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[0:00] Good morning everybody. A warm welcome to all this morning to our service and a special welcome to all the visitors who are with us today. It's a great blessing to have you during the summer. There will be a summer Sunday school as usual today to which all children under 12 are invited to attend and that includes any visitors children as well. The children leave after the second singing for their Sunday school and then tea and coffee will be served after the close of the service to which all are welcome. So please if you're a visitor do feel free to stay on for that.

[0:56] The seats down towards the front here.

[1:26] Thank you. Extra special welcome for all of you who just arrived there. I was just saying that we have a summer Sunday school and so any visitors children are welcome to attend that for children under the age of 12 and they will leave after the second singing. Our service today is taken by Reverend Rodney Morrison. It's a privilege to have him with us again while our own minister is away. The evening service at 6pm will be conducted by one of our elders, Mr Farreker McLeod.

[2:31] I'll just highlight a couple of things from the notice sheet. The Road to Recovery launch meeting this Tuesday at 7.30pm with guest speakers Stan Gowdy and John Murdo MacDonald. Please do encourage folks who have anyone in the family or anyone themselves who has a problem with alcohol and other addictions to attend that meeting. The renovation works on the manse are going extremely well and for those who wish to help with voluntary work there will be a group meeting on Thursday evenings at 7.30pm, overseen and assisted by Taffy.

[3:06] So if you're able to go on Thursday night to assist with various pieces of work 7.30pm is the time to be there. For anyone who can't attend at that time but is able to attend at another time, then please speak to Gordon and he will tell you what needs done and will make arrangements for whatever time you happen to be able to go in.

[3:31] The services next Sunday will be taken by the minister, Reverend David McLeod in the morning. There will be a Gaelic service at 6pm led by Hamish Taylor and then an English praise service at 8pm.

[3:44] These are all intimations and Reverend Roddy Morrison will now lead us in our worship. Let us worship God and let us begin our service by singing to God's praise and glory in Psalm number 145.

[4:10] Psalm 145 and we sing from the first version of the psalm. The first version from verse 1 down to verse 8.

[4:24] That's 6th answers all together. Psalm 145, the first version 1 to 8. I'll be extolled, O God, O King, and bless thy name always.

[4:39] Thee will I bless each day and will thy name forever praise. Down to verse 8. The Lord is very gracious. In him compassions flow.

[4:51] In mercy he is very great and is to anger slow. 1 4 5, 1 to 8. I'll be extolled, O God, O God, O King, and bless thy name always.

[5:15] Thee will I bless each day and will thy name forever praise.

[5:43] Great is the Lord, much to be praised. His greatness searches thee.

[6:00] Praise the Lord, much to be praised. Praise the Lord, much to be praised in the body and polls Patemali hopefully. I'll praise thy words and show thy mightys I owe my glory.

[6:19] I all my glorious majesty thee all but your name will be called. The honor we'll record means powerful love is ô길 Pete Liebe. God will record.

[6:32] I'll speak all thy mighty words, which wonders are, O Lord.

[6:48] Men of thine hands the might shall show, Thine hands of dreadful heart.

[7:05] And I thy glory do advance, Thy greatness will declare.

[7:21] The man beyond thy goodness gave, The hearts he shall express, With songs of praise, In childless soul, Thy perfect righteousness.

[7:54] The Lord is very gracious, In him compassion's role, In mercy is every great, And it's to anger's toll.

[8:24] Amen. Let us now draw near to God in prayer. Let us all pray.

[8:39] How through those words are, O God, That you are a great God and a great King, That you are high and lifted up beyond anything that we can imagine, With our limited minds.

[8:58] You are sitting upon the circle of the universe, Say the prophet of old. You take up the eyes as a very small thing, In the very dust, On the scales, On the balances of the merchant man.

[9:14] And liken them to the nations of the world, With all their glory, And with all their pomp and show.

[9:26] You are so great. We come before you this morning to worship you. What a privilege it is to draw near to you, O God, One who is of purer eye than to behold iniquity.

[9:41] And we are sinners by nature and by practice. And it would be well for us to confess those sins before you now, Before we go into this service any further, That you would cleanse us in the precious blood of Jesus Christ, Your Son, Our Saviour.

[10:06] So that as we go on in worship this morning, We'll be lifting up our hearts that have been sprinkled, With the blood of the covenant.

[10:18] Lord, Hear us in our prayers, And draw near to us at this time, Breathe upon us, The Holy Spirit, That shall enable us to worship in spirit and in truth.

[10:35] We ask your blessing upon us, From the youngest to the oldest gathered here today. And especially we remember the children of the Sunday school.

