WEBVTT 00:00:00.260 --> 00:00:05.280 Well, good afternoon, everyone. It is lovely to be with you again. Thank you so much to 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:11.820 our musicians for leading us in that time of worship. Let's continue in an attitude 00:00:11.820 --> 00:00:16.760 of worship as we seek to understand God's Word this morning. Now, you heard Emma's prayer. 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:22.039 She's prayed that you'd stay awake so you can all contribute to that prayer being answered 00:00:22.039 --> 00:00:27.859 by giving attention to what God has to say through His Word this morning. So I'm actually 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:34.000 going to start with a bit of a test called the attention test just to see how well you 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.899 actually are really focused and attentive this morning. Are we able to get this up on the 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:43.939 screen, gents at the back? I may ask you to pause it at particular points just by way of 00:00:43.939 --> 00:00:47.719 warning. Let's run this little attention test then. We'll see how we get on. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:56.539 It's easy to miss some of the details. If you do want to rewrite, if you refuse to believe 00:00:56.539 --> 00:01:00.439 that the moonwalking bear was there first time round, you might look around at some of the 00:01:00.439 --> 00:01:04.400 others and recognize that a small minority saw the moonwalking bear. Incidentally, was 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:10.599 that because you'd seen that before? Ah, yes, you see, it's so easy to miss the details. Why 00:01:10.599 --> 00:01:15.000 on earth am I showing you that? Well, I have to confess, when I realized that for my passage 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:22.120 today, I only had three verses, I thought, goodness, that's not very much. I quite like the 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:26.800 broad brush. I spent a lot of time at work doing the kind of skimming of things and reaching 00:01:26.800 --> 00:01:33.820 quick conclusions. That's the way I kind of have got used to operating. Three verses for 00:01:33.820 --> 00:01:38.360 us today? I probably feel more comfortable. If you're going to travel somewhere, get there 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:43.620 as fast as possible. Go by plane. Don't think about going by bus. I know some of you like 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:48.300 your bus trips where you can take a couple of days to get to your destination. No, no, get 00:01:48.299 --> 00:01:55.939 there in a couple of hours. And today our challenge is to just slow down a little bit and see if 00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:03.640 we can capture some really vital details. See if we can capture some things which in this 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:10.879 passage, even as Emma read these verses, I think some of us may have missed, or at least 00:02:10.879 --> 00:02:19.319 we may have missed, what I would suggest is enormous life-changing significance in these 00:02:19.319 --> 00:02:25.099 verses. So since it was only three verses, I'm going to take the liberty of just reminding 00:02:25.099 --> 00:02:30.719 you of them again and suggesting that if you have a Bible in paper version or by phone, you 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:35.139 might want to just reflect on these verses. We're in Colossians. We've had a couple of great 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:39.560 messages in previous weeks from Colossians already. If you've missed them, do feel free to 00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:46.219 listen online. They are all there. We've had a marvelous description earlier on of Jesus 00:02:46.219 --> 00:02:55.819 in these verses and how supreme he is over everything. And then we crash in, in verse 21, 00:02:56.379 --> 00:03:04.560 into what we are like in the context of all of these verses about what Jesus is like. And we read that 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:10.159 once you were alienated from God, verse 21, and were enemies in your mind because of your evil 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:17.140 behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy 00:03:17.140 --> 00:03:23.560 in his sight without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and 00:03:23.560 --> 00:03:29.860 firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that 00:03:29.860 --> 00:03:34.900 has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.680 And that's it. I have to say, as I've got into these three verses, I've begun to think there's far 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:46.780 too much in these three verses to even cover in the short time that we have together. So I'm going 00:03:46.780 --> 00:03:51.980 to say very little about that interesting final sentence about the gospel that has been proclaimed 00:03:51.980 --> 00:03:56.680 to every creature under heaven and leave you perhaps to have some discussions afterwards about what 00:03:56.680 --> 00:04:04.099 might be going on