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[0:00] Good morning everybody and we are working here.

[0:22] Welcome to our morning service. It's a special welcome to the plenty of visitors who are here today.

[0:33] There's a summer Sunday school for all children who are under 12 and they're welcome to attend. The children leave after the second singing and then at the end of the service tea and coffee will be served from the hatch at the back and we would encourage all visitors and as many of our own people to stay as possible to enjoy a time of fellowship.

[0:57] We welcome to our service today Reverend Roddy Morrison who's not a stranger to those of us who are here. We look forward to hearing his ministry from the word once again.

[1:11] The evening service at 6pm will be conducted by myself. The meetings as usual during the week, if you want a full list of intimations you can pick up the note near the front door.

[1:24] Just stress the prayer meeting on Wednesday at 7.30pm. Service is next Sunday. Roddy Morrison will be back again in the morning and Farrah McClellan will be preaching at the evening service.

[1:35] And while the minister's on holiday during this period up to the 30th of July, if there are any pastoral issues, please feel free to speak to one of the elders in the first instance. And Roddy Morrison and also Reverend Andrew Coggle from Scalpy will be available for anyone who wishes to speak to or needs the services of a minister.

[1:55] And I'll just highlight one extra information. Road to recovery. We'll have an official launch meeting on Tuesday the 26th of July at 7.30pm.

[2:09] That's a week on Tuesday. With speakers Stan Gowdy and John Murdo McDonald. So please do encourage people to go along to that meeting, especially anyone you know who may have a problem with alcohol or drugs.

[2:24] Or indeed anyone who has a family member in that kind of situation. And please do pray for that meeting. And we now look forward to Roddy leading us in worship.

[2:35] Thank you. Let us worship God.

[2:52] Let us begin the service by singing to God's praise in Psalm 65. Psalm number 65. And we shall sing the first four stanzas of the psalm.

[3:07] Psalm 65. Praise. Wait for thee, as high and low. To thee those paid shall be. For thou that hear the wrath of prayer, for flesh shall come to thee.

[3:19] And to end of verse 4. We surely shall be satisfied with thy abundant grace and with the goodness of thy health, even of thy holy grace.

[3:31] Four stanzas. And verse 1. Praise waits for thee in sign, Lord. To thee those paid shall be. Praise wait for thee, as high and low.

[3:41] To thee those paid shall be. Praise wait for thee, as high and low.

[3:53] To thee those paid shall be. For thou that hear the dark of prayer, all flesh shall come to thee.

[4:14] In liberties I must confess. In liberties I must confess. Be will I, yes, be do.

[4:28] But as for our concessions, then part shall we shall come.

[4:42] Blessed is the man whom thou dost choose. Blessed is the man whom thou dost choose, and makes a broach to thee.

[4:57] Lord, that he within thy course, O Lord, may still a dweller be.

[5:12] We surely shall be satisfied with thy abundant grace.

[5:27] And with the goodness of thy grace. And with the goodness of thy heart, in all thy holy grace.

[5:42] Lord, let us now draw near to God and clear. Let us draw through. Almighty God, you are higher and greater than our imagination can comprehend.

[6:04] You are sitting according to the prophet Isaiah on the circle of the universe. You take out the eyes as a very small thing and the nations of the world are before you as the fine dust on the scales of the merchant man when he weighs out his merchant dice.

[6:27] That fine dust on the scales makes no difference at all to the calculations of the merchant. And so it is with the nations of this world with all their glory and all their pomp and all their show that there is nothing from your side.

[6:49] You are so great that you hold the universe in the palm of your hand. And we marvel at your greatness and your majesty and your glory.

[7:03] And we join with the hosts of heaven this morning as we sing these words Praise waits for thee in Zion Lord Because some of your people have gone home to heaven to be with you And they are around your throne singing your praises.

[7:25] And it is our privilege to be able to join with them in praising and exalting thy name. But oh Lord, although you are high and lifted up, and our minds cannot comprehend what you are.

[7:44] Yet we also know, and we know from the teaching of the Bible, and your people know from their personal experiences, that you are a measureful God, a God of love and of grace, who lifts up the downhearted and brings to yourself those that are afar off.

[8:08] And gives them the strength and the encouragement to go on in life and give us a purpose to them for living in this world.

[8:19] He took me from a fearful pit, said the Psalms. And oh Lord, we can sympathise with all these things if we are found today in Christ, if we are born of the Spirit of God.

