May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's
turn to the book of Job, chapter 38, and we'll read verse 11. The book of Job, chapter 38,
and reading verse 11. And said, hitherto shall thou
come, but no further. And here shall thy proud waves
be stayed. This book of Job, as I've sometimes
said, is a book which is not read very often, and people often
pass over it, but the reality is there is a lot of instruction
in it, individual verses, but also as an overall picture. Because we have here a man of
God, a man who the Lord himself describes very clearly as a man
of God, and in the first chapter where Satan came, and the Lord
said unto Satan, this is verse eight, and the Lord said unto
Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? For there is none
like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and estueth evil. If you read such a statement,
It would seem therefore that here was a man who was walking
with God and therefore his life on this earth would be relatively
easy because he was doing that which was right and good. But
we see that God had still to deal with Job and Job still had
to come to a situation which all of us will have to come to. You may wonder what that position
is. Well, Satan was allowed to tempt
Job to a large degree by taking away so many of his earthly possessions
and afflicting his body. And we're told in verse 22 of
this first chapter, in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God
foolishly. But again, Satan didn't give
up. And you and I should recognize
that Satan doesn't give up. He continues to harass and continues
to try and deceive the Church of God and use all the means
he can. And that's why we have an example
like we do with Job. And again, you see, Satan was
allowed to come. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, because God asked him where he came from to present himself. And the Lord said unto Satan,
hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth
God and his Jewish evil? And steady holdeth fast his integrity,
although thou movest me against him to destroy him. without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. But put forth thine hand now
and touch his bone in his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy
face. And the Lord said unto Satan, behold, he is in thine
hand, but save his life. And so Satan continued to do
all that he could because he smote Job with sore boils, and
the sole of his foot even unto the crown of his head." So we
see, therefore, that Satan was allowed to attack Job. And therefore, in our lives,
we shouldn't be surprised if Satan is allowed to attack us. And we may wonder why. Why does this occur? Why do I
have to endure such difficulty, such opposition? And it may not
be evident to other people, because you see, the devil knows how
to attack our minds, how to bring thoughts into our minds, which
we hate and wish never came there. But the devil is very subtle
and very cunning. And then as we read through the
book of Job, and obviously we won't go through it tonight,
three of his friends come. And after some time of just sitting
and saying nothing, they eventually talk to him and try and convince
him of his What appears to them must have been the errors of
Job's life and Job answers sometimes well and sometimes tries to justify
himself. And so it goes on and it goes
on and then we read of Eli who came and spoke to Job again,
some good words, but it didn't really have the effect upon Job. And then as we come to this 38th
chapter, then the Lord answered. Job and of course when the Lord
spoke it was with power and it was so true and there was no
error in it and he just displayed to Job his greatness and it's
good for us to realize the greatness of God how he created everything
how everything is under his control that nothing occurs without the
divine permission of Almighty God It is good for us, therefore,
to ponder the reality of these things and to realize how great
God is. And so the Lord speaks to Job
in chapters 38 and 39, and he comes down to the 40th chapter,
and we read, Moreover the Lord answered Job and said, Shall
he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? And he that reproveth
God Let him answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and
said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I would
lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I would
not answer, yea, twice, but I will proceed no further. And we may,
of course, conclude, therefore, that that work of the Lord was
completed in Job's case, because he'd come to realise something
in his condition, but it wasn't complete. He still needed to
be taught more. And as we read on, the Lord continues,
the Lord answered the Lord, and then answered the Lord unto Job,
again out of the whirlwind and setting. And we read through
the rest of chapter 40 and chapter 41. And we come to the end of
41 and we commence chapter 42. And this then is what Job says. Job answered the Lord and said,
I know that thou canst do everything, and no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not, things too wonderful for me which I knew
not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak, I will demand of thee, and declare that unto me. I've heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, granted the eye of