[10:46] Some of them are away on holiday, Some are with us, And some are visiting, And with us as well. We bring them all to you in prayer, O God, Asking that you would keep them safe, From all danger, And from all harm.

[11:07] For at times like these, We so often hear of tragic accidents, Happening on the road, Or in the mountains, Or near the seaside.

[11:22] And we would pray that you would keep our children safe, At all times. We ask your blessing in all the camps, That are being held, At this time throughout our land.

[11:36] We thank you especially for the free church camps, And pray that you would bless, Each one of them. For so many have come to know Christ as their saviour, At youth camps like these.

[11:54] When they are together, You seem to bless such gatherings, And there are those who, Are near the kingdom of God, And are brought, To faith in yourself as their saviour.

[12:09] Only you can do it, O God, Not anyone else. We pray for the leaders, And for all who are concerned, In any way whatsoever, With the catering, And with the overseeing, Of the whole camps.

[12:26] Pray that you would bless, Every effort, Made, Among the youth, Of our day. For Lord, You want, Us to follow Jesus, As early as we can, As early as we can, In this life.

[12:41] But when a, Young person is saved, It's not just, A soul that is saved, A life is saved, As well. But if we leave, Things till we are old, And, Infirm, What use can we be, To you, To you, And to yourself, O God.

[13:02] So impress these things upon us, He that seeks me early, Shall find me, Is the promise, You have given in your word. So bless us now together, And be with us, And go before us, As families, And us, Individuals.

[13:24] We thank you for your own holy day, That has come round once again, May it be a day of much blessing, For our hearts and souls, Hear us Lord, In these our prayers, Pardoning us our sins, In Jesus name, Amen.

[13:41] Amen. Now, Young voice of the voice of, You should, Two minutes and sit, And stay, So if you go back, Just now.

[14:14] I'm not going to call it, But you have, What do you have? You have been on holiday, Away from Paris, Yes, Good, That's right, Who is to go on holiday, Yes, I'm too, You're going to go on holiday, How many of you have been to Glasgow, Have you been on holiday, Glasgow, Have you been on holiday, To Glasgow, That's good, That's good, Well, If you go to Glasgow, For your holiday, Maybe, If none of us are that, So, Take you there, One day, Maybe not this here, But, Some other here, I hope you'll go to the museum, I hope you'll go to the museum, That's there, That's the Kelvin Grove Museum, Opposite that, That, That is the, It's called the art galleries, Sometimes, Down there,

[15:15] Under the Barton Road, And it's a very fascinating place to go to, Because there are all sorts of things there, You see dinosaur bones there, And you see other reptiles, You see the Egyptian mummies in their coffins, You see, What else, You see a lot of pictures, Thrown by famous artists, And, One of the pictures that was thrown by a famous artist, Called Salvador Dario, A bit of, A copy of it here, Which I got off the internet, It's a wee bit dark, And I think it's meant to be dark, And, You know what it is, Just so everybody will see it, What's that picture, What's that picture, Yes?

[16:08] Jesus dying on the cross, Yes? Jesus dying on the cross, Yes? Jesus dying on the cross, Exactly. And I suppose it's dark, Because he came into a world, That was dark, That was dark, With sin, And, There's other things that, You see there, You see, The loneliness of Christ, On the cross, Those who have done fine art, And, Subjects like that, At university can tell you, A whole lot of things, That we don't see, You see, The darkness, The loneliness, And the pain, And the sufferings, That Jesus endured, On the cross, For us.

[16:47] And many a person, Has stood before that, Picture of Salvador Dali's, And admired it, Because it's a wonderful picture, It's, It's, It's hanging in the air, And it's not on this earth at all, It's between heaven and earth, Because the death of Christ, And the message of the cross, And the message of the cross, Is a timeless message, It doesn't just, It's not just, It's confined to, This world, It goes on into eternity, And this world is done, There'll be those who will be singing, About the cross, And how Jesus suffered and died, On that cross for them.

[17:36] And how are they? Well, I don't have, Admired this painting of Salvador Dali, But others, Stood before this painting, In the art of the caratis in Glasgow, And, Hated it.

[17:54] And were angry. I remember when I went to Glasgow, About 54, 56 years ago now, There was a man, Who sneaked into the art galleries, And he had a, Something under his arm, And he had his coat, All buttoned up, And he sneaked in, And you know what he had under his coat?

[18:24] He had a brick, You know what a brick is? A brick that, Builders build houses with, Not as big as the blocks, That, You see on the island here, But, You know those, Red bricks.

[18:40] And, When he thought nobody was looping, He threw it back to painting, And he damaged it, And it was torn right across, Down here.

