AMEN

[0:00] And for a short while today, I want us to focus on a word that I'm sure every single one of you have said. A word that we say all the time, a word that is a constant feature of our services, our worship, and in particular our prayers.

[0:20] A word that we all know, but at the same time maybe we don't know. Today I want us to think about the word Amen. We say the word Amen all the time.

[0:36] We say grace at dinner time and we end it with Amen. We pray, we say Amen. When we finish reading the Bible passage, very often we'll say Amen.

[0:47] And the last word of our service today and every week is Amen. We say Amen all the time. But what does it mean?

[1:01] Why do we say Amen? Well when I was young, I remember being told that Amen means so be it.

[1:12] And maybe you've been told that as well. That in a way it's like when you think about saying a prayer and you're coming to the end of the prayer and by saying Amen you are saying so be it.

[1:24] That you want everything to happen according to the prayer and you are saying let it be so, so be it. And in many ways that's correct, that's not wrong.

[1:35] And it's a good starting point to understand the word Amen by saying so be it. But as with so many things in the Bible, when you look at it a little bit more closely, you see that it is much, much more than that.

[1:52] If we take the word Amen and just say that just means so be it. Yes, we are kind of right. But we're actually missing out many, many wonderful, amazing, amazing things.

[2:06] The word Amen is a wonderful, wonderful word. But it means more than just so be it. It has a wide meaning.

[2:18] And so we need to think about that a little bit as we start our reflections on this word Amen. Now I'm going to read some verses for you.

[2:28] I'm going to read one, two, three, four, five, five verses. And in each verse there's a key word that I'll highlight that I want you to remember. First verse is this, Deuteronomy 32, 20.

[2:40] And he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be. For they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.

[2:52] So remember that word, faithfulness. Next verse is Isaiah 65, 16. So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth.

[3:06] Truth, that word there. Remember that word. Jeremiah 11, 5. That I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey.

[3:17] As at this day, then I answered, so be it, Lord. So be it. That's the key part of that verse for our thoughts just now. Into the New Testament, John 8, 58.

[3:29] Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. Key word there, truly. And then Revelation 3, 14.

[3:41] And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write the words of the Amen. The faithful and true witness. The beginning of God's creation. So here we have five words.

[3:51] Or one's a phrase. Faithfulness. Truth. So faithfulness is in Deuteronomy 32, 20. Truth in Isaiah 65, 16. So be it.

[4:03] In Jeremiah 11, 5. Truly, truly. In John 8, 58. And then Amen in Revelation 3, 14. Five different words.

[4:14] Faithfulness, truth. So be it. Truly, Amen. What do they all have in common? They're all translating the word Amen.

[4:26] In the English, in the original language, every one of those words is the word Amen. Children in whom there is no Amen. The land shall bless themselves by the God of Amen.

[4:41] Then I answered, Amen, Lord. Jesus said to them, Amen, Amen. I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. And in Revelation, it is translated Amen.

[4:52] The words of the Amen. And it's fascinating when you look at that. And you think to yourself, well, Amen means a lot more than so be it. Yes, it means so be it.

[5:02] It's used in that context in Jeremiah 11, 5. But it means a lot, lot more than that. It's a big word. It's a rich, deep word.

[5:14] And it's well worth looking at what it means. So what does it mean? It means more than just so be it. But what does it mean? Well, Amen is a Hebrew word.

[5:24] There are not many Hebrew words that have come into English. The only other one I know is camel. I think there's probably other ones, but I'm not an expert on Hebrew. But there's very little Hebrew words that are actually used in English.

[5:36] Some languages, we've borrowed lots of words from other languages, but not that many from Hebrew. But one that we have taken from Hebrew is Amen. It's the same in Greek. So Amen in Hebrew, Amen in Greek, Amen in English.

[5:49] All the same word. But it's originally a Hebrew word. And Hebrew words work a little bit differently from English words. Because in Hebrew, the way it works is you have what you call a root word, which is, if you like, a sort of word family.

[6:09] And this root will convey a basic idea. And then from that, other words and other concepts will come out. So in a way, if you imagine like a tree trunk with branches coming out, that's how a Hebrew word works.

[6:24] You've got this trunk in the middle, that's the root. And then each branch is a different word that's based on that root that will slightly convey a different meaning.

