[0:00] Well, good morning and welcome to our service this Lord's Day morning. It's good to be with you and special welcome to any visitors that are with us. I've spotted a couple on the way in, so you're especially welcome as we spend time today worshipping God and singing praises to his name.
[0:16] The intimations will have been up on the screen, but I'll just quickly run through them as is usual custom. So tea and coffee will be served after the service today, so it'd be great if everyone is able to, to stay behind and have some tea and coffee.
[0:28] The evening service today will be at 6pm and it'll be taken by Richard, so I invite you to come along to that. We're doing Youth Fellowship again, so this evening after the evening service from half 7 till half 8.
[0:41] If anyone is S1 to S6, please do come along to Youth Fellowship. There will be some food available, so I would encourage you to come along. We'll just spend a bit of time, just an hour or so, just reading into God's Word and spending a bit more time learning a little bit more about who God is and what he's done for us.
[0:58] Ladies' Fellowship meet on Mondays at 8pm, you can see the contact details there. Little Fishers as usual on Tuesday from 10 till 12. Road to Recovery will meet again for anyone that that's appropriate for on 7pm on Tuesday evening.
[1:12] Prayer meeting again will be by Zoom and online and again I think we'll probably be in the small room next door for the prayer meeting for those that are in person. Hika Kloich, apologies if that's terrible Gaelic, but I just ran with it there.
[1:28] The Gaelic group meet on Thursday again this week, so again if you've got any young ones it'd be great to come along. Women for Mission got a meeting here in the church at half 7 on Thursday and you'll be able to hear there from Margaret Smith and Elizabeth Ferguson.
[1:43] Refreshments always a winner to get people to come along. Usual Friday clubs, Jam Connect and Rooted, it's updated there, you can see the times for Jam Connect and Rooted.
[1:54] And then next Sunday hopefully, God willing, we'll have David back preaching again to us both morning and evening. And you'll note there a slightly earlier start, just with the minute silence, if we could be seated.
[2:08] Thankfully we do have enough seats, there's quite a few seats used up today. So do come along about 10.50 if possible for the two minute silence at 11am next week. Church cleaning rota, thankfully I'm not on it, as you can see it's clean.
[2:22] And the date for the diary, we've got a Thanksgiving meal, which over the last couple of years I think we've done a Thanksgiving meal, since Mackenzie's arrival, which has always been a great time together. So that's on Thursday, 23rd of November, so very much encourage you to come along.
[2:36] SU meet every Wednesday, 12.45, so you can get in touch with Ian, or I think Ewan is an option as well to contact. There's Presbyte Youth Camp, always encouraging, always tiring, so pray for the leaders.
[2:50] I've done one, two of them before, and just reading the poster itself is giving me cramp. So I would encourage you to pray for that work, the youth camp, and pray for the leaders and those that organise it at the end of the month.
[3:03] That's us. I made it, thanks, Amon. So I've got five minutes left to finish the rest of the service. No, but we'll begin our public worship of God today by singing to his praise in Psalm 118.
[3:16] Sing the first nine verses of Psalm 118 to God's praise. So praise the Lord, for he is good, his mercy lasteth ever. Let those of Israel now say, his mercy faileth never.
[3:27] Now let the house of Aaron say, his mercy lasteth ever. Let those that fear the Lord now say, his mercy faileth never. I in distress called on the Lord, the Lord did answer me. He in a large place did me set, from trouble made me free.
[3:41] The mighty Lord is on my side, I will not be afraid. For anything that man can do, I shall not be dismayed. The Lord doth take my part with them, that help to succour me. Therefore, on those that do me hate, I my desire shall see.
[3:54] Better it is to trust in God than trust in man's defence. Better to trust in God than make princes our confidence. So we'll stand to sing these verses to God's praise.
[4:05] Amen. Amen. Amen.
[5:05] Amen. Ireth North's talk.
[5:35] He answered me. He in a large place did me set.
[5:48] From trouble made me free. The mighty Lord is on my side.
[6:06] I will not be afraid. For anything that man can do.
[6:23] I shall not be dismayed. The Lord doth take my part with them.
[6:42] Thou help to succor me. Therefore on those that do me hate.
[6:58] I might desire shall see. Better it is to trust in God.
[7:16] Than trust in man's defense. Better to trust in God than me.
[7:34] Praise is our confidence. Amen. Well let's join together in prayer.
[7:49] Let's pray. Our eternal and ever blessed Father Lord. We give you thanks again for another opportunity that you've afforded to us.
[8:01] Where we can come into your house. Where we can sing praises to your most glorious name. Where we can worship you. Worship a God that is sovereign over each and every one of us.
[8:13] A God that is just. A God that is loving. A God that is merciful and gracious. And we thank you for that abundant mercy. An abundant grace Lord. Each and every one of us here are entirely undeserving of the very least of your mercies Lord.
[8:30] In your love you saw fit to put that salvation plan in place from before time began. That you would in all your love send your son. Him who knew no sin.
[8:40] Who became sin for us Lord. We thank you for that wonderful gift. We pray that we would be reminded of each and every day of what truly happened on the cross Lord. That we would not sanitise it.
[8:54] That we would be reminded of the brutality of what happened there. That the death that happened there. The blood that was shed. With each and every one of us here online and in this house. That have fingerprints on those nails Lord.
[9:06] We pray that we would remember that. That it's the sin of ourselves that put him there. We give you thanks Lord. That we are able to in safety to come here and to hear your word.
[9:21] To learn more about you. To sing your praises. We pray for those across the world that don't have the opportunity to do such Lord. They don't even have an opportunity to sometimes share that they are even Christian Lord.
