WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.720 Well, we begin by Psalm 106, singing Psalm 106 in the Scottish Psalter. That's page 378, 00:00:09.200 --> 00:00:11.580 verses 1 to 5, the tune of St. David. 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:18.760 Give praise and thanks unto the Lord, for bountiful is he. His tender mercy doth endure 00:00:18.760 --> 00:00:24.519 unto eternity. God's mighty works who can express or show forth all his praise. 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:32.000 Blessed are they that judgment keep and justly do always. Remember me, Lord, with that love which 00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:39.159 thou to thine dost bear. With thy salvation, O my God, to visit me draw near, that I thy chosen's 00:00:39.159 --> 00:00:47.000 good may see, and in their joy rejoice, and may with thine inheritance triumph with cheerful voice. 00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:54.079 Here's the psalmist's expression of praise to God and thankfulness that he belongs to God's people, 00:00:54.079 --> 00:01:00.839 God's worshipping people, God's believing people, and he wishes God to answer his prayer so that 00:01:00.839 --> 00:01:08.340 he will see more of the good that belongs to them from God. So these verses give praise and thanks 00:01:08.340 --> 00:01:09.540 unto the Lord. 00:01:09.540 --> 00:01:09.579 Amen. 00:01:09.579 --> 00:01:09.600 Give praise and thanks unto the Lord. 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:30.780 Give praise and thanks unto the Lord, for bountiful is he. 00:01:30.780 --> 00:01:31.620 God's Suddenly, watch and thanks unto the Lord. 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:32.939 Him that wasочаровating. 00:01:32.980 --> 00:01:45.760 God's tender mercy, thou can endure, unto eternity. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.760 God's mighty works to perish once great Christ, forhold she'll for glory. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:02:05.060 The St. Gospel, Osnore! 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:37.419 Remember me, Lord, without love, which thou doest I not care. 00:02:37.419 --> 00:02:54.519 Let thy salvation, O my God, to visit me all near. 00:02:54.520 --> 00:03:11.520 That I thy chosen stood facing, and in their joy rejoice. 00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:28.780 And live with thy inheritance, by thy wretched voice. 00:03:31.540 --> 00:03:34.840 Let's unite together now in prayer. Let's call upon the Lord in prayer. 00:03:34.840 --> 00:03:35.840 Amen. 00:03:38.620 --> 00:03:45.099 Gracious and almighty God, we give thanks tonight as we gather together in your name 00:03:45.099 --> 00:03:48.879 for the privilege we have of belonging to your people. 00:03:49.920 --> 00:03:53.439 Belonging to that people in this world who confess you as their God, 00:03:53.879 --> 00:03:58.480 who seek to live their life in a way which pleases you, 00:03:59.219 --> 00:04:03.420 and which seeks to follow the directions you have given us in your word. 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:09.759 A people especially who value, Lord, your contribution toward us for our well-being 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:11.819 in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.579 We thank you tonight for him in whose name we come. 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:21.019 We bless you for his perfection, for all that he has done and continues to do, 00:04:21.079 --> 00:04:24.199 and will yet do, in the redemption of his people. 00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:28.819 We give thanks, Lord, for the gladness that we know in our hearts 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:31.139 as we belong to your people. 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:36.159 We give thanks for every opportunity to be together to praise your name 00:04:36.159 --> 00:04:40.240 and to seek to encourage one another in the things of God. 00:04:40.979 --> 00:04:45.680 We thank you tonight for the way in which you present yourself to us in the gospel 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:48.979 as a God who is mighty to save, 00:04:49.839 --> 00:04:51.659 a God who is unlike any other, 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:55.560 one who is in yourself utterly different, 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:01.699 and yet in many ways has come to show your likeness to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:06.259 We give thanks, O Lord, for all that you are to your people, 00:05:06.939 --> 00:05:09.579 for the way that you encourage us along life's way, 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:15.300 for the way especially that you continue to offer yourself to us in the gospel 00:05:15.300 --> 00:05:20.720 as one who is able to do for us exceeding abundantly 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.540 above what we are able to ask or think. 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.220 Lord, help us to believe these things. 00:05:26.900 --> 00:05:29.520 Help us to apply them to our lives each day we live. 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:34.740 Enable us to see our life individually and as a congregation 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:38.639 set under the terms and provisions of your word 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.560 and set in relation to a life that seeks to please you 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:44.519 and to live in obedience to you. 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:47.360 Bless us, we pray, Lord, here tonight. 00:05:48.139 --> 00:05:49.259 Bless to us your word. 00:05:49.419 --> 00:05:53.180 May your Holy Spirit be evident in blessing your word to our hearts. 00:05:53.979 --> 00:05:57.099 Open up our minds anew that we may understand your word, 00:05:57.479 --> 00:06:02.240 that we may come, Lord, to receive it once more into our minds to be enlightened. 00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:05.039 We need your Spirit to teach us. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:08.620 We need your Spirit, Lord, to guide us on the way through life. 00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:11.279 We need your Spirit to sanctify us. 00:06:11.779 --> 00:06:14.000 We need your Spirit to enable us to benefit 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:18.819 even from those events in providence that you have chosen for us. 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:22.719 And for all of these ways, O Lord, we commit ourselves to you 00:06:22.719 --> 00:06:24.919 as we come before you this evening. 00:06:25.639 --> 00:06:28.759 We ask, too, as we come with our thanksgiving, 00:06:29.300 --> 00:06:31.740 that you would hear us as we confess our sins. 00:06:32.379 --> 00:06:34.399 For, Lord, we do have sin to confess. 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.899 Indeed, we do come every day with our sin to confess it to you. 00:06:39.779 --> 00:06:43.919 And we acknowledge that we need to know that forgiveness of sin 00:06:43.919 --> 00:06:46.620 which you alone are able to bestow. 00:06:47.359 --> 00:06:49.000 We thank you for that forgiveness. 00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:51.980 That you are a God of abundant pardon. 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:57.759 A God who has promised that the sin of your people you will remember no more. 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:00.939 But when you cover our sins from your sight, 00:07:01.759 --> 00:07:04.500 you tell us in your word that they are covered completely. 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:09.240 That they will never again rise to accuse us before your face. 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:14.300 And yet we are conscious, Lord, that we do commit our sin against you 00:07:14.300 --> 00:07:19.500 in ways in which we fail each and every day to be the kind of people, 00:07:19.600 --> 00:07:21.620 inwardly and outwardly, that we ought to be. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:26.300 Lord, we ask that you would continue to bless us in our mind, 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.600 in our speech, in our visible life. 00:07:30.400 --> 00:07:34.600 Help us, we pray, to seek to live that holy life, 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:36.780 that life dedicated to you, 00:07:36.860 --> 00:07:40.680 that life that would seek to be in your likeness 00:07:40.680 --> 00:07:43.680 as we live amongst our fellow human beings. 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.120 We thank you for the privilege of witnessing to you 00:07:47.120 --> 00:07:49.280 and for you in this world. 00:07:50.100 --> 00:07:55.040 We bless you, Lord, that in your own particular promises to your people, 00:07:56.080 --> 00:07:57.980 your promise is that you would keep them, 00:07:58.540 --> 00:08:00.180 keep them from the evil one. 00:08:00.860 --> 00:08:02.160 We pray that you would do so, 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.780 that when we know of the workings of our own hearts 00:08:05.780 --> 00:08:09.920 and especially of the way in which the enemy of our soul, 00:08:10.100 --> 00:08:14.400 Satan, comes to stimulate what is still within us of our sinfulness. 00:08:15.400 --> 00:08:19.060 Oh, Lord, we ask that you would help us to resist that, 00:08:19.180 --> 00:08:22.200 to resist him in the faith, as your word tells us, 00:08:22.460 --> 00:08:23.940 that he may flee from us. 00:08:24.820 --> 00:08:27.800 And we thank you for all your protective care of us, 00:08:28.360 --> 00:08:30.680 for the ways in which, oh, Lord, you lead us, 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:33.299 even at times without our notice. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:35.680 Yet when we reflect on life, 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:37.960 we can see how you have kept us, 00:08:38.039 --> 00:08:39.240 how you have directed us, 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:41.620 how you have dealt with us at times 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:44.539 when we ourselves have not been conscious of it. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:47.480 Oh, Lord, your goodness to us is so great. 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:49.919 Your goodness extends to us 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:52.259 in every single aspect of life. 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:57.240 And we pray that you would continue to enable us to appreciate this 00:08:57.240 --> 00:09:00.960 and so to depend upon you all the more day by day. 00:09:01.659 --> 00:09:04.340 Bless us in our congregational life, we pray, oh, Lord. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.059 Bless all that we seek to do in your name, 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.980 not only in these times of worship services, 00:09:10.319 --> 00:09:14.120 but also the other activities in which we engage as a congregation. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:16.740 Lord, remember these activities. 00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.139 Remember the work that goes on amongst our young people, 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:21.379 right down to the youngest, 00:09:21.899 --> 00:09:23.820 and through to those who are approaching adulthood. 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.500 We pray that your blessing will accompany 00:09:26.500 --> 00:09:29.980 all the efforts made to teach them the things of God. 00:09:30.899 --> 00:09:32.519 Bless, we pray, our homes, 00:09:32.899 --> 00:09:33.639 our families, 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:35.320 all our extended families. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:39.100 Bless those of them who may not be of a mind 00:09:39.100 --> 00:09:41.540 to come to attend the services 00:09:41.540 --> 00:09:43.800 or even attend online 00:09:43.800 --> 00:09:46.019 and watch by that means. 00:09:46.180 --> 00:09:47.860 We pray, Lord, for them. 00:09:47.980 --> 00:09:49.920 We pray for all whom we know 00:09:49.920 --> 00:09:52.279 are not interested in these things just now. 00:09:52.779 --> 00:09:55.460 We pray that you would draw their hearts to yourself. 00:09:56.200 --> 00:09:59.080 We pray that your Holy Spirit may reach forth 00:09:59.080 --> 00:10:00.360 and claim their minds 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:02.700 and give to them to see, oh, Lord, 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.660 the abundance of blessing and of life 00:10:05.660 --> 00:10:08.480 that lies in the promises of the gospel 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:10.620 to all who trust in you. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.800 We pray for those of our number tonight 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:14.340 who are ill. 00:10:14.460 --> 00:10:15.759 We ask that you'd bless them. 00:10:16.340 --> 00:10:18.080 Those who have been long-term ill, 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.680 those whose faculties have failed 00:10:21.680 --> 00:10:23.279 over many years sometimes. 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:26.560 Lord, for many years, 00:10:26.779 --> 00:10:28.519 a burden to their families. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:31.139 We pray that you'll bless the families 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:33.759 of those who are so affected long-term. 00:10:34.539 --> 00:10:36.800 We ask that you'll bless them themselves 00:10:36.800 --> 00:10:37.940 in their time of illness. 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.279 We pray that you'll bless those 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:41.800 with mental health issues. 00:10:42.300 --> 00:10:44.120 We thank you for the provision 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:46.100 made for us in our community. 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:48.580 We pray that those who provide that 00:10:48.580 --> 00:10:49.340 will be blessed. 00:10:50.340 --> 00:10:52.100 We pray that you'll bless those suffering 00:10:52.100 --> 00:10:54.399 from various kinds of addiction. 00:10:55.259 --> 00:10:57.259 Lord, be merciful to them and bless them. 00:10:57.899 --> 00:10:59.659 And again, bless the agencies, Lord, 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:01.879 that are seeking to bring them help. 00:11:02.340 --> 00:11:04.539 We pray that that may be effective for them. 00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:06.759 We pray for all our care homes, 00:11:07.219 --> 00:11:08.339 all in the hospital, 00:11:08.959 --> 00:11:10.099 all in the hospice. 00:11:10.500 --> 00:11:12.099 We pray that you'll bless them 00:11:12.099 --> 00:11:13.559 and bless the provision made 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:15.599 for us there in our time of need. 00:11:16.059 --> 00:11:18.240 We pray for all in our community, Lord, 00:11:18.339 --> 00:11:20.399 who help at various times, 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:21.759 the emergency services, 00:11:22.459 --> 00:11:23.579 the police service, 00:11:23.580 --> 00:11:25.600 and all other agencies, Lord, 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:29.379 who help with different kinds of aid to us 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:30.480 in our times of need. 00:11:31.100 --> 00:11:33.620 We pray for those who visit in our homes. 00:11:34.259 --> 00:11:36.259 We ask that you'd grant your blessing, 00:11:36.379 --> 00:11:36.820 O Lord, 00:11:37.520 --> 00:11:41.700 to all who come with the different types of care 00:11:41.700 --> 00:11:43.320 that they minister to us. 00:11:43.320 --> 00:11:45.700 And we pray that you'd bless, 00:11:45.800 --> 00:11:46.840 to that end, 00:11:46.920 --> 00:11:48.660 Macmillan Nurses and Crossroads 00:11:48.660 --> 00:11:50.840 and every other agency, Lord, 00:11:50.920 --> 00:11:53.300 that helps us in our times of need. 00:11:53.900 --> 00:11:56.400 We ask that you would continue 00:11:56.400 --> 00:11:58.379 to watch over us as a community. 00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.000 We pray that you would bless the gospel, 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:02.300 especially amongst us. 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:05.120 We pray that throughout our land, O Lord, 00:12:05.620 --> 00:12:07.380 as we appeal to you for your blessing, 00:12:07.960 --> 00:12:10.220 that we would see many turning into your ways 00:12:10.220 --> 00:12:12.519 and being turned by the power of Christ 00:12:12.519 --> 00:12:14.399 into the ways of life. 00:12:15.100 --> 00:12:16.779 Remember our government, we pray. 00:12:17.460 --> 00:12:18.420 And remember, we pray, 00:12:18.540 --> 00:12:21.860 those who are ruling over us in different ways. 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:23.540 We pray for our King. 00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:26.379 We pray for all that he seeks 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:29.200 to live out in his own life. 00:12:29.580 --> 00:12:30.820 We pray for him this time, 00:12:30.879 --> 00:12:32.019 in his time of illness, 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:34.360 and for the Princess of Wales. 00:12:34.580 --> 00:12:36.500 We commend them to you, O Lord. 00:12:37.060 --> 00:12:40.120 We pray that they may indeed be an example to us 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:40.700 as a people. 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:42.879 We pray for the cabinet. 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.580 We pray for the government in Westminster, 00:12:45.799 --> 00:12:48.460 for those in Edinburgh as well. 00:12:48.539 --> 00:12:50.980 We ask, Lord, that your blessing 00:12:50.980 --> 00:12:51.899 would be upon them 00:12:51.899 --> 00:12:54.840 to lead them into the ways of your truth. 00:12:55.799 --> 00:12:58.240 And we do pray that you would help those 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.360 who stand for your truth in our parliament 00:13:00.360 --> 00:13:03.360 and in our other public bodies as well. 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:05.980 We pray that you would grant to us, O Lord, 00:13:05.980 --> 00:13:08.860 that we may see days of prosperity, 00:13:09.420 --> 00:13:10.500 morally and spiritually, 00:13:11.180 --> 00:13:12.940 in place of so much that we see 00:13:12.940 --> 00:13:14.379 that is offensive to you. 00:13:14.980 --> 00:13:16.840 Be merciful to us, Lord, we pray. 00:13:17.560 --> 00:13:18.740 Hear us then in our prayer 00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:20.019 and continue with us now, 00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:21.580 for Jesus' sake. 00:13:21.779 --> 00:13:22.080 Amen. 00:13:24.580 --> 00:13:26.200 Let's sing further to God's praise, 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:28.039 this time in Psalm 119. 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:33.500 119 and sing Psalms on page 159. 00:13:35.120 --> 00:13:38.360 That's that section beginning at verse 33. 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:41.740 Teach me to follow your decrees, 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:43.759 then I will keep them to the end. 00:13:44.459 --> 00:13:46.459 Give insight and I'll keep your law 00:13:46.459 --> 00:13:49.019 with all my heart to it attend. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:49.819 We're saying to the tune, 00:13:49.899 --> 00:13:52.579 Herongate, verses 33 to 40. 00:13:52.699 --> 00:13:55.120 Teach me to follow your decrees. 00:13:55.120 --> 00:14:08.980 Teach me to follow your decrees, 00:14:08.980 --> 00:14:17.860 then I will keep them to the end. 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:24.940 Give insight from my king, 00:14:24.940 --> 00:14:26.940 with all my heart to it attend. 00:14:26.940 --> 00:14:34.940 With all my heart to it attend. 00:14:36.940 --> 00:14:45.940 Lead me in your, O mother's path, 00:14:45.940 --> 00:14:49.940 For there, O Lord, 00:14:49.940 --> 00:14:55.440 He might I find. 00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:59.940 In thine, my heart, 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:03.940 towards your loss. 00:15:03.940 --> 00:15:08.940 From selfish pain, 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:13.940 present my mind. 00:15:13.940 --> 00:15:23.940 O turn my eyes from worthless things. 00:15:23.940 --> 00:15:28.940 Give life, my Lord, 00:15:28.940 --> 00:15:32.940 into your word. 00:15:32.940 --> 00:15:34.940 To be your servant, 00:15:34.940 --> 00:15:38.940 To be your servant, 00:15:38.940 --> 00:15:42.940 Keep your flesh, 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:52.940 So that you may be feared, O Lord. 00:15:52.940 --> 00:16:02.940 Remove from me the shame, my friend. 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:06.940 Your loss, accept, 00:16:06.940 --> 00:16:11.940 Let the rightness. 00:16:11.940 --> 00:16:21.940 O how I long for your decrees, 00:16:21.940 --> 00:16:31.940 Preserve me in your righteousness. 00:16:31.940 --> 00:16:37.940 Let's turn now to read God's word in the gospel according to John. 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:41.940 And we're reading tonight from chapter 12, 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:43.940 beginning at verse 12. 00:16:43.940 --> 00:16:48.940 So as John's gospel, 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:49.940 Chapter 12, 00:16:49.940 --> 00:16:52.940 And from verse 12, 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:54.940 These are the events immediately following. 00:16:54.940 --> 00:16:58.940 Christ's raising of Lazarus in the previous chapter. 00:16:58.940 --> 00:17:02.940 So that these events follow on particularly from that. 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:05.940 So at chapter 12, verse 12, 00:17:05.940 --> 00:17:11.940 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. 00:17:11.940 --> 00:17:15.940 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:16.940 crying out, 00:17:16.940 --> 00:17:17.940 Hosanna! 00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:20.940 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, 00:17:20.940 --> 00:17:22.940 even the King of Israel. 00:17:22.940 --> 00:17:25.940 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, 00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:27.940 just as it is written, 00:17:27.940 --> 00:17:29.940 Fear not, daughter of Zion. 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:31.940 Behold, your king is coming, 00:17:31.940 --> 00:17:33.940 sitting on a donkey's colt. 00:17:33.940 --> 00:17:37.940 His disciples did not understand these things at first, 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:39.940 but when Jesus was glorified, 00:17:39.940 --> 00:17:43.940 then they remembered that these things had been written about him, 00:17:43.940 --> 00:17:45.940 and had been done to him. 00:17:45.940 --> 00:17:49.940 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb, 00:17:49.940 --> 00:17:52.940 and raised him from the dead, 00:17:52.940 --> 00:17:54.940 continued to bear witness. 00:17:54.940 --> 00:17:57.940 The reason why the crowd went out to meet him 00:17:57.940 --> 00:18:00.940 was that they had heard he had done this sign. 00:18:00.940 --> 00:18:02.940 So the Pharisees said to one another, 00:18:02.940 --> 00:18:05.940 You see that you are gaining nothing. 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:08.940 Look, the whole world has gone after him. 00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:13.940 Among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. 00:18:13.940 --> 00:18:17.940 So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida and Galilee, 00:18:17.940 --> 00:18:18.940 and asked him, 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:20.940 Sir, we wish to see Jesus. 00:18:20.940 --> 00:18:23.940 Philip went out and told Andrew. 00:18:23.940 --> 00:18:26.940 Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 00:18:26.940 --> 00:18:28.940 And Jesus answered them, 00:18:28.940 --> 00:18:32.940 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:18:32.940 --> 00:18:34.940 Truly, truly, I say to you, 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:38.940 unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:18:38.940 --> 00:18:40.940 it remains alone. 00:18:40.940 --> 00:18:43.940 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:18:43.940 --> 00:18:45.940 Whoever loves his life loses it, 00:18:45.940 --> 00:18:48.940 and whoever hates his life in this world 00:18:48.940 --> 00:18:51.940 will keep it for eternal life. 00:18:51.940 --> 00:18:54.940 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:18:54.940 --> 00:18:58.940 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:18:58.940 --> 00:19:03.940 If anyone serves me, the Father will honour him. 00:19:03.940 --> 00:19:08.940 And so on, may the Lord add his blessing once again to a reading of his word. 00:19:08.940 --> 00:19:11.940 And before we turn to this passage, let's sing again. 00:19:11.940 --> 00:19:14.940 And we're singing this time in Psalm 65. 00:19:14.940 --> 00:19:17.940 Psalm 65 in the Scottish Psalter. 00:19:17.940 --> 00:19:23.940 And that's on page 297, verses 1 to 5. 00:19:23.940 --> 00:19:28.940 To the end of the double, verse 5, at the Tunis Free Church. 00:19:28.940 --> 00:19:31.940 Praise waits for thee in Sion, Lord. 00:19:31.940 --> 00:19:33.940 To thee vows paid shall be. 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:35.940 O thou that hear art of prayer, 00:19:35.940 --> 00:19:38.940 all flesh shall come to thee. 00:19:38.940 --> 00:19:42.940 Iniquities, I must confess, prevail against me do. 00:19:42.940 --> 00:19:44.940 But as for our transgressions, 00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:48.940 then purge away shalt thou. 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:53.940 That's Psalm 65 from the beginning to God's praise. 00:19:53.940 --> 00:20:06.940 Praise wait for thee in Sion, Lord. 00:20:06.940 --> 00:20:13.940 To thee must win shall be. 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:22.940 O thou that hear art of prayer, 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:23.940 O thou that hear art of prayer, 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:25.940 all flesh shall come to thee. 00:20:25.940 --> 00:20:29.940 All flesh shall come to thee. 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:35.940 Iniquities, I must confess, 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:43.940 V Sacramento in Sion, 00:20:43.940 --> 00:20:44.940 O stlect upon the 있어. 00:20:44.940 --> 00:20:45.940 All flesh shall be. 00:20:45.940 --> 00:21:04.340 But as for our transgressions, then purge our ancient love. 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:21.339 Blessed Son, whom thou dost choose, and makes thy approach to thee, 00:21:21.339 --> 00:21:38.339 That thee within thy works o'er, may still not ever be. 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:55.339 We surely shall be satisfied with high upon the grace, 00:21:55.339 --> 00:22:13.339 And with the goodness of thy hands, in all thy holy grace. 00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:29.339 O God of our salvation, thou with my might justness, 00:22:29.339 --> 00:22:39.339 Thy fearful words come to thy praise, 00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:47.339 Thine answer thus express. 00:22:47.339 --> 00:23:04.339 Therefore the age of all the earth, and those that are that thee, 00:23:04.339 --> 00:23:22.339 Have all the seed, their confidence, O Lord, well placed in thee. 00:23:22.339 --> 00:23:24.339 Amen. 00:23:24.339 --> 00:23:28.339 Please turn with me now to John chapter 12. 00:23:28.339 --> 00:23:31.339 John chapter 12. 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:34.339 And tonight we're looking at verses 24 and 25, 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:38.339 Especially in that context of the paragraph there, 00:23:38.339 --> 00:23:41.339 In which we find these verses. 00:23:43.339 --> 00:23:45.339 Truly, truly, I say to you, 00:23:45.339 --> 00:23:48.339 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:23:48.339 --> 00:23:50.339 It remains alone. 00:23:50.339 --> 00:23:53.339 But if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. 00:23:53.339 --> 00:23:58.339 Whoever loves his life loses it. 00:23:58.339 --> 00:24:03.339 Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 00:24:03.339 --> 00:24:06.339 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:24:06.339 --> 00:24:09.339 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:24:09.339 --> 00:24:14.339 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:24:14.339 --> 00:24:20.339 Well, here is a principle that's built into the very fabric of the creation. 00:24:20.339 --> 00:24:22.339 What principle is that? 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:31.339 The principle that's in verse 24 of a seed falling into the ground and dying in order to bring forth more fruit, 00:24:31.339 --> 00:24:33.339 More like its own kind. 00:24:33.339 --> 00:24:36.339 And that's built into the creation. 