[0:00] Well, good morning. Those in the building, those also on the live stream, a warm welcome to the service this morning.
[0:12] It's good for us to be able to come together at these times and all times to worship God. One or two intimations.
[0:24] First to say that the evening service should be online just before six o'clock tonight, and so be encouraged to tune into that. The YF meet at half past seven on Zoom and the prayer meeting will be on Wednesday at half past seven also on Zoom.
[0:45] Next Sunday, God willing, I'll take the morning service as usual and the evening service will have, at least within it, a testimony.
[0:57] Myrda McSween from Scalpy is sharing testimony next Sunday evening in the evening service. And as we did before, I think over the next few months, maybe one a month, we'll have people sharing and giving testimony.
[1:12] So Myrda will share testimony next Sunday evening in the service that's broadcast there. So you can be encouraged to tune into that and maybe think about those who might not be ready to tune into a service like this, but who may be encouraged to listen in to the life story and what God's doing in the life of those like Myrda.
[1:35] I was given an induction also to read from the Presbytery, the induction of Reverend Ian Thompson.
[1:45] The induction of Reverend Ian Thompson to the pastoral charge of Gariboss Free Church of Scotland will be held this coming Friday, 22nd January at 7.30pm at the School Road Church in Babel.
[1:58] Reverend David McLeod, moderator of Presbytery, will preach and preside. Due to the current COVID-related restrictions, the number able to attend the in-person service is restricted to 50.
[2:08] The rest will join the service by Zoom video conferencing facilities. The press will be to meet at 7.00pm. The service will be recorded and it should be available for viewing on the YouTube channel via Gariboss Free Church website shortly afterwards.
[2:26] Please remember Mr Thompson and his family in your prayers as they settle into the congregation and that his ministry in Gariboss will be an abundantly fruitful one under the blessing of God.
[2:38] These, I think, are all the intimations. So we'll begin our service by singing or Cammie will sing.
[2:50] We will not sing, but Cammie will sing. We will remain silent and we'll follow on from within our hearts. Those at home can sing, but in the building we're not permitted to.
[3:03] A psalm that's brought great comfort over many, many years and generations and its comfort that we look for. In particular today, as we continue to feel that sense of loss at Daffy's passing from time into eternity.
[3:20] And yet we see the wonderful comfort and assurance we're given in this psalm. That those who are able to see the Lord as my shepherd are given these great promises for time and for eternity.
[3:34] The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want. He makes me down to lie in pastures green. He leadeth me the quiet waters by. My soul he doth restore again. And me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness.
[3:47] Even for his own name's sake. Yea, though I walk in death's dark veil, yet will I fear none ill. For thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still.
[3:59] The whole of this psalm and Cammie will sing to God's praise. The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
[4:17] He makes me down to lie in pasture green.
[4:30] He leadeth me the quiet waters by.
[4:43] My soul he doth restore again. And me to walk doth make within the paths of righteousness.
[5:08] Him for his own name's sake. Yea, though I walk in death's dark veil, yet will I fear none ill.
[5:33] For thou art with me, and thy rod and staff me comfort still.
[5:50] My table thou hast furnished in presence of my fools.
[6:08] My head thou dost with oil and oil and oil and my cup overflows.
[6:24] Goodness and mercy all my life shall surely follow me.
[6:42] And in God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be.
[7:05] Let's unite our hearts in prayer. Let's pray. Amen. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are able to come to you this morning.
[7:24] And that we are able to call you the Lord our shepherd. Lord, we thank you that we thank you that although you are the God who is high and lifted up, the God who is holy and pure, the God who is powerful, almighty.
[7:45] Yet we are able to call you our shepherd. Lord, we thank you that we thank you that Jesus is the good shepherd. The one who laid down his life for the sheep.
[7:59] And we thank you that he is the good shepherd. And we thank you that he is the one who speaks through these psalms, through scripture. And who calls us by name.
[8:12] And we praise you, Lord, that when we understand something of our sin.
[8:22] And when we understand that Christ came and lived and died and rose to be our savior. That through these facts you are calling us by name.
[8:36] We know that some people, their calling is like the Apostle Paul's was, a Damascus Road calling. And yet for most of us, there is that gradual realization that we are sinners, that we are in danger.
[8:57] That our souls are lost. But Jesus came to be savior. And what he did on the cross, he did for us.
[9:08] So that we can have the blessing and the assurance of eternal life. So we pray for each person here in the building this morning.
