[0:00] Good evening, everyone. A warm welcome to the service tonight. We're going to begin this time of worship. We'll sing to God's praise from Psalm 46 and the last two stanzas of the psalm, the last two verses of the psalm.
[0:17] Psalm 46, the last two verses. It's good to see the newlyweds still smiling. Be still and know that I am God. Among the heathen I will be exalted.
[0:31] I on earth will be exalted high. Our God who is the Lord of hosts is still upon our side. The God of Jacob, our refuge forever will abide. We'll sing these two verses of Psalm 46 in Gaelic and we'll remain seated to sing as usual.
[0:45] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[1:15] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[1:45] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[2:15] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[2:45] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[3:15] Psalm 46, the last two verses.
[3:45] NINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNING It's good to have George and Elizabeth Barney with us tonight and David and their daughter-in-law as well.
[4:13] And I'm going to ask George to come out and lead us in a word of prayer. He doesn't have the gift of tongues, so he can't lead us in prayer and garlic.
[4:24] But George, just maybe before you pray, just come up. You can maybe tell us just how things are. You were here, was it two years ago? I think it was two years ago. We were here in October and then maybe the year before in July, was it?
[4:37] When you were away on holiday. You were away for, I think you were here for three weeks. So you got to know a lot of these faces. And you were in a lot of these houses. Yes, a lot of these houses. And enjoyed many a struperk.
[4:50] A few scrubs as well. And lots of other things too. Yeah. Mazed at the hospitality of the islands. Well, it's good to have you back. And Elizabeth and David and...
[5:02] Alexis. Alexis. Who is 12 years married today. 12 years today, yes. Alexis. And they're still smiling too. 12 days, 12 years.
[5:13] All right. Yes. But not far away. You'll have to give one another notes. That's right, yeah. The end. So, George, it's good to have you. And if you would lead us in prayer now, please.
[5:27] Our Father, we're so glad to come before you tonight. And we do just thank you for your kindness and your love. We're just glad to be in your presence. And to worship you with your people.
[5:40] Round your word. Lord, we do just thank you when we look out at the beauty of this island. Especially on a day like today. We do just give you thanks for your creation.
[5:52] And just the variety of your creation. But, Lord, it's in your word that we really find out who you are. We get an idea from creation. But we get more clarity in your word.
[6:05] When we see your character. We see your love. Your faithfulness. Lord, and so many other of your qualities. And, Lord, most of all, we thank you for the gift of your son.
[6:16] And we realize, as we were hearing this morning, without the gift of your son, none of us would be here. Because you would not have welcomed sinners into your presence.
[6:28] You only welcome them into your presence when they've come to you in repentance and faith. Lord, we thank you for the people in this church or possibly at home tonight who, for some reason, cannot come out to church.
[6:43] We thank you for those who know you and love you. And, Lord, help each one of us to know you and love you better. As we read your word, as we are immersed in your word in a regular way.
[6:56] Lord, we pray for those who, for whatever reason, have never come to confess their faith. And we do just pray for those who maybe have become Christians recently, that they would come and confess their faith publicly before you.
[7:12] As a huge encouragement to yourself, our God, and a huge encouragement to people here. Lord, as we read your word tonight, as we sing your word, whether in Gaelic or English, and as we hear your word being expanded, we do just ask that way beyond the voice of a man, we would hear your voice speaking to us.
[7:35] Lord, drawing us to yourself if we've never come, drawing us back if we've slipped away. Lord, we know how easy that is. And, Lord, we pray for each one of us that you would draw us closer.
[7:47] These things we ask in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Before you go, George, maybe just give us a little update on Smithton and Tornograin. We've had both Alistair and Innes here in the past.
[8:00] Yeah. That's how things are going. How do we pray? Well, Smithton's very busy on a Sunday morning. I think a number of you have been recently and seen it for yourselves.
[8:11] And it's great to see. But it brings its own problems because I was just talking to somebody today and saying there are people come to Smithton that it's so hard to recognise because there are so many people there.
[8:24] It's a good problem to have. On a Thursday night, we welcome in people from the community to what we call a community food night where they can come and get burgers, sausages, tea, coffee and drinks and all of that free of charge.
[8:42] There is a box where people can donate but all the donations go to the work in Ukraine. They don't go to Smithton Church. Out at Tornograin, they are very encouraged.