[18:53] The police, The police, And he was taken to prison, And he was lying, But that wasn't, The end of the story, He was punished for his sin, But the, Painting was still damaged, It had to be repaired, Before everything was back to normal.

[19:17] So, Extracts were called in, And, And they began to, Mend the, Painting, And it took months, And months, And months, And months, Before they managed it.

[19:35] At the end, It was nearly as good as it was, When it was made originally. And as I was thinking of that, A few days ago, I was thinking also, Of what Adam and Eve did to God.

[19:50] And God said to them, Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Don't even touch it, he said. But what did they do? Adam and Eve sinned against God.

[20:04] Eve gave the fruit to Adam. And Adam ate it, And she ate it as well. And they sinned against God, And were disobedient to God.

[20:17] It was as if they had thrown a brick at God, The same as the man in the art galleries in Glasgow did. They were punished. Go still away. They were thrown into the garden.

[20:29] But that wasn't, you know. There was damage done to the honour of God. And that had to be repaired.

[20:41] Just the same as the, The picture in the art galleries. Had to be repaired. There was nobody to repair the, This honour that was brought to the, Almighty God of heaven and earth.

[20:55] Until Jesus came to this world. And on the cross, He not only suffered for Adam's sin, And for the sins of God's people down the earth.

[21:08] But He also repaired the honour, That had been damaged by man's sin. By His perfect obedience to death. He repaired the dishonour that was brought to the, God of heaven.

[21:24] I hope that we all come to us and believe in Jesus as our Saviour. And be His servants in this world.

[21:41] And live for His glory. And try to be as faithful to Him as possible. The more we are obedient to God, The less we bring up dishonour to His name.

[21:57] But when we refuse to do what God asks us to do, It's as if we're throwing a brick at God. And saying, No, I don't want to do what you ask me to do.

[22:09] Because that's what Adam said. In other words, I know you told us not to eat of the tree, But look, it's so good and so juicy. And so sweet, I'm sure.

[22:21] And I'm going to have our back then. And that's what happened. We can be like that too. Let us all obey God. And do what He asks us to do.

[22:34] And then He'll bring us home to heaven, To be with Himself. All because of what Christ suffered on that cross long ago.

[22:45] And remember that. And if you're ever in Glasgow, Go to the Archbishop and see for yourself The Christ of St John, it's called.

[22:57] A picture of Jesus on the cross. Now we're going to have a wee prayer. And we'll have the same thing after that. And we'll go up to you Sunday school.

[23:09] Gracious Heavenly Father, We thank you for Jesus and for His love for us. He died on that cross that day in terrible pain and shame.

[23:24] All because He loved us. He came to earth to die for sinners. Help us to live for Him in this world.

[23:35] And to bring glory to His name. And the things that we do. Bless the children. Be with them as they leave us now. Forgive us in Jesus' name.

[23:48] Amen. We're going to sing to God's praise. Hymn 254. It says, When I survey the wondrous cross, In which the Prince of glory died, My riches gain I count but lost, And poor contempt on all my pride.

[24:07] I think most of us know it by heart anyway. When I survey the wondrous cross. When I survey the wondrous cross, On which the Prince of glory died, My riches gain I count but lost, And poor contempt on all my pride.

[24:59] For it, Lord, that Thy sure rose, Saving the death of Christ my God.

[25:19] All that it claims that charm we most, I sacrifice them to His blood.

[25:40] See from His head, His hands is sweet, Sorrow and love flowed in the ground.

[26:00] Did there such love and sorrow meet, Our Lord compose, Our Lord compose, So in age I count.

[26:20] Where the whole realm of nature mine, That where an offering far too small, That so amazing, so divine, Delayed is to myself can therefore my generosity.

[26:51] I deserve, I deserve, Links reserves by and pain.

[27:03] reading the word of God from John's Gospel, chapter 19, and we read from verse 23 to verse 30.

[27:15] John 19, verse 23, down to verse 30. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic.

[27:39] Now the tunic was without sin, woven from the top in one piece. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which says, They divided my garments among them, and on my clothing they cast lots.

[28:05] Therefore the soldiers did these things. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Diopas, and Mary Magdalene.

[28:19] And Jesus therefore, when Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, Woman, behold your son.

[28:31] Then he said to the disciple, Behold your mother. And from that day, from that hour, that disciple took her to his own home.

[28:45] After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, now that the scriptures might be fulfilled, he said, I thirst. Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a hyssop, and put it to his mouth.

[29:08] So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. Amen, and may God bless to us the reading of his own holy word, and to his name be all the glory and the praise.

