Jesus calls Levi
[0:00] A warm welcome to those who are tuning in on the live stream, those who may be listening in on the telephone. This evening, as I intimated earlier today, we look forward to hearing Alistair MacDonald giving his testimony, Alistair from Ardazig. As these restrictions have continued, we've been looking to share maybe one testimony per month, and this evening we look forward to hearing how God has worked and is working in the life of Alistair. And so we'll have that within the service, and if you've tuned in tonight for the first time or tuned in perhaps to listen particularly to Alistair's testimony, it's good to know that you're there, and we pray that together we'll know God's blessing as we seek to worship him together. We will begin this time of worship by singing to God's praise, and we'll sing from Psalm 40, or Farahir, we'll sing and we'll follow on.
[0:59] Psalm 40 and verses 1 to verse 5. This is the testimony really of the psalmist. It's the testimony of every Christian. I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear. At length to me he did incline my voice and cried to hear. He took me from a fearful pit and from the miry clay and on a rock.
[1:20] He set my feet establishing my way. Down to the end of verse 5. Farahir will sing this praise and after that he'll lead us in a word of prayer in Gaelic, please.
[1:32] I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear. At length to me he did.
[2:02] He did incline at length to me. He did incline my voice and cry to hear. He took me from a fearful pit and from the he did incline my voice and cry to hear. He took me from a fearful pit and from the a new song in my mouth. He put a new song in my mouth. Our God to magnify. Many shall see it and shall fear. Many shall see it and shall fear.
[3:32] and on the Lord rely. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies.
[3:44] O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies.
[3:56] O Lord motions. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord perpocerzu.
[4:11] Could not search as turn aside to lies. O Lord, my God, full many are, The wonders thou hast done, Thy gracious thoughts to us were far, Thy gracious thoughts to us were far, Above all thoughts are gone.
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[16:05] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.
[16:17] Thank you. Thank you. Well, let's read a portion from God's Word now from Luke chapter 5.
[16:30] Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5. And we'll look at this short section where Jesus calls Levi to follow him.
[16:42] Essentially, it's the testimony of Levi. Luke 5. Luke 5 and at verse 27. After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.
[16:58] Follow me, Jesus said to him. Follow me, Jesus said to him. And Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house. And a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
[17:14] But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples. Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
[17:25] Jesus answered them. It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
[17:42] I'll pray for a moment. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the testimony here that we have of Levi as he begins to follow Jesus.
[17:54] And we pray that you would help us as we look at this testimony. And we pray also that you would help us as we listen to the testimony that Alistair shares. We thank you that you're the God who worked in years gone by, thousands of years back.
[18:09] And you're the God who is still working through your people today. So help us to listen, help us to understand, help us to speak. And help us to respond in a way that brings glory to your name.
[18:24] And bring salvation into our souls if we have not yet received it. So hear us and help us, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. I want to just take a few moments to consider the passage that we read from Luke chapter 5.
[18:44] Now for those who were tuning in this morning, we noted that at this point in Jesus ministry, lots of people had lots of questions about Jesus.
[18:58] And lots of questions were being asked directly to Jesus. And we know how that is. If a new name comes into the political limelight, immediately people have questions.
[19:12] Who is this person? Where have they come from? And when the questions begin to be asked, the journalists start to dig for answers. And in Luke 5, it's not the local journalists that have questions about Jesus.
[19:25] It's the local religious leaders. They're watching Jesus closely. They don't particularly like what they're hearing and seeing. He's drawing much more crowds than they can draw.
[19:36] He speaks with much more authority than they speak with. And so they have a lot of questions to ask of Jesus. And this morning we thought about their first question.
[19:47] There was a situation where a man was brought to Jesus for healing. He was paralyzed. But in the course of that encounter, Jesus said to the man, friend, your sins are forgiven.
[20:00] And the healing that Jesus wanted to give to this man was more than a healing of his body. It was healing of his heart. And when the Pharisees heard Jesus declare that this man's heart had been touched, his sins had been forgiven, And immediately they asked this question.
[20:23] Who can forgive sins but God alone? And that's the question we thought about at some length this morning. And yet that's the truth that Jesus wanted them and wants us to see.
[20:36] Who can forgive sins but God alone? That's exactly it. And Jesus was introducing himself to them as the God-man, as the Messiah, as the Savior of sinners.
