WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.679 We're going to begin our service by singing to God's praise on Psalm 122 in the Scottish Psalter on page 416. 00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:11.800 And we're singing the whole Psalm to the tune St. Paul. 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.540 Psalm 122 on page 416. 00:00:17.780 --> 00:00:26.560 I joyed when to the house of God, go up they said to me, Jerusalem within thy gates, our feet shall standing be. 00:00:26.940 --> 00:00:28.519 The whole of the Psalm to God's praise. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:59.980 I joyed when to the house of God, go up they said to me, Jerusalem within thy gates, our feet shall stand, 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:01.979 and leave. 00:01:03.979 --> 00:01:17.979 There will spend last the city, is all that we build together. 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:32.980 And to that place the tribes go up, the tribes of God, your fillet. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:47.980 To Israel's testimony, to God's name, thanks to pay. 00:01:47.980 --> 00:02:03.980 For the throne of God, the throne of God, our throne of heaven, our throne of heaven, our throne of heaven. 00:02:03.980 --> 00:02:18.980 Reha, Jezus, Salaam, Deja, Peace and Felicity. 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:33.780 Let them not love me and my peace until prosperity. 00:02:36.280 --> 00:02:43.979 Therefore I wish that each may still 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:51.179 within thy walls remain. 00:02:51.739 --> 00:02:58.979 And ever may thy father sit, 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:05.979 for prosperity we gain. 00:03:05.979 --> 00:03:14.979 Now for my friends and brethren saints, 00:03:14.979 --> 00:03:20.979 peace be in me I'll stay. 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:28.979 And for the house of God our Lord, 00:03:28.979 --> 00:03:34.979 I'll seek thy good away. 00:03:34.979 --> 00:03:42.979 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 00:03:42.979 --> 00:03:48.979 Almighty and most gracious God, 00:03:48.979 --> 00:03:51.979 we rejoice in the worship of your name. 00:03:51.979 --> 00:03:56.979 We give thanks to you for your word that we have sang together. 00:03:56.979 --> 00:04:04.979 We give thanks to you for the joy that your people have in their hearts. 00:04:04.979 --> 00:04:08.979 As they draw near to you and as they gather in your name, 00:04:08.979 --> 00:04:12.979 we pray as we do worship you together this evening, 00:04:12.979 --> 00:04:16.980 that we may have that joy in our own hearts. 00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:24.980 A joy that arises from an appreciation of the great God that you are. 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:30.980 An appreciation of the way in which you have made known your love to us. 00:04:30.980 --> 00:04:38.980 And a deep and personal appreciation of the knowledge that Christ Jesus, 00:04:38.980 --> 00:04:40.980 your son, died for our sins. 00:04:40.980 --> 00:04:47.980 And give to us, we pray, a sense of the peace that comes from knowing 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:50.980 that our sins are forgiven, 00:04:50.980 --> 00:04:53.980 that we are acceptable before you and in your presence. 00:04:53.980 --> 00:04:58.980 And give to us a sense of that overwhelming presence 00:04:58.980 --> 00:05:02.980 which speaks of the power of your spirit 00:05:02.980 --> 00:05:06.980 in the midst of the worshipping people of God, 00:05:06.980 --> 00:05:15.980 which gives to them a sense of readiness to hear what you have to speak to us. 00:05:15.980 --> 00:05:20.980 We rejoice in you as the God who speaks peace through the gospel. 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:24.980 We give thanks to you for your word and for the clarity of it, 00:05:24.980 --> 00:05:29.980 for the way in which it speaks to us of the great God that you are 00:05:29.980 --> 00:05:32.980 and the kind of sinners that we are 00:05:32.980 --> 00:05:36.980 and the great Saviour that your son is. 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:40.980 Your word is like a glass through which we can see you. 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.980 And we pray tonight that we would discover it anew to be so. 00:05:44.980 --> 00:05:49.980 That we may come face to face with the great God that you are, 00:05:49.980 --> 00:05:51.980 speaking to us from it. 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:55.980 Learning about the kind of God that we do worship 00:05:55.980 --> 00:05:58.980 and the way in which you have made yourself known. 00:05:58.980 --> 00:06:05.980 Your word is also described as a mirror in which we can see ourselves. 00:06:05.980 --> 00:06:09.980 And how we pray tonight, O Lord your God in our worship, 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:13.980 that we may begin to see ourselves as you see us. 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:20.980 That we may be delivered from being deceived in any way in our hearts 00:06:20.980 --> 00:06:23.980 to think that we are something that we are not. 00:06:23.980 --> 00:06:29.980 But give it to us to learn from your word the kind of people we truly are. 00:06:29.980 --> 00:06:33.980 That we may come to you with confession of sin, 00:06:33.980 --> 00:06:40.980 with a deep desire to turn away from our sin to you as the great God and Saviour that you are. 00:06:40.980 --> 00:06:47.980 And give it to us, O Lord God, that process of thinking and of behaving in your presence, 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:52.980 through which we will embrace Jesus Christ your Son as our Saviour. 00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:57.980 Sense his significance for our salvation today. 00:06:57.980 --> 00:07:04.980 And begin to experience the joy of his shepherding presence as we journey on through life. 00:07:04.980 --> 00:07:12.980 And begin also to grow in anticipation of the day when we shall see him as he is, 00:07:12.980 --> 00:07:14.980 and when we shall be made like him. 00:07:14.980 --> 00:07:19.980 And grant us to know together this evening that we truly are your children, 00:07:19.980 --> 00:07:23.980 who have been saved by you. 00:07:23.980 --> 00:07:28.980 That we may understand and appreciate all that your fatherly care means, 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:34.980 and that we may live in dependence upon you day by day, O Lord your God. 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:41.980 We pray for your blessing to so reach every heart that has gathered before you to worship you this evening. 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:48.980 Give thanks for each person with their own particular burdens and cares and concerns, 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:53.980 all with their own anxieties in life, all with their own different experiences. 00:07:53.980 --> 00:07:56.980 May you bless each and every heart. 00:07:56.980 --> 00:08:04.980 May you give us all to know that we are included tonight in the reaching out of your heart to a lost world. 00:08:04.980 --> 00:08:11.980 And may we learn in your presence what it is to go forward from meeting with you, 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:16.980 being encouraged and strengthened in our hearts to live for you in this world. 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:22.980 And to do so as we are reminded this morning to live in the world in which we do live, 00:08:22.980 --> 00:08:27.980 as those who are your people, being witnesses that are faithful to you, 00:08:27.980 --> 00:08:34.980 that show forth your praises and that speak to a dark world with the light of the gospel, 00:08:34.980 --> 00:08:41.980 in our conversation, in our behaviour and in our relationships with each other and in our relationships with them. 00:08:41.980 --> 00:08:47.980 May you give us to be truly the witnesses of God who are faithful to you. 00:08:47.980 --> 00:08:52.980 We pray your blessing tonight on all the homes and families of our congregation. 00:08:52.980 --> 00:08:55.980 We give thanks to you for parents and for children. 00:08:55.980 --> 00:09:02.980 We give thanks to you for parents and children who encourage their children to be under the teaching of your word. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:09.980 And we give thanks to you for every way in which our children grow up under the influence of the scriptures. 