Well, we're going to begin our worship by singing to God's praise.
We're going to sing in Psalm 84, the Scottish Psalter version, Psalm 84.
! We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 6.
!
We'll sing from verse 1 to 6, and we stand to sing to God's praise.
O Lord, I'll host to thee,
The tabernacles of thy grace,
How pleasant are they me?
My thirsty soul on bitterly,
It pains thy course to see.
My heavy heart and flesh by air,
O living God for thee.
If all the sorrow findeth thine,
And I'm sent to rest.
The swallow also for herself,
Hath purchased head and head.
In thine old altar's prayer, she say,
Her young was born, they bring.
O thou almighty Lord of hosts,
Who art my God and King.
Let power be in my house that dwell,
They ever give thee grace.
Blessed is the one whose strength thine art,
In whose heart are thy wings.
Who passing thorough make us clear,
Then into Jacob wells.
The soul of the rain that falleth down,
That puteth water fill.
Amen.
We'll bow our heads now in a word of prayer.
Let us pray.
Lord, our gracious God,
We do thank you for this, your day,
The day that you have made,
And help us to rejoice and to be glad in it.
We thank you that it's a day that reminds us
Of the wonder of our risen Saviour,
The one who came into this world,
The one whose name was Jesus,
Because he came to save his people from their sins.
And we thank you that in order to save,
He came not just to live in this world,
But to give his life,
To lay it down,
To die for our sins.
But we thank you that death had no hold on him,
That the grave could not keep him,
And that we come today reminded again of the great news
That Jesus is risen,
That he is alive.
We know we have that message every day,
Every Lord's Day,
On the first day of the week,
We are reminded of it.
But we are thankful for the significance of this weekend,
An Easter weekend,
Where there is our particular focus on Good Friday,
Which may seem a strange name when we think of Jesus dying,
And yet it was because it is good news for us.
And we think of the Saturday and the silence of that day
As he lay in the tomb.
But then we know that on the first day of the week,
The grave was open.
He was not there,
For he was risen.
And so today we thank you
That we come to worship our living, risen Saviour,
Who is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And so we pray, Lord,
That you will bless our time,
And the word that we look at together today,
We thank you for it,
And for the blessing that it is to all our hearts,
To hear the good news of Jesus.
And we pray that together as families,
Friends, and visitors here today,
That together your spirit will be with us,
To guide us and help us in all that we do.
We thank you for that desire you put in our hearts,
To come and draw near to you.
We thank you for our young people,
We thank you for all present here today,
And all maybe who are away on holiday just now as well.
We pray for them,
For you to bless them and to keep them,
In school, in the homes,
In the communities around us, Lord,
That they would know your protection and your help.
And together as families,
Even here today,
We would know your peace upon us.
Bless the young ones as they go through
To the holiday tweenies,
And also those in the creche as well.
We thank you for all who care for them there,
And help them to understand your word.
And we just pray that together,
We will know that help,
That even Jesus speaks of,
In the passages that we read today,
That the spirit would help us to understand,
All that is written in the prophets,
The psalms,
In the word of God,
As we have it before us.
Lord, we need your help.
So remember us,
Remember those unable to be with us,
Remember those belonging to us,
As a people who are mourning at this time,
Those who are unwell,
Those who are confined to their homes.
Lord, we continue to pray for each one,
In all their different needs,
And ask that you will bless them,
Surround them as well.
And so may you be with us now,
And all your people today,
As so many gather to worship,
To all ends of the earth.
We thank you that from the rising of the sun,
To its setting,
Your name is praised.
Be with us throughout the day,
Into the evening service.
Remember Callum,
As he preaches here in this evening,
Remember us in the praise night as well,
Lord,
And for all who have prepared for that as well,
That we would see,
And hear of your goodness in all of these things.
So bless us,
Watch over us,
Go before us,
Pardon all our sins,
That's all we ask,
We ask in Jesus' name,
And for his sake.
