[0:00] Well, if we could, this evening, for a short while, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the Gospel according to Luke, Luke chapter 2.
[0:20] Luke chapter 2, and if we read again at verse 11. Luke chapter 2 and verse 11.
[0:32] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
[0:46] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom.
[1:00] He is pleased. What is the Gospel according to Christmas carols?
[1:11] What is the Gospel according to Christmas carols? As you know, this morning we were considering the impact and the influence of singing Christmas carols at this time of year.
[1:23] Because for many people who, as we said this morning, they may not call themselves religious, and they might not even consider themselves as regular church goers. And yet at this time of year, they find themselves singing Christmas carols, whether they're on the radio or on the TV, or maybe they go to a carol service.
[1:40] And they enjoy singing them. And the thing is, we should encourage people to enjoy singing Christmas carols. Because Christmas carols, they are not an obstacle to the Gospel.
[1:53] They are an opportunity to share the Gospel. Christmas carols are not an obstacle to the Gospel, but an opportunity to share the Gospel. And I say that because many of the Christmas carols that are sung, some aren't full of theology, but the ones we're going to be looking at, they are full of Christian theology.
[2:14] So many of the Christian, I'll say Christian Christmas carols that are sung, they're full of theology. And I quoted an article this morning. The article was called, The Gospel According to Christmas Carols.
[2:27] That's the title of our study. And the article said, we call them Christmas carols because they're really Christian hymns, celebrating the incarnation of our Lord and Savior. For a few weeks each December, these profound songs of worship become part of the holiday atmosphere.
[2:44] And our society's pervasive interest in them provides us with a unique opportunity to share the Gospel. Not an obstacle, but an opportunity to share the Gospel.
[2:56] It's the perfect time to explain the meaning of these songs to those who don't know Christ and share the good news of the Gospel. And as I said this morning, that's what I'd like us to do over the next couple of weeks, both on the Lord's Day and midweek.
[3:13] I'd like us to consider the Gospel according to Christmas carols. Because my hope is that we'll see that Christmas carols, they seek to exalt Jesus, and they seek to explain the good news of the Gospel.
[3:25] And that they're not an obstacle to the Gospel. They're an opportunity to share the Gospel. We saw that this morning when we considered Psalm 98. It was this, Psalm 98 was the psalm which shaped Isaac Watts' prayer in his Christmas carol, Joy to the World.
[3:44] Where Isaac Watts, he wrote, Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing.
[3:56] God willing, on Wednesday evening, we'll look at the well-known Christmas carol, O Come, All Ye Faithful. And then we'll look at other ones next Lord's Day and the following Wednesday.
[4:07] But this evening, I want us to think about Charles Wesley's famous Christmas carol, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Hark the Herald Angels Sing. And as you know, there are three verses in Hark the Herald Angels Sing, if you have your sheet from this morning.
[4:23] There are three verses, so there are three headings this evening. Boys and girls, three headings. Publication, personification, and proclamation.
[4:36] Publication, personification, and proclamation. So first of all, publication. Publication, look at verse 13 of Luke chapter 2.
[4:49] We're told, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
[5:06] Or as Charles Wesley put it, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild.
[5:18] God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. With the angelic hosts proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem.
[5:31] The publication of this well-known Christmas carol, it took place, as it says there in your notes, in 1739. And it was written by this famous hymn writer called Charles Wesley.
[5:45] The interesting thing about Charles Wesley, Charles Wesley was the youngest son of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. And they had 19 children.
[5:59] Charles Wesley was the 19th child of a huge family. Imagine having, boys and girls, imagine having 18 other brothers and sisters in your family.
[6:12] I cannot imagine that at all. No, I shouldn't say it easy enough, but anyway. But you know, Charles Wesley's older brother was called John Wesley. So that's the other question.
[6:22] Charles Wesley's older brother, one of them, one of the older brothers. There was lots of sisters. There was lots of brothers. But one was called John Wesley. And John Wesley, he became a famous preacher and evangelist.
[6:34] And he was one of the founders of what became the Methodist Church, which is now, the Methodist Church is actually the fourth largest Christian denomination in the world. But the Methodist Church and the Methodist movement, it began a number of years before this Christmas carol was written.
