Morning Communion Sunday Service
[0:00] And we're delighted to have the Reverend Rory Morrison with us as we celebrate the Lord's Supper for the first time in this building for which we're so thankful for.
[0:12] And Rory has been with you as a congregation before I was with you. And it's a great privilege to be able to ask him to lead us in worship this morning as we come together in the name of Christ.
[0:27] So I'll hand over now to Rory. Could I just say before we begin that I count it an honour and a privilege to be asked to be here today to be with you at your communion season.
[0:42] And we pray that God will be honoured and uplifted in all the services of this day and every other service as well. We begin our worship of God by singing to his praise and glory in Psalm 118.
[0:58] Let us now draw near to God in prayer. Let us all pray. Almighty God, who has called us together here in thy most gracious providence and has caused us to be gathered together in this place of worship where we have never gathered together like this before.
[1:22] It is the Lord's doing and it is marvellous in our eyes. And sometimes we are lost for words and we just want to be silent in your presence and pour out our hearts in thanksgiving and in praise.
[1:40] For you have answered our prayers. You have answered the cries of your people in those past years. And we sometimes wondered whether we would ever be in a place like this that we could call out on.
[1:57] And yet, O God, we hung on to the belief that you would work out your purposes regarding this congregation in your own way and in your own time.
[2:09] And we thank you, O God, that they waited upon you in patience and you did not disappoint them. Your timing is always perfect.
[2:21] We get tired waiting sometimes. And we wish that you would do things quicker for us than we see happening.
[2:34] But, Lord, you are teaching us that if we wait for your time, then it will be the perfect time. So, Lord, this day we come to you with praise and thanksgiving.
[2:48] And we ask your blessing upon every aspect of this service today. We ask your blessing upon the little children who are with us and who may be asking their parents, what does this mean?
[3:05] What is the table with the white cloth? What does it mean? What are these vessels that are on the table? And the plates, the silver plates.
[3:21] And the parents will have the joy and the privilege of telling them that these things are the symbols and only the symbols of the broken body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
[3:42] And may the little hearts be drawn and may the seed of your word be planted within them early as they go to Sunday school and as they eat at home and as the Bible is read to them there.
[4:00] And may they grow up to be a generation that will fear the Lord and who will want to serve him all the days of their lives.
[4:11] We love the children in every area of our nation and especially in these islands.
[4:22] We long to see a generation rising up who will lead people into the kingdom of God and into the green pastures that are awaiting them in the worship of Christ and the worship of God.
[4:44] For there is nothing in this world compared to getting a basic grounding of the teachings of the Bible when we are young in years.
[4:58] And even the catechism, as we were talking in the car coming across here today, how good it is to be frequenting the catechism and reading these questions and answers.
[5:15] For later on in life, we shall be like those water jars at the marriage in Hena of Galilee when they are filled to the top, when the power of God touches us and we come to faith in Christ.
[5:34] we have within us something that will guide us in the truths of your word. So, Lord, bless us and bless this day to us and bless this congregation of your people.
[5:52] Bless the ministers. Thank you for him, Lord, and for the way that you are using him to reach people even in their own homes or meeting with them in the shops or wherever.
[6:08] Bless his wife and family and bless the elders and the deacons and the members and the adherents. We ask your blessing on every home and every person individually.
[6:24] Bless those who are at the Lord's table today for the first time. We thank you for your drawing power. I, if I be lifted up from the earth, Jesus said, I will draw all men unto me.
[6:39] And you are fulfilling these promises to us at this time. Bless your word to us that we are about to read and meditate upon.
[6:53] We remember those who are not able to be with us here today, those who are too old to come to be with your people anymore. Those who are in nursing homes and care homes or in their own homes looked after lovingly by their own families.
[7:15] Bless them all and help them to realize, oh God, that you are as near to them there as you are to us here. That you are the God who said, I will never leave you.
[7:30] So bless us now as we go on in the rest of this service and as we sing your praises and as we wait upon you. Help us to be in the spirit on the Lord's day as John was on the Isle of Patmos.
[7:46] and help us to be like that little child, Samuel, who was only three or four years old at the time when God spoke to him and guided by Eli, the older man, when he heard God's voice again speaking, he said, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.
[8:09] May that be your attitude. Go before us in all we do forgiving us graciously for all our sins in Jesus' name. Amen.
[8:21] We sing again to God's praise and it's in hymn number 241 241. There is a green hill far away outside a city wall where the dear Lord was crucified who died to save us all.
[8:41] Hymn 241. There is a green hill far away. Let us now read together in the word of God. We turn to the letter to the Hebrews chapter 10.
[8:57] We read from verse 1 down to verse 22. Hebrews chapter 10 at verse 1. For the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year make those who approach perfect.
[9:23] For then would they not have ceased to be offered. For the worshippers once purified would have had no more consciousness of sins.