[6:35] That's how Hebrew words work. You've got like these word families. This, if you like, a tree or something. Like a word tree, a word family based around this one root. And so the word Amen comes from a word family in Hebrew where the root of that word basically means to be firm and to give support.

[6:58] The idea of something that's firm and solid. Like this wall around me here or the floor in front of you. Something firm, something solid. And so for example, in 2 Kings 18, there's a word that comes from this Amen family that is the word that's used to describe doorposts and pillars.

[7:18] So you look at that pillar right in front of you there in the middle of the church. It's holding up the balcony. It's firm. It's strong. It's secure. And the word for pillar is from the same word family as the word Amen.

[7:30] And in Numbers 11, 12, it's used, a similar word is used to describe a parent holding their child. You imagine picking up a wee baby and you're holding them really close in your arms.

[7:46] And the parent's arms are firm and strong and giving the support and help to keep that child safe and secure. So this is like the starting point for understanding the word Amen.

[7:59] When you hear the word Amen, you should be thinking of something that is firm, something that is solid, something that is able to give support.

[8:10] That's the starting point and the basic idea. And from this idea, from that root, the Hebrew word goes on to express various other things based on this principle.

[8:23] And so we've got different words in the Amen family, if you like, that convey various things that all come back to this idea of firmness. You've got the idea of reliability.

[8:36] If something is firm, it can be relied upon. That pillar is firm. That means you can go upstairs into the balcony and you know you're not going to fall down. It's reliable. It's something that you can be sure of.

[8:48] Something that you can be confident of. And so it's the idea of stability. Something that is reliable. Something that is faithful. The idea of faithfulness.

[8:59] That's why Deuteronomy 32 says, Children in whom there is no Amen. And it's translated, Children in whom there is no faithfulness. They're not reliable. They're not faithful. So we've got this idea of reliability.

[9:12] And from that, it conveys the idea of truth. And the Hebrew word for truth is very similar to the word Amen. Because if something is true, then it's reliable.

[9:24] It's dependable. If somebody tells you something that's false, you can't rely on it. If somebody tells you that Jacky's is going to be open until midnight and you go along at half eleven, you've been told something's false and you're not going to be able to get the things that you need.

[9:39] But if someone tells you the truth, that it closes, whenever it does close, I can't even remember. Ten o'clock is it? Then you know that you've got to be there before ten. Truth is something that you can rely on.

[9:50] Something that's firm. Something that's dependable. And so this idea of truth is conveyed in the word Amen. It also conveys the idea of confirmation or agreement with something.

[10:03] And that's where we get the idea of so be it. If somebody says something to you, like Jeremiah did in chapter eleven, you respond by saying that you agree.

[10:14] You say, Amen. I agree to that. And by agreeing to it, you're saying that it is firm. Again, we keep coming back to this idea of firmness. It's certainty. You're saying, yes, so be it.

[10:24] I agree and confirm that what you're saying is reliable. It's firm. It's true. So it's a good way. It's used to express confirmation and agreement.

[10:37] So we've got reliability. We've got truth. We've got confirmation or agreement. We've also got an expression of seriousness. And that's what Jesus used the word for quite often.

[10:49] When he said, truly, truly, I say to you, or verily, verily, I say to you. In the Greek, he's saying, Amen, Amen, I say to you. And he's conveying this idea of seriousness.

[11:01] And again, you've got to have the idea of firmness in your mind. You see, what I'm saying is solid. It's firm. It's reliable. You need to take it seriously.

[11:12] You can be certain about this. And so it conveys seriousness. And so all this culminates, this idea of reliability, truth, confirmation, seriousness.

[11:25] It all culminates in the idea of trust. And the word Amen and the word for trust in Hebrew are from the same word family.

[11:36] And again, the idea of something being firm. If something is firm, then it can be leaned on. And that's just what trust means. The Hebrew word, the idea conveyed by the words for trust.

[11:49] There's one or two words for trust. And both convey the same idea. The idea that something can be lent on. I trust that this won't fall if I lean on it. You're trusting that the seat you're sitting on won't collapse when you put your weight onto it.

