The Cross of Jesus Christ

[0:00] the gospel according to Mark, chapter 15. And if we read again at verse 33. And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

[0:17] And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, blama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken?

[0:30] Me. When you read a book or when you watch a film, it's always good when the storyline reaches its climax.

[0:46] Because when you begin reading a novel or any book or watching a film, you're always trying to find out who the different characters are in the story and where they all fit into the storyline.

[1:00] And as you're watching it, you're wondering, well, how is this storyline going to come together and reach its climax and pinnacle point and present to us the message which the author wanted to convey by writing the storyline in the first place?

[1:15] And, you know, that's where we've now reached with Mark's gospel. We've reached the climax and pinnacle point of his gospel. Because we see here in the cross of Jesus Christ the message which Mark wants to convey to us by writing his gospel in the first place.

[1:35] Because when Mark began writing his gospel, he stated from the outset that his storyline, he told us what his storyline was going to be about.

[1:46] Because in Mark chapter 1, verse 1, he said, This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That was Mark's opening statement in which he wanted to emphasize that he had a gospel to share with us.

[2:02] He had good news, which he wanted to pass on to us. And that this good news is all about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[2:13] And throughout his gospel, all the 15 chapters that we've gone through, right up until this point, Mark has revealed to us the identity of Jesus Christ. He's told us that this Jesus, he teaches with authority.

[2:27] He tells different parables. This Jesus, he moves with compassion. This Jesus, he forgives sin. He heals diseases. He calms storms.

[2:37] He performs miracles. He casts out demons. He raises the dead. This Jesus, he says, is the Son of God. And by telling us all these things, Mark is wanting to convince us as to the identity of Jesus Christ.

[2:54] But Mark also wants to affirm to us that this Jesus came into the world not to be served, but to serve and to give us life as a ransom for many.

[3:06] And with the identity of Jesus being revealed more and more and the storyline building and building and building all the time, it finally reaches its climax, its pinnacle point when we see Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hanging upon a Roman cross.

[3:22] And when we look at Jesus Christ hanging upon the cross, all we should hear echoing in our ears are the opening words of Mark's gospel.

[3:33] This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the good news. This is what will change your life. This is what will give you eternal life.

[3:47] The cross of Jesus Christ. And so as we arrive at this climax, this pinnacle point in Mark's gospel, we've walked through the three years of Jesus' life and ministry, but Mark wants us now to gather around the cross.

[4:05] Because the cross of Jesus Christ, it's the most extraordinary event which has ever taken place in the history of mankind. And it was this single event which changed the history of our world forever.

[4:21] In fact, the cross of Jesus Christ, it's the theme which runs throughout the whole Bible. The whole of redemptive history is pointing to this one moment.

[4:33] Everything before the cross, everything in the Old Testament is pointing towards the cross. Everything after in the New Testament, it's pointing back, back towards the cross.

[4:44] It's all about the cross. Because this world's one and only remedy for the curse of sin and death is the cross of Jesus Christ. My friend, the difference between eternal life and eternal death is the cross of Jesus Christ.

[5:00] The difference between being saved and being lost is the cross of Jesus Christ. The difference between going to heaven or going to hell is the cross of Jesus Christ. But you know, it's only when we come and stand around this cross and try and grapple with it and try and understand why it had to happen, it's only then that we are given a glimpse of the love which God has demonstrated towards us in the death of his own son.

[5:32] And Jesus spoke about this himself. He said, Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

[5:48] And Mark's desire, my desire, is that we will all follow the command to believe in Jesus and commit our life to him.

[5:59] But as we stand around the cross of Jesus Christ, I believe that there are three things which Mark wants us to take home with us today.

[6:10] Because he wants us to understand the reality of the cross and the extent of the suffering which Jesus experienced on our behalf. He wants us to witness the reaction of the cross.

[6:24] The reaction of others who were looking at the cross. But last of all, Mark wants to drive home his reason for writing about the cross.

[6:36] He wants to tell us why he wrote his gospel in the first place. And they're the three headings today. The reality of the cross, the reaction to the cross, and the reason for the cross.

[6:50] The reality of the cross, the reaction to the cross, and the reason for the cross. So if we look firstly at the reality of the cross, look again at verse 33.