00:24:36.339 --> 00:24:38.339 Whatever you see seed being planted, 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:40.339 Whatever kind of seed it is, 00:24:40.339 --> 00:24:43.339 Whether it's just a potato, 00:24:43.339 --> 00:24:47.339 Any other type of seed that's actually sown like that, 00:24:47.339 --> 00:24:49.339 In order to produce the crop, 00:24:49.339 --> 00:24:52.339 That seed itself firstly has to die. 00:24:52.339 --> 00:24:55.339 And in order to bring forth the crop, 00:24:55.339 --> 00:24:57.339 That death is, in a sense, 00:24:57.339 --> 00:25:03.339 The means through which the following responding life takes place. 00:25:03.339 --> 00:25:07.339 And Jesus is applying that here spiritually, 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:09.339 Obviously, in the way he speaks. 00:25:09.339 --> 00:25:13.339 Here is Jesus applying it, as we'll see, 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:17.339 To himself, but also to his disciples or to his followers. 00:25:17.339 --> 00:25:22.339 It's a response to the request of these Greeks. 00:25:22.339 --> 00:25:24.339 We're not told to exactly the word. 00:25:24.339 --> 00:25:26.339 They were probably proselytes, 00:25:26.339 --> 00:25:28.339 Those who had joined the Hebrew faith, 00:25:28.339 --> 00:25:31.339 But belonged not to the Jews exactly, 00:25:31.339 --> 00:25:33.339 In terms of their ancestry. 00:25:33.339 --> 00:25:36.339 But in any case, they came with this request. 00:25:36.339 --> 00:25:38.339 And they came to Philip, 00:25:38.339 --> 00:25:41.339 Sir, we wish to see Jesus. 00:25:41.339 --> 00:25:43.339 And Jesus was stimulated, 00:25:43.339 --> 00:25:45.339 As that was reported back to him. 00:25:45.339 --> 00:25:48.339 And his response to that was in these verses you find, 00:25:48.339 --> 00:25:50.339 From verse 23. 00:25:50.339 --> 00:25:53.339 Now when they asked to see Jesus, 00:25:53.339 --> 00:25:57.339 It's important that we actually understand what they meant, 00:25:57.339 --> 00:25:59.339 Or what these verses entail, 00:25:59.339 --> 00:26:00.339 What these words entail. 00:26:00.339 --> 00:26:01.339 When they said, 00:26:01.339 --> 00:26:04.339 See, sir, we would see Jesus. 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:05.339 Words literally mean, 00:26:05.339 --> 00:26:07.339 We would want to meet with him. 00:26:07.339 --> 00:26:09.339 We'd want to have a conversation with him. 00:26:09.339 --> 00:26:13.339 Not just see him in terms of him passing at a distance, 00:26:13.339 --> 00:26:15.339 Or coming to pass near us. 00:26:15.339 --> 00:26:18.339 Or that we might just see him visibly with our eyes. 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:22.339 The word that's used here in the verse is actually to see, 00:26:22.339 --> 00:26:24.339 In a way that holds conversation, 00:26:24.339 --> 00:26:28.339 That has a proper type of fellowship, 00:26:28.339 --> 00:26:30.339 Or communion with, 00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:32.339 Or an actual relationship that way. 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:35.339 We want to see him in that sense physically. 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:38.339 And have conversation with him. 00:26:38.339 --> 00:26:42.339 And that's important as a theme in John's Gospel. 00:26:42.339 --> 00:26:44.339 Remember throughout this Gospel, 00:26:44.339 --> 00:26:46.339 As you follow the teaching of the Gospel, 00:26:46.339 --> 00:26:50.339 And the framework that John has used for his Gospel. 00:26:50.339 --> 00:26:54.339 Chapter 3 has the interview with Nicodemus. 00:26:54.339 --> 00:26:56.339 Nicodemus came to see Jesus, 00:26:56.339 --> 00:26:58.339 Who he was. 00:26:58.339 --> 00:26:59.339 And he met with him. 00:26:59.339 --> 00:27:01.339 And he had conversation with him. 00:27:01.339 --> 00:27:03.339 And it began a change in his life. 00:27:03.339 --> 00:27:04.339 Chapter 4, 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:06.339 You're immediately into another interview, 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:10.339 Where the woman of Samaria meets with Jesus at the well. 00:27:10.339 --> 00:27:12.339 Where she has conversation with him. 00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:16.339 Where he reveals himself to her as the promised Messiah. 00:27:16.339 --> 00:27:18.339 And you go forward like that to chapter 4. 00:27:18.339 --> 00:27:20.339 In the later part of the chapter, 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:22.339 She went back to her own hometown. 00:27:22.339 --> 00:27:24.339 She told him what had happened to her. 00:27:24.339 --> 00:27:27.339 Many people from that town came out towards where Jesus was. 00:27:27.339 --> 00:27:30.339 And they eventually ended up saying to the woman, 00:27:30.339 --> 00:27:32.339 Now we believe, not because of your word, 00:27:32.339 --> 00:27:35.339 Because we have heard him ourselves. 00:27:35.339 --> 00:27:37.339 They came to see him. 00:27:37.339 --> 00:27:39.339 They came to have conversation with him. 00:27:39.339 --> 00:27:41.339 And of course, chapter 21, 00:27:41.339 --> 00:27:43.339 Near the end of the Gospel, 00:27:43.339 --> 00:27:45.339 You have that great interview with Peter, 00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:49.339 Following his sorry lapse in denying the Lord. 00:27:49.339 --> 00:27:51.339 And there is his restoration. 00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:54.339 And Jesus meeting with him. 00:27:54.339 --> 00:27:55.339 His interview with Jesus. 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:59.339 And being questioned in terms of his love for Jesus. 00:27:59.339 --> 00:28:01.339 Do you love me more than these? 00:28:01.339 --> 00:28:02.339 And so on. 00:28:02.339 --> 00:28:04.339 So all the way through the framework of John's Gospel, 00:28:04.339 --> 00:28:08.339 You have this whole theme of meeting with Jesus, 00:28:08.339 --> 00:28:13.339 Seeing Jesus in that very personal sense of coming to have interview 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:15.339 Or conversation with him. 00:28:15.339 --> 00:28:16.339 And that's what these Greeks actually, 00:28:16.339 --> 00:28:17.339 That's what these words, 00:28:17.339 --> 00:28:19.339 In the way John records them for us, 00:28:19.339 --> 00:28:21.339 Are brought out in their meaning. 00:28:21.339 --> 00:28:24.339 So we would wish to see Jesus. 00:28:25.339 --> 00:28:28.339 In 1956, I think it was, 00:28:28.339 --> 00:28:30.339 The Queen, late Queen Elizabeth II, 00:28:30.339 --> 00:28:34.339 Came to the island here, to Stornoway. 00:28:34.339 --> 00:28:37.339 And visited a number of places, 00:28:37.339 --> 00:28:39.339 As often of course she did. 00:28:39.339 --> 00:28:42.339 But if you wanted to see the Queen, 00:28:42.339 --> 00:28:44.339 You could stand in the crowd, 00:28:44.339 --> 00:28:46.339 Where she was passing by in the car, 00:28:46.339 --> 00:28:47.339 Wherever that would be, 00:28:47.339 --> 00:28:49.339 In the town or in the precinct somewhere. 00:28:49.339 --> 00:28:51.339 And you could be, 00:28:51.339 --> 00:28:52.339 You would be able to say, 00:28:52.339 --> 00:28:53.339 Yes, I saw her. 00:28:53.339 --> 00:28:55.339 She passed by and she was quite close to me. 00:28:55.339 --> 00:28:59.339 But she actually went into a house in Garibust. 00:28:59.339 --> 00:29:02.339 A small, low cottage. 00:29:02.339 --> 00:29:05.339 And she had, if I remember rightly, 00:29:05.339 --> 00:29:07.339 She had tea and scones, 00:29:07.339 --> 00:29:09.339 With a lady in that house. 00:29:09.339 --> 00:29:11.339 And if you asked that lady in the house, 00:29:11.339 --> 00:29:13.339 Did you see the Queen? 00:29:13.339 --> 00:29:17.339 Well her response would be different, 00:29:17.339 --> 00:29:21.339 To the sight of those who had just seen her passing in the car. 00:29:21.339 --> 00:29:22.339 Because that lady would be able to say, 00:29:22.339 --> 00:29:23.339 Yes, I saw her. 00:29:23.339 --> 00:29:24.339 I actually spoke to her. 00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:26.339 She had conversation with me. 00:29:26.339 --> 00:29:27.339 She came into my home. 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:30.339 We shared tea and scones together. 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:32.339 That's the seeing, 00:29:32.339 --> 00:29:33.339 The kind of seeing, 00:29:33.339 --> 00:29:36.339 The personal fellowship type of seeing, 00:29:36.339 --> 00:29:38.339 That's so important for us. 00:29:38.339 --> 00:29:41.339 We all see Jesus in that sense in which 00:29:41.339 --> 00:29:43.339 He's passing before us in the Gospel, 00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:45.339 In the teaching of the Bible. 00:29:45.339 --> 00:29:48.339 But what's important for us tonight is, 00:29:48.339 --> 00:29:50.339 Do we see Him? 00:29:50.339 --> 00:29:52.339 How we come to see Him personally, 00:29:52.339 --> 00:29:54.339 In terms of coming to Him, 00:29:54.339 --> 00:29:56.339 Having an interview with Him, 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:57.339 Him speaking to us, 00:29:57.339 --> 00:29:58.339 And we speaking to Him, 00:29:58.339 --> 00:30:00.339 Or placing our trust in Him, 00:30:00.339 --> 00:30:03.339 And knowing His response through the Scriptures, 00:30:03.339 --> 00:30:05.339 Coming to hear His promises, 00:30:05.339 --> 00:30:06.339 Laid on our hearts, 00:30:06.339 --> 00:30:09.339 Coming to have a conversation with Him every day, 00:30:09.339 --> 00:30:10.339 Prayerfully. 00:30:10.339 --> 00:30:13.339 Is that how you have heard? 00:30:13.339 --> 00:30:15.339 Is that how you see Jesus tonight? 00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:20.339 Because that's really what's so important. 00:30:20.339 --> 00:30:29.339 That personal, intimate, conversation, sight, experience of Jesus. 00:30:29.339 --> 00:30:32.339 Well, that's what these Greeks were after, 00:30:32.339 --> 00:30:35.339 So we would wish to see Jesus. 