[12:04] It's something that can be leaned on. Something that can be trusted. And so when you go to Genesis 15, verse 6, and it says, And Abraham believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

[12:16] The word for believed is from the same family as the word Amen. And of course that makes perfect sense. Because for Abraham to believe God, it means that he was convinced that what God was saying was firm.

[12:30] That it was reliable. And that it was trustworthy. And so when you hear the word Amen, we must be thinking in these terms. In terms of firmness, certainty, and reliability.

[12:44] And so with that background in our minds, I want us to ask the question, what does this teach us about prayer? Because it's in the context of prayer that we use the word Amen more than anything else.

[12:58] And a clearer understanding of the word Amen is a huge, huge help for all of us in our prayer lives. This idea of firmness, of reliability, is immensely helpful for us all when it comes to prayer.

[13:17] Because when you say Amen at the end of your prayer, you are doing much more than just letting everyone know that your prayer is finished. In fact, you are doing much more than even just saying, so be it.

[13:32] Amen is a wonderful word to conclude your prayers with. And the more we understand it, the more it will help us in our prayer lives.

[13:44] So, Amen is incredibly important and helpful for our prayer lives. And it is for five reasons. And we are going to go through these five reasons together, just briefly.

[13:56] I won't take too long. So, five things about the word Amen. First of all, when you pray and say Amen, it should be reminding you and reminding me of the absolute firmness and reliability of God.

[14:13] This is what we were saying to the children, that very often life can be like on a ship that's getting knocked about by the waves. We can be thrown from one crisis to another.

[14:24] We can seem so unstable. Things can change. Things can seem so uncertain. Things can seem so unreliable. And yet God is different. He is firm.

[14:35] He is absolutely solid. And when you say Amen, it's like you are standing on solid rock. If you imagine going out onto the moor and you end up walking through a bog, your feet are slipping and squelching and struggling as you go through a soft boggy patch.

[14:51] You wobble and you slip and you stretch. But then if you hit a rock, it's completely different. You can put your weight on a rock and you're not going to slip. You're not going to fall.

[15:02] You're not going to stumble. A rock is totally firm, totally stable and totally secure. And so when you pray to God, it's like you're stepping onto that rock, stepping onto God himself.

[15:19] And as we said, the word Amen, the same family conveys the idea of a parent taking a child into their arms. That's what it's like as we pray. God taking us into his arms, totally safe and totally secure.

[15:32] And so when you say Amen, you should be thinking that you are on solid, safe, stable ground. Because that's where we are when we pray. You are on solid ground.

[15:44] In fact, you can never be on more solid ground than when you pray to God. Praying to God is such a wonderful thing because it's a way of getting you onto solid ground.

[15:57] It's not about how good or how eloquent your prayers are. Nobody has good prayers. Every one of us has weak prayers. None of us are an expert in prayer.

[16:07] But the whole point of prayer is that it's not about us. It's about God. And it's about stepping onto God and relying on him. It's so easy to feel that we are just sinking in the busyness of life.

[16:21] I'm sure you all know how that feels. I'm sure there's times when you think, I'm just not getting anywhere. Work and pressure and busyness is just weighing me down and I'm getting bogged down.

[16:34] I'm sinking. And everything is just pushing me down. Maybe you feel like that. I'm sure all of us feel like that most of the time, if not all the time.

[16:47] The word Amen tells us that there is a solid rock right beside us all the time. There's a solid rock right beside you. And you can pray to him and speak to him whenever you need to.

[17:03] So when you say Amen, you are saying to God, Lord, you are firm. You are secure. And so it reminds us of the reliability and firmness of God.

[17:17] Secondly, it reminds us that we can lean on God. The word Amen reminds you that you can lean on God. Remember what we said, the same word is used to describe pillars, supporting pillars, like that one right there.

[17:31] And the whole idea of pillars is that they take the weight. These pillars here are taking the weight of the balcony above it. If the pillars weren't there, the balcony would fall.

[17:41] But they are holding up the weight. They are taking the weight. And this is so comforting for us when we think about it. Because so often we can feel that we are weighed down by our burdens.

[17:55] Things that worry us, things that concern us, it's like having a weight on your shoulders, like a burden that's bringing you down. And maybe you're feeling, maybe that can come in various forms.

[18:06] Maybe you're worried about loved ones. Maybe you're worried about family. Maybe you're worried about children. Maybe you're worried about those who are elderly and unwell. Maybe you're under pressure at work. Maybe you've got deadlines.