[9:33] but in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year and it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
[9:48] Therefore when he came into the world he said sacrifice and offering you did not decide but a body you have prepared for me.
[9:59] In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said behold I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will O God.
[10:15] Previously saying sacrifice and offering burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not decide nor had pleasure in them which are offered according to the law.
[10:28] Then he said behold I have come to do your will O God. He takes away the first that he may establish the second.
[10:39] By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins.
[10:58] but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
[11:20] But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord I will put my laws in their hearts and in their minds I will write them.
[11:41] Then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these there is no longer an offering for sin.
[11:57] Therefore brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.
[12:35] Amen. And we end the reading there. May God bless to us that reading from his own holy and inspired word. to his name be all the glory.
[12:49] We now sing again to God's praise in hymn number 571. 571 Jesus thou Gospel. And chapter 27, and verses 50 and 51. Chapter 27 of Matthew's Gospel, verses 50 and 51.
[13:49] And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. Then behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks split.
[14:10] It should not be of any surprise to us that miraculous things happened and took place on the day that Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem. But throughout his ministry, throughout his ministry, there were miracles happening. Every time that he moved out among the people, there was always those there who were ill and maimed, and even the dead would meet with him from time to time.
[14:51] And he would heal, and he would even raise the dead from death. So it's not surprising that miracles happened on the day that he was crucified. Jesus was in sovereign control of everything that happened that day on Calvary, as he was crucified there by the Jews. We see that from the words of verse 50, and Jesus cried out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. His life wasn't taken from him. His life didn't ebb away slowly, and then he died. He yielded up his life. He laid down his life for the sheep. Nobody took it from him.
[15:48] He gave it gladly for his people. Now, to many people who were standing there on that hill long ago, there was nothing remarkable in seeing somebody dying on a cross, because they had seen it all before a number of times. So that the thing was that they missed out on the spiritual and the eternal significance of the death of Christ. They failed to see that by dying there, Jesus Christ was opening the way back to God for sinners all over the world in every generation. He satisfied the justice of God. He paid the debt of his people on that cross. The debt of all those that will believe in him in every age and in every generation. He paid the debt of those on that cross. And he made it possible for sinners to be reunited with God, to believe in him and to become united with him. They fell away from God in Adam.
[17:09] But they can be restored in Christ. And they can be forgiven now because of all that Christ did that day on the cross. And that is what we remember here today in a very significant way.
[17:28] That's why we have the Lord's Supper to remind us of what Jesus has done for us as sinners. But the amazing thing is this, that the rocks split, as we read there in verse 51.
[17:45] But the hearts of men and women and boys and girls remained as cold and as hard as they ever were. And it's still amazing that people can sit under the ministry of the word of God week after week for years and years and not be made to surrender their lives to the claims that Christ has on them.
[18:14] In the temple that day in Jerusalem, a miracle took place. At three o'clock exactly in the afternoon, as Jesus gave up his life on the cross, in the temple, the veil that was between the people and the rest of the temple and the Holy of Holies was torn in two without a human hand being near it.
[18:51] For we read there, and behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And I want us to think together of two or three things about the veil of the temple that day.
[19:09] First of all, let us consider the significance of the veil. Why was it there? Why was it so important, this veil that was in the temple between the people and the Holy of Holies?
[19:26] Well, when God gave the command to Moses to build the tabernacle in the wilderness in the Old Testament days, he included instructions about the veil that was to be in the temple.
[19:44] Exodus 26 and verse 31 says, You shall make a veil woven of blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.
[20:00] It shall be woven with an artistic design of cherubims. It was an important part of the furnishings of God's house, of the tabernacle in the wilderness and later on the temple.
[20:19] What was the significance of it? Well, it separated the people and even the priests who were ministering in the tabernacle from the Holy of Holies.
[20:36] Now, the Holy of Holies was a small room, just something like the rooms you have here in this new beautiful complex that you have built for the congregation.
[20:51] That little room behind the veil was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept, with the manna in it and the two slabs of stone where the Ten Commandments were written by the hand and the finger of God.
[21:10] And Aaron's rod was there in that Ark as well. Aaron's rod that budded. And you know these stories from the Old Testament.
[21:24] I don't need to go over them with you. Above the Ark, there were two figures in gold of angels. You can picture it in your mind with her wings touching each other, overarching the mercy seat, which was the lid of the Ark.
[21:48] The mercy seat, we sometimes imagine it's a chair or something, but it wasn't. It was the lid that was on the Ark of the Covenant.
[21:58] And it was called this in the Old Testament, the mercy seat. David refers to God in Psalm 80 and verse 1 in this way.
[22:13] You who dwell between the cherubims. That's what he says in verse 1 of Psalm 80. And this was where God dwelt in a particular way among his people in the Old Testament.