[6:51] And it began in 1729, when John and Charles Wesley, they were studying at Oxford University. And at Oxford University, they organized a group of Christian men to meet regularly for prayer, for Bible study, for communion, and also to do acts of charity within the Oxford area.
[7:11] The group was given what you could probably say a derogatory and defamatory name by all the other students. Because the club or the group, they were called the Holy Club.
[7:24] But, you know, in many ways, it wasn't really disparaging at all because it actually described who they were. Because they were holy men of God who sought to live out their Christian faith in a methodical way, which is where we get the name Methodists from.
[7:40] They believed in a methodical pursuit of biblical holiness. That's why they were called Methodists. A methodical pursuit of biblical holiness.
[7:51] And their methodical pursuit of biblical holiness was very simply Bible study, prayer, communion, and charity. But what's interesting is that one of the original members of the Methodists, so there was John Wesley, there was Charles Wesley, but another member of the Methodists, when they started, was this famous powerhouse of a preacher, George Whitefield.
[8:15] George Whitefield was studying at Oxford University along with Charles and John Wesley. And they were all friends. They were all part of this holy club that would meet together for Bible study, prayer, communion, and charity.
[8:28] But on leaving university, George Whitefield, he became this evangelist. We've all heard of George Whitefield. He was a traveling evangelist who would travel the length and breadth of Britain and also the length and breadth of America preaching the gospel.
[8:44] He was a traveling evangelist preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it was while George Whitefield and the older brother, John Wesley, it's while they were in America, they were there with another famous preacher, Jonathan Edwards.
[9:01] So in America, in the 1730s and 40s, there was George Whitefield, there was John Wesley, and there was Jonathan Edwards. And they were preaching up and down America. And the amazing thing was, they were used mightily by the Lord because it was during that period that the Great Awakening took place in America.
[9:19] It was while they were in America, the Great Awakening took place. But back in Britain, Charles Wesley was at home. And that's when he wrote this Christmas carol.
[9:33] And what's amazing is that Charles Wesley, he has written over 6,000 hymns. And every hymn he wrote, it was always with this simple desire, a desire to teach sound doctrine through song.
[9:48] That's why he wrote his hymns. It wasn't to replace the book of Psalms. It was to teach sound doctrine through song.
[9:59] And he wanted to teach it to those who were poor and those who were illiterate, those who couldn't read. And so in 1739, on Christmas morning, while walking to church and listening to the sound of all the bells singing, that's when he started thinking about this Christmas carol.
[10:18] It was there that he was inspired to write this Christmas carol, Hark the Herald, Angels Sing. However, and this is the reason I mentioned George Whitefield. In 1754, so the carol was written, as it says there, in 1739.
[10:34] In 1754, 15 years later, 15 years later, after Charles Wesley had written the carol, George Whitefield changed the opening line.
[10:45] So that's who changed the lines. George Whitefield changed the opening line of the carol to what we have today. The opening line of the Christmas carol, or Charles Wesley's carol, it originally read, Hark how all the welkin rings.
[11:04] Welkin just means heaven. So it was, Hark how all the welkin rings, glory to the King of Kings. And probably to the disappointment of Charles Wesley, somebody, George Whitefield, his friend, came along and changed the chorus on him.
[11:20] He changed the chorus to the more familiar words that we still use today. Hark the Herald, Angels Sing, glory to the newborn King. But as you can see, Whitefield's rendering of the chorus, the reason he changed the chorus, was in order to reflect the narrative here in Luke's gospel.
[11:40] Whitefield wanted to present the gospel in this Christmas carol. He wanted to remind us that it is the gospel according to Christmas carols. And that's what we see there in verse nine.
[11:53] An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were filled with fear. The angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
[12:06] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
[12:18] And suddenly, we're told, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
[12:30] And you know, in many ways, the publication of this Christmas carol, it was the same desire that Isaac Watts had with his Christmas carol. It was an evangelistic plea.
[12:42] It was an evangelistic plea for people to hear the message of the gospel. People, as it was then in Britain, people who were illiterate and those who didn't know the gospel.