[8:39] Again, we thank you Lord, that as we go on in the Christian life, you have not left us to make our way through this world on our own.

[8:50] You have taught us to lean upon you and trust in you day by day. And you have given us the promise of being with us each step of the way until you take us home to be with yourself.

[9:07] And no wonder we want to gather as often as we can in a place of prayer like this, to be able to pour our hearts out in praise and in thanksgiving for all you have done for us and all that you will do for us yet in the eternity that is ahead of us.

[9:30] Oh Lord, you are a great God and a great King and we are glad to be numbered among those who wait upon you in worship and in prayer at this time.

[9:44] Cleanse us and forgive us for all our sins and every shortcoming that is in our lives. We wander from you in thought, word and deed so often.

[9:57] But we praise you, oh God, that you are ready to forgive and to cleanse and to pardon. Receive our thanks then, oh Lord, and bless this service to all of us.

[10:11] Bless the service to the children. Be with them throughout this day. What they learn in the Sunday school, may they be able to digest that in their hearts and souls as they are able and that the seed of the Gospel may be planted deep in their lives.

[10:33] That will give forth fruit some thirty, some sixty and some hundredfold. When we shall no longer be here in this world.

[10:44] Hear us in our prayers then, Lord. All these things we ask is in the name of Jesus, our Saviour and our Redeemer. Amen.

[10:56] How many of you have actually been to? Do you not like reading books? Surely do you like books?

[11:08] Yes, I am. It is so active, John, isn't it? Do you like books? Do you like comics? Do you like the Dean of the Sanity and all these sorts of comics?

[11:19] Yes, of course. Do you like books? I played. When I was a minister in Glasgow, before I stopped working there and there, I had a whole room full of books.

[11:33] And they were big and they were small. Some of them were fat and some of them were thin. And when the time came for me to retire, as they say when you stopped work at 65, it's a long way away from you yet, but when I had to retire, I gave away a lot of my books, most of them.

[11:56] I gave them away to missionaries and ministers in the eastern part of Europe, like Romania and Odawa and places like that.

[12:08] And these missionaries and ministers there, they haven't got money to buy books, so they're very glad to get some good books from Scotland here.

[12:19] And that's what I did with most of my books. But I kept a few and I'm glad I did, because I'll be delving into them from time to time, especially when I'm preparing at a service like this.

[12:34] But I took with me today one book that I checked back. And it's an interesting book. I'm sure you've heard about it already. It's a small book, 25 pages in it, and there's no writing in it either.

[12:53] Have you heard of a book without any writing? I'm sure you have. Well, this book has no writing in it, no words, but it's got coloured pages.

[13:04] And every page has a message for us. So the first page is a gold page. And that gold page speaks of heaven.

[13:18] The streets of heaven are made of pure gold. And it's a lovely place. A place of peace and happiness and joy.

[13:29] Nobody is sick. Nobody has special needs. Nobody gets ill. Nobody gets old. Nobody cries.

[13:40] There's no tears there in heaven. Everything is peaceful and happy. And everyone there is praising God all the time.

[13:54] And this is the place that God has made. He was the one who made heaven. Nobody else would make heaven with himself.

[14:05] Such a beautiful place. And the most wonderful thing that heaven for you and for me is this, that he made it for us.

[14:17] He made heaven for you and for me so that we could go to be wicked in heaven when life is over for us in this world.

[14:28] But the next page has another message for us. And that's that page. It's a black page. All black. The message of that page is sin.

[14:43] Sin is the thing that keeps us at the heaven. Because God will never take sin into heaven. So if God took sin into heaven, it would stop being heaven.

[14:55] And he will never do that. So with all sinners, everyone, it's because when Adam sinned, everyone who came after him down the hill became sinners as well.

[15:09] Now we all know that it's wrong to tell a lie. Put up your hand if you've ever told a lie. Have any of you told a lie?

[15:22] Have you told a lie? Have you told a lie? I can't. And all of us, I'm sure, one way or another sinned and told lies and cheated and other things like that.

[15:40] We can't get into heaven until our sins are forgiven and cleansed away. How can we do that? We can't do it in our own strength.

[15:53] We can't get rid of our sins by doing good works in the world. How are we going to get to heaven then?

[16:04] Yes? Yes? Yes. Yes, indeed. This is the message of the third page. It's a red page.

[16:15] And that page speaks of the blood of Jesus Christ that he shed on the cross when he died for all of us.

