is wet and I suppose there's bits of plastic board and all these kind of things.

[10:52] It gets a wee bitty messy and such like. So I was over just for a little run around and then I had to go down to the shop and I was speaking to this lady in the shop and when I was going out to the shop I just happened to look down at the ground and I noticed the state of my shoes.

[11:12] And they were black shoes but I have to say that they were more white than black because I had been walking around and of course everything was wet and there was just, it had been really, really wet and there was all the sands, it meant everything like that was.

[11:29] I had been walking through it and splashing through it, black shoes and I was saying to myself, this lady would think he never, ever, ever polishes his shoes.

[11:41] What a state. Now I hadn't noticed because I had gone from there and I had gone straight down to the shop and I was thinking, oh, that doesn't look too good.

[11:53] Now, way back in the day, back when Jesus was alive in this world and walked in this world and Jesus lived in this world, people didn't wear shoes and socks as we do and the roads weren't tired.

[12:09] They just wore sandals. No socks, just sandals. And as you can imagine, feet would get dusty and dirty.

[12:21] And when you went to a house, you got water to wash your feet. If you went to a posh house, they would have a servant and the servant would wash your feet for you. That's the way it was.

[12:32] So it wasn't shoe polish and cleaning up the way that we might do and I suppose a way that I should have done before going down to the shops.

[12:45] But anyway, that's the way it was then. But before Jesus died, he and all the disciples were in a room in what we termed the upper room.

[12:57] And Jesus got a basin and put water in it and he got a towel and he began to wash all the disciples' feet. And it was usually the servant that did that, but it was Jesus who did it.

[13:12] And of course, he always said that he was a servant. He was a servant who gave his life for us. But he started to wash the disciples' feet.

[13:23] And when he came to Peter, Peter said to him, Lord, you're not going to wash my feet. That's not your... You shouldn't be doing the like of that.

[13:34] That's a servant's job, not your job. You're not going to wash my feet. No way. And Jesus said to Peter, Peter, if I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me.

[13:45] You don't have a share with me. And when Jesus said that to Peter, Peter, being Peter, said, Oh, well, Lord, don't just wash my feet. Wash my hands. Wash my head. Wash me all over.

[13:56] And Jesus said to Peter, He said, The one who has been bathed or bathed does not need but to have his feet washed.

[14:11] And what Jesus is really saying there is that once a person has been washed clean by Jesus, in other words, when a person comes to faith in Jesus, when we come to accept Jesus as our Lord and our King, there is a once and for all coming together.

[14:35] And Jesus saves us. He doesn't have to save us every day. He keeps us every day. But the saving he does is a saving forever.

[14:46] The moment Jesus saves you, that's you safe. And there is a real once and for all washing that takes over. That's like the big bath.

[14:57] You're bathed, bathed, bathed in the blood of Jesus Christ, cleansed, made clean. However, just like I did walking over there and I got my black shoes absolutely filthy, which would need a really, really good polish.

[15:16] And just like every day, back in the day when you're walking just with sandals and dusty roads, your feet would get all dusty and dirty and you'd have to wash them all the time.

[15:30] So it is, Jesus is saying, you need to have your feet washed because as you walk through this world, he's talking spiritually, as you walk through this world, so much of the world that hates Jesus begins to stick to you.

[15:47] And every day as you're mixed up in the world, watching all the things you watch and all the things you read and all the things you do and all the things you say and all that happens, all that sticks to you.

[16:03] And also, all that's within you, the sin, where all the things that you do that are wrong and all the things that you say that are wrong and all the things that you think that are wrong, where we sometimes we have angry thoughts and jealous thoughts and proud thoughts and dirty thoughts and thoughts against God, thoughts against people, cheating thoughts, lying thoughts, things we say and do.

[16:38] Jesus says, every day, you have to come back to me again and again and ask for forgiveness. That's like the washing of the feet every day.