[12:54] It was a call for them to hear, to hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. And as you know, the word hark or hearken, it's an archaic word meaning to hear.
[13:11] Therefore, right from the outset of this Christmas carol, we've all been exhorted and encouraged to hearken, to hear, to listen to the message of the angels.
[13:22] We're to stop and take note as to what's being said. We're to hear and to hearken the message of the angels. Because the angels of heaven, they were heralds.
[13:33] They were heralds of the King. They were ministers and messengers of the King. They were emissaries and envoys of the King. They were those who had been designated and delegated to represent the kingdom of God.
[13:48] They were the Lord's ambassadors. And they had been selected and sent from the throne of heaven with this great call and this great command to attribute and ascribe all glory and praise to the newborn King.
[14:06] Hark the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King. Peace on earth and mercy mild. God and sinners reconciled. And that's what we're told in Luke's gospel.
[14:20] That the heavenly hosts, they praised God saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. And you know, this is the thing we need to remember.
[14:33] Jesus Christ came to bring peace. Peace on earth. He came to bring peace because he's the Prince of Peace.
[14:44] That's what Isaiah prophesied his name would be. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And he's the Prince of Peace because he came to bring peace on earth.
[14:58] He came to bring peace because there's enmity between sinners, sinners and our holy God. There is this great enmity. And yet, there's enmity due to our sin.
[15:10] And he has come to bring peace. Peace and reconciliation. And you know, this is what I love here. He's the Prince of Peace, we're told, with mercy mild.
[15:23] With mercy mild. But the mercy of Jesus is not mild in the sense of weakness. Where we often think of the children's hymn, Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild.
[15:38] No, the mercy of Jesus is mild in the sense of willingness. The mercy of Jesus is mild in the sense of willingness.
[15:50] It is mercy mild. And it's willingness because Jesus is willing and wanting to show mercy. Because as the Bible says, he is not willing and he is not wanting any to perish.
[16:06] My friend, Jesus is willing and wanting to show mercy because he is not willing and he is not wanting any to perish. Jesus is the Prince of Peace with mercy mild.
[16:19] He is willing and wanting to show mercy. In fact, he is so willing and so wanting to show mercy that Charles Wesley says in verse 3 of his Christmas carol, that mild he lays his glory by.
[16:34] He is so willing, so willing to show mercy, so, he so wants to show mercy that mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us sons of earth, born to give us second birth.
[16:52] My friend, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and he comes with mercy mild. He comes with this willingness. He wants to show mercy because he is not willing and he is not wanting any to perish.
[17:07] Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king, peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled.
[17:18] And that's how Jesus secured our salvation. It was all through reconciliation. It was all in order to restore and redeem lost sinners such as we are into a right relationship with a holy God.
[17:31] peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. But here's the thing. God and sinners are reconciled not by the cradle in Bethlehem but by the cross of Calvary.
[17:51] God and sinners are reconciled not by the cradle in Bethlehem but by the cross of Calvary. The cradle in Bethlehem is certainly needed. But that's not the end of the story.
[18:03] And that's why we can't ever leave Jesus in the cradle at Christmas. We can't leave him in the cradle. No, we need to follow Jesus all the way through his perfect life and we need to follow him all the way to the cross of Calvary and see his sacrificial death.
[18:18] But don't even leave him there. Go to the empty tomb and see that death is defeated, that the grave is conquered. My friend, God and sinners are reconciled not just by the baby in the cradle but by the blood of the cross at Calvary.
[18:35] And we need to remember this. We need to remind people of this. Because people, they often want to have Jesus at Christmas but not the Jesus of Calvary.
[18:46] And it's so true, isn't it? They want to box Jesus up after Christmas and New Year and leave him till the following December. But my friend, we need to remind people that God and sinners are not reconciled by the baby in the cradle.
[19:01] God and sinners are reconciled by the blood of the cross. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin. And you know, it's no wonder that Charles Wesley, he went on to write in his Christmas carol, he said, Joyful, all you nations rise.
[19:20] Join the triumph of the skies with the angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. There's this great desire to remind sinners that we are reconciled to God, not just by the baby in the cradle, but also we need to follow it all the way to the blood of the cross at Calvary.