faith to behold the Lord. And then he comes to this statement,
wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Now it took all those words by
those three friends and Elihu and the Lord himself to bring
Job to this final confession. And it's good for us to note
exactly what Job said. He says, wherefore I abhor myself
and repent in dust and ashes. We may think, well, that's a
bit extreme. Surely we don't need to come
there. Well, in the sight of God, we do need to come there
because what it brings us to is a situation where before God,
And remember, we all stand before God. We realise how sinful and
unholy we are. And in that condition, the Lord
may bring us to abhor ourselves. Paul the Apostle was brought
to a very similar situation when the Lord worked in his soul. And then finally Job says, and
repent in dust and ashes. It brought him to that condition
where he was really sorry for his sins. He repented in dust
and ashes. And every one of us must come
to that condition to repent before God of all our sinful thoughts,
sinful words, sinful actions. It's not something which is trivial. It's something which is essential. And it's a great blessing and
a great favour when the Spirit of God works in our hearts to
bring us down to this position where, in and of ourselves, we
are as nothing. Realizing we stand a guilty,
hell-deserving sinner before a holy God. And again, just remind
ourselves what Job had already said. Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth. He confessed that, and we may
foolishly think that's enough if God brings us to that condition,
but no, There's farther yet to go. And therefore, Joe was brought
to this condition. And it's recorded for our instruction
to realize how the Holy Spirit does work and brings us to that
position. And again, we need to look into
our own hearts and to examine ourselves to see whether We have
been brought to this place to come before God. Job was before
God and every true believer comes before God. We don't stand before
man, we stand before God. What a blessing it is when we're
brought to here and be able to confess and say, I abhor myself. I see something of the evil of
my heart, the wretchedness of it. and abhor it and repent before
God in dust and ashes. Well that's rather a long introduction
this evening but nonetheless it's a worthy of our consideration
to ponder then the book of Job and if you have that as a background
it may encourage you to read it more and to realize the words
that the three friends of Job spoke and Job's responses and
then the words that Elihu has spoken. Why all the words which
are spoken, there are many words spoken in this book of Job and
to see how that they eventually through the word of God, the
Lord himself, convinced Job of his condition. Well it's a mercy,
it will be a mercy if all of us are truly brought to that position
of confession before God. See, naturally, we don't confess
our sins. We may think we do, in just a
mere form of words, but when the Holy Spirit comes into our
hearts, it has a real effect, and it brings us right down so
that we're nothing in ourselves, that God might be all and in
all. Well, we read this 38th chapter
in Job. And there we have the beginning
of the Lord answering Job. It's interesting again to think
that the Lord is answering Job. The Lord had heard all those
words which Job had offered up. The Lord had heard it. Exactly
the same with us. You know, we may perhaps make
excuses, excuses perhaps to people why we've said or done this,
but You know, we can't make an excuse to God. Because God knows
all about us. He knows our innermost thoughts. He knows the deceitfulness of
our heart. And remember, the Word of God
tells us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Well, only those
will know it who are taught by the Holy Spirit to realise, yes,
we are the highest, deceitful above all things. Never trust
yourself. Never think you're able to say
and do things which are right and good. We all need the strength
and support and help from Almighty God to walk our lives in accordance
with the Word of God. And not in accordance with what
we think. It's in accordance with what
God says. How relevant that is in the day and age in which we
live. And so we have this 30th chapter
where God commences answering Job. And in answering Job, he
describes something of the greatness of himself and all that he's
done. to put Job in his right place. You know it's good when you and
I are put in our right place and we don't argue with God.
We don't say we want this, we want that and we're going to
do this and we're going to do that. When God works he brings
us right down and we stand guilty before a holy God, just like
Job did. And it's good when we're not
allowed, therefore, to make our own decisions, as it were. You
know, we have many people in the Word of God who made their
own wrong decisions because they didn't like really what God had
said. And we can think perhaps of two
godly people. First of all, the familiar person
perhaps of Jonah. I'm sure you all remember of
Jonah. And God spoke to Jonah very clearly. He told him he should go to Nineveh
and he should preach the preaching that the Lord would give him.
