WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.099 Thanks very much, Al. Good morning, everyone, whether you're here in the church or on the 00:00:04.099 --> 00:00:10.300 live stream, or indeed if you're listening to the recordings of the service. Perhaps I could just 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:15.080 give a very brief update about Maggie Shearer. As I start, Maggie, as most people will know, 00:00:15.179 --> 00:00:20.320 suffered a stroke on Boxing Day. She's in the Royal Infirmary. Yesterday, she was able to 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:25.359 converse with people who visited her, which is very positive, but we don't yet know what the 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:30.780 long-term health implications are. So please continue to remember, Maggie, in your prayers. 00:00:31.619 --> 00:00:36.119 I was thinking as I was preparing that this is a subject I'm talking about that Maggie would 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:43.760 identify with, because I want to ask the question, how much does God love us? Now, that's a question 00:00:43.760 --> 00:00:51.679 I know that we can never fully answer, but it is a really important question. When Paul wrote to the 00:00:51.679 --> 00:00:56.420 church in Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 3, he said this was his prayer, 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:03.780 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's 00:01:03.780 --> 00:01:13.120 holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. But then he goes on, 00:01:13.539 --> 00:01:21.019 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge. So we're going to be thinking about the love of God 00:01:21.019 --> 00:01:27.739 this morning. I hope we'll be able to rejoice in the love that God has for us, but also recognise 00:01:27.739 --> 00:01:36.299 that we can never fully appreciate just how great God's love for us is. And I want to focus our 00:01:36.299 --> 00:01:41.719 thoughts around three verses from the psalmist, verses 11 to 13, if you're following in your Bibles. 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:48.879 And the psalmist gives us three things we can compare God's love with. And I divide them up 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:55.939 into two sections. There's the quantity of God's love and the quality of God's love. And within the 00:01:55.939 --> 00:02:02.319 quantity, there's the extent and the effect of God's love. So the quantity, as far as the heavens 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:09.400 are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. The effect, as far as the east is from 00:02:09.400 --> 00:02:16.879 the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. And the quality of God's love, as a father has 00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:24.120 compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. I just want 00:02:24.120 --> 00:02:29.079 to take these three verses and we'll talk around them and have a think about what they mean for us. 00:02:30.579 --> 00:02:38.120 So the psalmist says, as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:44.280 him. So the question then, well, how far are the heavens above the earth? So let me give a few 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:50.500 possible answers. If you look up, and it's a reasonably clear day, you can look up and see 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:57.780 a blue sky. And the blue sky, you may know, comes because of the way that the light is refracted, 00:02:57.979 --> 00:03:04.840 light from the sun is refracted as it comes towards earth by the earth's atmosphere. The earth's 00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:12.180 atmosphere, I believe, extends for about 62 miles, and then you consider it to be in space. So I first 00:03:12.180 --> 00:03:18.099 thought, well, 62 miles is a lot higher up than any of us are ever likely to go. The heavens, 00:03:18.460 --> 00:03:24.260 in some sense, begin there. That's where space begins. But then if we're outside, it's a clear 00:03:24.260 --> 00:03:29.580 day, the chances are we'll also see the sun. Now, if you've been following the news this week, 00:03:29.760 --> 00:03:35.020 the spacecraft that has gone closer to the sun, I think, than any before, several times it's been 00:03:35.020 --> 00:03:42.820 said the distance to the sun from the earth is about 93 million miles. Now, that's an enormous 00:03:42.820 --> 00:03:47.640 distance, isn't it? It's new enough that they can't send us spacecraft to it. I think it took 00:03:47.640 --> 00:03:54.260 about eight years to get there. But it's a huge distance. But then if you go out at night and look 00:03:54.260 --> 00:04:00.260 up in the sky, you'll see the stars. And the brightest star, I believe, in the sky is called Sirius. 00:04:00.259 --> 00:04:09.699 And it is about 50 trillion light miles away from the earth. So there's 12 zeros after the 50 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:17.980 in the distance of Sirius. That is an unimaginable distance. We really can't get a concept of just 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:26.339 how far that might be. But astronomers tell us actually Sirius is a near neighbour in the universe. 