[16:49] And that's how we are to live. Make sure that first and foremost that you have come to Jesus for this once and forever, once and for all, as we're bathing, bathing, we're made clean, where God accepts you because of Jesus.

[17:04] But then every day, we keep coming to him and saying, Lord, clean me, forgive me, cleanse me from my sin, from my sin. Have mercy upon me.

[17:15] That's a great cry before God. Have mercy upon me because of my sin. And the Lord will always listen to our call for mercy. So every day, make sure that you walk right with God and when you have done wrong and when we do wrong and we do do wrong, every day, ask the Lord to cleanse you and to forgive you from all your sins.

[17:40] Let's say the Lord's Prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

[17:55] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Let's read God's Word now as we'll find it in the Gospel of Luke.

[18:09] Luke's Gospel. Excuse me, Chapter 20. Gospel of Luke, Chapter 20. One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, Tell us, by what authority do you do these things?

[18:33] or who it is that gave you this authority? He answered them, I will also ask you a question. You tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?

[18:45] And they discussed it with one another, saying, If we say from heaven, he will say, Why did you not believe him? But if we say from man, all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.

[19:01] So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

[19:13] And then Jesus tells them a parable, and this is what we're going to look at this evening, from verse 9. And he began to tell the people this parable. A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while.

[19:31] When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him up and sent him away empty-handed.

[19:43] And he sent another servant, but they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third, this one also they wounded and cast out.

[19:58] Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, This is the heir.

[20:11] Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

[20:22] He will come and destroy those tenants. And give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, Surely not. But he looked directly at them and said, What then is that which is written?

[20:39] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

[20:53] Amen. And may God bless to us this reading of his own holy word. So it's this parable from version 9 that I want us to consider this evening.

[21:05] Now the days of Jesus' journey in this world were drawing to a close. And Jesus, as we see, is in Jerusalem for the last time.

[21:16] And he's just about to be arrested and falsely tried and put to death. And although there is a heaviness about Jesus, his heart is heavy and the heaviness of that heart is eventually shown to us in the likes of the Garden of Gethsemane.

[21:33] Yet at no point does Jesus hold back. Even although he's weighed down with the burden of what's to happen and what he's to do, yet he goes on steadfastly doing what he has to do.

[21:47] Now before he entered Jerusalem in the previous chapter, it tells us that when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for your peace.

[22:07] It's one of the most powerful moments, really, when you see Jesus weeping over the city, outside the city, and he's saying, if only you realized if only you accept me, what you're going to do is going to destroy you.

[22:22] Please accept me. And I wonder if today that that is the heart of Jesus over you. Is it possible that you are continuing to reject Jesus?

[22:33] Do you realize what it is that we do when we reject God's great gift of Jesus? You see, it makes for our peace.

[22:44] That's what Jesus says. By accepting Jesus, he said, if you just realized, if you had known this day, the things that make for peace. By accepting Jesus Christ, you bring peace into your life because Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

[23:02] Anyway, we find that after Jesus had cleansed the temple and he was teaching in the temple, the religious leaders come to him and they begin to challenge him. and the chief priests and the scribes and the elders are challenging Jesus about his heavenly authority and for speaking the way that he does.

[23:22] And Jesus stops and he tells them a parable. And, of course, they were going to understand this parable because they were men that were steeped in the Old Testament. and they would understand fairly well exactly what it was that Jesus was driving at here.

[23:41] And he tells us about the vineyard and, of course, that is one of the great pictures that the Bible gives of God's people in the Old Testament as his vineyard.

[23:54] There are repeated references. Even when Israel came out of Egypt and came to Canaan even in Psalm, the likes of Psalm 80 it talks about the vine and of how God took him and planted the vine as it were in Canaan.

[24:10] And there are many, many references. For instance, in Isaiah chapter 5 this is what we read. And here is about the Lord's vineyard. You see, the vineyard was precious to God and straight away we see all the work that God put into the planting of that vineyard.

[24:56] Isaiah chapter 5 shows here's this stony hillside and here you can you see this picture of this person who says, well, do you know what I'm going to do?