[16:27] And if we confess the bad things that we have done, then Jesus will forgive us all our sins and cleanse us.

[16:39] The Bible says that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins. And that is the message of the third page.

[16:50] There is hope. This is the good news of the gospel. That we are sinners but not to despair because there is power in the blood of Christ to cleanse us from all sin and righteousness.

[17:08] The fourth page is a bright page. And that's what your heart and your life becomes like when you confess your sins to God.

[17:20] And the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you from sin. He makes you to be whiter than even the snow itself. Isn't that wonderful?

[17:31] Isn't that wonderful? That if you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive your sins and cleanse you from all. Never mind.

[17:42] Everything you ever did wrong is forgotten a bit and cleansed away. And the last page is that page. Green page.

[17:53] Green page. That speaks of the kind of life that God wants you to live. After you become a Christian. After your sins are forgiven you.

[18:04] He wants you to go on to live the Christian life. And to grow in grace and knowledge of himself. The things that are green on the benthes, the trees, the bushes, the grass, the leaves on the trees are green.

[18:22] They are alive. They are living. And if we have confessed our sins to God and Christ has cleansed us from our sins, then we are living another life.

[18:35] A new life altogether. And we are to be growing. How do we grow? We grow by prayer, as you said. By praying and by reading a Bible. And also we grow by penning the other children with which we love Jesus.

[18:56] By coming to Sunday school, listening to the stories that are being explained to you by the teachers. And also coming to church. Coming to church to hear the gospel being explained to you.

[19:12] And the more you do that, and the more you listen to the Bible being taught, the more you will grow. So you've got a lot of growing to do physically.

[19:23] Before you're big strapping men and women like your mummies and your daddies. And I pray that you will be all going spiritually as well. Knowing more and more like Jesus.

[19:36] And that the day will come when God takes you home to be with himself in that beautiful place where the very streets are made of the purest of hope.

[19:51] And I hope I'll meet all of you there in heaven one day. Let's say a wee prayer now together. Heavenly Father, these children at the end of the year, that Lord they can be able to realise that they are sinners.

[20:12] And that they can also realise that Jesus loves them and he cares for them and he wants them for his own. He wants to cleanse their sins and come into their lives to live for good glory in the world.

[20:28] Who knows what these children would turn into three yet one day. Some of them may go out of the gospel to other lambs as missionaries.

[20:39] And some of these boys may be ministers of the gospel. One of these say, we don't know but you know. And we pray that they will serve you in whatever way they can until you take them to be with yourself.

[20:55] Hear us in our prayers. In Jesus' name. Amen. I will be going to go to your Sunday school after the sing the next hymn, which is 448 in the hymn book.

[21:10] In the hymn book 448, Just as I am thine own to be, Friend of the young who lovest me, To consecrate myself to thee, O Jesus, just as I come.

[21:25] 448, Just as I am. 448, Just as I am. 449, Just as I am. 555, Just as I am.

[21:38] 532, Just as I am, 532. 560, Just as I am.

[21:50] 565, Just as I am. I love my Lord to be Friend of the young who lovers me Who's wanted with myself to be O Jesus Christ I come In the cloud, Lord, in all my days My life to give, my God to gain With no respect and no delay With all my heart I come I would live ever in the light

[22:57] I would work ever for the right I would serve thee with all my might Therefore to thee I come Just as I am young, strong and free To be the best that I can be For truth and righteousness are thee Lord of my life I come May I just read the word of God from the first letter of John in the New Testament 1 John chapter 1

[24:09] Read the whole chapter John chapter 1 1 John That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and at hand subhandled concerning the word of life The life was manifested and we have seen and made witness and declared to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And these things we want to you that your joy may be told This is the message which we have heard from him and declared to you that God is life and in him there is no darkness at all

[25:10] If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth But if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us of sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness If we say that we have not sinned we make him a liar and his word is not in us Amen and may God bless to us that reading of his own holy word and to his name be all the praise and all the glory and of all the glory Let us believe in our hair and ourSub we will have a short prayer inulfsara in kapal and of course it is a separation the holy word and makes us and works and those we Finanons

[26:37] May unto,war attribute, for God's sake and his sows, and unto resurrection the Lord, the Lord, the Pharisees, and the Lord, but okay, struggling to appear from dams about these parts of the padaang like Portal I, like Otramax I said 1400 so誘aming everything is available but the cricket has Heights,

[27:38] Was that the": Of our Britney, Of our Loro, Like Jesus, Father not just in the ISHost-Terming and Triple H��.