00:30:35.339 --> 00:30:38.339 We want to come and speak with Him. 00:30:38.339 --> 00:30:40.339 And this is the response of Jesus, 00:30:40.339 --> 00:30:45.339 Where this principle then is brought out of death that leads to life. 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:48.339 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:30:48.339 --> 00:30:50.339 Truly, truly, I say to you, 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:52.339 Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:30:52.339 --> 00:30:54.339 It remains alone. 00:30:54.339 --> 00:30:56.339 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:30:56.339 --> 00:30:59.339 Now, He's talking there about the hour that has come. 00:30:59.339 --> 00:31:02.339 He's applying that principle, first of all, to Himself. 00:31:02.339 --> 00:31:04.339 So the disciples will carry this with them 00:31:04.339 --> 00:31:06.339 As He goes onwards in His journey 00:31:06.339 --> 00:31:08.339 And approaches His death, 00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:10.339 Followed by His resurrection, 00:31:10.339 --> 00:31:12.339 Followed by His ascension to glory. 00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:13.339 They will bear these things in mind, 00:31:13.339 --> 00:31:15.339 As we read in this passage. 00:31:15.339 --> 00:31:19.339 They remembered these things were written and done by Him, 00:31:19.339 --> 00:31:20.339 And about Him, 00:31:20.339 --> 00:31:22.339 After He was glorified. 00:31:22.339 --> 00:31:23.339 They were written about Him, 00:31:23.339 --> 00:31:25.339 And had seen what He had done. 00:31:25.339 --> 00:31:27.339 And these verses, these words came back to them. 00:31:27.339 --> 00:31:29.339 So here they are, 00:31:29.339 --> 00:31:31.339 And Jesus is saying to them, 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:35.339 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:31:35.339 --> 00:31:37.339 The Son of Man is Himself. 00:31:37.339 --> 00:31:40.339 It's Jesus Himself that's speaking about Himself 00:31:40.339 --> 00:31:42.339 When He speaks about the Son of Man. 00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:46.339 And it's not just an emphasis on His humanity, 00:31:46.339 --> 00:31:49.339 On His human nature that's involved in it. 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:52.339 But if you go to the prophecy of Daniel, 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:54.339 Where you get that imagery of the Son of Man, 00:31:54.339 --> 00:31:57.339 The Son of Man there is a divine figure, 00:31:57.339 --> 00:32:00.339 Who has divine qualities. 00:32:00.339 --> 00:32:04.339 And so you don't just confine it when you come across Jesus saying, 00:32:04.339 --> 00:32:07.339 The Son of Man by which He means Himself. 00:32:07.339 --> 00:32:10.339 He doesn't just mean myself as a human being. 00:32:10.339 --> 00:32:12.339 He means the person that I am. 00:32:12.339 --> 00:32:15.339 The God-man that I now am. 00:32:15.339 --> 00:32:17.339 Anyway, He's saying, 00:32:17.339 --> 00:32:20.339 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:22.339 And it's interesting in John. 00:32:22.339 --> 00:32:26.339 This, of course, is not an hour on the clock as such. 00:32:26.339 --> 00:32:33.339 What John means by the hour is the fulfillment of the promises that were made long before this. 00:32:33.339 --> 00:32:37.339 The hour that was always anticipated in the program of God. 00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:38.339 The hour of redemption. 00:32:38.339 --> 00:32:41.339 The hour of the Son of Man, the Messiah coming, 00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:44.339 And accomplishing the work that was given Him to do. 00:32:44.339 --> 00:32:46.339 That hour, He says, has come. 00:32:46.339 --> 00:32:47.339 It's here. 00:32:47.339 --> 00:32:50.339 It's now in the history of the world arrived. 00:32:50.339 --> 00:32:54.339 That the Son of Man should be glorified. 00:32:54.339 --> 00:32:58.339 And it's interesting that John, when he speaks about Jesus being glorified, 00:32:58.339 --> 00:33:07.339 It's as if he includes the death and resurrection and ascension of glory into glory of Jesus all in one. 00:33:07.339 --> 00:33:13.339 So, although these events themselves are indeed separate events or individual events, 00:33:13.339 --> 00:33:18.339 They're not separate in the sense in which you can just leave them separated from each other. 00:33:18.339 --> 00:33:20.339 There's an intimate connection. 00:33:20.339 --> 00:33:26.339 Indeed, John regards that in his gospel as one indivisible process, 00:33:26.339 --> 00:33:29.339 Beginning with Christ's entry into the world, 00:33:29.339 --> 00:33:32.339 Ending with His ascension back to glory, 00:33:32.339 --> 00:33:35.339 To be with the Father, as he says in chapter 17. 00:33:35.339 --> 00:33:38.339 So that here is what he's saying, 00:33:38.339 --> 00:33:41.339 The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, 00:33:41.339 --> 00:33:47.339 To die, to rise from the dead, and to ascend to heaven. 00:33:47.339 --> 00:33:50.339 The hour has come. 00:33:50.339 --> 00:33:52.339 And then he says, 00:33:52.339 --> 00:33:57.339 For except a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, 00:33:57.339 --> 00:34:03.339 It remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:34:03.339 --> 00:34:07.339 Now you go forward to verse 32 or so in the chapter, 00:34:07.339 --> 00:34:11.340 And you'll see a little bit of expansion on that, 00:34:11.340 --> 00:34:14.340 Where you find Jesus saying, 00:34:14.340 --> 00:34:16.340 Now as a judgment of this world, 00:34:16.340 --> 00:34:18.340 I, when I am lifted up from the earth, 00:34:18.340 --> 00:34:20.340 Will draw all people to myself. 00:34:20.340 --> 00:34:26.340 He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die. 00:34:26.340 --> 00:34:30.340 Now that really means the inevitability of his death. 00:34:30.340 --> 00:34:33.340 It was inevitable that he would die, 00:34:33.340 --> 00:34:36.340 Because that's the purpose for which he came. 00:34:36.340 --> 00:34:39.340 To die, followed by being raised from the dead, 00:34:39.340 --> 00:34:41.340 And ascending to glory. 00:34:41.340 --> 00:34:44.340 That was the purpose of his time in the world. 00:34:44.340 --> 00:34:48.340 That was really the crux of the issue, if you like. 00:34:48.340 --> 00:34:49.340 And here he's saying, 00:34:49.340 --> 00:34:53.340 The hour has come for the necessity of his death. 00:34:53.340 --> 00:34:58.340 Now that's what's really built into the reference to the grain of wheat. 00:34:58.340 --> 00:35:03.340 Unless the grain of wheat dies, he says, it remains alone. 00:35:03.340 --> 00:35:05.340 And so Jesus is saying, 00:35:05.340 --> 00:35:09.340 It is necessary that this comes about. 00:35:09.340 --> 00:35:12.340 And because that is so with the grain of seed, 00:35:12.340 --> 00:35:14.340 It's also necessary for me. 00:35:14.340 --> 00:35:17.340 For the Son of Man to be glorified. 00:35:17.340 --> 00:35:19.340 For the Son of Man to die. 00:35:19.340 --> 00:35:23.340 To be raised from the dead, to ascend then to glory. 00:35:23.340 --> 00:35:28.340 In other words, he's emphasizing the necessity of the death of Jesus. 00:35:28.340 --> 00:35:33.340 Why would God send his Son into the world, 00:35:33.340 --> 00:35:37.340 If it wasn't absolutely necessary for him to come to die? 00:35:37.340 --> 00:35:40.340 Of course, the life of Jesus is inspirational. 00:35:40.340 --> 00:35:45.340 And some people have that view of the ministry of Jesus, 00:35:45.340 --> 00:35:47.340 And even of the death of Jesus, 00:35:47.340 --> 00:35:49.340 That it is inspirational. 00:35:49.340 --> 00:35:52.340 That because it's set out that way in the scriptures, 00:35:52.340 --> 00:35:55.340 People are inspired to follow that. 00:35:55.340 --> 00:35:57.340 And therefore that leads them into a Christian life. 00:35:57.340 --> 00:36:01.340 And therefore that's really the whole purpose of the gospel. 00:36:01.340 --> 00:36:03.340 Well, the purpose of the gospel, of course, 00:36:03.340 --> 00:36:05.340 Is that you and I will come to live a Christian life. 00:36:05.340 --> 00:36:07.340 We will come to be saved. 00:36:07.340 --> 00:36:13.340 But to be saved required far more than for us to be given a supreme example. 00:36:14.340 --> 00:36:18.340 There is the matter of our sin to be dealt with. 00:36:18.340 --> 00:36:21.340 And our sin is not dealt with, 00:36:21.340 --> 00:36:23.340 At least not adequately and properly, 00:36:23.340 --> 00:36:25.340 In the eyes of God, 00:36:25.340 --> 00:36:27.340 And in the demands of God, 00:36:27.340 --> 00:36:29.340 Our sin, our lostness, 00:36:29.340 --> 00:36:31.340 Our unrighteousness, all of that. 00:36:31.340 --> 00:36:33.340 It is not dealt with by God providing an example, 00:36:33.340 --> 00:36:37.340 But God providing an atonement. 00:36:37.340 --> 00:36:41.340 God providing us with the means by which he himself, 00:36:41.340 --> 00:36:43.340 Is reconciled to us. 00:36:43.340 --> 00:36:45.340 We to him. 00:36:45.340 --> 00:36:47.340 The death of Christ, 00:36:47.340 --> 00:36:49.340 The cross of Christ, 00:36:49.340 --> 00:36:51.340 The meaning of the cross being his death. 00:36:51.340 --> 00:36:53.340 In other words, 00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:55.340 When you think about the death of Jesus, 00:36:55.340 --> 00:36:59.340 When you think about the necessity of the death of Jesus, 00:36:59.340 --> 00:37:05.340 You immediately go to the gravity and the reality and the gravity, 00:37:05.340 --> 00:37:07.340 The seriousness of our sin. 00:37:07.340 --> 00:37:11.340 And when you think of the seriousness of our sin, 00:37:11.340 --> 00:37:13.340 And the way the Bible speaks of it, 00:37:13.340 --> 00:37:19.340 Then you are inevitably led to the necessity of the death of Jesus. 