[0:00] It would usually be a Gaelic service. This week it's not going to be a Gaelic service. The Gaelics postponed until next Sunday night. Seeing as we have quite a number of young people coming this evening who have as much Gaelic as I have, we've postponed the Gaelic until next week.
[0:15] So we've got a service that Scott will take this evening and then there'll be a fellowship after that and all are welcome to come along to that fellowship. The prayer meeting on Wednesday this week will be a Thanksgiving prayer meeting.
[0:30] So just every time of every year at this time of the year we have one particular Wednesday where we remember to be thankful, especially the Thanksgiving prayer meeting.
[0:41] So that's this coming Wednesday. So please take a note of that. And the morning service next week will be taken by myself, God willing, and God willing we'll have the ordination of the new elders at that service.
[0:57] Evening service next week will be at 6 and it'll be a Gaelic service which is taken by the Reverend Kenny Ferguson. I also have to read out this edict that was read out last week in relation to the ordination of the two new elders.
[1:15] Notice is hereby given that following a resolution by the Kirk Session of North Harris Free Church on 6th November 2024 to add two new elders to the Kirk Session by way of a congregational meeting resulted in the following names being duly elected and approved by the Kirk Session.
[1:31] Stuart King, 7 Kylas, Richard Killer, West Tarward. Notice is further given that if there is any person having any objection to the life or doctrine of any of the aforementioned persons, they should present these objections along with substantiation of them to the Kirk Session which will meet at 10.30am on the Lord's Day 1st December 2024 in the church building.
[1:56] If no objection is then, they are submitted, the ordination admission of the aforementioned persons will take place at the close of the morning service on the same day.
[2:08] So let's be praying about that. These I think are all the notices. So let's begin now this time of worship and we'll sing to God's praise.
[2:18] We'll sing from Sing Psalms 23. The words are on the screen. The Lord is my shepherd, no one shall I know. He makes me lie down where the green pastures grow.
[2:31] He leads me to rest where the calm waters flow. We'll stand to sing this psalm. We'll sing it to the tune that's familiar to us. Jehovah St. Kenny. The Lord is my shepherd, no one shall I know.
[2:54] He makes me lie down where the green pastures grow. He leads me to rest where the calm waters flow.
[3:13] He holds me to rest where the calm waters flow. My wandering steps he brings back to his way.
[3:34] In straight paths of righteousness make him be stayed. And this he has done his great name to display.
[3:52] And this he has done his great name to display.NINGNING!
[4:13] ! No evil I'll fear Your rod and your staff Bring me comfort and cheer Your rod and your staff Bring me comfort and cheer In the sight of my enemies The table you spread The oil of rejoicing You pour on my head My cup overflows And I'm graciously fed My cup overflows
[5:15] And I'm graciously fed So surely your love And mercy and grace Will follow me closely In all of my ways I will dwell in the house Of the Lord all my days I will dwell in the house To stop the Lord all my days Let's unite our hearts in prayer together Let's pray Our Heavenly Father we thank you for this
[6:20] Your day We thank you that once more You've given us the desire And the opportunity that we live in a country Where we have the freedom To be able to come together as your people And to come together in worship And we thank you Lord Even as we think about the words that we have sang We thank you for who you are And what you have done for us There are so many reasons that we have to give you all the praise And all the worship that you are due And we recognize that that's why we have been made We have been made in the image of God You are our creator And we find rest We find purpose We find joy We find peace As we trust you As we are in a relationship with you And as we walk close with you
[7:20] And we know also That when we drift from you We know that when the relationship with you Is not close but it is distant Then our hearts are sore Our hearts are cold We struggle to know where to go Where to go What to do And no matter how many of the material things of this world we accumulate We can find no peace We can find no satisfaction in them We thank you that our thirsty souls long for you And as we come to you Our thirst is quenched And we find pasture We find refuge As we come to the still waters As we draw near to the Lord our shepherd And we thank you that As we sing that psalm We are being pointed to Jesus
[8:22] He is the good shepherd He is the one who laid down his life For his sheep He is the one who went willingly to a cross To take the penalty for our sin And we thank you that when We trust him When we are able to say The Lord is my shepherd We have the promise of Sins forgiven We have the promise Of peace and joy And life in abundance And we have the promise And we have the promise That when we go through hard times Dark valleys You are with us And you draw especially near to us And we thank you that when we are able to see the Lord is my shepherd We are able to say that We have the Father's house to look forward to Surely goodness and mercy Forevermore shall be our portion
[9:25] We thank you Lord that you are the God who is good The God who is gracious The God who promises that we will dwell forever As we trust you So give us faith we pray Each one of us to trust you We pray for so many young people here today We ask Lord that The word that they have been hearing over this weekend Would go into their hearts That they would believe That they would be saved That they would be able to say That the Lord Jesus is their Saviour That they would walk All the days of their lives With Jesus And bring glory To the name of Jesus We pray for those who are old!