[7:03] Mark tells us that when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[7:21] And these words of forsakenness, which Jesus cried from the cross, they were, of course, as we were singing, the opening words of Psalm 22.

[7:33] But when Jesus cried these words, I believe that he wasn't just drawing our attention to one verse in Psalm 22. He was drawing our attention to the entire Psalm.

[7:47] Because by quoting the opening words of Psalm 22, Jesus was bringing the whole Psalm and the experience and the feeling of that Psalm, he was bringing it to life.

[7:58] Because in Psalm 22, we're not only told about the cry of abandonment, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? We also have this self-description of Jesus by, of the way in which he was treated by his enemies.

[8:15] And they're the words that we were singing where Jesus said, I'm a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. And then as Jesus goes on in the Psalm, or you could say that it's Jesus going on in the Psalm, he's saying, as it goes on in verse 7, all who mock me, all who see me mock me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads, he trusts in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.

[8:44] But you know what always intrigues me about Psalm 22 is that even though it was written a thousand years before the death of Jesus, and that it was written before crucifixion was ever a form of capital punishment, before it was invented, this description of a crucifixion is given to us in Psalm 22.

[9:05] And it's so vivid because it's, Jesus is speaking again, I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint, my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast, my strength is dried up like a potsherd, my tongue sticks to my jaws, you lay me in the dust of death, dogs encompass me, a company of evildoers encircles me, they have pierced my hands and feet.

[9:35] And this description of the reality of the cross, and all that a crucified victim experienced, it's so accurate. Because after Jesus had been scourged by the Roman soldiers in which he was whipped and beaten with a reed on his back and on his neck, and as a result Jesus would have lost a lot of blood to the point that he was nearly in shock with the pain.

[10:02] And then, as we read, he would have to carry the heavy crossbeam towards the place, the site of crucifixion. But as we saw last week in verse 21, this man called Simon of Cyrene, he was compelled to take up the cross of Jesus and follow him all the way to Calvary with it.

[10:23] And once at the crucifixion site, Jesus and the other criminals who were with him, they would be stripped naked in order to heighten the humiliation and the shame of crucifixion, which is why the soldiers were able to gamble over the garments of Jesus.

[10:39] And that's also what we're told in Psalm 22. They divided my garments among them. For my clothing they cast lots. It was this dishonorable and shameful death.

[10:52] It was a humiliating way to die, the death of the cross. Because having been stripped naked, Jesus and the other criminals, they would be tied to the crossbeam in order to hold them.

[11:06] so they didn't move whilst six inch nails, iron nails were driven through their forearms, which again was to fulfil what was said in Psalm 22, they pierced my hands and feet.

[11:21] And these six inch nails, they were hammered through the forearm, just below the wrist, so as to avoid an artery, and it would go just in the bone, through, there's a space there I think, I like to believe, straight through the other side, so you're hanging on the bone.

[11:42] And then they would be hoisted up onto this vertical beam, lifted onto the cross, and they would have to hang on the bone of their forearms. And it's a very detailed form of execution, because the Roman soldiers, they were trained to know exactly where to hammer the nail.

[12:01] But once Jesus and the other criminals, when they were tied and then lifted up onto the vertical beam which held the cross beam in place, and their whole body weight would be supported only by the nails in their forearms, once on the cross, the Roman soldiers would tie the feet together, cross them over, drive a nail through them.

[12:25] And because of the way they were hanging upon the cross, Jesus and the other criminals, they would have severe difficulty inhaling oxygen. And in order to draw some breath, just to breathe, just to inhale, they'd have to pull down on the nails, push down on the nail in their feet, and just to draw in some breath.

[12:52] And all the time, during crucifixion, there would be this fight to stay alive, because our natural instinct is to stay alive. And that's how it's an awful death.

[13:04] You're watching somebody die, and you're watching them fighting to stay alive, knowing that they will not stay alive. But as soon as the victim becomes exhausted, and no longer able to lift themselves anymore, they would suffocate and die in only a few minutes.

[13:23] But it was this fight to stay alive, it would go on for hours, sometimes days. One commentator says that depending upon the severity of the flogging beforehand, some victims survived on crosses for several days.

[13:38] Since no major arteries were severed, that's the art of crucifixion, death came not by blood loss, but from hypovolemic shock, I don't really know what that means, exhaustion, or heart failure.