there. And we're just going to look at what I think are nine words right in the 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:13.760 middle that have really impacted on my mind and heart this week. And that I want to just really 00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:21.960 encourage you to slow down, but not fall asleep, and really pay attention on. Those nine words are going 00:04:21.959 --> 00:04:31.659 to appear on the screen. They are the nine words, holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from 00:04:31.659 --> 00:04:37.879 accusation. Did you spot them? I'm sure you did. Do you know we've actually sung songs that capture 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:44.459 already quite a lot of the language used in the nine words? And I wonder whether some of the truth of 00:04:44.459 --> 00:04:51.079 those songs has actually landed with us or whether it's kind of, it's kind of, kind of gone over our 00:04:51.079 --> 00:04:57.799 heads. Because if you've come to church like this a lot, we do actually use this language quite a bit. 00:04:57.799 --> 00:05:08.120 We do speak about all that Jesus has done and the fact that through what he has done, this is what we are. 00:05:08.120 --> 00:05:16.660 Holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation. The words are written in a particular 00:05:16.660 --> 00:05:24.160 context. They're written to new followers of Jesus Christ living in Colossae, but just as they are true 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:33.199 of those followers of Jesus in Colossae, so they are true of all followers of Jesus, past, present, 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:41.579 future, holy in his sight, without blemish, and free from accusation. Now if we go back to the start of 00:05:41.579 --> 00:05:50.419 the passage at verse 21, it's very, very clear that none of us have started out life that way. Paul, 00:05:50.719 --> 00:05:57.079 having provided this amazing description earlier on in the passage of Jesus, the one who holds everything 00:05:57.079 --> 00:06:04.719 together, the one who existed before the world began, the one in whom all of God's fullness dwells, 00:06:04.719 --> 00:06:12.560 the one who has made peace with everything by his blood on the cross. Paul then turns the spotlight away 00:06:12.560 --> 00:06:19.620 from this glorious picture of Jesus and just for a moment says, I need to talk to you about how you fit 00:06:19.620 --> 00:06:26.360 in to all of this. Because I'm afraid if this is the glorious stuff that God is doing in Jesus, 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:33.020 you start off outside of it all. Imagine a big map where you're seeing all that going on and you're 00:06:33.020 --> 00:06:38.199 a bit lost. Where do you fit in? And actually as you look closely, there's a pin and a sign saying, 00:06:38.540 --> 00:06:45.660 you are here. And the you are here sign shows that you're not even part of all of this grand story. 00:06:45.819 --> 00:06:53.220 You're outside of it all. This is all going on and you are alienated from God. Verse 21, 00:06:53.220 --> 00:07:00.420 enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. You're not just a little bit distant. 00:07:01.080 --> 00:07:06.140 It's not just that you're going to have to try a bit harder to get into this great big story of all 00:07:06.140 --> 00:07:14.020 that Jesus is doing and all that God is doing. Nor is it that God has abandoned you. 00:07:14.019 --> 00:07:24.819 It's the fact that you, we, me have made conscious choices to turn away from God. Very clear, enemies in 00:07:24.819 --> 00:07:35.399 your minds. Why? Because of your evil behavior. Day after day after day, we've made choices not to follow 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:42.859 him, not to honor him, not to live up to his holy standards. And note that it's not that these 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:49.360 Christians had then making a decision to clean up their act, to stop their bad habits, to use better 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:55.860 languages, to go on a pilgrimage, to commit to living a life of greater prayer or of fasting or of 00:07:55.860 --> 00:08:01.360 greater church attendance. None of that would have made the slightest bit of difference to their 00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:07.780 situation of where they were in the middle of God's big story. They would have remained just as 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:16.019 alienated than they had ever, than they set out being, as with us. And I wonder if some of us here 00:08:16.019 --> 00:08:22.199 in church today, as we've sang and we've heard a bit about God's great story and all that God is doing 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:27.779 in Jesus, we recognize that if the pen is put in the map and we have to identify where we are at in 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:33.360 it, there's going to be a big flag that says you're here. You're here. You're still in this place of being 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:40.399 alienated from God and enemies in your mind because of your evil behavior. And Paul wants us to 