Amen.
Well, it's Easter Sunday,
So it's an important day for us,
As we remember that Jesus,
Although he came into this world,
And died on a cross,
We remember today,
That he rose from the grave,
That he is risen.
So Easter Sunday,
What's maybe the first thing that comes to mind,
When you think of Easter Sunday?
What kind of things come into your thinking,
As you think,
What is Easter Sunday?
What does it mean?
There may be certain things that come to you,
You think Easter eggs,
Anybody had an Easter egg today?
Hands up,
Oh, there's a few hands going up already,
Yeah,
I'm sure many of you had Easter eggs,
Does anybody like hot cross buns?
Hands up,
Or you like hot cross buns?
I'm sure there's a few,
Who like hot cross buns,
Yeah,
One elder at the front there,
Or nameless,
I won't say who it is,
So the hot cross buns,
You probably had some of them,
During this week,
You think of holidays,
When you think of Easter,
We think of holiday time as well,
So there's all these things,
That come to mind,
But what about Jesus?
Where does he fit into Easter,
As you think of Easter,
And all that it means?
Does he fit into everything,
That you're thinking about,
When you think of Easter?
It's a little like Christmas as well,
When we think of Christmas,
What comes to mind then?
We maybe think of presents,
We think of the Christmas tree,
We think of turkey,
We think of the holidays,
We've got all these things,
That we think of,
When we think of Christmas as well,
But we ask the same question,
Where does Jesus fit into that?
Where does he fit into Christmas?
Where does he fit into Easter?
Where does he fit in our lives,
As we think about all of these things?
Is he just part of it,
That we put to the side,
And just take out when we want?
Or is he the most important thing,
In it all?
Well if you go back to,
Christmas time,
We had a Christmas family service,
And we were together,
Thinking about Jesus being born,
Into this world,
That amazing story,
That Jesus was born,
Into this world,
And they gave him the name,
Jesus,
Because Jesus is such an important name,
It means,
He will save his people,
From their sins,
So Jesus is important,
And then,
That leaves us with a question,
Well if he's going to save his people,
From their sins,
How?
How is he going to save his people,
From their sins?
Well that's when we see,
The importance of Easter,
Because Jesus came,
As we remember at Christmas time,
Each year we remember his birth,
He came to live,
But in order to save his people,
He had to die,
He died on the cross,
He gave his life,
And that sounds so strange,
To us,
It can sound a little strange,
To think,
Why did Jesus have to die?
Was there no other way?
It might sound like,
Things were a little out of control,
That things had got beyond God,
That he had no control,
Over what was happening,
And that Jesus dying,
Was a mistake,
And even to the people,
Who were around Jesus at that time,
Even his closest people,
His followers,
They were called the disciples,
They were confused by it all,
And so many people had questions,
Why is this happening?
