The Greatest Offer

[0:00] Let's turn back to God's Word and for a very short time this evening turn back to the reading we had in the book of Isaiah chapter 55.

[0:13] Isaiah 55. We'll be focusing mostly on verses 1 down to the end of verse 5.

[0:23] We'll perhaps take in the whole chapter as we go on but focusing mostly on verses 1 to 5 and for the sake of a text we can take the first verse.

[0:35] Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters and he who has no money come buy and eat, come buy wine and milk without money and without price and so on.

[0:48] I certainly hope everyone's finished their buying for Wednesday. If not then you have an early drive into town tomorrow morning.

[1:03] Again early enough to avoid everyone else rushing in before you. I'm sure this doesn't apply to anyone in this gathering this evening but if you have forgotten to buy some presents for someone or a few people perhaps or if you've not started at all yet.

[1:17] Then I want you to imagine with me you go into Stornoway tomorrow and you find a space in a car park which yourself will be amazing I'm sure. And you go in town and in front of the town hall there's a stall set up and there's a man there behind a stall and he is shouting at you and shouting at those going by him offering up what he's selling.

[1:40] And you think what's he on about? So you keep walking past him, ignore him, don't even look at him and you keep walking. A few hours later you've done your shopping and you head back to your car and the man is still there, the stall is still set up and he's still shouting at everyone going past and just so happens he catches your eye.

[1:59] So you're forced to go and talk to him. And you ask him, what on earth are you shouting about? What are you selling that's so good? What are you trying to give to me this Christmas that's so incredible?

[2:12] What present are you offering me? What gift are you offering that's so essential that you're here for the last few hours shouting away about it on a cold Monday morning? And he shows you his gift and you ask him, what are you charging for it?

[2:29] And he says, it's free. It's free. You think, no chance, nothing is free. So you ask him, what's the catch? What's the catch?

[2:39] You're saying, this gift you have for me will change my life, will change my eternity. This gift will save me and it's free. Well, that's not right, is it?

[2:52] What's the catch? He tells you, he guarantees you, this gift is free. This gift he's given to you, he wants you to take away from him. It's been bought by someone else.

[3:04] It's been bought by the life and work of somebody else. And the gift he gives you is free. All you have to do is take it off him and take it home with you. And it's yours. And it will change your whole life.

[3:18] To ignore that man giving you that gift would be a dreadful and deathly mistake for you to make. Of course, it's just a silly story, some might say.

[3:33] But it's a story that we see repeated here in God's word in Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55, there's a man who is trying to give you something. If only you would listen to him.

[3:44] Isaiah the prophet is shouting out and he is offering something to you. The context of this chapter, Isaiah 55, this section of Isaiah, it's a section we hear much at this time of year, talking about the coming servant of the Lord.

[3:59] Isaiah prophesies that one is coming, this servant of the Lord is coming, who will also be a saviour. God is sending one who will come and who will save his people.

[4:11] Who will suffer, who will die, but who will live again forever on behalf of his people. We see that in chapters 52 down to chapter 54.

[4:23] Beautiful chapters to read. Then we come to chapter 55 and we see, we can say, the culmination of all this. The culmination of the work of the coming saviour is that there is salvation for all who will hear.

[4:39] There is hope for any and everyone who will actually listen to this saviour. And who will listen to what he has done for them.

[4:51] We can look at these verses, verses 1 down to the end of verse 5, under three very rough headings. First of all, looking at the invitation. Then looking at the call.

[5:06] And then looking at the promise. To the invitation or perhaps the command. And then the call or the question we could say. And then the promise.

[5:18] Invitation, question, promise. This chapter, look with me please to verse 1. This chapter begins with an invitation.

[5:30] An invitation that is also a command. It is a kind, warm, welcoming invitation. But also a clear command to all who are listening to it.

[5:44] The command, the invitation in the first few words of chapter 55, verse 1. It is often very hard to translate. The urgency of what is being said.

[5:54] I think the closest we have in English is actually in the authorised, the King James Version. Where I am sure we all know how this chapter starts. Ho everyone!

[6:05] That firsteth. That word, ho, that word, that exclamation, that point of emphasis. We can't understand what it is saying very well.

[6:17] But it is here and it is clear. In the Hebrew, this come, this invitation, it is so strong. It is the strongest possible combination of words the writer could use.

[6:27] It is the strongest way Isaiah could cry out this invitation. The tone of this verse, it is a desperate tone.