[13:53] Or even a combination of all three. Crucifixion, he says, it was this ghastly form of death, excruciatingly painful, prolonged, and socially degrading.

[14:06] And as we know from the other accounts of the Gospels, the death of a victim was sometimes hastened by breaking their legs, or by driving a spear into their side and through into their heart.

[14:22] Or sometimes they would start a fire at the foot of the cross in order that they would choke on the smoke. My friend, the reality of the cross was that it was a place of horror, a place of cruelty, and a place of death.

[14:37] But what's remarkable is that the person who was hanging upon the middle cross at Calvary was God himself. God came into the world in the form of human flesh, and he was being condemned to death for the sins of his people.

[14:58] And this is what all the movies about crucifixion miss. Yes, they emphasize the passion of the Christ, but they don't emphasize or express the spiritual suffering which Jesus experienced.

[15:10] And that's what Mark and all the other gospel writers, that's what they want to get across to us. That although crucifixion was the most awful and painful and humiliating way to die, the condemnation of the religious leaders or the capital punishment of the Romans, it was nothing in comparison to the spiritual torments which Jesus encountered on the cross.

[15:36] And this is why the gospel writers emphasize the darkness. It says in verse 33, when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

[15:47] The cross was shrouded in darkness for three hours, not by a solar eclipse, but by God himself. And in the Bible, light is symbolic of blessing.

[16:01] Darkness is symbolic of cursing or God's judgment. Therefore, in the darkness of the cross of Jesus Christ, God was demonstrating his hatred towards sin, but at the same time, he was also demonstrating his love towards sinners.

[16:21] As the apostle Paul reminds us, Christ demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But as we continue, we can see that there were various reactions to the reality of the cross.

[16:38] And so we've considered the reality of the cross, but secondly, let's consider the reaction to the cross. The reaction to the cross says in verse 34, and at the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[17:01] The first reaction we see at the cross is the reaction of Jesus. because as we said, Jesus echoes the opening words of Psalm 22 when he cries, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[17:18] But you know, how can we understand these words? Because when Jesus reacts to what has happened upon the cross, it seems that in these three hours of darkness, something changed in the experience of Jesus and his relationship to his father.

[17:36] because before the cross, throughout all eternity, throughout his life and ministry, God the father and God the son, Jesus Christ, they enjoyed perfect love, perfect communion, perfect fellowship one with another.

[17:51] But at the cross, it seems that God the father lost communion with God the son. Jesus was forsaken. Jesus was forsaken. And it was Martin Luther, one of the great leaders of the reformation in the 16th century.

[18:08] When he approached these words to study them and meditate upon them, he said that he spent days on end, just contemplating their meaning.

[18:20] And after a lot of study and a lot of meditation on them, all he said was, God forsaken of God, who can understand it? God forsaken of God, who can understand it?

[18:34] How can we understand God the father forsaking God the son on the cross? How can we understand the forsakenness of Jesus in those hours of darkness?

[18:46] Maybe I've mentioned this to you before, but when I was in college, and when we were looking at the cross of Jesus, the crucifixion, all of us listening to our professor, we were asking the same question.

[19:01] we're asking how can we understand the forsakenness of Jesus on the cross? And you know, all our professor could say was, he said, I've been studying the New Testament for 35 years, and I still don't understand it.

[19:17] And he says, this is the great mystery of the cross and of salvation, God forsaken of God. And he said that it's not our understanding of what happened upon the cross that makes the cross so wonderful.

[19:31] We don't have to understand the depths that Christ endured for sinners in order to be saved. We don't even have to fathom the mysteries of the cross to know that this salvation is precious.

[19:43] He said, all we have to know, or all we have to, as a student, all you have to let your congregation know, he said, is that sin was dealt with through the cross of Jesus Christ, and all we have to do is embrace that reality.

[20:02] The reality that Jesus was forsaken for our sin. And this is what's remarkable about this statement, because the word which is used to describe the forsaking of Jesus, it's a word that was only ever used in the Bible in relation to someone sinning against God.

[20:24] But of course, Jesus wasn't a sinner. He never sinned. He was without sin. So what does it mean? If Jesus is forsaken for sin, what does it mean?

