[0:00] Well good evening and a warm welcome to the service this evening and a special welcome to those who are visiting from other congregations, it's good to see a good number out on Thursday night. A special welcome to the Reverend John Murdo Davidson, or as he's better known here in Harris, the Reverend Joro Davidson and Don and the children as well. It's good to have you with us over this weekend and we look forward to what God will say through you and do through you over the course of these next few days. The services tomorrow will be at 12 noon and that will be a Gaelic service that will be led by the Reverend James McKeever and tomorrow evening. The service will be at 7pm as usual and again we'll have the Reverend John Murdo with us. After the service tomorrow evening the manse will be open and there will be a very informal fellowship. All are invited to come along to the manse immediately after the evening service tomorrow at 7pm. And just to remind you also that the session opened this morning and if there are those here this evening who know the Lord and who are trusting the Lord and who have never yet professed their faith and coming forward to the Lord's table, please be encouraged to do so. The session is open and we'd be delighted to meet immediately after the service in the room at the back there with any who would want to profess their faith for the first time. These I think are all the intimations so I now hand over very thankfully to Joel and pray God's blessing on you.
[1:53] Thank you very much David and it's a privilege and an honour to be here to share in the gospel with you this weekend. It's lovely to see you all. And we're here to worship God and we're going to begin our worship by singing to God's praise out of Psalm 138. Psalm 138. Psalm 138.
[2:27] Verse 1 down to the verse 6.
[2:57] Please turn with me to Psalm 138. From verse 109 of Psalm 139 from verse 1 to God's praise and glory. We will sing praise to thee.
[3:24] Before the cross I worship with Toward thy sanctuary I'll praise thy name If more thy truth And kindness of thy love For thou thy word Has magnified All thy great name above Thou didst me answer In the day
[4:24] When I to thee did cry And thou my painting So with strength Did strength and fit For thee All kings upon The earth The dark Shall give thee praise Lord When us may come Thy mouth shall hear Thy true and faithful word Yea, in the righteous
[5:27] Praise of God With gladness They shall sing For grace The glory of the Lord The dark For ever In Though gone Be high Yet in Yet in Respect Of those That low Be Where As the Proud And Lofty Wound And Heart Of No Wealthy Please join me in a
[6:30] Word of prayer Let us come before God Hello And ever Blessed God of glory We pause now In our hour of worship To come before Your throne of grace We come O Lord Because you have invited us To come And call upon thy name Lord You have invited us To praise you You have invited us To bring our care And our petitions Before you And Lord We come In adoration And in worship This evening We thank you And we praise you O God Of glory That you have Placed that desire Within our hearts That we should be here This evening Gathered together With a collection And congregation Of your people And Lord We know That in and of ourselves We would not be here But Father You have drawn us Out to the house Of God You have come Come to meet
[7:31] With your people This evening And Lord We come Lord With that face And that grace That you have placed In the hearts Of your people You have chalked out That avenue Of salvation Through the work Of the Lord Jesus Christ Lord We thank you For the Son of God Who loved us And gave himself For us We thank you Oh Lord That you gave us Your very best Therefore brethren Now we have confidence To enter The most holy place By the blood Of Jesus And by a new And living way Opened up to us Through the curtain That is his body And since we have A great priest Over the house Of God Let us draw near To God With a sincere heart And with a heart Springfield To cleanse us From a guilty conscience Father You have opened up A way of salvation
[8:31] For us We thank you Lord For the power Of your Holy Spirit Bestowing All the benefits Of the gospel To a people Who are holy And worthy Lord We are sinners And we have fallen So far short And yet We have come down In grace And mercy All greater love Has no man Than this Than he Lay down His life For his friends Gracious Lord We will never know This side of eternity All that the Lord Jesus Christ Has won for us Gracious Lord We know that Your word tells us That when he returns We shall be like him And gracious Lord We thank you For that work Of sanctification That you work In the hearts Of your people Lord you are Moulding us You are transforming us And Father We pray that you Would do so Even this evening
[9:32] As we learn More about The author And the perfecter Of our faith The Lord Jesus Christ And our prayer This evening Lord Is that everyone In this building This evening Would have that Saving knowledge In their heart This evening That they would See the beauty Of Jesus Christ And him crucified Your word tells us Lord that Since in the wisdom Of God The world Did not know God Through wisdom But it pleased God Through the folly Of what we preach To save those Who believe Father indeed Your ways Are not our ways Lord we are weak We are fragile We are feeble And we are utterly Ruined with sin But we thank you For the gospel Oh God May we Know your presence Here this evening And over this weekend And Lord may we