[18:18] Maybe your email inbox is like mine. It's constantly overflowing and it's just a sort of stress. Maybe you've got financial worries where you're not sure if you're going to get by. Maybe you've got stress whereby you feel that you're just not getting on top of everything.

[18:33] Maybe you feel burdened by a feeling of failure. That you're not getting as far as you wanted in your career or you're not being as good a parent as you thought you were going to be or that things aren't going the way you want them to be.

[18:45] We can all feel like that and we feel like we're being weighed down. It's like it's pushing you down and it's hanging over you. And all the time, God is saying, I will take the weight.

[19:02] I will take the weight for you. It's exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 11, 28. Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden if you're weighed down and I will give you rest.

[19:15] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls. And so when we say Amen, we should be thinking that it's as if we are just placing the weight of our burdens onto God.

[19:33] You can come to God with every burden that you have. You don't need to hide anything from Him even if it's something incredibly embarrassing or something that you're so ashamed of or something that makes you think that God would never want you anywhere near Him.

[19:46] You can come to God with all of that burden and say, Lord, please just take the weight of this. And that's exactly what He wants you to do. He wants us to cast our care upon Him.

[20:00] And when we pray, we can pour out our hearts to God, pour out every worry, pour out every frustration, every fear, every disappointment, every concern, every burden. And your Amen reminds you that God will take the weight.

[20:17] You can leave it all with Him. Now there are no exceptions to that rule, to that principle. anything that is on your mind, anything, you can bring it to God.

[20:31] And that's where we have to remember that prayer is about giving to God much more than it is about getting from God. People often think that prayer is about asking God for stuff.

[20:42] Lord, give me this, give me that, do this for me, help me with that. Asking for stuff from God. But that's secondary. Primarily, prayer is about us giving to God.

[20:54] Now on the one hand, we give God our best when we pray to Him. We give God our praise and our worship and we say, Lord, we love You and we thank You for everything that You've done and we worship You because You are our God.

[21:08] And so when we pray, we want to give God our best. But the amazing thing is that we can also give God our worst in prayer. We can give God all our fears.

[21:19] All our failings. All our insecurities. Everything that we are ashamed of. Everything that we are struggled with. We can come and open up our hearts before God.

[21:31] And He is ready and willing to take the weight. He's there for you to cast your care onto Him. And so when you say Amen, you are saying to God, please take the weight.

[21:50] Please take the weight from me. Thirdly, Amen reminds us of the seriousness of prayer.

[22:01] And I hope that already we can see that Amen is not a casual word. The verses that we picked out through the Bible there, every one of these has been used in a very, very serious context.

[22:12] and it was in that context that Jesus often used the words. He will use the word Amen to introduce statements of the utmost importance and of the utmost seriousness.

[22:24] John 6, 47 is another example. Truly, truly, Amen, Amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

[22:35] And so when we say Amen, it should remind us that when we engage in prayer, we are entering into a serious business.

[22:47] Prayer is a serious thing. Now, prayer is many things. Prayer is wonderful in that it is so accessible. Any time, any place, any age, whoever you are, you can pray to God no matter what you are feeling, you can pray.

[23:03] So it is wonderfully accessible. Prayer is wonderfully personal. We can come to God as we are and we can pour out our hearts to God even though our hearts are full of all sorts of awful things that shouldn't be there.

[23:15] We can come to God as we are. Prayer is beautifully simple. You don't have to be eloquent in prayer. You don't have to be saying all sorts of complicated things.

[23:26] You don't have to know the Bible inside out. Nobody knows the Bible inside out because it's too amazing for anyone to know inside out. We don't need to have any of these things. Prayer is just simply about us talking to God and Him listening.

[23:40] It is simple. But at the same time, prayer is a serious business. Prayer matters. Prayer is essential.

[23:51] It's something that we must do. It's not an easy thing to do but it's something that we must do. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is precious. It is incredibly serious.

[24:02] And so we need to take our prayers seriously. And the word Amen is reminding us of that. But the other amazing thing is that God takes our prayers seriously.

[24:19] God takes your prayers incredibly seriously. God doesn't need our prayers. God is under no obligation to listen.

