22.9.24 am

[0:00] It's good to see a few visitors. This is the time of year where our visitors stop coming in such high numbers and all their students go away. So it's good to have you. We always feel a wee bit sad this time of year when we see some of our young folks going away.

[0:15] So those who are visiting especially are welcome. Everyone is welcome, but visitors especially, it's good to see you. There's tea and there's coffee at the end of the service. Please stay behind if you're able to do so.

[0:26] So the notices have been on the screen for the last while. I'm not going to take time to go through all these notices, but I'll highlight just a couple of things. The first is to say that the service this evening will be taken by Scott, so be encouraged to come along to worship this evening.

[0:45] And in the course of the week, as well as the usual things, there's a session meeting tomorrow at 2 p.m. And the service is next Sunday. I'll be taking the service in the morning, God willing.

[0:58] And the service in the evening will be a Gaelic service taken by Joe McPhee. And in the evening fellowship next Sunday, we're going to have Scott and Fiona.

[1:11] And we're going to get to know them a little bit more, so put that one in your diary as well. The last thing to say is just in advance of the 4th to 6th of October, which isn't far away now, we have our communion weekend.

[1:25] And the services, there's details on the screen and you've seen them. So just take a note of these. Let's be praying into the communion weekend. And for any who know the Lord, who are trusting the Lord, but haven't yet professed faith in the Lord, please be encouraged to come and speak to myself or one of the elders.

[1:44] If we know that we are great sinners, if we have trusted Jesus to be our great saviour, then we have not even so much an invitation, but it's a command.

[1:56] Jesus says, do this. Come and remember the bread, the wine, the body, the blood that was shed for our salvation. These, I think, are all the notices that I need to highlight just now.

[2:12] Let's begin this time of worship and we'll sing to God's praise. We'll sing from Mission Praise 52. Mission Praise 52, the words on the screen.

[2:23] God sent his son. They called him Jesus. He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon. An empty grave is there to prove my saviour lives.

[2:36] We'll stand to sing to God's praise. God sent his son. God sent his son. They called him Jesus.

[2:50] He came to love, heal and forgive. He lived and died to buy my pardon.

[3:05] An empty grave is there to prove my saviour lives. Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

[3:22] Because he lives, all fear is gone. Because I know, I know he holds the future And life is worth living just because he lives As we do hold a new born baby And feel the pride and joy he gives But greater still the calm assurance This child can face uncertain days Because he lives, because he lives

[4:24] I can face tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know, I know he holds the future And life is worth living just because he lives And then one day I'll cross the river I'll fight by the war with pain And then I'll stand Gives way to victory I'll see the lights of Gloria And know he lives

[5:27] Because he lives I am finished tomorrow Because he lives All fear is gone Because I know, I know he holds the future And life is worth living just because he lives Let's unite our hearts in prayer together Let's pray Our Heavenly Father We thank you for this, your day This day that we come At the beginning of the week

[6:28] The first day of the week The Lord's Day The day that has been gifted to us Where we are called to stop work And to take time To be still And to know that you are God We ask that you would help us to do that We confess our minds are so often So full With so many distractions This world is a busy place And we confess our lives can be Overly busy as well And we can find it hard Even for this hour To sit down and to be still And to know that you are God And that you are with us And so we pray That you would help us We pray that we would know the help Of the Holy Spirit That you would give to us Eyes to see Jesus And ears to hear The words of Jesus And hearts that are ready to Respond to the call of Jesus The one who says

[7:28] Come to me All who are weary and burdened And I will give you rest We thank you That as we come We have the assurance That we will be received And not driven away We thank you for the words Of the hymn that we sang God sent his son They called him Jesus He came to love Heal and forgive And we thank you That the love That we are looking for In our hearts Is a love That we can only Fully experience And know As we come to Jesus We thank you That he loved us So much That he laid down his life To make us his own We thank you That as we trust in him We are promised That we are forgiven That our sins Are taken away And that we are brought Into the family of God