[9:20] We pray for those who are listening in and watching from a distance. And we pray that each one of us would hear the voice of Jesus coming to us today.
[9:35] Calling us to receive the rest and the peace, the salvation, the eternal life. That he alone can bring. We thank you, Lord, for the cross.
[9:47] And we pray that our eyes this morning would be drawn to that cross. We pray that you would give us eyes to see. That he who knew no sin was made to be sin.
[10:01] So that we who are sinners could be made righteous. We pray that you would give us ears to hear the good news. That he who was innocent was made guilty.
[10:11] That he who was innocent was made guilty. Because of our sins that he took upon himself. We thank you that his death satisfies divine justice.
[10:22] And we thank you that death could not hold Jesus. But on the third day he rose from the dead. On the first day of the week. The day that we meet.
[10:33] To come together as your people. We thank you that we are reminded that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And we thank you that that resurrection life is promised.
[10:45] To all who believe in him. So give to us faith, we pray. That we may be those who believe. Who are saved. And who have that hope.
[10:56] That's eternal. We pray for your comfort today, Lord. We pray that we would know. In the stillness. Of this hour. For the God of all comfort.
[11:08] Ministering to our souls. We pray that you would draw near to us. With that sense of grief. That we share as a congregation.
[11:19] As we think of Effie. And how suddenly she was taken. We pray that you would surround. The family. Ian and Mihaela and Miriam.
[11:31] And Dorothy and Ian and Sean Ian. And Kayleigh. And all of the family, Lord. We pray. That they would know your special blessing. That they would know the compassion of God.
[11:43] In them and around them. And we pray as a congregation. As those who are close to Effie. And in particular. That we too. Would know that you are the God who is with us.
[11:56] And the God who gives that peace. That is not of this world. That peace which passes human understanding. So minister to us Lord.
[12:06] We pray in our grief. Give to us that assurance. And that joy. Even in sorrow. That joy that comes from the hope of everlasting life.
[12:21] We pray on Lord. For those who are in particular need. We pray for those who feel alone. In their homes. Those who feel isolated. And more so in these days of restrictions.
[12:31] We pray that you would draw near to them. We pray for those who are sick. Some who are receiving treatment. Some who have gone through procedures.
[12:44] In the past few days. And we ask that you would lay your hands of healing upon them. We pray on for those who are battling with addictions. And who feel that they cannot pull themselves out of the mud and the mire.
[13:01] We know that that is the reality. Whatever sin. Whatever struggle it is we have. We don't have the strength. To be able to help ourselves out of these troubles.
[13:13] But we thank you. That you are the God who hears our cries and our calls. To be saved. You are the one who reaches down. And who takes us by the hand.
[13:25] And lifts us. And gives us that new song. That the psalmist had in Psalm 40. He took me from the fearful pit. And from the mighty clay. And on a rock. He set my feet.
[13:36] Establishing my way. He put a new song in my mouth. Our God to magnify. And so we pray for those who feel like they are sinking just now. That they would look to the one who is able to lift us to that place of security.
[13:52] We ask Lord now that you would lead us and guide us in this service. We pray for your blessing. We pray for your presence. We pray that we would know your help.
[14:04] And that we would know that you are near. Hear our prayers. Cleanse us of our sin as we confess it. Empty us of all that's of self.
[14:15] And fill us with the Holy Spirit. That we may see and hear Jesus. For we pray these things in Jesus name. And for Jesus sake. Amen. Well boys and girls.
[14:29] We have a few of you in the building this morning. More are at home. And so I'll say hello to the ones who are at home as well. And there's two things that I have to show you this morning.
[14:44] The first thing is this. Now people get very worried. When a minister doesn't have a watch so much that he's looking to.
[14:55] But he brings a calendar to the service. Just in case they think you know it's not going to go on for minutes. But it's going to go on for months the sermon. But don't worry it's not. It's not. But what is this?
[15:06] I just told you didn't I. It's a calendar. What do you use a calendar for? Tell me. What? To see what day and what date it is.
[15:21] So yeah we have a calendar here. And what is the day and what is the date? It tells us here that it is Sunday. The 17th of January.
[15:33] So if we're getting up in the morning. And we're not quite sure what day and date it is. We can try and figure it out from the calendar. That's one use that we have for the calendar. Yes. What other things might we use a calendar for?
[15:46] John Rory? Putting down a date on it. Do you mean like if you've got a date with a girlfriend and you don't want to forget and you want to put down your date on the calendar? He looks horrified just for those who are not able to see him.