[10:18] Some who Who struggle to come out To the house of God Here and elsewhere And yet through the years and decades And continue to be faithful We ask for your blessing upon them We pray for those who would desire to be here today And would desire to be in God's house Who are not able to be Those who are in their own homes And are struggling Because they are weak And they are feeling the onset of the years And we ask that you would draw near to them Where they are And that they would know in their own homes That they are remembered And that they join together with us As we seek to worship you And we pray for your blessing And we pray for your blessing As we pray for your blessing To be upon us We pray for those in hospital This morning Those who are struggling We think of Roddy Mackenzie In Stornoway And we ask Lord That he would know Your hand upon him
[11:20] At this time In a special way We pray also for Hannah In hospital in Stornoway And we ask that you would uphold her And that you would help her And that she too would know And that you are with her We pray for Mary Latham Mary Morrison Who is going through Such a hard time At this point And we carry her to you And ask that you would sustain her And Anthony And Christian And all the family Your special blessing And we pray for Pray for Ivor Martin Who was ministered in Stornoway For many years Whose granddaughter Just 12 years old Was rushed into hospital yesterday After collapsing In the swimming pool And we ask Lord That as she As critically ill That she would know Your hand of healing upon her And that you would Uphold All of that family
[12:21] Who have been through so much Over the recent years Thank you Lord That we can come to you in prayer Thank you that we can Carry others to you in prayer And we pray for those Who are in particular need We pray on for those Who are down In their minds Who are cast down In their souls Who feel low Who feel hopeless Who feel hopeless Help them to see that In Christ alone Our hope is found Pray for those Who battle with addictions And as we think of them We bring them to you And we ask for strength The strength that you Alone are able to give So hear our prayers Cleanse us from our sin And lead us and guide us As we seek to worship you Together Together And we ask all this In Jesus name Boys and girls Would you like to come forward please?
[13:15] I should say also Notice wives The Sunday school this morning Will just be for the primary school children My ambition Is to have a shorter Simplest service That all those S1 and upwards Should not struggle with Boys and girls I've got something to show you This morning See if you know what it is If I can find it Do you know what this is?
[13:58] Do you know what this is? Fraser? It looks like a wind up thing It looks like a wind up thing So do you think the wind up your back?
[14:12] It will make you go faster? No? Michael? Is it a key? Is it a key? Sort of Half a key It's a wind up thing for a toy It looks like a spin It's a wind up thing for a toy It's not actually Fraser?
[14:38] It's like the radiator How on earth did you get that? What? We've got a apprentice plumber in the house So tell me How does it work Fraser?
[14:49] It is Like you put it in the radiator And wind it up So I'll tell you the story of this Because I'm not I'm not as technical as you I probably wouldn't have been able to get this I couldn't remember what these things were looking Looked like when I was thinking about what to do You know how cold it got this last week?
[15:12] It got really cold And so the radiators in the house In all the houses that had been working They were having to work double hard And so Downstairs was quite warm But when you went upstairs And you felt the radiators In some of the rooms The heating was on But there was no heat Or very little heat getting through to the radiators So I remembered You've got to bleed the radiators That's what they call it, isn't it?