Well, Jonah didn't like the idea. Jonah didn't like the idea and
he ran away. and he went to Tarshish and he
got on a ship and he thought no doubt he'd escaped. There
was a man of God walking contrary to God and my friends be very
careful not to walk contrary to God. The Word of God tells
us if you walk contrary to me I will walk contrary to you. We are not to walk in a way that
seems right, perhaps, seems more comfortable, seems more easy. No, we are to do God's will. We are to walk in God's way.
And thankfully, of course, in the case of Jonah, the Lord was
gracious. And although Jonah had a very
tough time, eventually the word of God came to Jonah the second
time. How merciful God is. Came to
Jonah the second time. And in that second time, Jonah
didn't need then to go against God's word. He obeyed. He went
and preached the preaching that God gave him. And it had a wonderful
effect on the Ninevites. What a wonderful blessing, therefore,
to have a God like that. And then another case, which
is perhaps surprising, and that's Moses. You see, Moses was a gracious
man, a most gracious man, a meek man. But we have that occasion,
the second time when the Israelites needed water and God told Moses
to speak to the rock. Well, Moses, it would appear
was angry with Israel because they'd rebelled again. He took
his rod with him and instead of speaking to the rock, he smote
the rock as he'd done in the first place and the water gushed
out. But because of that, what he'd
done was to disobey God. Instead of speaking to the rock,
he smoked the rock. And because of that, he was forbidden
to go into the promised land. You see how we can sometimes
think that we know better, or perhaps we don't want to do God's
will. Well, it's a very sad and solemn
thing. And then sometimes the Lord graciously
allows people to do things, allows people to go so far. And we have this verse here,
here the two shall come but no further. And you may remember
in the book of Esther, there was the case of Haman. Haman
was an evil person. All he wanted was himself. He
wanted to be the chief person. And he hated Mordecai the Jew
because he wouldn't bow down to him. And he thought, of course,
he would rectify the situation. And his wife and friends recommended
that he erected a gallows to hang Mordecai on and then go
in and tell the king and request that he would be allowed to do
this. Well, he erected the gallows,
but he wasn't allowed to go and ask for Mordecai because the
Lord was in control and won't go through the full account But
the result was that Haman himself was hanged on the gallows he'd
erected to hang Mordecai on. And we see, therefore, the Lord
arising and stopping the effects and stopping man doing that which
he desires to do. Well, we can see that today in
our lives. We can realise that we have a
God who's able and willing and does bring about things surprising
to us. Yes, He fights for His people. He upholds them. He strengthens
them. And what a great blessing it
is in the 124th Psalm. We're told, if it had not been
the Lord who was on our side. How essential it is. that the
Lord is on our side if it had not been the Lord who was on
our side now may Israel say if it had not been the Lord who
was on our side when men rose up against us well men do sometimes
rise up against us the Lord allows them to rise up against us what
a blessing it is to prove and it's in these situations when
we do prove the power of God and you young people may think
well I'm not quite sure what you're talking about tonight
well you may have difficulties in your school days or university
days when people speak against you when people rise up against
you Just remember, they're only human beings. And if you have
God on your side, you can be sure of the victory. And so the psalmist
goes on, and it's David who's written this psalm, and David
had much to praise and to bless God for, and it's wonderful that
we have accounts like this. If it had not been the Lord who
was on our side when men rose up against us, then they had
swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us.