[9:33] We pray for them. We pray for that persecuted church. We pray for those who have to meet underground just to open your word. Who have to have Bibles smuggled in across the borders Lord.
[9:44] We pray for them. But we also pray for their respective governments Lord. Those that are in charge of those countries. That they would come to know you. That you would reveal yourself to them. That they would be receptive to the gospel.
[9:58] That they would recognise that you are indeed the almighty God. That they would even look out their windows. And that they would see your wonderful power in the weather.
[10:08] And that they would see your wonderful creation in the hills and the seas around them Lord. That they would be able to look and see that this didn't just happen by chance.
[10:18] That there was indeed a designer. There was a creator of all that we see around us Lord. So we pray that you would make yourself known to them. Reveal your peace to them. Reveal your light to them.
[10:29] That they would turn to you. And that they would indeed seek your face Lord. We pray again for this congregation Lord. We give you thanks for all the wonderful provisions that you've given to us Lord.
[10:40] For the building that we meet in each and every week Lord. For the volunteers that we have helping at the various groups Lord. It's great to see an intimation sheet that goes on quite long Lord.
[10:54] With all the work that is being done here Lord. But we ask that we would be reminded that all that happens in this congregation. And all that happens from those associated with it Lord. It's done to your glory.
[11:05] Not to the glory of self. Not to the glory of each and every one of us Lord. But everything is given over to you. All that we do is to see your will done on earth as it is in heaven.
[11:16] As we seek to glorify you. And enjoy you forever Lord. We pray for those unable to be with us. Lord today we pray for those unable to be with us through illness. Or through work commitments Lord.
[11:29] We pray for them and ask that you would be with them. We bring before you Margaret Lord. And ask that you would be with her. Be with Kenny as well. At this difficult time Lord. We ask that you would be near to her.
[11:39] And that she would be aware of your presence. And your comforting presence there Lord. We pray for all those who are grieving at this time as well Lord. We ask that you would be with those. Whether it's a recent grievance.
[11:50] Or an old bereavement Lord. We pray that you would be with those that are struggling at this time with a loss. That you would comfort them. That you would make yourself known to them. And that they would be aware again of your presence.
[12:03] And they would be comforted by that Lord. We particularly bring before you though Lord. Those who have made no conscious effort to come here today. Those who have woken up this day.
[12:14] Your day. And have no desire to come here. Have no thought for you. Have no thought for their own soul. Have no thought for their own eternal destination Lord. We pray for them.
[12:25] And ask particularly that you would reveal yourself to them. And that they would be aware of the sin in their own lives. That it would draw them to turn away from that sin Lord.
[12:35] That they would turn away from that sin and turn towards you. That we would see them come into this house. To come in to hear your word. To hear about the glorious salvation plan.
[12:47] Which is that golden thread that runs through your scripture. We pray Lord that you would soften their hearts. Those hearts of stone Lord.
[12:57] That you would soften them. And that they would be receptive to your word. That it would be like the seed lying on good soil. And not on the path. Or that the thorns would come up and choke it Lord.
[13:08] But they would be landing on good soil. And the word that would go out. Would be rooted. And that it would indeed be fruitful lives. That are witnessed across the place Lord. And we pray that our own witness as a congregation here.
[13:21] Would be evident to those that walk by this very day. To those that we encounter throughout the week. We pray Lord that it would be seasoned with salt. The conversations that we have.
[13:32] That we would be given. Not just given opportunities. But we would be given the boldness. To take the multitude of opportunities that we have. To share your gospel with those around us. Whether in the workplace.
[13:42] Whether in the street. In our own families. At home. Wherever you have placed us Lord. Our mission field is as long and as wide as our own feet. So we pray that wherever you have placed us. That we would be used.
[13:53] That we would be used for you. And that we would be able to see. Many more souls saved Lord. In your glorious power. We pray for David. In Oban Lord.
[14:04] And ask that you would be with him this weekend. We give you thanks. For the congregation there. We pray that they would have a blessed weekend. We pray for Ian. As he ministers there in Oban. And ask that you would continue with him.
[14:15] That you would continue to equip him. And we give you thanks for his health. And that he's back preaching just now Lord. We give you thanks. For your healing hand upon him. And we pray Lord.
[14:26] For those young ones as well. That are with us today. It's great to see so many young ones here Lord. We pray for them. We ask that you would be with them. That you would go before them.
[14:38] In all that they do. That you would be with the Sunday school teachers. We give you thanks Lord. For those that come each and every week. To share the gospel. To share who their risen saviour is.
[14:50] And that we would point the young ones. To the cross. That they would live lives that are pleasing to you. As early as possible. That in the days of their youth. That they would know you. And that they would live lives.
[15:01] Pointing others to you. Whether that's still in school. Or beyond school. Into the workplace. Into university. Colleges. Or wherever they. Wherever you take them Lord. That they would confidently share of your word.
[15:13] That they would rail against the. The words of society just now Lord. We pray that society itself. A country that we. Are in. That was once well acquainted with the book.
[15:24] Is no longer the case Lord. We pray that. You would indeed. Plant these churches. That we know of in our own denomination. Across this nation. That we would see. Many.
[15:36] Christ centred. Churches. Being planted. In corners. That have. Have never had a church. That many don't even know the name of Christ. Other than as a profanity Lord. But we pray that you would. Be in those places.
[15:47] That you would. Send. People there. To plant those churches. And to work in those communities. And to share that. That glorious gospel. Which we cherish. So dearly Lord.