[15:41] Is that right? You've got to bleed the radiators This is the tool That you use for bleeding the radiators So you go to the side of the radiator And you just turn it a wee bit anti-clockwise What noise do you hear?
[15:59] Ssss You hear a ssss And you keep on doing that Until the water Comes up to the top And then the radiators get really hot again When the radiators get cold I'm told That it's cause there's a block in the system And the block in the system And the block in the system Is air Which is why it goes Ssss So when there's air block in the system The radiators go cold Tell me boys and girls Tell me boys and girls Can you think of something else In us That sometimes can go cold?
[16:55] Our hearts Michael knew where I was going immediately It's our hearts It's our hearts Sometimes our Sometimes our hearts get cold And when our hearts There's certain signs that we can That we can see That show us that our hearts are going cold We might in the morning Have decided to read the Bible But when our hearts are cold We think Oh do you know what?
[17:26] I can't be bothered reading the Bible I think I'll just watch the telly instead And when our hearts get cold We'll wake up on Sunday morning I just can't really be bothered going to church Maybe I'll I'll just stay in And I I can just watch it online Or I can see it at least That I watch it online I'll never know Because our hearts get cold And when our hearts get cold We don't make time to pray There's just so many other things That we want to do And when our hearts get cold We can be standing And we can be singing the words In the psalm book or the hymn book But we don't really mean them We're not singing to Jesus Just words
[18:29] And all these things are That our Our hearts have got cold Now when the radiators get cold We can unblock them Can't we?
[18:46] We're using this key And the air What is it? What blocks our hearts? What is it hard?
[18:59] What is the problem in our hearts? That makes them go from hot When we love Jesus And we want to speak to Jesus We want to worship him And be in his house What is it that stops that?
[19:12] And makes our hearts go cold Our hearts go cold So all we want to do is just play games Or watch Terry Michael?
[19:25] And who can take our sin away? Finley? God Who came to this world To take our sin away?
[19:39] Jesus And what did he do to take our sin away? What did he do? Where did he go to take our sin away? Finley? To the cross And he died For our sin And if we want to have our sins forgiven And if we want to have our hearts Made new and warm What do we have to do?
[20:05] What's the key? Do we have to work really hard? Do we have to pay some money? Michael? We just pray Don't we?
[20:18] Little thing Is like the key That Takes all the air block out of the radiators So they get hot But we just have to pray And ask Jesus to take our sin away And he'll take And he'll take The sin from our hearts And he'll make our hearts clean So that we'll want to spend time with him So we ask him now To work in our hearts Lord God We thank you that you love us We thank you that you've made us for yourself And we thank you that our hearts They burn within us When we're looking at Jesus When we're worshipping Jesus When we're close to you But we know all about what it feels like For our hearts to go cold We know how easy it is Not to bother reading the Bible And not really to want to go to church Or Sunday school But to rather play video games
[21:20] Or watch telly instead We know that we all struggle with sin But we thank you that Jesus Our saviour Came to this world To take our sin away And we thank you that all we have to do Is ask And you promise Lord Jesus That you will take our sin away The work is all done at the cross All we have to do is ask And so we pray Pray even now Asking That you would wash Our hearts clean And that you would help us To sing from our hearts But that we would love you That we would worship you And we ask all this in Jesus name We're going to sing now And we're going to sing The hymn Mission Praise 1164 Come O fount of every blessing Tune our hearts To sing your grace
[22:22] We'll stand to sing to God's praise Come O fount of every blessing Tune our hearts to sing your grace To sing your grace To sing your grace Streams of mercy Never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise For songs of loudest praise Songs of God's abundant treasure Sung by angel tongues above Songs that tell the God bless Of my Lord's unchanging love I remember God's great mercy By His help I am safely come
[23:30] And I know He will not fail me But will surely bring me home But will surely bring me home Jesus taught me when a stranger Wandering far away from God And to rescue me from danger Shared for me Shared for me His precious blood Through God's grace I am His debtor In the eye this thought renew Let the grace snore Like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to you
[24:34] Go to wander Lord I feel it Go to leave the God I love Take my heart Oh take and seal it Seal it Seal it Lord's Love Okay boys and girls If you head to Sunday School And remember as they go to pray for them If we could turn in our Bibles please To John chapter 14 John chapter 14 John chapter 14
[25:37] John chapter 14 John chapter 14 And we read from verse 1 To verse 7 Jesus said Let not your hearts be troubled Believe in God Believe also in me In my Father's house Are many rooms Many mansions Would I have told you That I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again And will take you to myself That where I am You may be also And you know the way to the You know the way to where I am going Thomas said to him We do not know where you are going How can we know the way?