[6:39] Isaiah is not just standing there saying, come on, please, please come. He is shouting, he is pleading, he is begging with those passing by him. That they would come and listen to him and come and take the gift that he is telling them about.

[6:57] It is a desperate call of someone in the marketplace. This is marketplace language. This come here, repeated again and again in verse 1.

[7:09] It is the same word that was used in the marketplaces to attract attention to those passing by. It is the same tone used by the shepherds as they call out for sheep on the hillside.

[7:20] This is the crofter losing a sheep at half ten at night going out to find a sheep and shouting for them. This is the shaking of a feed bucket.

[7:31] This is the shaking of a feed bag waiting for the sheep to come and listen to him. This is the clear instruction of sit up and listen.

[7:45] We might think this is all quite direct and perhaps a bit rude. None of us like to be told to sit up and to shush and to listen to what is being said to us. We certainly don't.

[7:57] But this is not Isaiah being rude. This is Isaiah trying his level best to get your attention. Here he is in the marketplace of the world and he is saying, listen to me, listen to what I am saying, listen to what God is saying to you.

[8:15] Listen to the invitation of God, listen to the command of God as he presents it to you this day and indeed this evening. The question is, what is the message?

[8:29] What is the invitation? What is the message that is so necessary that Isaiah is shouting out in this strange, loud, unending way? What is the command?

[8:41] The simple command is come. Come. Come the hungry and thirsty. Come everyone who thirsts. Come to the waters. He has no money.

[8:53] Come, buy and eat. Through God's word and through the prophet Isaiah this evening, God is calling out. Just as Isaiah called out then, he calls out today and he calls out tonight to us.

[9:09] Come all those who are hungry and thirsty. And the question has to be asked, is this you this evening? I know some faces here. Most faces I don't know.

[9:20] I don't know your situation before God this evening. And supposing I did know you, it doesn't make much difference. Only you know right now where you stand. Does this cry hit you just now?

[9:37] Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Are you looking for some meaning in life? That niggling question in the back of your mind. Surely, surely there's more to life.

[9:47] And getting up, working. Getting up, doing whatever I do each day and going to bed. Next day, getting up. Living life. Going to bed. Day in. Day out. The same thing. Unending.

[9:58] What's the point of it all? Why? Why do we bother? Surely, surely there's more to life than I'm doing right now.

[10:09] That unending question of why. Perhaps you're thirsty. Perhaps you're here this evening and you're exhausted.

[10:20] You're tired out. Life is hard right now. Perhaps life has been hard for weeks, if not months, if not years. Perhaps you're going through a situation that only you know about.

[10:33] Your family doesn't know. Your friends, your fellow neighbours don't know about, perhaps. And you're exhausted. You're looking for refreshing.

[10:45] You're looking to come and sit beside that cool, clear stream of water to refresh yourself. To lay yourself down. To close your eyes for a second. And you can't find it anywhere. You've tried all the best this world has to offer you.

[11:01] And you're still not happy. You're still searching and searching and searching. Still waiting for that cool, clear water to satisfy you.

[11:15] If that's you this evening, then Isaiah's offer, Scripture's offer, the Word of God's offer is for you.

[11:28] On the other side, perhaps you're here this evening. And if you're honest, you're saying, that's a load of nonsense. It's all rubbish.

[11:42] Who are you to stand up there? A young man from Garaver to stand there and to tell me anything about my life. And you're right. I've got no right in of myself whatsoever.

[11:56] That I bring before you tonight God through His living Word. And His living Word speaks to you this evening. And His living Word this evening tells you that for all your willful ignorance, for all your feigned, perhaps arrogance, of God's free gift for you, despite how little you think you need God, how little you think you need Jesus this evening, despite whatever excuse you've come up with for the last 10, 15, 20, 30, 50 plus years of your life of why Jesus is not for you, then Isaiah tells you He is.

[12:33] Come the ones with no money, but also God says what? Come, buy and eat. Come, buy and eat without money, without price. It's John Calvin who sheds some light on that for us, and he explains that this is a call to those who think they can pay.

[12:52] Those who can't pay know they can't pay. Those who know fine they don't deserve the love or care of God know they can offer nothing to make Him love them. Perhaps some here this evening who think they can somehow win the love of God, that somehow if I try hard enough and I'm a good enough person, God will have to love me, will have to respect me, will have to give His time over to me.

[13:18] Well, come, take your money, and you'll find very quickly it's no use to you. Take your good works to God, and you'll find very quickly it's no use to you.