[10:33] Decrease And may Christ Increase Oh Father May we see more Of him this evening May you be at work Among us And we ask it Always in the name Of Jesus Always and forever Amen We are going to sing Be thou my vision Vision praise 51 Vision praise 51 Be thou my vision O Lord of my heart Not be all else To me Said that thou art Thou my best thought By day or by night Wake in or sleep In thy presence My light So we sing Mission praise 51 Be thou my vision To God's praise And glory If you would please Turn with me To Mark's gospel Mark's gospel And at chapter 1 I invite you
[11:34] To open your Bibles At Mark's gospel And at chapter 1 Mark's gospel And at chapter 1 And this is the word of God The beginning of the gospel Of Jesus Christ The son of God As it is written In Isaiah the prophet Behold I send my messenger Before your face Who will prepare your way The voice of one crying In the wilderness Prepare the way of the Lord Make his path straight John appeared Baptising in the wilderness And proclaiming A baptism of repentance For the forgiveness Of sins And all the country of Judea And all Jerusalem Were going out to him And were being baptized By him in the river Jordan Confessing their sins
[12:34] Now John was clothed With camel's hair And wore a leather belt Around his waist And ate locusts And wild honey And he preached Saying After me comes He who is mightier than I The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy To stoop down And untie I have baptized you With water But he will baptize you With the Holy Spirit In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee And was baptized By John in the Jordan And when he came up Out of the water Immediately he saw The heavens opening And the spirit Descending on him Like a dove And a voice Came from heaven You are my beloved son With you I am well pleased The spirit immediately Drove him out Into the wilderness And he was in the wilderness Forty days Being tempted by Satan And he was with the wild animals And the angels Were ministering to him
[13:35] Now after John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee Proclaiming the gospel of God And saying The time is fulfilled And the kingdom of God Is at hand Repent and believe In the gospel Passing alongside The sea of Galilee He saw Simon And Andrew The brother of Simon Casting a net Into the sea For they were fishermen And Jesus said to them Follow me And I will make you Become fishers of men And immediately They left their nets And followed him And going on A little further He saw James The son of Zebedee And John his brother Who were in their boat Mending the nets And immediately He called them And they left Their father's Entity in the boat And with the hired servants And followed him And they came into Capernaum And immediately On the Sabbath He entered the synagogue And was teaching And they were astonished At his teaching For he taught them As one who had authority
[14:36] And not as the scribes And immediately There was in their synagogue A man with an unclean spirit And he cried out What have you to do with us Jesus of Nazareth Have you come to destroy us I know who you are The Holy One of God But Jesus rebuked him Saying be silent And come out of him And the unclean spirit Convulsing him And crying out With a loud voice Came out of him And they were all amazed So that they questioned Among themselves Saying what is this A new teaching With authority He commands even The unclean spirits And they obey him And at once His fame spread everywhere Throughout all the surrounding Region of Galilee And immediately He left the synagogue And entered the house Of Simon and Andrew Of James and John Now Simon's mother-in-law Lay out with a fever And immediately They told him about her And he came And took her by the hand
[15:37] And lifted her up And the fever left her And she began to serve them That evening at sundown They brought to him All who were sick Or oppressed by demons And the whole city Was gathered together At the door And he healed many Who were sick With various diseases And cast out many demons And he would not Permit the demons to speak Because they knew him And rising very early In the morning While it was still God he departed And went out To a desolate place And there he prayed And Simon and those Who were with him Searched for him And they found him And said to him Everyone is looking for you And he said to them Let us go on To the next house That I may preach there also For that is why I came out And he went throughout All Galilee Preaching in their synagogues And casting out demons And a leper came to him And flooring him And kneeling Said to him If you will You can make me clean And moved with pity He stretched out his hand