[28:06] Amen. Heavenly Father was able to extend our четыneed life to ouren. Amen. Advertisement to our ancestors.

[28:19] Let us pray for that. Mukipse is vital to the gifts of our pet system.

[28:30] And I hope that we share with us the strength of the Lord, please help us provide creative perspectives, Thank you for the donation of analysts with our people in the economy and and in great opinion King of Lazarus Anthony Church um

[29:41] Ooh, my line Teshue's Christ.

[30:01] wherein all of us, particular Anyone The same word to God's grace in hymn number 122.

[30:45] 122. In the hymn book, Come Holy Ghost, their hearts inspired. Let us thine influence do, source of the old prophetic pride, fountain of life and love.

[31:02] Sing this hymn, Come Holy Ghost, their hearts inspired. Come Holy Ghost, our hearts inspired.

[31:43] Let us thine influence do, source of the old prophetic pride, fountain of life and love.

[32:04] The Holy Ghost, our new by Thee, the prophet's road has won.

[32:19] Unlock the truth, unlawful truth, thyself the King, conceal the sacred good.

[32:34] And let us know. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know. Let us know.

[32:46] If you know. On earth is order's minutes blue, and let there now be light.

[33:05] For through himself we then shall know, if thou within us shine, and serve with all thy sins below the depths of love divine.

[33:35] Amen. Verse 3. You may remember that my last sermon, when I was at Alokum, was chapter 17 of John, verse 2.

[34:19] We spoke that day about the three gifts that are mentioned in the verse. As you have given him authority, that's the first gift over all flesh, that he should give eternal life, is the second gift.

[34:38] And the third gift is to as many as few have given him. And we ended that day with thinking about this flesh.

[34:50] And so I was praying about what I would preach on for today and for next Sunday as well. I thought that we would just carry on with the verses that follow.

[35:07] So it's verse 3 today and verse 4 next Sunday, week next Sunday, week today. Verse 3 of chapter 17 says, And this is eternal life, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

[35:29] Now God the Father gave the Son, He gave him a gift of a people.

[35:43] And He gave him authority over all flesh. And now the Son, He gave him a gift of a people. And now the Son, He gave him a gift of a people that the Father gave to him, eternal life for themselves.

[35:56] Passionate. Now in verse 3, Jesus goes on to say what it means for any person to have eternal life. This is eternal life. This is eternal life, He says, that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

[36:16] But I believe in order to appreciate what is involved in this tremendous description of eternal life, we need to try to answer a few questions.

[36:28] Questions like, what does it mean to know God? Two, how did we come to lose knowledge of God?

[36:41] And then finally, three, how can we receive this knowledge of God back again? The knowledge that we lost of God.

[36:54] So very briefly then, we'll look at these three questions. What is meant by knowing God? Well, notice first of all that Jesus doesn't say that eternal life is to know about God.

[37:12] He doesn't say, and this is eternal life, that they may know about you. No, that's not what it says, but that they may know you. It's not about God, but know God Himself.

[37:27] And there is an eternity of a difference between knowing about God and knowing God Himself.

[37:38] eternal life doesn't consist in a person merely knowing that there is a God and believing that He exists.

[37:51] Millions of people believe all over the world that there is a God and that He is the ruler of the universe.

[38:03] And even some of the scientists, when they examine the evidence that's before them, they have to come to a conclusion that there must be a divine being who ordained all the things that they see among the universe, the planets, and all the other stars, and things that they see.

[38:32] And things that they find out up there. There are countless number of people who believe that there is a God, that there must be a God for these things to be so orderly in the universe as they are.

[38:49] And there are countless other millions in a lost eternity today who believe that there was a God and that He appeared the universe by His power.

[39:08] We can know who God and that there is a spiritual. We can conhece him as he is. And then only am I. Japanese,ども And yet, at the same time be devoid of eternal life. And we have met some very clever professors and doctors at the university, and they knew the subject I think of one. can be professors of theology and yet at the same time be devoid of eternal life.

[39:24] And we have met some very clever professors and doctors at university and they knew the subject, I think of one, in particular there was a lecturer in Hebrew who was giving us lessons in Hebrew, a brilliant mind and yet he did not know God himself personally.

[39:55] He didn't have any sense of the presence of God or anything like that. He just did his work, lectured upon the Hebrew language and that was that and there were others as well.

[40:11] So to know there is a God and to know God are two things that are completely different from each other. We know there are a Queen in London and there are a President in America.