[20:37] Well, Paul explains it so beautifully as Calvary's great transaction. 2 Corinthians 5, it says that at the cross, he made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

[20:59] Why was Jesus forsaken? He was made sin for us. He became the sin bearer. The sinless, spotless son of God took our sin upon himself.

[21:11] This was Calvary's great transaction, that God imputed our sin to Jesus, and in return we are to receive his righteousness.

[21:22] righteousness. My friend, this is the glory of our gospel. This is the good news of Jesus Christ, that Mark wants to present to us, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became sin for us.

[21:37] He became sin for us. But that wasn't the end. Because sin needed to be dealt with. Sin needed to be punished.

[21:49] He became sin, but sin needed to be punished. And it's at that point that, well, many of our modern hymns, they tell us that the Father turns his face away.

[22:01] But in Psalm 22, again, we're told that the Father didn't turn his face from him. And he didn't turn his face from him because the whole of God's divine wrath was poured out upon his beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

[22:14] Christ. And in those hours of darkness, hell descended into the soul of Jesus. And as the powers of hell are unleashed upon his soul, he is completely cut off from the presence and blessing and favour of God the Father.

[22:34] Because the torments of hell are the only way for sin to be dealt with. Hell descended into his soul. And you know, some people think that preachers get a thrill about speaking about hell.

[22:49] But hell should always be preached with love. Love for those who are lost. Love for those who need to be saved. And you know, there's no one who spoke more about hell than Jesus.

[23:04] And there's no one who loves sinners more than Jesus. And there are so many occasions in the Gospels where Jesus taught about hell and he warns all his audience and listeners about the dangers of hell and he speaks about the place of outer darkness, a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth, a place of tormenting flame where the fire is not quenched.

[23:29] But when we come to Calvary and we witness the reality of the cross, we see that Jesus is enduring all that he taught about.

[23:39] all the darkness, all the wailing, all the weeping, all the gnashing, all the torments. And it's out of that darkness and from the depths of hell itself that this cry comes, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[24:06] And I was Spurgeon who once said to his congregation, if you think lightly of hell, you will think lightly of the cross. If you think lightly of hell, you will think lightly of the cross.

[24:21] And I don't want anybody in here to think lightly of hell. And I certainly don't want anyone in here to think lightly of the cross. But the problem many of those looking on, the problem many of them had was that they did think lightly of hell.

[24:43] And they did think lightly of the cross. Because the second group to react to the cross of Jesus Christ was a group of Jews. Maybe they were religious leaders, we're not told.

[24:55] Because we're told that when Jesus cried out, it says in verse 35, and some of the bystanders hearing it said, behold, he's calling Elijah. And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.

[25:17] Now this group to react, they couldn't have been Roman soldiers because they wouldn't have known about the historical significance of Elijah. Elijah, as many of you know, he was one of the great prophets in Israel, and he didn't die.

[25:34] One of the prophets who never died because he was taken to heaven on a chariot of fire. And because of this wonderful miracle of not dying and being taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, the Jews believed that Elijah would return in his chariot of fire to protect and rescue the righteous in times of trouble.

[25:55] And so when Jesus cries out, Eloi, Eloi, which sounds very similar to the word or name Elijah, the name Elijah literally means, my God is Jehovah.

[26:10] And so when Jesus cries, the Jews assume that Jesus is calling to Elijah to come and rescue him. And they say, let us see if Elijah will come and take him down from the cross.

[26:21] because they think that if Jesus is as righteous as he says he is, if he is God's son, then God will send Elijah and spare him from suffering, this suffering and death.

[26:36] But the reaction of the Jews to the cross of Jesus is that they're still hoping to see a miracle. They're still waiting to see, they want to see Elijah coming. Wait, let's see if he comes.

[26:49] They still want to see this sign coming from heaven that will prove the identity of Jesus as God's son. And they want the miracle and they want the sign because they're not yet convinced.

[27:02] They're looking at the reality of the cross, a crucified savior, and their reaction is they are not yet convinced. They're not yet convinced.

[27:19] How many of you are like them? Not yet convinced. You come to church each week.

[27:31] Your seat is filled. You're confronted with the reality of the cross of Jesus. You see it displayed to you in all its fullness.

[27:41] Jesus is, you see Jesus' love for you. You see his compassion towards you. You see his care off you. You see his forgiveness towards you and his assurance that he will never abandon you.