[16:38] And touched him And said to him I will be clean And immediately The leprosy left him And he was made clean And Jesus sternly charged him And sent him away at once And said to him See that you say Nothing to anyone But go Show yourself to the priest And offer for your cleansing What Moses commanded For a proof to them But he went out And they gathered Off freely about it And to spread the news So that Jesus Could no longer Openly enter a town That was out In desolate places And people were coming To him From every quarter Amen And may the Lord Bless that Reading of his own Holy and inerrant Word Now we're going to Continue to sing To God's praise This time We're going to sing Psalm 93 Psalm 93 The Lord doth rain And clothe the sea With majesty most bright His works to show And clothe to thee And girt about with might
[17:40] And verse 5 Thy testimonies everyone In faithfulness accept And holiness forever Lord Thy house be coming Where Psalm 93 And clothe the sea And clothe the sea With majesty most bright His works to show And clothe to thee And girt about with might The word is all so established That it cannot depart
[18:41] Thy throne is faced Of all our love From ever-lasting heart The blood so Lord The blood so Lord They lifted up Their voice The blood so Lord They lifted up Their ways Are made a mighty noise But yet the Lord that is on high Is mortal flight by far
[19:45] The noise of many waters is Our great semenos are Thy testimonies everyone In faithfulness excel Our holiness forevermore Thy heart becometh well Before we look at God's word We unite our hearts in a short word of prayer again
[20:48] Let us all pray Eternal God we join our hearts together now As we come to you in prayer again Father we know that you indeed are the hearer And the answerer of the prayers of your people Because you love your people with an everlasting love And Lord you have promised never to leave us Nor to forsake us And Father we lay hold of that promise And Lord we lay hold of all your covenant promises Contained within the scriptures And Lord we thank you for the clarity of the scriptures We thank you Lord for the miracle that is The preservation of the very scriptures That we have just read from Mark's gospel And we thank you Lord for all that Christ means to us Lord we come before you now And we bring our prayers of intercession Lord I know there are a few from this congregation Who are unwell And Lord cannot be with us here this evening
[21:49] And Father we pray that your healing hand Would be upon them That they would know you in a very real And special way Lord we have no doubt that they are praying for us Even just now Lord would you be with them Lord we remember the residents and the staff of Harris House as well Lord and we just ask your favour And your blessing for all the folk up there Lord we thank you for Harris House And we thank you Lord for the gospel that is in there every evening And Father we thank you for that And Lord we pray for this community And Lord we thank you for the wonderful Christian heritage That you have given to us We thank you Lord for all the preachers of your word And all the churches that preach Jesus Christ And whom crucified Lord there are times we may be separated by denominational divisions But Lord there is only one universal church Lord You know your people You love your people
[22:49] And you died for your people We thank you Lord for your people as well We thank you for each other We thank you for the privilege that we have of prayer And Lord I pray that you would continue to bless this congregation here And that you would watch over David the pastor And Lord all the elders and the deacons And all that worship here Lord members and adherents alike And Father we pray that your kingdom would continue to be extended In this part of your vineyard here in Tarbird But Lord we also pray for the other churches too Lord we pray for our young people and our children and our grandchildren And Father we pray that they would know Christ from a very young age And that they would remember their maker Lord in their youth We thank you for our children and our grandchildren And Father we pray for their protection We pray oh Lord that you would watch over them And Father we just ask that they would know you
[23:50] So Lord we have much more to pray for this evening And Lord we just pray that indeed you would unite our hearts together as one As we look to your word And in the study of your word oh Lord may we be led to you May we know your presence with us here this evening in our hearts And Father we pray that you would be at work And Lord we know that we are in the midst of a spiritual battle We do not war against flesh and blood But against principalities and power We pray for strength oh Lord We pray that you would encourage us And we pray oh Lord that we would know and learn more about the Lord Jesus Christ Even this evening So Father would you go before us now And would you pardon us for our sin For we ask it in Christ's name always and forever Amen Amen Amen Amen
[24:51] Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen
[26:00] Amen We can look at the wherever and we can say Well before I met Jesus I had all this shame And Jesus dealt with my shame Just like the labor We could relate with the taxman who was the embodiment of materialism And we could say well before the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart And saved me and changed me and renewed me I was a very materialistic person I was like this taxman But how many of us could relate to this man here?