[15:58] We also pray Lord. For. The other denominations. In our midst here. And Tarbert. And the rest of Harris Lord. And ask that. Where Christ crucified is preached. You would be there this morning. That you would bless.
[16:09] Their. Their meetings. That you would bless those. Servants that share your word. With them Lord. And that they would. Indeed have a blessed. Lord's day. And that they would go out. That they would hear the word. They would meditate upon the word.
[16:21] And that they would go away. Seeking to grow in greater knowledge. Of who you are Lord. So be with us just now. Go before us in all that we do. Be around us. Keep us. And pardon our many sins. In Christ's precious. And most glorious name we pray.
[16:32] Amen. Okay boys and girls. If you want to come to the front. For here. There's a lot of you today.
[16:43] Okay. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. How is everyone? Good. Good. All good. Nobody's bad?
[16:55] No? All good. That's good. That's what we want to hear. So. I'm going to ask you. Before I've got a few pictures to show you in a wee minute. But before I ask for them to be put up. I want to ask you something. See this building that we're in.
[17:07] Do anyone know what it was before? A pub. A pub. So. So. So there was a different kind of spirit being poured out before. You're absolutely right. So. How did it become a church?
[17:17] Did we just. As a congregation. Did we buy it? No. And then just click our fingers and one day it became a church. No. What had to happen? Sorry.
[17:29] Work. People had to work on it. Yeah. And there was a lot of people working on it for a long time to make it the way it is today. So it doesn't really look like a pub, does it?
[17:39] Would you say? You shouldn't know. So don't answer. Unless your parents own one. That's okay. But you shouldn't really be. This is where you used to get the beer. Yeah.
[17:50] You're absolutely right. This was actually made out of the bar. This. Table. If you didn't know that. So there's a wee fact for you. So I'm going to show you. I've got three different. Well. Six pictures. But. A kind of before and after.
[18:01] This is the first one. This is. I've no idea where it is. But it's a nice house. So if we go to the second one. Do you think. Which do you think is better? The first picture or the second?
[18:12] The second. The second picture. So somebody's obviously done a lot of work to make it look nice. Okay. Let's go to the next one. Exactly. I totally agree.
[18:23] And the after. Which would you prefer? First. I prefer. First. First. To just put it on the croft. That's what we see a lot of cars on crofts look like.
[18:35] And then the last one. So this is. You're surprised this is the before. But let's see the after. Look at it. Did the dog cut its own hair?
[18:48] No. No. Somebody. Do you think somebody must have gone in to fix that dog up? Got a haircut. Absolutely. I don't know what they're like. I've not had one for a long time. But.
[18:59] I want us to think about. What happened there. So. We've seen something that needed to be fixed. Do we all agree? Yeah. This building. We couldn't have come in here. And had David stand behind the pub.
[19:10] To preach to us. Could we? We could have. But we. We wanted to make it. A place. Where we can come in. And we can use the building. We've got. We saw on the intimation sheet. We've got lots of things. For the kids.
[19:20] The young ones. From the really young. To. I'll not say how old. But to the really old. We use this church. And we use it for God. But it had to be fixed up. There had to be a piece of work done. And it's the same with every one of us.
[19:33] Everyone. Sitting here today. Everyone that's online as well. We're in the exact same state. As that before. There's the before. And the after picture. We're all still. In the before.
[19:44] But what do you think. Makes us. Looking a bit run down. Like that house. Or. Eh. Don't. Say why I may look run down right now. I should have probably shaved again. But.
[19:55] What is it in our own lives? Maybe in our own hearts. Sin. So sin. Is in every one of our lives. Do we all agree? Has anyone not. Has anyone not sinned here today? No.
[20:06] Everyone's sinned. Okay. We're on a good level playing field there. So we've all got sin in our lives. And we all know that sin is. Good or bad? Bad. Bad. So it's the sort of thing. Like each of those first pictures.
[20:16] Apart from the dog. The dog just had a bit of a. A bad hair day. But each and every one of us. Has to have something done to our lives. To restore us. Or to renovate us. And make us cleaner.
[20:26] To make us. To repair the sin in our lives. So who is it? Very easy question. Who. Hands up. Comes in and fixes. Is we had. Lots of people here. Many of our. Older generation.
[20:38] Helped to fix this place. Shawnee. Sorry. My name. Jesus. Yep. So Jesus is the one. That helps. With our own hearts. We can't fix ourselves. So like this building.
[20:48] Could we ask some of the elders. That got sledgehammers. And smashed this place to bits. To do that to your heart. And it will fix it. No. It's not going to fix it. What about the person. That cut the dog's hair. Can they come and trim your heart up.
[21:00] And make it better. No. Hopefully not. We'll maybe not let that one. Try itself out. But no. None of us can fix ourselves. We have to go. To one place. To be fixed.
[21:10] And that place. Is Christ. And with the older ones today. We're going to look at a passage. About somebody that did. As everyone has. That needed to be renewed. And they got a great encouragement.
[21:22] When they failed. So we've all failed. Have you all failed today possibly. Maybe. I mean with God. So you maybe. Somebody maybe forgot to say a prayer. Or maybe somebody said a wee. Quite lying at some point in the morning.
[21:33] Yes. I've brushed my teeth. I've seen some guilty faces. Oh. I'm younger. Because. Because. The parents know. When I brush my teeth away. When I have a way.
[21:44] Two brush. And I was away. And it's. I just brush on it. A thousand. Done. There you go. So we've all done something. Maybe not all this morning. But we've all done something.
[21:55] where we've failed God yet. So we need to be fixed and we need to be renewed. And we're going to look at somebody who failed quite badly in Peter when he denied Jesus three times.