[22:29] Things have changed from then until now. Now he dwells in the hearts of his people. He's in your heart and he's in my heart, if we have trusted in Jesus as our Saviour.
[22:45] But there he was guaranteed to them that he would speak to them above the mercy seat.
[22:58] He says this to Moses in chapter 25 of Exodus 22, verse 22. And there I will meet with you and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are on the Ark of the Testimony.
[23:19] The veil was there as a visual aid. We use visual aid with children when we're talking to them sometimes. Well, this was God's great visual aid for his people in the Old Testament times.
[23:38] The veil there was speaking to the people, speaking to them about what sin did for the human race or to the human race.
[23:52] What did sin do to the human race? It separated them from God. That's what sin did. It separates man from God. And it even separates man from man as well.
[24:07] That's why there are so many wars in the world in which we live, because of sin. And here God was teaching his people in the Old Testament of what sin had done.
[24:21] The fellowship that Adam had with God was broken. And man was no longer able to have fellowship with a holy and a just God.
[24:34] No one was to lift the veil. No one was to look under the veil into that little room, the holy of holies, except the high priest alone.
[24:50] And he could only do it once a year on the day of atonement. And he went into the holy of holies behind that veil with fear and trembling, afraid that God would strike him down dead as he went under the veil into the holy of holies.
[25:14] And what gave the high priest the confidence to go under the veil on the day of atonement was this, that on that day he took with him the blood of the sacrifice in one hand, and in the other hand a golden censer filled with live coals from the altar, over which were sprinkled the incense.
[25:43] To enter into the holy of holies without the blood of the sacrifice, and that golden censer with the coals from off the altar and the incense would mean, for even the high priest himself, certain death.
[26:02] So as he went under the veil into the holy of holies, how precious that blood was to him. He would say to himself, if it wasn't for the blood, I would be struck down dead.
[26:20] And if it wasn't for the incense, things would be a lot different from what they are now. And in the same way, and in a more glorious way, the blood of Jesus covers us as we approach God, as we come near to God.
[26:40] And that is how the blood of Jesus is so precious to the people of God in every day and generation as they come.
[26:51] Now that day at three o'clock in the afternoon, when Jesus died, the priest would be officiating in the temple as usual. It was the Passover feast, and so they would be officiating in the temple.
[27:08] They would be offering up the evening sacrifice before the Sabbath day would begin at six o'clock in the evening. When to their horror, they heard a sound, and they saw that veil beginning to tear from the top of the house right down to the bottom.
[27:33] And they began to see something that they had never seen before. Only the high priest had seen it. And that was the inside of the Holy of Holies.
[27:45] They saw there the Ark of the Covenant. They saw the golden angels, things that they had never seen before.
[27:57] It was a miracle. And at that very moment, Jesus had offered up his spirit on the cross. And the way back to God for sinners was opened after all the years it had been closed since Adam died.
[28:17] Well, that was the since Adam fell, I should say. That was the significance of the veil then. Then secondly, we can think about the destruction of the veil.
[28:31] This miracle that happened in the temple in Jerusalem at three o'clock on the day that Jesus died teaches us many things. It teaches us first of all that the Old Testament dispensation with all its washings and all its rituals and everything that were being done in the Old Testament had come to an end.
[29:00] It had all stopped. No more washings. No more ritualism. No more sacrifices as far as God was concerned.
[29:13] All these things were of great importance in the past. That they had been good during those years of the Old Testament dispensation.
[29:26] But they had served their purpose. And now it's as if God is saying we're finished with these things. And so the veil was rent.
[29:38] They were only symbols. They were only pointers to better things to come. We have our own symbols there before us on the communion table.
[29:51] and they remain symbols throughout the service. They're only to tell us as they point back to the cross of what Jesus has done for us there on Calvary.
[30:09] In the Old Testament these things pointed forward to the cross. With us they point back to the cross.
[30:22] And when those better things that were promised by God came there was no need for the symbols anymore. When Jesus comes again as he is going to do one of these days perhaps very soon we won't need bread and wine because they will have done their work.
[30:48] They had achieved their purpose. Now here in the day that the Lord Jesus died on the cross it ended because the better things had arrived.
[31:04] They were here. The Lamb of God which John the Baptist had pointed out had given himself willingly and gladly a perfect sacrifice for sin.
[31:19] And therefore what was the need for offering up bullocks and lambs and goats as sacrifices anymore when these things were only pointers to a better sacrifice.
[31:36] You see when you are motoring along the road maybe to Glasgow or to Edinburgh or even to Stornoway or to Tarbert there are signs by the road side telling you Tarbert five miles things like that.
[31:57] Well when you arrive in Tarbert or wherever you're going to go there's no need for signs anymore. you've arrived at your destination so there's no need for those signs to guide you.
[32:12] You're finished with them. You've arrived at your destination and there is no longer any need for road signs when you're at your destination.