[8:30] That we can call you Our father And that we can Recognize And rejoice In knowing Our brothers and sisters In the Lord Those whom we have Special fellowship with A fellowship which begins In time And is perfected In eternity So we ask Lord That you would bless us We pray for that healing Of heart That Jesus came to bring We confess that sin Makes us sick And we are sinners None of us are righteous But we pray That as we come To you Lord Jesus That you would Touch us As you touched so many That we read of In the gospel accounts Those who Received healing Of the body And healing Of the soul We pray for that healing Even today For each one of us And we thank you For the The fact that The offer of the gospel The good news

[9:30] That Jesus Came And promises us Salvation We thank you That it's a free offer The price has been paid We simply have to come And accept that offer We thank you For the The place that we look to Where we see that the price Is paid Week by week We are drawn back To the cross Week by week That we are called To remember That the saviour died And he died for us But we thank you That he rose again Triumphant Over the grave And even now He pleads Our cause At God's right hand Omnipotent To save So save us Lord We pray We pray for anyone Here Today Who has never yet Prayed that prayer Save me We ask Lord That even in these moments There may be someone Who would cry out Who would call upon

[10:30] The name of the Lord And be saved We think of the prayer That we so often go to Lord Have mercy upon me A sinner The prayer That our Christian lives Begin with And the prayer That we take on our lips Day by day As we seek to walk Close with you So have mercy on us We pray Forgive us Cleanse us Heal us And bless us In our souls That we may Know that close walk With God That we may Be connected To the vine And that we may Be full of life And even fruitful As we seek To serve you We thank you Lord For this day Even for the Beauty of the day As we look out At creation We see the glory Of your creative work Especially in this part Of the world We see the majesty Of God And yet we Also know that As we think about

[11:31] This creation In this world We are conscious Of what the apostle Paul wrote In Romans 8 That it is groaning And we pray We pray for those Today Who are struggling We pray for those Whose hearts Are broken We pray for those Who are grieving For those Who feel Overwhelmed And we bring them To you in prayer You are the God Of all comfort The God Who is able To bind up Broken hearts And so Lord We pray That you would Be at work In these places Where hearts Are sore And broken We pray Especially for The MacLennan family In Shillabost And the extended family That having been Through so much Comfort them Lord we pray And for all Whose hearts Are heavy For all Who are affected In different ways By the struggles And the griefs

[12:31] The sicknesses That we endure In this world We can see So many Who are struggling In our mind's eye And as we name them In the quietness Of our own hearts We ask Lord That you administer To them In the power Of the Holy Spirit We pray for those Who are visiting With us today Bless them And watch over them We pray for those Of our congregation Who have gone Out to different places Excuse me And we ask Lord That you would Go before them That you would Be with them That you would Guide them And that you Would lead them We thank you That even When we go To the far Side of the sea As the psalmist Says You are still With us You hold us Fast We ask now Lord That you would Go before us And the rest Of this service We commit the week To you also All the things That have been On the screen And the notices We pray

[13:32] That every endeavour For Jesus' sake Would be effective Pray for the elders Especially With session meetings Planned We are weak We are those Who need your wisdom And we pray for it Lord And we ask now That you would Go before us That you would Lead us And guide us In worship That we would be In the spirit On the Lord's day And that you would Meet us And bless us And we ask all These things In Jesus' name Amen Boys and girls Would you like To come forward Please How's everyone Today All good Good good Can you tell me Boys and girls Have any of you Got a favourite toy

[14:33] Or like a favourite teddy Or a favourite Whatever Eh Maybe Maybe like a teddy That you would bring Wherever you went Maybe to like You know If you were going To the park You would take the teddy Maybe if you were going To church even You would take the teddy Anyone got a favourite teddy Shawnee You've got a favourite teddy Well done for being So brave Telling us If you count a PS5 As a toy If you count a PS5 As a toy You've got a You've got a favourite Okay Yeah We've got a favourite teddy Here don't we What's teddy's name Bunny Is he your favourite Yeah Do you take him Wherever you go Would you be really upset If you lost your favourite teddy You would be Wouldn't you Well I'm going to tell you A story today About One of your teachers