[13:30] Take your 20 years, 30 years of church attendance, your Bible memorized, all good things in the of themselves, of course they are. But until you know Jesus as your Savior, what's it worth?

[13:44] Nothing. You come, and you say, I don't need this. Well, God's Word tells you you do. You need it desperately, same as everyone else does.

[13:59] You need this ever-flowing water of life. You need what is being offered to you in this section of Scripture.

[14:14] Take all your earnings, take all your good works, and come and realize they're worth nothing. Come and join the person beside you who realizes they can't buy God's love, and come together to the feet of Jesus.

[14:30] That brings us to asking the question, what is this call for? What is the call about? Isaiah is there shouting, come, hurry up, get here, listen up.

[14:43] What's he offering? Well, he's offering water. He's offering living water. Water that will satisfy forever. And the call of Isaiah matches the words of Jesus in John chapter 7.

[14:58] What Jesus says of himself, if any is thirsty, come to him and to drink. This evening, friends, it is Jesus who is being offered to you.

[15:15] It is Jesus who is the only one who can satisfy the thirsty and the hungry. It is Jesus alone who is the greatest gift from God. It is Jesus alone who is the greatest free gift from God.

[15:28] It is to Jesus that God calls you this evening. And who is God calling this evening to come to Jesus? Which one of us here does that call apply to?

[15:44] Is it just the througher hands with no hope and no help? Is it just the poor souls who have no sense of direction in this world? What? It is for the rich and the poor is for those who know that I'm a mess and those who are pretending otherwise.

[16:02] Who this evening can respond to the call, to the command, to the invitation to come? Who here can come this evening? Is the invitation only for those who know their Bibles inside out?

[16:17] Is the invitation only for those who have been faithful to church all their lives? Is it perhaps only to those who look the part, who dress the part, who act the part?

[16:29] Is it to those whose lives look like they're Christians, therefore, they're almost there. They can come and be Christians soon. What does God's Word tell us?

[16:42] Come, everyone. Everyone. There's no clause, there's no footnote, there's no wee number telling us what else it says. It means what it says. Who is the Gospel open to this evening?

[16:53] Who can come this evening? Who can receive this great offer of Jesus this evening? Everyone. Everyone who comes is for you. The excuse you have, it means nothing.

[17:06] Come to Jesus. As you hear this Gospel tonight, this is it being read and told in your hearing. You're hearing right now your need for Jesus.

[17:18] You're hearing right now that only He can provide eternal living life for you. Only He can offer you that living water. And I know you have your excuses.

[17:32] We all had our excuses at one point or another. So imagine you go for a walk behind your house and there's a moor behind your house and you fall, you break your leg in the moor.

[17:45] Do you drag yourself home with your fingers back to the house to put a clean shirt on and to wash your face before you think of calling for help? Or imagine your boat's going down and the rescuer is there and you refuse to take His hand because your hands are too cut up and too oily and too grubby to dare touch His pristine hands as He comes to rescue you.

[18:12] Of course you wouldn't. There is nothing you can do to prepare yourself to come to Jesus other than to come to Jesus.

[18:25] There is no obstacle in your way but yourself this evening. But your own willful ignorance, your own willful excuses. Don't come for anyone's sake but your own.

[18:39] Come because He is inviting you to come. Come because He is your God and He is instructing you to come. He is commanding you to come. The offer is a genuine offer to all who will hear and listen.

[18:56] It's a loving, gentle command. But it's a command all the same. But as you read it with me just now, as you hear it just now, this is the word speaking to you and this is you being left without an excuse.

[19:11] No excuse. Come. Come to Jesus. That's a simple call of the gospel this evening. Whoever you are, whatever your excuses, whatever your thinking is, come to Jesus.

[19:26] It's open to all who will hear it. Everyone who firsts. Everyone. Without exception, without qualification, you're here this evening.

[19:36] This is for you. Come. Please, please come. We can get so comfortable, can't we, in our set up here, so comfortable, in our suits, so comfortable in our pews and we forget how real this is.

[19:48] I say that with respect, but this is real. This is life or death this evening, friends. Come to the one who will give you life now and life forever.

[20:01] Or stay where you are, do nothing and die and face a lost eternity forever. This is nothing we've not heard before many, many times from many faithful men before me.

[20:18] It's the same gospel you hear every Sunday from your minister here. I know it is. So that's the command in verse 1, the loving command, the loving invitation.

[20:34] But in verse 2 we see a question. In verse 2 we see a question being asked and that question actually links back to the command. Just as the command in verse 1, the invitation in verse 1 uses strong, strong language, the question in verse 2 is also equally strong.