[24:34] God, we have no claim for God's attention. We can't go to God and say, you must listen to me. We have no claim for His ear. And yet He listens perfectly to every prayer that you have ever made.

[24:52] He listens with perfect attention and with total devotion. As Psalm 40 says, as for me, I'm poor and needy but the Lord takes thought for me.

[25:07] And so our prayer, our Amen reminds us that our prayers are not casual. It reminds us that they are of the utmost importance to God. Have you ever thought of that?

[25:17] every little prayer you make is so important to God. Even if you sigh before Him and say, I don't know what to say, God is listening and He is taking it so, so seriously.

[25:37] And our Amen should remind us that we should be taking our prayers seriously. In fact, we are telling God that we are taking it seriously. This is how we should view prayer. That is something that is very, very serious.

[25:50] And so when you say Amen to God, you are expressing the seriousness of what you are doing. Prayer is a personal, a simple thing but it is not a casual thing.

[26:03] It is a serious thing. And so when we pray and when you say Amen, you are saying to God, Lord, I really mean this.

[26:14] I really mean this. Amen reminds us of the seriousness of prayer. Fourthly, Amen is a statement of understanding and agreement.

[26:33] This is where we often associate, this is where we tend to think of the word Amen in terms of the idea of being so be it. And this is an important thing to consider. The word Amen is used in many places in Scripture as a solemn agreement to what has been said.

[26:45] And a good example of this is in Nehemiah chapter 8 where Ezra the priest read from the book of the law and this is what happened. Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people for he was above all the people and as he opened it all the people stood.

[26:59] And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God and all the people answered Amen, Amen, lifting up their hands and they bowed down their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

[27:12] And so the people were affirming the truth of what they had heard and they were expressing their agreement with the words that Ezra had spoken. Nehemiah 8 talks about how delighted they were.

[27:23] They'd heard the word of God and they understood it, they agreed with it. The people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

[27:35] And so the Amen of the people there and Amen in general is an expression of understanding, agreement and commitment to the Lord. And so when we say Amen either at the end of our prayers or at the end of a scripture reading or at the end of a prayer of somebody else we are expressing our understanding and our agreement with what has been said.

[27:57] And this is really really important because it tells us that Amen is not a kind of magical or mystical word. It's not a sort of weird, mysterious thing. It's about being firm.

[28:09] About being stable. Remember that's the root word we keep coming back about being solid. And so if a passage of scripture is read and you say Amen you are saying I am standing on that.

[28:21] I am in full agreement with that. If somebody says a prayer and at the end they say Amen and you say Amen you are saying I'm standing there too. I'm standing on that ground.

[28:33] I am in full agreement. And the Christian faith is not about vagueness or mystery or magic. It's about solid clear truth.

[28:44] The Bible is a clear message and we are expressing our solemn agreement and commitment to it. Remember the Hebrew word Amen and the Hebrew word for truth are part of the same word family.

[28:58] So when you say Amen it's a way of saying that's true and I agree with it. I agree with it. And so that's why there is nothing wrong with saying Amen in a church service.

[29:12] Now you can say that out loud or you can say it in your hearts. But when you hear the word of God and when you agree with it you give that your Amen. You say yes Amen.

[29:23] I agree with it. Now I don't mind if that's out loud like it is in many parts of the world and I don't mind if it's in your heart like it tends to be here. It doesn't matter. The key point is that we should be giving our Amen to what God's word says.

[29:39] It's a way of saying I am standing on that. I agree with it. When you say Amen you are saying Lord I agree with you. I am standing with you.

[29:53] So the word Amen it reminds us of the firmness and the reliability of God. It reminds us that we can lean on God and that He'll take the weight of our burdens.

[30:05] It's a reminder of the seriousness of prayer. It's a statement of our understanding and of our agreement with God. And fifthly it's a statement of trust.

[30:18] Remember what we said. The word Amen and the Hebrew word for faith come from the same word family. And of course as we said that makes perfect sense.

[30:29] If you believe something then you're convinced that it's reliable and that it's true. If you don't think it's reliable you don't believe it. We believe in something if we believe that it is true.

[30:44] And so when you say Amen you are making a statement of trust in God. And so there's various elements to that.