[26:26] Jesus said to him I am the way And the truth And the life No one comes to the Father If you had known me You would have known my Father also From now on You do know him And have seen him Amen And may God bless that reading Of his word to us We are going to sing again now And we will sing From Psalm 51 Psalm 51 And we will sing From verse 9 to verse 12 In the English two stanzas And I will read these verses Before we sing All mine iniquities blot out Thy face hide from my sin Create a clean heart Lord renew a right spirit Me within Cast me not from thy sight Nor take Thy Holy Spirit away Restore me Thy salvation's joy With thy free spirit These two stanzas
[27:28] Of Psalm 51 We will remain seated To sing to God's praise In GalileeNING!
[27:48] NINGNINGNING Thank you.
[28:33] Oh, yeah.
[29:03] Oh, yeah.
[29:33] Oh, yeah.
[30:03] Oh, yeah.
[30:33] Oh, yeah.
[31:03] Oh, yeah.
[31:33] come back to God's word. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word once more. We thank you for your son Jesus the one who is the way to heaven and we thank you for the work of the Holy Spirit the one who is here with us who lives within us and who takes the words of scripture and helps us to understand and applies it to each one of our lives and Holy Spirit we pray that you would be working in this place here today. Jesus said when the spirit comes he will convict the world of sin and so we pray for that conviction that we would feel the weight of our sin that we would understand that we need to be saved and that we would see Jesus the one who came to this world to save us.
[32:57] So help us we pray to listen, to be attentive, to have the strength not to sleep. If we're at a camp and we've not had much sleep over the last few days we ask that you would quicken, that you would be at work in the hearts and the minds of each person. We pray for those who are preaching in different places too. We think of Duncan in Calamish this morning and we ask that you would bless him and that you would use him, that you would speak through him. We pray for the churches that we have a connection with and perhaps churches in Glasgow for some and point and back and Stornoway and we pray for each church and the ministers there. We pray for the denominations around us here also that you would be at work through Ian Murdo as he preaches this morning and Bruce Jordan in the Free Presbyterian Church. We ask,
[33:58] Lord, that whatever Christ crucified is preached, that you would be working to lift up the name of Jesus that many, even today, would be drawn to him. So hear our prayers and help us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
[34:14] Amen. In our lives, there are many places that we need to go. And when we have a place that we need to go to or we want to go to or we've made a decision to go to, we have to know how to get to these places.
[34:36] So for the young visitors over here on my right, you needed to know this weekend where Scaldale was so that you could get to the camp. When we go on our holidays, we make a plan, we decide where we want to go and visit, what city or town we want to go to. We book an Airbnb or a hotel or whatever and we have to know the directions. We have to know how to get to the place that we've booked.
[35:09] Or when we go to a new school, we need to know where the classrooms are so that if we've got double maths, double English, we know what corridor, what area of the school to be in at the right time. So knowing where to go in this world is an important thing. It's important that we have clear directions in lots of different situations so that we'll know where we're going.
[35:38] But the most important thing for all of us here this morning is not so much that we'll know where we're going in life, in this world, because we never quite know where this world is going to take us in terms of our changing circumstances. We can't see what's up on the road ahead in this world.
[36:03] The most important thing for us to know is where we are going after life in this world.
[36:17] So this message today is a message that's for all of us because all of us have a period of time in this world. We don't know how long or how short that might be. And then after this world, we're going to go to one of two places. The Bible makes clear that there is a place called hell and there is a place called heaven. If I was to ask for a show of hands, I'm not, don't worry.
