[0:00] Good morning.
[0:23] It's good to welcome you. Well, apologies straight away to begin with. The heating boiler has broken down. Which is why it's a bit cooler in here than usual. So do keep your jackets and coats on.
[0:35] And thermals and things. And hopefully it won't be too cold. We do welcome folk. Particularly good to see friends, family and others as well.
[0:46] Visitors. We welcome you in the name of the Lord. Well, what are we to make of our present situation? Universally and nationally.
[0:58] Great deal of uncertainty, isn't it? Great deal of fear amongst many people. Anxiety as well. Well, that's when, of course, as God's people, we turn to his word.
[1:10] And here in Philippians 4, we're assured of these things. Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again. Rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all.
[1:22] The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.
[1:34] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And what do we know?
[1:46] We know that our Redeemer lives. Our Savior and our King. So let's sing to the praise of our God. 270. I know that my Redeemer lives.
[1:56] What joy the blessed assurance gives. We have this sure and certain hope that we have a living God and a living Savior. 270.
[2:07] Let's stand as we sing. Let's come before our living Lord in prayer together.
[2:25] Let's pray together. Our Father and our God, we come to you once more this morning as those who know the reality of the things that we've sung and we've read.
[2:41] We know, oh Lord, what it is to enjoy that living, unchanging love of yours in our lives. We know what it is to live by faith, trusting in you and experiencing your grace day by day.
[2:58] Lord, we thank you that we can trust you in all circumstances and situations. Thank you that we can rejoice in you all of the time and that we need not be anxious about anything at all.
[3:14] Because, oh Lord, we are fathered and cared for by the almighty, all gracious and living God. And, oh Lord, we pray that afresh this morning as we draw near to worship and praise you.
[3:28] As we draw near, Lord, to consider all that you are and all that you've done for us. We pray again that that faith, that assurance, that confidence in you may grow and increase, be built up and strengthened.
[3:42] Thank you that as those who are your people, we have no fear of death. Death is but, oh Lord, that stepping stone into your perfect presence, where there will be no illness or disease, where there will be no sickness or pain or death, where there will be no anxiety or fear.
[4:03] And, oh Lord, we thank you for that because we know that Jesus himself has conquered death. Jesus himself, the very son of God, has suffered and died for our sins and has risen again and is ascended to your right hand.
[4:18] We thank you that Jesus is the one that we are connected with and united with. And because he lives, we live. And because he can never die, then we can never die.
[4:30] Lord, we thank you for that. We pray once more that this morning, as we come to worship you, that our eyes and our hearts may be centered upon you, that all the things that are whirring around about us may become still and quiet, and that, Lord, we might know you speaking with us and meeting with us.
[4:51] Lord, help us then and draw us to yourself, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Frederick's going to come and speak to the young people for us now.
[5:04] Thank you, Frederick. You and I are. And God has hoch Politic watu Hohce Sanjou.
[5:16] Lord, the prophet of the Father areligen. Amen. Father, number, number, number, number, number, number, number.
[5:29] Take your high-end for you, Christ. And the Lord welcomed us, Christ, and the Lord seems to us 현 ミ archives, For God Alleluia Alleluia Ask and it shall be Given unto you Seek and ye shall find Knock and the door Shall be opened unto you Alleluia Alleluia Ask and it shall be Given unto you Seek and ye shall find Knock and the door Shall be opened unto you Alleluia Alleluia
[6:31] Let's turn then to God's word and to Luke and chapter 16 Luke and chapter 16 and the passage that Frederick referred to in his children's talk We're going to pick up from verse 13 which is where we were last week and carry on through to the end of the chapter So Luke and chapter 16 verse 13 that's page 1050 verse 13 Jesus is teaching and speaking No one can serve two masters Either you will hate the one and love the other or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other You cannot serve both God and money The Pharisees who loved money heard all this and were sneering at Jesus
[7:34] He said to them You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others but God knows your hearts What people value highly is detestable in God's sight The law and the prophets were proclaimed until John Since that time the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached and everyone is forcing their way into it It's easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the law Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery The man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table Even the dogs came and licked his sores