[19:47] And so, verse 1 of Wesley's Christmas carol, it gives us publication. Verse 2 gives us personification. Personification.
[20:00] Read again in verse 10 in Luke's Gospel. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
[20:13] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
[20:29] Wesley's Christmas carol continues in verse 2 as you see there, Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. Late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.
[20:54] And then the chorus, Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn King. And you know, in this verse, in verse 2 of the Christmas carol, Wesley, he draws our attention to the personification of God where the Son of God became a person.
[21:14] And you know, it's the greatest miracle and the greatest mystery because as our catechism teaches us, God is a spirit. God is a spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
[21:32] That's who God is. And yet the personification of God is that he became a man. He became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh.
[21:44] He is Jesus, our Emmanuel. He is God with us, God among us. And you know, I don't think we actually ever stop and really think about what it is.
[22:00] The incarnation is the greatest miracle. It is the greatest mystery. Now when we talk about the incarnation, the word incarnation, it means the enfleshment of God.
[22:13] So God, who is a spirit, took to himself our nature. He veiled himself in human flesh. That's what he says in the carol, veiled in flesh the Godhead see.
[22:26] Hail the incarnate deity. It's the personification of God's Son. Where the Son of God became a person. He became a baby.
[22:39] He became a human. He became bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He became like us in order to redeem us.
[22:51] it's the greatest miracle and yet the greatest mystery. Minds have tried to get their head around it. We'll talk about this more on Wednesday evening. Minds have tried to understand this for centuries.
[23:05] That when Jesus was born, he wasn't 50% God and 50% man. This is the mystery. He was 100% God and 100% man.
[23:20] 100% God 100% man. He was fully and truly God and fully and truly man.
[23:32] How do you get your head around that? He's the God man. He's the God man. And this is what we're called to confess in the Apostles' Creed. We looked at that the beginning of this year and the end of last year.
[23:46] The Apostles' Creed where we confess I believe in Jesus Christ who was conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. That's what we're to believe and to confess.
[23:57] And now I'm not going to even try and attempt explaining how the eternal Son of God was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary.
[24:09] J.I. Packer said and I always go back to his quote he says the Christmas message of the Incarnation is an unfathomable mystery. It is one of the great mysteries of the Gospel.
[24:23] But this is the thing. We don't need to understand this miracle. We don't need to understand the intricate details of the mystery in order to be saved.
[24:35] We're just called to believe it. Just like we don't need to understand the mystery and the miracle of salvation. We don't need to understand exactly how we're saved. We just need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and we are saved.
[24:51] Because as we said with those who professed their faith last Lord's Day, it wasn't about what they knew. It's about who they knew.
[25:02] Because salvation as you know is not about what you know. It's about who you know. And we have to know Jesus. We have to know Jesus personally. We have to confess Jesus personally as our Lord and Savior.
[25:17] Because if we reject Jesus, if we remove the miracle and the mystery of the incarnation, then our entire salvation collapses. If we forget that Jesus is both God and man, our entire salvation collapses.
[25:34] because we will have no substitute. We will have no Savior and no salvation. And you know, I keep coming back to the catechism.
[25:47] I hope you all have a catechism. And I hope you read it now and again. Maybe you've memorized it as a child, but refresh your memory of it.
[25:59] Our catechism asks the question, who is the redeemer of God's elect? Very thought-provoking question. Who is the redeemer of God's elect?
[26:09] But the catechism, it asserts and affirms, it says that the only redeemer of God's elect is the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does the catechism describe the Lord Jesus Christ?
[26:22] He says he was the eternal Son of God who became man and so was and continues to be both God and man in two distinct natures.
[26:32] And one person forever. And you know, what the catechism explains and what the gospel emphasizes is that if you remove the miracle and the mystery of the incarnation, if you take away the fact that God became man in order to redeem sinners, if you take away the reality that Jesus became flesh and became like us in order to redeem us, then you have no substitute.
[26:57] you have no savior and you have no salvation. Jesus needs to be man in order for us to be saved.