[16:00] No. You put a date on it don't you? So if you have got something special to go to. Then you put down a date on it. Your mum's birthday.
[16:11] Your dad's birthday. Your devil your dad's birthday. Anniversaries. That kind of thing. We put these dates in the calendar so we can remember that they're coming up.
[16:23] And we can maybe plan for that. And we might not have a calendar. These calendars we have on our walls. But most of us nowadays we have calendars on our phones.
[16:35] And so we'll look at our day. And for the boys and girls especially. Mums and dads and grannies and seniors. You have no idea how complicated their days have got nowadays. There's emails coming in from the school every few minutes.
[16:49] There's V scenes at 11 and 12 and 1. And there's Zoom classes here, there and everywhere. And so the boys and girls actually.
[17:01] They use these calendars. And they might put alarms in the day. So they know I've got a chemistry V scene at 11. I better go and brush my hair at quarter past 10 and get ready for it.
[17:12] Is that not right Alistair? Yeah. Yeah. So calendars are things that we use to help us to plan for the things that we know are coming up.
[17:28] Yeah? Now the second thing I was going to show you. I don't know if I can show it to you. Cammie, do you have your pager with you today? No? Okay. Murdo Faraker.
[17:40] You've got a pager there today. You can't come forward, but you just hold it up like that. And boys and girls, can you see that?
[17:51] Can you see the pager? Just like a wee black box. Now, what is a pager? What is a pager? Do you know what it's for and what it does? Anyone going to put their hand up and tell me?
[18:05] Alistair, you definitely know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. You know. It goes off when there's a fire or when there's an emergency.
[18:15] You're right. That's exactly what happens with a pager. So you can be busy doing something. And on your side there. All of a sudden. It starts to bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep.
[18:27] And Cammie or Murdo jumps like a rocket off their chair. They're out the door. And they're away. Because there's an emergency. And so where there's some kind of trouble. A pager goes off.
[18:39] And they have to fly out the door. Now. Tell me this. When's Murdo Farrakhar's pager going to go off next? Because we have a calendar.
[18:53] And we can put things in a calendar. And we can put down a time and a date. But. If Murdo wants to put in the calendar. When the pager's going to go off next. When's it going to go off?
[19:07] Pardon? Just goes off. Emergencies happen at random times. Don't they? That's what you said. So when's it going to go off next?
[19:20] Pardon? Don't know? What about over here? When's Murdo Farrakhar's pager going to go off next? Don't know? Murdo? Don't know.
[19:34] So. If Murdo or Cammie. Or whoever else. Ammon. Others. Who might have pagers. How can they be prepared? For them to go off?
[19:46] When do they have to be prepared for them to go off? Really? All the time. That's the answer.
[19:58] They need to be always, always, always, always. Ready. Because they never know the moment. That it's going to go off. Now boys and girls.
[20:12] Last Sunday. You know. We got a big shock. As a congregation. And. As a family. Because Effie. Miriam's.
[20:22] Granny. Who seemed so healthy. And so full of life. And who was. In just one moment. She went.
[20:34] From this world. Into. Eternity. Just in a moment. And that leaves us very sad.
[20:47] Because we were. Not expecting that to happen. But you know what makes us. Very happy. What makes us happy.
[20:58] Is knowing. That she was ready. She was ready. And for a long. Long time. She had been ready.
[21:11] For the day. When Jesus. Would call her. From. This. World. Although. None of us. Expected.
[21:21] It was going to be. On that day. She was ready. Now boys and girls. How can we.
[21:33] Be ready. Like she was. For that day. When we go. From this world. How can we be ready? Do we need to.
[21:44] Do we need to. Have done. A thousand. Good things. And no bad things. Is that how we're ready? Is it because of. The great things.
[21:54] That we do. And the bad things. That we try not to do. Is that what makes us ready? Is it? No it's not. Do we need to have gone. To. Five thousand. Church services.
[22:05] And never fallen asleep. In one of them. Is that what makes us ready? No. It's not that too. Just as well. Yeah. Do we need to.
[22:16] Have to have memorized. The whole Bible. To be ready. No. We can be made ready. For that. Day.
[22:27] When Jesus. Calls us. From this world. Just by saying. A short prayer. From our hearts. And we say. In that prayer. Lord Jesus.
[22:38] I'm sorry for my sin. And I believe. That you are God. The son. I believe. That you came to this world.
[22:50] And lived for me. And died on the cross for me. And rose from the dead. To make it possible. For me. To have.