[20:50] Again, it's perhaps hard for us to see it in translation, but that why in verse 2, that why that's being asked is the strongest word possible. Why? It's almost a pleading question.

[21:02] Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which does not satisfy? And the question being asked to you this evening, why?

[21:14] Why what? Why in light of all we've just heard? Why in the light of hearing that there is one who will give you everlasting life? There is one who is through living water.

[21:26] There is one who has come to save you. There is one who has come to be your Lord but also to be your elder brother. There is one who has done all the work for you. Why in the light of that do you still do nothing?

[21:39] Why in the light of that do you still waste your time and your money and your effort on what is not going to save you? What is not going to do anything for you? That's the question being asked in verse 2.

[21:50] Look how simple, look how direct the question is. See, we can pull the wool over our friends and our neighbours' eyes. we can also deceive ourselves quite easily and often quite willingly.

[22:03] But we cannot fool God. God knows us intimately. He knows us in a careful way. He knows us as we know as God's word tells us.

[22:15] He knows us better than we know ourselves. Before we say a word, God knows what it is we are going to say. And in verse 2, God is asking us a clear and simple question.

[22:26] He cuts right to the heart of our problem. You are spending your hard earned money, you are spending your life, your time on things which will end up giving you nothing in the end.

[22:40] Nothing at all. This is not a lesson about money management, this is a lesson about wasting your life. Praise to God, He doesn't just point out the problem and offer no alternative.

[22:55] He starts off with pointing out the problem. Why are you wasting your time? Why are you wasting your money on that which will not save you? Then He offers a solution, if you look with me please, to the second half of verse 2.

[23:08] What does God lovingly say to us this evening? Listen diligently, listen carefully, listen to me, listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.

[23:25] how can we stop wasting our lives? How can we stop wasting our time here? It's only by listening to God, only by listening to Him can we understand what life is truly about.

[23:39] Only by hearing what God is saying to us can we actually live lives that have real, eternal meaning. if we I'm 25 just now, if we go with the statistics of the day, I will be gone in 50 years.

[24:01] 50 years, I'm gone. Perhaps if I'm lucky, 50 years after that, I'll be forgotten. In 100 years, most of us here will be gone and forgotten. this building perhaps will still be here, but we will not.

[24:17] I'm not saying something that we're not really keenly and painfully aware of, but I'm saying that to focus our minds on this question of why we're spending our few short years wasting our lives on what God is not giving us when in verse 1 He is giving us something so much greater, so much better.

[24:37] He is giving us His very Son. As long as we ignore that, as long as we go for anything and everything else, our lives are being wasted slowly, day by day, a minute by minute.

[24:54] In answer to verse 2, the question of verse 2, we come back to verse 1. Listen to God and what is God saying? God is saying in verse 1, come. If you want to stop wasting your life, come and know Jesus.

[25:09] If you want to live for what you're made for, come and know Jesus. If you want to live a life with Him forever, come and know Jesus. My friend, I ask you this question this morning and only you can answer it truthfully as we come together even together.

[25:28] This morning you heard the great news of what it means to celebrate Christmas. This morning you heard what it means to have Jesus born and have Jesus come to save you from your sins.

[25:45] But you can hear that and listen to that all the time. The question is, do you care? Are you actually listening? Are you just going through the motions week in and week out?

[25:57] And my prayer and the brothers and sisters here tonight, we pray that before you leave this building, perhaps even before you fall asleep this evening, that you would lay hold of the great gift of Jesus.

[26:14] Lay hold of the gift that's being offered to you this evening. For it is for you. It is for you. Do you know Him as your Lord? Know Him as your Savior?

[26:26] Come and take that free gift and know what it is to live a life focused on Him. A life led by Him. Live a life that knows Jesus, not just the baby in a maimedra, but knows Jesus as the eternal living King here this evening.

[26:48] Come and take the free gift from God who has offered it to you. So we have, in the first verse we have this wonderful invitation to come.

[27:01] Everyone come. Open to all, for all, effective for all. Verse 2, God asks us why. If you aren't coming, why are you spending your time and your life and your money on what does not satisfy, on what will not last, on what will not save you?

[27:21] then we come to verses 3, down to verse 5, where we see a promise. In verses 3 and verse 5, we see this gift, we see what is received when we come to God being described more clearly for us.

[27:44] the truth is that the continual call to come, it's just inescapable in these verses, we can't get away from it.

