1, Who is Jesus (identity)
[0:00] Good morning, everyone. So let's begin this time of worship and let's sing to God's praise.! We're singing from Mission Praise 755 to begin with that focus on the cross of Jesus.
[0:17] God's praise.
[1:00] God's praise.
[1:30] God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise.
[1:42] God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. God's praise.
[1:54] God's praise. God's praise. God's praise. Sorrow and love for they will die.
[2:09] T'n'e'er such love and sorrow meet, Our thorns compose so rich and crown.
[2:26] The whole realm of nature bind, That with an offering far too small, But so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my own.
[3:08] Well, let's bow our heads and let's unite our hearts as we come to God in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you once more that you've given us the desire and the opportunity and the freedom to be able to meet together in this place.
[3:32] We thank you that we do so without fear. We thank you that we do so with that sense of expectation that you will meet with us because we have that promise that we come back to so often that where two or three meet together in the name of Jesus, you've promised that you will be with us and you will bless us.
[3:55] So we pray for that blessing. We thank you that we can be confident that our prayers will be heard.
[4:06] We thank you that we will receive the blessing of God, not because of anything in us or anything that we have done, but because of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour and Lord.
[4:22] We thank you for all that Jesus has done to open up the way for us to come into the presence of God the Father. We pray, every time we pray in Jesus' name, knowing that there is no other name and no other way that takes us into the presence of the Father.
[4:44] We are those who are sinners and our sin is a barrier, a block between us and the God who is holy. But we thank you that Jesus came to seek and to save sinners.
[4:58] We thank you that he who was sinless came into this world to be the sacrifice for sinners. We thank you for the cross and we thank you that on the cross our sin was transferred to Jesus and he took the punishment for that and his righteousness was transferred to us.
[5:22] We praise you for that great exchange that is effected upon us when we believe in Jesus. When we confess him as our Lord and Saviour.
[5:35] When we see and believe that he died for our sin and rose to give us everlasting life. We thank you that as we believe in him we have the assurance that we will not perish but we will have everlasting life.
[5:53] That we will become righteous in and through him. And that we who are under the curse of sin have the promise that we will know the blessing of God because of all that was done at Calvary.
[6:08] So we thank you that on this Lord's Day morning we are able to look to the cross and see all that the death of Jesus has done for us and yet we are able to remember on the Lord's Day that he who died rose from the dead just as he promised.
[6:27] And we thank you that when we trust in him we are promised that we will share in that resurrection life that he has shown us as he rose from the grave.
[6:41] We thank you for the comfort that that brings to us as well. As we think about the truth of these words there are always those who are present and those who may watch at a distance whose hearts are sore who are grieving the loss of loved ones.
[6:57] Sometimes loved ones who have passed on in recent months or weeks. Sometimes loved ones who are missed from many years back. And we thank you for the comfort and for the hope that there is in the gospel.
[7:10] So comfort those who grieve we pray. We pray on for your healing touch for those who are sick. And we think especially once more of Lydia and as she goes through treatment just now we pray that she would know your presence with her your hand upon her and we ask that all that she receives in terms of medical care would be effective.
[7:33] and that she and the family would know that you are God and that you are for them and that you are with them. And for all others that come to our minds who are struggling with illness of different kinds we carry them to you in prayer asking Lord Jesus that you would lay your hands upon them as you did in the past and that they would know your healing if that be your will.
[7:58] We thank you that there is eternal healing for all who are in Christ. And we pray Lord that we would know the blessing and the steadying assurance of that healing for our souls that is promised to those who believe.
[8:14] We pray for a world which continues to groan under the weight of sin. We think of the headlines that we have read through and watched this week as we continue to see unrest nationally as we continue to see suffering and warfare internationally.
[8:32] And as we are aware constantly of the needs and struggles of those who are around us in our own community all these things we bring to you in prayer Lord asking that you would help those who are struggling that you would intervene in situations where there is that cry for help and we ask Lord Jesus that you would come soon the one who promises redemption not only for us at the personal level but for the whole world as it groans under the weight of sin and we thank you that there is new heavens new earth everything will be made new on the return of Jesus.