Well that's what we see today,
As we think of Easter,
Because we remember,
God had a plan,
And this was all part,
Of God's plan,
That people would need,
Saving from their sins,
And in order to be saved,
He had to send Jesus,
Into the world,
It was all part,
Of his plan,
A plan that we see,
Right through the Bible,
Even when we think of going back,
Into the Old Testament,
We see,
God had a plan,
All the time,
In the book of Jeremiah,
In the Old Testament,
There's a verse,
In chapter 29,
And verse 11,
It says,
I know the plans,
I have for you,
Declares the Lord,
Plans for your welfare,
And not for evil,
To give you a future,
And a hope,
God had a plan,
All the time,
Who likes playing with Lego,
Anybody like playing with Lego,
Hands up,
Yeah,
There's a few hands going up,
That like playing with Lego,
You can make all kinds of things,
With Lego,
It's amazing,
And it's been around,
For years it seems,
It can be quite annoying,
If you stand on a bit of Lego,
When you're walking barefoot,
Through the living room,
But it's great fun,
To play and make different things,
With Lego,
What kind of things can you make,
You can build racing cars,
Out of Lego,
You can build boats,
Out of Lego,
You can build houses,
And castles,
Even football stadiums,
You can make them out of Lego,
You can do all sorts,
With Lego,
But what's important,
When you're playing with Lego,
What's the key,
That's in the box,
Not just the Lego pieces,
But there's a bit of paper,
With the plans,
The instructions for you,
And how to build these things,
If you don't follow the plan,
You go wrong,
It can be good fun,
Sometimes just to try,
And do things yourself,
But if you want to have,
The finished product,
You need to follow,
The instructions,
That's just the way,
We are sometimes in our life,
We don't always listen,
To what the plans,
The instructions say,
And instead we make our own plans,
We try and do things ourselves,
And so often our plans,
Can just go wrong,
Think about the kind of plans,
That we've made,
Maybe even in the last few weeks,
Over holiday times,
You've made plans,
To go away on the ferry,
And you get a text,
Technical fault,
It's not sailing,
Plans change,
Plans go wrong,
Maybe you make plans,
To have a plan for the week ahead,
What you're going to do each day,
And you think,
I'll do this,
And you wake up on Monday morning,
And you're full of the cold,
Or you've got the flu,
And all of a sudden,
Plans have gone wrong,
There's so many ways,
That our plans go wrong,
Even when we think of,
Maybe building things,
Building a house,
Or building a shed,
Whatever it might be,
We think,
I'm going to do it like this,
And you realize,
I can't afford it,
I can't do it like that,
There's much more to it,
Than I thought,
Our plans,
Can so often go wrong,
God's plan,
Never went wrong,
Even though things,
Might seem strange to us,
And to so many people,
That Jesus came to die,
Wasn't that his plan went wrong,
His plan was in place,
All of the time,
Nothing takes God,
By surprise,
And that's the wonder,
Of all that we have today,
To look at in the word,
Of God,
That we come,
With God saying,
Trust my plan,
I've got everything in hand,
What you have to do,
Is believe,
And trust in me,
Believe,
In the son,
Who I have given,
Jesus,
Who came to save,
His people from their sins,
By dying on the cross,
But today,
We remember too,
He is risen,
He is alive,
And that is our hope,
So we are going to look,
At God's plan,
In a few different ways,
But before we do,
We are going to sing again,
To God's praise,
In Psalm 16,
And the sing,
Psalms version,
Psalm 16,
The sing,
Psalms version,
We are going to sing,
From verse 7,
Down to the end of the psalm,
To verse 11,
And during this singing,
The children who are going out,
To the holiday,
Twinnies can go out,
Through the door,
To my left here,
And go through,
To the halls,
We are going to sing,
Psalm 16,
At verse 7,
The tune is,
Golden Hill,
I'll praise the Lord,
My God,
Whose counsel,
Guides my choice,
And even in the night,
My heart,
Recalls,
Instruction's voice,
We stand to sing,
These verses,
To God's praise,
The Lord,
My God,
Whose counsel,
Guides my choice,
And even in the night,
My heart,
We lost its passion's voice
Before we constantly
I said, the Lord my Lord
Because the earth's at my right hand
And all the overthrows
Therefore my heart is mine
My child with joy will stay
My Lord eternal and secure
In hope and will I live
For you will not allow
My soul in debt to stay
Nor will you hear your holy one
To see the tombs decay
You have made good to me
The power of my divine
This shall I know
At your right hand
Joy from new faith will shine
We're going to read our first passage of Scripture together
Just now we're turning to the book of Acts chapter 2
I'm reading from verse 21 to verse 28
Acts chapter 2 at verse 21
Using the church Bible you find it around page 1097
We've got three different readings today