[8:35] The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side The rich man also died and was buried In Hades, where he was in torment he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side So he called to him Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony in this fire But Abraham replied Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things But now he is comforted here and you are in agony And besides all this Between us and you a great chasm has been set in place so that those who want to go from here to you cannot Nor can anyone cross over from there to us
[9:36] He answered Then I beg you, Father Send Lazarus to my family For I have five brothers Let him warn them so that they will not also come to this place of torment Abraham replied They have Moses and the prophets Let them listen to them No, Father Abraham, he said But if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent He said to him If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead Let's pray together There's several matters and needs to be praying for Thankfully we can Turn with me back to Luke and chapter 16 Please, if you would And to the passage that we read a little earlier Verse 13 to 31
[10:37] There is only one topic of conversation Isn't there at the moment Wherever you go Whoever you meet with Whoever you talk to Immediately Almost straight away It is the talk of the dangers Of the coronavirus In public places Including here And everywhere else There are instructions How to avoid the spread Of this life-threatening illness Turn on the TV Almost every program Certainly every news channel And news program Gives a major amount of time To reporting around the world Around the UK Cases of new cases Being recorded Of extreme lengths Governments have gone to Shutting schools and borders And flights in and out And so on and so forth All preparing All planning All hoping to preserve life And within our society
[11:38] As a whole From youngest to oldest Wherever we go Richest to poorest There is a growing fear As to where this will all end What will be the outcome What will be the total number of people Who lose their lives To this terrible illness Of course it's right and proper And even as a church here We are doing what we should We hope to preserve And to protect The spread of this disease And I need to say again If at any point You feel threatened Or worried Or anxious about your health Then please don't be afraid Not to come Welcome to come I'm not going to tell people Not to come But if you're anxious about it Then don't come to church That's fine We'll understand But it's right That we do things And put out sanitizers And courage to wash hands And so on and so forth It is something serious However
[12:39] What is most concerning I think to me Is something that we should Be far more anxious about Something that is never spoken of In any of the news bulletins Or programs Nothing that is mentioned In any of the conversations We have in the street And that is simply this Not if we will die From coronavirus But where will we go When we die What happens to us When we die Because whether we die Of coronavirus or not And it's highly Highly unlikely That we will We will die We will die one day And are we prepared for that Are we ready for that reality That's certainty Nobody talks about that No news programs As I say No documentaries Yet As we come to this parable The teaching of our Lord Jesus Here particularly Concerning the parable Of the rich man of Lazarus We see again
[13:39] That here is A very real stark Warning About the necessity Of preparing For death This is the final Of several parables That Jesus spoke Particularly to the Pharisees Right back At the start Of chapter 15 If you remember The tax collectors And the sinners As they were called Were all gathering around Huddling up To listen to Jesus But the Pharisees And the teacher Of the law Muttered Complained against Jesus This man welcomes Sinners And eats with them And so we're told Then Jesus told them That's the Pharisees This parable So we have the three Parables We looked at At something that was lost Last week The parable Of the shrewd Or the dishonest manager And this fourth Fifth parable The last Of the parables As it were That Jesus Gives to these Pharisees
[14:39] Warning them Urging them These people Who grumbled Against his example These people Who we read there Sneered at his teaching Jesus still Is speaking to them Urging them Warning them Telling them That they need To be ready For judgment For facing God For life After death Once more again We see just The great mercy Of Jesus The great loving Kindness Of Jesus He taught his disciples Suddenly Love your enemies And now These people Who would later Instigate his death And call for him To be crucified And now Were filled with Such anger And resentment Against him These people That were in his midst He again Speaks to them Directly And calls them And points them to And warns them against Living the life That they've lived Urging them To come To him For forgiveness And salvation See again