[29:29] We're now going to have a short Gaelic prayer, which is usually the custom in the congregation. So let us throw near to God in prayer.

[29:42] We thank you, O God, that you are with us here today, and that you understand whatever language we speak.

[29:55] And so we turn in our mother tongue to yourself. Some of us have known this language from our childhood. Well, thy father's mother tongue to us.

[30:08] God, we're in the heart of magic and bringing you the natural Despite our peuple and Clinical 두 people in the power of evil, we can just love you our way through our times, and we want to know if you are in Christ. And군 home was자는berg.

[30:18] Everyone hadjust healed. God'scle indeed would say to God into our indigenous people. God's calf for the Sauvish Rock, who was raised because he loved to us. God, I think you are now naimou, and form he loved death. God's custom and fruit Him had just heard this way than Kenneth.

[30:29] smart llega chain As many as it was in ONG wa page, di ro's in ar piachgi, but Father how matters it, pi-achgiaka his-han a gusy ju llama y ha dtane g el en ghulsa y ri nu fae gyn.

[31:13] I nages ni leva Natürlich the sg eel g o δ aev na The transulators.

[31:24] We saw shows opportunities to keep our eyes and keepfelder most of us. We saw a sunflower's Alderaig and made everything useful.

[31:36] The fruit initially made together a �rito. The relationship between us goes faking a food, harus CHAR atau ter explosive experience.

[31:47] Towards what they do, it is a very good thing for us and to be honest perpetrato. We have put over 40 years of old loneliness and we have not been suffering from teu iságü.

[32:04] We have so to creative and take us the entire smile on our locked Magn prosperous oceans. these emotions in your way, to flame,ITE in Fitoches, things like you, of Christ.

[32:27] I traveled grand to me and I got a new feeling I could send my letters to God. And as an delivery star I went above him, and the 충분ates of its todos, closed so much and never given me dread until I was a man with him.

[32:58] And it would have happened to his eyes to again. But his ghost is seen up every day in a half-letain.

[33:12] He was not께 받아 make us pay for a thousand dollars. By doors remain we both owned by non-heart Amen.

[33:59] We shall sing to God's praise, hymn number 241. There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

[34:17] 241. There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall. There is a green hill far away, outside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

[34:41] Where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

[34:55] We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains He had to bear.

[35:09] But we believe Him was for us, He hung and suffered him.

[35:23] He died that we might be born again, He died to make us good.

[35:37] That we might go our last to heaven, saved by His precious blood.

[35:51] There was no other good enough, to pay the price of sin.

[36:06] He, O He, who done not the gate, of heaven, and let us in.

[36:20] O dearly, dearly has He loved, and we must love Him too.

[36:34] And trust in His redeeming blood, and try His works to do.

[36:49] Now let us turn carefully to God's word, and to John's Gospel, chapter 17, and the fourth verse of the chapter.

[37:07] John 17, verse 4. I have glorified you on earth. I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do.

[37:25] The words that we find in that great prayer that Jesus prayed before He went out to the cross and before He was arrested.

[37:37] I have glorified you on earth. I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. When you are given a work to do, and you manage to complete it, there is a sense of satisfaction that fills your heart and fills your soul.

[38:00] Perhaps you are a student, and you are diligently preparing to sit exams, and you spend time studying long and hard.

[38:15] Then the day of the exam comes, and you sit the exam, and you manage to answer the questions fairly well. There is a sense of satisfaction in your heart as you go home.

[38:30] All these hours of study have been paid off, and it has been well worth the effort. The same thing is true about life's journey.

[38:45] There is a sense of satisfaction if a person has lived his life well in this world. The Apostle Paul knew something of that satisfaction as he languished in a Roman jail, ready to come out and be executed any day.

[39:05] He wrote to his young friend Timothy in his last known letter, 2 Timothy, verse 6 of chapter 4.

[39:16] He said, I am ready to, I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand.

[39:28] I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. But although there is a sense of satisfaction in a job that is well done, we always see things that we could have done better, or things that we could have done in a different way.

[39:53] And very often we are our own worst critics of the things that we do. And that is so true in the ministry, as in any other calling.

[40:06] When I was a minister before I retired, I don't think I ever went to sleep at night without a sense of guilt that I hadn't done the work that God had called me to do.

[40:22] As well as I could have. And I endeavoured to do it better. The same thing after preaching. You see, things you would have said better.

[40:35] And done better. If there was one person who could look back on all the things that he had done in this world, without any regret, without any twinge of conscience.

[40:50] He could look back with joy and satisfaction upon the work that he had done. And he knew that he couldn't have done it better. But it was absolutely perfect to the smallest detail.