[27:54] But more than that, you see that he is the substitution for you. In taking your sin, enduring your health, dying your death.

[28:07] My friend, you are repeatedly confronted with the reality of the cross and yet you're not convinced. Not yet convinced. Because you're not yet converted and you're not yet committed.

[28:26] Still not convinced. And like the Jews, you want to see a sign from heaven that will prove to you the identity of Jesus. But you know what's so wonderful?

[28:38] Is that Mark explains that there was a sign given. to prove the identity of Jesus. Because the third person to react to the reality of the cross was God himself.

[28:52] It says in verse 37, Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The temple that was situated on the other side of the city, as far away from the cross as possible.

[29:09] And within that temple, there was this large curtain, thick curtain that separated the holy of holies and the people of God.

[29:22] And this curtain, it was the barrier between sinful man and holy God. It protected sinners from the holiness of God because no one could approach God or stand in God's presence and live.

[29:37] no man shall see God and live. And since the fall of Adam, sinful man has been offering sacrifices upon altars in order to receive forgiveness from this holy God.

[29:51] But each and every sacrifice that was offered, it was always offered in faith and in the promise of an even greater sacrifice. It always looked forward to the sacrifice that would be offered to satisfy divine justice, the divine justice of a holy God.

[30:08] But as each year passed, in anticipation of this one sacrifice, as you know, the high priest, he would have to go in within that veil, within the curtain, one day of the year, the day of atonement.

[30:25] He would act as the representative of God's people and sprinkle the blood of a lamb upon the mercy seat of God and God would accept the blood of the lamb only on the basis of the promised sacrifice.

[30:41] And so when God the Father reacts to the reality of the cross, he does so because of the blood of a lamb, the lamb of God who was sent to take away the sin of the world.

[30:55] And he reacts to the cross by tearing the curtain of the temple in two, from top to bottom. And in that action, God was affirming to us that the perfect sacrifice of his son, it has been accepted.

[31:11] The way for sinful man to approach a holy God, it's now open, wide open. And the chasm that once existed between heaven and earth, that chasm has now been bridged by the cross of Jesus Christ.

[31:28] My friend, for centuries, this curtain in the temple, it represented the message, do not enter. Do not enter. If you enter, you will die because of your sin.

[31:41] But when the curtain was torn open, when the sacrifice was accepted, when God was pleased, when that curtain was torn from top to bottom, it presented the message, if you do not enter, you will die.

[32:00] because of your sin. If you do not come to God through the cross of his son, Jesus Christ, you yourself will experience the torments of hell because of your sin.

[32:22] And you know, this shows us so clearly the reason for the cross. The reason for the cross. We've considered the reality of the cross, the reaction to the cross, but lastly, the reason for the cross.

[32:39] The reason for the cross. Look at verse 39. And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said truly, this man was the son of God.

[32:58] As we said earlier, when Mark wrote his gospel, he did so with the intention of revealing to us the identity of Jesus Christ as the son of God.

[33:08] Mark chapter 1 verse 1, this is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Mark has good news for us. And his good news is all about Jesus Christ, the son of God.

[33:23] And as we said before, Mark, he originally wrote his gospel to Christians who were living in Rome. And he writes this good news because he knows that his message is to be given to a world that is hostile to the name of Jesus.

[33:43] And there's one thing that has come across so clearly in Mark's gospel, and that is his urgency with the gospel. Because as we've studied this gospel, one word which has been repeated over and over again is the word immediately.

[34:00] Mark, he says everything happens immediately. Jesus does something and immediately he does something else. And this word, it emphasizes the urgency with this message of good news.

[34:13] And when we read through this message of good news, it seems that Mark is in such a hurry to get us to the climax of his story and tell us what happened to Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[34:23] He wants us to see what the good news is all about, and he wants us to see that the good news is the cross of Jesus Christ. He has told us from the beginning, this is about Jesus.

[34:36] He brings us to the cross. This is what Jesus has done for you. But you know, what's remarkable is that when Mark brings us face to face with the cross, he tells these Christians who are living in Rome under the oppression and persecution of the Caesar and all the other Romans, he tells them that there was this Roman centurion who was hardened to the site of crucifixion, he was hardened to the gospel, and he was hardened to Jesus.