[15:39] The inexhaustible Loving kindness And mercy Of our Lord Jesus Christ No matter how Hard Your heart May be No matter how Far From him You are No matter how Much you may have Despised him In the past Or mocked Or ridiculed He is still Longing Longing To save you Longing For you To turn And receive Life everlasting So what do These words Of Jesus To the Pharisees Have to say To us What do they Have to say To us Who are Which are Of even Greater relevance Than anything Concerning The coronavirus Of our day Well the Very plain And simple Truth We see Particularly In this parable Although we're Going to be Moving back And forth A little Into the Other teachings Of Jesus Here to the Pharisees How we live In this life Has repercussions In the next
[16:40] How you live In this life Will affect Your eternal Destiny Jesus said Back in Verse 9 Of chapter 16 I tell you Use worldly Wealth to gain Friends for Yourselves So that when It is gone You will be Welcomed Into eternal Dwellings We thought Particularly About that Last week But then Again Verse Verse 25 When Abraham Speaks to The rich man Son remember That in your Lifetime you Received good Things While Lazarus Received bad Things But now he's Comforted here And you are In agony I'm not Going to Argue for The reality Of life After death It's a Universally Accepted Truth If you go To almost Any religion In the world You will find There is some Belief in Life beyond The grave It's someone I believe
[17:40] Who is very Self deceived Who would Deny Any Life Beyond This life So I'm not Going to argue For that I'm going to Take it as Jesus does As the Bible does And as Most people Do that We must And will Exist Beyond this Physical life We live Here in This world However For most People when You speak To them Their concept Of life After death Is without Any foundation Or authority Their concept Of life After death Is of their Own making Just watch Any TV advertisement For a Funeral Pre-payment Plan Or listen To any Conversation Between people Who have Either been At a funeral Or have Talking about The death Of someone Their idea Of the Afterlife Is very Much This There is No hell Or judgment There is Except of course For Hitler He's the only One who's ever Going to be There for some
[18:40] Reason But heaven Is just an Extension Of this World's Pleasures And enjoyment So if you Like fishing In this World You will Have fishing In heaven If you Like eating Then you'll Eat in heaven If you Like dancing Then you'll Dance in heaven No foundation No understanding But what is Even more Troubling Than people's Foolish Imaginary Notions Of what After life Will be like What is More troubling Is the View of most People as To how You get To heaven How you Will Get to That place Which is So full Of enjoyment And pleasure And the Things that You've had Here Do you know What you Need to do According to Modern society Western culture Nothing You don't Need to do Anything To get To heaven Because you Are guaranteed That you Will be Going to Heaven By simply Living as You choose Except of
[19:41] Course in Brackets If you're A mass Murderer Then you Won't get There But we Don't talk About that You will Secure Life in The afterlife Of your Dreams Just doing What you Want Just doing What pleases You There is no Connection Really Between how You live This life In this World And what Will happen To you When you Die There is No connection In most People's Beliefs In 21st Century Western Culture But Jesus Blows that Idea that Universally You will Go to Heaven Apart from The clauses That we've Made And you Will have A lovely Afterlife Jesus Blows those Ideas Out of The water As nonsense By this Parable He tells This parable To reinforce What he Has already Made plain Again and Again and Again That we
[20:41] Are lost That we Are destined To everlasting Sorrow Grief And shame That there Is only One way Of salvation And that Is through Him The son Of God Who has Brought The good News Of the Gospel Into this World Dear friends Do not Be fooled How you Live In this Life Will Have Consequences In the Next So that Raises the Question surely Well if That is the Case how Are we To live That we Might have Life in the Next How are We to Live If we Are to Hope to Have eternal Life beyond This Well By God's Standards And not Our own That Passage in Between The end
[21:42] As it were Of Jesus Teaching in Verse 15 And the Beginning of The parable Of the rich Man and Lazarus May look An awkward Insertion Perhaps to Us We may Feel that Doesn't Seem to Be in The right Place But Jesus Has intentionally Spoken in This way About God's Law To these Pharisees Who believe Themselves Want to Be the Perfect Keepers Of God's Law And also To be Above God's Law When Jesus Says the Law and The Prophets He means The whole Of the Old Testament The whole Revelation Of God's Will The whole As it were Declaration Of what God Desires And wants And expects From Humanity See what Men and Women What you And I Think is Good God Calls Detestable Verse Before Verse 15 Speaking to The Pharisees We looked at It briefly But want to Look at the