[20:50] He came to this world. He went to a cross on a mission to save them and on a mission to save us from our sins. And some were beginning to see this as they were watching Jesus.
[21:01] Some were beginning to see that Jesus was the Messiah, that he was the Son of God, that he was the Savior. But the Pharisees, the religious leaders of that day, and the scribes, they were less than convinced.
[21:20] And one of the reasons they were less than convinced was because Jesus seemed to keep company with the type of person that they didn't approve of.
[21:31] He was mixing with some shady types, people like Levi. And when the Pharisees saw that, they had another question for Jesus.
[21:42] And that's the question we'll think about within the context of this testimony. They asked Jesus, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
[21:53] And so we see this tax collector, Levi, he comes into focus. And we see in these verses how Levi is called by Jesus. He's called to Jesus and he begins to follow Jesus.
[22:06] So tonight we have, within the course of this service, two testimonies. We have the testimony of Alistair, the shepherd from Ardazig. And we have the testimony of Levi, the tax collector from Galilee.
[22:20] So let's just look at these verses. Verse 27. It says, after this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth.
[22:33] And I think it's important that we notice that right from the beginning, this testimony, in fact, every testimony, it starts with Jesus. We read in Romans chapter 3, verses 11 and 12, that there's no one who seeks God.
[22:52] All have turned away. That's our preset. We don't have hearts that are oriented to seek God.
[23:03] We know that there's a restlessness within us. But because of our sin, we don't, on our own initiative, seek God. And that was certainly true of Levi.
[23:16] Levi was very far away from God. He didn't wake up that morning and say, I think I'd like to follow Jesus. We don't see him in this passage locking up his tax booth for the day in order to go and seek Jesus.
[23:34] But what we see here is that Jesus came to seek and save sinners like Levi and like us. So all the movement here, all the initiative is on the part of Jesus.
[23:48] Verse 27, Jesus went out. Jesus saw a tax collector by the name of Levi. Jesus was seeking Levi. And he was seeking Levi when Levi seems not to have been seeking him.
[24:06] And still that's what Jesus does. He comes to us. He sees us. And through the word of God, by the power of the spirit of God, he seeks us.
[24:24] That's perhaps why we're tuning in tonight. Because God is seeking us. He is coming to us. He is drawing us to himself. So who was this man Levi?
[24:35] Levi, as we think about him. What do we know about Levi? Levi? Well, we know that he would have been one of the most unpopular men in that place. Levi would have been hated.
[24:47] He was a Jew. But he worked as a tax collector for the Romans. And that's one of the reasons that he would have been hated. He'd sold out.
[24:58] He turned against his old people. He was a traitor. He was working for the opposition. And the other reason he would have been hated was because of the dishonesty of his profession.
[25:10] See, back then the Roman government would set a level of taxation for each area. And they would employ people, tax collectors like Levi, to gather the amount for the area that they were responsible for.
[25:26] But what actually happened, what people like Levi actually did, was they would gather much more than the amount that they were required to pay to the Romans.
[25:37] And the excess that they managed to extract from their own people, they would put into their own pockets. So being a tax collector was a lucrative business.
[25:48] Levi would have been a rich man. He would have been a fairly intelligent man. He would have had to have spoken several languages to be able to do the trade that he was doing.
[26:00] He would have been competent in administration. He would have been able to deal with these Roman civil servants. But he is a man who also would have been able to deal with the rougher characters of the criminal underworld.
[26:14] Because if someone couldn't pay the taxes that Levi had decided they were due, then the tax collector would become a loan shark.
[26:27] And they would lend money to the person who didn't have the money to pay the taxes at the precise moment. And then they would apply lots of interest to that money.
[26:38] And if that money was not paid back to them with extortionate rates of interest at the right time, there was violence. There was blood. So tax collectors back then, they weren't dull people in suits who worked for the HMRC.
[26:59] They were the gangsters of the day. Robbers, murderers, tax collectors were all classed together.
[27:10] They were in the same bracket. That was the circle that people feared. They were the lowest of the low. So that was Levi.
[27:21] Levi was the kind of man that most Jews wanted nothing to do with. And so we asked the question, why is Jesus going to him?