[40:27] We know that they are there but very few if any in this congregation today can say that they know the Queen or that they know the President of America.

[40:39] They know about them. They have seen them and one or two maybe have shaken hands with them. But that's all. So what does it mean to know God?

[40:55] Well to know God is to know him as God first of all. To recognize him as our Lord and as our King and as our Master and as our Ruler.

[41:07] It means to reverence him, to fear him, to worship him, to obey him, to adore him, to recognize his greatness, to recognize his holiness and all the other things that the Bible teaches about God.

[41:28] It means that we submit ourselves to him obediently and willingly to obey his laws and commandments and seek to do his will all of our lives here on earth.

[41:54] We know that we must recognize him as Lord and King. And to know God means also to be on speaking terms with him.

[42:10] You can't say you know somebody in this sense if you're not in speaking terms with him. Are you in speaking terms with God today, this morning?

[42:21] Have you spoken to him this day? Or is it something that's quite alien to you to speak to God in prayer? Well we need to speak to God and address him personally so that he is no longer a stranger to us.

[42:46] He is a spirit and we can't see him the way we see our friend. We can't hear him in the way we hear our friend speaking.

[42:59] But if we know God, if we have this knowledge of God that Jesus is speaking of, we shall be conscious of his presence with us. We shall be conscious of the fact that he is speaking to us in so many ways in nature around us.

[43:20] In the Bible as it is being proclaimed, he will be our companion, our friend on life's journey. We shall be conscious of his voice so often.

[43:35] And we shall be speaking to him as often as we can. The hymn writer said, He said, The pure, oh the pure delight of a single hour that before his throne I spend.

[43:54] And I kneel in prayer with thee my God. Thank you. Treat him as a friend. As a friend.

[44:05] We shall hear him speaking to us in our hearts. And try us and test him comes. We recognise his voice when we open the Bible and when we hear his word being preached.

[44:17] We'll sense that God is speaking to us. It's not the minister who is speaking to us. There's a divine voice that addresses us.

[44:28] When we gather together at this in worship, we shall be aware of his presence to a greater or lesser extent. Some days we shall be overwhelmed with the presence of God.

[44:40] The place would be so full of the Holy Spirit that we feel like doing nothing but bowing down and worshipping him.

[44:53] He is a friend to us if we know him. The best friend in life. We can unburden our hearts to him. Tell him the things that are causing us sorrow and pain.

[45:07] And the fear we will have of this God then will be not a cringing, servile fear, but a awe, a reverence.

[45:20] That's the kind of fear that is in the fear of God. The reverence, the reverence, the respect and the awe that we have of them.

[45:31] We shall be recognising his holiness and his righteousness. And at the same time we shall be aware of our own unworthiness and our own sinfulness.

[45:50] And you marvels at wonder of the love and grace that he shows to sinners in the Gospel. He befriends sinners. He comes near to them and brings them near to himself in a living, intimate relationship with himself.

[46:10] There is the kind of relationship that Adam had at the beginning when God created himself and his wife Eve.

[46:21] They had this wonderful relationship with God. They had an intimate, loving relationship with him. And that's how God created them in the beginning.

[46:33] But how is it that not everybody in the whole world around us doesn't have this intimate relationship with God today?

[46:44] Well that takes us to the second question. How did we lose a sense of the presence of God? How did we come to lose our knowledge of God? Well Adam and his wife Eve, they listened to the serpent rather than obey the voice of God today.

[47:04] He said to them, This tree in the middle of the garden is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The minute you touch it even or eat of it, you shall surely die.

[47:17] So keep away from this tree. But they disobeyed God. They listened to the serpent instead of listening to God.

[47:29] And they lost the presence of God. They lost the knowledge they had of God with which they were created. And they lost many things as well.

[47:42] They lost the peace they had in their hearts. Now they're afraid of God. We hear Adam saying in chapter 3 of Genesis and verse 10, After God said, Where are you?

[48:00] He said, I heard the voice in the garden and was afraid. Afraid. He was not afraid before then, since he was created.

[48:13] But you see, he had lost the knowledge he had of God. And he became afraid. And he lost the purity he had. And he lost the purity he had.

[48:24] And he lost the purity they had. I was afraid, he said, because I was naked.

[48:35] And himself and Eve, black of knives, that they had no clothes on. And they were naked. And they lost the purity they had with him.