00:37:19.340 --> 00:37:22.340 Let me just take you to one passage in Hebrews, 00:37:22.340 --> 00:37:25.340 Hebrews chapter 9 and at verse 11, 00:37:25.340 --> 00:37:31.340 Where the writer is saying here how the death of Jesus, 00:37:31.340 --> 00:37:37.340 As it comes to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrifices, 00:37:37.340 --> 00:37:40.340 Which themselves could never take away sin. 00:37:40.340 --> 00:37:43.340 Here he is in verse 11 of chapter 9, 00:37:43.340 --> 00:37:48.340 When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, 00:37:48.340 --> 00:37:51.340 Then through the greater and more perfect tent, 00:37:51.340 --> 00:37:54.340 Not made with hands, that is not of this creation, 00:37:54.340 --> 00:37:57.340 He entered once for all into the holy places, 00:37:57.340 --> 00:38:00.340 Not by means of the blood of goats and calves, 00:38:00.340 --> 00:38:03.340 But by means of his own blood, 00:38:03.340 --> 00:38:07.340 Thus securing an eternal redemption. 00:38:07.340 --> 00:38:10.340 For if the sprinkling of defiled persons 00:38:10.340 --> 00:38:12.340 With the blood of goats and bulls, 00:38:12.340 --> 00:38:15.340 And with the ashes of a heifer sacrifices, 00:38:15.340 --> 00:38:17.340 For the purification of the flesh. 00:38:17.340 --> 00:38:20.340 How much more will the blood of Christ, 00:38:20.340 --> 00:38:25.340 Who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, 00:38:25.340 --> 00:38:28.340 Purify our conscience from dead works, 00:38:28.340 --> 00:38:31.340 To serve the living God. 00:38:31.340 --> 00:38:33.340 And later on in verse 22, 00:38:33.340 --> 00:38:35.340 He says under the law, 00:38:35.340 --> 00:38:38.340 Almost everything is purified with blood, 00:38:38.340 --> 00:38:41.340 And without the shedding of blood, 00:38:41.340 --> 00:38:45.340 There is no forgiveness of sins. 00:38:48.340 --> 00:38:55.340 It was necessary, from that point of view, that Jesus died. 00:38:55.340 --> 00:38:57.340 That he died the death of the cross. 00:38:57.340 --> 00:39:02.340 We are saved through the death of Christ. 00:39:02.340 --> 00:39:04.340 And it's this death, this type of death. 00:39:04.340 --> 00:39:07.340 Not just an example of a good life, 00:39:07.340 --> 00:39:09.340 Though that is, of course, the case with him. 00:39:09.340 --> 00:39:12.340 But the death that atoned for our sins. 00:39:12.340 --> 00:39:16.340 The death that brought about reconciliation with God. 00:39:16.340 --> 00:39:20.340 The death that actually propitiated the wrath of God. 00:39:20.340 --> 00:39:24.340 Unpopular though that view is. 00:39:24.340 --> 00:39:26.340 In today's theology. 00:39:26.340 --> 00:39:32.340 But that's what the Bible sets out for us at the heart of Christ's death, 00:39:32.340 --> 00:39:33.340 And of God's provision. 00:39:33.340 --> 00:39:36.340 The seed needed to die. 00:39:36.340 --> 00:39:39.340 Before the following crop could emerge. 00:39:39.340 --> 00:39:45.340 The Jesus who came to give himself to the death of the cross. 00:39:45.340 --> 00:39:48.340 From that point of view needed to die. 00:39:48.340 --> 00:39:52.340 For the crop of salvation, of righteousness. 00:39:52.340 --> 00:39:54.340 To become ours. 00:39:54.340 --> 00:39:58.340 And what a thought that is. 00:39:58.340 --> 00:40:00.340 What a thought that is. 00:40:00.340 --> 00:40:04.340 When you and I look at ourselves and realize. 00:40:04.340 --> 00:40:08.340 When God brings home to us the seriousness of our sin. 00:40:08.340 --> 00:40:10.340 Our rebellion against him. 00:40:10.340 --> 00:40:12.340 Our unworthiness of the least of his mercies. 00:40:12.340 --> 00:40:17.340 What a thought it is that he would send his own son into the world. 00:40:17.340 --> 00:40:21.340 To die this death of the cross. 00:40:21.340 --> 00:40:25.340 So that we could have through that death. 00:40:25.340 --> 00:40:27.340 An emerging crop of life. 00:40:27.340 --> 00:40:31.340 For us to participate in and enjoy. 00:40:31.340 --> 00:40:33.340 And have forever as eternal life. 00:40:33.340 --> 00:40:35.340 Except. 00:40:35.340 --> 00:40:39.340 The grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies. 00:40:39.340 --> 00:40:41.340 It remains alone. 00:40:41.340 --> 00:40:43.340 But if it dies, it bears much fruit. 00:40:43.340 --> 00:40:45.340 But then you see the image removes. 00:40:45.340 --> 00:40:47.340 Principle remains the same. 00:40:47.340 --> 00:40:51.340 But he now goes on to speak about his disciples or his followers. 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:55.340 Whoever loves his life loses it. 00:40:55.340 --> 00:40:59.340 And whoever hates his life in this world will keep it. 00:40:59.340 --> 00:41:01.340 For eternal life. 00:41:01.340 --> 00:41:04.340 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:41:04.340 --> 00:41:07.340 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:41:07.340 --> 00:41:09.340 Now notice what he's saying here. 00:41:09.340 --> 00:41:13.340 Whoever loves his life loses it or will lose it. 00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:17.340 Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life. 00:41:17.340 --> 00:41:19.340 Now what does he mean by that? 00:41:19.340 --> 00:41:23.340 What does Jesus mean by whoever loves his life loses it? 00:41:23.340 --> 00:41:25.340 It seems to be a bit of a contradiction, doesn't it? 00:41:25.340 --> 00:41:41.340 Well, I think it's something that you could explain by way of or bring light on it by way of Paul's words in Philippians chapter 3 and verses 17 to 18. 00:41:41.340 --> 00:41:50.340 Because there's the apostle being given his testimony here in chapter 3 and verse from the beginning there in verses 17. 00:41:50.340 --> 00:42:18.340 He says, 00:42:18.340 --> 00:42:23.340 And that's exactly the same as what Jesus is saying here in John chapter 12. 00:42:23.340 --> 00:42:33.340 Mind set on earthly things is loving your life in a way that just has your life directed by the things of this world. 00:42:33.340 --> 00:42:37.340 You're attached and so absorbed. 00:42:37.340 --> 00:42:50.340 People are absorbed and so attached to the present things, to the material things, to the financial things, to the present world things, that eternal life doesn't come into their reckoning, doesn't come into their mindset at all. 00:42:50.340 --> 00:42:57.340 As Paul said in Philippians 3, they mind earthly things, they're earthed, they're firmly grounded in the present only. 00:42:57.340 --> 00:43:00.340 But he says, 00:43:00.340 --> 00:43:03.340 But he says, our citizenship is in heaven. 00:43:03.340 --> 00:43:11.340 The mindset that is attached not to this world but to Jesus and to the unseen things of eternal life. 00:43:11.340 --> 00:43:18.340 You have the same thing exactly pretty much in Mark chapter 8. 00:43:18.340 --> 00:43:23.340 Remember that passage, Mark chapter 8, verses 34 to 37. 00:43:23.340 --> 00:43:28.340 It's the same imagery really pretty much that Jesus is using there. 00:43:28.340 --> 00:43:30.340 He said, 00:43:30.340 --> 00:43:51.340 Jesus is saying exactly the same thing in principle. 00:43:51.340 --> 00:44:00.340 You hold on to life as you have it, as it is naturally, as it is in your lostness, in your sinfulness, in your estrangement from God. 00:44:00.340 --> 00:44:01.340 Hold on to that. 00:44:01.340 --> 00:44:02.340 Live for that. 00:44:02.340 --> 00:44:03.340 Live for this world only. 00:44:03.340 --> 00:44:04.340 And you'll lose it. 00:44:04.340 --> 00:44:06.340 You'll never have eternal life. 00:44:08.340 --> 00:44:10.340 But in John he went on to say, 00:44:10.340 --> 00:44:14.340 Whoever hates his life in this world. 00:44:14.340 --> 00:44:19.340 Now that doesn't mean in an absolute way that you come to hate yourself. 00:44:19.340 --> 00:44:24.340 This is the language that really expresses things by way of contrasts. 00:44:24.340 --> 00:44:26.340 And what he's saying is, 00:44:26.340 --> 00:44:29.340 The opposite of loving your life, 00:44:29.340 --> 00:44:33.340 The opposite of being so attached to and absorbed by the things of this world, 00:44:33.340 --> 00:44:35.340 Is that you actually abase yourself. 00:44:35.340 --> 00:44:38.340 That you give yourself to a higher purpose. 00:44:38.340 --> 00:44:41.340 That you give yourself to Jesus especially. 00:44:41.340 --> 00:44:43.340 And to the pleasing of God. 00:44:43.340 --> 00:44:45.340 And in that sense, 00:44:45.340 --> 00:44:50.340 Whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 00:44:50.340 --> 00:44:52.340 Same thing as Mark chapter 8 there. 00:44:52.340 --> 00:44:56.340 Again, it's just virtually exactly the same. 00:44:56.340 --> 00:44:57.340 Whoever, 00:44:57.340 --> 00:44:59.340 Where he talks there about, 00:44:59.340 --> 00:45:01.340 If anyone would come after me, 00:45:01.340 --> 00:45:04.340 Let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 00:45:04.340 --> 00:45:05.340 You know, 00:45:05.340 --> 00:45:06.340 In those days, 00:45:06.340 --> 00:45:10.340 If you saw somebody who was sentenced to be crucified, 00:45:10.340 --> 00:45:14.340 Very often you'd find that person carrying the bar of the cross, 00:45:14.340 --> 00:45:18.340 The cross piece that would be attached to the cross, 00:45:18.340 --> 00:45:22.340 And would carry that as far as possible to the place of crucifixion. 00:45:22.340 --> 00:45:23.340 And you would say, 00:45:23.340 --> 00:45:24.340 Looking at that person, 00:45:24.340 --> 00:45:27.340 You wouldn't need to ask where he was going, 00:45:27.340 --> 00:45:29.340 Or what was going to happen to him. 00:45:29.340 --> 00:45:30.340 You'd be able to say, 00:45:30.340 --> 00:45:32.340 Looking at that person's going to die. 00:45:32.340 --> 00:45:34.340 That person's going to be crucified. 00:45:34.340 --> 00:45:37.340 That person's going to face a horrible death. 00:45:39.340 --> 00:45:41.340 But it's shown in carrying his cross. 00:45:41.340 --> 00:45:43.340 Carrying the bar of the cross. 00:45:43.340 --> 00:45:47.340 And what Jesus is doing is spiritualizing that and saying, 00:45:47.340 --> 00:45:48.340 In a spiritual sense, 00:45:48.340 --> 00:45:51.340 You need to die to yourself. 00:45:51.340 --> 00:45:54.340 You need to die to every urge within yourself. 