[27:36] And what would Jesus have to say to him? Well, we're told that in verse 27, we don't have to imagine. Follow me, Jesus said to him.
[27:50] Follow me. Can you imagine Levi for a moment? Imagine what was going through his mind. Imagine what he may have said in response in his thoughts.
[28:03] Me? Follow you? You must have me mixed up with someone else. No one wants me following them. Everyone knows the kind of man that I am.
[28:17] Everyone knows the things that I have done and I'm doing. Everyone knows the kind of business I am in. Surely someone like me is beyond the call of Jesus.
[28:30] Surely this is a mistake, Jesus. You're not calling me. But this was no mistake. Jesus knows Levi.
[28:42] He knows his name. He knows exactly what his tax booth is. He knows his reputation. He knows his history.
[28:54] And yet still he calls him. And I don't know who's watching, who's tuning in tonight at any night. But maybe there are some who are watching, who are listening, who feel themselves to be in the same circle as Levi.
[29:16] maybe there are some who think back on the past and they have a dark past. I think all of us can say that we have done things, said things, thought things we are ashamed of.
[29:31] Perhaps we have lost friends. Perhaps there are people who don't speak to us because of the way that we've treated them in past days. And yet tonight, if you're hearing this, Jesus is speaking to you.
[29:49] And he says to you and he says to me, follow me. Verse 28, what would happen next? Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.
[30:09] And now he's a disciple of Jesus. It's very sudden. It's very straightforward. It's very simple. Now he's a disciple of Jesus.
[30:20] We might ask the question, how is that possible? How is it possible that a man like that can suddenly, almost instantaneously, become a disciple of Jesus?
[30:32] And the answer to that question we'll hear sung at the end of the service, amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. There's no one, not even Levi, who is beyond the reach of God's grace.
[30:50] And let's never forget that. Let's never look in the mirror. Let's never look in the eyes of another person. No matter how grim their life may look, or our lives may look, and think that we're beyond the reach of the grace of Jesus.
[31:09] Levi teaches us, for one thing, that everybody who hears the call of Jesus is to respond. There's no one who's beyond the reach.
[31:22] There's no write-offs when it comes to God. So Jesus calls Levi. And notice, he doesn't say to Levi, Levi, I want you to close down your tax booth.
[31:37] That's step one. I want you to clean yourself up. And then once you've sorted your life out, let's give you six months, then let's have a chat, and then let's see it about you coming to follow me.
[31:49] No, no. What Jesus does is he meets him in the tax booth where he is, and he says, follow me. When?
[32:00] Now. And Levi immediately follows Jesus. There's a lesson there for the person who has been perhaps hearing the call of Jesus for days, weeks, months, years, decades even.
[32:21] And who says repeatedly to Jesus, well, maybe next week maybe next year I've got some things still to sort out. There's a few messes in my life that I need to clean up before I start following.
[32:35] Levi teaches us through this testimony not to lose a minute. When Jesus calls, when we hear his voice, we must not harden our hearts.
[32:46] We must not say maybe tomorrow. We follow today. To Levi, we see him. He's now following Jesus.
[32:59] But that's not the end of the story. That's just the beginning for Levi. Verse 29, then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.
[33:16] Now, what do we see here in the life of Levi? Levi? Well, we see a picture of salvation. We're given a picture here of what it looks like to become a Christian.
[33:30] There's three things to note, and I'm just going to give them to you to note. Don't worry, these are not three points of a sermon that's coming. I'll give you three things that we see in Levi's life, three things that are common to every testimony.
[33:43] The first thing is, Levi responds to the call of Jesus. Jesus says, follow me. And even though it meant leaving behind a lucrative job, even though it meant a complete change of life, even though it was going to be costly to have this change of direction, Levi left behind the old sinful life.
[34:08] He repents. He responds to the call of Jesus. He follows Jesus. So Levi responds to the call of Jesus. That's the first thing we see.
[34:20] The second thing we see is that Levi remains with Jesus. Because in verse 29, we see that Jesus is in Levi's home. Levi wants to spend time with Jesus.
[34:33] He wants Jesus to remain with him. He wants Jesus to eat and to have fellowship with him. See, Levi, he responds to the call of Jesus.
[34:44] That's the first thing. He remains with Jesus. That's the second thing. And the final thing we see here is that Levi reaches out to tell other people and to bring other people to Jesus.