[22:42] End part Particularly What people Value Highly In other What people Declare To be Good The best Things In life The best Way of Living And so On and So For Is detestable In God's Side So what Is God What is Good to God Well what He's Declared In his Word What he Said In the Old Testament What he's Proclaimed About himself And about Sin and Salvation And forgiveness It's All there And we Know that This is Clearly What Jesus Is talking About Because Later On When we Have The Parable We have Abraham Speaking About Moses And the Prophets It's The same Thing Moses Represented The law It's The Old Testament Again That they Are to Listen To That's To Shape And Fashion Our Lives For Generations God Has Proclaimed His Good Will Even Up to And Including The Time Of John The Baptist There In Verse 16 And Jesus' Good News
[23:42] Of The Kingdom That's Being Preached Now And That the Pharisees Sneer Against Is Completely In Keeping With All That God Has Said Previously And Proclaimed Throughout The Old Testament The Difference Of The Good News Of Jesus And The Kingdom Is This That Now Not Just The Jew But All The World All People Of Every Class And Color And Background And So On Can Come Into The Kingdom Can Enter It If They Are Determined To Notice How Jesus Says The Kingdom The Kingdom Of God Is Forcing Their Way In It Said Earlier In Chapter Sorry It Said Earlier In Chapter 13 And Verse 24 Make Every Effort To Enter Through The Narrow Door Because Many I Tell You Will Try To Enter And Will Not Be Able To If
[24:42] You Want To Enter The Kingdom You Can Enter The Kingdom That's The Good News Of Jesus If You Are Determined If You Seek After As The Sinners Sought After As The Tax Collectors Sought After If You Want Eternal Life In The Kingdom Of God It's There To Have But You Don't Get It From Sitting Back But From Seeking After Striving To Enter The Door Being Convinced And Assured And Certain This Is The Only Way I Can Be Save The Only Where Can Have Eternal Life Therefore You'll Have It And You'll Seek It And Pursue It If It's A Take It Or Leave It Matter Then You're More Likely To Leave It See God's Will Hasn't Changed God's Standards Haven't Changed God's Laws Haven't Changed And To Highlight This Jesus Speaks Of One In Particular In Verse 18 He Speaks Of It In
[25:42] Particular Because It Was One Of The Many Ways In Which The Pharisees Twisted God's Law Changed God's Law Adjusted God's Law To Suit Their Own Sinful Pleasures The Pharisees Thought That They Were Above God's Law They Either Added To It Extra Extra Burdens And Strictness And Things That God Didn't Command To Make Themselves Feel Better Anybody Else To Feel Bad About Themselves Or Else They Downgraded God's Law They Reinterpreted And Altered God's Law To Suit Their Own Sinful Desires Jesus Makes An Example Of This In Several Places But Here's One In The Gospel Of Luke He Says To These Pharisees You Have A Fine Way Of Setting Aside The Commands Of God In Order To Observe Your Own Traditions In Other Words What You Want To Do For Moses Said Honor Your Father And Mother And Anyone Who Curses
[26:43] Their Father And Mother Is To Death But You Say That If Anyone Declares That What Might Have Been Used To Help Their Father And Mother Is Devoted To God Then You No Longer Let Them Do Anything For Their Father And Mother Thus You Nullify The Word Of God By Your Tradition That You Have Handed Down And You Do Many Things Like That In Other Words God Had Said Honor And Look After And Care For Your Mother And Father They Said Well If I Give Money To God And Devoted To God That Money Cannot Be Used For My Mother And Father So I Get Out Of That Law Because I Keep This One Which Makes Me Feel Better About Myself And Jesus Highlights Divorce Because In His Day The Pharisees And The Teachers Of The Law Taught That A Man Could Divorce His Wife Over The Most Trivial Of Matters He Could Divorce Her Because She Cooked Him A Bad Meal Or Simply He Didn't Like Her Anymore And Wasn't Pleased With Her Or Bored Or Whatever It May Be They Completely
[27:43] Undermined God's Law Isn't That Exactly The Same Today Have We Taken God's Laws On The Matter Of Marriage And Just Said Well We Can Twist That We Can Turn It We Can Make It To Suit Our Own Sinful Wicked Desires But The Chief Point That Jesus Is Making To The Pharisees And The Chief Point We Need To Take Is This You Cannot Alter God's Demands You Will Be Judged As To What You Have Done With God's Word And God's Commandments We Can't Just Ignore Some And Accept Some We Can't Divide And Say Well These Are The Ones I Like And These The Ones That I Don't Like Or We Can Say Well God's Demands Are Changed And So I Don't Need To Do These Things To Be Accepted By God I Can Do What I Want My Perspective My Understanding Or The Majority View Of The Day How Are We To Live