[30:58] Firstly when you say that when you're making that statement of trust you are saying that you're convinced of the truth of all that's been said. And you're acknowledging yes I agree with that.

[31:09] That is true. That's what Paul is highlighting in verse 20 in the chapter that we read where he's talking about the promises of God. We are saying yes we trust in God's promises.

[31:21] We believe what he says. But we're doing more than that when we trust. Trust isn't just about knowledge it's also about commitment. And when we say Amen we are expressing our devotion and our commitment to God.

[31:35] We're not just expressing the empirical accuracy of the statement. We are saying that we are personally committed to it ourselves. And it reminds us that when we pray we are not putting God to the test.

[31:50] We are not saying Lord I want you to do this and I'm going to wait and see to see if you're going to do it or not. That's not what prayer is about. And neither is it about giving a half-hearted request saying Lord Lord you know maybe you can do something in my life or maybe maybe I'll see.

[32:06] That's not what prayer is either. In prayer and in everything in our relationship to God we are wholeheartedly committing ourselves to God. We're not just saying he is the rock we are saying he is our rock he is my rock and I am standing on him.

[32:24] It's not just a case of intellectual understanding it's a case of personal commitment and devotion. And so when we say Amen we are expressing our commitment to God and our trust in him.

[32:37] and we're also saying that we trust God's answer. We close our prayers with Amen. A prayer is when we are coming before God and we are expressing our concerns, our prayers, our supplications to him.

[32:52] And when we say Amen we are expressing our trust in God. That we are going to trust his answer.

[33:04] We're saying Lord you are sovereign and we are going to agree with your answer whatever it may be. Because God's answer to our prayers might not be the answer that we want. It might not be what we are looking for.

[33:18] And so when we say Amen we're not saying I demand that you do what I want. We say Lord we know that you know what is best and you will answer according to your will.

[33:31] And so when you say Amen it's beautiful because you're saying Lord I trust you. I trust you. And what better way to end your prayers than to say Lord I am trusting you.

[33:50] So Amen is an absolutely amazing word. An amazing amazing word. It tells us about God. It tells us that he is so firm. That he is so reliable. That he can take all the weight of our concerns.

[34:01] And it tells us about ourselves as well. It tells us that we must be serious. It tells us that we are to agree with God and that we are to trust in him and trust in his answer. And so it's beautiful.

[34:12] This word Amen is bringing you and God closer together. It's binding us together with God. It conveys his commitment to us and our commitment to him.

[34:24] It's pointing to the fact that we are in a relationship with God. And of course that makes perfect sense because we may go back to the Hebrew word family that we were looking at the start.

[34:35] What did we see? That at the heart of this word is the idea of a parent taking a child into their arms. And that's what your relationship with God is like.

[34:46] A parent holding an infant. That's what prayer is like. You talking to God and him just picking you up and holding you while you talk to him.

[34:58] You are the infant. We are the infant. The child. We express our need and our dependence and our love for our Father. And God is the Father who is firmly holding you in his arms.

[35:13] And so it's an amazing privilege for you to be able to say amen to God. It tells you how committed he is to you and it tells you that you are in a relationship with him. And of course that is only possible because of what Jesus has done.

[35:30] And this is what brings us back to our text in 2 Corinthians. In many ways we've been looking at the word amen in terms of the whole Bible. But it all comes back to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20 where it says that all the promises of God find their yes in him.

[35:48] That's in Christ. And that is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. It is through Christ that we have all of this.

[36:01] Every promise that God has made has been fulfilled in Christ. God promised to defeat evil. He did that through Jesus on the cross. God promised to cleanse sin. He did that through Jesus Christ on the cross.

[36:13] God promised to gather his people into his family. He did that through Jesus Christ on the cross. God promised to dwell with us. He did that through Jesus and everything that he accomplished on the cross and through his resurrection and ascension.

[36:26] God promises to be our God and for us to be his people and all of these are fulfilled. All of them find their yes in Jesus Christ. That's why it's only through Jesus that we can utter our amen to God.

[36:41] It's through Jesus that we have all these privileges. It's through Jesus that we have this relationship with God. And so every time you say amen it's a reminder of what Jesus has done for you.

[36:55] What God has accomplished on our behalf through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why every time you say amen you are glorifying God. As Paul says we utter our amen to God for his glory.