[23:01] Everlasting life. And to be ready. For the day. When I go from this world. That's how we're ready. It's all about Jesus. Trusting him.
[23:15] We read in the verse. John 3.16. Whoever believes in him. Shall not perish. But will have.
[23:28] Everlasting. Life. So let's be sure. That we're ready. Let's be sure. That we're believing. In Jesus. That we're trusting.
[23:39] In him. We'll pray. Lord God. We. We do thank you. That. You have done everything. To make it possible.
[23:50] For us. To be ready. For the day. That Jesus. Comes back. Or the day. That Jesus. Calls us. From this world. We thank you.
[24:01] For Effie. We thank you. For all. The memories. That we have of her. Thank you. For her. Being in church. Week after. Week after week. And for the way. That she.
[24:12] She pointed us. To Jesus. We thank you. We thank you. That she. Was trusting. In Jesus. And we thank you. That the Bible. Tells us. That those who are trusting.
[24:23] In Jesus. When they go. From this world. They don't perish. But they go. To be. With Jesus. And live that. Full.
[24:34] Everlasting. Life. Which we get a taste of. In this world. Which we get the full. Measure of. In the world. To come. Thank you.
[24:45] That she was ready. Help us. Lord. We pray. Whether we are boys. And girls. Whether we are. Maybe older. Maybe there's some people. Here. Who've had lots. And lots. Of chances.
[24:57] To get ready. Maybe there's some people. Who are listening in. Who have heard. Many. Many times. Jesus. Saying to them. Trust me. And who still haven't.
[25:12] Help us to remember. That we never know. The day. We never know. The hour. And we have to be ready. So help us. We pray. Whether we're young. Or whether we're old.
[25:22] To be trusting. In Jesus. And to know. That assurance. Of. Everlasting. Life. And we pray all these things.
[25:34] In Jesus name. And for his sake. Amen. Okay boys and girls. I think. Some of you are. Heading through. To the next room.
[25:46] For a wee. Sunday school lesson. And if we could turn. In our Bibles. Please. To Genesis chapter. 11.
[26:00] And if also. You could put a finger. In Luke chapter 3. Genesis chapter 11.
[26:35] 11. We've been in Genesis. For quite a few weeks. Months now actually. And we're. Making a shift today.
[26:45] From. Genesis 11. Towards. Luke's gospel. Picking up. In Luke chapter 3. So today. We're kind of. Looking at both places.
[26:57] And seeing the connections. As well. Genesis chapter 11. We'll read the whole. Of. This chapter. This is God's word. Now the whole world.
[27:08] Had one language. And a common speech. As men moved. Eastward. They find a plain. And. Shinar. And. Settled there. They said to each other. Come. Let's make bricks.
[27:18] And bake them thoroughly. They used brick. Instead of stone. And bitumen. For mortar. Then they said. Come. Let us build ourselves. A city. With a tower. That reaches.
[27:29] To the heavens. So that we may. Make a name. For ourselves. And not be scattered. Over the face. Of the whole earth. But the Lord God. Came down.
[27:39] To see the city. And the tower. That the men were building. The Lord said. If as one people. Speaking the same language. They have begun. To do this. Then nothing. They plan to do. Will be impossible.
[27:50] For them. Come. Let us go down. And confuse their language. So that they will not. Understand each other. So the Lord. Scattered them. From there. Over all the earth.
[28:01] And he stopped. Building the city. That's why. It was called Babel. Because there. The Lord. Confused the language. Of the whole world. From there. The Lord. Scattered them. Over the face.
[28:12] Of the whole earth. This is the account. Of Shem. Two years. After the flood. When Shem. Was a hundred years old. He became the father. Of Arphaxad.
[28:23] And after he became. The father. Of Arphaxad. Shem lived. Five hundred years. And had other sons. And daughters. When Arphaxad. Had lived another. Thirty five years. He became the father.
[28:34] Of Shelah. And after he became. The father of Shelah. Arphaxad. Lived four hundred and three years. And had other sons. And daughters. And Shelah. Had lived thirty years.
[28:45] He became. The father. Of Eber. And after he became. The father. Of Eber. Shelah. Lived four hundred. Three years. And had. Other sons. And daughters. When Eber.