[27:00] Because this man who is sitting in the synagogue here, as far as I can read the text, he seems to be a very morally upright man. He seems to be just sitting there in church and he seems to be quite happy until, of course, the Lord Jesus enters the synagogue.
[27:21] And when the Lord Jesus Christ enters into a church, when the Lord Jesus Christ enters into a synagogue, things happen. Things happen.
[27:33] And as we've just read there in Mark, the first chapter of Mark's gospel, we see that as the Lord Jesus Christ and his ministry starts, and as it progresses, it starts at a very fast pace.
[27:47] So much has happened in this first chapter. Mark has put so much into this. And we see that the kingdom of God is advancing.
[27:59] The kingdom of God is advancing. And Jesus is preaching the gospel of free grace to St. Ashish.
[28:10] He is saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand.
[28:21] The time is now he is saying for his arrival. The time is now where he would come and he would come and he would redeem his people.
[28:36] The kingdom of God is at hand. And of course we meet John the Baptist here who paves the way. Who preached that they should repent and believe in the gospel.
[28:49] We see in verses 9 to 11 of chapter 1, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is filled with the Holy Spirit at his baptism. He's been equipped by his Father for the work that is set before him.
[29:03] And then we see the defeat of Satan in the wilderness by the Lord Jesus, as he's there for 40 days and 40 nights, being tempted by the devil.
[29:20] We see here in the first chapter, the first four disciples being called the four fishermen. 16 to 20. And now, the Lord Jesus and his four disciples, they head off to church.
[29:42] On the Sabbath, like all good Jews, they enter into this synagogue, into this church, in Capernaum, which was very much the epicenter, the centre of the Lord Jesus' ministry.
[30:00] And when you look at Capernaum, you see that it was very much a multicultural hodgepodge of people. There was Jew, there was Gentile, it was made up of all sorts, but they all had one thing in common.
[30:14] They were all sinners. Same as you. Same as me. Of course, the prophets, I say, I would say that this great life, would come eventually to Galilee, and here is the great life coming to Galilee.
[30:33] He entered into the synagogue, which really was the centre of the village, or the town of life. It was the community centre, it was the school, it was the school, it was, it was, a lot of things happened in the synagogues, and Jewish times here, and Jesus is invited to preach, as was the custom, if there was any itinerary preachers passing by, they would be invited to come in, and to preach, and to teach.
[31:00] He starts to preach, and he starts to preach, the gospel. And as he starts to preach the gospel, the people sitting in the synagogue, have never heard anything, like what the Lord Jesus Christ, is preaching to them.
[31:31] He is telling them to repent of their sin, and to turn to him. Repent and believe, he is saying to them. And his kingdom is advancing through, the preaching that he is doing.
[31:50] And even today, how is God's kingdom advanced? Through the preaching, and the teaching of his word.
[32:04] And if you read verse 22, and they were astonished, the text tells us, and his teaching. For he taught them, as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
[32:17] In other words, the Lord Jesus has come in here, and he has blown their mind. They are astonished, they are amazed. They are struck out of themselves.
[32:29] He has sent a shockwave, through the synagogue. To have been there that day, place yourself there that day.
[32:43] The Son of God, enters into this synagogue, and preaches the message of repentance, and he offers them salvation.
[32:58] what he preaches, what he preaches, is good news. What he preaches, is himself.
[33:10] For the Lord Jesus Christ, is the gospel. And as they sat, and they listened to him, they must have been thinking to themselves, there is no category, for what we are hearing here, from Jesus.
[33:30] He has come in, and he preaches, here in the synagogue, with passion. And he comes into the synagogue, here, and he preaches, as though, he was one, he was one, who cared, for the people.
[33:56] They're sitting, and they're listening, to the Son of God, preaching his gospel. You see, they weren't used to that, they were used to rabbis, teaching.