[22:07] And he would have been probably just like yourself, you're really guilty about not brushing his teeth. He would have been feeling really bad in himself. But we know that we have a Lord that saves. And there's a passage, I'm just going to read it just now.
[22:18] It's from 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17. And it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come.
[22:29] Jesus restores us and fixes us to be with God and allows us to live with him forever. So I want you to remember that, that the old has passed away. Just like those pictures, that old house, gone.
[22:41] The old car is gone. It's the new one that is there. And it's the same way we trust in God. The old life that you have of that sin not being dealt with, you will still sin when you're a Christian.
[22:52] That's something that's certain to happen. But you know that you've got Jesus, who's the one that's restored us. He's renovated our hearts. And he's fixed it. And the sin that is in our lives has been dealt with.
[23:03] So I want you to remember that. Particularly if you've got dogs and they're really hairy. Just think, once you chop that dog's hair, I want you to think about this and think about the sin in our own lives and what the Lord does when we come to him.
[23:14] So we'll say a wee word of prayer just before you go to Sunday school. Dear Lord Jesus, we give you thanks again for all the young ones here with us and for any listening online, Lord.
[23:25] We ask that you would be with them in the days of their youth, that they would come to know you, that they would have a relationship with you and that they would recognise that the lives that they have, the sin that we all have, the times that we fail, can be fixed by you.
[23:39] And if we turn to you and ask that you would come into our lives and we would trust you and put you at the centre of our lives, that that sin that each and every one of us has, each and every one of us will still sin, can be dealt with and can be resolved by you, Lord.
[23:55] That that restoration can be done through you and through the Holy Spirit, Lord. So we pray that you would be with them as they go and learn more in Sunday school, as they sing and they learn more about who you are and what you've done for them, Lord.
[24:07] We pray that you bless them, that you would go before them, that you would protect them in school, that you would protect them in society and that you would be with them in every possible way to meet their need, Lord.
[24:18] So go before us just now, be round us, keep us, pardon our many sins. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, now just before you go, we'll sing again to God's praise in Mission Praise 473.
[24:31] 473, My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. No merit of my own, I claim, but wholly trust in Jesus' name. And this is where I want you to stand. On Christ the solid rock I stand.
[24:43] All other ground is sinking sand. Everything else is sinking sand. So we'll stand to sing this hymn, 473 to God's praise. My hope is built on nothing less, like Jesus' blood and righteousness.
[25:18] And this is where I want you to stand. Nowhere it's of my own, I claim, but wholly trust in Jesus' name.
[25:34] On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is singing song When we begin this earthly race I rest on His unchanging grace In every wild and stormy gale My anchor holds and will not fail On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is singing song His wellness covenant and blood
[26:37] Our mighty friends against the flood When earthly hopes are swept away He will uphold me on the day On Christ the solid rock I stand All other ground is singing song When the last trumpets fall and shout sound Oh may I then in Him be found Lord in His righteousness alone For Christ the solid rock I stand
[27:44] All other ground is singing song Well as the young ones head out If you could turn in your Bibles We've got a couple of readings First one from Mark chapter 14 And from verse 26 So Mark chapter 14 And from verse 26 We'll read through to verse 42 And then the latter part of the passage And then we'll move forward to Mark chapter 16 So verse 26 of Mark chapter 14 And when they had sung a hymn They went out to the Mount of Olives And Jesus said to them You will all fall away For it is written I will strike the shepherd And the sheep will be scattered
[28:45] But after I am raised up I will go before you to Galilee Peter said to him Even though they all fall away I will not And Jesus said to him Truly I tell you This very night Before the rooster crows twice You will deny me three times But he said emphatically If I must die with you I will not deny you And they all said the same And they went to a place Called Gethsemane And he said to his disciples Sit here while I pray And he took with him Peter and James and John And began to be greatly distressed And troubled And he said to them My soul is very sorrowful Even to death Remain here and watch And going a little farther He fell on the ground And prayed That if it were possible The hour might pass from him And he said Abba Father All things are possible for you Remove this cup from me Yet not what I will But what you will And he came And found them sleeping And he said to Peter Simon are you asleep Could you not watch one hour
[29:45] Watch and pray That you may not Enter into temptation The spirit indeed is willing But the flesh is weak And again he went away And prayed Saying the same words And again he came And found them sleeping For their eyes were very heavy And they did not know What to answer him And he came the third time And said to them Are you still sleeping And taking your rest It is enough The hour has come The son of man is betrayed And going into the hands of sinners Rise Let us be going See my betrayer Is at hand If we just skip forward To verse 66 now We'll read verses 66 to 72 Just at the end of the chapter This is where Peter denies Jesus And as Peter was below In the courtyard One of the servant girls Of the high priest came And seeing Peter Warming himself She looked at him And said You also were with The Nazarene Jesus But he denies it Saying I neither know Nor understand What you mean And he went out Into the gateway And the rooster crowed
[30:46] And the servant girls Saw him And began again To say to the bystanders This man is one of them But again he denied it And after a little while The bystanders again said to Peter Certainly you are one of them For you are a Galilean But he began to invoke A curse on himself And to swear I do not know this man Of whom you speak And immediately The rooster crowed A second time And Peter remembered How Jesus had said to him Before the rooster crows twice You will deny me three times And he broke down And wept And then the last passage We'll read Is chapter 16 Just the first Nine verses Eight verses Sorry Of chapter 16 Just a couple of pages along We now move to The resurrection When the sabbath was passed Mary Magdalene Mary mother of James And Siloam Bought spices So that they might go And anoint him And very early On the first day of the week When the sun had risen They went to the tomb And they were saying To one another Who will roll away the stone
[31:46] For us from the entrance To the tomb And looking up They saw that the stone Had been rolled back It was very large And entering the tomb They saw a young man Sitting on the right side Dressed in a white robe And they were alarmed And he said to them Do not be alarmed You seek Jesus of Nazareth Who was crucified He has risen He is not here See the place Where they laid him But go tell his disciples And Peter That he is going before you To Galilee There you will see him Just as he told you And they went out And fled from the tomb From trembling And astonishment Had seized them And they said nothing To anyone For they were afraid Amen And may the Lord bless The reading of his word To us Just before we come back To that passage We'll sing A couple of stanzas In Gaelic From Psalm 51 Psalm 51 The first two stanzas In Gaelic And I'll read the first Three verses After thy loving kindness Lord Have mercy upon me
[32:46] For thy compassion Is great blot out All mine iniquity Me cleanse from sin And thoroughly wash From mine iniquity For my transgressions I confess My sin I ever see So we'll sing these verses We'll remain seated To sing these verses In Gaelic To God's praise Gospel Seventh естественно.