[28:55] had lived 34 years he became the father of Peleg and after he became the father of Peleg Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. When Peleg had lived 30 years he became the father of Rehul and after he became the father of Rehul Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. When Rehul had lived 32 years he became the father of Sirag and after he became the father of Sirag, Ria lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. When Sirag had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. And after he became the father of Nahor, Sirag lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. And you can see the pattern here. I don't think I'll battle through all the names, but you can just note these different names and the structure of the text there. We've got these names, Nahor and Tira, and then onto Abram. And over the page, in my Bible anyway, we have Haran, we have Nahor, we have Abram's wife. And we see the account of Tira in addition to the account of Shem and this genealogy that's shared. So at the end of chapter 11, we were taken to the end of that family tree. And now we'll flick from Genesis chapter 11 to Luke chapter 3. And at verse 23, we read, now Jesus himself was about 30 years old so they're Free. When he began his ministry, he was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melkei, the son of Jonai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Elsi, the son of Nagai, the son of Mahath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Simeon, the son of
[31:20] Joseph, the son of Jodah, the son of Joanan. and so you can follow down the list there and we see quite a lot of names that perhaps don't mean a whole lot to us a number of these names and if I pick back up in this genealogy in verse 33 where we're reading that Jesus was the son of Isaac the son of Abraham the son of Terah the son of Naor the son of Sirag the son of Reut the son of Peleg the son of Eber the son of Shelah the son of Canaan the son of Arphaxad the son of Shem the son of Noah the son of Lamech the son of Methuselah the son of Enoch the son of Jared the son of Mahalel the son of Canaan the son of Enosh the son of Seth the son of Adam the son of God and may God add his blessing to that reading of his word and we'll pray for a moment again as we come back to his word our heavenly father we thank you that all scripture is God breathed and it's useful for teaching and correction instruction training and righteousness there are some passages that we that we often gravitate towards other passages that we struggle with and yet we we bow before you and we acknowledge that your word is inspired by the Holy Spirit and we pray for the help of the Holy Spirit as we look at these lists as we look at this chapter and as we consider what you may be saying to us through it we pray Lord for your guidance we pray for your help we pray that you would give us ears to hear that you would give us eyes to see that you would stir our hearts and meet with us and what we pray for ourselves we pray for the congregations who meet around us on
[33:24] Zoom or in buildings we pray also for those who will meet just shortly we think of Stuart especially as he prepares to take the the service in Scalpy this morning we pray that he would know the help of the Holy Spirit and we pray that you would speak through him we thank you for him and for Joyce and for Emily we thank you for the work that they do with the young people in YF and we pray that you would work through Stuart this morning in this in this opportunity that you have led him into and we pray for the congregation also that we've spoken of in Garibost we pray for Ian Thompson as he prepares to go there and we ask Lord that you would use him as your man in that place at this time we ask that he would be enabled to preach the the unsearchable riches of Christ and we pray that many would be drawn to faith through his ministry there be at work in that place we pray and we ask that you would be at work now in our hearts for we pray these things in Jesus name and for his sake
[34:34] Amen if you could have Genesis 11 and Luke 3 open in front of you that would be helpful one of my recurring childhood memories is of being in Ness where my mother's folks are from and I can remember many occasions where I would be there and my granny and Shenna and parents and uncles and aunties and lots of relatives would be in their house and they'd be maybe gathered around the kitchen table they'd be drinking tea and they'd be talking about people and they'd be talking about how this person was related to that person who was related to this person who was related to that person who was related to us and that's my memory from childhood there seemed to be these conversations that were on endlessly about all these names of people that I didn't know but that they had great interest in and even this week in conversation with someone who is from Ness when he realised that my mother was from Ness the first question was who are your people and then on went the conversation until he established who are these names who are these people how are you connected and we tend to love to do that as island people we love making connections we love to see how families and communities have come together and how we relate to each other even if we've come as I have from the outside in there's great interest in knowing well who's related to who and how and that seems to be an education that never stops going on now last week we were in
[36:40] Genesis chapter 11 that's where our focus was and we thought for the majority of our time about that account of the tower of Babel but we also looked briefly at the genealogy all these names are Faxad and Shelah and Eber and Peleg and Reu and Serag and Nahor and Tira and we can scan through these names and we don't know too much about too many of them I think in Sunday school classes we probably aren't getting lessons on the life of Arfaxad and Shelah and Eber and so on we don't know a whole lot about these names we don't recognise them to any great degree but having had just read Luke chapter 3 these names although they may not mean a lot to us they'll be ringing a bell because they are names which we've just seen were all part of the family line that God planned and it was a family line that would lead all the way to Jesus and the first point