[32:25] And that is the reason why the veil of the temple was done away with. it was good and it served its purpose well down the years of the Old Testament.
[32:36] But now that Jesus by his death on the cross had opened the way back to God there was no need for the veil anymore. The Holy of Holies and the mercy seat were now there open for people to approach the thing that had blocked the way had been dealt with.
[33:03] Sin had been dealt with and Jesus atoned for sin and therefore the veil was taken away forever and ever. By suffering the penalty and the punishment that sin deserved the veil was obsolete.
[33:21] The veil was no longer needed. The barrier between God and all the people had been taken away. All who believe in Jesus now can approach straight away.
[33:37] You don't need priests, you don't need sacrifices, you don't need anything. You can come just as you are and approach him.
[33:48] So therefore it would have been wrong to retain the veil any longer after Jesus had suffered and died. And seeing this, the writer to the Hebrews where we read there said in those glorious words, verse 19 of chapter 10, therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.
[34:36] Now the point that the writer to the Hebrews is making here is that the body of Jesus was torn on the nails, just the same as the veil was torn from top to bottom.
[34:52] He was made sin for us there on that cross, he that knew no sin. And because of that we can all now approach God, if our hearts are sincere and true, and if we are assured of all these things, if we believe in Jesus and trust in him as our saviour, then we can approach him.
[35:17] Notice that the veil was not lifted and then dropped down again. It was torn in two, in the same way as you would tear up a piece of paper, that you no longer need it, and dumped it into the waste paper basket.
[35:35] That's what God did with the veil. He tore it in two, saying, we don't need that anymore, because my son has atoned on the cross for the sins of his people, and therefore they can come boldly to the throne of grace.
[35:57] The veil was not taken down carefully and folded away. It was torn, because it was not meant to be there anymore.
[36:10] It was not to be used anymore, forever. and God will not put it up anymore either. The day is not going to come when God will put that veil up once again to separate people from himself.
[36:29] Christ has done the work on our behalf. The Pharisees and the Jewish priests, I don't know what they would do with the veil once it was torn in two.
[36:45] Will they begin to sew it together again or whatever? We are not told what they did with the veil once it was torn in two.
[36:56] But we know that by their unbelief and their refusal to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, they are to this very day, sewing up the two pieces of the veil and going back to what they believed from the beginning.
[37:17] They haven't acknowledged Jesus yet as the Messiah. They have never acknowledged him or believed in him as the one God had promised to come as our saviour.
[37:32] And so they continue to do what they did years and years ago. They sacrifice animals and all the other things that they do, not realising that the way back to God has been opened for sinners.
[37:51] Pray for the people of Jerusalem. Pray for the Jewish people because they need our prayers. Because they are still thinking that the Messiah has to come when he has already arrived and has already completed the work of atonement and salvation for sinners here on earth.
[38:17] The destruction of the veil then in the second place. Then let us look finally at the abolisher of the veil, the one who abolished the veil, the one who tore it from top to bottom.
[38:32] Who was that? that was God himself. There was not one human hand touching that veil when it was torn from top to bottom.
[38:46] It tells us that the one who destroyed it and the one who abolished the veil was no other but God himself. There was no one in the temple that day who was strong enough to tear that veil into it was three inches thick we are told and it was made of linen and silk embroidered with gold throughout and just the same that it was without a human hand involved in it that the veil was torn.
[39:25] that teaches us that there was no human hand or anything human connected to the death and the work of atonement on the cross that day.
[39:41] Men and women had no hand in the work of atonement. Isaiah 63 verse 3 prophesied about that when the prophet wrote I have trodden the winepress alone and from the people no one was with me.
[40:01] That was God speaking in the Old Testament through his prophet. And we sang about that in one of the hymns that we sang here today already when the verse says there was none other good enough to pay the price of sin.
[40:23] He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. Salvation is all of grace. Salvation is all of God.
[40:34] For in Jesus Christ he did for us something we could never ever do for ourselves. Though if anyone else had done what happened that day in the temple then we would be tempted to say that it was a mistake.
[40:52] That the veil should not have been touched. That it should have been left alone as it was. But it was God who destroyed the veil. It was God and not man who had torn that veil from top to bottom.
[41:08] It was God who took it away. It wasn't the church that took it away. Or anyone else. It was the one who cannot lie or make mistake that tore it in two pieces.
[41:25] And it did it completely from the top to the bottom. The Bible doesn't say that the veil was torn from the top halfway down and then it stopped there.
[41:42] No, because the work of atonement and salvation is a complete work. It's not a half finished affair.
[41:53] He did everything that is to be done to save his people from their sins. And anyone who feels their need can make use of this new and living way.
[42:07] For it is for the poor, for the rich, for the young, and for the old. it's for every person in every age throughout the world.