Then the waters had overwhelmed us. The stream had gone over
our soul. Then the proud waters had gone
over our soul. Yes, you see, no hope naturally. But the psalmist says, David
says, Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to
their teeth. And then he tells us our soul
is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare
is broken and we are escaped. There may be those snares that
people set for us and hopefully we will fall into them. Well,
commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him. And remember as
David concludes this psalm with these words, our help, your help, and my help, our help
is not in ourselves. Don't rely on your ability to
dig yourself out of a difficult situation. Our help is in the
name of the Lord, And he concludes with this great statement, who
made heaven and earth. It's good, isn't it, to be reminded
as the Lord reminded Job of his greatness. Yes, our help is in
the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Well, what
a great statement that is and what a wonderful thing it is
to realize as the Lord says here, he's speaking to Job about the
things of nature. He's speaking about the sea,
the greatness of the sea and the strength of the sea and the
clouds and so forth. And he comes down to this word
and says, hitherto, hitherto, Shalt thou come, but no further. The sea can only come so far. You can watch it. I'm sure you
will watch the tide come in. And the tide can only go as far
as God permits it. Sometimes farther, sometimes
less. Sometimes he allows floods, but
it's all in accordance with his decree. Hitherto shalt thou come,
but no further. That's a physical position. It's
also true with regard to us in our spiritual condition. You see, the devil will endeavor
to overthrow us, endeavor to drown us, but he won't be able
to go any further than the Lord allows. You see, everyone, everyone
is under the control of Almighty God. All men's hearts are controlled
by Almighty God. No one can go further than the
Lord permits. They may desire to. They might
try to. But remember, the Lord is on
the throne and the Lord allows these things sometimes to come
into our life to test the faith that God has given us so that
we're not relying on our ability. We're not relying on our strength,
but we're relying on our God. And He, my friends, is able to
deliver. He knows what He will do. And what a blessing it is to
have such a God, to realise here we have this God who says, hitherto
shall there come but no further. Yes, nothing will be able to
come past the design of Almighty God. You may fear. You may fear,
perhaps, the storm, the raging, perhaps, of the spiritual sea. You may think, perhaps, you'll
make shipwreck. You think, perhaps, you'll never
get a safe home to glory. You may think that there's so
many things against you. You may realise again the sinfulness
of your own heart and realise how you need God to come and
to deliver you. And how does God deliver us? He directs us to Himself. He
directs us to the Saviour's work. That's where our salvation resides. And the Lord does bring us into
these times where that do appear to be a situation of the sea
perhaps, not in a physical way, but coming upon us and likely
to overcome us. The Lord goes on and says, and
here shall thy proud waves be stayed. The Lord can allow waves
and storms to come into our life. and appear to overthrow us. We have the wonderful examples
in the New Testament when Jesus was in the ship and there arose
a great storm and the waves came into the ship and the Lord allowed
that. The waves came into the ship
and it may be so in your life and my life. The waves of ungodly
men, the waves of the things of this world may perhaps come
as it were, into our soul. But you see, the boat didn't
sink. And my friends, by the grace
of God, you and I won't sink. What occurred? Jesus spoke. What did he say? Peace, be still. You see, the Lord only has to
speak the word. and there is a great calm peace be still a great calm that
which was a great storm, a tumult, a tempest stops you see the Lord
allows these things perhaps we should say the Lord brings these
things into our lives to test the reality of our religion,
so that we're not sailing along on an ocean and never get to
shore. We're sailing on an ocean with
a destiny before us, our design haven, as the 107th Psalm describes
it. What a blessing it is, therefore,
if the Lord does bring us safely home to our desired haven. Hitherto shalt thou come. Yes, but no further. The waves,
the storms, won't be able to overthrow us. They've come so
far, so far to test our religion. And it's good, and it's a blessing. to have the reality of our religion
tested. It's not a comfortable experience. It's a very difficult experience.
And it may bring us to that position to say, why am I having to walk
this path? Why does it appear the Lord's
left me? Why did it appear the Lord's
forsaken me? Well, the blessing is the Lord
never leaves his children. No, but he allows these things
to come into our lives to test our faith, to make us humble,
to make us rely upon our God and not to rely on our own strength. Very easily. We rely on our own
strength. Very easily we think, I can deal
with this. I know what to do here. I'll
do this. And you and I can make big mistakes.