[34:57] not only is Jesus in Levi's house, but Levi puts on this great banquet, this huge party. And he asks a large crowd of the people that he knew and he worked with to come to this banquet to spend time with him.
[35:14] So we can imagine the clientele that were in that banquet, all the robbers of the day, the murderers, the hitmen, the fraudsters, all the gangsters of Galilee likely were there.
[35:30] Levi wants them to meet Jesus. He reaches out to them because he wants them to meet Jesus.
[35:40] He wants them to hear about Jesus. Why? Well, I think what was going through Levi's mind was, well, if Jesus can save me, then maybe he can save them.
[36:00] John Wesley said, no man ever went to heaven alone. He must either find friends or make them. William Barclay, who quotes that in his little commentary, says, it is a Christian duty to share the blessedness we have found in Jesus.
[36:21] and that's what we see Levi doing here. He reaches out to tell other people about Jesus. Even though it's at the risk of great ridicule, it's at the risk perhaps of great danger.
[36:34] He reaches out to all these dangerous characters to tell them about Jesus. So we have a picture of salvation there.
[36:46] Levi responds to the call of Jesus. Levi remains with Jesus. And Levi reaches out to tell others about Jesus.
[36:57] So there's a checklist for us. For the person who is maybe not sure, am I a Christian? Here's some questions to ask. First of all, have I responded to the call of Jesus?
[37:13] To repent of sin, to change direction, to follow him. We'll hear Alistair talking about that in just a moment. For him, it wasn't a criminal lifestyle that he was deep in, but it was a bottle of whiskey he was battling with.
[37:32] The Lord made clear to him that he needed to turn away from that and turn to, and turn back to Jesus. Have I responded to the call of Jesus?
[37:49] Second question as we think about our own state of heart is, am I remaining with Jesus? Levi didn't just have a conversation with Jesus.
[38:00] He doesn't just have a fleeting encounter, some kind of short spiritual experience, and then go on his way. No, he follows Jesus. He wants to spend time with Jesus.
[38:11] He wants to speak with him. He wants to listen to him. And again, we let that question come to ourselves. Are we remaining with Jesus? Day by day, are we speaking to him in prayer?
[38:26] Are we listening to him as we open our Bibles? We'll hear Alistair talking about that also. How precious prayer was and is. How precious the word of God was and is in the life of a Christian.
[38:41] That's how we remain in him. The third question that comes to us in application is, am I reaching out to tell others about Jesus, to bring others to Jesus?
[38:56] And I know it's not easy to do that. It wasn't easy for Levi to do that. I know it wasn't easy for Alistair this evening to reach out to us and tell us about Jesus.
[39:15] But it's what Christians, it's what Christ wants, are called to do. So Levi, the tax collector, he's converted, he becomes a Christian.
[39:33] He now has a testimony. He's a follower of Jesus. And some people perhaps were happy for him, but not everyone approved of what he'd done.
[39:49] Not everyone approved of this situation that was unfolding. And as the story comes to an end, the camera zooms in on the Pharisees, and we get to hear the conversation.
[40:01] And they have a question for Jesus' disciples. In fact, it's less of a question, it's more of a protest against Jesus. Verse 30, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their set complained to his disciples, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?
[40:21] And Jesus answered them in verse 31, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
[40:35] I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. See, the Pharisees, the religious leaders then, they were full of religion.
[40:49] but they could not see or they would not see how full of sin they were, how sick their hearts were, and they were not prepared to accept that they were not right before God.
[41:10] And until that changed, Jesus could do nothing for them. Jesus would not be eating and drinking with them.
[41:22] He says, I haven't come to call those who think they are righteous in and of themselves. He says, I've come for the Levites.
[41:34] I've come for the people who know that they are sinners. sinners. And tonight, if you and I see our sin, it's because God the Holy Spirit has shown us our sin.
[41:57] And tonight, if we're still hearing this, it's because Jesus is coming to us. As he came to Levi, he's eating and drinking in a sense with us.
[42:10] As he ate and drank with Levi, he's calling us to repentance, as he did with Levi. And he offers us forgiveness.
[42:24] He leads us in the way of full, abundant, eternal life, if we will simply follow him.
[42:38] So be encouraged this evening, please. As you listen to the testimony of Levi, and as you and I listen to the testimony of Alistair, be encouraged to follow the Lord Jesus as they point us to him.
