[0:00] This coming Friday, half past seven at Andrew and Renee's. They're over there at the back.! We in the Leverbury communion will have a morning service next Sunday, but the evening service will not be on.
[0:36] It would usually be Gaelic, but there'll be no evening service here to allow folks to go over and join with the congregation in Leverbury. The last thing is just to follow on from the congregational meeting that we had on Thursday.
[0:52] Would it have been Thursday midweek? It's not always easy for everybody to get out, but there was a few there. And just to give a kind of summary of what we were talking about, there's a letter which you can pick up at the door, which will give you a bit more details.
[1:09] But one thing I'll highlight for the benefit of those who weren't able to be at the meeting. The main thing that was highlighted and the main thing that came across in the meeting was that as a congregation, there's a desire to pay off the loan that we have as soon as it's possible for us to do so.
[1:29] For those who don't know, going back 10 years, we, in order to buy and renovate this building and the manse, we were given a loan of £300,000.
[1:45] That was about 10 years ago. Already as a congregation, we've paid back £200,000 of the £300,000, which is an amazingly generous congregation to be able to do that.
[2:01] So we're very thankful for the position that we're in. £200,000 of the £300,000 is paid back. And we've never asked for money out with the congregation. We've never raised, we've never had a cafe or a fundraising thing to try and cover our own church funds.
[2:16] It's just come from within givings in the congregation. We now have about £100,000 left to pay. The desire that was expressed at the meeting was that we will pay it off as soon as we can.
[2:27] A couple of reasons for that. Main reason being that the interest rates that we had when we took out the loan were very low. So they're now probably five times, I think, what they were when we first took the loan out.
[2:40] So the sooner we pay off the sum, the less we'll actually be paying off in real terms because we're minimising the interest. And also, just in terms of general maintenance and things that we need to do, if we had the £100,000 paid off, it would give us a bit more freedom to be able to do that.
[2:59] Now, in my mind, working on my budgets, £100,000 sounds to me like a huge amount. But at the meeting on Thursday, Angus M, who's preaching over in Scalpy today, he broke it down in a really helpful way.
[3:16] He said this, he said, If 50 people paid £10 a week, we would clear the whole debt in just a little over two years. Which I thought, that can't be right.
[3:29] And then I did the sums, and sure enough, it is right. If 50 people paid £10 a week, and Angus M helpfully told us as well, that's less than the price of a pack of cigarettes.
[3:40] I didn't know he smoked, but that's what he told us. So, that gives a little bit of perspective on it. So, basically, no pressure at all.
[3:52] I don't want you to hear any pressure from me or anyone else. Many people have given generously and sacrificially over the last 10 years, for which we're hugely thankful.
[4:04] But really, we're just highlighting this for those who may actually have come in in later years and know nothing about the fact that they're still alone, outstanding, and who may wish to give if they're able to.
[4:19] So, I'll leave that with you. If anybody wants to speak or pledge or whatever, David Cameron is at the back there, and he will speak to you and tell you how you can do that.
[4:32] These, I think, are all the notices. So, let's begin this time of worship. We'll sing to God's praise, and we'll sing from Psalm 84, Psalm 84, verses 1 to verse 10, the double tune to Psalm 84.
[4:49] How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me! The tabernacles of thy grace, how pleasant, Lord, they be! My thirsty soul longs vehemently, you faints thy courts to see.
[5:01] My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee. Down to verse 10, to God's praise. How lovely is thy dwelling place, O Lord of hosts, to me!
[5:30] The tabernacles of thy grace, how pleasant, Lord, they be!
[5:43] My thirsty soul longs vehemently, it bakes thy courts to see.
[5:56] My very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee.
[6:10] Beborn the sparrow findeth thou an house well into rest.
[6:24] The swaddled also for her cell, hath purchased head and head.
[6:39] In thine own altars where she's saved, her young ones forth may reign.
[6:51] O thou almighty Lord of hosts, who art my God and King.
[7:06] Blessed are they in thy house that dwell, may ever give thee praise.
[7:19] Blessed is the man whose strength thou art, in whose heart are thy ways.
[7:33] Who passeth thou art, in whose heart are thy ways. Who passeth thou, of faith, thou hast thou, of faith, thou hast thou. Therein to take up wells.