[33:46] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS
[34:51] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS
[35:53] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS Thank you.
[36:43] Amen. Thank you.
[37:15] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
[37:55] okay if you've got your bibles we can turn back to chapter 16 the latter chapter which we read and we'll take our text from verse 7 of chapter 16 verse 7 of chapter 16 says so that the messenger that was there says but go tell his disciples and peter that he is going before you to galilee there you will see him just as he told you and specifically the the passage or the the two words that i want us to to focus on are just those two words and peter but go tell his disciples and peter so those two words are really the kind of summary of what i want us to to look at today and the question just as i asked rather honestly fraser was helpful have you ever let somebody down or have you ever failed the lord it's a question i want us to ask it could be in the workplace it could be at home it could be as fraser said brushing your teeth but have you ever let somebody down or failed somebody or even if have you have you let the lord down this very morning it's a question i want you obviously don't need hands up but please ask that question to yourself um as we start have you ever let somebody down and if you have particularly if you've failed god even this very morning then this is a message of hope for all for all that have failed god for all that have sinned which is indeed every single one of us here today and online these two short words in verse 7 of mark chapter 16 may seem insignificant they may be a couple of words that you've maybe read before and you've just glossed over and never actually taken the time to think why did why was and peter added in there it serves however as a wonderful hope for us and a promise to each and every one of us that have failed god when it says but go tell the disciples and peter so the question we might ask is why why did the messenger use these words why did they add in and peter was peter not one of the disciples already why did this young man dressed in a white robe say and peter and not just go tell his disciples this was peter who as we looked at in in mark chapter 14 had so wretchedly denied the lord who had boasted in his loyalty and commitment to christ and then it failed it abandoned him as he denied him three times as the lord said he would so if we take our minds back to those verses that we read in mark chapter 14 it certainly helps to shape the backdrop to this verse and to those two words in particular and peter in the hour of his master's humiliating trial peter denies him what we saw was a shameful cowardly denial it wasn't due to the threat of life it wasn't due to some horrific struggle that he was going through in his life to remain faithful no it was at the first question of a young girl peter denied his lord how that must have cut peter to the heart reminding him at that moment that jesus had foretold his denial and it wasn't because he was under significant pressure it was a young girl that had challenged him on his knowledge of who jesus was and he denied him and so peter goes out and weeps bitterly those bitter tears of repentance we can only imagine what was going through his mind in the following couple of days when he sees jesus crucified jesus dies and is buried all that peter has left was his terrible denial his sin was continually before him and so as with us today in 2023 so we come to our verse here and it tells us here tell the disciples and peter there's an emphasis there make sure to tell peter that peter as we saw in chapter 14 who denied the lord needs to know that his lord is risen he who had fallen into the depths of sin having denied his lord must be comforted one of the commentators john gill says the use of that and peter was used to comfort peter in his
[42:01] great sorrow on account of his fall and to encourage him to meet christ with the rest of his disciples people peter must know that he has nothing to fear and it's to that comforting word of the risen christ that we listen today it's the word of christ sorry it's the word of christ that the angel speaks to peter and to all of us as we sit in the sorrow of our own sins when the message came i'm quite sure those two words and peter would have rung very loudly in the ears of peter he would likely have been utterly despondent knowing he had failed the lord by denying all knowledge of him prior to his crucifixion now interestingly what you will know if you read the other gospels this is the only account in the gospels where it stipulates peter's name when it says and peter and we're assured of the validity of that we may question it and think why all of a sudden is it is it there in mark's gospel but most of the scholars say that peter was very much involved in the writing of mark's gospel one of the commentators says that the second gospel was drawn up as all earliest tradition states under the eye of peter or from materials chiefly furnished by him so we can be sure that these two words are very accurate because the very person quoted in them would have heard them said but these words also speak to us here today two thousand years later as we see the risen savior offers hope to all who have failed we've all failed today we've all failed in our lives to the lord and it's to that comfort that we turn to today matthew henry says tell peter says tell peter for it will be good news to him more welcome to him than to any of them for he is in sorrow for his sin and no tidings can be more welcome to true penitence than to hear of the resurrection of christ because he rose again for their justification when we consider these two simple words and peter there's a few helpful insights that i want us to very briefly go over the first of which is that our failure cannot be hidden thankfully fraser was very honest and didn't want to hide it at all but our failures can't be hidden even when we try they cannot be hidden you just have to go back to the beginning of the bible ever since adam's first sin in the garden the instinctive reaction of humans is to try and hide from god this is of course an utterly ridiculous reaction for he's everywhere he knows everything he sees everything so we cannot hide from him he's all knowing he's all seeing we cannot hide from him even though we look upon this reaction as irrational we've all been there we've all done it i've done it we try to hide our sins from god if i just do this little thing behind closed doors where no one can see it'll be fine it doesn't impact anyone it's just me or if i just think this sinful thought then no one's been harmed no one's getting harmed if i think this thought but remember no one can hide not one of us can hide even our thoughts from the lord peter had insistently denied that he would fail god now he was the only one that would remain loyal to his lord he said although others will fall away i won't i won't fall away what we see here is that jesus knew peter far better than peter knew himself and it's the same with you and it's the same with myself today jesus knows each and every one of us better than we know ourselves he knows our hearts far more than we know them and those of us that are christians what comfort we can take knowing that even um even those sins that we've yet to commit he still died for us isn't that just a phenomenal thing to hear that in spite of our failures in spite of the the multiple sins that we have in our own lives both past present and those that are becoming in the future he still died for us and he died for peter as well in luke's gospel if you've got your bible there we don't need to put