00:09:09.980 --> 00:09:15.980 We give thanks to you for our day schools as well and pray for your blessing to be upon our teachers and upon pupils 00:09:15.980 --> 00:09:22.980 as they return to comments and enter into another school term or school session. 00:09:22.980 --> 00:09:25.980 We pray your protection for them. 00:09:25.980 --> 00:09:27.980 We pray your blessing upon them. 00:09:27.980 --> 00:09:34.980 We pray that you will bestow wisdom upon them in the difficult times in which they teach and learn. 00:09:34.980 --> 00:09:36.980 May they know your hand upon them. 00:09:36.980 --> 00:09:46.980 And may you give to them much light and wisdom and grace in seeking to educate and train our children to live in this world in which we do live. 00:09:46.980 --> 00:09:54.980 And praying that our children would grow up fearing your name so that wherever they are called upon in life to work and to serve, 00:09:54.980 --> 00:10:01.980 that they may do so as those who have come from your presence and to learn what life means in the light of your word. 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:05.980 We do pray for all those who mourn and grieve tonight. 00:10:05.980 --> 00:10:11.980 There are so many around us whose hearts are heavy and broken, who are filled with grief and sorrow. 00:10:11.980 --> 00:10:26.980 We pray, O Lord, that you will give comfort to them, that you give to them a sense of your embrace and a sense of knowing that you are the God who is with them and who cares for them and whose compassions and whose mercies are truly great. 00:10:26.980 --> 00:10:30.980 We shout to all, we do pray, and bless them, we do ask. 00:10:30.980 --> 00:10:36.980 We with all also are serious ill and who are under your hand in providence and affliction in any way. 00:10:36.980 --> 00:10:38.980 May you heal and restore, we do pray. 00:10:38.980 --> 00:10:43.980 And in all the anxiety that does come from serious illness, may you give peace. 00:10:43.980 --> 00:10:56.980 And may you give your presence and your blessing, O Lord, O God, to give them to know that you are the shepherd who is with them, even in the valley of the shadow of death, that they need fear no evil. 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:58.980 Bless the gospel, we do pray. 00:10:58.980 --> 00:11:00.980 Bless the gospel of our own congregation. 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:03.980 Bless us as we prepare for our communion season. 00:11:03.980 --> 00:11:06.980 Bless your word and sacrament in the coming days. 00:11:06.980 --> 00:11:19.980 May we be gathered and led by you and by the power of your spirit to come with a sense of deeply longing to remember the death of your son as our savior. 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:23.980 And may we do so to the honor and glory of your name. 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:25.980 And may your word build us up. 00:11:25.980 --> 00:11:33.980 And may we come to be fed by you and to be built up by you that you may continue to grow and to mature in our faith. 00:11:33.980 --> 00:11:47.980 And as we do remember your death, may your spirit also be present with us to reach out and to claim those who are yet unsaved, who do not yet see the preciousness of Jesus Christ as the one who died for their sin. 00:11:47.980 --> 00:11:56.980 May your spirit so work to draw them during these days and to bring them to put their trust in your son as their savior. 00:11:56.980 --> 00:11:57.980 Bless our island communities. 00:11:57.980 --> 00:11:58.980 Bless our congregations. 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:00.980 Bless your word preached today. 00:12:00.980 --> 00:12:02.980 Bless all those who go out with it. 00:12:02.980 --> 00:12:04.980 Encourage yourself as we do ask. 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:09.980 Bless them in your hand and bless your word through them throughout the whole of this day. 00:12:09.980 --> 00:12:13.980 And do so for the good of the nation to which we belong. 00:12:13.980 --> 00:12:19.980 We pray that you will rescue us and restore us from the path that we have chosen in turning away from you. 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:20.980 And bring us back to yourself. 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:21.980 And bring us back to yourself. 00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:32.980 We do pray and pour of your spirit down into every corner of our land to bring us to that place where we acknowledge you as our God and acknowledge you in all of our ways. 00:12:32.980 --> 00:12:35.980 And know what it is to have our paths directed by you. 00:12:35.980 --> 00:12:39.980 Bless the worldwide needs of so many people. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:43.980 We pray that you will bring relief to those who are in conflict. 00:12:43.980 --> 00:12:46.980 We pray that you will relieve those who are oppressed. 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:49.980 We pray that you will protect those who are persecuted for their faith. 00:12:49.980 --> 00:13:01.980 And we pray that you will bring relief and to bring blessing. 00:13:01.980 --> 00:13:07.980 And pray for the day to come and to hasten when your glory will fill the whole earth. 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:11.980 And when we will see that new heavens and that new earth. 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:13.980 Where there will be no need. 00:13:13.980 --> 00:13:15.980 But where our need will be satisfied. 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:18.980 And where we will sit and dwell in your kingdom. 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:22.980 Knowing your peace and enjoying so forevermore. 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:23.980 We do pray. 00:13:23.980 --> 00:13:25.980 So bless us as we continue before you now. 00:13:25.980 --> 00:13:30.980 We pray that you will bless your word to us as we sing, as we read, as we share in it. 00:13:30.980 --> 00:13:34.980 May you lead and guide us in all of these areas of our worship together this evening. 00:13:34.980 --> 00:13:39.980 May you keep from us anything that would distract us in the time that we do spend together. 00:13:39.980 --> 00:13:41.980 Bless us and hear us as we pray. 00:13:41.980 --> 00:13:44.980 And pardon us for we ask these things for Jesus' sake. 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:45.980 Amen. 00:13:45.980 --> 00:13:49.980 We turn to praise God. 00:13:49.980 --> 00:13:53.980 And this time we are singing from Sing Psalms and Psalm number 48A. 00:13:53.980 --> 00:13:58.980 It's on page 63. 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:01.980 Psalm 48A on page 63. 00:14:01.980 --> 00:14:03.980 And we are singing at verse number 8. 00:14:03.980 --> 00:14:06.980 Down to verse 14. 00:14:06.980 --> 00:14:07.980 Down to verse 14. 00:14:07.980 --> 00:14:10.980 And the tune is Torwood. 00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:13.980 Psalm 48A at verse number 8. 00:14:13.980 --> 00:14:19.980 As we have heard, so have we seen, God's city will endure. 00:14:19.980 --> 00:14:24.980 The Lord Almighty evermore his city keeps secure. 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:26.980 We follow us in the name of God. 00:14:26.980 --> 00:14:27.980 And the Lord comes with us. 00:14:27.980 --> 00:14:29.980 To visit those who are intill ou 1600 써 in the world. 00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:30.980 Thank you. 00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:47.539 As we have heard, so have we seen God's standing will endure. 00:14:47.539 --> 00:15:02.539 The Lord Almighty evermore, aesthetic keeps secure. 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:20.539 We will vouch for nature's steadfast love within your hands, O God. 00:15:20.539 --> 00:15:36.539 For life through me, pure place extends through all the earth, the cross. 00:15:36.539 --> 00:15:53.679 All that you do is righteous, Lord, our Zion's joy is great. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:16:09.679 And you fast and rejoice, as they your judgment celebrate. 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:26.679 Friends, Zion, warm and countertart, you at least it had been. 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:42.679 So bad to children yet unborn, her story you may tell. 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:59.679 For God the Lord, who is our God, forever will abide. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:16.539 He is our God, forever more, and to be yet now kind. 00:17:21.619 --> 00:17:24.359 Starting together now to read the Word of God in the New Testament. 