[7:46] Of soul the rain that falleth down, the pools with water fills.
[7:59] Though they from strength and weary go, still forward unto strength.
[8:13] Until in sight they appear, before the Lord of land.
[8:26] Lord God of hosts, my prayer here, O Jacob's God give thee here.
[8:39] See God our shield, look on the face of thine anointed here.
[8:52] For in thy course one day excels a thousand rather in.
[9:06] My God's will I keep a door, and dwell in tents of sin.
[9:19] For God the Lord's a sun and shield, he'll grace and glory here.
[9:32] And will with hope no good from there, but a pride be to there.
[9:46] Let's bow our heads and unite our hearts in prayer together.
[10:01] Let's pray. our heavenly father we thank you for this your day and we thank you for we thank you for who you are as we come together in worship we thank you that we come to the god who is able to satisfy our souls we thank you that we come to the god who is able and who is willing to give grace and glory to those who come to him we think of the verse that we just sang for god the lord's a sun and shield he'll grace and glory give and will withhold no good from them that uprightly do live we thank you for your protection that you are our shield we thank you lord god that you are the one who who turns your face towards us and we thank you for the warmth for the fact that as you do that you feed our souls and we thank you that our souls are satisfied only in you our longing souls may go many different places in this world looking for satisfaction but we know that there is no satisfaction there is no joy there is no lasting peace found anywhere except in a relationship with the living god our souls are restless until they find rest in thee we thank you for the promise of jesus that he said come to me all who are weary and all who are burdened and i will give you rest we thank you that as we sing this psalm we we see jesus as we think about one who lives uprightly we look at our own hearts and our own lives and we know that none of us even for a day can live a life that is fully upright we fall and we fail the good that we want to do we leave undone the evil that we don't want to do so often we slip back into and so lord we come this morning confessing that we are sinners confessing that we do not live in an upright way our hearts are dark often our speech is not what we wish it was our minds often are cluttered sometimes with the busyness of this world and sometimes our minds go places that we would never want to go but we thank you that you are the god who knows us you are the god who tells us in the bible which is like a mirror that our hearts are sinful and our minds and our speech and our actions and reactions reflect the fact that our hearts are sinful we thank you that we thank you for jesus we thank you that he is the one who lived uprightly for us we thank you that he although tempted in every way like us never sinned we thank you that he lived a perfect life for us and went to the cross to die in our place to pay the wages of sin and we thank you that as we look to him we are promised that we will be shown grace even glory because we are accepted in him
[14:02] so help us lord each one of us we pray to come to jesus this morning whether it's for the first time or whether it's for the thousandth time we know that that call to come to jesus is continual and as we come to jesus as we wait upon the lord our strength is renewed our hearts are satisfied and we are enabled to live in a way that pleases you in some measure so help us lord we pray to come to the lord jesus and find forgiveness forgiveness and rest and peace and satisfaction and life in abundance and help us we pray as those who come to jesus to go then from jesus to tell others about the one who is able to do for them what he has done for us give us opportunity and courage we pray as individuals and as a congregation to reach out with the good news of the gospel we pray lord for each other today for those who are present for those who are watching on the live stream for those who have headed off on holiday for the weekend we see them in our mind's eye and we pray that you would help each one of us you know our hearts and you know our lives you know our circumstances some of us are struggling with our health and we pray for your healing touch some of us may be struggling with anxiety and feelings of depression and we ask lord that you would cause us to look to you you're the god who is able to lift us from the decks and place our feet on the rock and we thank you that rock is Jesus himself some of us lord may be anxious and troubled about things in the future and we pray that you would help us to trust you as the god who knows the future and who promises to be with us in every situation some of us lord are grieving for loved ones who have passed in recent days and months and some in distant years and yet still the pain is there and we pray for your comfort some of us are going through turbulence in our our personal lives our family lives and we ask lord that you would bring your peace that you would help us to look to you so help us lord we pray in our need meet us we ask we pray for those who are going out from the congregation to different places we think of
[16:50] Scott in Helmsdale and Brora today we ask that you would be with him we think of Gordon who will follow on there shortly for a placement and we ask lord that you would be near to him we think of Stuart and Joyce in Glasgow today and we pray for Lydia as they spend time with her and the family and as Stuart prepares to be interviewed for ministry we ask lord that you would guide and you would direct him we pray for Duncan preaching in Carloway today we pray for Angus M and Sculpey and we ask lord that whatever your people are going out in your name that you would bless them and that you would equip them for all that you have called them to do and we pray for ourselves and ask that you would help us to be those who are day by day in your presence but willing day by day also to serve you and to go out in the name of Jesus to do what you would have us do we pray for the