[46:04] it up on the screen if if you don't want but in luke's gospel chapter 22 just a few verses there i want to quickly read um we see that jesus did not just know peter was going to deny him but what we see is that jesus was actually there when peter denied him look at luke 22 and we'll go from verse 54 so verse 54 of luke 22 says then they seized him and led him away bringing him to the high priest's house and peter was following at a distance and when they had a kind and when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together peter sat down among them then a servant girl seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him said this man also was with him but he denied it saying women i do not know him and a little later someone else saw him and said you are also one of them but peter said man i am not and after an interval of about an hour an hour still another insisted saying certainly this man was also with him for he too is galilean but peter said man i do not know what you're talking about and immediately while he was still speaking the rooster crowed and the lord turned and looked at peter and peter remembered the saying of the lord how he had said to him before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times and he went out and wept bitterly the emphasis there is on verse 61 there and the lord turned and looked at peter the lord turned and looked at him if anything should send a chill down our spines it's that that the lord turned and looked at him in the midst of his denial now just imagine if you're peter you've just said um i don't know this man that you speak of i don't know him and you find the lord looking at you as you deny knowing him i think that look from jesus would have spoken a lot more to peter than words may have john gill again one of the commentators says with his bodily eyes with his great earnestness expressing in his look concerning and pity for him for it was not a look of wrath or resentment from the lord but of love and mercy and power went along with it it was not only a signal to peter to put him in remembrance of what the lord had said but it was a melting look to him and a means of convincing and humbling him him and bringing him to a repentance we read at the end that peter went out and wept bitterly and it made me think about how we are as sinners how i am as a sinner if we know that the lord would be seeing us watching us looking at us as we sin would we sin any less i don't know the answer to the question for yourselves but it really did get me thinking remember there's never a time when he doesn't see us not once not one moment we can hide from each other we can hide our sin from those around us but not from the lord and it made me uncomfortable as i was um preparing for this um and i urge you to equally be as uncomfortable um uh today as we consider that as we consider the sins of thought and what we do if the lord was looking at you as you did it would you stop so we see here that jesus saw the sin before it happened when he warned peter of those denials he saw it when it happened and he also highlights the failure of peter after it happened the lord didn't do what we often do when we see someone who lets us down as a people oftentimes in scotland we tend not to focus um on the person that's just hurt us we don't touch on the elephant in the room um i know in other countries i'll not say but some people can be a bit more forthright when they see a failure or they see that somebody's done something wrong um but that's not often the case here in scotland but no the lord doesn't do that he brings it up directly with those involved the lord challenges us in our unbelief we cannot hide our failures from the eyes of our risen savior he knows every awful word every
[50:04] awful thought and every awful act that we do before we even do it he knows how i and every one of us here today are going to fail him this week even into the rest of this day or the rest of this year he knows how we are going to fail him which makes it more amazing that he died for us knowing the sin in our lives the only way out of our failure though is to acknowledge them and to confess them to jesus we shouldn't try to brush them aside or hide them or or minimize them in our lives we have to confess them not try and cover them up and the question maybe to ask us have you ever been caught in your failure by the lord like peter was i know i have maybe an unbeliever points something out to you and i remember shortly after i became a christian i remember someday in work when we were in glasgow and i told everyone in work that i was a christian and there weren't many well there weren't any christians at that time where i worked in scottish power and i remember somebody said we explored a little bit about what my faith meant and how i believed in the lord and if you didn't believe in the lord then you would go into a lost eternity and i remember her saying to me if you think that's true why are you not telling every single person here about that and it just really challenged me um at the time and you feel when you when you have failed the lord and you know you've done that especially in front um of others you feel exposed you feel exposed instantly you almost feel naked at the time especially when the failings that are highlighted to you come from those least expected places even if they even if we think we can get away with our sin at the moment the lord will not let us get away with it later and he's got ways of finding opportunities to remind us when we come to our knees and confess these sins if you think today that you're able to hide your sins from the lord and from his eyes then you're kidding only yourself you must you may be listening thinking sorry that um what happened to this message uh that we're talking about here being of hope i mentioned earlier that there was hope and we focused a lot on failure at the moment and how we can't hide these but the lord shows us these sins in our lives in order that we turn to him and confess because it's only when we do that that our hope and promise is found god's love is always greater than our failures so we've looked at the first one failure cannot be hidden i want us to now quickly look at how failure cannot separate us from the love of god you can look at peter's failure here and think it was significant and you would be right it is a significant failure when he denied the lord three times he spent three years in the direct presence of the lord witnessing miracles being part of that inner circle yet still denied him three times and the third time was right in front of his lord's face the last words jesus heard from peter before going to the cross was his denial of him if the lord is able to forgive and show love to peter here in these circumstances then he can to you there is a wonderful hope for us in this story these two words and peter tell us that there is hope for you and for me jesus's love was greater than peter's failure his love was and is greater than any of our failures which is the reason why we're here today this is the message of the gospel jesus loves jesus's love for you sorry and i is what sent him to the cross look at john 3 16 for god so loved the world not for god so loved his disciples or for god so loved the holy or the good for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life it includes the dark places of failures the failures that we see in our newspapers the the trauma and the tragedy that we see across the world it includes these places as well he died for them not just for the good not just for the disciples even just look at the recent events