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.579 We're reading in the Gospel of John, and in chapter number 12. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:35.299 John chapter 12, and picking up our reading at verse number 20. 00:17:37.340 --> 00:17:40.440 John 12 and verse 20. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:44.720 Let us hear the Word of God. 00:17:46.880 --> 00:17:50.560 Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:54.799 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, 00:17:55.220 --> 00:17:58.580 and asked him, Sir, we wish to see Jesus. 00:17:58.579 --> 00:18:00.839 Philip went and told Andrew. 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.319 Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 00:18:04.199 --> 00:18:08.279 And Jesus answered them, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:18:09.139 --> 00:18:14.220 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:18:14.679 --> 00:18:15.579 it remains alone. 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.000 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:18:20.000 --> 00:18:24.799 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:26.980 will keep it for eternal life. 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:30.079 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:18:30.640 --> 00:18:33.420 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:18:34.099 --> 00:18:37.140 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:40.960 Now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say? 00:18:41.640 --> 00:18:43.400 Father, save me from this hour. 00:18:44.180 --> 00:18:46.460 But for this purpose I have come to this hour. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.039 Father, glorify your name. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:51.120 Then a voice came from heaven. 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:54.099 I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. 00:18:54.099 --> 00:18:58.799 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. 00:18:59.480 --> 00:19:01.839 Others said, An angel has spoken to him. 00:19:02.759 --> 00:19:06.319 Jesus answered, This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:08.779 Now is the judgment of this world. 00:19:09.480 --> 00:19:11.879 Now will the ruler of the world be cast out. 00:19:12.699 --> 00:19:17.359 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. 00:19:18.279 --> 00:19:21.740 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 00:19:21.740 --> 00:19:28.460 So the crowd answered him, We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:31.900 How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:33.940 Who is the Son of Man? 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:38.279 So Jesus said to them, The light is among you for a little while longer. 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:40.279 Walk while you have the light. 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:42.559 Lest darkness overtake you. 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:46.079 The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 00:19:46.079 --> 00:19:54.980 While you are the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light. 00:19:55.779 --> 00:19:56.099 Amen. 00:19:56.179 --> 00:19:56.699 This is God's word. 00:19:56.759 --> 00:19:57.119 We thank you for that. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:57.819 We thank you for that. 00:19:58.240 --> 00:19:59.539 That reading from it. 00:20:00.939 --> 00:20:04.819 We return to praise God this time in Psalm number 63 in the Scottish Psalter. 00:20:05.679 --> 00:20:07.399 On page 295. 00:20:08.439 --> 00:20:10.799 Psalm number 63 at verse 1. 00:20:12.259 --> 00:20:14.399 To the tune, Bass of Harris. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:21.240 Lord thee, my God, I'll early seek. 00:20:21.779 --> 00:20:23.199 My soul to thirst for thee. 00:20:23.899 --> 00:20:28.299 My flesh longs in a dry parched land, wherein no waters be. 00:20:29.059 --> 00:20:32.779 We stand to sing from verse 1 to the verse 6 to God's praise. 00:20:32.779 --> 00:20:34.819 podcast citrus. 00:20:34.819 --> 00:21:04.799 Thank you. 00:21:04.819 --> 00:21:34.799 Thank you. 00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:36.819 Thank you. 00:22:04.819 --> 00:22:06.819 Thank you. 00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:36.819 Thank you. 00:23:04.819 --> 00:23:06.819 Thank you. 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:08.819 Thank you. 00:23:08.819 --> 00:23:10.819 Thank you. 00:23:38.819 --> 00:23:40.819 Thank you. 00:23:40.819 --> 00:23:42.819 Thank you. 00:24:08.819 --> 00:24:10.819 Thank you. 00:24:10.819 --> 00:24:12.819 Thank you. 00:24:12.819 --> 00:24:14.819 Thank you. 00:24:14.819 --> 00:24:16.819 Thank you. 00:24:16.819 --> 00:24:18.819 Thank you. 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:20.819 Thank you. 00:24:20.819 --> 00:24:22.819 Thank you. 00:24:22.819 --> 00:24:28.819 Now, as we gather to worship God, we know that the Bible is a unique book. 00:24:28.819 --> 00:24:30.980 We know that it is a special book. 00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:33.519 It is the Word of God. 00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:40.539 And as we read through the Bible, we see the marvelous way in which God, in breathing the 00:24:40.539 --> 00:24:47.240 scriptures out for us, has organized in such a way to give us a step-by-step progression 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:51.240 of his purposes for a lost world. 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:59.240 And we see down through the Old Testament that he does so regularly by giving his people promises, 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:03.240 promises with regard to the things that he is going to do. 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:13.240 And the more we journey down through the Old Testament, the more we see the promises growing in the sense of more revelation being added to them. 00:25:13.240 --> 00:25:19.240 So that what we read in Genesis, we understand it far better in Isaiah and so on. 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:28.240 So there is that sense of the promises of God growing in the way in which they reveal more and more to us of what God has purpose to do. 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:37.240 And these promises were the words that carried the people of God down to the Old Testament. 00:25:37.240 --> 00:25:46.240 When they were faltering, when they were fearing, when they were struggling, the promises of God carried them through these times and their experience 00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:50.240 and they journeyed on with the strength and with the help of God. 00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:55.240 So the promises of God carry us through and of course that does not change. 00:25:55.240 --> 00:26:01.240 We live today as the people of God in dependence on the promises of God. 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:10.240 And when things do go wrong for us and we meet with things that we don't expect, then we trust in the promises of God. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:16.240 But along with that, God was helping his people in another way. 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:21.240 And he was doing so through the church calendar. 00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:35.240 And down through the experience of the people of God in the Old Testament, there were key festivals appointed by God through which they were going to be reminded who they were, 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:39.240 where they had come from and what God was going to do. 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:44.240 And we can scan perhaps quickly the church calendar in the Old Testament. 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:49.240 And we see there's the feast of the Passover in the springtime. 00:26:49.240 --> 00:26:53.240 We see there's the day of atonement in September, October. 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:57.240 We see that's followed by the feast of births five days later. 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:03.240 Key moments in the church calendar through which the people of God were encouraged. 00:27:03.240 --> 00:27:10.240 And particularly to remind them where their existence originated from. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:22.240 And we gather ourselves around the word of God and we gather in preparation to remember the Lord's death until he come, appointed by God for the same purpose. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:34.240 So that we live life in the world, engaged with these events in the church calendar to remind us who we are, who God is and what God has done. 00:27:34.240 --> 00:27:44.240 And the importance of these events in the church calendar we see in the life of Jesus in the Gospel of John. 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:48.240 How did he interact with the people? 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:56.240 He had the habit of being with them in these key events in the church calendar. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:27:59.240 He was at a wedding in Cana. 00:27:59.240 --> 00:28:03.240 He is at the feast of tabernacles or booths in chapter seven. 00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:06.240 He is at the festival of lights in chapter eight. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:10.240 In this chapter he is at the feast of the Passover. 00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:21.240 He is there with them in their church calendar in these events to reinterpret them and to help them to understand that things are now moving with him. 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:26.240 And that all of these things pointed to him. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:32.240 And I want to bear that in mind this evening as we look at this chapter. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:37.240 They were going to the Passover to remind them where they had come from. 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:41.240 And we are going to remember the Lord's death. 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:58.240 And if we do remember anything the way the Bible speaks of remembering, we are in a sense reliving or reenacting what has happened in the past in our minds so that they impact upon where we are in the present. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:04.240 They were remembering the Exodus, how God had redeemed them. 00:29:04.240 --> 00:29:13.240 We are going to remember the death of the Lord Jesus and how that is where we find our beginning of salvation. 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:22.240 And in the light of that I want us to think this evening of the church calendar and the cross connections. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:27.240 I want to see in the passage first of all that there is a prompt. 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:33.240 We live life perhaps depending upon prompts and upon alerts. 00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:46.240 There are key things that we don't want to forget so we set up our reminders and our alerts and our prompts so that when the time comes we are clearly aware this is where I must be. 00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:49.240 This is what I should be doing. 00:29:49.240 --> 00:29:54.240 And there is something similar to that happening here in the life of the Lord Jesus. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:30:07.240 And the prompt comes through those who come in verse number 21 and verse number 20 where there are those who come to the feast who are Greeks. 00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:13.240 And that is significant because Greeks wouldn't normally come to the feast. 00:30:13.240 --> 00:30:22.240 They are obviously those who have been converted to the religion of the Jews and who are joining with them in the celebration of the Passover. 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:27.240 And when that is happening it is important for this reason. 00:30:27.240 --> 00:30:41.240 That God promised down through the Old Testament that the day would come when all the nations of the earth would come into the kingdom of God and enjoy the blessing and the promises of God's salvation. 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:50.240 And here are these Greeks showing to Jesus showing to themselves that God's plan is on Kursh. 00:30:50.240 --> 00:30:54.240 That his promises are being fulfilled. 00:30:54.240 --> 00:31:05.240 And here are these people coming in to the Passover feast at this crucial time in their life and in the experience of the Lord Jesus. 00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:15.240 And when they come they have the particular desire which reminds us that they are completely Jesus focused. 00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:20.240 So they say we wish to see Jesus. 00:31:20.240 --> 00:31:29.240 And tonight if I wish to see anything or desire to see anything I'm deciding that because I've gone through a process. 00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:35.240 And what I'm seeing is the result of things I've processed in my mind. 00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:39.240 And the result of that closes is I want to see Jesus. 00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:42.240 That's how they were working. 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:44.240 That's how they were coming here. 00:31:44.240 --> 00:31:47.240 They were saying we want to see Jesus. 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:55.240 And tonight for ourselves as we consider preparing ourselves to remember the death of the Lord. 00:31:55.240 --> 00:32:04.240 We will do so meaningfully if we come like the Greeks came and we come with a sense of the promises of God being fulfilled in us. 00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:10.240 And a sense of the importance of wanting to see Jesus. 00:32:10.240 --> 00:32:17.240 At the very outset of our sermon this evening it's a simple question. 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:20.240 Who do we want to see? 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:23.240 Why do we come to church? 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:30.240 Why do we prepare ourselves for the key calendar event of remembering the Lord's death? 00:32:30.240 --> 00:32:35.240 Is it something that's just an event that we have to attend? 00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:42.240 Or are we here like the Greeks who are really deciding to see Jesus? 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:47.240 Because of what we've learned, what we know, what we experience. 00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:52.240 And all of these things are churning over in our minds and we're flowing into our lives 00:32:52.240 --> 00:32:57.240 in our conversation with others that we want to see Jesus. 00:32:57.240 --> 00:33:00.240 And can you tell us where we can see Jesus? 00:33:00.240 --> 00:33:11.240 Jesus was precious to them to show that they were part of the purpose of God in the extension and in the building of his kingdom. 00:33:11.240 --> 00:33:20.240 And it is that desire on their part that was a prompt for the Lord Jesus. 00:33:20.240 --> 00:33:31.240 And when we are saying that we are not suggesting in any way that Jesus did not know what was happening or when it was going to happen. 00:33:31.240 --> 00:33:39.240 But he was sensitive to what was happening around him and he was sensitive to what God had sent him to do. 00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:48.240 And here at the feast of Passover, once he hears that there are those who are seeking him, 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:53.240 he immediately recognizes that this is a key moment in his own life. 00:33:53.240 --> 00:34:00.240 And we see that whatever happened behind the scenes that we don't know of in verse number 23, 00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.240 Jesus answered them, 00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:07.240 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:10.239 Up until this point, Jesus has been saying, 00:34:10.239 --> 00:34:13.239 My hour has not yet come. 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:14.239 And John has been saying, 00:34:14.239 --> 00:34:17.239 His hour had not yet come. 00:34:17.239 --> 00:34:21.239 There was a particular moment in the life of the Lord Jesus, 00:34:21.239 --> 00:34:29.239 significant for him in the service of God and in the purpose for which God sent him into the world. 00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:33.239 And now suddenly that moment has come. 00:34:33.239 --> 00:34:41.239 And all of the build-up has brought him to this very place in this calendar event in the experience of the church 00:34:41.239 --> 00:34:44.239 and into interacting with those who are around him. 