[42:20] It's for the black, for the white, for the high, for the low. No matter how far you have wandered away from God, you are invited to come to him through this new way.
[42:36] No matter how deep you have sunk into the mighty clay, you are invited to make use of this new way back to God.
[42:48] God's way of salvation is open for you. You might be here today and you're not yet a Christian. We often, when we are preaching a sermon such as this, we often give a word to those who are behind the table.
[43:08] Now, there's no distinguishing mark here today to distinguish who is behind the table or who is not. But you know whether you know Jesus as your saviour, whether you've been born again of the spirit of God or not.
[43:24] But no matter who you are, you are welcomed into God's presence through this new way. God's way of salvation is opened for you.
[43:38] You are invited today to come to him and make use of this veil, to make use of this way. Jesus says to you and to me today what he said to others long ago, come unto me and I will give you rest.
[44:00] Are you labouring today? Are you heavy laden? You haven't told anybody about it, but you are carrying a burden, the burden of sin.
[44:12] Then you can come to Jesus just as you are. Before now if anyone but the high priest on the day of atonement came near to the mercy seat, it meant certain death.
[44:29] Now to stay away from the mercy seat means certain death, eternally and spiritually. Now was it not wonderful and unbelievable that the people who were in the temple that day when the veil was rent into, that they did not believe in God's word.
[44:57] Why was it that the priests in the temple that day did not say, well here is something that is a miracle.
[45:09] That man Jesus of Nazareth must have been who he claimed to be, the son of God, because this would not have happened otherwise.
[45:21] why did they not believe? Why do people not yet believe in Jesus and trust in him? Because the God of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe.
[45:39] That's the reason you're not a Christian today. The God of this world is blinding your eyes so that you don't see the things that are plain for us all to see in the Bible.
[45:57] And this is why the writer to the Hebrews is so concerned for the converts from Judaism. They're on the point of going back to the Jewish ritualism in the Old Testament, having claimed to have been saved and converted.
[46:15] They are now going back the way to the Old Jewish ritualism. The writer is concerned about them.
[46:28] It's like lighting a candle at twelve noon when the sun is at its highest. That's what it's like going back to the Old Testament ritualism.
[46:43] When Jesus has come to usher in a new dispensation, and every faithful preacher of the gospel in every age is concerned that people do not miss out on the blessings which Christ has won for them.
[47:02] Today, I'm sure, as I'm standing here, that God is speaking to someone in this congregation or more than one person, and that he is calling them to himself, and that he is saying, look, there is a way now back to me.
[47:21] You can come as you are and where you are, and you'll be welcomed. He has reminded us afresh in this short sermon of the way back to himself, which has been opened by the obedience and the death of his son on Calvary.
[47:45] And if you come, as we said, just where you are sitting and how you are, you don't need to try and improve yourself in any way whatsoever, or wait till you go home.
[47:58] Do it here, do it while the service is going on. Just say to God, I am coming, Lord, coming now to thee.
[48:10] Wash me, cleanse me in the blood that flowed on Calvary. Have you made use of this new and living way yet, this new way that God has provided?
[48:25] There's no tools on this way. You can come without money and without price. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[48:37] No one comes to the Father except through me. God has come. Since Christ came and suffered and died, we have a far clearer picture of what God is like.
[48:50] Far clearer than the Old Testament believers ever had. For in the cross, we have a window which is able to let us see into the very heart of God himself.
[49:04] God wants you. God wants you for himself to be his own. The cross has been to us a window, letting us see what God's heart is like.
[49:23] And Christ by his death has removed the veil which hid from us what God is like. the writer of the hymn wrote and he said, inscribed upon the cross we see in shining letters, God is love.
[49:42] Look today in faith to Calvary and to Jesus dying there and believe that he did it all for you. Come to him in prayer.
[49:54] You don't need to make a fuss about it in any way whatsoever or bring any attention to yourself. Just come to him in the quietness of your heart, pleading the power and the merits of the blood of Christ.
[50:12] And don't forget this too, turn away from your sins. turn away from the kind of lifestyle you've had before. And God will forgive you and you shall be saved.
[50:28] You don't need a priest or sacrifice to enable you to come. The significance of the veil then first of all, the destruction of the veil, bending away with, and the abolisher, the one who abolished the veil, God himself.
[50:50] It's not needed anymore because Jesus has opened the way back to God. An old hymn that we used to sing in our younger days still lives with me after 50 years of singing it and hearing it.
[51:13] There's a way back to God. There's a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that is open and all may come in.
[51:26] It's at Calvary's cross that we begin as we come as sinners to Jesus. May God bless to us his word at this time.
[51:42] I was asked to do a do a Gaelic prayer at this point. Just a short Gaelic prayer prayer here it says arg sign A goal C reminder the story and the end ah Would you say enough to leave today because we are not going to need mad the Seung dynamic the time we were standing up ahead a year but some more Moraha Mongolia to be born
[52:47] Oh my God. My God is here.