[27:09] He needed to become like us, to be our mediator. He needed to become like us in order to live the perfect life that we have completely failed to live.
[27:22] He needed to die the death that we deserve to die. And he could only die that death as man. And so if we remove the miracle and the mystery of the incarnation, we have no substitute.
[27:36] We have no savior. We have no salvation. And so we must believe in this Jesus who is the God-man. We must believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
[27:49] And we must believe that he was conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. That's why Charles Wesley went on to write. He said, Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin's womb, veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail.
[28:12] There's the call. Hail the incarnate deity. Don't see this as just facts and figures or head knowledge.
[28:23] This is requiring a response. We are to hail the incarnate deity. Why? Pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.
[28:37] That's why he says, hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. And so verse 1 of Wesley's Christmas Carol gives us publication. Verse 2 is personification.
[28:49] Proclamation. And verse 3 is proclamation. Proclamation. So publication, personification, and proclamation.
[29:04] Proclamation. Look at verse 15 of Luke chapter 2. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
[29:17] And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
[29:30] But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.
[29:46] You know, in his concluding verse, the concluding verse of his Christmas carol, Charles Wesley makes a proclamation. You could say that he preaches and proclaims the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
[30:03] And the message Charles Wesley has for every reader and every singer of the carol is that you must be born again. You must be born again.
[30:16] This is what he wrote. He said, Hail the heaven-born prince of peace. Hail the son of righteousness. Light and life to all he brings. Risen with healing in his wings.
[30:26] Mild he lays his glory by. Born that we no more may die. Born to raise us sons of earth. Born to give us second birth. And then you have Whitfield's chorus.
[30:38] So you have Wesley and Whitfield. Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn king. And you know for these Methodist ministers, Wesley and Whitfield, they share with us here in this Christmas carol, they share what was at the heart of their gospel plea and proclamation.
[30:58] You must be born again. They wanted to proclaim the gospel in song. And what they're proclaiming and pleading with people is very simply, you must be born again.
[31:12] And of course, that gospel plea and proclamation, it was the same gospel plea and proclamation which Jesus gave to Nicodemus. Nicodemus who came to Jesus by night.
[31:25] Nicodemus who knew his Bible inside out and yet couldn't read it with understanding. And Jesus said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus, you must be born again.
[31:37] You must be born again. But of course, when Jesus said those words to Nicodemus, Jesus didn't say, Nicodemus, just take it or leave it. It's up to you.
[31:49] Jesus said to Nicodemus, this is non-negotiable. This is a requirement. This is a must of necessity. You can't ignore this, Nicodemus.
[32:01] You must be born again. Because Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you cannot, you will not. It is impossible for you to enter the kingdom of God.
[32:16] And you know, my friend, the same gospel plea and proclamation is being made again this evening. Because you know that you can't be saved, you can't become a Christian, you can't receive forgiveness, you can't experience salvation, you can't see or enter the kingdom of God, unless you are born again.
[32:36] And maybe like Nicodemus, when you hear things like that, you're totally confused. Because you remember Nicodemus, when he heard Jesus saying that, you must be born again. Nicodemus said to Jesus, well, how can a man be born when he is old?
[32:55] Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Jesus explained to Nicodemus, he explains to everyone, that what you need is not a physical birth, but a spiritual birth.
[33:12] birth. Because you enter the kingdom of God, not by your first birth, but by your new birth. In fact, it's your first birth where you were born, or you were conceived in guiltiness and sin, you were born in sin, that's what keeps you out of the kingdom of God.
[33:31] Therefore, says Jesus, you need a new birth, you need a second birth, you need a new beginning, you need a new heart, you need to become a new creation, you need to be made all over, again.
[33:43] Nicodemus, you must. This is a must of necessity, you must be born again. And you know, it's beautiful really when you think about why these men wrote what they wrote.
[33:56] They wanted people to hear the gospel in all its beauty and all its simplicity. You must be born again.
[34:06] And as we said, that was the gospel plea and proclamation of Wesley and Whitefield. in fact, Whitefield, Whitefield was known. He was an evangelist throughout Britain, an evangelist throughout America.