[17:51] McKellars as they head off to Nepal and then further afield after that and we ask lord that you would go before them that you would be with them and that they would know your presence and your protection and for all others lord that are in our mind's eye at this time who are going through hard times we bring them to you lord and ask that you would help them and as we sit here this morning we are thankful for the fact that we sit here in a building that is warm and comfortable and we thank you that we are able month by month to be able to seek to pay for that we recognise that this is a privilege that so many people don't have and we pray for brothers and sisters across the world in different places who have no buildings no security no freedom to worship and yet they come together week by week risking their lives to worship the lord jesus so help them lord we pray in places like iran where we see such suffering and yet such christian growth places like india and pakistan dprk eritrea many other places across the world where your people are persecuted for your name's sake help them lord we pray and help us to remember them in prayer so go before us we ask take away our sin and help us in jesus name amen boys and girls would you like to come forward please how are you all today enjoy your holidays good stuff good who of you were here last sunday put your hand up if you were here remember there was the man with the welsh accent here last sunday do you remember what he did what did he do he had a coin in his hand and he was saying to you guys can you get the coin out of my hand did you manage no because his grip was too tight and what was he saying what was the lesson from that do you remember that's right the message was that when we're when we're believing in jesus god holds on to us jesus says i've got you in the palm of my hand and when we're in the palm of the hand of jesus the message was we are safe how safe do you think we are a little bit safe or super safe what do you think do you think super safe going to show you something else today and for the older boys and girls you'll remember i've done this before but the younger ones you guys probably won't remember this so i want you to i want you to um looking for one volunteer friendly i think your hand went up first so i want you to show us come up here beside me for a second what's this a cup what do you think it's made of well no we're no we're more sustainable than that for the record it's paper but it's a good guess it's it feels like a bit plasticky so put it in your hand here's the question before you try it we'll ask let's ask them do you think finley could just crush this cup in his hand then he's strong enough just to crush this cup in his hand yeah what do you think finley do you think you are let's give it a try and see it
[21:51] see how you can crush it in your hands keep going keep going keep going now let's take a look at it is that cup crushed how crushed super crushed isn't it you got big biceps there finley i think super crushed that cup cup wasn't very strong was it not really but finley's got a bit of strength there so he got a good crush on the cup second do you want to be the volunteer again or do you want somebody else to be the second volunteer come on benjamin as you put your hand up you can be the second volunteer so do you think you could crush a paper cup you think so you've got your friend there so here we go same cup just a wee bit different so you take that in your hand other hand too do you think you can crush this you think you can crush this cup as much as this one try it give it a try both hands give it come on keep going keep going keep going good try good try anyone else think they can do it go on shawnee no tricks just don't try and no no no no no no no tricks no always a risk when you ask shawnee keep going oh you failed never mind anyone else want to try do you want to try don't try go and give a try yeah give it a wee try you think try oh good try how crushed now is this cup not very crushed at all is it so you see this one super crushed this one not crushed at all why is that what's the difference between this cup and this cup that made this cup so easy to smash and this cup so impossible really there's metal in that hand there's metal in that hand and how strong is metal very very strong so the difference between this one and that one is this one has something that's really really strong inside it and I'm going to tell you something else about a Christian you know if you're a
[24:43] Christian if you believe in Jesus do you know that Jesus he lives inside of you it says in Galatians chapter 2 and at verse 20 Paul is writing a letter to a church and he says in that verse Christ lives in me and in John chapter 14 Jesus was speaking to his disciples and he was saying that the people who believe in him he says I and the father will come and will make our home in him so boys and girls if you're a Christian who lives in your heart how strong is God very very strong and you know if you're a Christian if God is living in your heart the devil can't crush you and death can't crush you and sin can't crush you because Jesus has beaten all of them he's stronger than all of these things and so if you have