[48:47] They lost the communion they had with him when they were created. And they lost their knowledge of God. And out of this want of the knowledge of God, grew every other evil that is in the world today.

[49:03] Every evil that has been a scourge to the human race, came as a result of the fact that Adam and Eve lost their knowledge of God.

[49:20] It's because Cain did not have this knowledge of God, that he had lost this knowledge of God. It was because of that, that he murdered his own brother Abel.

[49:35] Now Abel, on the other hand, had come to know God. He had been born a sinner, the same as his brother Abel was a sinner.

[49:47] But Abel came to know God by his saving grace, even as early as that, in the history of the human race.

[49:59] And when the time came, Abel took with him, as a sacrifice, a lamb slain on the altar. He was looking forward in faith to the Lamb of God that would come in the fullness of time.

[50:17] And God would fulfill his promise when he said to the serpent, Of the seed of the woman will come one who will bruise your head.

[50:29] You will bruise his heel, but he'll bruise your head. And Abel believed what he was told that God had said in the garden at the beginning.

[50:45] And so he came with his lamb to be offered. It was because of the lack of knowledge of God that men and women, down the years, began to worship idols, put up idols to worship.

[51:05] They had lost their knowledge of God. They began to worship the sun, the moon, the stars, the planets. In heathen cultures today you will find the fire God being worshipped.

[51:21] The river God being worshipped. The mountain God being worshipped. And since before all men, in every age have been aware of an emptiness in their souls, in their hearts.

[51:37] And they try to fill that emptiness and satisfy that emptiness in so many ways. But they fail and they fail and they fail again.

[51:53] We have worshipped down the years at the temple of carnal pleasure, at the temple of strong drink, and in these last years at the temple of drugs.

[52:07] And each generation makes its own fresh gods. And they bow down to them and wash them.

[52:19] We're so used to these gods nowadays that we don't look at them as being gods at all. That anything that you are obsessed with and takes over your life is your God.

[52:34] That is your God. If there's something that you are obsessed with and that takes over your life, whether it be fashion or football or rock music or drugs, if you allow it to take over your life, then that is your God.

[52:54] I wonder this morning, are you aware of the emptiness that is in your heart and in your soul? And you've been trying to satisfy that emptiness without avail.

[53:10] And the reason for it is that you are not living in a living relationship with God. When Paul went to Athens with the Gospel, he discovered a number of the authors here and there and anywhere, to this God and to that God and to the next God.

[53:33] But one author caught his attention because of the inscription that was upon it. Written upon that author was, to the unknown God.

[53:45] And that gave Paul the opportunity to tell them about the God that he worshipped and the God that he served. And he said to them, men and women, I've come to tell you about this unknown God.

[54:02] You don't know him. But he can be known. And he wants to be known. And he wants to befriend you. He wants you to trust him and believe in him.

[54:14] He is the God who created the universe, who created all things and upholds all things. And although many of the people who were listening to him that day thought he was mad, it was those who came to believe in the true and the living God.

[54:34] And to us specifically named by Luke, Acts 1734, Dionysius the Areopagus and a woman named Damaris.

[54:46] And to be without the knowledge of God is to be empty. Without anything that is really worthwhile or lasting.

[54:58] Whatever you may have, whatever you may own in this world, you may have striven for years to have these things and to own them. You're going to be leaving them behind one day.

[55:11] And I'll be leaving them behind too, one day. Whether it is fame or fortune or popularity or possessions.

[55:22] You will leave them all at the brink of the grave. You can't take one of them with you into eternity. And this is what Jesus meant when he spoke about Mary who was sitting, listening to his teaching so ardently.

[55:41] Drinking everything in that he was telling and that he was teaching. Mary, he said, has chosen the good part. And it shall never be taken away from her.

[55:53] Never. You see, death doesn't rob us of our knowledge of God. Death doesn't rob us of eternal life.

[56:05] What death does to the Christian is that it ushers him into another dimension of his being. Where he shall know God in a deeper, fuller way than he ever knew him here on earth.

[56:24] And more gloriously, the Christian doesn't fear death because he knows that it ushers him into complete fellowship with God.

[56:37] And complete union with God. A deeper and more glorious fellowship with God. This is how Paul puts it in his first letter to the Corinthians.

[56:52] Chapter 13, verse 12. Now I know in part, but then, that's in eternity. Then I shall know just as I also am known.

[57:04] You see, he's going to be in another dimension. Death will only rid the believer of the impediments that keep him back from enjoying the fellowship and the communion that has with God better.