[37:59] I want us to consider today is God's plan this family tree this genealogy it speaks to us about God's plan now over Christmas we spent a very brief amount of time looking at Luke chapter 1 and chapter 2 and they're familiar chapters in these chapters Dr. Luke he tells us the story of the birth of Jesus we have all these characters and all these familiar scenes in Luke chapter 1 and chapter 2 but in Luke chapter 3 Luke begins to address the question of who was Jesus and part of his answer actually comes through this family tree kind of strange place for us to begin we would think but Luke takes time to share with us this genealogy this family tree as he considers the answer to the question who was
[39:05] Jesus and it says in verse 23 of Luke chapter 3 that he Jesus was the son so it was thought of Joseph and Luke when he writes that I think almost winks in our direction and says to us well people thought Joseph was Jesus father but we know that God was his true father and yet it was through the family line of Joseph that Jesus came through you could say that Joseph did not adopt Jesus as his son but Jesus adopted Joseph as his legal father for the time that he was in this world and then Luke continues he Jesus was the son so it was thought of Joseph the son verse 24 of Heli the son of Mathat the son of Levi the son of Melchi and we can follow the names all the way down the line many of them not too familiar with us but if we pick back up at verse 34 we read that Jesus was the son of
[40:09] Abraham the son of Tira now with Genesis 11 in our mind we know that name the son of Nahor we recognize that name too the son of Serag the son of Reh the son of Peleg the son of Eber the son of Shelah the son of Canaan the son of Arphaxad the son of Shem the son of Noah the son of Lamech the son of Methuselah the son of Enoch the son of Jared the son of Mahalel the son of Kenan the son of Enosh the son of Seth the son of Adam the son of God and these names from verse 34 down are names that we recognize from our journey through Genesis they're names through which God's promise of salvation would be carried their names that point us forward to Jesus homeschooling at the moment is a challenge for many parents it's probably a greater challenge for many children but grace things in our homeschooling
[41:27] French class always seems to get these word searches sent back for French homework so you get this page of about that dimension with all these tiny little letters that are all pushed together and when you look at it first of all certainly when I do it's just a big scrambled mess letters but the closer you look and the longer you look you begin to see these French words and these phrases and these patterns which are developing and that's often how things are in the Bible at first glance when we pick up Genesis 11 and we go through that genealogy of that family tree of Shem that line of Shem at first glance when we pick up Luke chapter 3 and we see the genealogy of Jesus we don't see the relevance we're tempted to come to that section and just bypass it why is it in there we want to ask
[42:38] Luke but as we look closer and as we ask for God the Holy Spirit to help us even with these sections that we may normally be tempted to skip over we begin to see Jesus John Maxwell an elder who was with me in Torridon and days gone by he's now with the Lord in glory he used to say to me David look for Jesus on every page of the Bible no matter where you are look for Jesus and even in the density of these names within the family line of Shem in Genesis 11 we see that God was building this family line we see that God was planning through this family line to send his son to be our saviour so even these names they speak to us of the fact that God had a plan and he was working that plan out through all these names and through all these details that we may be tempted actually to overlook and the application here for our encouragement is to know that the
[44:13] God who does not change still he is working to a plan and still he is working out a plan and things at times and in seasons of life and when we struggle with difficult circumstances sometimes it feels to us like things are chaotic that everything is in free fall but it doesn't look that way to God he is sovereign he is in control he has a plan for this world that looks so broken he has a plan for your life we can't always see it we can't always understand it but we can trust him with it we see
[45:18] God's plan here the apostle Paul saw God's plan clearly he's one who spent so much of his Christian life and ministry getting beaten up getting attacked both physically and verbally he spent many years in prison we see him in second Timothy which we're studying on Wednesday nights on death row he's isolated he's disowned by his family he's disowned by many of his Christian brothers and yet the apostle Paul he went through all that says in Romans 8 28 and we know that in all things
[46:19] God works for the good of those who love him at times it's hard for us to see that perhaps in this season pandemics and with all the political chaos that we seem to see everywhere it's hard for us to see that in our personal struggles it can be hard for us to see that but even when we can't see it it's still true Hugh and I were we went for a walk up Gullivore a week last Friday I think it was the day was crystal clear it's a beautiful day and when we got to the top you could see St.
[47:04] Kilda so clearly so distinctly and we focused on it for a while now today you could go up the same hill but because of the clouds because of the rain there'd be no sign of St.