[8:53] They would have probably on average 60 to 70, David, about that. So, about 60 to 70, they've had a lot of support from an American church that Innes, the minister, has become very friendly with.
[9:07] And Americans have been over at their own expense and they have done a lot of work in renovating what was a Church of Scotland building. So, we would really appreciate you remembering Smithton and Tornograin in your prayers and we want to assure you of us remembering you here.
[9:26] And it's just so encouragement. To think of this pub now being a place where people worship God and learn more about God and that we would become more like our Lord Jesus through the help of the Holy Spirit.
[9:44] Thank you, George. Thanks, David. Thank you. I do like the idea of burgers for free on a Thursday night. You know who they are.
[9:58] We're going to sing now to God's praise. We're going to sing this hymn that we've been learning over the last few weeks. Hold me, Saviour. George was praying for those who've never come to Jesus and also for those who may have come but slipped back and we know how easy that can be.
[10:16] And this is a hymn. It's a prayer that Jesus would hold us and that we would not stray from him. So we'll stand to sing in just a moment. Let's sing in just a moment.
[10:56] Let's sing in just a moment. May the burden break the knees closer to your side Let's stop for a wee minute, will we?
[11:14] Because every week we get this bit wrong. So let's just learn this one time. And so Anna, if you play this, Stuart, you sing the first verse, please, with Anna.
[11:25] And then we'll all join in. There's one little bit where we all run ahead, where we should be holding back. So we listen for the first verse and then we'll sing it again and we'll know it from now on.
[11:38] Okay? Okay? Oh, be saved, lest I wonder, never let me stray.
[11:50] When my heart is heavy laden, help me bear the weight. May my burden bring me closer to your side.
[12:03] Every life I please to worship is a precious prize. Oh, be saved, now and ever.
[12:18] Lord, let your goodness go with me. Guide and keep me Gently lead me Your presence with me Is my peace Guide me, Savior, Let your nearness cheer me at me And show me Show me marbles of your mercy Wonders of your power Bright streams of water Lead me through this land Joy is awake me on the way And hope is near at hand Holy Savior, now and ever
[13:20] Lord, let your goodness go with me Guide and keep me Gently lead me Your presence with me Is my peace Lead me, Savior, to the finished Faithful till the end When I sing There never was a True or better friend Through the gates of glory Lead me all the way There my faith will turn Turn to sight and fear Will turn to grace Holy Savior, now and ever
[14:21] Lord, let your goodness go with me Guide and keep me Gently lead me Your presence with me Your presence with me Your presence with me Is my peace Be Savior, now and ever Savior, now and ever Lord, let your goodness go with me Guide and keep me Gently lead me Your presence with me Your presence with me Is my peace There you go, we all must know it now If you could turn now please to God's word
[15:25] Matthew chapter 7 Matthew chapter 7 And the last two verses And then we'll pick back up From where we left off this morning At verse 18 Of chapter 8 And when Jesus finished these sayings The crowds were astonished at his teaching For he was teaching them as one who had authority And not as their scribes Then at verse 18 Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him He gave orders to go over to the other side And a scribe came up and said to him Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go And Jesus said to him Foxes have hoes and birds of the air of nests But the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head And other of the disciples said to him
[16:25] Lord, let me first go and bury my father And Jesus said to him Follow me and leave the dead to bury their own dead And when he got into a boat His disciples followed him And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea So that the boat was being swamped by the waves But he was asleep And they went and woke him Saying, save us Lord We are perishing And he said to them Why are you so afraid?
[16:50] O you of little faith Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea And there was a great calm And the men marveled Saying, what sort of man is this That even winds and sea obey him?
[17:04] And when he came to the other side To the country of the Gadarenes Two demon-possessed men met him Coming out of the tombs So fierce that no one could pass that way And behold, they cried out What have you to do with us, O son of God?