[34:08] We were used to the rabbis, being very dry, and arid, and making legal distinctions, and not much spontaneity, and not much joy.
[34:22] You'd have one rabbi, quoting another rabbi, quoting another rabbi. And then Jesus, comes in with the pure word of God.
[34:38] He wasn't going to quote any rabbis. He comes in with the word of God. He comes in, and he is straightforward, in his preaching.
[34:55] He comes in, and he is logical, with his preaching. You see, there never was a preacher, like the Lord Jesus Christ, and there never will be.
[35:12] Ever. Jesus would come in, and he would preach about life. He would preach about death.
[35:25] He would preach about heaven. And he would also preach about hell. He would preach about hope.
[35:43] Jesus would come in, and he would say, you have heard it said. You know the next part. But I say to you. He didn't quote rabbis.
[35:58] He was preaching his own word. He was preaching God's word. As the older generation used to say, he would preach the full counsel of God.
[36:21] From beginning to end. He would preach that the kingdom of God is at hand, and he would ask you a question. He would say, are you going to enter into my kingdom?
[36:39] Are you going to enter into my kingdom? Or are you going to walk away and deny me?
[36:49] You see, the Lord Jesus Christ was to the point. The full counsel of God.
[37:01] The kingdom of God is at hand. Are you going to enter in? And you can imagine them sitting there, and they are absolutely astonished. What's he talking about?
[37:13] What is he talking about? He told them the truth. As one who cared. You know, what is amazing, and what struck me as I was looking at this text, and he's entered into this synagogue, and preached the gospel, and he has entered in, and within this church, there is a man who is sitting in this church, in this synagogue, and he's quite comfortable, but he's possessed by a demon.
[37:53] What on earth is a man who is possessed by a demon, doing, sitting comfortably, in a synagogue, in a church? And Jesus preaches about himself.
[38:17] Of course, he is the one who is going to give his life as a ransom. You know, when you picture it, and you see, and you put yourself there, in that place, and you're sitting, listening to Jesus, the Lord Jesus preaching, and you know, you know, and as preachers, and as Christians, and we live by faith, and we live not by sight, and we know that in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached, that Christ is present in the preaching of his word.
[39:01] Christ is not physically present with us, we know that, but we know that through the preaching of his word, and the reading of his word, that he is present with his people.
[39:20] You see, when the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached, it is not a neutral event. When the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is preached, it either hardens hearts, or it softens hearts.
[39:46] Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1, in verse 21, he says, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, but it pleased God, he says, through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
[40:04] It is through the preaching of the word that lives are changed. The preaching of the word, what we are doing now, and as we preach, we pray that life will be changed, that people would see the reality of the folly of the need of Jesus.
[40:27] We wouldn't be here otherwise. The folly of what we preach, and what do we preach? We preach about a crucified Savior who rose again.
[40:43] It is absolute foolishness to the world, but not to those who believe. It is foolishness, it is folly, they say.
[40:57] You know, and I thank God, and I praise the Lord that, you know, in our tradition here in Scotland, we place the preaching of the word in our worship services up there.
[41:17] It is primary, it is fundamental, because God moves and acts through the preaching of that word as if the Lord Jesus Christ were over there, because the presence of Christ is there in the preaching of the word.
[41:39] There's an old Reformed confession of faith called the Helvetic Confession, and it's very interesting, because what the Helvetic Confession does is, it actually places the preaching of the word on the same level as the actual word of God.
[42:01] That's striking. That is absolutely striking. This is what it says, and listen to this, though he, that is the minister or the preacher, may, though he be evil and a sinner, all that's true, though he be evil and a sinner.
[42:23] Nevertheless, the word of God abides true and good. Our defects and lack of eloquence are of no effect as far as God working through the preaching of the word.
[42:37] Did you get that? Even through my lack of eloquence and wisdom, and any other minister or preacher, preacher, I thank the Lord for that.
[42:51] Through the folly of what we preach, it's not about eloquence, it's about the preaching of the cross. as long as we preach Christ and him crucified.
[43:13] But what happens if we move away from that message? I'll let you answer that question. So, D.L.
[43:23] Moody says, give me a penny and I can write the gospel on it, because the gospel is that simple. Christ died for the ungodly.