[28:43] That We Might Have Eternal Life According To The Word And Law Of God That Raises Another Question Then How Important Is It That I Live By God's Standards In This Life How Important Is It Does It Really Matter Well Again We Turn To This Parable If You Have Any Doubt That It Matters To You As To How You Live In Relation With God And His Word Then Listen To How Jesus Describes Life After Death For These Two Men Who Are In One Sense The Representatives Of All Of Humanity The Time Came We Told Verse Twenty Two When The Beggar Died And The Angels Carried Him To Abraham Side The Rich Man Also Died And Was
[29:43] Buried In Hades Where He Was In Torment He Looked Up And Saw Abraham Far Away With Lazarus At His Side We See One Man Who Is Described As Being In Torment And Twice As Being In Agony Compared To Another Man Who Is Comforted The One Man Who Lived His Life In A Self Indulgent Way Pleasing Himself Doing What He Wanted So So That He Was Surrounded By Pleasure And Luxury And Good Things When He Died He Went To A Place Of Torment And Agony The Other Man Who Did Not Live His Life In Selfish Pleasure When He Died Was In A Place Of Comfort Get Out Of Your Head The Idea That This Is All About Whether You Rich Or Poor It Is Not About That
[30:43] It's About How You Lived And How This Man Lived In Relation To The Law And The Commandments Of God Jesus Is Using Language Here And Concepts Of His Day He's Not Giving Us Absolutely Full And Perfect Picture An Exact Description Of Life After Death But He Is Showing Us Very Clearly The Reality That There Is An Eternal And Everlasting Torment And An Eternal And Everlasting Comfort The Single Truth Again That He Wants His Hearers And Us To Grasp Is This How You Live Must Affect Your Eternity Three Simple Things That I Think We Need To Draw Out From Here That Should Cause Us To Think Very Seriously About Our Own Lives And What We Do With God's Word While We Are Alive Today The Truth That First We See Here Is This We Will Spend Eternity
[31:44] Either In Heaven Or Hell You Will Spend Eternity Either In Heaven Or Hell Notice How When The Rich Man Asks For Abraham To Send Lazarus From Heaven To Hell With Some Water To Cool Him He He He Is Told Besides All This Between Us Verse 26 And You Between Heaven And Hell A Great Chasm Has Been Set In Place So Those Who Want To Go From Here To You Cannot Nor Can Anyone Cross Over From There To Us There Is No As It Were Second Chance In Hell There Is No Second Opportunity No Purgatory As It Were So That You Can Hopefully Later On Get To Heaven Or Work Your Way To Heaven It's Set By God Throughout Eternity And It's Determined By How We Live Now There Is No Possibility Of Change Or Transfer This
[32:44] Life That We Live Is Only The Introductory Chapter Of Your Life It's Not The Complete Volume Of Your Entire Existence It's Only Just The Opening Pages Each Day That We Have Is A Precious Gift From God On Loan To Us That We Must Make The Very Best Use Of And All The Good Things That God Gives Us And Has Shared With Us As Jesus Taught Earlier In Verse 10 Whoever Can Be Trusted With Very Little Can Be Trusted With Very Much Verse 12 If you've Not Been Trustworthy With Someone Else's Property Who Will Give You Property Of Your Own If We Blow All That God Has Given Us On The Temporary Pleasures Of This Life As The Rich Man Did We Shall Never Be Given True Riches To Enjoy Forever The
[33:45] Second Thing We See Here Is This Dear Friends We Only Have This One Life To Prepare We Only Have A Window As It Were A Short Opportunity Yes It May Be For Some Of 70 80 Years But We Have No Guarantee Of That We All Of Us The Window Is Small We Have One Life To Prepare As Abraham Speaks To The Rich Man At The End Verse 31 He Said To Them If They Do Not Listen To Moses And The Prophets They Will Not Be Convinced Even If Someone Rises From The Dead Can Any Of Us Look Back Over The Years Of Our Life Thus Far And Say Without Reservation That We Have Kept God's Word And Fulfilled His Commandments That We Have Lived As God Intended Us To Live That We Have Been Those Who Have Shunned Selfish Desires And Have Pursued God's Will In Every Aspect Of Our Lives Are We Not All Sinners Yes We
[34:45] Are Are We Not Those Men And Women Whose Lifestyle Is Glittered With Countless Acts Of Greed Of Spite Of Hate Of Pride See Dear Friends We Are Surrounded Today By People Who Are Always Telling Us To Prepare To Prepare For The Worst Prepare For Your Heating Boiler To Break Down And I Wrote This Before I Knew That Our Heating Boiler Would Break Down Prepare For Your Retirement Prepare For Your Holiday Prepare How Much Time Have You Actually Spent Preparing For Eternity Preparing For Death And What Follows It You Only Have This Life Dear Friends It's Precious Don't Waste It And Squander It Not Only Because Of What The Repercussions Will Be Here In This Life But What