[15:35] In the school And his name is Mr. Murray Not the head teacher But the Gaelic teacher And He decided That he was Going to go And He was going to Travel the world Who's in behind the Okay I'm just having a wee look He was going to Travel the world And he went to America And I think he went to Canada I'm not sure All the different places That he went And then he came back To the school And when he came back To the school He was quite upset Do you know why He was quite upset It's not his favourite Teddy that was missing His favourite mug Was missing So he had a favourite mug And Every strew pack That he would Enjoy Would be had In this favourite mug And when he came back Favourite mug Gone So he was asking

[16:35] The question In the staff room Anybody seen My favourite mug Nobody's seen The favourite mug At first they were saying Has it been broken I don't think It's been broken And then The next day Do you know what happened Well let's show you I think we've got a couple Of pictures on the screen Is that the mug It's in a box So the mug He got this photograph This photograph Was sent I think To his email And it was a picture Of a box With Nova Scotia One of the places That he was in Written on it And it was on a table That was in the school So that was the first photograph What was all that about He was thinking Next photograph Look at that Do you know What's going on there That's a picture

[17:36] Of his favourite mug And it's locked Inside a cage And Above the picture Of the mug In the locked cage There is A ransom note This is the nonsense That teachers get up to In their time off A ransom note And The person who did this Whoever that person Might be Basically what they're saying Is Unless you pay the ransom And it wasn't money It was something else We were looking for Unless you pay the ransom You're not going to get The cup back And to date He still doesn't have The cup back Does he have Oh the cup's back Let's not go there To date It's going to Take me off my point So he's got The cup back But it was a ransom

[18:37] Now boys and girls In a minute We're going to sing We're going to sing A hymn Called How deep The father's love For us How vast Beyond all measure You remember that one And in that hymn There's this There's this line In the hymn And it says His wounds Have paid My ransom So you know What a ransom is A ransom note Is when Is when If you want To get the thing back If you want To be free Then Something's got To get paid So we're going To sing in a minute His wounds Have paid My ransom What do you think We're singing about Or who do you think We're singing about Jesus And Michael Where If we're singing About Jesus If we're singing About wounds Where was Jesus Wounded He was wounded On the cross And why was he wounded

[19:38] He was wounded To pay Our ransom And one of the pictures That the Bible uses Is Is Sin Sin makes us Like prisoners And We're all sinners And when we're Sinners Because we're sinners Sin makes us Like prisoners It makes us Not free In our hearts But Jesus Loved us So much That he came To this world And he died For our sin So that our sin Can be taken away And so that we Can be free So that we Can be safe And so that we Can be Friends Of God So last question Very important Question How can we Be free How can we Be forgiven How can we Become

[20:39] God's friends What do we Have to do We have to Believe Don't we In Jesus And that's the Message boys and Girls that will Will come to Week after week After week If we want to Be forgiven If we want to Be free Then we have To believe In Jesus He died To pay our Ransom He died to Take our sin Away And he promises That we will Be free That we will Be safe Forever If we trust In him So let's pray And let's Ask for that Freedom Lord Jesus We thank you That you love us We thank you That you went To the cross To pay the Price for our Sin We thank you That you died To pay our Ransom And when we Trust in you When we ask For forgiveness You take Our sin Away You make

[21:40] Our hearts Free And you Make us Safe forever So we pray Lord that Whether we're Very young As boys and Girls or Whether we're Older That we would Ask for that Freedom That we would Ask for that Forgiveness For that Salvation That only Jesus can Give and Will give To all Who come To him We pray all These things In Jesus Name Amen We're Going to Sing now That hymn Mission Praise 988 Excuse me How deep The father's Love for us We'll stand Addition How deep The father's Love for us How vast Beyond all Measure That he Should give His only Son To make