00:45:54.340 --> 00:45:56.340 You need to die to your sinful self. 00:45:56.340 --> 00:46:01.340 You need to die to that selfishness that we have naturally in ourselves, 00:46:01.340 --> 00:46:04.340 That wants to please ourselves rather than please God. 00:46:04.340 --> 00:46:08.340 We need to deny ourselves and follow him. 00:46:08.340 --> 00:46:11.340 And take up our cross in that sense. 00:46:13.340 --> 00:46:19.340 And it's tied to Jesus himself and what he was committed to, isn't it? 00:46:19.340 --> 00:46:26.340 He didn't come into this world to elevate himself, if you like, 00:46:26.340 --> 00:46:29.340 Or to stand above the prospect of being a servant. 00:46:29.340 --> 00:46:35.340 He came as a servant and he came to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. 00:46:35.340 --> 00:46:40.340 He lived a life of self-denial or self-abasement, if you like. 00:46:40.340 --> 00:46:46.340 Ever since he came into the world, it was a downward path for him. 00:46:46.340 --> 00:46:53.340 Until eventually it reached the self-abasement of giving himself willingly to the death of the cross. 00:46:53.340 --> 00:46:56.340 And that's why he's saying, 00:46:56.340 --> 00:46:59.340 It's the same for my followers. 00:46:59.340 --> 00:47:03.340 They're not in the world to please themselves. 00:47:03.340 --> 00:47:08.340 They're not in this world to bring great acclaim to themselves. 00:47:08.340 --> 00:47:11.340 They're in this world to follow me. 00:47:11.340 --> 00:47:15.340 That where I am, he will be also. 00:47:15.340 --> 00:47:17.340 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:47:17.340 --> 00:47:18.340 What does he mean by that? 00:47:18.340 --> 00:47:24.340 Well, he certainly includes in that the kind of self-denial that you see in the life of Jesus himself. 00:47:24.340 --> 00:47:29.340 That's a great challenge for us, isn't it, tonight? 00:47:29.340 --> 00:47:31.340 To really put all of this to ourselves. 00:47:31.340 --> 00:47:34.340 But these are the terms of Jesus himself. 00:47:34.340 --> 00:47:37.340 Because you see, if you go back to Mark chapter 8 again, 00:47:37.340 --> 00:47:44.340 the context for Matthew in Mark chapter 8 is important, 00:47:44.340 --> 00:47:49.340 especially verses 32 and 33 of that chapter, 00:47:49.340 --> 00:47:56.340 where you see the context there is that Jesus came to reveal to his disciples 00:47:56.340 --> 00:48:01.340 that he would be rejected, suffer many things and be rejected. 00:48:01.340 --> 00:48:06.340 He calls himself again the Son of Man and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. 00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:09.340 And after three days rise again, what did Peter do? 00:48:09.340 --> 00:48:11.340 He took him aside. 00:48:11.340 --> 00:48:12.340 He thought he knew better. 00:48:12.340 --> 00:48:14.340 He didn't want this to happen. 00:48:14.340 --> 00:48:20.340 Turning aside, he took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. 00:48:20.340 --> 00:48:24.340 Imagine the apostle Peter, there he is, rebuking Jesus. 00:48:24.340 --> 00:48:26.340 These are the words of Mark. 00:48:26.340 --> 00:48:30.340 A very strong word there used by Mark, 00:48:30.340 --> 00:48:34.340 because this is essentially what Peter did. 00:48:34.340 --> 00:48:36.340 He took Jesus aside and said, 00:48:36.340 --> 00:48:38.340 Put that out of your mind. 00:48:38.340 --> 00:48:39.340 That's not going to happen to you. 00:48:39.340 --> 00:48:40.340 That's inappropriate. 00:48:40.340 --> 00:48:42.340 What kind of language is that? 00:48:42.340 --> 00:48:47.340 But then you see Jesus turned and rebuked Peter and said, 00:48:47.340 --> 00:48:50.340 Get behind me, Satan. 00:48:50.340 --> 00:48:54.340 You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. 00:48:54.340 --> 00:48:57.340 You see, Satan was in the incident. 00:48:57.340 --> 00:49:00.340 Satan was in the very words that Peter used. 00:49:00.340 --> 00:49:03.340 What Peter was doing was trying to deflect Jesus from the cross, 00:49:03.340 --> 00:49:06.340 from the path of suffering, from the path of obedience, 00:49:06.340 --> 00:49:09.340 from the path of dying, the death that he had come to die in the world. 00:49:09.340 --> 00:49:13.340 That's why Jesus said to him, Get behind me, Satan. 00:49:13.340 --> 00:49:17.340 This was Satan's attempt to bypass the cross, or at least for Jesus, 00:49:17.340 --> 00:49:19.340 to bypass the cross. 00:49:19.340 --> 00:49:21.340 Take an easier path. 00:49:21.340 --> 00:49:27.340 Just like he had said in the temptations in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. 00:49:27.340 --> 00:49:31.340 Here is it in a different form coming through one of his disciples. 00:49:31.340 --> 00:49:36.340 And you see, Jesus is saying here in John, 00:49:36.340 --> 00:49:39.340 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:49:39.340 --> 00:49:43.340 And where I am, there will my servant be also. 00:49:43.340 --> 00:49:47.340 And you'll find that all the way through the New Testament 00:49:47.340 --> 00:49:49.340 and the epistles of Paul and of Peter. 00:49:49.340 --> 00:49:54.340 It's not just the reality of suffering as a disciple of Christ, 00:49:54.340 --> 00:49:57.340 but in many ways the necessity of it. 00:49:57.340 --> 00:50:02.340 As Paul himself said, it was through many tribulations 00:50:02.340 --> 00:50:06.340 that we must enter into the kingdom of God. 00:50:06.340 --> 00:50:09.340 As Peter wrote in his first epistle especially, 00:50:09.340 --> 00:50:14.340 he wrote more than once about the situation that his readers were in, 00:50:14.340 --> 00:50:16.340 scattered throughout these places. 00:50:16.340 --> 00:50:20.340 And he was trying to draw their minds to the benefits, 00:50:20.340 --> 00:50:24.340 the necessity of their Christian suffering for Jesus. 00:50:24.340 --> 00:50:29.340 That glory comes eventually to God through all of that. 00:50:29.340 --> 00:50:35.340 Well, he's saying this in regard to discipleship for us as well. 00:50:35.340 --> 00:50:39.340 That just as it is for Jesus, so it must be for us. 00:50:39.340 --> 00:50:42.340 And that's to be our daily resolve, isn't it? 00:50:42.340 --> 00:50:45.340 When you get up in the morning, what's the first thing you say to yourself? 00:50:45.340 --> 00:50:49.340 Well, I wish I could say of myself that I always say every morning, 00:50:49.340 --> 00:50:52.340 today I must die to sin. 00:50:52.340 --> 00:50:54.340 Sadly, I don't. 00:50:54.340 --> 00:50:55.340 But I should. 00:50:59.340 --> 00:51:02.340 Because that's really what the Christian life at his heart is about. 00:51:02.340 --> 00:51:04.340 Dying to self. 00:51:04.340 --> 00:51:07.340 Dying to the pleasing of self. 00:51:07.340 --> 00:51:11.340 Dying to the aggrandizing of self. 00:51:11.340 --> 00:51:12.340 Dying to God. 00:51:12.340 --> 00:51:13.340 Dying to God. 00:51:13.340 --> 00:51:14.340 Dying to worldliness. 00:51:14.340 --> 00:51:15.340 Dying to worldly priorities. 00:51:15.340 --> 00:51:18.340 Dying to worldly priorities. 00:51:18.340 --> 00:51:21.340 And instead, dying to sin. 00:51:21.340 --> 00:51:23.340 Dying to selfishness. 00:51:23.340 --> 00:51:25.340 Dying to self-righteousness. 00:51:25.340 --> 00:51:28.340 Dying to the pleasing of myself. 00:51:28.340 --> 00:51:32.340 And instead, pleasing God. 00:51:32.340 --> 00:51:35.340 Living a godly life. 00:51:35.340 --> 00:51:38.340 Living a God pleasing life. 00:51:38.340 --> 00:51:39.420 God-pleasing life. 00:51:39.980 --> 00:51:43.460 Well, there's the crux of the Christian life. 00:51:44.000 --> 00:51:49.300 There's the principle of the seed dying in order to bring forth life. 00:51:50.140 --> 00:51:53.460 Think of self as a seed that's planted in the ground. 00:51:53.600 --> 00:52:00.539 Unless self dies, you don't get the proper godliness, righteousness growing in your life. 00:52:01.740 --> 00:52:04.620 The seed must die before the crop follows. 00:52:04.619 --> 00:52:09.920 And he says at the end here, where I am, there will my servant be. 00:52:10.079 --> 00:52:13.900 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:52:14.980 --> 00:52:19.239 What a way to crown that little bit of teaching at that point, 00:52:19.960 --> 00:52:22.099 before he went on with what remains in the chapter. 00:52:22.799 --> 00:52:25.759 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:52:25.779 --> 00:52:26.319 What's he saying? 00:52:26.719 --> 00:52:30.079 He's saying there's again a parallel with my own life. 00:52:30.079 --> 00:52:36.279 Because when Jesus prayed in John 17, you remember this is exactly what he prayed. 00:52:36.799 --> 00:52:37.980 Father, the hour has come. 00:52:38.619 --> 00:52:39.860 Glorify your Son. 00:52:40.599 --> 00:52:43.299 That the Son also may glorify you. 00:52:44.340 --> 00:52:49.159 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 00:52:49.239 --> 00:52:57.340 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world was. 00:52:57.340 --> 00:53:00.660 Here's Jesus saying, the work you gave me is finished. 00:53:00.760 --> 00:53:03.000 The cross in his mind is accomplished. 00:53:05.360 --> 00:53:07.420 And what is the consequence of that? 00:53:08.640 --> 00:53:13.100 Well, the consequence of the promise of the Father to him to be exalted follows on. 00:53:14.100 --> 00:53:16.380 And here is Jesus here saying to the disciples, 00:53:16.940 --> 00:53:18.820 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. 00:53:19.160 --> 00:53:21.780 If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. 00:53:21.780 --> 00:53:27.380 Just as Christ, having finished his life in this world, his death, his resurrection, 00:53:27.920 --> 00:53:34.120 all of that now comes to flow into his glorification, to his exaltation and glorification. 00:53:35.080 --> 00:53:38.660 And the Father's honor is bestowed upon him. 00:53:38.659 --> 00:53:42.619 It's that selfless life. 00:53:43.619 --> 00:53:45.719 The life that dies to self. 00:53:46.819 --> 00:53:48.460 That comes to be honored ultimately, 00:53:48.839 --> 00:53:53.440 especially in the ultimate crowning of that life with eternal life in heaven. 