[9:14] So hear our prayers bless us we pray from the young children who are here to those who are up in years we ask Lord that each one of us would know your presence and your peace and we ask now that as we seek to worship you that you would help us to see Jesus to hear the voice of Jesus and to respond in faith to the one who calls us to trust him and the one who is faithful even unto death on a cross all these things we pray in Jesus name and for his sake Amen boys and girls would you like to come forward please I've got something to show you this morning I think I'll sit down with you so what is how long have you come Olivia what is this
[10:28] Shawnee it's a cup and thank you Isabel Kate for that I think that's your debut this morning a good strong clear voice it's a cup it's definitely a cup and what colour is this cup it's black now does anybody here have black as their favourite colour boys and girls well okay okay I shouldn't have asked that question should I so it's black the cup and it's a bit dark isn't it so it's maybe not the best imagine it's bedtime and it's a bit dark in the room and you're looking for the cup and it's black and you're thinking oh no I can't find it anywhere it would be better if it was a brighter colour wouldn't it yeah let's just say it would be brighter if it was a better colour now if I just put that cup there and I try try really really hard to change the colour do you think I can change it no what if I think really hard
[11:50] I think I want to turn it into yellow let's try and think really hard is it changing no do you think if we all think really hard it might change let's try I can hear your brains fizzing nothing's changed the thing about this cup is it can change it can change it can change but you can't change it from the outside it's got to be changed by something going inside watch this stand back just pour in my cup of tea look at that wow you see it so what's happened to the cup it's changed into yellow and there's some words on the outside of the cup
[13:18] Shawnee can you read these words they're quite big words but can you read them I'll help you it says do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind Romans chapter 12 verse 2 and so this cup is transformed not by anything that we did to it on the outside but by what went inside of it and boys and girls this cup is just like our hearts because if I tell you about my heart my heart's a bit dark because what's in our hearts that makes it dark Finley sin yes and how do I get rid of my sin if I work really hard and try really really really hard will that change my heart what about if I go to church every week morning and evening for a whole year will that change my heart no what about if I if I do my homework every night and tidy my room every day and do all the dishes and every good work that I can think of will that change my heart no no it won't so for my heart to be changed and for your heart to be changed and for the darkness of sin to be taken away someone needs to come inside of our hearts and who do you think that is
[15:11] Olivia God God and how does he come into our hearts do you know how he comes into our hearts when we when we pray and we ask him and so let's boys and girls close our eyes let's close our eyes and let's put our hands together and let's pray Lord God we thank you that you love us and we thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your son Jesus into this world to take our sin away and we thank you that Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts and if we believe in him and ask him to come in he comes in to take our sin away and to transform us to become more and more like him we thank you that even today as we believe in Jesus we have the promise that the Holy Spirit lives in us and lives in us to do our work every day that will make us more and more like Jesus so come into our hearts
[16:20] Lord Jesus we pray take our sin away and day by day make us more like you and we ask all this in Jesus name Amen thank you boys and girls for listening so well we're going to sing now about the cross about all that Jesus did to take our sin away and it's in mission praise number number 674 the words on the screen there is a green hill far away without a city wall where the dear Lord was crucified who died to save us all and we'll stand to sing in just a moment to God's praise miracle Amen.
[17:33] Amen. Amen.
[18:33] Amen. Amen.
[19:33] Let's pray for them as they go. Let's pray for the Sunday school teachers as well as they go. It's great to see emerging characters in every generation of Sunday school.
[19:57] We're going to read now from God's Word, Matthew chapter 16. Amen. Matthew chapter 16 and we will read from verse 13 down to the end of the chapter.
[20:29] This is God's Word. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the Son of Man is?
[20:41] And he said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[20:55] And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[21:11] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
[21:25] From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.
[21:40] And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan.
[21:52] You are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[22:09] For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
[22:25] Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in glory, angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.
[22:39] Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Amen.
[22:50] And may God bless that reading of his word to us. We'll sing again now to God's praise, and we'll sing this time from the Psalms, Psalm 1, and the first two stanzas of Psalm 1.