[22:41] A wretch His treasure And Wake The pain Of Stealing Love The father Turns His face Away As wounds Which Marred The chosen One Bring Many Sons To Glory Behold The man Upon A cross My Sin Upon His Shoulders Ashamed I hear My Mocking Voice Fall Out Among The Scoffers

[23:42] It Was My Sin That Held Him There Until It Was Accomplished His Dying Breath Has Brought Me Life I I Know That It Is Finished I Will Not Post In Anything No Gifts No Power No Wisdom But I Will Post In Jesus Christ His Death And Resurrection Why Should I Gain

[24:43] From His Reward I Cannot Give An Answer But This I Know With All My Heart His Wounds Have Been My Ransom Okay Boys and Girls If you Head Through To Sunday School Remember To Pray For Them As They Go And We'll Turn in Our Bibles To Matthew Chapter 11 Please Matthew

[25:55] Chapter 11 And We Read From Verse 1 When Jesus Had Finished Instructing His Twelve! Disciples He Went On From There To Teach And Preach In Their Cities Now When John Heard In Prison About The Deeds Of The Christ He Sent Word By His Disciples And Said To Him Are You The One Who Is To Come Or Shall We Look For Another And Jesus Answered Them Go And Tell John What You See What You Hear And See The Blind Receive Their Sight And The Lame Walk Lepers Are Cleansed And The Deaf Hear And The Dead Are Raised Up To The Crowd Concerning John What Did You Go Out To See What Did You Go Out Into The Wild To See A Reade Shaken By The Wind What Then Did You Go Out To See A Man Dressed In Soft Clothing Behold Those Who Wear Soft Clothing Are In Kings Houses

[26:56] What Then Did You Go Out To See A Prophet Yes I Tell You And More Than A Prophet Truly I Say To You Among Those Born Of Women There Has Arisen No One Greater Than John The Baptist Yet The One Who Is Least In The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Greater Than He From The Days Of John The Baptist Until Now The Kingdom Of Heaven Has Suffered Violence And The Violent Take It By Force For All The Prophets And The Law Prophesied Until John And If You Let Him Hear But To What Shall I Compare This Generation It Is Like Children Sitting In The Market Places And Calling To Their Playmates We Played The Flute For You You Did Not Dance We Sang A Dirge And You Did Not Mourn For John Came Neither

[27:56] Eating Or Drinking And They Say He Is A Demon The Son Of Man Came Eating And Drinking And They Say Look At By Her Deeds Then He Began To Denounce The Cities Where Most Of His Mighty Deeds Works Had Been Done Because They Did Not Repent Woe To You Chorazin Woe To You Beth Seder For If The Mighty Works Done In You Had Been Done In Tyre And Sidon They Would Have Repented Long Ago In Sack Gloth And Ashes But I Tell You It Will Be More You Be Exalted To Heaven You Will Be Brought Down To Hades For If The Mighty Works Done In You Had Been Done In Sodom It Would Have Remained Until This Day But I Tell You It Will Be More Tolerable On The Day Of Judgment For The Land Of Sodom Than For You At

[28:57] That Time Jesus Declared I Thank You Father Lord Of Heaven And Earth That You Have Hidden These Things From The Wise And Understand And Revealed Them To Little Children Yes Father For Such Was Your Gracious Will All Things Have Been Handed Over To Be By My Father And No One Knows The Son Except The Father And No One Knows The Father Except The Son And Anyone To Whom The Son Chooses To Reveal Him Come To Me All Who!

[29:23] Labor And Are I Will Sing Verses Five And Six Of The Psalm In Gaelic And I Read These Verses In English Psalm 95 Verses Six And Seven Sorry Not Five And Six O Come And Let Us Worship Him Let Us Bow Down With All And On Our Knees Before The Lord Our Maker Let Us Fall For He's Our God The People We Of His Own!