[43:38] Christ and him crucified. The kingdom of God is at hand and I ask you this evening, through my lack of eloquence and my lack of expertise in the preaching of the gospel, I ask you this evening, have you entered in?
[43:56] Have you embraced the Lord Jesus Christ as he has been offered to you tonight? Have you? I cry out to every single one of you in here this evening who count themselves not Christians and I say to you that Christ comes to you clothed in the gospel of love and asks you to enter in.
[44:23] because I know and you know it is a communion weekend and there is one person who is very busy this weekend and that is the devil.
[44:39] And the devil is busy tonight and if you are a Christian he may be putting doubts into your mind, filling your mind with fear. and if you are a non Christian and you are thinking to yourself, the Lord is speaking to me, the Lord is speaking to me, the devil is going to be busy and he's going to be saying no, he's not.
[45:11] The devil is going to point out all your sin and all your defects and mine. the devil is going to be at work.
[45:26] But the Lord is more powerful. And that was Jesus' message that day.
[45:40] Preaching about the kingdom of God and asking have you entered in. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. They were astonished. They were amazed.
[45:53] And then we see the adversary, the enemy, verses 23 to 24, because when the gospel is preached, there's always going to be opposition. Verses 23 and 24, And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
[46:16] Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The Holy One of God. What a testament from a demon. Devil of what?
[46:35] We have this man sitting here in church and he's actually possessed by a devil. His neighbors would never have known. His family probably would never have known.
[46:48] His friends would never have known. But the devil had this poor man right where he wanted him. In darkness. In darkness.
[47:01] Right in the grip of the devil. Now this man, as far as I can see, did not lead a memorial life. Nothing in text to suggest that.
[47:18] But it's quite possible that this man was a religious man. But his religion had no repentance.
[47:29] His religion may very well have had much ritual without any regeneration. That was going to change.
[47:43] His religion maybe had plenty of rules. But God wasn't in it. That was going to change too.
[47:57] Because light is about to shine into the darkness of this man's heart. Because that is what happens when the Lord Jesus works in the life of a sinner.
[48:11] You see, our hearts are naturally dark. Whiped. Evil. And the Lord Jesus comes with his ray of light and pierces our hearts.
[48:29] And exposes everything that is wrong with us. And brings us to that point.
[48:39] You see, as Jesus came into the synagogue and was preaching the gospel, it blew the cover of this man.
[48:59] He was exposed. Now friend, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The Holy One of God.
[49:10] Now there is a reaction for you. You know, Lord Jesus Christ is not physically with us.
[49:25] He's spiritually with us. Through the preaching and the teaching of his word.
[49:37] And do not wash it. Listen to John Calvin on this. He says, The gospel proclamation serves as a sure and infallible sign that God is near at hand.
[49:51] And near to us. That he seeks our salvation. And that he calls us to himself. Christ is coming. In the preaching of the gospel.
[50:02] He holds out his arms to receive us. Christ is coming clothed in the gospel through the preaching of the word.
[50:14] One of our popular sin. And the people that we Acts one actually encounters God.
[50:36] And sometimes I think in our churches today we've kind of lost some of that. We have this fear of being seen as being a wee bit too miserable.
[50:55] The Lord Jesus Christ says, Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. You see that at the end of Matthew's Gospel.
[51:10] And what we see here is this admission from this demon, a testimony from the demon about who Jesus is. And the same enemy is at work today keeping people back from their rightful place.
[51:36] The story is told of a man who had not been to church for many a year.
[51:50] He was walking down Princess Street in Edinburgh. He was walking past a shop and a picture in a window caught his attention. a picture of the crucifixion.
[52:04] It was a picture of the crucifixion. And he stopped and he looked at it. And a wee boy came up beside him with shorts on and a dirty face and dirty knees.
[52:21] And the wee boy was looking at him as the man was looking at a picture of this crucifixion, of the crucifixion of Christ in the window. And the wee boy tugged him and he says, Sir, where is Jesus?
[52:32] And the wee man looks at him. The man looks at the wee boy and the wee boy says, see on his head, Sir, a crown of thorns.