[25:56] Jesus living in your heart if God the Holy Spirit lives in us that's the promise when we believe how safe are we very very safe and if we want to become a Christian today and we want God to come and live in our hearts how can we how can we become a Christian what do we have to do what do we have to do or Jesus yeah Jesus we want Jesus to live in our hearts we want to become a Christian how do we do that by praying Benjamin we just ask don't we we say please take the sin out of my heart and please Lord Jesus come into my heart and make me yours so let's pray let's close our eyes will we let's put our hands together for a wee minute and let's pray Lord God we thank you that you love us and we thank you that when we believe in you you come to live in our lives we thank you that
[27:09] Paul could write in that letter Christ lives in me we thank you that we have the promise that the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts the moment that we believe and we thank you that when we have you living in us we are safe for this world and forever so Lord Jesus come we pray and live in us take our sin away and make us your children and we ask this in Jesus name amen thank you boys and girls who listened and helped me very well we're going to sing now about Christ living in us what gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer and in the chorus it says yet not I but Christ in me what gift of grace is Jesus my redeemer praise the Lord for heaven love to hear he is my joy my righteousness and freedom my steadfast love my deep and boundless peace to this
[28:36] I hope I hope is only Jesus for my for my life is holy love to hear O have stage and divine I can sing all is mine yet not I but who rise to me!
[29:01] light is dark but I am not forsaken for by my side the scaven he will stay I labor on in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is displayed to this I hold my shepherd will defend me!
[29:35] To the devil he will leave for the night has been won and I shall overcome and will die unto Christ in me O if I dread I know I am forgiven the future sure the price it has been paid for Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon and he was raised to overthrow the pain to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus love and ever to bring for them shames are released I can sing
[30:36] I am free yet not I but Christ in me need need need Use every breath I long to follow Jesus for He has said that He will bring me home and day by day I know He will renew me until I stand with joy before the throne To this I hold my own is holy Jesus, all the glory evermore to Him.
[31:22] When the race is complete, still my lips shall be real, yet not I but Christ is me.
[31:33] When the race is complete, still my lips shall be real, yet not I but Christ is me.
[31:46] And remember to pray for them as they go. Remember to pray for the teachers as well.
[32:11] And we'll turn to Matthew chapter 19 please. Matthew chapter 19, we've been studying through Matthew's Gospel and this is where we've got to today.
[32:42] And we'll read from verse 1. Now when Jesus had finished these sayings, He went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
[32:56] And large crowds followed Him and He healed them there. And Pharisees came up to Him and tested Him by asking, Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?
[33:07] He answered, Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female? And said, Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and to hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.
[33:21] So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. They said to Him, Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?
[33:35] He said to them, Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives. But from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you, Whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.
[33:53] The disciples said to Him, If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. But He said to them, Not everyone can receive this sin, but only those to whom it is given.
[34:05] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men. And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven.
[34:16] Like the one who is able to receive this, receive it. Then children were brought to Him, to Jesus, that He might lay His hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people.
[34:29] But Jesus said, Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. And He laid His hands on them and went away.
[34:41] And behold, a man came up to Him, saying, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? And He said to him, Why do you ask Me what is good? There is only one who is good.
[34:52] If you would enter life, keep the commandments. He said to him, Which ones? And Jesus said, You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal.
[35:03] You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said to Him, All these I have kept.
[35:14] What do I still lack? Jesus said to him, If you would be perfect, Go sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. And come and follow Me.
[35:26] When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Amen. And may God bless that reading of His Word to us.
[35:39] We'll sing again to God's praise from Psalm 84. Psalm 84. And we will sing the last two stanzas of the Psalm.
[35:50] For God, the Lord's a sun and shield, He'll grace and glory give, and will withhold no good from them that uprightly do live. O thou that art the Lord of hosts, that man is truly blessed, who by assured confidence on thee alone doth rest.
[36:07] These two verses of Psalm 84, we're singing in Gaelic this psalm, and we remain seated to sing. O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts,
[37:15] O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, O thou that art the Lord of hosts, Thank you.
[38:09] Thank you.
[38:39] Thank you.
[39:09] Amen. Thank you.
[40:09] And we ask, Lord, that as they go to Sunday school, that you would open their hearts and illuminate their minds, give them that childlike faith, that they would come to the Lord Jesus in the early years and walk with you, Lord God, as God and King all through their lives.