[47:22] Kilda but we know that even though we can't see it even though it's hidden from us it's still there and God's plan can be like that sometimes we can't see it sometimes it looks like a big scrambled list of names but God's plan is still there in the midst of it he's still working to his plan and our job as Christians is to have faith in him and what he's doing the definition of faith probably the best definition of faith that I've read outside of the Bible is a simple definition by Sally Lloyd Jones in the Jesus Storybook Bible when she spoke about Mary who when she heard about God's plan for her life she believed more than her eyes could see so we see here first of all even in the middle of all these names we see
[48:38] God's plan as it is defined and as it develops the second thing we see here is God's patience there's God's plan and secondly here we see God's patience we see how patient God is and we see God's patience as we think about the people he was planning to save now if we look at our calendars here we can see it's not too long before Valentine's Day is coming up and some people make plans in advance of Valentine's Day they do things to express something of their love for those that they find attractive and those that they love be near think for a moment about God's plan that we trace from
[49:39] Genesis 11 this plan of salvation think about the people that he was planning to save think about the people that he loved and he was focused on for their salvation were these people attractive we find them in Babel were they attractive were they lovable were they kind and gentle were they a people who loved God and who trusted God well no they were not they were anything but all of these things things in Genesis 11 as we thought about last Sunday man is not that is most lovable we see him at his worst he's building a city against God's will that will grow into a center of rebellion against God he's erecting this tower through which he will confront
[50:43] God that's his plan with the greatness of who he was that's the pride of man that's what's in his heart and in Genesis 11 we see the wider family of Noah this is the family who had experienced that awesome power of God both in the judgment of the flood and the salvation that they had received through the ark all this had happened less than a hundred years before Babel and yet we see them in Babel as a people who are determined not to remember who God is and what God had done for them in Genesis 11 as we look to Babel we see a people who are determined in their unbelief and who are willful rebels against God and yet in the middle of all this rebellion in the muck and the mire of man's sin and his pride
[51:53] God is so patient God is planning in the middle of all of this God is planning through the family line of Shem to send his son Jesus to be their saviour and our saviour if we look to him and the one that God was planning to send he would be a man coming from a long line of men that could be traced through the genealogy that Luke shared and it was necessary that he would be a man in order that he would be our substitute Barclay the commentator says the genealogy stresses the real humanity of Jesus sometimes we forget that don't we Jesus was a real man what you and I experience he experienced even more so because of the sensitivity of who he was he wasn't numbed by sin he was a man amongst men says Barclay he was no phantom or demigod to save men he became in the most real sense a man but the one that
[53:25] God planned to send would be the God man yes he would come down the line of Shem but he would come originally from heaven he would come from glory the second person of the Trinity and that was necessary in order that he would be our saviour the patience of God in all that he is planning and all that he is working out Strasner the commentator says here we have a wonderful reminder that amid all the mess of Babel God remembered mercy and set aside a people to whom he would grant undeservedly salvation isn't it wonderful to know says Strasner all the way back in Genesis 11 on the heels of one of the greatest rebellions in human history God was planning to send his son
[54:26] God truly loves sinners and longs to save them God God God you know some people have this twisted character of the God of the Old Testament in their minds they see him as a harsh impatient capricious God different to the God of the New Testament and yet we would only look closer we see that from the very beginning from the genesis of scripture the grace and the patience of God is shining through we as a people are so quick to write people off when they cross us we are so ready to withdraw from people when they hurt us and when they become unattractive to us we as a people are so impatient with each other but our
[55:39] God is so patient with us even when the spirit of Babel gets into us and we determine that we will rebel against God and his way and his word even when we refuse to bow down and worship the creator and when we seek glory for ourselves God is patient with us not wanting any to perish but everyone to come to repentance everyone to come in faith to the God who saves so we see God's plan we see God's patience God's and finally we see God's promised saviour everything is building to this we see
[56:42] God's promised saviour and Luke's gospel is all about God's promised saviour it's the good news about Jesus we read the account that Luke carefully investigates and presents and as we do so we have this high definition picture of God's promised saviour Jesus Luke talks in chapter 1 verse 1 of his gospel about the things that have been fulfilled among us Luke in his gospel he's looking backwards he's following the signs that the prophets gave he's making these connections with the Old Testament he's recalling the promises that God had given to the prophets that are fulfilled in Jesus we see it consistently through his gospel but even if we narrow our focus to the chapters that we've been in the last few weeks we can see that everything even in
[57:43] Genesis is pointing to Jesus and it's fulfilled in Jesus so go back to Genesis please one more time before we move on and just scan these chapters don't worry we won't do a long scan five minutes most note here as we glance these chapters that everything is pointing to Jesus Genesis one the creation account we hear the word of God bringing life into being and we ask the question well who is the word because all the power is coming through the word as it's spoken out who is the word of God and we know that the word of God is he has a name
[58:48] John in John 1 14 says the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and John identifies immediately that the word is Jesus so in the creation account of Genesis 1 in the perfection of all that God makes we see the handiwork of Jesus flick on to Genesis 3 and we see tragedy we see the perfection of creation of being marred Adam falls into sin things become dark things become bleak death comes into the world which was never God's design but then there's a promise that's made Genesis 3 15 there's the promise of one to come who would be as the avie puts of the seed of the woman meaning that he would be born as a man he would take the curse of sin upon himself he would be willing to be struck down on the cross so that a man could be saved and sin and Satan and death and hell could be crushed so who do we see there in that promise of Genesis 3 15 where we see God's promised saviour
[60:10] Jesus then flick on to Genesis 6 through to Genesis 8 we see the flood such a stark grim picture of God's judgment for 100 years over 100 years God promised it was coming it was no surprise but he offered salvation to all who would enter into the ark that he provided so we ask the question well who does the ark point us to who is able to save us from God's wrath who is able to give rest and eternal safety to those who are in him and the answer is only God's promised saviour Jesus Genesis 9 the rainbow the sign the sign of the covenant the sign of the covenant the
[61:16] Hebrew word for bow in this text is the same Hebrew word used for the kind of bow one uses in battle as in bow and arrows God is talking says Wilson through the rainbow about laying down his weapons see with the rainbow the bow is laid down the rainbow speaks to us about God's peace so we ask the question who is it that made it possible for us to have peace with God and the answer again is God's promised saviour Jesus Wilson says we keep seeking peace peace where there is no peace and we only find our true lasting eternal joy saturated peace when it comes by the spirit of God straight from father God in the gospel of the son of
[62:19] God in Christ Jesus work we see that God lays down his bow so in Genesis 9 through that rainbow we see God's promised saviour Jesus and then in Genesis 11 as we follow that long line through these strange names as we scan through these characters like Arphaxad and Shelah and Shem it's a line that takes us from Genesis 11 to Luke chapter 3 and who do we see there we see God's promised saviour Jesus so today I want to just simply say put your hope in
[63:23] Jesus he was always God's plan for our salvation he is still God's plan for our salvation there's no other way we can be saved there's no other name through which we can be saved in Christ alone our hope is found so put your hope in Jesus it's in him that we see the fullness of God's patience and it's at his cross that we see the wonder of God's love for us and his grace towards us put your hope in Jesus he is God's promised saviour he is the one who came to reverse the effects of the fall in Genesis 3 he is the one who came to save us from the flood of
[64:23] God's judgment that we see in Genesis 6 to 8 he is the one who laid down the bow of God's wrath in order that we who were rebels against God could be reconciled with God and no peace peace which begins in time that goes on eternally and as we finish what comfort there is for us in knowing that those who put their hope in Jesus as if he did go in an instant to that place of eternal peace and rest a place that Jesus has prepared for those who love him what eternal benefits there are for those who will believe for those who will put their hope in
[65:43] Jesus shorter catechism chapter question 37 some of you will still remember it what benefits do believers receive from Christ at death it's the question the answer the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory and their bodies being still united to Christ do rest in their graves until the resurrection that's the assurance for all who are trusting in God's promised saviour so will you put your hope in him today our heavenly father we pray that as we come to listen to the final praise being sung that we would be able to say from our own hearts in Christ alone my hope is found and we pray these things in
[67:10] Jesus name amen Cammie will now sing the final hymn in Christ alone my hope is found my hope is found and just to help Cammie under pressure the number in the book is number 1072 I have nightmares about not being able to find numbers in books and books in Bible 1072 in mission praise and Cammie will sing the sermon Christ alone our hope is found he is my light my strength my song as cornerstone this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm but heights of love what depths of peace when fears are stilled when strivings cease my comforter my all in all here in the love of Christ
[69:03] I stand in Christ alone who took on flesh fullness of God in helpless babe this gift of love and righteousness scorned by the ones he came to save till the cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was satisfied for every sin on him was laid here in the death of Christ I live there in the ground his body lay light of the world by darkness slain then bursting forth in glorious day up from the grave he rose again and as he stands in victory since curse has lost its grip on me for I am his and he is mine bought with the precious blood of Christ no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath
[70:54] Jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ I'll stand we'll stand for the benediction and I may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship the comfort of God the Holy Spirit be with us all both now and forevermore Amen