But they're all really focused on the fact
That Jesus is risen
And that being God's plan
In the midst of all things
So Acts chapter 2 at verse 21
We take up our reading
Roughly halfway through Peter's sermon
At this time on what they call the day of Pentecost
And Peter was preaching to a large crowd
And he had these words to say to them
So at verse 21 we read
It shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
Shall be saved
Men of Israel hear these words
Jesus of Nazareth
A man attested to you by God
With mighty works and wonders and signs
That God did through him in your midst
As you yourselves know
This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan
And foreknowledge of God
You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men
God raised him up
Loosing the pangs of death
Because it was not possible for him to be held by it
For David says concerning him
I saw the Lord always before me
For he is at my right hand
That I may not be shaken
Therefore my heart was glad
And my tongue rejoiced
My flesh also will dwell in hope
For you will not abandon my soul to Hades
Or let your Holy One see corruption
You have made known to me the paths of life
You will make me full of gladness with your presence
And may God bless that reading
You notice as we read in these verses
The middle of verse 25 there
The psalm that we just sung
Psalm 16 is being quoted
So you think of God's plans
And you see how God's plans
Are really there for us in the Old Testament as well
We see all so clearly
So a plan was made
God had a plan
Do you like the thought of having to stand in front of a large crowd of people to speak
Hands up here
If that would fill you with a sense of excitement
Standing in front of a large crowd and speaking
I don't know if any hands would really go up
It doesn't thrill you does it
What about the thought of coming up here to the pulpit
And coming to preach in this pulpit to the congregation here
Any volunteers
Anybody want to come up and give it a go
I've got a couple of ministers in the congregation today
They might want to just come up and show me how it's done
Anybody want to come up here and preach
It's a scary thought
It is
Every Sunday coming here is a scary thought
Standing in front of everybody to speak
But it's a wonder being able to speak about the word of God
And what God has done for us
Well what if you had done this before
And it had been a disaster
It had all gone wrong
And you were made to feel so stupid
You had said all the wrong things
Nothing had gone right
The thought of coming to do it again would be terrifying
Again if you ask the ministers here myself included
We'll see every Sunday you think
Why did I say that?
Do I have to go back and do it again?
We always feel like we can't do it right
We often make mistakes
But still we can come and tell of the wonder of God
And when you look at this passage
And you think of Peter
And Peter who was preaching this sermon
And you think well he must have been so confident
He must have been so assured
With what he was doing
So courageous there to stand up and speak
And yet when you look at the life of Peter
What had he done previously?
He had made mistakes himself
He had been made to look quite stupid in many ways
And the thought of maybe coming to speak in front of people
Because when Jesus was going to go to the cross
What did Peter do?
People started turning to him and saying
Are you not friends with Jesus?
Are you not one of his followers?
What did Peter do?
Did he say yes, I'm one of his followers?
No
He denied him
He says I don't know this man
No, not once
But three times
He did that
And he felt a failure
Failure
He felt he had let down his Lord
But his Lord Jesus
When he rose
Restored Peter
And he said to him
Feed my sheep
Go and tell the people
And that's what we see now
Peter doing
And what makes the difference
Even though he had failed in the past
Even though he had denied
The Lord Jesus
It's because now he knows
He knows
He knows fully
That what God had said in his word
What Jesus had told him
It is all true
Even when he thought
Things were going wrong
That they were taking Jesus away
To put him to death
That he would never see him again
What's the difference?
Well he knows now
He is risen
He has seen him
And so now he's able to come
And speak to them about this Jesus
Who is risen
Have you ever heard someone say
I knew that would happen
Or they would say
I knew that person would say that
When do you hear people saying that?
So often it's after the event
And they're making themselves to look
As if they know everything
Oh I knew that would happen
Like yesterday
I was able to say for sure
Before it happened
Aberdeen will beat hearts
And get to the cup final
Definitely it's going to happen
Not that confident actually
But it did happen
There are so many things
We can be uncertain about
But do we really believe it?