[35:08] And yet, as he stands in front of the cross of Jesus Christ, he sees the reality of the cross. And as a result, he reacts to the cross because Mark tells us that when this centurion heard Jesus cry and saw how he died, he said, truly, this man was the Son of God.

[35:30] the centurion heard the cry of Jesus, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The centurion saw how he died because Jesus didn't die of exhaustion or blood loss or suffocation.

[35:51] No, the gospel accounts clearly tell us that after Jesus had borne our sin in his own body on the cross, he took the final step in dealing with our sin by entering into death, which means that he didn't enter into death in weakness, he entered into death in power and in glory.

[36:16] This is what Jesus said he would do. No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it up again.

[36:28] And it's when this hardened centurion, hardened to death, hardened to Jesus, hardened to the cross, when he sees Jesus cry, and when he witnesses him dying before his eyes, he says, truly, this man was the Son of God.

[36:55] And when we read these words, all we should hear as we look at the cross, all we should hear is Mark saying to us, this was the reason for the cross.

[37:11] This is the reason for the cross. This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is why the reality of the cross must be presented, so that people will react to the cross in the same way as this hardened Roman centurion, that they are brought to see and experience the good news that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

[37:32] Mark is saying that the reason for the cross is so that we will see that Jesus came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

[37:44] The reason for the cross is that we will see that Jesus came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The reason for the cross is so that we will see that in Jesus, and through Jesus, there is no one too hard, no one too sinful, no one too far gone to be saved.

[38:13] Because Mark is saying to us, this Jesus is able to save to the uttermost. Jesus is able to save to the uttermost.

[38:31] My dear friend, the reason for the cross is so that you will know that God has demonstrated his love towards you in the death of his son, and that by committing your life to him, you will be saved.

[38:50] it's as simple as that. Committing your life to him, you will be saved. But the question is, do you want to be saved?

[39:11] Do you want to be saved? And if you do, what are you doing about it? What are you doing about it?

[39:25] Because this world's one and only remedy for the curse of sin and death is the cross of Jesus Christ. And the cross of Jesus Christ, it makes all the difference.

[39:39] It's the difference between eternal life and eternal death. It's the difference between being saved and being lost. it's the difference between heaven and hell.

[39:56] But the question is, will this cross make a difference in your life? May the Lord bless these thoughts to us.

[40:08] Let us pray. O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to thee for the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

[40:20] We thank thee, O Lord, that that good news has been displayed to us in the cross, that thou art the God who has demonstrated thy love towards us whilst we were yet sinners.

[40:33] Christ died for us. Help us, Lord, to believe it. help us to embrace it. Help us to commit our lives to it, to see that there is nothing worth clinging to in this world, nothing that the world offers us.

[40:48] But Lord, help us to see that all that in Jesus Christ we are able to experience grace, grace upon grace, God's riches at Christ's expense.

[41:02] Bless us, Lord, we ask. Bless thy word to our souls and do us good, for Jesus sake. Amen. We shall conclude by singing the words of Psalm 130.

[41:21] Psalm 130, page 421 in the Scottish Psalter. Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, Psalm 130, you could call this a psalm of conversion.

[41:47] The man at the beginning is a different man at the end. He's crying to the Lord because of his sin at the beginning. And he's praising the Lord because of his redemption at the end.

[42:02] What makes the difference? he cried to the Lord. That's what made the difference. Lord, from the depths to thee I cried.

[42:13] My voice, Lord, do thou hear. Unto my supplications voice give an attentive ear. Lord, who shall stand if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquity? But yet with thee forgiveness is that feared thou mayest be.

[42:26] The whole psalm to God's praise. Lord, from the depths to thee I cry.

[42:41] My voice, Lord, do thou hear. Unto my song vacations voice, till I attempt to hear.

[43:08] Lord, who shall stand if thou мне of Xbox Lady of Jesus I wait for you, my soul doth wait, my hope is in his word.

[44:03] More than they thought, for more may watch my soul waits for the Lord.

[44:21] I say more than they thought to watch the morning light to see.

[44:39] Let Israel open the door, for with him mercies be.

[44:58] A plentious redemption is ever found within, and from all his iniquities, he is well shall redeem.

[45:37] The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all, now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.

[45:51] Amen. Amen.

[46:02] Amen. Amen.

[46:18] Thank you.

[46:48] Thank you.

[47:18] Thank you.