[25:06] I'm going to clear that vineyard of all these stones. I'm going to work on the ground. I'm going to plough it and put all the necessary things into it and then I'm going to plant a vineyard.

[25:21] It was a lot of effort and this vineyard of course was going to be very precious to the owner. And that's exactly what God has done in our lives as well.

[25:33] Because you see, we had hearts of stone. We were that stony hillside. And God has come and he has prepared our hearts for the gospel. And he has prepared our hearts for the good seed.

[25:45] And he's going to, that's what he's coming to do is to plant that seed in. And so God has come clearing and preparing. Isaiah 27 tells us, a pleasant vineyard, I the Lord am the keeper.

[25:59] Every moment I water it, I keep it night and day. And that is what God is doing in our lives. But you'll notice back in chapter 5, when the owner of the vineyard came looking for the lovely grapes that he was expecting.

[26:20] They weren't there. It was wild grapes. Something had gone seriously wrong. And that's what God is looking for from our lives as well.

[26:32] The grapes, the fruit that his work plants. and I hope and I pray that as God looks at my life and your life, that it's not the picture of the wild grapes, but that it's true fruit that our lives are bringing forth.

[26:50] Because that's the whole purpose of God's work in our lives is to bring fruit to his honour and to his glory. And what fruit is that?

[27:01] Well, obviously the fruit of the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Well, let us remind ourselves. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, I should say, and self-control.

[27:26] These are the characteristics that should indeed be evident in our lives. If we are fruit-bearing Christians, these things should be evident every day in our life.

[27:38] As we conduct our life and as we mix with people, whether it's at home, within our families, within our neighbourhood, within our workplace, wherever it is, whether it's in school, in nurseries, wherever.

[27:50] This is the characteristic of our life. Our life should be displaying these things. And if our lives are displaying these virtues, these qualities, displaying this fruit, then that is what God's looking for.

[28:03] This is to his glory. And the thing is that, the amazing thing is that, just like on that hillside that looks so barren, and you'd say, if you looked at that hillside, you'd say, there's nothing you can do with that.

[28:21] Look at all the stones in it. You'd think you're planting a vineyard there. Never. that. And yet, years later, you come back, and you look at this beautiful vineyard, and you say, whoa, what work we did to that?

[28:37] And that's what God is doing in people's lives. And you know, we often, as you look, go into the church, and you see Christians, there was a day when they looked the most unlikely people to be serving the Lord, to be worshipping the Lord, to be living a good Christian life, because they were people who were on another road, on another path.

[29:01] Now, I know a lot of people, probably the majority of people, who do become Christians, have grown up within the influence of the church, whether it's in their home, or whether it's attending church, or when they were young, or whatever.

[29:16] But even there, a lot of these, a lot of the people, have gone like the prodigal into the far country. I'm sure all of us, or many of us, have been in the far country for a wee while, or maybe for a long while.

[29:31] And sometimes as people look at our lives, they would say, never, never be a Christian. And yet, the amazing thing is that God comes, and he works just like on that hillside, on that barren, stony hillside, our barren, stony hearts of unbelief, he begins to work, and he changes, and then in time, people look and say, wow, how beautiful Christian he is, what a lovely Christian she is.

[30:01] It's amazing the transformation that has taken place in his life, in her life. That's what God does, and God is taking fruit, and taking glory from that.

[30:12] God. And you know, those who have been most forgiven, very often are those that shine the brightest, the Mary Magdalene's of the church. But as we say, God looks for fruit.

[30:26] And as he looks in your life, and in my life, is he finding fruit? And you know, the amazing thing also we've got to remember is this, that when God is working in people's hearts, and the influence of the gospel begins to affect communities.

[30:43] The blessings that come from that are amazing. You know, the worst thing that can happen is to reject the gospel, because when we reject the gospel, we reject the Prince of Peace.

[30:56] We're living in a society that is, by and large, rejecting the gospel more and more. Every year, every five years, every ten years, you look back, and it seems to be going further, and further, and further away from the gospel.