[35:45] They Will Be In The Consequences To Come And Thirdly We See Here Dear Friends We Reject God's Word At Our Peril The Rich Man Wanted Lazarus To Be Sent Back To His Brothers To Warn Them So That They Would Not Come To This Place Of Torment But Abraham Said To Them Said To Him Again They Have Moses And The Prophets Let Them Listen To Them In Other words They Had Live Their Lives Ignoring God's Word And Ignoring What God Commanded All We Need To Enjoy Eternal Life And Comfort Is Written For Us And Given To Us And Revealed For Us In The Word Of God The Good Good Good Good Good Good God Good Good God Good Good Good Good Good Good Good See the Rich man Knew What God's Word Commanded Him He
[36:45] Knew That He Had Not Kept God's Word He Knew That He Had Lived A Life Which Was Completely In Opposition To God's Word And He Knows That His Brothers Are Doing Exactly The Same If He Says Father Abraham If Someone From The Dead Goes To Them They Will Repent He Knew Very Well That Repentance Was Needed For Sin He Knew That Turning Away From Sin Was Essential To Having Eternal Life He Knew Very Well How He Had Lived In Complete Disobedience To God's Word And The Example Of That Is Given By The Way He Treated Lazarus He Knew That God's Commandments And Law Spoke About Loving The Lord Your God And Your Neighbour As Your Self He Knew That God Called For Mercy And Grace And Gentleness And Kindness And Yet Every Day He Walked Past
[37:45] Lazarus With The Dogs Licking His Sores And He Had No Thought Or Concern Even To Give Him The Crumbs From His Table Never Mind To Take Him And Love Him And Provide For Him He Was So Self Obsessed And Self Concerned That The Word Of God Had No Effect Upon His Hard Heart And His Brothers Clearly Were Living Exactly The Same Way This Was Another Failing Of The Pharisees That Jesus Had Warned Them About Earlier On In Luke Chapter 11 They Were So Keen To Add To God's Law And To Add Certain Things To It Jesus Spoke To Them And He Warns Them And He Says To Them In Chapter 11 And Verse 42 Woe To You Pharisees Because You Give To God A Tenth Of Mint And Rue And All Other Kinds Of Herbs But You Neglect Justice And
[38:46] The Love Of God God's Commandments Convict Us They Hold A Mirror Up To Us They Show Us What We Really Are Like That We Do Not The Rich Man Wanted Lazarus To Go Forth And To Go Back As A Man Risen From The Dead To Warn And To Tell His Brothers To Repent And To Turn To God For Mercy And Grace To God To
[39:47] God To God God To Truth Even If Someone Rises From The Dead They Won't Be Convinced And Dear Friends Here We Are Living Now After The Resurrection Of Jesus Here We Are Just A Matter Of Weeks From Celebrating The Resurrection Of The Lord Jesus Christ From The Dead And How Many People In Our Nation And World Have Repented And Turned To Him Very Few very few though the evidence is clear though the world celebrates and holds up this reality that Jesus is risen from the dead men and women will not turn will not be saved and will continue in the way they've gone because if they won't listen to Jesus then they will not listen to anything that God says what more can God say to you what more can God do to convince you of the danger that you're in than by sending his son to suffer and die and rise again he has done everything to make possible forgiveness and rescue he has done everything that all you need do is press in and enter through the open door all you need do is take hold of the good news and turn from your sin and the way that you have lived and receive the life that he gives
[41:14] God has done everything to shake you from that self confident belief that you will be okay when you die he's shouting at you now speaking to your very conscience by his spirit now calling you now it was too late for the rich man but it's not too late for you please don't put it off any longer please don't pretend that God has not been speaking to you repent it means a turning around of life but it means a turning to Christ where there is forgiveness where there is life there is hope there is peace there is comfort and for you and I dear Christian friends can we honestly say that we are living a life that shows that God's word is what matters to us most are we living a life prepared for heaven let's close our eyes
[42:49] I'm not going to pray but now is the opportunity for you to do so the opportunity to respond to God who has spoken to you Jesus was faithful in proclaiming and calling those Pharisees from their sin to himself so he is faithful in that when you come to him he will never turn you away or reject you such is the greatness and the inexhaustible measure of his loving kindness going to bring our time this morning to a close as we sing a hymn that comes up on the screen behind me the last verse of this hymn is most telling most pressing but it begins by declaring to us this one truth
[44:17] Jesus is Lord heaven and earth and he must be our Lord too let's stand and sing Jesus is Lord we pray stars Yet leads us down to taste the living bread.
[45:25] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
[45:37] Know in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[46:02] Amen.