[53:17] Amen I will now hand the service over to your minister Reverend David McLeod We're going to sing now to God's praise and we'll sing the first two verses of Psalm 23 in Gaelic Psalm 23 and verses 1 and 2 in Gaelic The Lord's my shepherd I'll not want He makes me down to lie In pastures green he leadeth me The quiet waters by My soul he doth restore again And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness Even for his own name's sake Psalm 23, the first two stanzas will remain seated to sing in Gaelic It's good to see the children coming back in And remember for those who were here last night
[54:17] As we see them coming in and as we see them going out What are we to do? We're to pray Boys and girls I think would you mind coming over and sitting here please?
[54:29] It's good to have you back in We were just singing a psalm And it's Psalm 23 Now who knows what Psalm 23 says?
[54:43] Who knows how it starts? This child's too big on my right He's age disqualified Anyone know? Some of you do It starts with the The Lord's The Lord's My The Lord Let's hear it all now Let's hear it properly The The Lord's My Shepherd That's how it starts The Lord's My Shepherd And you know in the Bible Jesus teaches us In John chapter 10 That he is the shepherd But in Psalm 23 What are we saying again?
[55:24] The Lord's The Lord's My Shepherd The Lord's My Shepherd In fact let me read just a few verses from John chapter 10 Jesus says in John chapter 10 I am the good shepherd The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep I am the good shepherd I know my sheep And my sheep know me Just as the Father knows me And I know the Father And I lay down my life for the sheep Boys and girls you know that's what we're doing Isn't it?
[55:57] What do you see here today? That's different from the ear From every week What do you see on the table? I lift that cover there What is that?
[56:10] Bread And Do you know what's in this cup here? And in this The canter here? John Rory Wine Wine And what do these things Help us to remember?
[56:27] Yes The body of Jesus And What? The blood Of Jesus And these things here They're signs And they help us to remember Jesus' death What have I got here in my hand?
[56:54] Ailey It's her ring Now What does this ring do? What does it tell you about me? Katie? Katie Tells you that I'm married Doesn't it?
[57:09] Now This ring here If I take it off Does that mean I'm not married anymore? No Did Mary tell you to say that?
[57:25] Mary's saying If only it was that easy Does this mean I'm not married anymore? No This means that I still am married This is This is not the thing that makes me married But this is a sign That tells you that I am married This is a sign that That tells Everybody that looks at my hand That I'm married To Mary Now Do you think it would be very good If I said on a wedding day Let's have a quiet wedding And let's not tell anybody That we're getting married And We can be married We can know that we love each other But Let's not wear a ring I think I'll put my ring in the pocket And Let's just keep it as our secret Think that would be a good thing?
[58:21] No Because if you love someone If you're in a relationship with them If you're married to them You're not ashamed to say that, are you?
[58:31] You're happy for people to know And you know The bread and the wine that are here today They are signs That help us to remember All that Jesus did for us The bread and the wine here today By eating the bread And by drinking the wine That's not what makes us Christians Any more than Putting a ring on my finger Makes me married But it's a sign So that the people Who look at us When we take the bread And we take the wine Will know That we love the Lord Jesus And we trust In the Lord Jesus You know in the classroom Sometimes the teacher will say In the classroom Sometimes the teacher will say Who's from Tarbert?
[59:27] Or who's from Stockinish? Or who's from Leverborough? Now how would you show the teacher That you were from Tarbert? What would you do? What would you do?
[59:40] You would do that, wouldn't you? You'd put your hand up You wouldn't say I'm ashamed to say That I'm from Tarbert You'd say Yep, I'm from Tarbert And in a way This is what we're doing We're saying I'm not ashamed To say that I believe in Jesus I'm not ashamed to say That he's my Lord And he's my saviour I'm not ashamed to say That he is He's my shepherd And I'm trusting In him So that's what we're doing This is a sign That God has given us So that we will remember All that he's done for us In laying down his life And his body And his blood Being shed for us Why did he do it by the way?