[37:07] And isn't that a great thought? When you say amen at the end of your prayer, when we say amen at the end of this service, when you say amen and when you say grace you're glorifying God. And you are reminding him and reminding yourself of everything that has been accomplished for us through Jesus Christ.

[37:27] Your amen is glorifying God because you are expressing your total and complete dependence on him.

[37:39] So amen is an awesome word. A wonderful, wonderful word. But I want to close with a final point. That all of this raises the question of how you respond to the message of the gospel.

[37:56] The gospel message is a promise that is being made to you and to every single person that if you trust in God through Jesus Christ, if you put your faith in him, he will save you.

[38:07] God is promising you eternal peace, eternal security, eternal joy and an everlasting love that is just mind-blowing.

[38:18] God is promising that to you. No one is excluded. Nobody has made too many mistakes. Nobody is too far gone. Nobody's chance has passed. God is promising that to you today.

[38:30] As you sit here right now, if you're not a Christian, God is offering you salvation in all its fullness. Everything that the Bible promises is being offered to you by God and he will, will give it to you.

[38:46] But he is waiting and he is needing a response. from you. He is waiting for your Amen. He is waiting for you to say Amen to his offer.

[39:04] When the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That's a promise to you, but can you put your Amen to that?

[39:19] Can you say, yes, that's where I'm standing. That's where I'm standing. That's where I'm resting. That's where I'm leaning.

[39:31] That is where my hope lies. That's what you say when you say Amen. And God is looking for your Amen today.

[39:41] God is offering you just salvation on all the amazing blessings that the Bible offers.

[39:54] Lord, but he's waiting for your Amen. If I tell you that Jesus loves you, if I tell you that Jesus has died for you, and if I tell you that if you trust in him, you will be safe for all eternity and you will know joy and peace and hope and love better than anything that you have ever experienced in your life, God is waiting for your Amen.

[40:19] And so you need to give it to him. This is where we need to stand. This is where you need to stand. Everything else that the world offers is like being out in a boat of Champanhead where you've been chucked all over the place by the waves.

[40:39] In Christ we have a solid rock. And your Amen is a way of telling God that that's where I want to stand. So please give God your Amen today.

[40:51] Amen. Let us pray. Lord our God we we're so blessed and so privileged and we're so thankful for everything that you have offered to us and given to us.

[41:14] And we see in the Bible such a wealth of promises that are ours through Jesus Christ. Christ. And we just want to give you our Amen. And we know Lord that we can't stand on our own strength and we can't stand on the world and we can't stand anywhere else but we want to stand with you and to rest on you and to lean on you.

[41:39] And so Lord we give you our Amen and if we've never given you an Amen before we are giving you our Amen now. we're saying yes Lord we want to be with you. We want to lean on you and we need you more than we need anything else.

[41:53] And so we thank you Lord that you have given us these promises that you've been so loving and so gracious and so merciful. And we can't bring anything before you Lord.

[42:06] We can't offer you anything of ourselves that makes us worthy or good enough. all we can do is come and give you our Amen. And we do that Lord.

[42:19] We trust you and we thank you and all our hope is in you. Through Jesus Christ. Amen. We'll conclude by singing to God's praise from the Scottish Psalter version of Psalm 106 on page 382.

[42:53] Psalm 106 the Scottish Psalter version on page 382. We'll sing from verse 44 to the end. Yet their affliction he beheld when he did hear their cry and he for them his covenant did call to memory.

[43:06] And then I'll read verse 48. Blessed be Jehovah Israel's God to all eternity. Let all the people say Amen. Praise to the Lord give ye.

[43:16] We'll sing the verses 44 to 48. We'll stand to sing these words to God's praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[43:52] To memory. To his mercy's multitude.

[44:05] He did repent and bid. Then to be pitied of all those.

[44:23] Who did them captive lead. Lord our God.

[44:36] O cross save and gather. The heathen from among.

[44:47] That we thy holy name may praise.

[44:59] In a triumphant song. Let be Jehovah Israel's God.

[45:18] To all eternity. Let all the people say.

[45:33] Amen. Praise to the Lord. Give me. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[45:47] The love of God the Father. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Be with you all. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[45:58] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. упass in the cup. Amen.

[46:08] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[46:20] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.