[40:28] And that we are connected to as well across the nation, across many nations, Lord, wherever the word of God has been opened today and your people are gathering.
[41:08] Amen. We pray for your blessing upon them as we pray for your blessing upon us. Help us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Matthew chapter 19.
[41:23] If you could have that open in front of you, please, that would help you and me. Amen. every now and again as we're carrying on through our studies in the book of Matthew it's good to step back and ask ask the question think big picture and ask the question what is Matthew actually doing as he writes this gospel because we're well into it but sometimes when we're well into a study we we need to step back and step outside of it and say what is this that we're reading again well the answer to that question is we're reading a gospel gospel means good news and what Matthew is doing he's telling us the good news about Jesus Matthew wants us to know the good news about who Jesus is he's the son of God as the savior and he wants us to know the good news also about what Jesus has done for us so with these questions in mind who is Jesus well
[42:37] Jesus is the savior it's not that long since we were in Christmas and we remember how Mary and Joseph were told the name of the child you shall call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins the name Jesus means God saves so Jesus is the savior and our salvation from sin our salvation from death our salvation into eternal life comes in and through Jesus no other name no other religion no other way only Jesus no other name no other way to be saved only Jesus who is Jesus he is the savior he went to the cross he laid down his life he shed his blood to save us and maybe I should ask the question just at the outset here is he is he your savior we've asked it of the children but let me ask it of everybody here Jesus is the savior he has the power to save but he will only save those who ask him to save him so is he your savior is he your lord cammy is this still working yeah so Jesus is the savior he is the one who is able to save us from our sin but as we go through Matthew's gospel and as we go through any gospel it's very clear to see that Jesus is not only savior but he is lord and he can't be our savior unless he is also our lord that that's the deal when it comes to to salvation we can't say to Jesus we can't pray this morning and say to Jesus please save me from my sin please save me from all eternity please confirm Lord Jesus that I have a place in heaven and then once we get the confirmation say to Jesus please now don't interfere with my life don't tell me what to do don't tell me where to go don't tell me how to live we can't do that no if Jesus is going to be our savior he must also be our lord and our king the one who is supreme in our lives and in this chapter we actually see that very clearly because Jesus speaks with authority into our lives and Jesus without any apology asserts his lordship over us so we're going to see three things this morning in the time that we have we'll see first of all
[46:12] Jesus is lord over our marriages and our singleness if that's our calling the second thing we'll see is that Jesus is lord over our children if we are blessed with children and the third thing we'll see is that Jesus is lord over our money and our possessions so that's the structure and that's what we see quite clearly as we step through the verses so first of all Jesus is lord over our marriages and our singleness so step through the verses with me we'll stick closely to the text verse 1 now when Jesus had finished these sayings he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan and large crowds followed him and he healed them there so at the beginning of this chapter we are brought to the end of the of the last story we were thinking remember last time about the parable that Jesus was teaching about forgiveness about how God forgives us and how we're called to forgive others the huge debt of our sin that Jesus takes away through all that he was going to do on the cross for us so Jesus he's finished these sayings he's finished telling this parable and now he's back ministering to the crowds and healing them and then suddenly as Jesus is mid-sermon you could say there's an interruption verse 3 and Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause so that's the interruption sermon's mid-flow somebody bursts out with a question
[48:04] Jesus is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause now at that time of when Jesus was speaking and when Matthew is writing it was very very easy for a man to divorce his wife it wasn't possible for a wife to divorce her husband but it was very very easy for a Jewish man to divorce his wife the no fault divorce was a thing in the first century long before it ever came to us J.C. Ryle says in the days when our Lord was upon earth divorces were permitted among the Jews for the most trifling and frivolous causes burning a meal or displeasing a man in any way at all was considered by some rabbis to be acceptable reason for divorce so divorce basically just had become a normal part of life back then and for Jesus to speak out against something that was so normal that was going to make Jesus unpopular and not only that but for Jesus to speak against divorce was risky because he is note the location that we're told