[36:50] I think every one of us would say we don't want to go to hell, a place of suffering and sadness and being alone. We want to go to that place that Jesus calls heaven. All of us, we want to know that at the end of our lives, whether it's in 20 years time or whether it's tonight, we're going to heaven. And the good news is that God has given us clear directions on how we can get there. So this morning, I want to look at three passages. John 14 is the last. I want to go, you could say, to three places that help us to understand and know how to get to heaven.
[37:49] So the first point is we'll go to a place called Babel. And Babel is a dead end. Babel shows us how not to get to heaven. The second point is we'll go to a place called Bethel. And that's a place that it's like a signpost that shows us how God was going to make it possible for us to get to heaven.
[38:17] And the final point this morning is we'll think about how we are called to believe in Jesus. Because he is the way to heaven. So these are the three points. Very simple, very clear, very, very important. Because all of us need to know how to get to heaven. So first of all, we come to a place called Babel, which is a dead end. And this takes us to Genesis chapter 11. So in your Bibles or on your phones or wherever, if you look up Genesis chapter 11, please.
[38:57] So Genesis chapter 11 is a passage where we come to a story that we probably most of us heard in Sunday school, a story about the Tower of Babel. And when I was reading this passage again, my mind went to a word that people use in Gaelic. I don't have very much Gaelic at all. But a word I hear quite often in Gaelic is the word brackle. And I remember when I was probably 17 or 18, I had a little Ford Fiesta. And I was driving from my house in Kensalaya to Anishada in Skye. And I was driving along the road. Of course, I was the best driver in the world after having passed my test for three months. And I just was going along this wee passing place. And I got to my friend's house. And his mum said, oh, the brackle. Well, you're driving that car, brackle. And I understood it wasn't a compliment, but I wasn't sure what it meant. But I think brackle means very sure yourself. Would it be that or overconfident? A bit proud? And at this point in the history of the world, the people that God created, they were getting brackle. They were thinking too little of God. And they were thinking too much of themselves. So they were big in their own minds and estimation. And God was getting smaller.
[40:40] So let's read this passage. Genesis chapter 11 and verse 1. Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.
[41:05] And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.
[41:27] So we have this picture. Keep a finger on that. We'll come back to it. And we get to listen in to the conversations that are happening amongst all these people.
[41:40] And what they're saying is, let's build a big city and let's build our way up to heaven. They still have a sense of God, the one who made them, but they say, let's get to God ourselves.
[41:53] You know, we know what we're doing. We have expertise. We have strength. We are skilled tradesmen. Let's build our way up to heaven.
[42:08] And so they started to build a tower, a stairway that they thought would take them all the way up to God, and that's the picture. And still today, there are many people who think that they can get to God, they can get to heaven their own way.
[42:39] There are people still today who think that they can build their own way up to heaven. And the way that we know that is just when we think about conversations. Sometimes you have occasion to ask somebody, do you think you're going to go to heaven?
[43:01] If I was to ask you this morning, are you going to heaven? How would you answer? Many people, when they're asked the question, do you think you go to heaven?
[43:15] You think you're going to heaven? They'll say, well, you know, I think so. And you say, why do you think so? They'll say, well, you know, I try to do lots of good works. You know, I cut the grass for the old lady across the road.
[43:30] I try to give to charity. I try to do good works. I try hard not to hurt anyone or call anybody any bad names. I try not to swear. I attend church even though sometimes it's boring.
[43:44] I go to YF. And if that's what we're saying, then that shows that we're trying to build our own way up to heaven.
[43:59] And we're using the bricks of our own good works. I do good works. You say, so let's build some bricks. Let's get all my good works and pile them up. See how far up we can get.
[44:14] We try to use the bricks of our own religion. You think if we do religious things, God will, he will, he'll owe us.
[44:25] Or we use the bricks of our own moral righteousness. And we say, you know, I try to live a good life. I'm not doing this, that, and the next thing that the other guys do.
[44:37] And if that's our plan, if we're trying to build our own way up to heaven, using the things that we do, then we're going to be no more successful than the people of Babel.