[57:26] Maybe you're sitting here today in church and you're saying deep in your heart, I don't know God in this intimate way. I would like to know God in this intimate, living, loving relationship.

[57:41] I would like him to become my companion on life journey and my friend. How can I get to know him? Is that what you're asking?

[57:55] How can we receive knowledge of God? There is only one way, and one way only, by which we can receive the knowledge of God.

[58:10] And that is through faith and trust in his Son, Jesus Christ. He came into the world to save sinners.

[58:23] And if we trust in him and believe in him, then we shall come into a relationship with God we never had before. The relationship that Adam had and lost.

[58:38] You see, we have to take two parts of the verse together. Otherwise we will go astray. Otherwise we will be in serious error. Listen to the verse.

[58:49] And this is eternal life, that you may know, that they may know you, the only through God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

[59:01] So we have to take the last part of it as well as the first part. You can't get to know God without, first of all, getting to know Jesus Christ.

[59:13] No one, he said, comes with a Father except by me. I mean, but through me, he is the door, he is the way into the sheepfold of God himself.

[59:32] It wouldn't be eternal life to know God apart from Jesus Christ. For then you would be coming face to face with an almighty being whose laws you have broken repeatedly and violated by your sins.

[59:50] For then you would be a man, and a being, and a being, and a being who ever loved and who ever wanted to bless, could not, as long as sin remained unpunished and unforgiving, and as long as we remained the enemies of God, he couldn't become our Saviour.

[60:16] He couldn't have fellowship with him. And therefore, if we are going to receive eternal life, and come to know God, we need to come under the mighty influences of the Holy Spirit, who would show us our need of salvation.

[60:37] And enable us to repent of our sins and believe in Christ. Believe that Christ died for us on that cross on Calvary, 2,000 years ago.

[60:49] Believe that Christ is able to help us, and that he would give us the prayer to come for pardon and for cleansing in the blood that he shed on that cross.

[61:03] The sinner who repents of his sins, turning his back upon his former way of life completely, and confesses that he is a lost sinner to serve him to be cast away forever from God's sight.

[61:21] And comes and comes and asks for pardon, believing that Christ was punished for him on Calvary. That sinner receives eternal life.

[61:32] And then, at once, comes and asks for pardon, believing that Christ was punished for him on Calvary. And then, at once, comes into a new relationship with God. And those of us who have come to that glorious, glorious experience in our lives, can testify how they came to be aware of God's presence in a way that they were before.

[61:57] Rather than ehrlich of the ... For the night confession, walking down the garden I see at that big steep hill in parting on my way to work in the shipyard at half past six in the morning.

[62:24] And knowing God's presence with me in a way that I had never ever experienced before, and my heart sinking with joy down in the midst of the ships that we were building there, huge ships ten times the size of the seaforth.

[62:51] Then I would be down at the bottom on my own singing the songs and singing the hymns that I had learnt years before and had forgotten about, singing in Gaelic, my mother tongue.

[63:07] And all because Christ came into my life and changed it all, and I received this new relationship with God, I had received eternal life.

[63:20] You see, eternal life is not something we get when we leave this world. It's something that we get while we are still in the world. You get it here and now. You take it with you into eternity.

[63:38] Eternal life begins in the sinner at the moment. He or she is born again of the Spirit of God. John wrote in his first letter, chapter 5 and verse 13, and he wrote to the Christian church and he said, These things I have written, I'm coming down near to the end of my letter, he said, And I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have returned alive. You've got it. Now.

[64:10] And Jesus himself said, chapter 10, verse 10, I have come, that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly.

[64:23] It's also true that it would not be eternal life for us to know Jesus if he was not God at the same time. If he was only a teacher, a good teacher, if he was only a prophet, a faithful prophet, it wouldn't be much good for us.

[64:46] But because he was God and man, he was able to give eternal life. And we have no doubts in our hearts about the divinity of Christ. We come to know him then in his passion. And it's glorious. We come to know him as the one whose blood speaks peace to our souls.

[65:13] And as soon as you become a Christian, you can be assured that the attacks of the devil will begin. For we never knew about the devil in a personal way until we came to know Christ.

[65:31] And then he's after us. He's after us. He's after us. He's after us as often as he can. I've been over 50 years now a Christian. And he's attacking me today. I think more than he was ever attacking me before.

[65:49] But at the beginning of the Christian life. He is targeting the young Christian and our own corrupt natures, which we still have with us after our conversion and will until the day we die.