[41:05] And that person was the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour, who spoke the words that we have as our text for this morning's service.

[41:18] In prayer he said to God, I have glorified you on earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Now God gives us work to do in this world.

[41:35] And we either fail to do it or fail to do it well. But that wasn't the case with Jesus Christ.

[41:47] He completed the work perfectly that the Father had given him to do. And that's why he could say in the first verse of this chapter, Father, glorify your Son.

[42:00] And in verse 5, O Father, glorify me together with yourself. The glory that I had with you before the world was.

[42:11] And if we are ever to be glorified, if we are ever to be in heaven at last, it will be because Christ's merits and his righteousness are imputed to us.

[42:25] That is our hope. That is our plea. That he stood in our place as our substitute. And although our work fails so often in so many ways, we thank God that our salvation doesn't depend.

[42:46] That doesn't depend on what we have done, but on what he has done that day on the cross. In this verse, there are three things that I would like us to consider for a few moments together.

[43:03] Here we come, first of all, to an eternal assignment. Something that was assigned for Jesus to do before the words were made.

[43:18] There is also perfect obedience. There is also perfect obedience. He went forward to do what he was given to do with perfect obedience.

[43:30] And there is finally a satisfactory outcome at the end of it all. So first of all, an eternal assignment. The verse tells us that God the Father in past eternity gave to his Son work to do.

[43:51] The work you have given me to do, he says. And what a tremendous work it was. The Father gave him this work to do.

[44:03] No father ever gave his Son work as God gave to Jesus Christ. He was the one that was to save sinners from their sins by taking their place on Calvary.

[44:22] It wasn't as if the Son was inactive in heaven until he was given this work to do. He was always active. He is the one who created the universe.

[44:35] John already said that in chapter 1, verse 3. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made.

[44:46] And Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, underlines that truth when he says, For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

[45:04] All things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. We also know that God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Son and the Holy Spirit guided and directed the Jewish nation down through the long years of the Old Testament dispensation.

[45:34] Again and again in the Bible we come across the term, the angel of the Lord. Now that doesn't refer to any of the angels that God created.

[45:46] It's a special name for Christ in his pre-incarnate state. He was the angel of the Lord and he appeared from time to time in the Old Testament.

[46:02] The classic example is of Abraham on Mount Moriah. There is Abraham, having tied his only son Isaac on the altar, reaching for his knife, going to offer Isaac up as a sacrifice in obedience to God.

[46:24] Genesis 22, 11, records for us. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Do not lay your hand on the lad, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

[46:47] Now, no angel would say that from me. You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

[47:00] That shows you that this was not any ordinary angel, but the angel of the covenant. Jesus Christ meeting with Abraham in his pre-incarnate state.

[47:15] However, the work that Jesus is referring to here in this verse is the whole of his ministry, his birth, his life, his teaching, his miracles, and finally his sufferings and death on the cross.

[47:32] Jesus Christ. He is speaking as if they were past. He uses the past tense.

[47:45] And his mind is in particular upon the atoning death that he is going to suffer in a few hours' time. This was the night before the crucifixion, you remember.

[47:59] And this is the supreme work that the Father has given him to do. Greater than his ministry of teaching and miracles and his life and birth and everything else was his death on that cross.

[48:17] And this is the work that no one else could do but himself. In heaven or earth or hell, nobody could do this work but himself.

[48:28] And here Jesus looks ahead to that day. And even beyond that day, with such assurance that it is concluded, finished.

[48:42] But it is as if these things have already taken place. This is the work the Father had given him to do before time began.

[48:54] You remember John later spoke in Revelation 13 and verse 8 about Christ as the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.

[49:07] And he said, But think for a few moments yourself, if you are a father and you have a son that you love very much. How you would feel if you had to give that son over to be taken into the worst den of iniquity possible.

[49:34] Until he would suffer until he would suffer for the punishment of those people that he was dying for.

[49:47] Imagine if you have a son that you love. How would you feel if you were to send him into the darkest den of iniquity in this life, in this world?

[50:03] To be abused and beaten and eventually killed by those who were your enemies. How would you feel if that was the case?

[50:14] Wouldn't your heart just bleed for that son of your love? Of course it would. And so did God's heart bleed us.

[50:27] Yes, Jesus went to that cross. That he sent him there. And Jesus obeyed the Father's will because he loved us.

[50:42] Here was then an eternal assignment given to the Son before the world was created. But we come across also a perfect obedience.

[50:55] The Son not only undertook the assignment gladly from the Father, but he also completed it. He said, I have finished the work, he said, which you have given me to do.