00:04:26.339 --> 00:04:30.459 And again, if you've been watching the news the last few weeks, you may have seen that they've 00:04:30.459 --> 00:04:38.620 discovered a new galaxy in the stars. They're calling it Firefly Sparkle. And apparently, 00:04:39.179 --> 00:04:48.339 it is one and a half billion times as far away as Sirius. That's 75 followed by 21 zeros. 00:04:49.059 --> 00:04:53.899 So you've got the distance Sirius is a way which we can hardly grasp. And you add lots of zeros 00:04:53.899 --> 00:05:01.599 onto that. And you still haven't got to the end of our universe. The heavens are absolutely vast. 00:05:01.759 --> 00:05:08.599 And our God, of course, is even greater than his creation. Now, David, as he wrote the psalm, 00:05:08.679 --> 00:05:13.579 wouldn't have all that data. He wouldn't know about that. But he did know that the sky, when he looks 00:05:13.579 --> 00:05:21.459 up in the sky, that is far further away than he could really conceive of. And he says God's love 00:05:21.459 --> 00:05:29.039 is that great. That's the measure we need to use if we're thinking about how much God loves us, 00:05:29.459 --> 00:05:36.979 as high as the heavens are above the earth. Now, God's love comes to us, of course, in many ways. 00:05:37.479 --> 00:05:43.539 We couldn't exist for a second without God's love, without God's ordering of our universe. 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:49.819 God's love comes to us day by day as we experience his presence with us, particularly if we're 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:56.300 Christians. But of course, if we want to know the extent of God's love, the place we need to look to 00:05:56.300 --> 00:06:04.820 is Calvary, to think about the death of the Lord Jesus and what he did for us when he died on the cross. 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:13.100 John says in his letter, this is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:18.640 Or Paul says, writing to the Romans, God demonstrates his own love for us in this, 00:06:19.140 --> 00:06:27.740 while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Now, to begin to grasp the implications of these 00:06:27.740 --> 00:06:32.740 verses, we need to recognize that there are two things there, which again are beyond our grasp, 00:06:32.780 --> 00:06:39.780 but we need to try to understand them. The first thing is the distance that there was between us 00:06:39.779 --> 00:06:48.019 and God. The Bible describes God as being holy. Holy literally means separate or different. 00:06:48.899 --> 00:06:58.159 And it's used to describe how God in all his fullness is so much greater than us. And it takes 00:06:58.159 --> 00:07:03.459 in all the aspects of God's character, but perhaps particularly when we think about God's holiness, 00:07:03.459 --> 00:07:12.339 we think about his justice, about his consistency, about his righteousness, that he is absolutely 00:07:12.339 --> 00:07:21.179 perfect in everything that he does. And in particular, that God can't even look on sin. 00:07:22.419 --> 00:07:28.839 And then when we look at ourselves and make the comparison, all of us are sinful. All of us have 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:37.459 done things that are wrong that go against God's way. And there was an enormous distance separating us 00:07:37.459 --> 00:07:45.479 from God. And there was a gap that we could never cross ourselves. And the only way that we could would 00:07:45.479 --> 00:07:54.979 be if God intervened for us. But why should he do that? Our sin is rebellion against God. There was 00:07:54.980 --> 00:08:03.600 nothing in us that should be attractive to God that would make him want to love us. And yet our God chose 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:11.140 to love us. And he chose to do the one thing that would enable us to be reconciled to him. He sent Jesus 00:08:11.140 --> 00:08:18.700 into the world to be our saviour. And that's the second thing that we need to try to grasp as we think 00:08:18.699 --> 00:08:27.639 about the greatness of God's love. How much Jesus suffered for us. It was terrible. It was awful that Jesus 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:37.120 was rejected by those he came to help. It was awful that he was subjected to possibly the most cruel form of 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:47.600 execution invented by man as he was crucified in public on a cross. In agony, humiliated by those he had created. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:54.820 And yet we still can't really grasp the enormity of Jesus' suffering, even if we can begin to 00:08:54.820 --> 00:09:02.659 understand the suffering of crucifixion. Because the thing that Jesus really suffered was having our 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:11.200 sins put on him by God and being separated from his Father. So he could cry out, my God, my God, 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:20.500 why have you forsaken me? And that's the measure of God's love. Giving the one who is most precious to 00:09:20.500 --> 00:09:28.140 him to be our saviour. And Jesus taking on himself the most awful suffering, unimaginable suffering, 00:09:28.620 --> 00:09:39.200 on our behalf. This is love, said John, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his Son 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:46.540 to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. David puts in the psalm, the Lord is compassionate and 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:53.540 gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbour his anger 00:09:53.540 --> 00:10:02.860 forever. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:08.720 the heavens are above the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. 00:10:09.680 --> 00:10:13.539 As I was thinking of that, I was reminded of the old hymn that many of us will know. 00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:20.919 Give me a sight, O Saviour, of thy wondrous love to me, of the love that brought thee down to earth 00:10:20.919 --> 00:10:29.759 to die on Calvary. O make me understand it. Help me to take it in, what it meant to thee, 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:40.439 the holy one, to bear away my sin. The love of God is as high as the heavens are above the earth. 00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:50.259 But then David says, as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions 00:10:50.259 --> 00:10:57.819 from us. So this is the effect of God's love on us. So how far is the east from the west? 00:10:57.820 --> 00:11:04.400 Commentaries tend to say something like, it's an infinite distance, or it's immeasurable. 00:11:05.460 --> 00:11:09.320 I think actually that just shows that they don't teach astronomy at Bible College, 00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:14.560 because I don't believe, and I'm not an astronomer myself, but I don't believe there is an absolute 00:11:14.560 --> 00:11:22.140 concept of east and west in space. There is a technical definition by which planets might be east or west 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:29.059 of each other. But mostly east and west directions are specific to heavenly bodies. If we take the 00:11:29.059 --> 00:11:36.139 obvious one, the earth. North and south in our world is defined by the axis that the world spins on, 00:11:36.779 --> 00:11:43.819 and east and west are at right angles to that wherever you happen to be standing. I'll put it a bit more 00:11:43.820 --> 00:11:50.800 simply, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But if you start here and you go east and 00:11:50.800 --> 00:11:56.379 keep going east across land and sea, you actually end up going round in circles and come back to where 00:11:56.379 --> 00:12:02.260 you started. At this point, I realised I was kind of overthinking things, and I need to put myself into 00:12:02.260 --> 00:12:08.740 David's shoes. So let's do that now. How far was the east from the west for David? Well, if David was 00:12:08.740 --> 00:12:14.120 standing in Bethlehem or perhaps in Jerusalem, he could look east and he could think if he gave 00:12:14.120 --> 00:12:18.580 someone a burden that he wanted to get rid of, they could head off in the direction of what we 00:12:18.580 --> 00:12:23.539 can now call China. Potentially he could head off west in the direction of what would now be Morocco, 00:12:24.259 --> 00:12:31.139 and would get further and further away from that burden. And before too long, it would be gone 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:38.779 completely. He could forget about it. It wasn't going to come back. It was someone else's problem now. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:45.899 I think that's the way we need to think about the distance from east to west here. It is that our burden 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:55.379 of sin has been removed from us if our trust is in Jesus. David probably had in mind as he was writing 00:12:55.379 --> 00:13:01.200 this the Day of Atonement in the Jewish calendar. And on the Day of Atonement, as they were going 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:08.419 through the wilderness, there was an animal sacrifice for the sins of the people. But there was also a goat 00:13:08.419 --> 00:13:14.899 that the high priest laid his hands on, and it was sent out into the wilderness. And symbolically, 00:13:15.019 --> 00:13:22.019 the sins of the people were being put on it, and they were being carried away from the camp. And David said, 00:13:22.019 --> 00:13:31.279 my sins have been carried away as far as the east is from the west. I don't need to worry about them 00:13:31.279 --> 00:13:39.679 anymore. That's a tremendous lesson for us if we are Christians. Because many Christians, 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:43.860 I wouldn't exclude myself from that, many Christians, we bring back things from our past, 00:13:43.860 --> 00:13:51.319 and we feel a sense of guilt about them, and we really can't, in that sense, let go of them. 00:13:52.019 --> 00:13:59.699 But God says, your sins have been removed if they're confessed and you're trusting in Jesus. 00:14:00.199 --> 00:14:08.500 There's no need to be burdened by them. I think there are two things in particular that can destroy 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:15.519 the joy that we should have if we're Christians. One is if we've got sins that we haven't confessed. 