Until it actually happens
We're maybe not entirely sure
Well here is Peter now preaching
This sermon
And what does make the difference for him
Is these words that we find in verse 23
23
And 24
Where it says
This Jesus
Delivered up according to the definite plan
And foreknowledge of God
You see Peter says here
This was the plan
The definite plan
This was going
There was no other way
It was all part of God's plan
And in order to show that
He quotes from that psalm
That this is what was going to take place
The grave could not hold on to our Saviour
You will not let your Holy One see corruption
Basically means that Jesus was going to rise
From the grave again
And so Peter realizes this is all part of God's plan
And now he's preaching about God's plan
This plan is made
This plan is certain
It's secure in Jesus
And as he stands to preach
He shows them the depth of this plan
How great this plan is
Even though it seems strange
The definite plan and foreknowledge of God
This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan
You crucified and killed
In the hands of lawless men
You did it he says
But he says God raised him up
God raised him from the dead
This was part of God's definite plan
And the wonder of that too
It's such a deep plan
But in many ways there's a simplicity to this plan as well
Because what it says now to the people is
In verse 21
It shall come to pass
That everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
Shall be saved
Because of the depth and the wonder of God's plan
The definite plan
This is what people can do
In order to be saved
They call on the name of the Lord
Many things in life are exclusive
That means we can't get them
Unless you've got maybe the right amount of money
Or the right ticket
You can't get it
Think of just walking through an airport
You ever walk through an airport
And you see a place with a sign
Executive lounge
But they won't let you in
Because you're not important enough
You don't have the right credentials
So you're not allowed to go in
All you can do is just walk past
And have a wee look in
To see what it looks like
Or maybe then you go onto the plane
You're going onto a big plane
Hundreds of people on it
And you have to go to the right
To standard class
But to the left is first class
But you don't have the ticket
You can't get in
And all you can do is just have a wee peep
And see what it looks like
All these big seats that they have
That they can put in to recline
And sleep on
And you have to go down
And be crushed in the midst
With everybody else
We don't have the right access to get in
But the wonder of the gospel
As we see here is
Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord
Nobody's excluded
It's for all of us here today
If you've called, great
If you know that salvation
How wonderful it is
But if you haven't
Well here's the instructions
God has a definite plan
He has done everything
According to his foreknowledge
And he says
Call upon the name of the Lord
To be saved
The plan is made
God had a definite plan
And the next thing we want to see
Is how this plan
Is actioned
And for that we're going to read
In another part of scripture
We're going to read
In the Gospel of John
Chapter 19
And just a few verses
In that Gospel
Verse 28 to 30
Just a few pages back
John 19
And we read at verse 28
So here is
We come to the cross here
And the death of Jesus
After this
Jesus knowing that all was now finished
To fulfill the scripture
A jar full of sour wine
So they put a sponge full of sour wine
On a hyssop branch
When Jesus had received the sour wine
It is finished
And he bowed his head
And gave up his spirit
Just these few verses
But they say
So much to us
And what we want to see here
Put into action
What's your plans?
That's a common question
That we're asked, isn't it?
What's your plans for the weekend?
What's your plans for the holiday?
What's your plans tonight?
We're so often asked that question
What about this question?
What's your plans for being saved?
Can we do it ourselves?
Are you going to save yourself?
We can't
So what's your plans for being saved?
Who is able to save us from our sins?
Well, we've already said, haven't we?
Who is it?
Who is able to save us from our sins?
What's the name that we think of
When we think of
Who is able to save us from our sins?
Who wants to shout out that name?
Isn't it?
Jesus saves us from our sins
But not just the Jesus we think of
Thinking back to Christmas
The one who was born into the world
But the Jesus that we read of here
As he goes to the cross saying
It is finished
So someone referencing
A football manager this week
Some of you may be too young to remember
He was manager of Arsenal
A number of years ago
Very successful manager
And he said at one point
As he was managing the team
He said when looking at the games to be played
Christmas is important
But Easter is decisive
What did he mean by that?