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:46.800 understand, God's word wants us to understand that the challenge to us today then is not about 00:08:46.800 --> 00:08:55.060 modifying our behavior. It's not going to work. The challenge to us today is going to be about 00:08:55.059 --> 00:09:08.500 embracing who Jesus is, why he came, and having faith and trust in him. And in doing so, we understand 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:18.699 from this passage the marvelous difference between alienation and reconciliation. That's what's offered 00:09:18.700 --> 00:09:31.240 here. Verse 21, once you were alienated from God. Verse 22, just so close, but now reconciled. Once alienated, 00:09:31.740 --> 00:09:43.100 but now reconciled. Reconciled how? Reconciled by Christ's physical body through death. Let's just pause 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:55.259 on that word. Reconciliation. It's an amazing word. Reconciliation. Those far apart being brought 00:09:55.259 --> 00:10:01.259 together. I wonder if some of you can think of examples in your own life of where there has been 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:10.540 reconciliation. Perhaps reconciliation in a family or a friend's situation. And I'm sure if you've seen 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:19.799 that, you can capture something of the joy of broken relationships being restored. But I'm sure you will 00:10:19.799 --> 00:10:30.399 also be able to think of the hard, hard work that has gone into that reconciliation. And I know that I'm on 00:10:30.399 --> 00:10:37.679 sensitive territory here, because for many we will be conscious of relationships still marked by alienation, 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:45.659 where we feel that there is no prospect of reconciliation due to the actions of one or other 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:51.919 party. Let me broaden it out from the personal to some of the big things that we're seeing in 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:57.679 politics. And this year, I think one of the greatest things we've seen, one of the most encouraging things, 00:10:57.939 --> 00:11:05.299 is some of the scenes of reconciliation between North and South Korea. As we've seen, the leaders there 00:11:05.299 --> 00:11:12.199 take sometimes what looks like just a simple step towards each other. But as I've looked into some 00:11:12.199 --> 00:11:16.799 of that and heard a little bit from those who have been doing a phenomenal amount of work behind the 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:25.240 scenes in terms of what's going on in North and South Korea, I've been reminded again of the fact that 00:11:25.240 --> 00:11:36.139 that reconciliation has only been possible through a vast amount of work, planning, preparation, 00:11:37.100 --> 00:11:46.500 steps forward, steps back, all sorts of effort and endeavour that lies behind the reconciliation 00:11:46.500 --> 00:11:53.200 that we are beginning to see. And I think Paul wants these Colossians to be in no doubt 00:11:53.200 --> 00:12:01.759 that the reconciliation that they can enjoy is not because of a huge amount of effort and endeavour on 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:12.500 their part, but it absolutely is reconciliation that has been achieved at great cost. Such a cost 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:22.360 that it took the death of Jesus Christ in order to achieve that reconciliation. I know for some of you, 00:12:22.360 --> 00:12:31.580 this is bread and butter stuff. But I hope that for some of us, we might be able to enjoy again the truth 00:12:31.580 --> 00:12:43.480 of all that it is that Jesus Christ offers us through his death and resurrection. And so if we are willing to put 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:54.460 our faith and our faith in Jesus, what this passage is that we have been reconciled and we are actually 00:12:54.460 --> 00:13:02.800 brought before God's throne. Look again at the language of verse 22. Now he has reconciled you by Christ's 00:13:02.800 --> 00:13:11.399 physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish, free from accusation. 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:22.980 This is not about us feeling wretched and feeling that somehow or other we must, with shame and guilt, 00:13:23.459 --> 00:13:30.500 come towards God's throne. There is absolutely a place for coming towards God in repentance, 00:13:30.699 --> 00:13:37.220 as has been echoed in some of our prayers. But the sense here in verse 22 seems to be that because of 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:46.460 what Jesus Christ has done, he is the one who now presents us right before God's throne and says, 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:54.019 these people, these Christians in Colossae and followers of Jesus past, present and future, 00:13:54.279 --> 00:14:03.320 these people now are holy, without blemish and free from accusation. Let's just unpack briefly these 00:14:03.320 --> 00:14:08.700 three phrases to try and get a bit more of an understanding of what's actually going on. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:15.760 Holy in his sight. I've found the word holy, as I've looked at various Bible passages about it, 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:22.040 quite a difficult one to define. It's one that we'll use in lots of our songs here. It's one that is 00:14:22.040 --> 00:14:29.300 a characteristic attributed to God himself throughout the Bible on many, many, many occasions. A one that 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:38.379 comes with a sense of absolutely pure, set apart, perfect, acceptable in God's sight. And holiness 00:14:38.379 --> 00:14:45.839 is something that we are absolutely challenged to pursue as Christians. So you might want to look 00:14:45.839 --> 00:14:52.159 later at 1 Peter chapter 1, where we're challenged to be holy because God is holy. So there's something 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:59.879 about consciously actually acting to seek to be holy. But the Bible also teaches us gloriously 00:14:59.879 --> 00:15:13.100 that Jesus died, the Holy One, to pay the price of our sin. And because he is holy, he, 00:15:13.100 --> 00:15:23.000 through trusting in him, makes us holy. Hebrews 10 verse 10 says this, we have been made holy 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:33.460 through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Jesus, the only holy one who ever lived 00:15:33.460 --> 00:15:43.100 and breathed on this earth. The one who himself chose to experience separation from God, chose to take 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:53.220 on himself all of our unholiness, chose to bear all of the sin and shame and stuff that makes us unholy 00:15:53.220 --> 00:15:59.320 in order that we can stand before God as holy. And so now I can say with confidence, and I can encourage 00:15:59.320 --> 00:16:04.600 you to say too, that if you're trusting in Jesus, you can come to God's throne, you can be brought 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:14.000 to God's throne by Jesus. And Jesus says to his father, God, look at what I have done, rather than what 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:24.680 this person has done. I love this person. I've died for them, and I've made them holy. Look around. 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:33.659 We're looking at people who are defined by God, not by all that we have done in the past, 00:16:34.359 --> 00:16:41.759 not by all of our failures past, present, and future. You're looking around at people who, 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:50.199 if simply trusting in Jesus, are defined as holy in his sight because we bear the holiness that Jesus 00:16:50.200 --> 00:16:58.060 alone had. Hebrews 10 again, by one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made 00:16:58.060 --> 00:17:04.980 holy. Without blemish. What's going on there? If holiness is something that's deeply internal, 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:11.980 something that Jesus gives us on account of his holiness and his death for us, without blemish, 00:17:12.059 --> 00:17:19.840 maybe gives us that sense of what's there externally. Jesus is described in 1 Peter 1 as a lamb 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:26.879 without blemish or defect. And so once again, the sense we have is that Jesus is the only one who 00:17:26.879 --> 00:17:34.480 truly bore these characteristics. But yet Jesus was the one who died for us in order that we can now bear 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:41.919 these characteristics. In the Old Testament, God specified time and time and time again, I counted 46 00:17:41.919 --> 00:17:47.599 references, and I'm sure I missed plenty of them, specifies the need for animals who were being 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:56.240 sacrificed to provide temporary cover for the sins of the people to be without blemish. Time and again, 00:17:56.339 --> 00:18:04.119 they must be without blemish if they're going to provide cover. And I look at myself and my own 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:10.679 heart, and I look through this book in Colossians, which, come chapter 3, has got big, big lists of the 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:18.140 sorts of characteristics that we human beings that certainly I can see myself as being marked by. 00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:26.340 All the sorts of things that create so many blemishes. And we'll explore them in weeks to come, 00:18:26.519 --> 00:18:37.140 but Paul talks about anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, lying. And I guess a lot of us can 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:44.259 look at these lists and we can say, yep, that's what we're like. And it's very easy then just to feel so 00:18:44.259 --> 00:18:54.420 blemished. And I think hard sometimes to really enter into this ability to come to God free from 00:18:54.420 --> 00:19:01.220 blemish. As I was just reflecting on this, I was thinking about our youngest son, Sam, who many of you 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:08.180 know, who has a particular ability, as Elizabeth is very well aware of, to become absolutely filthy 00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:14.299 within minutes of putting