[23:03] I'll read the verses in English. We'll sing in Gaelic, and we remain seated to sing in Gaelic. That man hath perfect blessedness, who walketh not astray, in counsel of ungodly men, nor stands in sinner's way, nor sitteth in the scorner's chair, but placeth his delight upon God's law, and meditates on his law day and night.
[23:25] These two verses we sing to God's praise. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
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[33:04] And we need to do. Thank you.
[33:36] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Who is Jesus. Who is who is who are you.
[33:48] Tom Holland.
[34:20] And we are. And we are. And we are. And we are. And we are. And we are.
[34:32] And we are. for this new. And we are. Tammy's friend. Karen. She served them. And she's of an age that meant that immediately she recognized who they were. She was somewhat starstruck by the fact that Tom Holland and Zendaya were in this Chinese restaurant. And so she served them well because she knew who they were. Now, for many of us, I think for probably the vast majority of those of us in this room here, we probably wouldn't have recognized Tom Holland and Zendaya. We probably wouldn't have known who they were, supposing they told us their names. So they probably wouldn't have got any kind of special treatment. But not to be clear on the identity of Tom Holland and Zendaya, it's not a big issue. It's not something we really have to worry about. But not to be clear on who Jesus is, is a huge issue.
[35:46] Where we spend eternity, where we go when we die, whether it's heaven or hell, is determined by what we believe and what we say about Jesus.
[36:03] So let's listen in to this conversation again between Peter and Jesus and the disciples as they're in this place in Caesarea Philippi. Verse 13. Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, who do people say the Son of Man is?
[36:28] And he said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. So who is Jesus?
[37:01] Jesus. Peter tells us very clearly who Jesus is. He tells us in two sub-points. The first thing he says is, Jesus is the Christ. And that means that Jesus is the one who was promised all the way through the Old Testament. We can start at Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. We can go through the prophets. We can go through the Psalms. We can go through the whole Old Testament. And there's this promise that one is going to come. And he's going to be the Savior.
[37:39] He's going to be the Messiah. He's going to be the one who would rescue the people who had fallen into sin. And Peter says that's who Jesus is. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's the Savior of sinners.
[38:00] Jesus. And then Peter goes on to say Jesus is the Son of the living God.
[38:13] Jesus isn't just another prophet in a long line of prophets. He isn't just another leader of some cult movement. He isn't the figurehead of some religious grouping. He is God, the Son.
[38:44] And it's taken Peter a while to get to this point. We can track back through various accounts and see many occasions where Peter's been confused. But Peter now has got to that point. Having watched Jesus, having listened to Jesus, having been with Jesus, Peter now sees clearly who Jesus is.
[39:13] And through this passage, Jesus is asking us the same question that he asked Peter. Verse 15. It's that pointed question, that personal question. Who do you say that I am?
[39:30] Jesus is asking us today, what do you say about my identity? And I wonder, can you and I say with Peter, you're the Christ.
[39:44] And Jesus, I am trusting you to take my sin away.
[39:57] You're the Savior, Jesus. And I'm calling upon your name so that you will give me that salvation. Can we say that with Peter? You're the Christ.
[40:11] You're my Savior. You're my Savior. You're my only hope in life and death. And can we say with Peter, Jesus, you are the Son of the living God.
[40:29] And I bow before you in worship. I follow you. I follow you. I follow you. As Lord, as you lead me wherever it is you want me to go.
[40:47] To do whatever it is you want me to do. Can we say with Peter, you're the Son of the living God. The one whom I am following through life, through death.
[41:01] into the promise, the assurance of life that is everlasting. Can we say these things? Because our eternal destiny depends on being able to see these things.
[41:18] We can do a million good works. We can sit in these chairs week by week. We can rack up all our attendances at prayer meetings and Bible studies and all these things.
[41:29] But if we can't see and we don't say, we don't profess who Jesus is, that's all worth nothing. We have to see clearly and trust fully in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[41:54] It's worth noting, I think as well, before we move on, where Peter made this confession. It was Caesarea Philippi. We're given the coordinates of where this happened.
[42:07] And Caesarea Philippi was a metropolis of pagan worship. It was like a multi-faith center. Weerspe, the commentator, says, the region was strongly identified with various religions.