[42:55] And I will hear Alistair share some words of testimony. Amazing grace, oh sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
[43:09] I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see. It is the love of the Lord for me that is leaving me, standing here tonight. I don't need to introduce myself, as you all know me.
[43:23] I was born in the village of Adasic, a family of four, two girls and two boys. My mother was a Christian, and she died at the age of 33.
[43:36] I was about six years old at the time, that left a void in my life. From then on I was brought up by my Christian father, and with the help of my aunties that stayed at Cunaharstu.
[43:51] I was very close to my father, and many a prayer he put up for me. I remember many a night sitting with him, reading the Bible and singing songs.
[44:06] During family worship, before bedtime, I sat silent. At the age of 15, I was called up to national service in the army, where I was for two years, and then came home and got a job in the tweed mill at Harvard.
[44:23] After getting married, we moved to the mainland, where I was shepherding for five years. We moved then back to our houses with the family after my father died.
[44:37] I took over the crops and my father's sheep, and I worked at the fish farming in our houses. We were a regular church course at this time, and there was lots of fellowship meetings in every village, both in the church and in the houses above.
[44:53] I was aware of the spirit of God during the meetings and eventually went forward and sat at the Lord's table. After a few years, things started to go wrong in my life and in my home.
[45:09] Instead of taking problems to the Lord, I tried to talk them out myself. it was like I was walking along the road with the Lord beside me, but on the other side of the road was the roaring lion, watching me getting weaker and weaker.
[45:30] One night that lion came to my home in the shape of a bottle of whiskey, and before morning, everything in my life fell apart before me.
[45:41] I carried on walking away from the Lord. I was on the wrong path away from God for years and years. I am thankful the Lord never turned his back on me in this time.
[45:52] I continued to go to church despite being on the wrong path. I carried on working at the fish farm and eventually moved to my granny's house, where I am now.
[46:06] I took early retirement from the fish farm and continued to work on the craft and fishing. One day I was up at the pub in Tarbot and I got a lift home.
[46:21] I stopped that day at Diana's house and I started telling her about my problems. I told her that at first I was blind and I went to Tarbot, I could only see the pub.
[46:37] And Diana said, I'm going to Sally, that this needs a prayer. But I can't remember anything he said. I went home and carried on drinking and going to the pub.
[46:53] Then I started to have dreams. They were very vivid at this time. One night I dreamt I was walking down to Sandy's old house. And I went inside and climbed the stairs.
[47:05] At the top of the stairs there was a big hole in the floor. inside the hole a strong power was pulling me down into the hole. The only thing I could do was to pray, pray, Lord help me.
[47:19] I managed to get away and get home. But this awful power followed me and went round and round the house trying to get in. Praying to the Lord was the only thing for me.
[47:32] I walked full of fear, walked up full of fear, alone in the house. I felt the full face of Satan. Another night I dreamt I could see Jesus walking to Calvary with the cross and a big crowd following.
[47:52] Oh, it was where he wanted me to go. I had to go to Calvary. One day when gathering sheep on the cross.
[48:05] I was walking along in front of the house and the Lord spoke to me. And he said, I was there, you are not going to drink anymore. And you're not going to the pub.
[48:18] I went home that evening and there was a bottle of whiskey in the cupboard and a beer in the fridge. But I couldn't look at it.
[48:29] God took away drink out of my life. A few weeks later I told Uncle Salik that I wasn't going to drink anymore.
[48:43] Uncle Salik never said a thing. I think he must have been shocked. Although I had stopped drinking and my life had changed, I was scared to go forward again in case I would sleep again.
[48:57] Everyone around me could see the change in my life. Reverend Norman McKeever, Ina and Uncle Salik would encourage me to go forward at the communions, but I always had an excuse.
[49:12] In the end they stopped asking me and I felt disappointed. When the next communion came round, I was waiting for Angus Salik to come down and pick me up.
[49:27] I was watching from the window and my eye caught the Bible that was on the table beside me. I opened the Bible and I opened it at John chapter 14.
[49:41] I read a few verses, closed it and put it back down again. And it had no effect at all on me.
[49:54] I kept looking out the window to see when Angus Salik would come down the road. Then my eye caught the Bible again and I opened it at the very same spot, John 14.