[49:31] Jesus is in Judea beyond the Jordan now in that place at that time Herod Antipas was the governor of that area and Herod Antipas had recently divorced his wife in order to marry his sister-in-law a notorious woman called Herodias and we could rewind back to John chapter 14 Matthew chapter 14 we're not going to go there but you can read it later if you want to do that in Matthew chapter 14 we have this horrible bloody story about how John the Baptist challenges Herod about his divorce and remarriage and Herodias arranges this to have John beheaded because of the challenge so that was the leadership that was in power speak out against divorce don't affirm my position and you'll literally lose your head and so it's into this context that the
[50:47] Pharisees come asking Jesus this question about divorce and this question was designed to cause the crowds and the political leaders to turn against Jesus so what would you have done you know we've all been in that situation where we've been asked the question maybe about sexuality or transgender or whatever and the place that we're asked the question the context that we're asked the question we know if we give a clear biblical answer there's going to be a riot we feel the discomfort of it well that's the kind of situation Jesus was in and many people I think in this situation would have wanted to avoid answering the question but not Jesus he's ready with his answer it's very plain in how he answers he answers verse 4 have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh
[52:12] Jesus says to him have you not read your Bible then he says verse 6 so they shall no longer be two but one flesh what therefore God has joined together let not man separate so Jesus is very very clear and Jesus knows as he gives this answer as he speaks this answer that he gives he knows will cause many in the crowds to bristle in disagreement and Jesus knows that this answer may well take him into conflict with some of the most powerful people in government but he speaks the word of God as God the son who is aligned with the Old Testament scriptures he speaks the word of God clearly and authoritatively and notice also here that Jesus he actually doesn't speak about the legitimacy of divorce because they come saying tell us about divorce and Jesus doesn't answer speaking first about the legitimacy of divorce rather he speaks about the importance of marriage he speaks about the high view that God has on marriage but the
[53:43] Pharisees have anticipated this and they have their first question designed to hurt Jesus they anticipate his answer and they have their second question ready so verse 7 they said to him why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away the twisting truth here because Moses didn't ever command but they're putting the word command there where they shouldn't have it's a it's a fly kind of move why did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and send her away Jesus said to them verse 8 because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives but from the beginning it was not so and I say to you whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery and essentially if I try and paraphrase this
[54:45] Jesus is saying marriage is God's design between a man and a woman but divorce never was God's design divorce is something that God has permitted not commanded but permitted but only where there has been sexual immorality in other words unfaithfulness we are speed the commentator says God Moses did not command divorce Christ said that God permitted it so Jesus gives a very clear answer to a question that's designed to trip him up and then in verses 10 to 12 which you can scan I'm not going to read it again just now Jesus speaks about singleness and I'm not going to go into the details of it but Jesus acknowledges in verses 10 to 12 that there are some people who will never marry some even for the sake of the kingdom of heaven will remain single determinedly so to seek to serve the
[56:04] Lord with a special kind of calling and Paul talks a bit more about that in 1 Corinthians 7 7 if you want to read that later this afternoon so the question is given to Jesus and Jesus gives a very clear answer and what we learn in these verses is that Jesus has strong opinions and he speaks with clarity and with authority about singleness and about marriage and about divorce and some might say even today here some might say why do I have to listen to all this this is intrusive this is breaking into my personal space why do I have to listen to all this why do I have to obey all of this there might be someone who is sitting and thinking
[57:11] I'm sick of my marriage there may be someone who listens to this or who watches this and says I feel really good about starting a new relationship with someone else why can't I just go and get a divorce like everyone else in the world does and the answer to that question is because Jesus is Lord Lord that's why not Jesus is Lord over your marriage and mine and we can't claim to know Jesus as Saviour if we are not willing to submit to him as Lord God now does this mean that everyone who has divorced has been condemned by Jesus well I think the answer to that is no some are divorced by partners who abandon them and there's nothing that they can do to change that some separate and down the line are divorced because of abuse some may be divorced years before they ever came to know
[58:43] Jesus as Saviour and Lord so this is complicated in some ways and Jesus is not speaking about these things as he responds to this strict question from the Pharisees rather he is speaking to those who claim to call God Lord but who are not willing to do what God tells them so that's the first point Jesus is Lord over our marriages and singleness the second point is Jesus is Lord over our children and verses 13 to 15 we have this familiar scene then children were brought to Jesus that he might lay his hands on them and pray the disciples rebuked the people but Jesus said let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven and he laid his hands on them and went away now it's not that long since we were actually in this passage we looked at this passage when we were having a baptism service just a few months back so I won't spend long on this couple of verses but they're not difficult verses to understand we see in our minds people who are bringing children to