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:21.360 Perhaps we don't even recognise them. Perhaps we enjoy them too much, or perhaps we even feel too ashamed 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:30.439 to bring them to God. We need to regularly bring our sins to God and confess them, and then experience 00:14:30.439 --> 00:14:38.939 the joy that we know we've been forgiven by our loving Heavenly Father. But equally, we need to make 00:14:38.940 --> 00:14:46.220 sure that these sins that are in the past, we need to understand they really are gone. God has forgotten 00:14:46.220 --> 00:14:53.460 them. We need to put them behind us and need to move forward in our relationship with God. 00:14:54.460 --> 00:15:00.140 Again, I was reminded of, in this case, an old chorus. Slightly different analogy it uses, but very similar. 00:15:00.139 --> 00:15:07.500 Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone. Yes, my sins are gone. Now my soul is free and in my heart's a song. 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:16.759 Buried in the deepest sea. Yes, that's good enough for me. I will live eternally. Praise God. 00:15:17.220 --> 00:15:25.559 My sins are gone. If your trust is in the Lord Jesus today, be aware that he has forgiven all your sins 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:34.559 from the past and that you can put them behind you. Let's move on to our third picture. Slightly 00:15:34.559 --> 00:15:40.559 different now, because David writes about the compassion a father has for his children and says 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:47.819 the Lord God has the same compassion for us. Now let's recognize first that not all of us have good 00:15:47.819 --> 00:15:54.179 experiences of fatherhood. Some of us have wonderful fathers who we could look up to and could seek to 00:15:54.179 --> 00:16:00.939 emulate. Others have fathers who perhaps are not worthy of that respect. And those of us who are 00:16:00.939 --> 00:16:06.279 fathers, I'm sure, are very aware of our own deficiencies, that we don't live up to the standard 00:16:06.279 --> 00:16:14.459 that we should as fathers. But I hope we can all think about what it would mean to be the perfect father 00:16:14.459 --> 00:16:22.299 that God is. I think fathers have two big responsibilities, particularly when their children are 00:16:22.299 --> 00:16:28.099 young or are young or are frail. One is to provide for them and the other is to protect them. And of 00:16:28.099 --> 00:16:34.059 course, God does that for us. Again, a slightly different analogy, but Psalm 23 is very much about God's 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:43.259 protection and his provision for his sheep. But what I think is particularly significant about this 00:16:43.259 --> 00:16:52.779 here is that God's love for us is individual. I'm a father of three children and they're all different 00:16:52.779 --> 00:16:58.559 in their character and their needs. And it wouldn't be right if I was to treat them all in the same way. 00:16:59.460 --> 00:17:05.059 And when we think about God as our father, we need to recognize that he cares about all of us 00:17:05.059 --> 00:17:13.740 individually. That God so loved the world that he gave his only son is a wonderful truth that we can 00:17:13.740 --> 00:17:24.379 never fully understand. But Paul said, the son of God loved me and gave himself for me. And it's not 00:17:24.379 --> 00:17:32.859 as if God has just given a kind of blanket forgiveness to everyone who trusts in Jesus. God cares about each of 00:17:32.859 --> 00:17:40.479 us individually. He knows our needs better than we know them ourselves. And he is able to meet that need 00:17:40.479 --> 00:17:50.740 and to work things for our good. Jesus said he knows the number of hairs on our head. And he says in the 00:17:50.740 --> 00:17:59.240 same section of Matthew that God knows every, she's every sparrow when it falls. How much more will he care for 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:07.620 those who love him for those who are his children? I think that's even more mind-blowing than what we 00:18:07.620 --> 00:18:13.339 were thinking about earlier. You just can't understand how God could love each of us individually, know 00:18:13.339 --> 00:18:21.220 everything about our lives and be directing things for our good. But that's the truth that's in the Bible, 00:18:21.220 --> 00:18:33.380 that God loves me, that Jesus died for me, and that I can know God's presence and God's help individually in my life. 00:18:35.460 --> 00:18:40.299 At Christmas, our grandson actually didn't mention it, I don't think, just now, but one of the things he got was a keyboard. 00:18:41.000 --> 00:18:47.960 And it took my mind back to when my mum used to have an old piano, and I learned to tap out a tune one note at a time 00:18:47.960 --> 00:18:56.900 on it. And I think the first hymn that I ever learned was one which is particularly relevant to what I'm saying just now. 00:18:57.400 --> 00:18:58.519 And it went like this, 00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:04.059 I am so glad that our Father in heaven tells of his love in the book he has given. 