[42:23] It had been a center for Baal worship. the Greek god Pan had shrines there and Herod the Great had built a temple there to honor Augustus Caesar. It was in the midst of this pagan superstition that Peter confessed Jesus as the Son of God.
[42:46] Barclay, the commentator, says, it is as if Jesus deliberately set himself against the background of the world's religions in all their history and their splendor and demanded to be compared with them and to have the verdict given in his favor.
[43:10] It struck me in preparation that today Scotland is probably much like Caesarea Philippi. Scotland is a multi-faith, multicultural, hyper-pluralistic, if I can get the word out.
[43:34] That's the kind of place we are. You'll find every religion, every idea, every philosophy, you'll find politicians and leaders and even folks standing at pulpits saying, there's a million ways you can get to heaven.
[43:53] There's a million ways you can be saved. Choose your path, choose your religion, choose your way. And it's nonsense. And what Scotland needs to hear, it needs to hear Peter's.
[44:13] It needs to hear the Lord's people saying, Jesus is the Christ. He is the Savior. He is the Son of the living God.
[44:27] He is the only way to be saved. He is the only way to have our sins removed. He is the only hope we have for heaven. No other way, no other name, no one else at his level, only Jesus.
[44:44] That's your mission and mine. That we lift up the name of Jesus in a place just like Caesarea Philippi. Who is Jesus?
[44:59] Second question, why did Jesus come into this world? And from the verses that we read, Jesus gives two answers to that question. He says, first of all, he came into the world to build his church.
[45:16] And then he says, secondly, he came into the world to suffer and die and rise. And these two are connected. The only way that Jesus will build this church is by suffering and dying and rising.
[45:29] We've got these two elements in the verses. churches. So, looking at verse 18 to verse 20, Jesus makes very clear that he's building his church. That's why he's here. I tell you, he says, you're Peter.
[45:42] This is after Peter makes his confession. Jesus says, I tell you, you're Peter, and on this rock I will build my church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
[45:53] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. I think what he's talking about there is the gospel. The message of the gospel. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
[46:05] Whatever you bind on earth shall be bind in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. And then he strictly charged his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Now, just as every building project that we see starts with just a few stones, we see here the disciples, and they're just a few men.
[46:31] Just twelve men who are like stones. Rough stones. Peter goes on in 1 Peter 2.5 to talk about living stones.
[46:43] And these few men were the first stones that Jesus will use for his building project as he builds his church. And Mark, in this account, zooms in on Peter.
[46:57] Why does he zoom in on Peter? Is that because Peter is super gifted? No, it's not because Peter is super gifted. Peter had many good qualities, but Peter was flawed.
[47:07] Peter was very outspoken. Peter was very impulsive. He was hot-headed. He had failings. Sometimes he got things right.
[47:18] Often he got things wrong. And when Peter got things wrong, he got things very wrong, publicly wrong, dramatically wrong. So why does Jesus zoom in on Peter and say, on this rock, you're Peter.
[47:39] I will build my church. Well, there's lots of theories on that question, which I've got no time or will to go into. You can talk about it after if you want to.
[47:51] But I think that Jesus zooms in on Peter simply because Peter was the first to make confession of faith in Jesus.
[48:04] He's the one who speaks up. We're hearing Peter's voice. So Peter is the rock. He's one of the foundation stones, the foundation rocks, because he's first to make confession of faith in Jesus.
[48:24] And every person who would form part of the church of Jesus would have to do what Peter did and confess Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[48:39] This is not Peter, I don't believe, being made a pope or a bishop, elevated to some kind of perfection, standard. It's just ordinary Peter.
[48:52] But he's made confession of faith in Christ. And Jesus says, you're a stone, one of the first stones that I'm going to use to build my church. Ordinary men, bumbling disciples often.
[49:11] But these men were the beginning of the church that Jesus built, and he's still building. We can think of many building projects that are started, and somewhere down the line that are abandoned.
[49:31] But not this one. Not the church-building project. That church-building project will never be abandoned, for as long as there is time.
[49:47] And the reason that project will never be abandoned is because Jesus is the builder. I'm not building a church, you're not building a church, Jesus is building his church.