[30:20] Pasture Are And Of His Voice Will Hear These Two Stanzas Of Psalm 95 We Remain Seated To Sing And Gallop To God's PraiseNINGNINGNING Oh, my God.

[31:30] Oh, my God.

[32:00] Oh, my God.

[32:30] Oh, my God.

[33:00] Oh, my God.

[33:30] Oh, my God.

[34:00] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word we pray for wisdom we pray for understanding we pray for a sense of your presence as we take time to meditate upon your word we ask Lord that you would stir our hearts that you would give us to know that you are close give us understanding we pray and help us to respond in a way that that glorifies your name and brings salvation to our souls we hear the call of Jesus to come we ask Lord that you would give each one of us the faith to respond to that call and to know the promises that are assured to all who will come we pray for the young ones we thank you for them and we ask that you would bless them in Sunday school that in their early years that they would come to know and trust in Jesus we pray for the churches around us different denominations whatever Christ crucified is preached here in the villages surrounding across the island the nation and all nations we pray that you would be working today to bring people to the Lord Jesus we pray for brothers and sisters that we may never meet in this world those who are persecuted those who are under the radar today and yet who meet for times of worship we ask that you would bless them protect them and we pray that you would be near to them as we pray that you would be near to us so guide us, lead us open us to your word we pray we ask this in Jesus name

[35:54] Amen every week in fact you could say probably every day maybe in the world of email every hour we get letters we get emails we get phone calls we're getting constantly bombarded with correspondence from companies that make us offers so receiving offers is just part of our lives it always was but in the modern technological era probably more so than ever before continually we're receiving offers cheaper broadband or a new mobile phone or a new bank account or a credit card continually we're receiving offers but every offer is looking for a response now the gospel we talk week by week about the gospel the gospel the good news about Jesus it's not just it's not just history it's not just facts it's an offer theologians talk about the free offer of the gospel and the offer is

[37:21] Jesus the person of Christ he is the one who is being offered we sang in the hymn God sent his son yes he sent a letter he sent his word he sent prophets to deliver a message but he sent his son all these prophets all these messages were pointing to the one who would come the word made flesh God sent his son they called him Jesus he came to love heal and forgive he lived and died to buy my pardon an empty grave was there to prove my saviour lives that's the gospel the free offer of of Jesus and the question I'd like to to ask today is how are we responding to this offer how are we responding to Jesus the section that we're going to focus on today we're going to look at this chapter in the next two weeks we'll spend two weeks looking at Matthew chapter 11 the section

[38:45] I want to focus on today is the section from verse 1 to verse 24 because in that section we see three responses of the people to Jesus back then in that place far away a long time ago and yet I would guess that these three responses are likely still in this room today three responses we see to Jesus the first one is to doubt it's to doubt him the second is to disbelieve and the final response is to dismiss him so to doubt to disbelieve and to dismiss so first of all to doubt we'll look at verse 1 when Jesus had finished instructing his 12 disciples he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities now when

[39:55] John heard in prison about the deeds of Christ he sent word by his disciples and said to him are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another so what's going on in this section well who we're seeing is John the Baptist we're seeing John the Baptist and John the Baptist at this point in his life and his experience he's in prison John remember had classed with Herod Herod was living an immoral life and John was a straight talking truth telling man he failed to affirm Herod in his immoral life and that annoyed Herod and even more so annoyed his wife and so John was now paying the price of that clash as he spent time in prison so we see John he's in prison and it seems that

[40:56] John is allowed to receive visitors so his disciples are attending to him they're going back and forth but life for John at this point in time is difficult and if we think about him for a moment not so long ago John was was the guy that everybody came to hear preach so when John had a service vast crowds gathered he was the man of the moment and he was a wild kind of a man he didn't like cities he wasn't into mobile phones and fashion he liked the wilderness he liked the wild territories he liked to roam free he went wherever he wanted to go and now we find him and he's isolated he's in a prison cell and in this dark time for John he has a crisis of doubt or does he some of the commentators actually say no no

[42:18] John has no doubts it's not John who's doubting here it's his disciples who are doubting and so John is just trying to help his disciples J.C.