[27:55] If you look with me please to verse 3, we see God again telling us, instructing us, listen to all who will hear, incline your ear, listen and come to me, hear that your soul may live.

[28:15] Hear what God is saying to you, why so that your soul may live. When it comes down to it, why are we here?

[28:28] Why has any preacher ever stood before you in this pulpit? Our gospel is simple, our message is simple, hear the gospel, hear the goodness of Jesus, come and know Jesus, come and love Jesus, come and serve Jesus and what?

[28:46] And live. Every Christian here this evening, that's the one thing that separates them from other non-Christians. We all will suffer the pain and misery of life, we all suffer problems, we all have times of joy and times of sadness.

[29:03] What is the difference here this evening? The difference is the Christians here have listened to this command, they have come, they have laid hold of Jesus, they have believed about him, they have trusted in him and they know that because of that their soul will live and live forever.

[29:25] One end to a year it would be for you. If the end of this year, if the end of 2019 was the time when you came to know Jesus, after perhaps a long life avoiding him, a long life pretending you didn't need him, this is the night or this is the day, perhaps this is the week where you come to understand fully and finally your need for him.

[29:53] This is the night where verse 3 will apply to you, where you will finally listen to what God is saying through his word and where your night, where your soul will come alive.

[30:05] the night where God will give you that never ending life, where God will change a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, where God will make you a new person even this evening.

[30:25] See, all this is true because all of this relies on our promise keeping, covenant keeping God. We see that at the end of verse 3 I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.

[30:42] This is talking about the covenant that God made with David, the promise that from King David's throne would come one day a saviour. Isaiah carries on that prophecy that the saviour is coming.

[30:56] When that saviour comes he will reign forever as the perfect and final king. King David failed, every other king after him failed and died. This king will not fail and this king will live forever and reign and rule forever.

[31:13] And the promise of Isaiah here mentioned in Isaiah verse 3 here it's actually mentioned again for us, it's confirmed for us in that well-known passage often right at this time of year.

[31:25] Luke chapter 1 and verse 31 down to verse 33. Luke chapter 1 verses 31 down to verse 33 where Mary has been told by the angel and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus.

[31:44] He will be great and will be called son of the most high and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there will be no end.

[31:59] the promise of this verse is the promise for you. The promise that one would come who would be an eternal king.

[32:13] For the Christians here the promise that his kingdom has no end is an incredible promise. For the Christians here this evening we are worshipping one who has come and who now reigns forever as the high exalted king.

[32:27] Reigning at the right hand of the father. Awaiting the day that he returns to bring us together home with himself. My friends the promise made to David has been completed.

[32:42] The promise here mentioned by Isaiah it has been completed. Jesus has come and he is that king. He is the king right now of all the universe.

[32:53] and the ever glorious or terrifying reality is that right now each one of us face that king.

[33:05] We all face Jesus right now either as his servant or as his enemy. A servant or enemy.

[33:20] If that was the end of the message then we would have no hope whatsoever. We praise God that is not what we read tonight is it? The message is not that's it well you're done and off you go now to the end.

[33:33] The message is come. Have your life transformed. Have your life changed. Come and be a friend of this king. Come and know Jesus. Come and lay hold of him as your saviour.

[33:48] Come and know that living water. take the free gift believe the gospel and be saved.

[34:02] God kept his promise to King David. That great and perfect king now reigns over us. He reigns here this evening.

[34:13] He reigns across the world. He reigns across the universe. years. We like to imagine Jesus as that small baby in a manger and he was there and he cried and he had trouble.

[34:28] His mother looked after him, his mother changed him. He grew up and he learnt his trade. He grew up some more and he started his mission.

[34:41] He healed the sick. He showed again and again that he was who he said he was. That he was the one sent from God. That he was himself God.

[34:53] He is the one prophesied from all time. He is the one who is able and who is willing to save all who come to him.

[35:09] Don't waste your time this evening. Read again and again yourself this evening chapter. Read the promise of God that all who come to him that he will listen to him.

[35:23] All who come to him that he will hear their prayer. That all who come to him asking for salvation, asking for that saviour, that they will not be ignored.

[35:36] Come this evening and find it out for yourself. God. And you might say I am too bad. I am too old. I am too young. I do not know enough or perhaps I know a bit too much.

[35:52] Whatever weak excuse we have or you have this evening. If you read Diane of the chapter we read already, look, we see in verse 6.

[36:04] 6. In verse 6, after all this great promise, God tells us, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. When is that?