[17:20] Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them And the demons begged him, saying If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs And he said to them, go So they came out and went into the pigs And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank Into the sea and drowned in the waters Their herdsmen fled And going into the city They told everything Especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus And when they saw him They begged him to leave their region Amen And may God bless that reading of his word to us We're going to sing again now To God's praise And we'll sing from Psalm 67 Psalm 67 Lord, bless and pity us Shine on us with thy face That the earth thy way And nations all may know
[18:20] Thy saving grace We'll stand to sing To God's praise Lord, bless and pity us Shine on us with thy face That the earth thy way And nations all may know Thy saving grace Let people praise thee, Lord Let people all be praised O let the nations be glad In songs their voices raise
[19:21] How justly people judged Honour through nations all Let people praise thee, Lord Let them praise thee, both great and small The earth her fruit shall yield Our God shall blessings send God shall us bless Then shall him fear Unto earth's utmost end Let's pray as we come back to God's word
[20:25] Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word That we have read And we have sang And once more we come together to study And we recognise once more That we need more than intellect We need more than clear speaking Or earnest listening To be able to understand and grasp What you have for us We need the help of the Holy Spirit And we thank you that the Holy Spirit He is our teacher He is the one who puts the lights on In our minds Who touches our hearts He is the one who shows us our sin And shows us Jesus as the Saviour And so we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit And all that we do here this evening And as we pray for ourselves We pray once more for the churches around us Who open your word And who gather together to worship And we pray in particular for
[21:26] Smithdon Church and Tornogreen also We thank you for the work of the gospel That goes on in these places And we pray for your blessing Upon Alistair as he leads in Smithdon And Davi also Who's come as the assistant minister Or who's coming in the next few weeks We pray also for Innes In Tornogreen And we ask Lord That as the word is preached That it would go forth in power And it would be recognised As the word of God And not the word of man We pray that it would be effective That it would not come back void But it would achieve much To cause people to look to Jesus For salvation And Lord That it would achieve much In sanctifying And making people there As we pray that you would make us here More like Jesus We pray for the outreach Especially the Thursday night Outreach that George has spoken of We ask Lord
[22:26] That you would bless that That you would draw the community in And especially those Who may be struggling That as they come in That they would feel And even taste something Of the compassion of Jesus That as they come And taste food for their bodies That they may come to see And to taste that Jesus The Lord is good And that there is blessing For all who come to him We pray for George and Elizabeth also And we thank you for them And for their continued ministry As they go to different places We thank you for all those elders And lay preachers Who go to remote parts of the country To take the gospel message To churches Especially where there is a vacancy And we ask Lord That you would continue to bless All who you send out With the message of the gospel And we pray As we have sang
[23:28] For your blessing To go out Across all nations And especially We pray for our own nation We confess our sin We confess our wandering We confess That we have often And consistently said Over the years What they said In the region that we read of In Matthew 8 As they begged Jesus to leave We ask Lord That you would forgive us And that you would cause us To repent And to look Once more in faith To Jesus So hear our prayers And help us Lord As we open your word And we pray this in Jesus name And for Jesus sake Amen I read a statistic Earlier It was earlier today And a few weeks ago as well When I was beginning To prepare this And it was a statistic Of the The number of people That an average person Meets in their lifetime
[24:28] So I wonder If anybody's brave enough To guess How many people Do you think The average person Meets in their lifetime Average lifetime Emily You're the You're the only Really young child Here No you're not You're big I know But you're the youngest person Here tonight How many do you think 7,000 7,000 Not a bad guess It's higher than that Any advance On 7,000 20,000 Pardon 20,000 It's higher 60,000 It's higher The average person In an average lifetime Apparently Meets 80,000 People Some at school Some at college
[25:31] University Some At work But apparently That's what the statisticians Say 80,000 80,000 People We meet In our lifetime It's a lot of people But the reality is Only a few A very few Of these people Will make a big Impression on us There's only A few Of that number Of 80,000 That we'll Get close to And stay in touch with And actually Share Life together with Now we began this evening In our reading Looking at the The section at the end Of Matthew Chapter 7 And in that section We see That There were Crowds There were Huge crowds Actually That were Meeting To listen to Jesus The commentators Think there could have been As many as 20,000 I don't know if that's accurate Or not But that's their
[26:31] Best guess For some of them And it says When Jesus finished These sayings This is Matthew 7 Verse 28 The crowds were astonished At his teaching For he was teaching them As one who had authority And not As their scribes So Across the crowds There is a sense Of general Astonishment But the thing about Astonishment And we thought about this A week or two back Is it's a It's a very short term Response Astonishment Quickly fades And so the question I want to think about tonight Is Did that Astonishment Develop Into faith And there's also A clear message In these verses That the crowds They were struck With The acknowledgement Of the authority Of Jesus That was Another General agreement Amongst the crowds They recognised
[27:31] That this was a man Who was Who was acting Who was Preaching With great Authority But the question Is Did that Authority Of Jesus That they recognised Did that Cause them To bow Before him As lord And follow him As disciples Three things This evening In the time That we've got And the first Thing to note Is the cost Of following Jesus The cost Of following Jesus The second thing We see Is the calm That Jesus Brings to those Who follow him Although that calm Is experienced In the midst Of a storm And the final Thing That takes us Through To the end Of the chapter Is the clash With those Who do not Want to follow Jesus We see Jesus Clashing With those Who don't Want him So these
[28:32] Are the Three points That hopefully We'll get A chance To think Through First of all We have The cost Of following Jesus So we ask The question Just generally What does It cost To be A follower Of Jesus The answer To that Question Is it Costs us Nothing And it Costs us Everything It costs Us nothing To be Saved It's a Free gift We want To be Saved If we Want to Become Disciples Of Jesus We are Saved By grace It's a Free gift Costs us Nothing Because Jesus Has paid The price Of it Ephesians Chapter 2 Verse 8 Says For by Grace You've Been Saved Through Faith And this Is not Your own Doing It is The gift Of God So the The The salvation That our Souls long For The forgiveness
[29:33] Of sin That we need The eternal Life The peace With God That we crave In our hearts That's a Gift And it's Been paid For It's Been paid For It's Grace God's Riches His Salvation His Forgiveness His Peace His Joy At Christ's Expense Two weeks Ago Today In the Evening We We Remembered How expensive Our salvation Was We saw The bread And we Saw The wine That spoke To us Of the Body And the Blood Of Jesus We often Sing that Hymn Jesus Paid it All All To him We owe Sin has Left a Crimson Stain He Washed It White As Snow So it Costs us Nothing To become Followers Of Jesus It cost us Nothing To accept
[30:33] Jesus As Our Saviour But If we Accept Jesus As Saviour We Must Follow Him As Lord And that Means When he Gives Orders We Do What He Says Look at Verse 18 As we Step Through The Text Matthew Chapter 8 Verse 18 It Says When Jesus Saw A Crowd Now When Jesus Saw A Crowd Around Him He Gave Orders To Go Over To The Other Side And What What I Want To Look at Under This Point Is Three Tests That Jesus Sets He's Calling People To Follow Him And There Is A cost To Following Jesus And We See That Cost Coming Through These Three
[31:33] Tests And This Was Test Number One For The Crowds We Think About The Crowds These Crowds Probably Had Plans For Their Day And The Plans That These Crowds Had For Their Day Likely Involved Them Staying On This Side Of The Water But Jesus Says To The Crowds If You're Going To Follow Me We're Going Over To The Other Side You Need To Change Direction And It's A Simple Picture But It's A Great Picture Of The Christian Life Jesus Sets The Course Jesus Gives The Orders And We Follow That We Obey And Often Obedience Involves Changing The Direction That We Had Previously Intended
[32:34] To Go In And That's What It Means To Repent To Change Direction Martin Luther Said When Our Lord And Master Jesus Christ Said Repent He Intended That The Entire Life Of Believers Should Be Repentance Repentance Is To Be The Christian's Continual Posture And Repentance Is Costly It's Part Of The Cost Of Following Jesus Jesus Gives The Order He Says We're Going In A Different Direction We're Going To The Other!
[33:11] Side And Those Who Were Going To Follow Him Had To Change Direction And Go Where He's Leading That Was Test Number One Jesus Gives An Order The Second Test To A Scribe!
[33:32] To Jesus And Said To Him Teacher I Will Follow You Wherever You Go And Jesus Said To Him Foxes Have Hoes Birds Of The Air Have Nests But The Son Of Man Has Nowhere To Lay His Head So We Have In The Crowd A Scribe Our Equivalent Today Would Probably Be A Theology Professor That Would Be The Closest Thing Or A Church Lawyer A Church Statesman This Is A Picture We're Given Here Of A Man Who Says To Jesus I Will Follow You And This Is A Highly Respected Man This Is A Man Who Would Have Enjoyed Many Privileges And Had Kudos Status Within The Church And He Seems To Be Genuinely Excited About Following Jesus But He Hasn't Yet Counted The Cost See If This Scribe Was
[34:33] To Follow Jesus His Family And His Fellow Professionals Would Very Quickly Dishown Him And Very Quickly He Would Be Both Jobless And Homeless And Jesus Is Straight With Him About That He Says To This The Scribe This Is Going To Cost You For Some Today That That's Still The Case The Children Spoke To Us A Week Or Two Back About The Watch List And We Can Go Around The World And We Can Hear Stories Of Those Who Have Decided To Follow Jesus And It Costs Them Everything It Costs Them Their Jobs It Costs Them Their Family Relationships It Costs Them Their Friendships It Costs Them Even Their Lives In Some Places For Us Here We're
[35:33] Not Living With That Kind Of Persecution But It Will Cost Us Something If We're Going To Follow Jesus If We're Going To Follow Jesus Closely There May Be Some Friends Who Will Hold Us At A Distance It May Be That Our Family Become A Little Weird With Us Uneasy With Us If We Say That We're Going To Follow Jesus Closely!
[36:11] And If We're Going To Be Zealous For Him There Is A Cost If Following Jesus Costs Us Nothing How Much Are We Really Following Him The Cost Of Following Jesus He Sets The Test He Says We're Going To The Other Side You Need To Change Direction If You're Going To Follow Me Then The Scribe Comes Along And Jesus Says You Need To Understand The Cost Of This If You're Going To Follow Me And The Third Test The Final Test In This Section Is Found In Verses 21 And Verse 22 Another Of The Disciples Said To Him Lord Let Me First Go And Bury My Father And Jesus Said To Him Follow Me And Leave The Dead To Bury Their Own Dead It Sounds Very Callous It's
[37:12] Not As Callous As It Sounds One Commentator Puts It Better Than I Can He Says Bailey The Commentator Says The Phrase To Bury One's Father Is A Traditional Idiom That Refers Specifically To The Duty Of A Son To Remain At Home And Care For His Parents Until They Are Laid To Rest So This Man Is Essentially Saying To Jesus My Father Is Alive And I Have Responsibilities!
[37:46] Work Commitments I Have Community Commitments And They Come First And I Want To Follow You Jesus But I'll Follow You Later And Jesus Response To That Man Is Not Not Later You'll Follow Me Now That's What I'm Calling You To Do And That Would Be Costly And In Terms Of The Application Of This I Think There's A Word For Both The Person Who's Not Yet A Christian There's A Word Here For The Person Who Is A Christian For The Person Who's Not Yet A Christian There's An Urgency Here About The Response Of Jesus He Says Follow Me Now Not Tomorrow Not Next Week But
[38:46] Right Now Today Present Tense Psalm 95 Comes To My Mind As It So Often Does Today If You Hear His Voice Don't Harden Your Heart So If There's Anyone Here Who's Not Yet A Christian This Call Of Jesus It Comes With Great Urgency Leave Whatever You're Doing That's Holding You Back Even If It's Costly And Follow Now But There's Also Application Here For The Christian Who Is Following Jesus At A Distance George Spoke About Or Prayed About Those Who Can Drift Back And We Know How Easy It Is To Drift
[39:46] Back We Know What It's Like For Life To Become So Busy With Work And Family And Friends And Social Activities And Sport And Community Commitments And All These Things They Just Crush In And We Find Perhaps Before We Know It That We're No Longer Following Jesus Closely But We're At A Distance And The Call Of Jesus Comes To Us Even Through This Passage Here Just Now These Other Relationships These Other Commitments They're Secondary To Following Jesus Closely It's Very Easy To Become Scolding Of Ourselves When We Think
[40:46] About This But Try And Think About It This Way Think About The Disciples Jesus Says To These Disciples We're Going To The Other! Side Follow Me And Think About All The Experienced As They Follow Jesus Closely All They Saw All They Heard All They Enjoyed In That Intimate Relationship With Jesus How Much Blessing Would They Have Missed Out On If They Said Well You Know I'm Busy I'll Follow A bit Later How Much Are We Missing Out On Perhaps As Individuals When We Decide That It's Just Too Costly To Follow Jesus Closely!
[41:37] What Would It Look Like If Every Believer Made It A Priority To Come Together And Earnestly Pray On A Wednesday Evening Every Week What Would It Look Like What Would The Congregation Be Like If We Determined That We Would Take Every Opportunity To Try To Be Salt And Light And Speak To People About Jesus What Would It Look Like If We Were To Go Out With That Prayer And That Intention That Determination To Ask People To Come In And To Hear The Gospel How Much Blessing Do We Miss Out On When We Decide We'll Stay In First Gear And We'll Follow At A Distance The Cost Of Following Jesus The
[42:38] Second Point Is The Calm That Jesus Brings To Those Who Follow Him And That Takes Us Into Verse 23 And When He Got Into The Boat His Disciples Followed Him And We Can Note Here That We're No Longer Reading About A Great Crowd There Was A Great Crowd Jesus Says We're Going To The Other Side There's No Longer A Great Crowd There's Just His Disciples Who Are On The Boat And This Is Not A Cruise Line This Is A We Fishing Boat So We're Just Talking About A Few People Verse 24 And Behold There Arose A Great Storm On The Sea So That The Boat Was Being Swamp By The Waves But He Jesus We Might Ask The Question At This Point Where Is The Calm It Says The Calm That Jesus Brings To Those Who Follow Him Where Is The Calm These
[43:38] Disciples Jesus Said Follow Me We're Going To The Other Side And The Disciples They Listen To Jesus They Follow Jesus They Get In The Boat Where's The Calm I Thought There Was Promised Peace For Those!
[43:53] I Thought There Was Rest For The Souls For Those Who Come To Him And That's All True There Is But Often Times The Peace The Calm The Rest That Jesus Promises Is Given To Us In The Middle Of Storms And So At This Point The Disciples Are Not Feeling Very Calm They Sea Is Crashing Around The Boat Is Getting Thrown Everywhere These Experienced Fishermen Think They're Going To Die And So Verse 25 They Went And Woke Him Jesus Saying Save Us Lord We're Perishing And There's Another This is a Sidebar Here There's Another Great Lesson In Prayer When We're Going Through The Storms Of Life Whether Physical
[44:54] Or Spiritual When We Feel Swamped When We Feel Like We Might Perish How Do We Pray Well Here's A Prayer Save Me Lord It's A Prayer That Jesus Hears And It's A Prayer That Jesus Answers Verse 26 Jesus Said To Them Why Are You Afraid Are You Of Little Faith And In The Middle Of The Storm Jesus Is About To Teach Them They Didn't Need To Be Afraid In Verse 18 Jesus Made Clear They Were Going To The Other Side And The Word Of Jesus Can Be Trusted Jesus Didn't Promise It Would Be A Smooth!
[45:41] Cross In He Just Said They're Going To Get There So They Could Have Taken Jesus At His Word And Said We're Getting To The Other Side They Could Have Had A Sleep Instead Of Stressing Out And So Jesus Questions Them Over Their Little Faith And Then He Speaks A Word In Verse 26 That Would Supercharge Their Faith In Him Jesus Arose Verse 26 And He Rebuked The Winds And The Sea And There Was A Great Calm A Word From Jesus In The Midst Of The Storm And There's Great Calm Physical Calm And Spiritual Calm And It Seems That In The Experience Of The Disciples The Storm Was Necessary
[46:41] For Them To Come To Know The Calm That They Enjoyed The Storm Was Necessary For Them To See That Jesus Was Powerful The Storm Was Necessary For Them To Learn The Lesson That Jesus Had Authority Even Over Creation And That He Loved Them And That He Would Not Let Them Perish And So In Application When We See Storms Rolling In Our Tendency Is To See Them As Dark And Sinister And Unwelcome And
[47:41] Sometimes When We Find Ourselves In The Middle Of A Storm We Start To Question God's Love For Us But What We See Here Is That Sometimes It's In The Storm That We Experience The Greatest Sense Of The Love And The Power Of God Often It's In The Storm That We Experience That Otherworldly Calm And Peace That Jesus Promises To Give To Those Who Who Follow Him So There's A Storm And Then There's That Calm That Jesus Brings To His Disciples As They Follow Him And Verse 27 Says The Men Marvelled Saying What Sort Of Man
[48:42] Is This That Even The Winds And The Sea Obey Him So That's The Question That They're Asking In The Boat What Sort Of Man Is This Who Is This Jesus And Matthew Leaves The Question Hanging As He Brings This Scene To An End But Surprisingly The Question Is Answered In The Final Scene In The Chapter There's The Clash Point Three There's The Clash With Those Who Do Not Want To Follow Jesus Verse 28 And Verse 29 And When He Came To The Other Side To The Country Of The Gadarenes Two Demon Possessed Men Met Him Coming Out Of The Tomb So Fierce That No One Could Pass That Way And Behold They Cried Out What Have You To Do With Us O
[49:42] Son Of God It's A Peculiar Thing That The Question That The Disciples Are Asking What Sort Of Man Is This Is A Question That Is Answered By The Demons They Say This Is The Son Of God And There's A There's A Word Of Caution There For Us Sometimes We Think That If We Know In Our Heads Who Jesus Is That's Enough Matthew Shows Us James Tells Us That's Not Enough We Can Know In Our Heads That Jesus Is The Son Of God And Still Be Lost James 2 19 Says Even The Demons Believe And Shudder And We See Here Two Demon Possessed Men And They
[50:42] Shudder As They Clash With Jesus They Spicked Out In Verse 29 Have You Come Here To Terment Us Before The Time What Is This Time That They're Talking About It's The Time Of Judgment Remember Jesus Has All Authority That's The Thread That's Running Through This Whole Passage And The Demons Know That Jesus Has All Authority We Live In A World Where There's This Continual Conflict Between Good And Evil And Light And Darkness And God And Satan And Sometimes We Stress Over That But The Encouraging Thing To Remember And The Demons Know This Is That There Is No Question Mark Over Who Wins Jesus Is Victorious And That Was Promised
[51:43] As Early As Genesis Chapter 3 And Verse 15 Where It Was Prophesied That Satan Would Strike The Heel Of Jesus But Jesus Would Crush The Head Of Satan A Prophecy That Was Fulfilled At Calvary So Today In Spite Of How It Looks In This Broken World Remember And Rejoice In The Fact That Satan Is Defeated His Demons Are Defeated And They Know That Verse 30 Now A Herd Of Many Pigs Was Feeding At Some Distance From Them And The Demons Begged Him Saying If You Cast Us Out Send Us Away Into The Herd Of Pigs And He Said To Them Go So
[52:44] They Came Out And Went Into The Pigs And Behold The Whole Herd Rushed Down The Steep Bank Into The Sea And Drowned In The waters This Is The Kind Of Verses That Put Animal Lovers Absolutely Crazy But This Is What Happened And Why Is There This Display Well We Don't Know For Sure But I Think There Are Two Things That We Can Learn From This Visual Display First Of All We See A Picture Of The Authority Of Jesus Over Demons He Speaks The Word And Instantly Having Spoken The Word There Is Evidence Of What Happens When The Demons Are Cast Out They Go From The Men Into The Pigs And Then We See The Reaction The Instant Reaction Of The Pigs And
[53:44] Underlines For Us The Authority Of Jesus He Wasn't Just Speaking Words What He Said Happened But This Is Also A Visual Lesson For Us On The Character Of Satan And His Demons What Does Satan Want To Do He Wants To Destroy What Do These Demons Want To Do As Agents Of Satan They Want To Destroy All Those That They Enter And We See That As This Herd Are Driven Over A Cliff And Round In The Sea It's Destruction And It's A Preview Of A Greater Destruction It's A Preview Of Hell For Those Who Do Not Trust Jesus For Those Who Allow!
[54:41] Satan To Keep Hold Of Them There Is Destruction And It's A Disturbing Picture Of It Here So We See The Clash With Evil Powers And Jesus Win The Authority Of Jesus Is Supreme So Just As We Finish What Happened Next How Does This Scene End If We Didn't Have The Next Section I Think We Would Say I Think We Would Say Surely People Now Will Bow Before Jesus Surely Having Heard Jesus Preach With Such Great Authority Surely Having Seen Jesus Heal With Such Supreme Authority Surely Having Seen Jesus Cast Out Demons With That Ultimate
[55:41] Authority Surely The People Will Bow Before Him As The Leopard Did Surely The People Will See The Power Of Jesus And The Last Jesus To Save Them That's What We Would Expect But Sadly That's Not What Happens Verse 33 The Herdsmen Fled And Going Into The City They Told Everything Especially What Had Happened To The Demon Possessed Men Think About That Demon Possessed Men These Poor Souls Tormented Imprisoned By These Demons And Now They're Free So The Herdsmen They Come Into The City And They Tell The Story Of These Men Who Were Demon Possessed And Now They're Changed And Behold All
[56:41] The City Came Out To Meet Jesus And When They Saw Him They Begged Him To Leave Their Region That's A Shocking Thing And That's What Happens The Sad Ending To This Section Is Seen In The Response!
[57:07] The Crowds We're Back To The Crowds And It Seems That The Crowds Of People All The City They Clash With Jesus They Do Not Want To Follow Jesus They Want Him They Beg Him To Leave And If We Glance Into The First Verse Of Matthew 9 We Can See That He Does Leave So It's A Sad Ending But As We Think About Where We Are Today It's A Picture Of What We're Living Through This Is A Picture Of Where We Are In Scotland Today For Years We Have Been Begging Jesus To Leave Us Having Seen Everything That He's Done For Us
[58:07] Having Felt The Benefits Of Christianity Through The Generations We Have Come To A Place Where We Are Begging Jesus To Leave Us And We're Now Beginning To See In Our Country What It Looks Like To Live In A Place That Has Removed The Word Of God And Has Trampled The Name Of Jesus And Has Decided To Opt For The Letting Everyone Do What Is Right In His Own Eyes Option We Need To Pray For Our Country So There's An Application Here We Can Say It's Regional As It Was Back Then But The Application Is Not Just Regional It's Personal I
[59:08] Wonder Is There Anyone Here Tonight Or Anybody Who's Watching At A Distance Who Is Saying To Jesus Leave Me I Don't Want You In My Life To Any Such People Jesus Says Eventually Thy Will Be Done You Don't Want Me You Don't Get Me If You Don't Want The Salvation That Comes To Those Who Follow Me You Choose Destruction C.S.
[59:55] Lewis Said There Are Only Two Kinds Of People In The End Those Who Say To God Thy Will Be Done I.E.
[60:05] Those Who Follow Him And Those To Whom God Says In The End Thy Will Be Done All That Are In Hell Says C.S.
[60:18] Lewis Choose It Please Do Not Choose Hell Do Not Clash With Jesus It's A Clash We Will Never Win Trust Him Don't Beg Him To Go Away Receive Him And Receive The Salvation That He Promises To Those Who Follow Him And For Those Who Are Following Him Let Us Repent Of The Distance That We Are All To Come In And Determine In His Strength To Follow Him Closely To
[61:42] Pay We Pray That We Would Know More Of That Help Us We Pray To To Continually Repent Of The Things That We All To Come In And Get In The Way Of Us Following You Closely Help Us As Those Who Have Trusted You As Savior To Day By Day Determine To Follow You As Lord We Pray For Anyone
[62:42] Who Has Not Yet Trusted You As Savior And Lord We Pray That Even Tonight There May Be Someone Who Will Say Please Lord Jesus Forgive Me For My Sin Come Into My Life And Help Me By Your Grace To Follow We Pray This In Jesus Name Amen We'll Sing To Conclude Mission Praise 1209 The Words On The Stream My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness My Heart Is Filled With Thankful To Him Who Bore My Name Who
[63:42] Loved The Death Of My Disgrace And Gave Me Life Again Who Crushed My Hearse Of Sin Thou Ness And Clothed Me With His Life And Wrote His Law Of Righteousness With Power Upon My Heart My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness To Him Who Walks Beside Who Thugs My Weak Blesses With Strength And Causes Pears To Fly Whose Every Promise Is Enough For Every Step I Take Sustaining
[64:43] Me With Arms Of Love And Drowning Me With Grace My Heart Is Filled With Thankfulness To Him Who Rains Above Whose Wisdom Is My Perfect Peace Whose Every Thought Is Love For Every Day I Have On Earth Is Given By The King So I Will Give My Light My All To Love And Follow Him Now May The Grace Of Our Lord Jesus Christ The Love Of God The Father And The Fellowship Of God The Holy Spirit Be With Us All Now And Forever More Amen!