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:48.239 And suddenly he knows that this is the time. 00:34:49.239 --> 00:34:51.239 And it wasn't just any time. 00:34:51.239 --> 00:34:58.239 The time that was significant to the Lord Jesus is the time that is significant for ourselves. 00:34:58.239 --> 00:35:05.239 And the hour has now come where the Son of Man is going to be glorified. 00:35:05.239 --> 00:35:19.239 Who he is and what he is is going to radiate forth from him in such a way that there will be no doubt as to who he is and what he has done. 00:35:19.239 --> 00:35:25.239 And when Jesus is saying the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, 00:35:25.239 --> 00:35:28.239 there are two things that we can think of as we move on. 00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:34.239 And the first of these is that Jesus sees himself as that figure in Daniel 7, 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:40.239 who comes in to God the Ancient of Days and to whom is given glory and a kingdom and dominion. 00:35:40.239 --> 00:35:43.239 That's who he sees himself to be. 00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:51.239 And he sees now the moment has come for him to receive the glory promised to the Son of Man in Daniel 7. 00:35:51.239 --> 00:36:00.239 And in bearing that in mind, the other thing that we bear in mind is that when Jesus says that 00:36:00.239 --> 00:36:07.239 the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, it's not a moment, it's a process. 00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:10.239 And it's a process with steps. 00:36:10.239 --> 00:36:17.239 And the three steps involved in his glorification is that he's going to die for our sins, 00:36:17.239 --> 00:36:20.239 that he's going to be raised from the dead on the third day, 00:36:20.239 --> 00:36:25.239 and that he's going to be raised to glory by the power of God the Holy Spirit. 00:36:25.239 --> 00:36:30.239 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:35.239 He sees himself as the one who came into this world, 00:36:35.239 --> 00:36:42.239 who was born into Bethlehem as the Son of God, the Jesus who grew up with Mary and Joseph. 00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:46.239 He lived his life in serving God and ministering to the people. 00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:51.239 He lived his life interacting with them at these key moments. 00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:57.239 And now he sees that the hour has come for his interaction with the Father, 00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:03.239 for the transaction that must take place through these steps in his experience. 00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:07.239 Jesus is moved by the people. 00:37:07.239 --> 00:37:11.239 He is moved by what the people are doing. 00:37:11.239 --> 00:37:22.239 And Jesus interestingly says in John chapter 17 that as he prays for the Father to glorify him as the Savior, 00:37:22.239 --> 00:37:24.239 the mediator, the Savior of his people, 00:37:24.239 --> 00:37:31.239 Jesus goes on to say that he is glorified in his people. 00:37:31.239 --> 00:37:37.239 And Jesus is engaging with them and engaging with God 00:37:37.239 --> 00:37:42.239 and looking to the glory with which God is going to glorify him 00:37:42.239 --> 00:37:47.239 and recognizing that his people are going to be glorified, 00:37:47.239 --> 00:37:51.239 he's going to be glorified in his people. 00:37:51.239 --> 00:37:54.239 The prompt. 00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:58.239 And of course you and I thinking about remembering the Lord's death 00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:01.239 and you and I preparing for that. 00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:06.239 Of course Jesus is not going to die a second time. 00:38:06.239 --> 00:38:09.239 He's not going to be crucified as a once for all sacrifice. 00:38:09.239 --> 00:38:18.239 But nevertheless we are engaging with the Lord Jesus who has commanded us to do this in remembrance of him until his return. 00:38:18.239 --> 00:38:26.239 And all of our thought processes and all of our activities and all of our preparation to remember the Lord's death, 00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:34.239 we need to remember the fact that Jesus Christ our Savior who is glorified at God's right hand, 00:38:34.239 --> 00:38:39.239 that he is interested in what we are doing and saying. 00:38:39.239 --> 00:38:47.239 And that he is interested in the sense of watching out for our obedience to his command to remember his death. 00:38:47.239 --> 00:38:52.239 And it's not a prompt as I said for him to be crucified again, 00:38:52.239 --> 00:39:01.239 but there is a prompt in the sense in which Jesus is engaging and preparing to be with his people 00:39:02.239 --> 00:39:08.239 and preparing to reflect his interest in them and his care for them. 00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:10.239 The prompt. 00:39:10.239 --> 00:39:11.239 The prompt. 00:39:11.239 --> 00:39:15.239 If tonight your desire is to see Jesus, 00:39:15.239 --> 00:39:20.239 who knows what the desire of Jesus is for you? 00:39:20.239 --> 00:39:27.239 Who knows what he will bring to you through remembering his death until his return? 00:39:27.239 --> 00:39:29.239 The prompt. 00:39:29.239 --> 00:39:33.239 The event in the church calendar. 00:39:33.239 --> 00:39:42.239 The realization in the mind of Jesus as to who he is and what he is doing. 00:39:42.239 --> 00:39:51.239 And your own self-consciousness as you do prepare to remember the death of the Lord. 00:39:51.239 --> 00:39:54.239 The prompt. 00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:58.239 Secondly, there is a proclamation. 00:39:58.239 --> 00:40:00.239 That's what we expect. 00:40:00.239 --> 00:40:02.239 The gospel is preached. 00:40:02.239 --> 00:40:08.239 And Jesus goes on to proclaim that gospel as we read on in verse number 24. 00:40:08.239 --> 00:40:14.239 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:40:14.239 --> 00:40:16.239 it remains alone. 00:40:16.239 --> 00:40:20.239 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:40:21.239 --> 00:40:23.239 He is using a kind of parable. 00:40:23.239 --> 00:40:30.239 He is taking a grain of wheat, a seed of wheat, a kernel of wheat. 00:40:30.239 --> 00:40:40.239 He is using that to go and illustrate the way in which he is himself going to die in order to save his people. 00:40:40.239 --> 00:40:45.239 And I'm not a gardener, but seeds are important. 00:40:45.239 --> 00:40:49.239 We don't see the real life in the seed. 00:40:49.239 --> 00:40:51.239 It's closed and it's covered. 00:40:51.239 --> 00:40:59.239 But we believe there is in the seed that kernel which carries with it the potential for life and for fruit bearing. 00:40:59.239 --> 00:41:01.239 It's covered over. 00:41:01.239 --> 00:41:09.239 And it's covered over and needs to be placed in the earth in the right conditions so that it will bear fruit. 00:41:09.239 --> 00:41:17.239 And Jesus is using that to go and explain what glorification is going to mean. 00:41:17.239 --> 00:41:35.239 And when you read on through the rest of the section, there is something that emerges which is an insight into what Jesus is thinking and an insight into who Jesus thinks he is. 00:41:35.239 --> 00:41:45.239 And when Jesus is using the idea of grain or seed, we think of the promises of God. 00:41:45.239 --> 00:41:50.239 And we spoke earlier of the way in which God had given his people his promises. 00:41:50.239 --> 00:41:54.239 And these promises carried them down through the ages. 00:41:54.239 --> 00:42:02.239 And the first promise that we have in the Bible is to do with the seed of the woman. 00:42:02.239 --> 00:42:18.239 And when Jesus is using this parable, we see that he is recognizing himself to be and proclaiming himself to be that very seed which God promised in Genesis 3, chapter number 15. 00:42:18.239 --> 00:42:23.239 And from there we see the seed that we have promised to Abraham. 00:42:23.239 --> 00:42:26.239 And from there we see the seed that we have promised to Abraham in Genesis 12 and Genesis 15. 00:42:26.239 --> 00:42:34.239 There is that sense of the seed of God and the promised seed down through the generations of the Old Testament. 00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:43.239 And Jesus now recognizes himself and proclaims himself to be that very same seed. 00:42:43.239 --> 00:42:46.239 The parable. 