[31:12] Is your society becoming a healthier place? A better place? Well, I think you have to answer no. When we look at the broken, people talk about broken society.

[31:28] Just last week, one of the things I mentioned about the society that we're living in is the intolerance. People are so intolerant of one another.

[31:39] it's like they're watching and they're picking up on the most minute thing about one another. It's the very opposite to the message of the gospel, which is to love your neighbour as your shelves.

[31:52] And that's just one tiny evidence of the impact of the gospel fading in our land. God. And so we need to repent and ask the Lord's forgiveness.

[32:03] Because you look at the history, God has set the Old Testament as a great example to us. And he has told us that all these incidents and experiences are there for our learning, our edification, our example.

[32:21] people, and you look at the history of Israel, and when they followed God, when they put God at first in the kingdom, the kingdom flourished and prospered and grew, and it was times of blessing.

[32:34] When they rejected God, the inevitable judgment came, and God left them to themselves. And just read through what happened in these times. And so we find here that the owner, this is what Jesus tells us in this parable.

[32:52] The owner of this vineyard, he sends his servants to get the return of what was due. He said, right, I've planted this vineyard, go and get me my grapes. And the history of Israel is exactly what is shown here, because God sent prophet after prophet after prophet to his people.

[33:15] And if we read our biblical history, we will see how they dealt by and large with the prophets. They abused them, and they battered them, and they stoned them, and they imprisoned them, and they killed them.

[33:30] You look at the great prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, because they totally rejected his message. And the sad thing about it was, they looked on Jeremiah as a traitor.

[33:44] They said, well, he hates us. there was nobody who loved God's people and God's land more than Jeremiah.

[33:55] And his heart was breaking because of how they were rejecting God. And he's saying to them, if you continue to reject, God is going to take you out of this land. And they wouldn't listen.

[34:06] They thought, Jeremiah, you're so against us, you're a traitor. And they banged him into prison. That's a distortion of sin. And so, as Jesus is telling this, there's no doubt but that these chief priests and scribes and so on would know the angle that Jesus is getting at here.

[34:30] But, you know, the wonderful thing that we see here is the mercy that the owner of the vineyards shows. Because God sent his servant, the owner sent his servant, and then he sent his servant again.

[34:48] And he sent another servant. You would think, you know, if you would look at this story, first of all, you'd say, right, if they abuse the servant and they don't give the owner what is his right, and in fact they beat up the servant, boy, he's going to come in judgment against them.

[35:06] But no. He sent another servant. And then he sent another servant. They did the same with each servant. And you know, the one thing that really comes out of this is God's restraint and God's mercy and his amazing grace.

[35:26] We marvel at that. At God's mercy towards them. His restraint. servant. But you know, when you look at your own life, your own life, and when I look at my life, you know, I see something of this here.

[35:42] This is exactly how it is. You look back over your life, as I look back over my life, and you think the number of times that God sent his servants, whether they were servants preaching the message, whether they were servants of providence, whether it were servants who were speaking a word to you here or there or whatever, you think of the number of times over the years that God challenged you and spoke to you and you turned away.

[36:14] And you said, no. I said, no. And you think, thank the Lord that he didn't at that point say, that's it. I'm not sending any more servant.

[36:27] Next time it will be judgment. judgment. Thank the Lord he didn't do that. But the thing is, one day when we read this, one day the judgment is going to come.

[36:39] The door of mercy will finally be closed. But at this point it hasn't been. And may I say to any of you today who are continuing to reject Jesus, it is the most serious, solemn thing that you can do.

[36:52] How many more times has God to work in your life before you respond? As he said, what more could I do? Because he is sending and he is sending and he is sending.

[37:07] And all these messages, I hope today you're not saying no. Because you know, the inbuilt problem within our lives is that we want to control our lives. We want to be bossing our lives.

[37:19] The animals in the 60s sang, it's my life and I'll do what I want. And that really is an anthem for what we are by nature.