[49:59] And it crosses nations, it crosses denominations, it crosses every boundary, because he's the builder. and the work that he does is guaranteed for time and eternity.
[50:14] And that church-building work of Jesus will continue until the last stone is put in place. Until the last believer makes confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
[50:40] I was trying to imagine Peter, wondering what his face looked like as Jesus says all this to him. I imagine that Peter was just delighted that he could now see who Jesus is.
[50:59] I think Peter probably had his heart was on his sleeve. You could see his face, what he was thinking, how he was feeling. I can imagine Peter beaming as Jesus says, Bingo, you've got it right.
[51:12] You see who I am. And I can imagine Peter just beside himself with excitement. as Jesus makes clear that Peter was part of the building project that Jesus was managing.
[51:31] What an honor, what a joy, how exciting. So I don't know, we don't know for sure, but I can imagine Peter beaming in that wee room, if it's a wee room they were sitting in.
[51:45] But then his delight gives way to dismay as Jesus tells him the second reason he came into this world. And the reason that he came into this world was to build his church and to suffer and to die and rise.
[52:04] Verse 21, from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.
[52:29] And again, it must have been a shocking thing to hear. Peter and the disciples, they love Jesus.
[52:43] And they are starting to see the wonder of who he is. as their love is growing. And then Jesus says, I must go to Jerusalem and I must suffer many things from the religious leaders and I must be killed and on the third day be raised.
[53:11] And Peter's hearing this and he doesn't want to hear it. It's just reasonable for him to feel that sorrow as he hears Jesus say these words.
[53:26] The conversation for Peter has turned dark. And Peter's not happy with the direction of this conversation. And so Peter speaks up as he was wanting to do.
[53:37] And in verse 22 it says, Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him. God the Son, the Savior, the Messiah, the one who is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, above all.
[53:54] And Peter says, can I have a word with you, please? I think you got this wrong. I don't like the way this conversation is going. I think you've got this wrong, Jesus.
[54:07] you've got this wrong, Jesus. Jesus. Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him, saying, far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you.
[54:22] And so Peter is saying, Jesus, we like the bit about church building. I love all that about me being involved in your church being built, but all this stuff about suffering and dying, I don't like it.
[54:36] I don't want it. the thing is, unless Jesus suffered and died, the church could not be built.
[54:54] The church of Jesus Christ is made up of sinners who have been forgiven. And for sin to be forgiven, blood had to be shed.
[55:07] sin. A sinless sacrifice had to be provided. And only Jesus was sinless. We sang it in the second hymn, there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.
[55:24] He, Jesus, only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in. And Satan understands this. Satan understands that the cross must happen if sinners are to be saved and not damned.
[55:40] But Peter doesn't understand this. And so Satan speaks through Peter. It's an echo actually of what Satan tempted Jesus with back in the wilderness.
[55:55] You can have everything Jesus, just you don't have to suffer, you don't have to go to the cross. And Satan speaks through Peter, trying to steer Jesus away from the cross.
[56:08] But the cross was the reason that Jesus came into the world. And so Jesus rebukes Peter in verse 23, and he turns and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You're a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.
[56:30] man. And then Jesus perseveres firmly in the direction of the cross.
[56:50] Contrary to what some people say, the cross was not a tragedy. the turn of the century, there was an exhibition in London, the Millennium Dawn exhibition, and part of that exhibition included a faith zone that looked at religious leaders and different world religions, and you know what it said about Jesus in that exhibition?
[57:19] It said, Jesus Christ, I'm quoting here, Jesus Christ spent most of his life in obscurity and died tragically young. And that description there misunderstands everything about Jesus.
[57:40] The cross was not a tragedy. The cross was a necessity. It was what Jesus came on mission to do.
[57:54] and Jesus' life was not taken from him. At a tragically young age of 33, he laid his life down.
[58:10] He did it all for us. We sang that as well. He died that we might be forgiven. He died to make us good.
[58:23] That we might go at last to heaven saved by his precious blood. That's why Jesus came into this world.
[58:42] Who is Jesus? He is the Christ. He is the Savior. He is the Son of God. Do you see that? Will you profess that as Peter did?