[60:35] Why did Jesus die for us? Did he? Because he loved us He did it because He loved us And this is one way That God has told us That we're to remember that Every time we see this We see how much God loved us And every time we take this We are saying to the world To everybody Who is Luke We love And we trust The Lord Jesus So today If you are trusting In the Lord Jesus I'm speaking to everyone here From The younger ones To the Oldest ones If you are Trusting in the Lord Jesus If you Know that you are a sinner And if you Can see that He is the saviour And what he did He did to save us If you know that You are not worthy But you can see that
[61:38] He Is worthy If you've asked him To Forgive your sin If you've asked him To come into your life If you've asked him To be Your shepherd Then this This is The place That you're to be Those who are sitting In the middle section here Are at the Lord's table And if You haven't yet Taken your place At the Lord's table There's not many places left There's one or two here But if you want To To take the bread And take the wine If you're A member of any Branch of the church Of Christ Just when The elders are coming round In a wee while Just Catch their eye Or find a space Because this is the Lord's table Not our table It's His We remember His death And we confess Our faith is in Him
[62:38] And we'll pray for a moment Our Heavenly Father We thank you For The simplicity of The gospel message That you have That you have given to us And has been passed on to us Over the years and generations We thank you that we gather here This afternoon now To remember All that has been remembered Over the centuries The message does not change Times change Methods change But the message But the message is the same And we thank you Lord That we Bow before you This day And we remember The death of the Lord Jesus And the resurrection Of the Lord Jesus We are called to remember His death Until He comes And though We know Lord That to To take the bread And to take the wine In a A manner that's unworthy Is to take it thoughtlessly And to take it
[63:38] Looking at ourselves And not at the Lord Jesus So we pray That you would take From our minds Anything That would distract us Just now We pray that you Would stir our hearts We pray that you Would pour out The Holy Spirit Upon each one of us And enable us To focus And fix our eyes Upon Jesus And to remember him And all that he has done In love for us And all that he has Commanded us to do As we profess That we Love him Hear our prayers Continue with us We ask in Jesus name Amen I'm going to Read now The The warrant The The passage in scripture That Is our instructions For For doing this It comes from First Corinthians And chapter 11 Just a few verses From This chapter
[64:39] The apostle Paul Says For I received From the Lord What I also Delivered to you That the Lord Jesus On the night When he was betrayed Took bread And when he had Given thanks He broke it And said This is my body Which is for you Do this In remembrance of me In the same way Also he took the cup After supper Saying this cup Is the new covenant In my blood We're hearing this morning About the new covenant The new way That's been opened This is the new covenant In my blood Do this As often as you drink it In remembrance Of me And for as often As you eat this bread And drink the cup You proclaim You tell out Others The Lord's death Until He comes And so as the Lord Jesus On the night That he was betrayed As he took
[65:41] The bread We take these Ordinary elements Of bread and wine We'll just pause For a minute Before we do so And these are Set apart From common uses And they're set apart For this This holy use And as the Lord Jesus Blessed it We follow his example And we Now Again Pause to pray Our heavenly father We We thank you once more For all that has been Instructed to us We thank you for this Institution We thank you for All that we are called To do To remember The depths Of your Love For us We often sing How deep The father's love For us How vast Beyond all measure That he should give His only son To make a wretch His treasure And our father We come before you
[66:41] This morning And we Confess Once more That We Ourselves In ourselves Are Wretched We are Sinners We are not Worthy to come Into your presence Not in our name And not On account of anything That we have done Or are doing Or could ever do We know that Even our Best efforts Are as filthy Rags before you So we Say with a hymn writer Nothing In our hands We bring Simply to Thy cross We cling And so father We come In that spirit Not Looking to Ourselves We have Examined ourselves As instructed And we see How far Short we fall But for every Look at self We are Reminded by McShane Look ten times At Jesus And as we
[67:42] Look to Jesus We see The perfect Lamb of God He was Sacrificed For the sin Of the world As we look To Jesus As his body Was torn We are Thankful For the fact That as he Laid down his Life The curtain Was torn From top To bottom And the way Into your Presence Lord And the Way into This place Where we can Remember you Was opened On account Of his Blood And his Righteousness So our Father we Thank you For giving Us your Son Lord Jesus We thank you For coming And laying Down your Life For us Holy Spirit We thank you That you Have opened Our eyes So that we Would see Our sin And we Would see The Lord Jesus As our Saviour As our Shepherd Help us
[68:43] Now we Pray To do This In remembrance Of him And to know The reality Of your Presence And your Peace As we Do so And we Ask it In Jesus Name Amen According then To the Institution Of our Lord Jesus Christ And for A memorial Of him To remember Jesus We do This We remember Him Who the Same night In which he Was betrayed Took bread As we do So now And when he Had blessed It and given Thanks he He broke It And said Take Eat This is My body Which is For you Do this In remembrance Of me And in the Same way He took The cup And said This cup Is the new Covenant In my Blood Do this As often