[51:10] And the proof that he finished that work is that the Father raised him from the dead on the third day. How it fills our souls when we realised that he did not leave any of the work of atonement undone.

[51:33] He completed it 100%. And because the Father was fully satisfied in his justice with what Jesus did on that cross.

[51:48] He raised him from the dead on the third day. If God had not been fully satisfied in his justice with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, he wouldn't have raised him from the dead.

[52:04] If any of the debts of his people had not been paid, then Christ would not have been raised on the third day. And this is the point that the Apostle Paul is making in Romans 8 and at verse 33 and verse 34.

[52:23] Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore is risen.

[52:37] So if you are a Christian, then nobody can bring a charge against you. For Christ has paid all the debts.

[52:50] The resurrection sets God's seal on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. And again Paul in Romans 4, 24 speaks of the righteousness of Christ being imputed to us.

[53:08] Us, he says, who believe in him who raised up Christ from the dead. Who was delivered because of our offences and was raised because of our justification.

[53:24] He was not, we are not to take from this that we are justified by the resurrection of Christ. No. His death did that.

[53:35] And it is by faith we are justified having put out faith in Christ. What Paul means here is that by raising Christ from the dead God declares that Christ's death was indeed the perfect substitution for our sins.

[53:56] And that he has accepted that substitution in place of our condemnation. One cancelled out the other.

[54:07] You may see this more clearly by the wee story that I am going to tell you.

[54:18] If you look at it in this way. I was born and brought up in a little village in North Uist. About 30 homes altogether in. There was no road linking us to the rest of Uist.

[54:32] And everything we did, we did by boats. If you wanted to go to Lough Maddy, you had to travel by boat for a whole hour. There was only one shop.

[54:45] And everybody bought their groceries from that shop. As well as other things like paraffin and feeding stuff for the cattle. And many, many other things as well.

[54:58] Now with some families just after the war or during the war, things were difficult and money was very scarce.

[55:10] There was always a little booklet given to every home. And all that they wanted in the shop was put down and they would get it if it was there.

[55:22] And the price was put opposite it. And they paid as much as they could. But every page had BF written on it.

[55:33] And pounds, shillings and pence. The BF stood for brought forward. Brought forward such and such amount.

[55:44] And that was always a cause for concerns among the families. Seeing the bill melting up and they had nothing to pay.

[55:59] And then one day the cattle sales would come around. And some of the livestock would be sold. And the next duty after the sale was over was to go to the shopkeeper and pay off the debts that were outstanding in the little book.

[56:20] And the shopkeeper would put a red stroke through the page and put paid in full on that page and on the next page and so on.

[56:35] But what a relief it was to those hard working parents who were so honest and so diligent to have all their debts paid and the account cleared.

[56:49] This is what the resurrection of Jesus Christ tells us. That the account for the believer, for the Christian, for the one who trusts in Christ is clear.

[57:04] There is nothing in the book. There is nothing brought forward. There is a stroke, a red stroke, dipped in the blood of Christ over every page of your life.

[57:19] The outstanding account is clear. It has been fully paid. And God the Father is satisfied. And He will never demand anything else for our salvation ever again.

[57:36] Nothing has been left undone. No one has been left out. And He made sure of that. You know, Jesus at one time was so agitated.

[57:51] Luke tells us about it. He wanted that account to be cleared. He wanted the account to be paid. And this is what He said, chapter 12 of Luke and verse 50.

[58:03] I have a baptism, He said, to be baptized with. And how I am constrained until it's accomplished. Now if God the Father is satisfied with Christ's work on the cross.

[58:20] And the Son is satisfied. And the Holy Spirit is satisfied. Why should you and why should I not be satisfied with it as well?

[58:33] Why should we not be satisfied with the work of Christ today? Why indeed? We ought not just to be satisfied.

[58:46] We ought to be praising God for it. And rejoicing in it. That Christ has accomplished our salvation. And paid the last penny that we owed to God.

[59:01] You know the story of H.G. Spafford. The hymn writer. In one of the verses he wrote this.

[59:17] My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part but the whole. His nail to his cross.

[59:28] And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul. The hymn begins when peace like a river attendeth my way.

[59:39] And troubles like sea below the road. And that hymn was written by a man who lost his business.

[59:50] And was made bankrupt in one day. And then he heard the news that his wife and two daughters were drowned on the way to England.

[60:03] Going across the Atlantic. The ship went down. And with the tears flooding his desk and flooding the paper on which he was writing.

[60:19] He wrote these words. When peace like a river attendeth my way. And sorrows like sea below the road. There was whatever my lot there has taught me to know.