[50:08] And this is what I read. Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions.
[50:19] If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to pray a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you into myself.
[50:31] That where I am, that ye may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know. The words had such an effect in me. I turned, I found myself on my knees, in the chair, tears streaming down my face.
[50:46] face. I knew that moment I had to go forward to the session. I told Ina when I went into the car. And she said, you must go today.
[51:00] We are all on a journey, some coming to the end of the journey, and some just starting. I thank the Lord that he is with us, and that he will take us all to that place that he showed me that Friday morning, in John 14.
[51:16] I'm going to sing now a Gaelic hymn that I used to sing long ago. I stood, stood as my hair and took me my cry and all was in fun to me call it on sky.
[51:38] My Lord I are cross first my sur your north. my know your my pity God is but of up you lot and love I need la Pse sarcasm in
[52:42] Well, we're thankful to Alistair for sharing these words of testimony and for the encouragement that they bring.
[53:12] We'll pray now as we come to a conclusion. Lord God, we thank you for your word this evening to us. We thank you for the testimony of Levi and we thank you for your servant Alistair and for his willingness to share testimony of the work that you have done and are doing in his life.
[53:35] We thank you for the testimony that takes us back to his early years when his father took time to pray with him and to point him to Jesus. And we thank you, Lord, that these words that were shared in the early years were words that were blessed.
[53:55] And as we know Alistair and as we know Ina's presence amongst us in the congregation, we thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. We thank you for answered prayer.
[54:08] We thank you that you're the God who calls your children to remember you in the days of their youth. We thank you, Lord, for the testimony that Alistair shared of coming to faith, of having eyes open to see Jesus and being given the faith to come to Jesus.
[54:30] We thank you for the honesty also that we hear from him and we see in the life of the disciples in Scripture. when we begin to follow Jesus, we know that our work begins in our lives.
[54:43] We are not perfect. We are prone to wander. We are sinners who fall and who struggle. And yet we thank you that you're the God who loves us.
[54:55] You're the God who is faithful. You're the God who takes hold of us in salvation and who promises that you will never let us go. There is no one, there is nothing that can snatch us from your hand.
[55:09] And although you may allow us to wander for a period, we thank you for that grace that not only saves but sustains and draws back when we stray.
[55:21] So, Lord, we pray that you would bless the testimony shared. Bless Alistair, we pray. Sanctify him as we pray that you would sanctify us, all of your people, Lord, that we may be made more like Jesus, that we may be those who walk close with you all the days of our lives.
[55:43] And we thank you for the promise that when we are trusting in the Lord Jesus, he prepares a place for us so that when we go from time into eternity, there is a heavenly home that awaits us.
[55:56] Thank you for the assurance that we have that home if we are trusting in Jesus. Thank you that the work is done, that when we have been to Calvary, when we have sought that forgiveness, we are promised that we have that full and free salvation.
[56:18] So may we never drift from the cross. Keep us there. Keep us with our eyes upon Jesus and enable us, we pray, to be trusting in him.
[56:32] So hear our prayers. Part us with your blessing. And speak to us, even as we hear the final praise now, that we may each know the amazing grace of Jesus in our lives.
[56:46] And we pray these things in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. We'll now hear that hymn that Alistair quoted in his testimony, Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
[57:02] Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.
[57:24] I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see.
[57:38] It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.
[57:53] How precious did the grace appear the hour I first believed.
[58:06] My chains are gone, I've been set free, My God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
[58:20] And like a flood, his mercy rains, unending love, amazing grace.
[58:36] The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope, seeking good.
[58:51] Even my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.
[59:05] My chains are gone, I've been set free, my God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
[59:19] And like a flood, His mercy rains, unending love, amazing grace.
[59:34] grace. My chains are gone, my chains are gone, I've been set free, my God, my Savior, has ransomed me.
[59:49] And like a flood, His mercy rains, unending love, amazing grace.
[60:03] The earth shall soon dissolve by snow, the sun forbear to shine.
[60:19] But God who called me here below will be forever mine.
[60:32] Will be forever mine. You are forever mine.
[60:49] And now may the amazing grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all, both now and forevermore.
[61:08] Amen.耳 ent faces presentpARTY. . .
[61:19] . . . L . . . . .
[61:31] .