[44:56] So Genesis 11, let's go back to where we left off, verse 5. So remember, they're saying, we're going to build our way up to heaven. It says there, And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of man had built.
[45:15] And the Lord said, Behold, they are one people, they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. Nothing they propose to do will now be impossible for them. God is seeing how evil a man can be and how much destruction he can do when he comes together.
[45:33] Verse 7. Come, says God. We see the Trinity here. Let us go down. And they are confused our language so that they may not understand one another's speech.
[45:48] So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of the whole earth and they left off building the city.
[46:00] Therefore its name was called Babel because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth and from there the Lord dispersed them all over the face of the earth.
[46:12] So what happened in Babel? Well, the Lord came down and the Lord God came down in judgment and he stopped their project and he shut down their sight and the Lord put a big no entry sign at Babel showing that this was not the way to get to heaven.
[46:45] It wasn't and it still isn't. We cannot in our efforts with our good works with our religion build our own way up to heaven.
[47:02] Proud sinners who want to make a name for themselves cannot get into heaven. heaven is a place that is filled with the with the glory of God.
[47:18] There's no room for myself. There's no room for for my ego. It's about God's glory. We cannot build our way up to heaven.
[47:32] We cannot in our own strength with our own works get up to God. Babel was a dead end. It was not it is not the way to heaven. So let's get that clear.
[47:45] Second point second place second direction we go to Bethel. So flick from Genesis chapter 11 and to Genesis 28 which is what we've been studying in the evening.
[47:58] For those who in the evening this is familiar for those who are not maybe I'll put a little bit of context to this. Genesis 28 in this chapter we meet a man called Jacob and Jacob to put it simply is not a very likeable man.
[48:25] Jacob you can glance back Genesis 25 26 27 and see a picture of Jacob's life and the things that he does and Jacob is a liar he's a deceiver he's a manipulator he's a thief Jacob is very very clearly a sinner and Jacob is very lost and Jacob is so lost that he doesn't even realise that he has to be found and Jacob isn't looking for God he's just getting on with his life he's doing all the stuff that every other young guy would do he's no thought of God he's not looking for God but God is looking for Jacob maybe that's the way it is for somebody here today you're here and you've got no thought of trying to make your peace with God but he's coming to you he's calling you to trust him he's calling you to come back to him so God unexpectedly for Jacob meets with him in a place called Bethel so if we're in
[49:49] Genesis 28 if we look at verse 10 and following Jacob he left Beersheba he's leaving his home because his brother wants to kill him and he's heading towards Bethel at this point Jacob left Beersheba went towards Haran and he came to a certain place and stayed there that night because the sun had set taking one of the stones of that place he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep and he dreamed and God meets with Jacob in his dream and behold verse 12 there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven and behold the angels of God were ascending and descending on it and behold the Lord stood above it and said I am the Lord the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac the land on which you lie
[50:52] I will give to you and to your offspring your offspring will be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed behold I am with you and will keep you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you so God meets Jacob in this dream so what did Jacob see in the dream well he saw a ladder some translations have it as a staircase a stairway to heaven he sees a ladder and some people talk about Jacob's ladder you might have heard songs or films or people talking about Jacob's ladder but notice in the text here that the ladder was not Jacob's ladder it was God's ladder
[52:01] Jacob didn't put a ladder that reached up to heaven the Lord lowered a ladder down from heaven it was God's ladder and the Lord sent angels to show Jacob that the way to heaven was open they're ascending and they're descending they're showing Jacob that this ladder is a clear way there's a way up there's a way down and so what we're seeing here in this vision is that God comes down to Jacob and this time God comes down not in judgment as he had done in Babel but he comes down with the promise of blessing one commentator says God came to Jacob at his lowest point in order that it may be seen clearly that all is of grace unmerited undeserved favor and not at all of human effort and skill indeed it's a double misnomer a double mistake to call the stairway to heaven
[53:18] Jacob's ladder for Jacob had no part in building it or traversing it rather it was God's stairway the sovereign means by which he reaffirmed the constancy of his loving care for his chosen but rebellious child so what can we learn from this well we can learn from this picture that people like Jacob sinners deceivers liars thieves sinners people like Jacob so people like us who are sinners we're being shown here that we can get to heaven but to get to heaven we can't climb up building our own towers of good works and religion