[52:46] They put it on his head, Sir. And that's his mother standing over there, Sir. And the man couldn't take it any longer.
[53:01] And then he started walking down Princess Street, convicted by the Holy Spirit of God. And then he turned around and he looked and he saw the wee boy running after him.
[53:13] The wee boy tugged at him and he says, Sir, I forgot to tell you he rose again. He came to faith through the preaching of a wee boy with a dirty face and dirty knees.
[53:28] Such is the power of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ. What an evangelist the wee boy was. What an evangelist he was, the wee boy.
[53:42] The wee boy. verses 25 to 26. She was the authority of Christ in the preaching of his word.
[53:58] But Jesus rebuked him saying, Be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him. And they were all amazed so that they questioned among themselves saying, What is this?
[54:10] a new teaching with authority. There was no contest really, was there? You have the lord of glory and a demon.
[54:24] It's not a tug of war. It's not a battle among people. No. The poor man.
[54:38] It's convulsing and he has a seizure and it's as if this devil as he's coming out of him is having a scorched earth policy. Doing as much damage in this man's life as possible as the Lord Jesus Christ enters into his life and frees him.
[54:53] Because that's what Jesus is doing here. He's freeing him. He's a captive of the devil and he's been freed by Jesus. And where there was despair there is now hope in this man's life.
[55:14] Captivity and now freedom. A heart of hatred and anger is now going to be a heart of love for Jesus.
[55:30] A life of depression to a life of joy. You see the bottom line that this man is a picture of you and a picture of me.
[55:51] What's that is? A picture of you and me. And this shows the hope that there is for even the worst of sinners.
[56:12] What? As he frees this man from the tyranny of the devil.
[56:29] I often wonder sometimes as I read the scriptures and I see these characters whose lives have been changed by the Lord Jesus and I think to myself after meeting the Lord Jesus and been changed.
[56:44] I wonder what their lives were like afterwards. Was everything a bed of roses afterwards for these people, for this man here? I doubt it.
[57:04] There's no hope for that craft. No hope none. No hope. No hope. None. None.
[57:14] None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. None. But yet through the preaching of the word tonight and every Lord's day here and every prayer meeting night there is hope extended to the worst of these sinners.
[57:34] we don't need to be drug addicts or alcoholics to be the worst of sinners my friend. we don't need to be or we can be very morally upright and we are very terrible sinners but Christ comes tonight clothed in the gospel and you see what happens when a life is changed C.S. Lewis had said I now belong to another place I don't belong here anymore I belong to another place and that is what happens when the Lord Jesus Christ enters into your heart and into mine we enter into this journey and we're heading to our destination to be with Jesus forever and if your trust and if your hope is in Christ tonight when you breathe your last you will see Jesus you will see him and you will breathe him there's a wee girl and she lived beside a cemetery and she used to walk through the middle of the cemetery even at night to get to the shops and at dusk she would go through the cemetery on her own through the graveyard and somebody asked her once don't you get afraid when you're travelling through the cemetery you're all on your own you're going through there on your own aren't you afraid and she says no no
[59:33] I don't get afraid because my home is just beyond just beyond you see so it is for the Christian our home home is just beyond have you entered in have you accepted Christ are you going to walk out that door again and you know and you know and you know and home is just beyond let us pray father we thank you for your word father we thank you for the gospel of our saviour jesus and lord we thank you that you are at work through the preaching and the proclamation of your word through the fragility and the weakness of the preacher lord we pray that you are at work among us here this evening and we pray that your kingdom will be extended oh lord that you would be at work and release the captives lord we are sinners in need of grace and love there is no good thing in us father lord we will give yourself to us this evening we pray and we ask it in jesus name amen we shall conclude by singing mission praise 975 mission praise 975 before the throne of god above i have a strong and perfect key a great high priest whose name is love who ever lives and pleads for me my name is graven on his hands my name is written on his heart i know that while in heaven he stands no tongue can bid me thanks depart no tongue can bid me thanks depart mission praise 975 to god's praise and glory now may the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god the father and the fellowship of the holy spirit rest on and abide with you now and forever more amen to love s сложно like another song