[60:33] It is well, it is well with my soul. The Puritans used to speak about the finished work of Christ.

[60:51] And they used to rejoice in it as well. A perfect obedience. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And then finally I satisfied with my soul. Can you say today it is well with my soul. The finished work which you have done.

[61:02] The purpose of God. The purpose of God. The purpose of God. And then finally a satisfactory outcome. I have glorified you on earth.

[61:14] How does the atoning death of Christ glorify you? And then finally a satisfactory outcome. I have glorified you on earth.

[61:28] How does the atoning death of Christ glorify God? We may ask. How does it bring glory to God? Because the death of Christ on the cross.

[61:40] Brings out the attributes of God. More clearly than ever before. The meaning of the phrase to glorify God is familiar to us.

[61:54] From a reading of the shorter catechism. And then the first question. There on the answer. The question was what is man's chief end?

[62:05] Man's chief end is to glorify God. And to enjoy him forever. To glorify God means to acknowledge his attributes.

[62:16] And to declare them and make them known. And that's what the cross did. Disclose the attributes of God.

[62:27] And made them known to the whole world. It displayed his sovereignty. His justice.

[62:38] His righteousness. His wisdom. His love. And everything else that is true about God. Though all these attributes are gloriously displayed in Christ's death on the cross.

[62:56] Some preachers down the years have likened the cross to something that a prism does to the sun rays.

[63:11] The rays of the sun coming and passing through the prism. Brings out its southern colours. We didn't know it was there at the time.

[63:22] But when it passes through the prism. The prism brings out the southern colours that are in the sunbeam. You see it more clearly in the rainbow.

[63:36] The rain droplets act as a prism through which the sun's rays pass through. And the southern beautiful colours of the rainbow are to be seen.

[63:49] If the rainbow wasn't there you wouldn't have seen these colours. You wouldn't believe maybe there were such beautiful colours in the sunbeam. And you wouldn't know that the attributes of God were as beautiful and as glorious.

[64:07] Until the cross brings them out in all their splendour and in all their beauty. We see God's sovereignty in the cross first of all.

[64:20] In the way the death of Christ was planned from all eternity. Prophets have foretold the death of Christ.

[64:31] Years and hundreds of years before it happened. And every word of prophecy came through. Does that not show us the sovereignty of God?

[64:43] That it wasn't something dreamed up by the Jews and by the Romans at the last minute. God from all eternity had planned it.

[64:54] We see God's justice in the cross as well. God from all eternity. For sin was punished on the cross. Your sins and my sins, not Christ's.

[65:06] Because he had no sin. But you and I had sinned. If God had forgiven sin without the cross. He would not be a just God.

[65:20] But he encircled his justice and kept it safe and at the same time dealt with sin.

[65:34] We see the righteousness of God also on the cross. Another of God's attributes is righteousness. We see it in the fact that only Christ, the righteous one, could pay the price of sin.

[65:53] No one else was able to do it but Christ and Christ alone. We were singing there together. There wasn't another good enough to pay the price of sin.

[66:05] He only could unlock the gates of heaven and let us in. We see the wisdom of God in the cross. For who else but himself could have devised a plan of salvation like this?

[66:21] Not the highest angel in heaven could devise a plan as gloriously, as glorious as the cross on the death of Christ.

[66:32] Indeed, the highest angels, as Peter tells us in his letter, loves to peer into the work of salvation in wonder and in love and in adoration.

[66:47] We see his love supremely on the cross. On the cross we see clearly as anywhere else that God loves us.

[67:00] You can't stand before the cross and not come to the conclusion, well, God must love me when he sent his son there to die in my place.

[67:14] Therefore, Jesus could say, I have glorified you on earth. Now, if Christ has done everything that is needed to be done in order that sinners might be saved, and if God is fully satisfied with what happened on Calvary that day, why should I not be happy with it?

[67:37] Why should you not be happy with it? Why should we not embrace it together? Why should any one of us try to add to it by trusting in our own righteousness?

[67:53] As if Christ did not do enough on the cross to save us. That is nothing short of an insult to God.

[68:05] It is as if a first class, top class joiner made a table for you. And he French polished it beautifully.

[68:17] You could see your face in it. And he said to you, there you are. There is the table that you asked me to do for you. It is finished.

[68:29] And you went to your shed at the back of the house and got a chisel out and got a planer and started hacking away at the table.

[68:41] The joiner would shout to you, what do you think you are doing, man? You are spoiling it. You are not making it any better but worse.