[69:44] As you Drink it In remembrance Of me And for as Often as you Eat this Bread And drink This cup You proclaim The Lord's Death Until He Comes Just a Wee story Before we We pray It was quite a Few years ago Now and I had Been Preaching Over a Communion Weekend In Stornoway It was actually In the APC Church in Stornoway And we'd Had the Services on The Friday And the Saturday And then On the Sunday morning We'd had Communion As we have Done just Now And I Didn't know The congregation But we'd Served much Like we had Here And there And there And there And there Was one elder And he was Helping me With serving And so He guided
[70:44] Me as we Made sure That all The congregation All those Who were Professing Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Were served So the bread Was passed Around to Everybody And the Wine was Passed Around to Everyone And everyone Was served And then Lastly I Was served Myself And I Sat down And I Was just About to Stand up To have The final Prayer And just Before I Stood up The elder Stood back Up And he Came to The table And I Paused Didn't know What he Was doing And he Took the Canter And he Poured The wine Back into The cup Until it Was Until it Was full He didn't Tell me About this Beforehand He didn't Tell me About it During it And as He did It I was Watching Him And I Didn't Quite know Why he Did it And I Looked at Him And he Looked At me And I Looked
[71:44] Around And I Couldn't See anyone Who hadn't Been Served And so I prayed And we Finished the Service And afterwards I said to Him Can I have A word With you Callum And he Said yeah Of course And I Said can You tell Me why Why at The end Once everyone Was served Why did You pour The wine Back into The cup Why did You fill It back Up Did I Miss Someone And he Said no You didn't Miss anyone Everybody Who wanted To take That step And profess Their faith In Christ Was served But he Said there Were people Who were not At the Lord's table And who Were sitting At the Sides And I Wanted Them to See There's More Left And I Want to Say that To those Who have Not taken The Lord's
[72:45] Supper This morning For those Who haven't Taken the Bread For those Who haven't Taken the Wine There is More Left God's Grace Is Full God's Grace Is Free The Gospel Call Is Wide And there Is More Left Let's Pray Our Heavenly Father Once more We thank You for The wonder Of your Love We thank You for The fullness Of your Grace We cannot Grasp Even in Small Measure How much It cost You and How much Lord You have Loved Us This is Love Not that We Love God But that He Loved
[73:46] Us And sent His Son To be The atoning Sacrifice For our Sin Hear His Love Vast As the Ocean Loving Kindness As the Flood When the Prince Of Life Our Ransom Shed For us His Precious Blood Who His Love Will Not Remember Help Us Rise To Rise To Rise From the Table Not To Be Distracted And To Have Our Minds Filled With Things Which Will Cause Decay Within Our Hearts To Help To Help us We Pray To Keep Our Eyes Fixed Upon Jesus To Keep On Remembering So Lord Our Love For You Would Grow And Our Service For You Would Be Fuller Not
[74:47] Because That Will Save Us We See The Finished Work Of Salvation In The Elements Before Us You Have Given Us The Opportunity To Show And Express Our Love For You In The Good Works That You Have Prepared In Advance For Us To Do So Help Us To Find Them We Pray And As Your People To Serve You And To Proclaim The Gospel Message With All That You Give Us Opportunity To To Speak With Sanctify Lord All Of Your People That We Would Be More And More Conformed To The Image Of Christ And Lord For Those Who Are Not Yet Your People We Pray That You Would Be Working In Their Hearts That You Would Open Blind Eyes That You Would Unblock Ears That You Would Stir Hearts Lord That We Would See More And More People Coming To Life And Coming To Faith In Christ And
[75:48] We Pray For Others Lord Today Some Who May Be Your People But Like Joseph Of Arimathea And Nicodemus Were For So Long Perhaps There Are Some Here Who Are Believers And Yet Still Secretly And We Ask Lord That You Would Give Them The Courage To Take Their Stand And To Say That They Are Not Ashamed To Own Their Lord And For Others Lord Who May Once Have Sat At The Table But Who Are Perhaps Far From You Now We Bring Them To You And We Ask That You Would Draw Them Back Lord You Know Our History You Know Our Past You Know Our Hearts Meet Each One We Pray At The Point Of Our Need We Thank You For The Privileged And We Pray Lord That You Would Abide With Us Or That You Would Bless And That You Would Watch Over Us Guard Us As We Rise From The Table From
[76:49] The Attacks Of The Enemy Enable Us We Pray To Know Your Protection Over Us And Your Power Within Us And Lord We Pray Also For Those Who Sit At The Table With Joy And Yet With Sorrow Because Each Time We Sit Here We Remember Those Who Once Sat With Us And Who Are Now In Eternity Comfort Those Whose Hearts Are Still Sore And Comfort Them Lord We Pray With The Good News Of The Fact That When We Go From Time Into Eternity These Signs Are No Longer Required Because We Are With Christ The One These Signs Point Us Forward To And Even We Will Be Like Him So Until That Day Lord We Pray Help
[77:49] Us To Keep On Keeping On In Your Strength And For Your Glory We Pray This In Jesus Name Amen We're Going To Sing To Conclude Mission Praise 1217 Where We With Thanksgiving On The Power Of The Cross To See The Dawn Of The Darkest Day Christ On The Road To Calvary And The Words Will Be On The Screen In Just A Moment And I May The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Christ And The Love Of God The Father And The Fellowship Of God The Holy Spirit Be With Us All Both Now And Forever More Amen