on what might be a lovely outfit of clothes. And it seems there's a bit of a 00:19:14.299 --> 00:19:21.240 movement to encourage children to play in mud and just to kind of scrabble around with mud, rocks, 00:19:21.579 --> 00:19:25.960 branches. And apparently it's great for the development of our children, but it's probably not 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:31.720 great for the calmness of their parents or the long life of our washing machines. But nonetheless, 00:19:31.980 --> 00:19:38.880 it doesn't take too long to tear off the filthy clothes, to get into the shower and to put on a 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:48.620 fresh outfit, which might stay reasonably clean at least for a few minutes. Jesus offers us new clothes 00:19:48.620 --> 00:19:55.120 this morning. Jesus says, do you know what? Yes, you've got clothes that are full of blemishes. Do you know 00:19:55.119 --> 00:20:01.179 what? Let me take them. Let me take them. In fact, I've dealt already with all of that stuff and let 00:20:01.179 --> 00:20:10.399 me offer you a new set of clothes. Let me offer you my righteousness, my purity and stand before God, 00:20:10.899 --> 00:20:18.019 holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. What does it mean to be free from 00:20:18.019 --> 00:20:23.679 accusation? I've been struck, as I'm sure many of you have, by the way in which in recent months, many, 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:30.940 many people in public life have been accused of a whole bunch of stuff that they may or may not have 00:20:30.940 --> 00:20:37.080 done in the past. But it seems that many of them did do the stuff in the past. I'm thinking of the 00:20:37.080 --> 00:20:43.620 whole Me Too movement. And they've been accused of this stuff, I suspect, many years after it had 00:20:43.620 --> 00:20:48.960 happened. And they've assumed that there would never be any accusation brought against them, perhaps 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:53.240 because of their power or their position or due to the passage of time. And then suddenly 00:20:53.240 --> 00:21:01.799 they found themselves, maybe 10, 20 years, accusations are brought. And whole lives and reputations 00:21:01.799 --> 00:21:08.259 crumble. We've seen it even this week as suddenly accusations are brought. They're brought in many 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:14.100 cases legitimately because the thing giving rise to the accusation has never been dealt with. 00:21:14.099 --> 00:21:21.379 Therefore, it doesn't matter how much time has passed. The accusation is still legitimate if the 00:21:21.379 --> 00:21:30.679 underlying offences have never, ever been addressed. How is it then we can be confident that we can stand 00:21:30.679 --> 00:21:37.719 before God, holy, without blemish and free from accusation? Well, we're back to the wonder of what 00:21:37.719 --> 00:21:43.359 we call the gospel. We're back to the fact that Jesus has promised he will never bring accusations 00:21:43.359 --> 00:21:47.939 against us on the basis of what we've done in the past or done in the present or will do in the 00:21:47.939 --> 00:21:54.859 future because he has dealt with it all fully. It's not as though it's sort of like, yes, of course, 00:21:55.159 --> 00:22:01.359 our actions past, present and future may have consequences for us in this life. But in terms of 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:06.839 our life with God, if we are trusting in Jesus, then he says to us, you can come into my presence 00:22:06.839 --> 00:22:17.079 free from accusation. Psalm 103 contains that promise that we worship the God who removes our sins as far 00:22:17.079 --> 00:22:26.779 as the east. No, it's that way. As far as the east is from the west. Jesus was accused of so many things. 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:38.839 But because he bore all of what we were accused for, we can now stand before him forgiven and free. 00:22:39.059 --> 00:22:43.819 Of course, we do have an accuser. We still have one who will prowl around trying to accuse us of all 00:22:43.819 --> 00:22:49.019 sorts of stuff, trying to say there's no way we can come before God like this. There's no way. Do you 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:54.539 realize how much of a failure you are? Do you realize, oh, no, just give up on church because, look, 00:22:54.539 --> 00:22:58.700 these other folks seem to be living life better. But come on, there's no point in you going because 00:22:58.700 --> 00:23:03.519 if they knew what your life was really like, you wouldn't be welcome there. That's the devil's 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:10.119 accusation into our life. That's not us holding on to Jesus and to all that Jesus has done for us. 00:23:10.139 --> 00:23:17.339 We sang earlier, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, what do I do? 00:23:17.339 --> 00:23:41.899 So what's this all about? What's the relevance of this for our lives? Well, I hope we, as individuals, 00:23:41.900 --> 00:23:49.259 despite all of our sin and shame, can be reminded again this morning of the invitation through Jesus, 00:23:49.720 --> 00:23:55.460 through his death, to approach God's throne with confidence, not