[68:53] It does not need your chisel. It does not need your plane. It is perfect the way it is. When you and I come with our self-righteousness and our good deeds and present them before God and say to God, well I have done this, I have been going to church, I have been doing that, I have been helping all sorts of good causes.

[69:17] You are as if you are trying to make the work that Christ completed on the cross better than it actually is. You can't make it better. You can't improve on it.

[69:30] All we can do is bow down this morning before God in prayer and say, Oh Lord, I have never realised until now how unsulting it is to you for me not to trust in your son's death on the cross.

[69:49] I want to trust only, only in what your son, Jesus Christ, has done that day on Calvary.

[70:08] Jesus said, I have finished the work which you have given me to do. Can we say that we are doing the work that God has set out for us in this life?

[70:23] Can we say that we are doing the work that God has planned for us in this world? Well if we are not Christians yet we are not. But you see the day you become a Christian, then you will begin the work that God has planned for you for all eternity.

[70:42] And that is the glorious thing about being converted. It changes your whole life. I have seen it in my congregation there in Stornoway.

[70:58] Young men and women too, becoming converted, becoming Christians. They were teachers, they were whatever they were.

[71:11] They had their own profession, some of them, and some had no profession at all. They were still in school. And they were set to go to college or whatever to do, architecture or teaching or whatever they had their mindset of.

[71:28] But Christ came into their lives, changed their lives. And they are now in the ministry, many of them and some have gone out as missionaries to other parts of the world.

[71:39] They found out what God had planned for them. What God had set aside for them, the work that he had set aside for them to do from all eternity.

[71:51] They discovered it after they became Christians. And instead of being teachers, instead of being architects and engineers and all the rest of it. They became preachers of the gospel.

[72:03] Because that's what God wants them to do for himself. I hope we'll all be able to see that we have been doing the work that God has planned for us in this world.

[72:19] And it doesn't matter how short we've come of doing it as well as we would like. And it doesn't matter whether our conscience is bothering us going to bed at night.

[72:35] It's not dependent on what we do that our salvation is, but upon what Christ has done. He has done it perfectly. And our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

[72:53] And eternal assignment, the work you gave me. A perfect obedience. I have finished the work. A satisfactory outcome.

[73:06] I have glorified you. And that's your chief end in this world, whoever you are. To glorify God. The reason you're here in this life, the reason you were created and set into this world, is to glorify God.

[73:24] And to enjoy Him. Oh, forever. May God help us to see more clearly our duties as men and women and young people.

[73:36] Amen. May God bless to us this world. Let us bow in prayer. Heavenly Father, take readings with us this morning. And show us that we're missing out on the best things in life.

[73:50] And we're not doing the work that you have called us to do. And may there come from this service, even this service alone, this morning, someone who will say, I want to do what God has planned for me to do.

[74:08] I want to give myself to Him today for the first time. And then find out and discover what He wants me to do with my life. Lord, take dealings with me.

[74:21] Whatever you do to anybody else in the service, deal with me. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

[74:32] Amen. And close by singing to God's praise, hymn number 318. In the hymn books, Man of sorrows, wondrous name. For the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim.

[74:46] Hallelujah, what a Saviour. 380, Man of sorrows, wondrous name. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.

[74:58] And of sorrows, wondrous name. For the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim.

[75:18] Hallelujah, what a Saviour. Be shame and so faithful, in my place on empty tomb.

[75:39] Seal my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah, what a Saviour. Hallelujah, what a Saviour. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.

[75:52] Guilty, violent, helpless we. Spotless Lamb of God was He.

[76:07] Full at all, and calm in me. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.

[76:22] Lifting up was He to cry. Hit His grace, was His cry.

[76:36] Now in heaven exalted high. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.

[76:51] When He comes, our glorious King. All His handsome hope to bring.

[77:05] All His handsome hope to bring. Then I hear this song we'll sing. Hallelujah, what a Saviour.

[77:20] Amen. Amen. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, rest upon you and remain with you.

[77:33] And with all whom you love, and with all God's people here and everywhere, both now and forevermore. Amen. And then every time you get in the Lunar, itICIAU Kaitlin 나가 for your career. It's theawaруп oil. It supports our own vista, but it's worth putting rain in the municipalities.

[77:44] Just right away. And one day we're going to pass it over. I'm gonna be top of our your own vista, and let us see our sanity. Thank you, for the five month and to व or to to joke. We're staring in the picture with God. Let's see, God after you have windows of the new cross, and say that will come. New miteinander gear will catch the purpose of my story. Yeah.

[77:55]  We'll be sitting back on the video 거� introductions. That is where if further joy leaves you like. To join this dashboard, I know this song actually looks at the pace to Find.