00:19:04.980 --> 00:19:11.160 Wonderful things in the Bible I see. This is the dearest, that Jesus loved me. 00:19:11.380 --> 00:19:14.519 Jesus loves me, and I know I love him. 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.819 Love brought him down my lost soul to redeem. 00:19:18.859 --> 00:19:21.579 Yes, it was love made him die on the tree. 00:19:22.599 --> 00:19:25.779 Oh, I am certain that Jesus loves me. 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:28.240 I am so glad that Jesus loves me. 00:19:29.019 --> 00:19:31.920 Jesus loves even me. 00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:37.160 If we know the Lord Jesus is our Savior, let's rejoice in that this morning, 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:39.440 that Jesus loved me, 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:42.500 Jesus died for me, and Jesus still loves me. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:46.480 And he is with me every step of the way. 00:19:47.680 --> 00:19:52.059 I've got some final thoughts in a minute, but just one thing to look at just before we get to that. 00:19:52.120 --> 00:19:52.840 Verse 17. 00:19:53.500 --> 00:19:57.200 It's another verse that tells us more about God's love. 00:19:57.580 --> 00:19:58.200 And it says, 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:13.580 It's not just that the size of God's love is greater than we can imagine. 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:16.940 It's that God loved us from before time began, 00:20:16.940 --> 00:20:24.380 and God will continue to love us through eternity as we go to be with the Lord Jesus. 00:20:25.100 --> 00:20:28.799 God's love is eternal and unchanging. 00:20:30.100 --> 00:20:33.420 But I want to finish with something I've kind of skipped over until now. 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:37.000 We've read verses, but I've not really commented on this. 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:40.259 Again, if you've got a Bible, you might like to look at the verses. 00:20:40.259 --> 00:20:41.460 Verse 11 says, 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:48.299 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him. 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:50.079 Verse 13 says, 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:56.359 As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him. 00:20:57.079 --> 00:20:58.339 And verse 17 says, 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:04.759 From everlasting to everlasting, the Lord's love is with those who fear him. 00:21:04.759 --> 00:21:11.259 So the experience of God's love, our experience of God's love is not unconditional. 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:19.400 That experience is for those who fear the Lord, and not everyone will benefit from it. 00:21:20.259 --> 00:21:24.599 Now, it may strike you this is a bit different from how it's presented in the New Testament. 00:21:25.279 --> 00:21:29.180 As we read the New Testament, it is very clear that we come to know God 00:21:29.180 --> 00:21:33.259 and to experience his love through faith in the Lord Jesus. 00:21:33.259 --> 00:21:37.240 Paul, when he was in prison in Philippi, and the jailer asked him, 00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:38.940 What must I do to be saved? 00:21:39.379 --> 00:21:44.460 Said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. 00:21:45.619 --> 00:21:50.240 More explicitly, even than that, John in chapter 3 of his gospel writes, 00:21:50.339 --> 00:21:53.180 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, 00:21:54.019 --> 00:21:57.680 but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, 00:21:57.680 --> 00:22:03.480 because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 00:22:04.100 --> 00:22:10.519 In other words, our status before God is dependent only on our relationship with the Lord Jesus 00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:13.880 and whether we have trusted in him or not. 00:22:14.620 --> 00:22:19.420 So is that different from what David is writing about here, about fearing God? 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:21.340 I don't think it is. 00:22:21.980 --> 00:22:27.940 When the Bible talks about fear of God, it's not generally talking about terror or dread. 00:22:28.600 --> 00:22:32.420 Now, sometimes when people encountered God, that was their immediate reaction. 00:22:32.980 --> 00:22:35.539 We've been thinking over the last couple of weeks of the shepherds, 00:22:35.860 --> 00:22:39.360 and in the fears over Bethany, as the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 00:22:39.700 --> 00:22:41.100 they were terrified. 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:45.599 But in general, when the Bible talks about the fear of God, 00:22:45.980 --> 00:22:50.480 it's talking about our reverence, about an awe that we should have for God, 00:22:50.859 --> 00:22:54.959 about recognising how much greater our God is than we are, 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:59.539 and recognising his holiness and his unworthiness. 00:23:00.339 --> 00:23:05.439 And that's exactly, I think, what was involved for most of us in coming to trust in Jesus. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.539 Now, when some of us became Christians as young children, 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.860 maybe it was the love of Jesus that gripped us, 00:23:11.960 --> 00:23:14.940 we weren't so aware, perhaps, of our inadequacy. 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:20.860 But certainly for all of us, I think if we are truly trusting in Jesus, 00:23:21.500 --> 00:23:26.620 we can only do that if we understand why we need to. 00:23:27.160 --> 00:23:29.420 Why is it that we need to put our trust in Jesus? 00:23:29.539 --> 00:23:34.160 Why is it that Jesus needed to come and die for us? 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:37.940 And it's because our God is so much greater than us, 00:23:38.380 --> 00:23:43.060 and we are so unable to do anything to help ourselves. 00:23:44.080 --> 00:23:46.840 We don't come in any sense to God the Father, 00:23:47.240 --> 00:23:50.100 or to the Lord Jesus, thinking we're equals. 00:23:50.800 --> 00:23:53.360 They are so far above us. 00:23:53.960 --> 00:23:55.860 We come with a sense of inadequacy. 00:23:56.700 --> 00:23:59.300 But when we know the Lord, we come with a thanksgiving, 00:23:59.299 --> 00:24:06.680 and a wonder that his love is so great that we can approach God as our Father. 00:24:07.740 --> 00:24:13.319 So this morning, each of us, we need to make sure that we really do fear the Lord in the true sense, 00:24:13.379 --> 00:24:16.960 that we recognize our inadequacy before him, 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:22.319 and that we recognize also the love that he has for us, 00:24:22.779 --> 00:24:26.700 the love that sent Jesus to die on the cross, 00:24:27.460 --> 00:24:30.380 the love that can be with us every day, 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.319 beyond our understanding, 00:24:32.980 --> 00:24:34.940 but something we can rejoice in, 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:37.220 and we can bask in, 00:24:37.539 --> 00:24:40.840 as we think of all God has done for us. 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:45.099 I want to finish as I started with Ephesians 3, 00:24:45.159 --> 00:24:47.220 and I think as we go towards a new year, 00:24:47.279 --> 00:24:48.779 as we come to the end of 2024, 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:50.819 and move into 2025, 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.379 Paul's prayer would be a really good one for us as a church, 00:24:55.740 --> 00:24:57.299 and for one another. 00:24:58.059 --> 00:24:58.759 He writes this, 00:24:58.819 --> 00:25:01.879 I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 00:25:02.839 --> 00:25:05.500 may have power together with all the Lord's people, 00:25:05.500 --> 00:25:10.980 to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:14.579 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, 00:25:15.640 --> 00:25:21.299 that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 00:25:21.819 --> 00:25:22.839 May that be our experience. 00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:25.920 May all of us know the Lord Jesus as Saviour, 00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:30.039 and come to know more and more his love for us. 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:31.240 Let's pray together. 00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:37.359 Father, we thank you for the wonderful truth that God is love, 00:25:37.799 --> 00:25:41.880 that your character is one of love for your creation, 00:25:43.079 --> 00:25:48.859 love that was enough to give up your most precious Son to be our Saviour, 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:51.620 love that is with us every day, 00:25:52.120 --> 00:25:56.259 as we meditate on all that he has done for us, 00:25:56.259 --> 00:26:00.140 and all the blessings that we constantly receive through him. 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:05.359 We pray that you will help all of us to have that fear of God that David talks about, 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:09.960 that we may recognise how much greater you are than us, 00:26:10.019 --> 00:26:12.779 how unworthy we are in ourselves, 00:26:13.779 --> 00:26:18.359 but that we may be able to rejoice in the fact that we have trusted in the Lord Jesus, 00:26:19.180 --> 00:26:21.980 and through that we can experience your love, 00:26:21.980 --> 00:26:23.140 the love of a Father, 00:26:23.759 --> 00:26:28.140 and a love that is measureless beyond our understanding. 00:26:28.140 --> 00:26:32.640 Be with us, we pray over the coming weeks as we go into a new year, 00:26:33.040 --> 00:26:37.340 that we may experience more and more your love in our lives, 00:26:37.380 --> 00:26:40.000 and that our love for you may grow. 00:26:40.420 --> 00:26:41.660 Thank you for being with us. 00:26:42.040 --> 00:26:43.480 We just commit ourselves to you now, 00:26:43.660 --> 00:26:45.920 and pray for your blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus. 00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:47.080 Amen. 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:47.379 Amen. 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:48.879 Amen. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:49.480 Amen.