[54:06] um in our own country you see in recent years how i mentioned that we were once a book a country well acquainted with the book but you don't have to look far to see how lost of a nation we are um when uh the very basics of of life are questioned in how we live our life and i've had the odd person through my time not as often um as i probably anticipated but those that would maybe challenge your faith and challenge the faith that you have and the hope that you have many of them will try and um attack god's word or attack aspects of who who the lord is they may say well if god loved us and loves us all why does he not just forgive us all why is that not enough or i'm a good person why does he not just forgive us for the lives that we are living if we're living a good life and the answer is because god's a just god this is part of his nature and sin needs to be punished it has to be punished so if we all accept that sin is in our lives and we all acknowledge that sin needs to be punished either you pay the penalty for your own sin or a substitute pays the penalty for your sin and we know as we spoke to the young ones they are not any one of us can save ourselves so we have to look to the substitute and the only substitute is christ and christ alone the amazing thing of this story of peter here is that while he was actively sinning in his thrice denial of the lord jesus was on his way to the cross to lovingly pay for the price of his sin and ours but to experience this forgiveness and love you must turn away from your sin and trust what jesus did on the cross for you he was the final complete and perfect sacrifice for each and every one of us if you accept him into your life he will be that perfect sacrifice for you as well and the lord deals personally with you with your sin and he didn't publicly shame or highlight peter's failing at that time he saw his third denial but he didn't challenge him there and then he could have but he didn't need to and it's the same for you he'll bring you to your knees in confession and deal with you intimately and lovingly if you're not a christian today then first and foremost you must turn to god in prayer to confess your sins acknowledge your failures and remember that there is only one way to see them forgiven the love jesus has for peter and for each and every one of us here is based on grace and not human effort there was no system of penance to work off the debt that peter built up with his failure and his denial thankfully it was grace and not the works it's what's required with our lord and we see i don't know if it's in this room i think it's at the back there sorry the the picture there grace which means god's riches at christ's expense if you can earn it if you can earn that salvation then it's not grace grace is a free gift from the lord and i would have mentioned it with the young ones but we've seen christmas is on the way a few sides probably probably a bit early to mention christmas but when we think about getting a gift we don't sit at the christmas morning if someone gives you a gift and say what do you want me to do before i open this you take the gift you accept the gift you thank the person that's given you the gift but you don't ask for what you can do to earn it it's totally free well it's not free for the person that paid for it it's costly to god and it was costly um in the in his in the sending of his son it's free to you for you to receive it and it's free for me to receive it but it was costly to god and i don't know any of your own hearts and equally you don't know mine but we each know where we ought to turn to for forgiveness coming in simple faith to jesus will see you receive this wonderful grace there is however an enemy to grace that we're all familiar with and that's pride a word that's certainly been hijacked in our own society in recent years but pride is absolutely something to be wary of we may look to others and say that oh my sins nowhere near as bad as that person or um that family over there they're an awful family i would never do anything that they've done
[58:11] um or we are more giving as a family than that family however each of us will be humbled by grace as no sinner is disqualified no matter how low in the valley you may be the same promise applies to you as applies to the next person remember those words in mark chapter 16 verse 7 and peter so finally we've seen that our failures can't be hidden our failures can't separate us from god's love we now see finally that failure does not remove us from serving god the amazing thing is that god took peter and used him mightily that wasn't the last time we heard from peter god uses each and every one of us and our failures to teach us in my preparation i was reading a story about uh it was a junior executive at a software company and he was involved in a somewhat risky venture and he lost over 10 million dollars i think this was back in the 80s he lost 10 million dollars for the company and the company's owner called the nervous executive into his office and the young man blurted out i guess you want my resignation and the owner of the company said you can't be serious we've just spent 10 million dollars educating you now god takes those who have failed the worst and make some trophies of grace for all to see it was peter who preached on the day of pentecost to three thousand who were saved and the church was founded and you can read that in acts chapter 2 verse 14 onwards look at jonah he may be ran to to tarshish but he'll be back and he'll head over to nineveh and see one of the greatest revivals recorded in history what about david we sang sam 51 he sinned so terribly as we read of in sam 51 but we'll see in that as well and that's sam why he is called a man a man after god's own heart take a look at thomas he may be doubting saying unless i see the hands of the hands his hands the marks of the nail and place my finger into the mark of the nails and place my hand into his side i will never believe as we see in john 20 but he'll be back and it's believed that he was then martyred and after taking the gospel to india peter denied the lord three times peter who denied the lord three times learned to be a witness in his failure will you be a witness for the lord we often hear of businessmen and women saying that you learn from your failures and there's this thing you try to learn fast there's this thing that goes around the business world if you learn fast then you can grow quickly as well and this will mean that you avoid long-term learning process if you do it quickly but rather than seeking to fail fast in this way what we ought to do is come to the lord in prayer confessing our sins and asking that he would use us for his glory not for us not that we would benefit but that he would see himself glorified and the advancement of his kingdom but coupled with this learning we can also graciously come alongside others who have failed to point them back to the lord and to the cross we are to serve god as peter was asked to and as we mentioned earlier the lord's not interested in our works or our penance he doesn't go to peter and say what have you done to earn my forgiveness you failed me when you denied me three times but what are you going to do for me to earn that forgiveness or how long did you weep when you denied me jesus is more interested in what's happening in peter's heart than what's happening in his works one of the commentators said jesus as the true shepherd appoints peter and the other apostles to be subordinate shepherds peter will demonstrate his love for jesus by loving god's people and feeding them with his word and is that you if you're a christian today do you show your love for the lord by sharing his word and feeding it to those that don't know it we spoke earlier to the young ones about restoring those buildings and cars so that they become like new when god restores you he can use you to bring great hope to those