Well at Christmas time
You find that the teams
You have to play a lot of games
In the same period of time
Maybe four or five games
Maybe in two weeks
And it is important
It is important that they do well
But the way he looked at it was
Christmas is important
But then you look at Easter
Which can be a busy time
And it is coming to the end of the season
And he is saying
Easter is decisive
That is when things are really decided
And what the person was saying
Is he was talking about this
In a football way
But we can think of it
From the scripture as well
Christmas is important
Jesus came into the world
That is so important
But Easter is decisive
Because without the death
And the resurrection of Jesus
Our faith would mean nothing
The resurrection is so important
Easter is decisive
He was born into this world
But he came to die
And rise from the grave
That was the definite plan
But Jesus' dying on the cross
Can seem like a plan that had gone wrong
That God had failed
And maybe this was kind of plan B
How are we going to make things right?
We've got to find another way
Like we, when we're doing things
We can go wrong
And we think, right, what's plan B?
How are we going to fix this?
How are we going to change this?
But all along
This was God's plan A
And that's what we see
As you go right through the Old Testament
It's always pointing towards Jesus on the cross
Because he had to die for our sins
But how do we know
This is plan A?
Well, there's a word used in these few verses that we've read
These three verses that we've read
It's the word finished
You see it there in verse 28
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished
Said to fulfill the scripture, I thirst
And then when Jesus had received the sour wine
He said, it is finished
And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit
So the word finished
Is so important for us
There's a number of words or phrases that maybe stick with us when we hear them
Words that we can associate with something
For example, the Titanic
You think of the ship, the Titanic
That sank back in April 1912
It was the anniversary just earlier this week
Of the sinking of the Titanic
Many people when that ship was built
They looked at it and thought
They used that word
Some people used that word
Unsinkable
But on its first proper voyage
It sank
A tragedy occurred
There was another time when a spaceship went up to space
There was a mission, Apollo 13
There's a film made about it
And the words that were used at one point was
Houston, we have a problem
And these kind of words, they stick with us
Because we think that we associate them with something
Unsinkable
Or Houston, we have a problem
And we think of
Plans that had not worked out
Plans that had gone wrong
And for many people
Jesus' words here in these verses
People think that
He'd lost control
It was done
It was finished
He'd failed
That's the way many people see it
That's why many people saw it at the time
As they looked on Jesus dying on the cross
They thought, we're done
The one we had hoped had come to save us
Many people look on it in the same way
Jesus means nothing
But what we have to see is
This word finished
And it's a word I want you all to remember
Because it's such an important word
It's one of the most important words
That Jesus said
It is finished
It's one word in Greek
Tetelestai
And I want you to remember that word
Young and old alike
It means
And behind that word is
Everything is paid in full
And it's only used in the New Testament here
These two times
It's the only place it's used
One of Jesus' last words on the cross
Tetelestai
It is finished
Other people have used it in a different way
But it always points towards something that is complete
A servant who was maybe doing work in a house for someone
They would use that word when their task was finished
Tetelestai
It's finished
An artist would use it
When they put the last touch to a masterpiece
Tetelestai
It's finished
It's done
Or people in trade would use it when they've come to an agreement
When a deal has been struck
The deal is done
Tetelestai
It is finished
But here Jesus uses this word
In a sense of everything that he had come to do
Everything about God's plan
Everything was finished with him
All
Is done
The price is paid
Have you ever been to the castle
Here in Stornoway
Have you ever gone inside
Even just looking outside is amazing now
But when you go inside
The transformation since it lay derelict for so many years
Just falling apart
But then people got together and said
We're going to renovate it
We're going to redo it
And a lot of money was put into it
Maybe about 20 million pounds was spent on bringing it back
Into what it had been previously
And you go in now
And you see it
It's amazing to see
Weddings are held in there
You can stay a night in the castle
It's an amazing place
So imagine someone coming up to you and saying
It's yours
There's the keys
What would your first reaction be
You say I can't afford it
20 million just to do it up
What's it worth now
Hundreds of millions
I can't afford it
But someone comes and says
What would you do
If you got those keys
Keep it to yourself
Come and see my new house
70 bedrooms
Anybody want a job cleaning it
You can't imagine that happening
Everything being paid for you in that way
And yet here
As you look at the word of God
You got something even better
Where Jesus says
It is finished
He is saying
Here is the keys to life for you
I have done it all
Paid in full
This is the plan of God for salvation
For salvation
He died
So that we might live
And he says
It's for you
The plan
Was actioned
It was done by Jesus
But is that it
Well we want to thirdly think of
What does this mean for us today
And we want to do this
By just reading a few more verses
In the Gospel of Luke
We are going to read in chapter 24
Luke chapter 24 verse 44 to 53
And as we read these words
What we see now is
Here is Jesus
Having been on the cross
Where is he now?