We can rely upon our own ability. And what have we done? We've
forgotten God. We've forgotten to come to Him. And the Word of God tells us
so very clearly, I will be inquired of. by the House of Israel to
do these things for them. It's amazing sometimes how forgetful
we are, really how sinful we are, and yet we have a kind and
gracious God who doesn't deal with us as our sins deserve,
but gently nudges us, gently draws us to the right way to
the right path. And we realise then the truth
of those words. He, that's God, led them forth
by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation, your
way and my way. Left to ourselves is not the
right way because we will go the way that is pleasing to the
flesh. God leads us in the way which
is pleasing to the spirit. What a mercy it is that we have
such a kind and gracious God and really this is what God is
now addressing Job and directing him to realize his condition,
how foolish he is and how great God is and brings him eventually
to this position where in himself he's nothing. He's just a sinner
and a great sinner. A sinner that abhors himself.
What a mercy then to realise that God comes and blesses him
with godly repentance. And that is a repentance which
is not to be repented of. That means it's not a false repentance. It's not just a pseudo repentance. Many people say, oh well, I've
prayed for the forgiveness of my sins and that's all finished
and passed. It's when the Holy Spirit comes and shows us what
we are before God, it's then that we bow down and worship
before God. And we can come to blessing. The line in the hymn writer tells
us, I came to Jesus as I was. weary and worn and sad. We don't come all dressed up
in our finery. We come as a beggar, a beggar
poor at Jesus' door. Well it's good when the Holy
Spirit therefore works in us and it's good when the Holy Spirit
shows us the greatness of our God and how small and sinful
we are. It took a long time with Job,
takes a long time with us. But the Lord is very patient. If you look in your heart and
I look in my heart, we will realise how patient the
Lord has been to us in dealing with us. And the scriptures
have a very lovely description really about it. It's this. We're led and we're taught line
upon line, yes. Just a bit at a time. The Lord
leads us. He leads us. He leads us. And it's all a preparation for
our eternal home. And so to think that the Lord
restrains situations, doesn't allow them to overcome us, We
may think perhaps we will be overcome. But the Lord restrains. He brings his waves thus far
and they're limited. They can't go any further. Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further. No further. Just remember that. And here shall thy proud waves
be stayed. They'll be stopped. Now we stop. We may think, another wave and
I shall be drowned. The Lord, my friends, completes
his work. And when his work is done, you
see there is this great calm. There is this great comfort and
blessing as we realise what the Lord has done. The blessing of
the Lord's work is to show us ourselves as Job and then to
direct us to what the Saviour has done on our behalf. What he's done on our behalf.
You see, if we'd been crucified, we couldn't have saved ourselves.
We couldn't have freed ourselves from the condemnation of sin
because we were sinners anyway. So our death would not have been
satisfying to Almighty God. But what a great and wonderful
blessing it is to know that we have a great Saviour, none less
than the Lord himself, who was so willing to come and to suffer
in our place and in our stead. That glorious substitute. It's very humbling, I hope it
is. to all of us to think that God
himself stood in our place and therefore the waves of condemnation
could not overthrow us because the Lord had paid the price for
our redemption, for our freedom. And if the Son shall set you
free, you shall be free indeed. There's no law then that can
condemn us because Christ has died. He rather is risen again,
a conqueror. What a great and glorious truth
this is. What a blessing it is to realise that the Lord God himself, the
Lord God himself, died in our place, he bore the punishment
instead. The punishment which was due
to us. The blessed Lord bore the punishment himself. All the
ire of God he suffered. As the hymn writer says, all
incarnate God could bear. with strength enough and none
to spare, surely our response must be, what a saviour, to save
a wretch like me, someone who is so undeserving, someone who's
been so disobedient to God, someone who's often pleased himself. Yes, this great and kind God,
has come. Hitherto shalt thou come, but
no further, no, the Lord, so far, and then stops. Yes, and
here shall thy proud waves be stayed. Well, my friends, it's
a great blessing for us tonight if we understand something of
what Job experienced in the mercy of God. And I suppose as we think
of Job, We can think, well, the Lord's given us an extreme example. Well, we're thankful for, generally
speaking, we don't have to go to the extent that Job had to. And the Lord is very gracious
and very merciful. But nonetheless, he does bring
us to that place of godly repentance, which is a repentance not to
be repented of. It's not false, it's true, it's
real. And it's painful to come there, but it's good to come
there, because it's there we find mercy. It's there we find
relief. It's there we find peace, when
we view the Saviour, by faith, suffering in our place, and paying
the price of that freedom from sin. Well, says the Lord to Job,
Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy
waves be stayed. Well may the testimony of Job
and the testimony of God's grace and mercy and favour toward him
be an encouragement to us and of course not to forget that
Job's latter end was greatly blessed because we're told the
Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.
Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. The Lord was very gracious and
he greatly blessed Job. And after this lived Job 140
years and saw his sons and his sons' sons even four generations. So Job died being old and full
of days. Well, bless God that we have
the account of Job for our instruction and also for our encouragement. Amen. Our final hymn this evening is
1053. Hymn 1053, the tune is 894. Love divine, all love excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down. Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
all thy faithful mercy's crown. Jesus thou art, all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art. Visit us with thy salvation comfort
every sinking heart. Hymn 1053. Choir singing. ? Thy humble dwelling ? ? O how
grateful my heart is for thee ? ? Jesus, thou art all the pleasure
of my life ? ? Ever our power above us ? ? Lift
it up, say the world to see ? His saving power. He hath made thy Let us hold him near in heaven. Let us find that promised land. ? Come on, sing it ? ? Hail, all hail the King of kings ? ? Hail,
all hail the King of kings ? our dearest dear. I'll be home by midnight ? Let us sing our own salvation
? ? Heaven and earth are thine ? ? Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory,
glory, glory, glory Now may the grace of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and
the fellowship and communion of the Eternal Spirit, rest and
abide with us each, now and for ever. Amen. Let us commence this service
of remembrance by singing hymn number 951. Hark from the cross,
a gracious voice. salutes my ravished ears. Rejoice,
thou ransomed soul, rejoice, and dry those falling tears. Amazed, I turn, grown strangely
bold, this wondrous thing to see, and there the dying Lord
behold, stretched on the bloody tree. Hymn number 951. Hark! from the cross a gracious
voice, Sav'red by right, Rejoice, thou ransomed soul! Rejoice, and triumph no more! ? Christ the Lord, Christ the Lord,
Christ the Lord ? ? Christ the Lord, Christ the Lord, Christ
the Lord ? ? With Christ's dead on the head
? ? Lest while in death's night ? ? The convicts were dead ?