[60:08] Jesus and they understood that Jesus in the purest possible way loved the children and he wanted to bless the children but the disciples saw all these children and children can be unruly and they can be a bit noisy they can get overexcited disciples they saw the children coming to Jesus and they regarded the children as a pest so they rebuked the people and they said get these children out here and Mark in his gospel Mark chapter 10 verse 14 in this parallel account he says he tells us what Jesus thought when he saw the disciples chasing the children off it says in Mark 10 14 Jesus was indignant he was angry and Jesus rebukes the disciples and says let the little children come to me and do not hinder them again
[61:13] Jesus is very very clear and he's speaking into the lives of parents and children so what's Jesus saying to us today well he's actually just saying the same thing he said on that day he's telling us to let the little children come to him and do not hinder them from coming to Jesus and that's a word well let me start with the older children what is Jesus saying to our young people well he's he's saying to you come to me that's what he's saying to the young folks he's saying come to me you want to know blessing you want to know peace you want to know purpose in life if you want to have an identity that is secure in Christ if you want to be someone who's not running around on social media trying to get approval from every other place
[62:23] Jesus says come to me and I'll save you from your sin and I'll secure you in your identity and in your life in this world to young people of whatever age hear that come to Jesus but it's a word also particularly to parents but to lesser extent to all of us I mean think about this why do we pray for the children as they go through to Sunday school when they go through and they're cute and they're funny and we pray for them why are we praying for them and what are we praying for them well we're praying that their hearts will be opened because we want them to come to Jesus not just to come to church and not just to come to Sunday school but to come to Jesus why do we do jam and connect and root and yf well because we want the children of tarbert and scalpy and surrounding areas to come to Jesus and why do we want them to come to
[63:36] Jesus so that he will be their saviour so that they'll have eternal life and so that Jesus will be their lord and you know if we are parents or even if we're not parents and we're thinking about the children that surround us in this community that is the most important thing for these children the most important thing is that our children the children in our families the children in this church family the children in this community the most important thing for them is that they will come to Jesus it's more important by far than them getting the best education it's more important by far than them getting to play for the best football team it's much more important that they come to
[64:39] Jesus and you know when that's not our way of thinking and when we prioritize sport and study and screen time and keeping the peace in the house over our children being given an opportunity to come to Jesus I'll put it this way when we prioritize Champions League over church and Netflix over YF what are we doing?
[65:05] We're hindering the children from coming to Jesus and we're clashing with Jesus teacher and if Jesus is our Lord we don't get to clash with him rather we are called to obey him and agree with him and submit to him that he is Lord over our marriages and that he is Lord over our children Jesus is Lord over our marriages Jesus is Lord over our children and the last thing we see here and we'll return to this small section next Sunday God willing we see in this encounter that Jesus has with the rich young man that Jesus is Lord over our money and our possessions and that point is clearly made as Matthew introduces us to this rich young man verse 16 and behold a man came up to Jesus saying teacher what good deed must
[66:23] I do to have eternal life so here's a man and it all starts so well he wants to be saved he's thinking not just about this world he's thinking about heaven and hell he's thinking about eternal life and eternal death and he comes to the right person he comes to Jesus he wants to be saved from death he wants to be saved into eternal life and so he does the best thing he comes to Jesus with his question so this starts well verse 17 and Jesus said to him why do you ask me about what is good there is only one who is good if you would enter life keep the commandments Jesus said to him well the man said to Jesus verse 18 which ones and Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honour your father and mother and you shall love your neighbour as yourself so Jesus starts to tell him about the law of
[67:30] God because he knows this man's heart this man thinks he's good enough himself for Jesus just to say yeah just come follow me so Jesus says there's the commandments don't murder don't steal don't go off with somebody else's wife honour your father and your mother and so on and the man says in verse 20 well I think I've done all these things which shows that he didn't really understand very much about this and so Jesus says to him well verse 20 if you would be perfect go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and then come follow me and Jesus here he seems to give this man a bit of a hard time because if we were writing this story and we were writing the next bit anticipating what Jesus would say we would expect this man to come to