[42:31] Ryle even says that J.C. Ryle says this question did not arise from doubt or unbelief on the part of John it was put for the benefit of his disciples and that's what Ryle's take on this is and it's not impossible that could be the case but I think it's unlikely because that's not what the text says it's John who asks the question and it's it's John that Jesus responds to as he gives the answer to this question so it seems most likely that John in this prison cell in a difficult dark time he's wrestling with doubts about Jesus the commentator Green says everything tends to get out of a proportion when you are suffering for a long time in a confined space alone doubts grow in such a soil so what's the application as we begin to just think about this in relation to ourselves well I think the application here is if John the Baptist can doubt if John the Baptist is vulnerable to waves of doubt crashing in so am

[44:01] I so are you especially when we're suffering especially when we're going through a hard time especially when we're isolated especially when we take ourselves out of Christian fellowship doubts can crash in so we need to be aware of that we need to be alert to that so John it seems is wrestling with doubts but how are John's doubts managed that's the next question and the answer to that question is that John's doubts are taken to Jesus so John he has these doubts and he takes these doubts directly to Jesus John doesn't do what lots of people do when they experience doubt

[45:01] John doesn't withdraw he doesn't turn away from Jesus he takes his doubts directly to Jesus and Jesus deals with his doubts so how does Jesus deal with his doubts oh by reminding John of what the Bible says so John sends the message that is doubting the the messiahship of Jesus you could say and Jesus responds to John by saying in verse 4 go and tell John what you hear and see the blind receive their sight the lame walk lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear and the dead are raised up and the poor have good news preached to them and blessed is the one who is not offended by me so so Jesus essentially takes the

[46:05] Bible the Old Testament and he he takes a bit from Isaiah chapter 35 that's verses 5 and 6 he takes another bit from Isaiah 61 verses 1 and 2 he he reminds John of of this description in the prophets of what the messiah would be like and what the messiah would do and Jesus was doing exactly these things so Jesus sends John's disciples back to say remember these verses and look at Jesus he's the messiah he's the saviour he is the one who was promised John's doubts are overcome by opening the bible how are our doubts overcome exactly the same way our doubts are overcome by turning to

[47:15] Jesus not turning away from him and just clearing on into the world but taking these real doubts that we may struggle with and going to Jesus our doubts are overcome as we look to Jesus and as we open the bible and as we read the scriptures!

[48:09] God will go to God will see if we close our bibles and we listen to the world and we listen to what's in our heads and we listen to what's in our hearts doubts will grow and they'll mutate if we want our doubts dealt with we look to Jesus we saturate our thoughts in scripture and the doubts will shrink and faith will overcome so John is wrestling with doubts but these doubts are overcome as he comes to Jesus now one final question before we move on from this point did John's doubts did this episode this crisis of doubt did it go down as a black mark on John's file you know in companies if you speak out of turn if you do something that is not aligned with the policy there may be a personnel manager who deals with it and they'll say it's all resolved but there is a mark going in your file this is going to be recorded in your file as a warning mark is a black mark recorded on

[49:33] John's file did Jesus think less of John because of this well the answer very clearly is no because in the next section from verse 7 down to verse 15 Jesus tells the crowds how highly he thought of John and he shares with the crowds that his thoughts his commendations of this prophet of this man John the Baptist Jesus I'm not going to go into the verses just now I'm watching time that Jesus commends John for a life that was well lived and how did John live well he lived a life where he was continually dying to self and looking to

[50:35] Jesus and pointing people to Jesus John's life verse you could say was John 3 30 which was he Jesus must increase and I self must decrease and so Jesus says to John in this world in the hearing of all these witnesses Jesus says to John in this world what John would hear in the world to come well done good and faithful servant and you know that's the that's the affirmation we should be living for we can spend our lives looking for affirmation and looking for approval for many different people from many different places at the end of the day it's not worth much the affirmation that we should be looking for and living for is the affirmation of

[51:52] Jesus we've got we're living in a culture that is constantly saying lift up yourself look after yourself push forward yourself make sure yourself is validated yourself is approved and Jesus points us to John who says self must decrease because it's only a self decreases that Christ can increase in us and through us and that's how to live a life worth living so John he has this crisis he's wrestling with doubts and yet these doubts are overcome and John is commended by Jesus for who he was and how he lived the second point here the second response to

[52:58] Jesus that we see is the response of disbelief and Jesus in verse 16 and 17 does what he so often did he takes an everyday illustration and he makes a teaching point of it he looks at the children and how they play and he compares the people who were who were disbelieving him to the little children but what but to what shall I compare this generation verse 16 says Jesus it's like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to their playmates we played the flute for you and you did not dance we sang a dirge and you did not more!

[54:11] play play they they saw they looked at the adults they looked at what the adults were doing they thought about all the stuff that was happening in the streets and they would see dancing at weddings they would see mourning at funerals and they would play at being grownups doing these things but back then just as you know it still is today there was always one awkward child that would say I'm not playing I don't want to play there was one child that can just never be pleased I remember in school in Aberdeen a boy called Brian and he always brought the best leather football to school he had the most money and he would bring the football in and be playing football in the playground for the hour but invariably we'd be halfway through the game and if

[55:20] Brian got tackled too hard and he got hurt or if Brian's team started to lose he'd lose the head and he'd go on a sulk and he'd declare to the whole playground I'm not playing anymore give me my ball back so he'd take the ball off he would go and I sulk to one of the rooms and that was the end of the game there's no ball just spoiled child syndrome and Jesus says to the people who are listening you're like spoiled children you're who can never be pleased verse 18 and 19 for John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he is a demon the son of man came eating and drinking and they say look at him a glutton a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners yet wisdom is justified by her deeds so that was a word from

[56:26] Jesus for that generation in verse 16 but this is a word from Jesus for every generation because there will always be people who will find reason after reason not to believe in Jesus I don't feel enough to believe if I was to become a Christian I should feel more I should feel that I want to more and I don't feel as much as I think I need to feel because I don't have feelings that are strong I'm not going to believe there are other people who will always tell you I don't know enough to believe you know I know a little but you know I've got questions about creation

[57:26] I've got questions about evolution and questions about election and questions about predestination and questions about denominations and this and that and the next thing endless questions and every question is used as a justification as a reason not to believe some people are too scared to believe some people are too brackled to believe some people are too offended by what Jesus says to believe so every generation every congregation will have some people who are experts in giving reasons for not believing Jesus saw it back then likely he even sees something of it in this room today the question is does he see it in you does he see it in me disbelief disbelief in

[58:44] Jesus leads to eternal death it's serious but as it says in John 3 16 whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have eternal life so do you believe when you set aside all these petulant childish reasons that we throw out to justify our unbelief and say Lord I believe help me overcome any unbelief that's in there doubt disbelief final point as we see cities whole cities who dismiss

[59:48] Jesus verse 20 to 24 Jesus began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done because they did not repent woe to you Chorazin woe to you Bethsaida for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I tell you it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you These are strong words these possibly are the strongest words that Jesus ever spoke

[60:49] They're words of woe words of judgment They're words that warn of being brought down to hell Jesus takes the illustration of Sodom He talks about Sodom and we could go back to Genesis 19 we're not going to today and we could see the darkness and the shocking immorality of Sodom and then the judgment that fell on Sodom as a consequence of the way that they were and yet Jesus says it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you Capernaum and for Krasin and Beth Seda Jesus warns them of incoming woe literally it's grief the word woe in the Greek is grief eternal grief the question is what did these cities do what is it that Krasin and Beth