[58:57] Why did Jesus come? He came to build his church. How would he build this church? By suffering and dying and rising.
[59:12] Finally, just give you the subheadings and we're finished. what does Jesus call us to do? We'll come back to this. Verse 24. Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
[59:35] And we'll just stop there. So what does Jesus call us to do? These three things. first of all, deny self.
[59:52] And for Peter, that began immediately. Peter the mouth. Peter who just has to say whatever's in the head. Peter who says to Jesus, I know better.
[60:07] Peter who says to Jesus, I have a better way for you than the cross. that voice in Peter, it had to be denied.
[60:20] Immediately it had to be denied, it had to be silenced. And the voice, the way, the will of Jesus had to prevail as Jesus continued to Jerusalem.
[60:34] Peter had to deny self. love. And how many times am I like Peter? And how many times are you like Peter? How many times do we want our way? How much do we want our comfort, our pleasure, our security over Jesus' way?
[60:56] But Jesus says to Peter, and he says to us, if you're going to follow me, you're going to have to deny self. And the second thing he says is you're going to have to die to sin.
[61:10] Jesus says you need to take up your cross. What is a cross? It's an emblem of death. What has to die? Sin has to die. John Owen, the Puritan writer, said, be killing sin or it will be killing you.
[61:28] And still the Christian, just when we're saved, when we believe in Jesus, it's not that our struggle with sin ceases, it actually intensifies.
[61:39] The Christian struggles with sin. It's one of the greatest evidences that we actually are Christians. If there's no struggle with sin, there can't be any Christian life.
[61:52] The apostle Paul in Romans 7 opens up a page of his diary and he tells us about his struggle. He says, the good I want to do, I don't do it. The evil I don't want to do, I keep on doing it.
[62:04] I'm struggling, he says. And we all struggle with sins that we find hard to leave behind. We all have these idols that we find it so hard to smash, and we smash them, and then we're picking them up off the floor and super gluing them back together and holding them tight, and they've got to be smashed and smashed and smashed, and it's a struggle.
[62:26] But we must struggle along, we must be ruthless with sin. Day by day, we must put sin to death if we are going to live for Jesus.
[62:43] Deny self, says Jesus. That's what I want you to do. Die to sin, day by day, hour by hour, and lastly, be devoted to me, says Jesus.
[62:56] Because that's what Jesus means when he says, follow me. He's not asking us to respond by subscribing to his YouTube channel.
[63:12] He's not asking us and saying follow me to track him at a distance on Instagram or Facebook. Jesus calls us to come into a relationship with him.
[63:26] a personal relationship with him. He calls us to devote our whole lives to him. And if we can see who he is, and if we can see what he did for us on the cross, it's the only fitting response.
[63:56] We sang it. Love so amazing, so divine, that you would go to the cross for me. It demands my soul, my life, my all.
[64:11] God, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word, we thank you for your son.
[64:28] We thank you that he is the savior, that he is the Christ, that he is the Messiah. He is the one who came into this world knowing that he came to be despised and rejected, to suffer and die and rise for our salvation.
[64:45] We thank you that all that was promised came to pass, that he went to the cross, that he was faithful unto death, that he laid his life down.
[65:00] And we praise you that not only did he lay his life down, but he took it back up again and promised that all who believe in him will be saved. we thank you for the assurance and the blessing of knowing that salvation, of knowing that we are saved by the grace of Jesus, all that he has done.
[65:20] We pray that as we hear that call that he puts upon our lives, we pray that you would help us. Holy Spirit, that you would help us, day by day, to deny selfish self and to die to sin.
[65:39] and you know the sins that we wrestle with. Holy Spirit, help us to put them to death and to follow you, Lord Jesus.
[65:51] Not at a distance, not with half our hearts, but to be devoted to the one who first loved us. And we pray these things in Jesus' name.
[66:03] Amen. We'll sing to conclude the words on the screen. What gift of grace is Jesus, my Redeemer?
[66:14] miracle. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[67:15] Amen. Amen.
[68:15] Amen. Amen.
[69:15] Amen. Amen.
[70:15] Amen.