He has risen from the grave
They went to the tomb
On the Sunday morning
And the stone had been rolled back
The grave was empty
The woman met the gardener
Who said
He is not here
He is risen
And then Jesus met
With his people
In different ways
And here is one occasion
When he met with them
As we are reading in Luke 24
Then he said to them
These are my words
That I spoke to you
While I was still with you
That everything written about me
In the law of Moses
And the prophets
Must be fulfilled
Then he opened their minds
To understand the scriptures
And said to them
Thus it is written
That the Christ should suffer
And on the third day
Rise from the dead
And that repentance
For the forgiveness of sins
Should be proclaimed in his name
Beginning from Jerusalem
You are witnesses of these things
And behold
I am sending the promise
Of my Father upon you
But stay in the city
Until you are clothed
With power on high
And he led them out
As far as Bethany
And lifting up his hands
He blessed them
While he blessed them
He parted from them
And was carried up into heaven
And they worshipped him
And returned to Jerusalem
With great joy
And were continually
In the temple
Blessing God
Jesus is risen
And what does that mean
For us today
Well go back to the castle
And the offer of the keys
To it being yours
For that to be complete
What needs to happen?
You have to move in
You have to accept it
Until you do that
It's not yours
You're not living there
You're not part of it
And that's like it is
With the kingdom of God
As well
The offer is there for us
Everything is done
It is finished
It's Jesus said
But in order to live
Life to the full
We need to believe
And understand the scriptures
All that is written
And that's what we see
In these words here
That Jesus is speaking
To the crowds
Who are there with him
He says
These are my words
That I spoke to you
While I was still with you
That everything
Written about me
In the law of Moses
The prophets
And the Psalms
That's the Old Testament
As we have it
Must be fulfilled
And then he opened
Their minds
To understand the scriptures
That's what we long for today
That the Lord would open our minds
To understand the scriptures
To understand the importance
Of this message
It is finished
It is done
It is paid in full
But do you understand that today?
Do you understand the importance
Of that today for yourself?
That in order to live with God
You need to believe in Jesus
The resurrection
Affects our whole life
And our eternal life as well
What we believe today
Is what will matter
In the future
Even as we think of ourselves
Living in this world
We know we are just passing through
And the day will come
When we are called away ourselves
But are we ready?
That's always the question
Are we ready for that day?
Well, it is the word of God
It is trusting in Jesus
And the finished work
Of all that he has done
There was a lot of confusion
At the time of Jesus' death
Peter, as we said
Was confused by what was happening
He denied knowing Jesus
And the disciples left
Even before
They could see what had happened
And when they were told
That he has risen
They didn't believe it
We will be hearing more of that
But just before this part of Luke 24
You have two who were on the road to Emmaus
And they tell us that
Everything just seemed to have got out of control
God's plan had failed in many ways
They didn't understand what was happening
They were saying
This Jesus has been crucified
He has been put to death
And we had hoped that he was going to be our savior
They couldn't understand
And while they were discussing all of these things
Jesus came alongside
And it says in verse 16
Their eyes were kept from recognizing him
They didn't see him
They didn't understand who he was
They were kept from recognizing him
But what they do then is
Later on
Their hearts are opened
As he preaches the word
Did not our hearts burn within us?