00:53:53.440 --> 00:54:00.480 But it means before that there is the self-denial and the selfless service. 00:54:01.880 --> 00:54:08.340 Let me just tell you briefly about a certain man in the Second World War 00:54:08.340 --> 00:54:15.019 who was an officer, a flying officer, actually in the New Zealand Air Force. 00:54:15.019 --> 00:54:21.960 And one day in August 1943, he was flying a Liberator aircraft, 00:54:22.179 --> 00:54:24.739 which he had never flown for that purpose before. 00:54:25.400 --> 00:54:28.360 And he spotted a U-boat that had surfaced. 00:54:28.739 --> 00:54:30.440 So he began his attack. 00:54:30.539 --> 00:54:31.559 And this is the report of it. 00:54:31.599 --> 00:54:34.559 The official report of it is in the following terms. 00:54:34.699 --> 00:54:39.519 And one day in August 1943, Flying Officer Trigg, Adam Trigg, 00:54:39.519 --> 00:54:43.860 of the Royal New Zealand Air Force, 00:54:44.500 --> 00:54:48.559 undertook as captain and pilot a patrol in a Liberator aircraft, 00:54:49.099 --> 00:54:53.420 although he had not previously made any operational sorties of that type of aircraft. 00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:57.239 After searching for eight hours, a surfaced U-boat was sighted. 00:54:57.940 --> 00:55:00.679 Flying Officer Trigg immediately prepared to attack. 00:55:01.559 --> 00:55:04.579 During the approach, the aircraft received many hits 00:55:04.579 --> 00:55:07.179 from the submarine's anti-aircraft guns, 00:55:07.539 --> 00:55:09.259 and it burst into flames. 00:55:09.519 --> 00:55:11.599 Which quickly enveloped the tail. 00:55:12.820 --> 00:55:16.099 There could have been no hesitation or doubt in Trigg's mind, 00:55:16.500 --> 00:55:17.980 because he maintained his course, 00:55:18.639 --> 00:55:21.539 in spite of the already precarious condition of his aircraft, 00:55:22.139 --> 00:55:24.119 and executed a masterly attack. 00:55:24.860 --> 00:55:28.119 Skimming over the U-boat at less than 50 feet, 00:55:28.780 --> 00:55:32.840 with anti-aircraft guns firing into his opened bomb doors, 00:55:33.639 --> 00:55:35.559 Flying Officer Trigg dropped his bombs 00:55:35.559 --> 00:55:37.739 on and around the U-boat, 00:55:37.739 --> 00:55:41.519 where they exploded with devastating effect. 00:55:41.519 --> 00:55:44.139 A short distance further on, 00:55:44.820 --> 00:55:48.480 the Liberator crashed into the sea with her captain, 00:55:49.360 --> 00:55:51.840 gallant captain and crew. 00:55:51.840 --> 00:55:55.300 A very poignant story, 00:55:55.300 --> 00:55:58.340 but there is the highest military award. 00:55:59.140 --> 00:56:03.700 It was given posthumously to Flying Officer Trigg. 00:56:03.699 --> 00:56:07.079 And a wonderful detail about that is that 00:56:07.079 --> 00:56:09.980 it was at the instigation and insistence 00:56:09.980 --> 00:56:12.919 of the captain of that U-boat who survived 00:56:12.919 --> 00:56:17.279 that he was awarded that the flying officer who was killed 00:56:17.279 --> 00:56:20.599 in trying to sink the U-boat 00:56:20.599 --> 00:56:23.639 was actually awarded the Victoria Cross 00:56:23.639 --> 00:56:26.359 for his conspicuous bravery. 00:56:27.719 --> 00:56:29.940 What does that have to do with our sermon tonight? 00:56:31.219 --> 00:56:35.819 Well, that was the highest military award that could be given, 00:56:37.019 --> 00:56:38.599 and there's a much higher award given 00:56:38.599 --> 00:56:41.379 to the faithful servants of God. 00:56:41.380 --> 00:56:44.300 The Apostle Paul himself knew it, 00:56:44.720 --> 00:56:46.099 and as he wrote to Timothy, 00:56:46.200 --> 00:56:47.519 one of the last things he wrote 00:56:47.519 --> 00:56:49.880 was in the following terms, 00:56:50.019 --> 00:56:52.220 I have fought the good fight. 00:56:53.079 --> 00:56:55.079 I have finished the course. 00:56:55.740 --> 00:56:57.480 I have kept the faith. 00:56:58.480 --> 00:56:59.079 Henceforth, 00:56:59.640 --> 00:57:01.019 there is laid up for me 00:57:01.019 --> 00:57:02.720 the crown of righteousness, 00:57:03.280 --> 00:57:04.480 which the Lord, 00:57:05.800 --> 00:57:07.079 the righteous judge, 00:57:07.119 --> 00:57:09.220 will give me at that day. 00:57:09.219 --> 00:57:11.459 And not to me only, 00:57:12.199 --> 00:57:13.619 but to all those 00:57:13.619 --> 00:57:16.779 who love his appearing. 00:57:18.139 --> 00:57:19.939 And if you love the Lord tonight, 00:57:20.439 --> 00:57:22.639 and there's no reason why you shouldn't, 00:57:23.759 --> 00:57:25.179 you will love his appearing. 00:57:26.219 --> 00:57:29.739 You will love the day on which he arrives to bestow 00:57:29.739 --> 00:57:32.159 the highest accolades 00:57:32.159 --> 00:57:34.839 that anyone can receive, 00:57:35.619 --> 00:57:37.519 the crown of eternal life, 00:57:37.519 --> 00:57:39.539 the crown of righteousness, 00:57:39.940 --> 00:57:40.980 the crown of glory. 00:57:44.900 --> 00:57:46.340 If anyone serves me, 00:57:46.420 --> 00:57:48.980 the Father will honor him. 00:57:50.280 --> 00:57:52.400 Is this not how it is with you tonight? 00:57:55.239 --> 00:57:58.320 Is your concern not to see Jesus 00:57:58.320 --> 00:57:59.320 and be with Jesus? 00:57:59.320 --> 00:58:02.600 to have your life safely deposited 00:58:02.600 --> 00:58:03.860 in the hands of Jesus, 00:58:04.280 --> 00:58:06.400 to come to him, 00:58:06.440 --> 00:58:07.519 to be drawn to him, 00:58:07.960 --> 00:58:09.220 to love him, 00:58:09.440 --> 00:58:10.440 to serve him, 00:58:10.820 --> 00:58:12.880 and finally to be awarded 00:58:12.880 --> 00:58:16.120 that accolade of eternal glory 00:58:16.120 --> 00:58:17.760 in heaven with him. 00:58:19.039 --> 00:58:20.840 Is that not why we're here? 00:58:21.900 --> 00:58:23.820 To glorify our Savior, 00:58:23.820 --> 00:58:26.960 to serve him while we're in this world, 00:58:27.559 --> 00:58:29.800 and to look forward to being with him 00:58:29.800 --> 00:58:32.039 for the whole of eternity 00:58:32.039 --> 00:58:33.360 in the next. 00:58:34.200 --> 00:58:34.780 Let's pray. 00:58:34.780 --> 00:58:39.120 Our gracious God, 00:58:39.700 --> 00:58:42.720 we find it still such a mystery 00:58:42.720 --> 00:58:44.420 that you came into this world 00:58:44.420 --> 00:58:46.720 and that you came to die 00:58:46.720 --> 00:58:48.560 that death of the cross for your people. 00:58:49.960 --> 00:58:51.140 Yet, Lord, we know that 00:58:51.140 --> 00:58:53.560 though there is much of mystery in it, 00:58:53.600 --> 00:58:56.000 yet we are thankful and grateful 00:58:56.000 --> 00:58:58.960 and express our thankfulness to you for it. 00:59:00.380 --> 00:59:01.820 We can never put into words, 00:59:01.820 --> 00:59:02.240 O Lord, 00:59:02.300 --> 00:59:03.420 what it means to your people 00:59:03.420 --> 00:59:06.080 that you have done this for them. 00:59:06.960 --> 00:59:08.019 But we give thanks 00:59:08.019 --> 00:59:09.559 that it has pleased you to do so. 00:59:10.480 --> 00:59:11.080 We give thanks 00:59:11.080 --> 00:59:12.780 that your will is accomplished through it. 00:59:13.620 --> 00:59:15.200 And we give thanks tonight, O Lord, 00:59:15.260 --> 00:59:17.740 for that offer of life eternal 00:59:17.740 --> 00:59:20.019 which comes to us through the gospel. 00:59:21.039 --> 00:59:22.280 And so bless us, we pray, 00:59:22.700 --> 00:59:24.400 as once more we hear your voice. 00:59:25.240 --> 00:59:26.140 And bring us, we pray, 00:59:26.240 --> 00:59:28.740 into that company of your people 00:59:28.739 --> 00:59:32.079 who look forward to that appearance of Jesus 00:59:32.079 --> 00:59:35.039 who comes with the crown of victory 00:59:35.039 --> 00:59:36.679 to give to his people. 00:59:37.219 --> 00:59:39.500 We ask this in his name and for his sake. 00:59:40.000 --> 00:59:40.359 Amen. 00:59:44.639 --> 00:59:47.000 Well, our final psalm this evening is Psalm 30. 00:59:48.000 --> 00:59:49.079 Psalm number 30. 00:59:49.199 --> 00:59:51.959 We're singing from the Sing Psalms version. 00:59:51.960 --> 00:59:56.440 That's on page 34 to the tune St. Andrew. 00:59:58.440 --> 01:00:00.079 And verses 1 to 5. 01:00:02.440 --> 01:00:04.320 O Lord, I will exalt your name 01:00:04.320 --> 01:00:05.720 for you have rescued me. 01:00:06.519 --> 01:00:08.300 You did not let my foes rejoice 01:00:08.300 --> 01:00:09.639 and gloat triumphantly. 01:00:10.360 --> 01:00:12.240 Lord God, in need I cried to you 01:00:12.240 --> 01:00:13.659 and you restored my health. 01:00:14.400 --> 01:00:16.480 O Lord, you brought me from the grave 01:00:16.480 --> 01:00:19.860 and saved my soul from death. 01:00:19.860 --> 01:00:21.720 all the way through to these four verses 01:00:21.720 --> 01:00:22.840 to verse 5. 01:00:22.980 --> 01:00:25.140 O Lord, I will exalt your name. 01:00:25.140 --> 01:00:25.180 O Lord, I will exalt your name. 01:00:29.180 --> 01:00:39.240 O Lord, I will exalt your name. 01:00:39.620 --> 01:00:43.280 O Lord, I will exalt your name. 01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:46.540 Lord God, in need I cry to you. 01:00:46.539 --> 01:01:02.300 You did, O let my foes rejoice, and gloat triumphantly. 01:01:02.300 --> 01:01:20.300 Lord God in need I cry to you, and you restore my health. 01:01:20.300 --> 01:01:38.300 O Lord, do God, give up the grave, and save my soul from death. 01:01:38.300 --> 01:01:48.780 You holy ones, sing to the Lord. 01:01:49.240 --> 01:01:56.720 Sing out with joyful voice. 01:01:56.719 --> 01:02:13.719 When you the old days who remain, then grace in man rejoiced. 01:02:13.719 --> 01:02:32.199 He is found, dergad, can open us, like long which finger stays. 01:02:32.199 --> 01:02:49.539 Though tears may pass throughout the night, join us with warming grace. 01:02:53.539 --> 01:02:59.039 Now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the communion 01:02:59.039 --> 01:03:01.980 of the Holy Spirit be with you now and evermore. 01:03:02.480 --> 01:03:02.900 Amen.