defined by our past, 00:23:56.460 --> 00:24:02.600 not defined by our failures, but knowing that as we look to Jesus, we are welcomed as his own. Every 00:24:02.600 --> 00:24:09.360 one of us welcomed into the presence of God through Jesus. Encouraged not to be obsessed with past 00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:15.939 feelings and sins. Of course, we need to repent of our sin and turn daily to God. But this, 00:24:16.459 --> 00:24:23.939 brothers and sisters, is about freedom from guilt. This is about grace. This is about mercy. This is 00:24:23.939 --> 00:24:32.479 about a fresh start, day after day after day. This is about joy and confidence in God's presence. This 00:24:32.480 --> 00:24:40.160 is an end to beating ourselves up time and time again. This is freedom. Freedom to love and serve 00:24:40.160 --> 00:24:48.099 God, knowing that we are accepted and forgiven. Now, I'd love to just stop there, but I cannot get 00:24:48.099 --> 00:24:54.640 away from the fact that Colossians, even in these little verses that we watched, do go on to give us 00:24:54.640 --> 00:24:59.900 a real challenge. And you'll have seen it there in verse 23. All this is true, but the challenge here 00:24:59.900 --> 00:25:09.420 in verse 23 is that we must continue in our faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held 00:25:09.420 --> 00:25:16.160 out in the gospel. Do we look at it and think, oh no, oh no, is this where actually all of this 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:21.980 wonderful truth about Jesus all kind of, actually we are going to have to work really hard in order to 00:25:21.980 --> 00:25:28.019 keep hold of this? Well, absolutely not. That is not what is going on here at all. As Wayne touched 00:25:28.019 --> 00:25:33.220 on yesterday, the Bible has an awful lot to say about faith, an awful lot that we're not going to 00:25:33.220 --> 00:25:39.779 be able to do justice to today. But there's absolutely a recognition here that in order to enjoy 00:25:39.779 --> 00:25:48.519 all of this, we must continue in our faith, established and firm. Some versions contain a warning 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:54.839 against drifting. Maybe just reflect on that word drift. Not something that happens overnight. It's not 00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:59.180 so much a sense of, oh yes, I'm following Jesus today and no tomorrow I'm going to abandon it all. 00:25:59.940 --> 00:26:08.160 More of a sense of a slow fading. And I wonder if some of you are recognising that that just might be 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:16.720 going on in your own heart and life. So let's guard against a risk that we feel that our 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:24.799 acceptability before God is down to our works. It absolutely isn't. Our works will continue to 00:26:24.799 --> 00:26:32.360 do nothing in terms of our acceptability to God. But also let's guard against any sense of cheap grace 00:26:32.360 --> 00:26:37.440 that says that because of God's unconditional love, we can just live however we like. 00:26:37.779 --> 00:26:44.660 Because therein lies the risk of drift. And I think the answer, the balance may lie in a song that those of 00:26:44.660 --> 00:26:50.420 us who were there yesterday sang time and time again in our two worship times, where we challenged 00:26:50.420 --> 00:26:59.800 each other, where we encouraged each other to turn our eyes upon Jesus, to look full in his wonderful 00:26:59.800 --> 00:27:09.460 face, and there to see the things of this world grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. 00:27:09.460 --> 00:27:16.380 I'd love to give you just a couple of minutes to reflect on these small verses. Not many verses, 00:27:17.019 --> 00:27:22.980 lots of truth in them. And I'd like to play just an excerpt really from a song which echoes some of 00:27:22.980 --> 00:27:29.059 the words of the song that we sang earlier. But I'd invite you as you just watch and perhaps reflect 00:27:29.059 --> 00:27:37.579 on the words of this song and reflect on the chorus. Boldly, I approach your throne. Blameless now, 00:27:37.579 --> 00:27:45.559 I'm running home. By your blood I come, welcomed as your own into the arms of majesty. 00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:53.399 Jesus wants you to run to his presence. In fact, he presents you in his presence and says, 00:27:53.919 --> 00:27:59.980 this person trusting in me is now holy without blemish and free from accusation. May we be 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:06.419 individuals and may we be a church that knows what it is to run to God rather than run away from him 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:13.180 and have great confidence in all that he is and all that he has done for us. Let's watch this as we 00:28:13.180 --> 00:28:19.980 just reflect for a minute or two and I'll close and pray. Father God, may what we have read and thought 00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:32.539 about today be a reality in each of our lives. May we know what it is to be freed, to be forgiven, 00:28:32.539 --> 00:28:41.379 to be rescued through all that you have done for us, Jesus. And we say simply, thank you, Jesus. Amen.