? I make with grace the gladness
? ? The power and sweetness of that voice ? ? My stoning heart
confers to thee ? And we'll rise, my Lord, rejoice,
and melt my soul. May the Lord bless the reading
of his word to our souls this evening. We'll turn to the first
epistle of John and read the first chapter. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word
of life. For the life was manifested,
and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that
eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto
us. That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you that ye also may fellowship with us and truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. these things write we unto you
that your joy may be full. This then is the message which
we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth but
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we are fellowshiped
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses
us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
we make him a liar and his word is not in us. Well John in this first epistle
sets before us very clearly the situation of sin and the need
there is to confess sin and the need there is to be honest in
the confession of our sin. and to realise the wonderful
blessing that we have of the light, that light which shines
from Christ into our hearts and displays his great love toward
us in that the darkness goes and the light shines. And as
we read together there, this then is the message which you
have heard of him, and declare unto you that God is light and
in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship
with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth sometimes
of course the light may appear to be very dim but yet the light
is there and it's a wonderful thing when it shines brightly
so that we are then able to walk in the light as he is in the
light and we have fellowship one with another And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. Nothing else
can cleanse us from our sin. But what a blessing it is to
come here tonight and remember his shed blood. The Lord Jesus
shed his blood to take away our sin. And as such, then, may we
truly be blessed with fellowship, one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all sin. And remember,
if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just. to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Well, what a promise that is
and how true it is and what a blessing it is. And therefore, as we're
here to remember tonight, his great love toward us in his broken
body and shed blood, may our hearts be moved to rejoice greatly
in his great salvation. The Apostle Paul said when he
wrote to the Corinthians, for I have received of the Lord that
which also I delivered unto you. The Lord Jesus, the same night
in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given
thanks, he'd break it. Let us do likewise. Most kind and gracious God, as
we are brought to the beginning of another year and the first
Lord's Day in this year of 2023, we pray, Lord, that as we go
through the year, we may have constant reminders of thy wonderful
love in redeeming our souls. And Lord, to recognise the cost
it was, nothing trivial, but thy life, and thy broken body,
and thy shed blood, and the agony of thy mind. O Lord, how great
thou art, how compassionate, how wonderful to think that sinners
like we are, Indeed, deserving no mercy, thou hast looked upon
and blessed indeed. And so, Lord, as we come tonight,
we pray, help us remember us for good and do us good. Think of those who are not able
to be with us, be with them, bless them. And Lord, grant thy
favour toward us as we journey on through our life, that we
may never forget the cost of our salvation. and may often
truly thank our God and praise our God for this great and glorious
redemption. And so, Lord, we come to thee
now, desiring thou wilt come to us and bless us. Leave us
not, neither forsake us, O God of our salvation. We ask it all
for Jesus' sake. Amen. And when he had given thanks,
he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken
for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner, he also
took the cup, let us give thanks. Most kind and gracious God, how wonderful it is for us to
realize, as we come together on this first Lord's Day of another
year, that thou didst die upon that cross at Calvary and shed
thy precious blood so many years ago And Lord, to realise that
the efficacy of that blood has not diminished. And we're thankful,
Lord, therefore, that even tonight we may realise the power of it. There's power in the blood that
cleanses from all sin. And we pray, gracious God, that
we may know it in our own souls tonight and rejoice in it and
praise thee for it. to realise that through thy one
sacrifice for sin, we receive that gift of eternal life. Lord, what a wonderful blessing
and favour, and therefore, Lord, to look forward to that time
when we shall have finished our life on this earth, and then
we pray it may truly be to go and to be with Christ, which
is far better, and to see there the glorious light without any
clouds or dimness, and that light to shine forever. O Lord, be
with us then, be with us now. Remember us for good. Leave us
not, neither forsake us. O God of our salvation, we ask
you all for Jesus' sake. Amen. After the same manna also he
took the cup, when he had supped saying, this cup, is the New
Testament in my blood. This do ye, as oft as ye drink
it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Now to conclude this service
of remembrance by singing hymn 943. 943. The God of grace delights to
hear the plaintive cry, the humble prayer, nor shall the weakest
saint complain that he has sought the Lord in vain. The last verse.
A bleeding Christ is all they plead, and all that guilty sinners
need. In whose dear name their fervent
cries before the Lord like incense rise. Nine, four, three. ? The Lord of grace delights to
hear the lamplighted cry ? Thou shalt not break it, save
the way that it has sought the Lord in vain. He planted Jacob's seed into
it. It went on and on and on. Stand up, stand up, stand up,
stand up, stand up, stand up. Make me my first day on the cross,
Where joy and power I thought there was. Thy face I see with gladness
set, from every problem I shall defend. And all that gives, they send
as gifts. Now may the grace of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the love of God our Father, and
the fellowship and communion of the Eternal Spirit rest and
abide with us each, now and for ever. Amen. Thank you.