00:42:46.239 --> 00:42:56.239 If the grain is pregnant with life, the parable is pregnant with meaning. 00:42:56.239 --> 00:43:05.239 And the meaning is that Jesus is saying, I am that seed of the woman who is coming to bruise the head of the serpent. 00:43:05.239 --> 00:43:12.239 I am that seed of the woman who is coming to fulfill the purposes of God. 00:43:12.239 --> 00:43:17.239 And let's stop and think about that. 00:43:17.239 --> 00:43:22.239 I take the grain of wheat, the seed of the wheat. 00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:25.239 It's full of potential for life. 00:43:25.239 --> 00:43:27.239 We cannot see it. 00:43:27.239 --> 00:43:34.239 We look at it and we can maybe discount it unless we understand what it is and what it contains. 00:43:34.239 --> 00:43:37.239 Then it will be of no value. 00:43:37.239 --> 00:43:43.239 And here we see Jesus at this church calendar event preparing for the Passover. 00:43:43.239 --> 00:43:48.239 And we see that he sees himself as the seed. 00:43:48.239 --> 00:43:58.239 And because of who he is, when he says that, it fills the parable with so much potential for life. 00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:02.239 That our minds cannot begin to imagine what that will be. 00:44:02.239 --> 00:44:10.239 And we know that in all that is hidden under his ordinariness in Jerusalem and in Galilee, 00:44:10.239 --> 00:44:18.239 behind that visible ordinariness, there is the fact that he is the son of God with the power of an indestructible life. 00:44:18.239 --> 00:44:25.239 And whatever he does, it's going to have lasting and important and transforming consequences. 00:44:25.239 --> 00:44:35.239 And we could say that should excite our faith. 00:44:35.239 --> 00:44:44.239 And we could also say or ask how exciting this must have been for Jesus. 00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:49.239 That all that God has said is suddenly closing in upon him. 00:44:49.239 --> 00:44:57.239 And in this very moment, he is going to fulfill all of the purposes of God and bring about the birth of his church. 00:44:57.239 --> 00:45:09.239 And bring about the taking in of the nations of the world to belong to the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ. 00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:15.239 The proclamation, the self-consciousness of Jesus, this is who I am. 00:45:15.239 --> 00:45:18.239 I want you to know that this is who I am. 00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:25.239 And if you know who I am, then you'll know why I am here and you'll know what is going to happen to me. 00:45:25.239 --> 00:45:37.239 And when he makes that claim, he goes on to finish off the parable, to bring it to its conclusion. 00:45:37.239 --> 00:45:42.239 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. 00:45:42.239 --> 00:45:43.239 We know that. 00:45:43.239 --> 00:45:49.239 We can have a packet of seeds or a bag of seeds in our garden sheds and they just lie there. 00:45:49.239 --> 00:45:52.239 They're not going to do anything. 00:45:52.239 --> 00:46:00.239 There has to be the process of taking them from where they are stored and placing them where they are going to bear fruit. 00:46:00.239 --> 00:46:04.239 And then we can expect a great change. 00:46:04.239 --> 00:46:10.239 Unless they're put in the right, in the ground, in the right environment, in the right location, 00:46:10.239 --> 00:46:14.239 then nothing is going to change with regard to the grain, to the seed. 00:46:14.239 --> 00:46:17.239 And that's what Jesus is saying here. 00:46:17.239 --> 00:46:27.239 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:39.239 With regard to Jesus, since he is going to die, or when he does die, the seed is going to bear much fruit. 00:46:39.239 --> 00:46:53.239 And we think of the environment for the natural seed and how certain things must be in place for it to germinate and to grow and to bring forth fruit. 00:46:53.239 --> 00:47:04.239 And we think of Jesus as the seed of the woman sent by God to be our Savior and in the right environment, in the right place, with the right conditions. 00:47:04.239 --> 00:47:22.239 Then in that moment when Jesus dies on Calvary's cross, the perfect environment for his death, prepared by God, directed by him in that moment of his death, then he will bear much fruit. 00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:26.239 And so the location is not an accident. 00:47:26.239 --> 00:47:30.239 The circumstances is not an accident. 00:47:30.239 --> 00:47:34.239 His experience is not an accident. 00:47:34.239 --> 00:47:37.239 The darkness is not an accident. 00:47:37.239 --> 00:47:48.239 All of these things are crucial elements in the death of the Lord Jesus as he is suspended on Calvary's cross. 00:47:48.239 --> 00:48:00.239 And when he goes through the darkness and when he says it is finished and he bows his head and he gives up his spirit, then we can look for fruit. 00:48:00.239 --> 00:48:03.239 We can look for things to change. 00:48:03.239 --> 00:48:10.239 And the fruit that Jesus is talking about is exactly what God promised to Abraham. 00:48:10.239 --> 00:48:18.239 That the people of God, the seed of God, that in Abraham all the families of the earth will be blessed. 00:48:18.239 --> 00:48:27.239 And the Jesus who is the servant of God concerning him by say, he shall see his seed. 00:48:27.239 --> 00:48:29.239 He shall prolong his days. 00:48:29.239 --> 00:48:34.239 The purpose of the Lord, the purpose of the Lord will prosper in his hand. 00:48:34.239 --> 00:48:36.239 There it is. 00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:43.239 And where do we see the fruit that comes from the fact that the son of God died on Calvary's cross? 00:48:43.239 --> 00:48:46.239 We see it around us this evening. 00:48:46.239 --> 00:48:56.239 We see a people who are the children of God who have their life in Jesus, rooted in him, because of his death and because of his resurrection. 00:48:56.239 --> 00:49:00.239 And these are the ones who decide to see Jesus. 00:49:00.239 --> 00:49:05.239 They understand that the life originates, is rooted in him. 00:49:05.239 --> 00:49:07.239 Without him they have no life. 00:49:07.239 --> 00:49:13.239 But because of him they have the life which is full and which is eternal. 00:49:13.239 --> 00:49:16.239 Where else do we see it? 00:49:16.239 --> 00:49:20.239 We go to the end of the message of the Bible. 00:49:20.239 --> 00:49:26.239 And we go to Revelation chapter 7 and we see a great multitude which no one can number. 00:49:26.239 --> 00:49:34.239 From all the nations and language and peoples and kindreds from all over the whole of the world. 00:49:34.239 --> 00:49:42.239 There is the seed, the harvest of this moment of isolation in the life of the son of God. 00:49:42.239 --> 00:49:46.239 When he cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:49:46.239 --> 00:49:52.239 And if we take that as a question, the fruit is the answer. 00:49:52.239 --> 00:49:54.239 The church is the answer. 00:49:54.239 --> 00:50:01.239 The day of judgment is the answer when the people of God are gathered around the throne of God. 00:50:01.239 --> 00:50:08.239 The proclamation, unless it falls on the ground and dies. 00:50:08.239 --> 00:50:21.239 And tonight if I want to see Jesus, it needs to be more than wanting to see him in the manger. 00:50:21.239 --> 00:50:26.239 It needs to be more than wanting to see him perform his miracles. 00:50:26.239 --> 00:50:31.239 It needs to be more than wanting to see that he died. 00:50:31.239 --> 00:50:37.239 It needs to reach the point where I see that he died for me. 00:50:37.239 --> 00:50:40.239 That he loved me and gave himself for me. 00:50:40.239 --> 00:50:43.239 That's where our desire comes. 00:50:43.239 --> 00:50:54.239 And as we do prepare to remember the Lord's death, that's why the death is important. 00:50:54.239 --> 00:50:57.239 It's important to God. It's important to Jesus. 00:50:57.239 --> 00:51:00.239 And it's not kind of a prayer. 00:51:00.239 --> 00:51:04.239 It's at the center of the son of God's life. 00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:06.239 It's at the center of God's life. 00:51:06.239 --> 00:51:11.239 It's at the center of God's plan. 00:51:11.239 --> 00:51:17.239 And it comes to be at the center of those who are his people. 00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:19.239 The proclamation. 00:51:19.239 --> 00:51:26.259 multitude that's destined for glory and that God is adding to that multitude every day in the 00:51:26.259 --> 00:51:37.059 existence of this world. The proclamation. And thirdly, we want to think of participation. 