[68:33] Jesus saying I want eternal life and we would expect Jesus just to say well it's great to see you let me introduce you to Peter and James and John and the rest of the guys come on join the rest of the disciples and follow me that's what we would expect but Jesus doesn't do that he asks this man some questions diagnostic questions to start to show him his heart and then he tells the man to go and sell all his stuff and he says then come and follow me now why did Jesus say all these things to this man did Jesus ask everyone to go and sell all their stuff before they come and follow him well actually he never said this to anybody else ever as far as we know so why did he say it to this man well it's because he could see that this man loved money he just loved money and he loved possessions he's the kind of guy to be opening his bank app and checking his savings all the time opening up his wardrobe and looking at all his designer gear opening up the garage and seeing all the cars he loved all that stuff his identity was he was the rich young man and Jesus can see that he loved all his stuff more than he loved
[70:12] Jesus and unless that changed money would be this man's Lord not Jesus and he wouldn't follow Jesus he'd follow the next dollar he would follow his investments and essentially what happened here was that Jesus made clear to this man that he would not accept second place either Jesus is Lord of all or he's not Lord at all so what happened with the young man did he get immediately on his phone to his accountant so all the stuff could be arranged to be sold no it says in verse 22 when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions so this young man as we finish he would not bow to Jesus as Lord so he did not get he would not bow to Jesus as Lord so he did not get Jesus as Saviour and because he would not bow to Jesus as Lord he did not get the eternal life that he was wanting to secure and it says he went away sorrowful and as much as I don't like to end here that's where the story ends in terms of the encounter with this young man he he went away sad his bank account is full his stocks and shares are doing well his businesses are thriving he went away with all that stuff but he went away from Jesus and he went away sad and you know that's the reality for all of us if we refuse to accept
[72:53] Jesus as Lord if we determine to go our own way and not obey the word of Jesus we will be forever sad we may have a divorce and a new relationship as we refuse to listen to Jesus but in our hearts we will be sad we may have children who get first class honors in university and who get played of the year for harris our hearts and yet if they don't come to Jesus they and we will be forever sad we might have money in the bank we might have healthy pension forecasts we might have a house full of possessions and a wardrobe full of clothes and a garage full of cars or a shed full of machinery but none of these possessions will actually make us happy as the hymn goes now none but Christ can satisfy no other name for me there's love and life and lasting joy
[74:12] Lord Jesus found in thee now this rich young man shows us that if we walk away from Jesus we walk into sorrow sorrow in this life and sorrow eternally in hell but if we come to Jesus and ask him to be our saviour and submit to him as our Lord then we will know joy in this life and joy eternally in heaven Jesus is saviour is he your saviour have you asked him and Jesus is Lord are you and
[75:17] I bowing the knee to him in all areas of our lives because that's what he is teaching us that we must do let's pray Lord Jesus we thank you for the clarity of the way that you speak and we recognise that your words come with authority to those who heard them 2000 plus years ago and we recognise that your words come with authority to us today so help us we pray to be people who come to you seeking the salvation that you are so willing to give and have paid for with your blood and help us to be those who are willing day by day in all areas of our lives to submit to you as our
[76:22] Lord and our King and we ask this in Jesus name Amen we'll sing to finish from Mission Praise 51 Be thou my vision and verse 4 is the one really that came to my mind in choosing this one riches I heed not nor man's empty praise thou mine inheritance now and always thou and thou only first in my heart high king of heaven my treasure thou art love thou my vision oh lord of my heart not be all else to thee save thou thou art thou my best born by day or by night waking or sleeping thy presence my light be thou my wisdom thou my to work!
[77:59] I ever with thee! thou with me Lord and my great father I thy true son thou in me dwelling and I with thee one be thou my love no shield or for the light be thou my day with thee thou my delight thou my soul shelter thou my light over praise thou the heavenward o mother of my God riches
[79:00] I need on your unsentie praise thou my inheritance!
[79:12] thou and always thou am the holy first in my heart I king of heaven I treasure the heart I king of heaven a great holy one may I reach heaven choice oh bright and sun heart of my own heart whatever he more still be my vision oh ruler of all now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of
[80:12] God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever more Amen Amen