[62:13] who have failed miserably as well the good news is that the risen savior offers eternal life no matter how badly you failed by grace alone and in christ alone all of us have failures that many of us can recount and i always remember i think it was dj that said this um i think it was reverend norman mckeever about the screens in the back of your head i think he said if if you had a screen at the back of your head that displayed all of your thoughts everything you'd ever done would you be happy for people to watch it and i think many of us would say no we wouldn't we know what the failures are in our lives therefore we ought to bring them to the lord because you cannot escape his eyes you must trust in his shed blood for you only then will you know the full extent of god's saving power and i've used this um passage a few times uh recently when i've been preaching but how when i think about the sin in your own lives how do you view it and thomas watson one of the puritans said till sin be bitter christ will not be sweet till sin be bitter christ will not be sweet so is sin a bitter taste to you or have you become accustomed to that taste and it no longer affects you i pray that it would bother you and that the sweetness of christ would be what you long for we may ask ourselves have i reflected on god's glorious image in the workplace this week or in school this week have i wasted many hours this week rather than seeking to win souls for him how little time have i given to the lord this past week no matter how badly you've sinned or failed remember these two words in verse 7 and peter if you've placed your trust in the lord then you can insert your own name into this verse and peter and stewart and doll and whoever is here today put your own name in there if you trust in the lord is there anyone here who has failed then listen as god speaks to you today if however you sit among us and you've not yet given your life to the lord i wish to bring you the words of the great preacher charles h spurgeon and he says here in a quote i can only pray for you that the lord would be pleased to reveal himself unto your heart that a blood-bought pardon may dissolve your heart of stone that you may be brought to give yourselves to him knowing that if you have done that you have the best proof that he has given himself for you peter might argue with paul about who's the biggest sinner but neither would argue about how wonderful god's amazing grace is towards all who have failed how wonderful that love of god is it is the love that sent jesus to be the covering for our sins it's a love that seeks until it finds us the love that works by irresistible grace until it makes us beloved children god's love never fails we give thanks to the lord for this love it's what peter needed it's what we need as well it's what i need and it's what you need and i urge you friends please listen to the lord as he speaks to you today amen and may the lord bless those very short reflections on his word let's say a word of prayer our gracious god we give you thanks for your word we thank you that as we turn to your word we are able to see so clearly and so evidently the love that you have for us the love that you had for peter and giving him that comforting word those two words and peter that would have very much been a much welcomed addition as he heard it lord and we pray that we would each and every one of us here be able to enter our own names there and that it would be for each and every one of us that the death and the blood that was shed we would be reminded that it's shed for all all those who have trusted and all those who have repented of their sins the sins in our lives that are indeed so bitter we pray lord
[66:19] that we would grieve those sins in our lives that they would indeed have that bitter taste and it would then point us to the sweetness of christ we give you thanks for that wonderful gift of salvation we pray that each listening here today whether online or in person would would look inwardly would examine the sin in their own lives and as reverend mckeever said many years ago that if there was a screen in the back of our televisions would we be happy for people to see our thoughts and to see our actions in plain sight and many of us if not all of us would say no to that lord so we pray that it would be a constant reminder to us to repent of the sins in our lives to turn to you to ask for that gift of forgiveness those riches that were given to us at christ's expense we pray that you would indeed set it upon our hearts to do so for those particularly that have not done so lord so be with us through the rest of this afternoon we pray for richard this evening as he brings your word to us we ask that you would bless it that you would bless him and there would indeed be a word that is pleasing for you to see and to use in the hearts of those that hear it lord so be with us just now go before us be around us keep us pardon our many sins in christ's name we pray amen we will conclude our service today by singing mission praise 323 i'm not ashamed to own my lord or to defend his cause maintain the honor of his word the glory of his cross jesus my god i know his name his name is all my trust nor will he put my soul to shame nor let my hope be lost firm as his throne his promise stands and he can well secure what i've committed to his hands till the decisive hour then will he own my worthless name before his father's face and in the new jerusalem appoint my soul a place so we'll sing these verses of mission praise 323 to god's praise i'm not ashamed to own my lord or to defend his cause i'm not ashamed to own my lord or to defend his cause i'm not ashamed to own my lord or to defend him i'm not ashamed to own my lord or to defend his cause jesus my god i know his name his name his name is all my trust trust, nor will he put my soul to shape, nor let my home be lost.
[69:19] The magistrate's promise stands, and he can well secure what I committed to his hands, till the decisive hour.
[69:46] Then will he own my worthless name before his Father's face, and in the new Jerusalem appoints my soul a place.
[70:14] Amen. And we'll close with the words of Hebrews 13, verse 20 to 21. Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good, that you may do his will, working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
[70:36] . Thank you.