00:51:38.239 --> 00:51:46.039 What about you? What about me? Participation. And Jesus has something to say about that. 00:51:46.039 --> 00:51:51.099 And so we read on in this section. And in verse number 31, we read, 00:51:51.759 --> 00:52:00.719 Now is the judgment of this world. There's a crisis in the life of Jesus in going to the cross. 00:52:02.059 --> 00:52:09.840 But there's another crisis. And it is with regard to the world or the people in the world. 00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:16.100 John tells us in chapter 3, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. 00:52:17.500 --> 00:52:25.380 The world is the people into which God sent his son. John says, Jesus, the Lamb of God, 00:52:25.460 --> 00:52:32.620 who takes away the sin of the world. The world are the people surrounding Jesus in his own day. 00:52:32.619 --> 00:52:40.880 The world are the people to which we belong ourselves. It's humankind as we live in our existence here on God's earth. 00:52:41.940 --> 00:52:48.119 And with regard to that world of which you and I are part, Jesus is saying, 00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:54.799 Now, in this church calendar event to which he is connecting his death, 00:52:55.339 --> 00:52:58.839 now is the judgment of this world. 00:52:58.840 --> 00:53:03.780 And judgment is a sifting process. 00:53:05.800 --> 00:53:08.300 And the kingdom of God is like that. 00:53:09.420 --> 00:53:16.140 And John speaks in Luke chapter 3 about separating the chaff from the wheat. 00:53:16.280 --> 00:53:18.220 There is that sense of sifting. 00:53:18.219 --> 00:53:28.779 And for ourselves this evening and going forward, the gospel is doing that now. 00:53:29.599 --> 00:53:32.219 There is a judgment. 00:53:33.899 --> 00:53:42.219 And the judgment is based upon the way in which you judge the events in the life of Jesus. 00:53:42.219 --> 00:53:44.759 His life is death. 00:53:45.439 --> 00:53:48.319 And the way in which you judge the gospel. 00:53:49.159 --> 00:53:53.519 And the way in which you judge the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. 00:53:54.480 --> 00:53:56.959 There is a judgment. 00:53:59.059 --> 00:54:02.500 And right now in all of our thought processes, 00:54:02.500 --> 00:54:07.619 we are saying something about what we think about Jesus. 00:54:09.159 --> 00:54:11.619 We are either deciding to see him, 00:54:12.659 --> 00:54:16.139 or we have just nothing more than a passing interest. 00:54:16.139 --> 00:54:18.599 But the judgment is taking place. 00:54:20.219 --> 00:54:23.760 And you have to reckon with that yourself personally, 00:54:24.460 --> 00:54:25.519 and ask yourself, 00:54:25.940 --> 00:54:27.159 What am I thinking? 00:54:27.159 --> 00:54:32.119 What is my real view of who Jesus is? 00:54:32.679 --> 00:54:37.399 And how do I view him as the precious Son of God, 00:54:37.639 --> 00:54:40.319 who is the only Savior of the world? 00:54:41.199 --> 00:54:45.639 The judgment is happening now in your mind and in your thinking. 00:54:46.699 --> 00:54:48.819 And as it was true in the days of Jesus, 00:54:49.259 --> 00:54:50.779 as he went to Calvary's cross, 00:54:51.460 --> 00:54:54.559 that judgment which took place in their minds and in their thinking, 00:54:55.079 --> 00:54:56.519 worked out in their actions. 00:54:57.159 --> 00:55:00.420 And they went to crucify the Lord of glory, 00:55:00.899 --> 00:55:04.899 because they would rather have him removed from their midst 00:55:04.899 --> 00:55:07.279 than to have anything to do with him. 00:55:08.420 --> 00:55:09.500 The judgment. 00:55:10.859 --> 00:55:14.859 They were choosing whom they wanted to serve. 00:55:16.539 --> 00:55:21.460 And that's what the gospel always does to us. 00:55:22.559 --> 00:55:24.839 And in every Lord's Day, 00:55:24.839 --> 00:55:26.980 when we do hear the gospel, 00:55:27.159 --> 00:55:31.559 there is that sense of the claims of God upon our lives, 00:55:32.099 --> 00:55:35.440 there is that sense of our decision with regard to these claims, 00:55:35.960 --> 00:55:38.299 and where our decisions take us. 00:55:39.199 --> 00:55:43.460 And our decisions will take us in perhaps opposite directions, 00:55:44.319 --> 00:55:48.899 although perhaps for fleeting moments such as our worship together this evening, 00:55:48.900 --> 00:55:52.139 our decisions may cause us to overlap, 00:55:52.139 --> 00:55:58.440 but there is something underlying when we don't embrace the Lord Jesus as our Savior, 00:55:58.440 --> 00:56:03.420 that leaves us, generally speaking, going in opposite directions. 00:56:03.420 --> 00:56:07.599 And for participation, 00:56:08.360 --> 00:56:13.280 Jesus wants to lay claim upon the lives of all of the people, 00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:19.659 and he does so by the way in which he speaks from verse 26 onwards. 00:56:19.659 --> 00:56:37.719 There are two things that Jesus is placing his finger on. 00:56:37.719 --> 00:56:41.359 And the first of these is to follow him. 00:56:42.659 --> 00:56:46.559 And that means saying no to myself and saying yes to God. 00:56:46.799 --> 00:56:48.039 It means denying myself. 00:56:48.459 --> 00:56:50.939 It means taking up my cross and following him. 00:56:50.940 --> 00:56:56.920 And when Jesus tonight wants us to follow him and be his disciples, 00:56:58.159 --> 00:57:03.800 it's not to follow him to the cross in the sense of giving up our lives. 00:57:05.039 --> 00:57:06.639 It's not, as we heard this morning, 00:57:06.760 --> 00:57:10.200 it's not to follow him and abandon the world. 00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:17.799 It is to follow him in the sense of taking up the work that he has begun. 00:57:19.460 --> 00:57:20.779 And that's the challenge. 00:57:21.699 --> 00:57:23.239 That's the claims of the gospel. 00:57:24.099 --> 00:57:25.839 Jesus said to the disciples, 00:57:26.279 --> 00:57:29.859 As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. 00:57:31.919 --> 00:57:37.699 And in this moment of judgment with regard to who Jesus is and what he has done, 00:57:37.699 --> 00:57:42.559 here is the claim of Jesus upon your life and upon mine, 00:57:43.619 --> 00:57:46.739 that he wants you to leave where you are, 00:57:46.839 --> 00:57:48.379 that he wants you to follow him, 00:57:48.759 --> 00:57:53.099 that he wants you to serve God the Father in the same way that he did, 00:57:54.039 --> 00:57:59.480 and to continue the work of being the light and the witness of God in the world 00:57:59.480 --> 00:58:03.119 as the church of Jesus, which he has purchased with his blood. 00:58:03.119 --> 00:58:09.119 And the second thing is that if we do that, 00:58:09.179 --> 00:58:09.940 there is the promise, 00:58:10.719 --> 00:58:13.059 the Father will honor him. 00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:17.359 How is the Father going to honor you and I? 00:58:18.299 --> 00:58:21.079 If we take up the mantle, as it were, from Jesus, 00:58:21.460 --> 00:58:24.339 if we follow in serving God as he did, 00:58:25.059 --> 00:58:26.519 what does God promise? 00:58:27.239 --> 00:58:28.000 What is the honor? 00:58:28.000 --> 00:58:32.800 It is the honor of the glory into which Jesus himself is entering 00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:36.260 that at last we will step into that same glory 00:58:36.260 --> 00:58:39.519 and be glorified with him and because of him. 00:58:42.019 --> 00:58:44.880 To serve is the call. 00:58:45.920 --> 00:58:48.500 To be glorified is the promise. 00:58:49.460 --> 00:58:52.739 And that's the claim of the gospel for us together this evening. 00:58:52.739 --> 00:58:58.339 That's how we can participate meaningfully in all of the church events 00:58:58.339 --> 00:59:02.559 that God has put in place for our edification, 00:59:02.799 --> 00:59:04.059 for our building up in the faith, 00:59:04.439 --> 00:59:07.399 and for our growth and grace 00:59:07.399 --> 00:59:13.519 in order to serve him and be the light that we should be. 00:59:14.539 --> 00:59:16.859 And in all of that process, 00:59:17.039 --> 00:59:19.119 Jesus wants them, as we close, 00:59:19.119 --> 00:59:23.420 he wants them to remember that Satan is cast out, 00:59:25.019 --> 00:59:27.259 that those who put their trust in Jesus, 00:59:28.179 --> 00:59:30.159 that Satan has been crushed and defeated, 00:59:31.079 --> 00:59:32.659 and although he is active, 00:59:33.079 --> 00:59:34.239 he doesn't have the victory, 00:59:34.380 --> 00:59:37.460 and we don't need to fear him in serving the Lord Jesus. 00:59:38.559 --> 00:59:42.579 We put our trust in the one who is the captain, 00:59:42.859 --> 00:59:43.480 the victor, 00:59:44.299 --> 00:59:46.119 the one who has triumphed. 