[34:20] He was known for his gospel plea and proclamation. He was known for these words, you must be born again. I don't think there would be any better comment to be made about a preacher than he was someone who preached the gospel clearly.
[34:37] And you know, Whitefield, throughout his ministry, he's said to have preached at least 18,000 sermons to over 10 million people.
[34:49] And that was without YouTube, that was without Zoom, that was without all these new things of technology. Whitefield traveled the length and breadth of Britain and America preaching the gospel.
[35:05] He was a powerhouse of a preacher. He didn't have a microphone. He just preached and he tirelessly gave his life to the preaching of the gospel. And as an evangelist, as a man who had a passion for lost souls, his gospel plea, his gospel proclamation was very simply and very often taken from John 3 verse 7, you must be born again.
[35:34] You must be born again. You know, I love the story. I'm sure I've told it to you before and many times, where this woman once came up to George Whitefield.
[35:46] And she asked him, Sir, why do you always preach that you must be born again? Why do you always preach that you must be born again?
[35:57] To which Whitefield, the passionate preacher, responded by saying, because, dear woman, you must, you must be born again.
[36:11] You must be born again. And you're my friend, that's why this Christmas carol, it closes with this gospel plea, this gospel proclamation of Wesley and Whitefield, because they had this simple desire, this earnest plea, to present to people the gospel according to a Christmas carol.
[36:34] And what they say in the closing verse, it requires a response. It requires a response. Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace. Hail the Son of Righteousness.
[36:48] Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings, mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
[37:03] Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. My friend, we are being exhorted and encouraged to hearken, to hear, to listen to the message of the gospel.
[37:21] Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray.
[37:34] O Lord, our gracious God, we give thanks to thee for the gospel being presented to us, and that it is in many ways such a simple message.
[37:46] You must be born again. And Lord, as thy word reminds us, that except a man or a woman or a boy or a girl be born again, they cannot enter the kingdom of God.
[37:57] Lord, we pray that even this evening, there would be new birth by the Spirit of God. O Lord, we know that without thee we can do nothing, but the promise remains tonight that with thee all things are possible.
[38:14] Awaken us, then we pray, bring new life, we plead, that there may be rejoicing in the presence of the angels over sinners repenting. Bless us, Lord, we ask.
[38:25] Bless our fellowship this evening. Watch over us, we pray. Bless thy servant who shares his testimony with us. We pray that we would be attentive to what he has to say of how the Lord has so worked in his life, how he was born again of the Spirit of God.
[38:43] Do us good, then we pray. Lead us into a new week and keep us by thy power, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We're going to bring our service to a conclusion this evening.
[38:59] We're going to sing the words of Psalm 91. Psalm 91, page 352, the blue psalm book. Psalm 91.
[39:17] Before we sing, we've got all your answers. John. Yeah. Okay, question one.
[39:29] What was the name of Charles Wesley's older brother? John. John what? John Wesley, yeah. How many brothers and sisters did he have?
[39:42] Well, sort of. He was the 19th, so he had 18 brothers and sisters. Well done. What was the name of the man who changed the words of this Christmas carol? How dare he?
[39:54] George Whitefield. And what was the thing he always preached? You must be born again. That's good. What are tonight's headings? Publication.
[40:12] Personification. Well done. And proclamation. Well done. Good job. So I think next week we'll ask the adults, will we? Yeah. We'll ask the adults next week. We'll make them really hard when we ask the adults.
[40:26] Well done. You're very, very good at answering the questions and for listening. So we're going to sing Psalm 91, page 352 in the Blue Psalm book. We're singing from verse nine.
[40:38] Psalm 91, wonderful, comforting words that remind us of how the angels are used by the Lord in protecting his people.
[41:17] So Psalm 91, verse nine, down to the verse mark 12. I'm going to stand to sing if you're able to God's praise. verse nine, verse nine, verse nine, verse nine, because the Lord who constantly my refuge is alone, in the most high is made by thee thy habitation.
[42:00] charm. No pleasure near thy dwelling come, no will shall thee befall for thee to keep in all thy ways his angels charge he shall.
[42:40] They in their hearts shall bear thee up still waiting thee upon lest thou walt any time to stash thy foot against the stone.
[43:18] 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.