[62:05] Seda and Capernaum did that prompted such serious words from Jesus and the disturbing answer is they did nothing they sat in services where Jesus preached and they did nothing they dismissed Jesus Jesus performed mighty works in these cities and he preached and he pled with these people and yet they would not repent reason after reason they gave for not believing for not repenting

[63:06] Jesus mentions Tyre and Sidon and the people and the people and and and and and and and they looked down their noses at Tyre and Sidon they were Gentile cities non-Jewish cities but Jesus says if they had seen and heard what you've seen and heard they would have taken notice they would have repented but not you so many in these privileged cities they just ignore Jesus they rejected him not with any great violence they were just too busy getting on with their lives they were just not really interested enough and so they demoted him down their agenda until eventually they dismissed him focus on the business focus on the money focus on the family focus on retirement focus on leisure and over the course of time

[64:37] Jesus drops off the list and he's dismissed and to treat Jesus that way it causes woe to treat Jesus in that way as someone so insignificant that he's not really worthy of my time and consideration that's a response that leads to hell Charles Price says the more we know of Christ the more we know of Christ the more responsible we become so where does that leave us today well for some of us potentially we are in an even worse position than

[65:43] Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum because we see and we know more than they did we have a New Testament they didn't we know about the cross where Jesus went to die to pay for our sin they didn't they couldn't see that cross yet we know about the resurrection we have seen the power of Jesus the resurrection power of Jesus they hadn't we have had generations of our forefathers teaching us the good news about Jesus from Genesis to Revelation they didn't so we have enjoyed arguably greater privileges than they enjoyed which makes us more responsible more accountable leg the commentator last quote he says great privilege brings great responsibility hearing the gospel week in week out knowing the word of

[67:06] God being taught the truth from our youth or hearing it regularly in church these are great privileges but salvation cannot be taken for granted here says leg is a warning to children brought up in Christian homes to those who attend church and who are members of the congregation they must not despise their privileges but must make sure that they respond in repentance and faith otherwise there will simply be a more unbearable punishment on the day of judgment this is what Jesus is very clearly teaching so just to finish what are we to do with the free offer of the gospel today how are we to respond to Jesus at the one who paid for our salvation with his blood at Calvary how are we to respond to him well we're to repent of the sin of dismissing

[68:24] Jesus if that's what we've been doing we're to repent of the sin of disbelieving Jesus playing with him like spoiled children if that's what we're doing and we're to come to him even as John did with our doubts with our fears because everyone who comes to him will be received everyone who believes in him will not perish will not suffer will not face judgment will not descend into hell but is promised a place in the kingdom of heaven and promised the gift of eternal life we can respond with our final hymn the words on the screen in just a second just as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou bidst me come to thee

[69:49] O Lamb of God I come and look at this verse verse 3 just as I am though tossed about with many a conflict many a doubt fighting's within and fears without O Lamb of God I come let's stand to sing to respond in this final hymn just as I am without one fee but that thy blood was shed for me and that thy blood be come to thee O Lamb of God I come

[70:49] I come just as I am and waiting not to rip my soul of wonder God to thee whose blood can bless be sought O Lamb of God I come I come just as I am though tossed abut with many a conflict many a dirt by things within and fears without

[71:58] O Lamb of God I come I come I come I come just as I am who wretched by sight which has been a the!

[72:29] I I I to fight O I come I come I come, I come.

[72:50] Just as I am, thou wilt receive. We'll dwell, compart, and cleanse, relieve.

[73:06] Because thy promise I believe. O love of God, I come, I come.

[73:26] Just as I am, thy love and all. A broken, empty fire done.

[73:45] Now to be light, yea, light alone. O love of God, I come, I come.

[74:05] 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 forevermore. Amen.