As he opened up the scriptures to us
And when you see that in light of what he says here
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures
You see it's all about Jesus
He is the one who helps us to understand
Their eyes were kept from seeing him
Until their hearts burned within them
And for yourself today as well
It's what are you trusting in?
Are you trusting and seeking to understand from these words
That here is the way to eternal life
Here is the way to be saved from our sin
It is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
There was a man
Who used to go out in the streets of the cities
Different cities around America
And he was always preaching about Jesus
Telling people about Jesus
But he said I would often be interrupted by the crowd asking a question
And so often he was saying the same question kept coming up
They would say there are hundreds of religions in this country
How can we know that the truth that you are telling the truth?
And the man would answer the question something like this
Did I hear you say there are hundreds of religions?
I'll say this to you
There's only two
And he said yes there may be different shades of religions
But there's ultimately only two
And one he said covers all who expect salvation
By doing it themselves
That's one religion
You are saved by what you do yourself
The other he says covers all who say
They are saved by something that was done by another
Jesus
Are you saved by what you do yourself?
That's one religion
And it's a religion that's so common in this world
We don't need Jesus
It's about what we do, how we live
That we're good people
We live that we're good people
All of these things
But that's not what counts
Through religion
Is found through faith in Jesus Christ
Believing in something that was done by another
But we couldn't do ourselves
We couldn't save ourselves from our sins
But that's why Jesus said
It is finished
It is done
And that's why we need help from Jesus
To open our minds to understand these scriptures
To understand all that is written
Jesus paid it all
All to him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow
That's what the hymn writer says
Jesus paid it all
We all like a good bargain
We all look for the best deal
Is that how you're living your life?
Looking for cheap grace
Somebody wants to put it like this
There are no victories at discount prices
Jesus paid it all
It is finished
Do you believe this?
God
had a plan
He put his plan
into action
This plan
is completed
Do you believe it?
What has Jesus done?
He said he would come
We can say
Tetelestai
Finished
He said I will die
We can say Tetelestai
It is finished
He said I will resurrect
We can say Tetelestai
It is finished
There's one part yet
He said I will come again
It is time
To get ready
And to believe
That God's plan
The instructions
Now help us Lord
To understand
These scriptures
And to believe
That all is done
All is paid
He is risen
And he will come
Let us pray
Our Father in heaven
We do rejoice
In all that is done for us
That it is finished
That the price is paid in full
And we ask
O Lord today
That you will help us
To understand these scriptures
So that our hearts
May burn within us
And rejoice
In the hope that is found
In Jesus Christ
The one who defeated death
Who rose from the grave
Who was ascended on high
And the one who will come again
Hear our prayers
And continue with us
We ask in his precious name
We're going to conclude
By singing to God's praise
In Psalm 33
In the Scottish Psalter
We'll sing from verse 8
To verse 11
Page 245
Of the Psalm books
At verse 8
This Psalm reminds us
That the word of God
Is true
It stands forever
Let earth and all
That live therein
With reverence fear the Lord
Let all the world's
Thread him with one accord
For he did speak the word
And done
It was without delay
Establish it
It firmly stood
Whatever he did see
We'll sing from verse 8
To 11
We stand to sing
To God's praise
Let voyance
Let Him with one accord.
For He did speak the word undone,
it was without delay.
Establish it, it firmly stood
whatever he did say.
What love the council bring to naught
which He then hoped to take?
And what the people do delight
of the defective day?
Oh, that the council of the Lord
does stand forever sure
and all His heart the purposes
from age to age and true.
Amen.
After the benediction, I'll go to the main door.
We'll close the benediction.
Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
rest upon and abide with you all
now and forevermore.
Amen.