00:59:46.119 --> 00:59:51.219 And pulling the whole of the story together, 00:59:52.019 --> 00:59:58.339 and the way in which the gospel speaks of the claims of Jesus upon our lives. 00:59:59.839 --> 01:00:03.359 Jesus goes on to speak about the way in which 01:00:03.359 --> 01:00:07.299 if he is going to be lifted up from the earth, 01:00:07.759 --> 01:00:12.859 that he will draw all people to himself. 01:00:12.860 --> 01:00:17.980 The Greeks were drawn to come to seek Jesus. 01:00:20.760 --> 01:00:23.000 Tonight, we may ask ourselves, 01:00:23.240 --> 01:00:25.460 do we feel the same drawing power? 01:00:26.660 --> 01:00:31.160 The image of drawing is taken from everyday life 01:00:31.160 --> 01:00:36.480 where you lead somebody with a rope or a tether. 01:00:36.700 --> 01:00:38.480 It came from everyday life. 01:00:38.480 --> 01:00:42.300 We don't see it like that when Jesus is using it, 01:00:42.440 --> 01:00:45.420 but we understand that there is the attraction, 01:00:46.320 --> 01:00:48.019 and there is the movement, 01:00:48.719 --> 01:00:49.880 and there is the coming closer. 01:00:51.079 --> 01:00:52.480 And it's all because, 01:00:52.840 --> 01:00:55.940 not because people are forced to come and follow Jesus, 01:00:56.460 --> 01:00:59.280 because they are powerfully won over in their hearts 01:00:59.280 --> 01:01:02.000 by the sheer beauty 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:04.900 of who Jesus is 01:01:04.900 --> 01:01:07.480 and what Jesus has done. 01:01:09.180 --> 01:01:10.100 And tonight, 01:01:10.280 --> 01:01:13.000 as we prepare to remember the Lord's death, 01:01:13.840 --> 01:01:15.180 we ask ourselves, 01:01:16.320 --> 01:01:18.540 do we sense that drawing power? 01:01:19.840 --> 01:01:22.700 Do we sense that beauty of Christ? 01:01:22.699 --> 01:01:27.619 That in the disfigurement and in the darkness 01:01:27.619 --> 01:01:29.480 of Calvary's cross, 01:01:30.960 --> 01:01:34.099 there's a beauty that's unspeakable and indescribable, 01:01:34.659 --> 01:01:38.639 that we can only see by faith that God gives to us, 01:01:39.619 --> 01:01:41.919 but can we see that beauty tonight? 01:01:42.819 --> 01:01:44.199 In the words of the hymn, 01:01:44.279 --> 01:01:45.299 Jesus is the light of the world, 01:01:45.300 --> 01:01:45.340 God, 01:01:46.860 --> 01:01:47.380 beauty, 01:01:47.720 --> 01:01:48.460 it is beauty 01:01:48.460 --> 01:01:51.500 that made this heart adore you, 01:01:52.220 --> 01:01:55.039 hope of our life spent with you. 01:01:55.960 --> 01:01:57.740 If we see beauty in Christ, 01:01:59.120 --> 01:02:00.440 he is irresistible, 01:02:00.880 --> 01:02:02.100 and he must be urged, 01:02:02.240 --> 01:02:03.680 and we must be with him. 01:02:04.420 --> 01:02:05.340 And we pray tonight, 01:02:05.400 --> 01:02:07.380 as we do prepare 01:02:07.380 --> 01:02:10.700 in the calendar of our own church life, 01:02:11.120 --> 01:02:12.760 to remember the death of the Lord, 01:02:12.840 --> 01:02:13.680 that we will know 01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:15.099 his beauty, 01:02:15.659 --> 01:02:17.239 and to know that it is that beauty 01:02:17.239 --> 01:02:19.000 that has caused our hearts 01:02:19.000 --> 01:02:20.099 to adore him. 01:02:20.980 --> 01:02:21.899 And then if he says, 01:02:22.000 --> 01:02:22.339 remember, 01:02:23.139 --> 01:02:24.480 I can't wait to remember. 01:02:25.339 --> 01:02:26.139 If he says, 01:02:26.639 --> 01:02:28.759 show forth my name until I return, 01:02:29.480 --> 01:02:30.379 I cannot wait 01:02:30.379 --> 01:02:31.899 to show forth his name. 01:02:32.639 --> 01:02:33.960 And may God bless his word to us, 01:02:33.960 --> 01:02:35.399 and enable us, 01:02:35.500 --> 01:02:36.239 and encourage us 01:02:36.239 --> 01:02:37.659 to go forward 01:02:37.659 --> 01:02:38.819 looking to Jesus, 01:02:39.159 --> 01:02:39.859 trusting in him, 01:02:40.639 --> 01:02:42.319 and glorifying him 01:02:42.320 --> 01:02:43.440 in our obedience 01:02:43.440 --> 01:02:44.980 to his command. 01:02:45.400 --> 01:02:46.500 Let's bow our heads in prayer. 01:02:47.620 --> 01:02:48.840 Most gracious God, 01:02:48.920 --> 01:02:49.980 we rejoice in you 01:02:49.980 --> 01:02:52.200 tonight as the great God 01:02:52.200 --> 01:02:53.059 who is our Savior, 01:02:54.080 --> 01:02:55.519 in such a marvelous way 01:02:55.519 --> 01:02:56.880 as made yourself known, 01:02:57.820 --> 01:02:58.840 worked powerfully 01:02:58.840 --> 01:03:00.940 to rescue us from 01:03:00.940 --> 01:03:02.640 our sin and from our bondage, 01:03:03.160 --> 01:03:03.740 and to bring us 01:03:03.740 --> 01:03:04.980 to be the children of God. 01:03:05.640 --> 01:03:07.080 Help us to be 01:03:07.080 --> 01:03:08.019 the children of God. 01:03:08.600 --> 01:03:09.440 Help us to live 01:03:09.440 --> 01:03:10.619 like the children of God. 01:03:11.200 --> 01:03:12.360 Help us to follow you 01:03:12.360 --> 01:03:13.139 and to serve you. 01:03:13.780 --> 01:03:14.720 And bless us graciously 01:03:14.720 --> 01:03:16.159 as we commit ourselves to you 01:03:16.159 --> 01:03:17.519 for all of the privileges 01:03:17.519 --> 01:03:18.400 of the days to come. 01:03:18.960 --> 01:03:20.300 May you be in our midst, 01:03:20.440 --> 01:03:21.619 and may your face 01:03:21.619 --> 01:03:22.440 shine upon us, 01:03:22.880 --> 01:03:23.740 and may your word 01:03:23.740 --> 01:03:25.220 be richly blessed to us. 01:03:25.639 --> 01:03:26.220 Hear our prayer 01:03:26.220 --> 01:03:27.079 for Jesus' sake. 01:03:27.900 --> 01:03:28.200 Amen. 01:03:28.199 --> 01:03:32.819 The closing psalm 01:03:32.819 --> 01:03:33.919 is Psalm 22 01:03:33.919 --> 01:03:35.259 and sing psalms. 01:03:39.259 --> 01:03:40.500 Page 27, 01:03:40.659 --> 01:03:41.359 and we're singing 01:03:41.359 --> 01:03:44.039 at verse 27. 01:03:46.179 --> 01:03:47.259 Psalm 22 01:03:47.259 --> 01:03:48.539 on page 27. 01:03:49.099 --> 01:03:49.639 We're singing 01:03:49.639 --> 01:03:51.279 from verse 27 01:03:51.279 --> 01:03:52.779 to the end of the psalm. 01:03:54.639 --> 01:03:56.359 And I'll go to the main door 01:03:56.359 --> 01:03:57.379 after the benediction. 01:03:58.199 --> 01:03:59.480 The whole earth 01:03:59.480 --> 01:04:00.619 will remember him 01:04:00.619 --> 01:04:02.059 and turn towards 01:04:02.059 --> 01:04:03.000 the Lord their God. 01:04:03.599 --> 01:04:05.339 All peoples will bow down to him, 01:04:05.879 --> 01:04:08.679 the nations of the world abroad. 01:04:09.159 --> 01:04:10.559 We stand to sing these verses 01:04:10.559 --> 01:04:11.239 to God's glory. 01:04:11.239 --> 01:04:11.359 Amen. 01:04:11.359 --> 01:04:11.460 Amen. 01:04:11.460 --> 01:04:11.519 Amen. 01:04:11.519 --> 01:04:12.460 Amen. 01:04:12.460 --> 01:04:13.460 Amen. 01:04:13.460 --> 01:04:14.460 Amen. 01:04:14.460 --> 01:04:15.460 Amen. 01:04:15.460 --> 01:04:16.460 Amen. 01:04:16.460 --> 01:04:17.460 Amen. 01:04:17.460 --> 01:04:19.460 Amen. 01:04:19.460 --> 01:04:20.460 Amen. 01:04:20.460 --> 01:04:21.460 Amen. 01:04:21.460 --> 01:04:22.460 Amen. 01:04:22.460 --> 01:04:23.460 Amen. 01:04:23.460 --> 01:04:24.460 Amen. 01:04:24.460 --> 01:04:24.519 Amen. 01:04:24.519 --> 01:04:25.139 Amen. 01:04:25.139 --> 01:04:26.519 Amen. 01:04:26.519 --> 01:04:26.579 Amen. 01:04:26.579 --> 01:04:26.599 Amen. 01:04:26.599 --> 01:04:26.639 Amen. 01:04:26.639 --> 01:04:26.659 Amen. 01:04:26.659 --> 01:04:27.199 Amen. 01:04:27.199 --> 01:04:28.179 Amen. 01:04:28.179 --> 01:04:33.659 Amen. 01:04:33.659 --> 01:04:35.859 Amen. 01:04:38.739 --> 01:04:44.819 Amen. 01:04:44.819 --> 01:04:46.759 Amen. 01:04:46.759 --> 01:04:55.079 Amen. 01:04:57.239 --> 01:04:57.639 Amen. 01:04:57.639 --> 01:05:03.420 To the Lord beyond 01:05:03.420 --> 01:05:12.420 And over patience is King 01:05:12.420 --> 01:05:21.500 The rich of all the earth will be 01:05:21.500 --> 01:05:29.739 And worship with an offering 01:05:29.739 --> 01:05:40.840 All those whose destiny is just 01:05:40.840 --> 01:05:49.820 Will happy Him before His throne 01:05:49.820 --> 01:05:59.120 They cannot keep themselves alive 01:05:59.120 --> 01:06:08.820 For they depend upon Him alone 01:06:08.820 --> 01:06:19.000 What's day which Heard will serve the Lord 01:06:19.000 --> 01:06:28.139 And generations still to come 01:06:28.139 --> 01:06:37.300 Will tell a people yet unborn 01:06:37.300 --> 01:06:46.600 The righteous hand that He has done 01:06:46.600 --> 01:06:50.580 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ 01:06:50.580 --> 01:06:52.340 The love of God, the Father 01:06:52.340 --> 01:06:53.740 And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit 01:06:53.740 --> 01:06:56.019 Be with you all now and forevermore 01:06:56.019 --> 01:06:56.600 Amen 01:06:56.599 --> 01:06:57.339 Amen