[37:30] It's my life and I'll do what I want. And that's why it's so hard to hand over our lives to someone else, to King Jesus.

[37:41] Because we don't want to part with it. But remember that he will only do you good. Ultimately eternal good. So trust him. Hand over your life.

[37:52] But then we see the owner eventually says, well, here's the ultimate act of mercy. It's like the owner says, right, I've sent servant after servant after servant.

[38:04] They've said no, they've abused and they've bothered and they've done and they haven't sent any fruit. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to send my beloved son. They will honour him. They'll respect him.

[38:16] They'll yield to him. What did they do? They took him out of the vineyard and they killed him. And that's exactly what they did to Jesus.

[38:27] They took him out of Jerusalem and they put him to death. Isn't it extraordinary? Jesus said the owner will come. This is what he's telling the parable.

[38:38] The owner is going to come and he's going to destroy the tenants and he's going to hand the vineyard over to others. And what did they say? Surely not.

[38:51] But you know that's exactly what God did. Because his people, the Jews, said he had given everything to. They ultimately rejected his son.

[39:04] And he sent the gospel out into the Gentiles. Out throughout the world. And that's exactly, exactly what has happened. And Jesus then quotes from Psalm 118.

[39:17] The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. You see, the religious leaders wanted to build building without the main part.

[39:29] You see, you cannot, you couldn't build the building without the cornerstone. It was essential. It was a very stone that the whole building was, as it were, built upon.

[39:41] And you know, so many people today are still wanting to build their lives without the chief cornerstone who is Jesus. Are you today wanting to build your life without Jesus?

[39:54] Well, Jesus said that trying to build your life without Jesus is like trying to build your house on sand. You either build your house on the rock or on the sand. You build it on a good foundation or a foundation that is sinking and mooring.

[40:09] Two choices. Two choices. Jesus tells us that he is the rock. If you build your life on Jesus, on that rock, the house will stand in the storm. Build your house on sand, which is building without Jesus.

[40:24] When the storm comes, the house will collapse. And that's what Jesus is telling them. You are trying to build without the chief cornerstone. And by doing that, your building is going to collapse.

[40:38] And in fact, this cornerstone that you are rejecting will ultimately come and crush you. And Jesus is speaking here about that judgment that will finally come.

[40:51] Because one day, his mercy will cease. One day, the door will close. Today, that door is open. Today, Jesus is saying, if you hear my voice, don't harden your heart.

[41:07] This is a day of mercy. It's a day of opportunity. His hand is outstretched to you. It won't be forever. So you make sure that today, you close in with Christ and build your life upon him and seek from him that you will bring fruit, living in such a way that your life will bring fruit to his glory.

[41:28] glory. We're going to conclude by singing from Psalm 118 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 118 from the Scottish Psalter. We're going to sing verses 20 to 26.

[41:41] This is the gate of God. By it the just shall enter in. Thee will I praise, for thou may heardst and hast my safety been.

[41:52] That stone is made head cornerstone, which builders did despise. This is the doing of the Lord and wondrous in our eyes. This is the day God made, and it will joy triumphantly.

[42:04] Save now, I pray thee, Lord. I pray, send now prosperity. Blessed is he in God's great name that cometh us to save. We from the house which to the Lord pertains you blessed have.

[42:19] Psalm 118 verses 20 to 26 from the Scottish Psalter. This is the gate of God by it the just shall enter the end.

[42:41] Thee will I praise for the mere earth and hast my safety been.

[42:55] That stone is made head cornerstone, which builders despise.

[43:08] This is the doing of the Lord and wondrous in our eyes.

[43:25] This is the day God made in it. will joy triumphantly.

[43:41] Save now, I pray thee, Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.

[43:53] blessed is he in God's great name that cometh us to save we from the house which to the Lord pertains you blessed 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.

[44:37]  Amen. Thank you for watching with us tonight and may indeed God bless you all. God bless you all.