[66:05] that corrupt nature is cooperating with the devil so often that we get grace to resist as we look to our Savior. We get the strength to say no when the devil comes with his offerings and with his jeans and his caps and all the rest of it. When we look for what Christ has been on the cross, we get the strength. We come to know him as we go on in his perfect righteousness.

[66:55] These are things that we learn as we go on from being a Christian. As we go in grace and acknowledge of him, we shall treasure the robe of his righteousness. Just as the prodigal son treasured the best robe that the father gave him. Oh how proud he was for that robe of his righteousness. After the feast was over he would treasure it until the day he died.

[67:27] And that's how we are with the robe of Christ's righteousness and with the robe of salvation. We are proud of it in the right way. God forbid, said Paul, that I should glory accept in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. For in the garments of Christ's salvation we are accepted. Accepted and beloved by God.

[67:57] We come to know him in communion, in fellowship, when he recognized his voice when he speaks to us. He said himself, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. And the Old Testament church was able to say the voice of my beloved in the songs of Solomon.

[68:17] We recognize the voice of Solomon. We recognize the voice of our beloved Saviour so often as we go through life. This was John Knox's favourite text. For his soul felt peace with God in this verse. His last words on the day that he died were to his wife.

[68:40] He said, go and read where I cast my first anchor. And she didn't need to be told any more than that. She knew what he meant. And she got the Bible out. Turned up John 17 and read verse 3.

[69:03] And this is life eternal. And this is life eternal. That they will know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. He listened with his eyes closed. And he listened with his eyes closed. And his breath he was becoming more and more strained and labored. The bed on which he lay spoke of death. But the book and the verse spoke of everlasting life.

[69:32] And he said, we don't know. We don't know when John Knox cast his first anchor there. We know that he was in the cloud that day when George Bishop was burnt at the stake at the foot of the castle wind opposite castle gate in Edinburgh.

[69:53] When a fierce storm came over his soul. As he took his stand for the truth. But throughout all these boisterous years. The anchor didn't shift. It bravely held on. He spent 12 years in exile.

[70:14] 18 months in exile. 18 months in exile. 18 months in exile. 18 months he spent as a slave in the French galleys. But throughout those stressful years of the reformation in the Scottish church. The anchor held firm. It did not drag. It did not shift.

[70:36] 19 months in exile. 18 months in exile. 18 months in exile. cé Cooper Roadtuus time Jbl 1. In強s and credible. He was a third and58 soldier.

[70:52] Altium. 19 months ago. Infinite. adversity changes a metà Sir. Bouton. 37. border. question. Or are you still drifting with the wind and the tide, and coming nearer the jagged rocks or the shores of eternity? Why don't you today cast your answer here, where millions as well as knocks past it in this verse? And whatever happens, it will hold film. You can be sure of that. The voice brigade hymn, will your anchor hold in the storms of life? It's true with the Christian in every age. This is life eternal, that they may know thee, you know, only through God and Jesus Christ, under herself. May God bless to us this world that is thou and her. Gracious God, do not know where so many in this congregation stand as far as their faith in Jesus Christ. We don't know how many are ready for eternity. We don't know how many are drifting, aimlessly, to be shipwrecked one day. May there be somebody, even one person,

[72:27] O God, who today will say, I'm going to cast my anchor where John Knox cast his anchor. This is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you are saved. Make this song for the glory. Amen.

[72:49] I'm going to close now by singing the hymn 409 and the songs of history. Now I know that you don't have these books, but I needed to have looking at that myself. I'm singing it with you today, 409. People have here up on the screen. An old favourite, with the Highland people here singing it for years and years. I remember hearing a tape of an old lady from Harrods, an old Christian, singing this to their old age. What a joy it was to be hearing it, coming across from a tape.

[73:38] 409 says, when my life work is ended, when I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see. I shall see. I shall know my redeemer, when I reach the other side, and his mind will be the first to welcome me. And I shall know him. I shall know him. As redeemed by his side, I shall stand. I shall know him. I shall know him.

[74:04] By the print of the nails in his hand. I shall know him. I shall know him. And I shall know him. And I knew my life work is ending. And I crossed the swelling tide.

[74:17] And I shall know him. And I shall know him.

[74:29] I shall know him. Thank you.

[75:04] Thank you.

[75:34] Thank you. Thank you.

[76:34] Thank you. Thank you.

[77:34] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[78:12]  Amen. Thank you.