[54:27] God had to come down and that's what Jacob learned Jacob awoke verse 16 from his sleep and said surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it and he was afraid and said how awesome is this place this is none other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven think about this before we move on from this point what had Jacob done to get to the gate of heaven remember he says this is the gate of heaven what had he done to get to the gate of heaven he done nothing the gate of heaven the way to heaven was opened by God and this was a signpost of what was to come this was a preview of what God was going to do
[55:42] God was going to come down to this world so that the way to heaven could be opened up for sinners God was going to come down to this world not to condemn the world but to save the world not in judgment but to offer blessing to ordinary people like Jacob like you and like me but how could it be how can sinners be forgiven how can the door the gate of heaven be unlocked and the answer the answer would be told by the children what is the answer the answer is Jesus there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin he only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in so
[57:05] Babel was a dead end Bethel was a signpost God coming down and the last point just to finish with very briefly is we are called John 14 if you've got it open we are called to believe in Jesus you want to get to heaven you want to know that you are not heading on the road to hell then you and I need to believe in Jesus let not your hearts be troubled says Jesus believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many rooms if it were not so would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and take you to myself that you that where I am going you may be also and you know the way to where
[58:07] I am! and thankfully Thomas he was confused said I'm not sure what he's talking about so he puts his hand up and he says to Jesus Lord we do not know where you're going how can we know the way and Jesus says to Thomas I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me so the way to heaven to be finished the way to heaven is Jesus it's so powerfully clear and simple but it needs to be because it's so important the way to heaven is Jesus Jesus says I am the way Jacob saw a preview of the way to heaven he got taken to the gate but
[59:14] Jesus is the way to heaven Jesus is the gate Jesus says in John 10 I am the gate whoever enters through me will be saved Jacob in Bethel experienced something of the awesome presence of God coming down in a dream think about this as we just almost touched December Jesus is God the son who came down to this world not in a dream but the son of God was born into this world in history the word became flesh he made his dwelling amongst us his name would be
[60:18] Emmanuel which means God with us! and he came to seek and save sinners and every one of you and me we are sinners so he came to seek and save us and so what do we have to do this morning to be absolutely sure that we are going to heaven I heard Scott saying on Friday night in Scaldery we have to believe in Jesus the work is done Jesus came down to this world he came all the way down to the cross to die to open up the way to heaven the work is done all we have to do is believe believe in
[61:26] God the son who came to save us who went to the cross to take our sin away and who promises life abundant life here and life that is eternal hereafter in heaven if we believe in him let's pray heavenly father we thank you for your word we thank you for how simple how clear the message of the gospel is we thank you father that you so love the world that you sent your only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life we pray that you'd forgive us because often we are trying to find our own way into heaven often we are trying to come close to you using our own good works using our own religion thinking that the things that we do will make us good enough we thank you that your word makes clear to us that even our best works are like filthy rags they're not good enough we thank you that
[62:50] Jesus came into this world to do the work of salvation on our behalf!NINGNING!
[63:42] NING! we stand to sing to God's praise what gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer there is no more for heaven thou to give he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep unbounded peace to this thy Lord my hope is only Jesus for my life is holy but to his oh how strange and divine I can say all is mine yet not I but through Christ in me the night is dark but I am not forsaken for by my side the Savior he will stay
[65:10] I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is displayed to this I hope my shepherd will defend me through the deepest valley he will lead oh the night has been won and I shall overcome yet not I but through Christ in me no faith I tread I know I am forgiven the future sure the price it has been paid for
[66:17] Jesus bread and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus now and ever is my plea all the chains are released I am sick I am free yet not I but through Christ in me with every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day
[67:23] I know he will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne to this I hold my hope is only Jesus!
[67:44] all the glory ever bore to him when the race is complete still my race shall be keep yet not I but to rise in me when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I but through Christ in me and 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