[36:15] That is right now. Whilst there is breath in your lungs, whilst you still have life right now, this is for you. Saying God can't do that.

[36:29] God can't change me. Why would he do that? How can he do that? Again, these questions are answered in verses 8 and verse 9. His thoughts are not your thoughts.

[36:40] His ways are not your ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. We see that in verse 11, his word has gone out.

[36:54] You have read his word this evening and that word can and will change your life. The evidence is the Christians here tonight. The evidence is the Christians around the world for the past 2,000 years.

[37:09] God is building his church. He is building his family. He is building his people. And that is a family you can be part of this evening. Don't take my word for it.

[37:21] Read it yourself again. Read these verses again. Pray just now. Pray this evening. Pray tonight. Talk to a Christian you know and love. Talk to the elders.

[37:32] Talk to the minister. God is glad to discuss these things with you. If nothing else listen to the words of Isaiah and come. This evening come.

[37:44] Don't waste your time. Don't waste any more of your life. Come now and take hold of Jesus as we end this year. Let's bow our heads now. A word of prayer. Lord God we thank you as always for the great privilege we have of coming together under your word.

[37:59] Lord forgive me for anything I said that was incorrect. We give you praise. The power is not in the jar of clay he preaches. The power is not in the man who stands here trembling.

[38:11] The power is in your living word. Your holy perfect word because it comes from you. The God who is living. The God who is holy. The God who is perfect. We do pray this evening that your word will go out and those here this evening who as of yet don't know you would come.

[38:25] They would come to know you. They would come and would lay hold of you as their saviour. Lay hold of you as the one who has come to save them. We pray for your people here this evening. You would strengthen us as we hear this gospel once again.

[38:38] Remind us of the great gospel that saved us. Remind us of the great good news that we received that transformed our lives. Help us to always be in prayer for our friends and our families and our neighbours and those around us who we see every day who as of yet are heading to great darkness and to the pits of hell, Lord, not knowing you.

[39:00] You would rise us up, Lord. You would enliven us. You would give us the energy and give us the sense and give us, Lord, the urgency to share the gospel with them.

[39:12] We pray again to this congregation, Lord, bless them in all they do. Help us as we come to sing our final item of praise, to do so of hearts and minds full of praise and full of joy of what you can accomplish in your people.

[39:25] God always sings in Christ's precious name. Amen. We can conclude by singing to God's word from Psalm 40, Scottish Psalter in Psalm 40.

[39:47] These verses are well-known verses for us and the Christians here can sing these verses and we can know that these verses talk about how God intervened in our lives and how he saved us.

[40:00] We see in verse 2 what he did for us. In verse 2 he took us from that fearful pit and he set us on the rock of Jesus. In verse 3 he did what?

[40:10] He gave us this new song that we can magnify God because we now know him as our God. This is a wonderful psalm of redemption.

[40:21] Our prayer is this evening that if you're not yet a Christian here, if as of yet you don't believe any of us, that you will one day know what it is to sing this psalm full of joy and praise in your heart to the God who has rescued you.

[40:36] Let's sing together Psalm 40 verses 1 to 5. I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear at length to me he did incline my voice and cried to hear. He took me from a fearful pit and from the miry clay.

[40:50] On a rock he set my feet to establishing my way. Psalm 40 verses 1 to 5 to God's praise. I waited for the Lord my God and patiently did bear at length to me.

[41:21] He did incline my voice and cry to hear.

[41:33] He took me from a fearful pit and from the miry and on a rock He set my feet.

[42:00] He set my feet. He set my feet. He set my feet. He set my feet.

[42:11] He put a new song in my mouth. He got to magnify many shall see it and shall fear and on the Lord rely.

[42:41] lie. O blessed is the man whose trust upon the Lord relies, respect respect in not the proud nor such as turn aside to lies.

[43:17] O Lord my God for many are the wonders thou hast done thy gracious thought to us work far above all thoughts are gone in order none can reckon them to thee if them declare and speak of them I would they more than can be numbered are let's close in prayer

[44:28] Lord God we ask you go before us this evening Lord bless your word to us enliven us Lord and wake us up and give us a new hope this new week encourage us be with us we ask for your people this week would know a greater sense of your love for them a greater sense of your presence a greater sense of their love for you and their love for their brothers and sisters we pray again this evening for those here who as of yet do not know you this week will be the week where they come to know you for the first time as their God they come to know you the God who made them the God who knows them and the God who has made a means for their salvation our Lord Jesus Christ and it's through his name and for his sake we ask these things Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen