I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our evening service and Thanksgiving. For those who
have just joined us this evening, we are using our hymn sheets
today, and if you're joining online, which we know some will
be, you can download those sheets from our audio page, or if you're
using video, the words will be on the screen. You'll notice
this year, instead of giving a harvest report, we've actually
printed it on the sheets on the front, which was kindly given
us by Alf Chapman, who used to take these services for many
years, a retired farmer. So, we're grateful to him for
that report. Please bestow your welcome again,
our dear brother in ministry, the pastor at Red Hill, Shaw's
Corner, Stephen Hyde, to preach the word to us. And if I could
ask you now to ask the Lord's blessing in prayer. Let us all pray. Most blessed,
eternal, gracious and merciful God, once again, we are thankful
for the privilege of being able to come together to worship.
And we pray, Lord, on this occasion, this harvest Thanksgiving service,
we may know thy presence and Lord, the blessed influence of
that presence in our own souls. Grant, Lord, that each one of
us tonight here may receive something good, which will be for our eternal
benefit. Lord, we know nothing is too
hard for our God. We're thankful, Lord, for all
thy mercies. Be with us, then, and bless as we pray. We ask
it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let us sing the fourth hymn on
the hymn sheet, first one for this evening. The hymn is composed
by Ray Chaplin from Wattisham Chapel. We've sung this at some
previous occasions. The tune is Ellacombe 267. Another harvest gathered in,
and we would sing God's praise. His mercy's been upon our land,
and shamed our wrongful ways. Our barns are filled, our hearts
are glad for all the produce given. May our hearts rejoice
in thee and praise the God of heaven. The fourth hymn on the
hymn sheet. I please Almighty God to bless
the reading of His holy words to the Prophet of our souls this
evening. Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 11, and we'll
read from verse 1 to verse 46. The Gospel of John, chapter 11,
reading from verse 1 to verse 46. Now a certain man was sick, named
Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped
his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. When Jesus heard that, he said,
This sickness is not unto death. but for the glory of God, that
the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha,
and her sister, and Lazarus. When he had heard, therefore,
that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place
where he was. Then after that, saith he to
his disciples, Let us go into Judea again. His disciples say
unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and
goest thou thither again? Jesus answered, Are there not
twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he
stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. If a man walk in the night, he
stumbleth, because there is no light in him. These things said
he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth,
but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples,
Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of
his death, but they thought that he had spoken of taking a rest
in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly,
Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not
there to the intent ye may believe. Nevertheless, let us go unto
him. Then said Thomas, which is called
Didymus, unto his fellow disciples, let us also go, that we may die
with him. Then when Jesus came, he found
that he had lain in the grave four days already. Now Bethany
was nigh unto Jerusalem about 15 furlongs off. And many of
the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their
brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard
that Jesus was coming, went and met Him. But Mary sat still in
the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus,
Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But
I know that even now Whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will
give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother
shall rise again. Martha said unto him, I know
that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the
resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith
unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she
had so said, She went her way and called Mary, her sister,
secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she
arose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus was not yet come into
the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews
then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when
they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily, and went out following
her, saying, She goeth under the grave, to weep there. Then when Mary was come where
Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto
him, Lord, If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned
in the Spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have you laid
him? They said unto him, Lord, come
and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews,
Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused
that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave and
a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the
stone, Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto
him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days.
Jesus saith unto her, Saidst I not unto thee, that if thou
wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. And when he thus had spoken, cried with a loud voice, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth,
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose
him, and let him go. Then many of the Jews which came
to Mary, and had seen the things, which Jesus did, believed on
him. And some of them went their ways
to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. We'll leave the reading there.
May God bless his word to us and help us now to call upon
his name in prayer. Let us all pray. Most blessed, most gracious,
eternal, long-suffering and holy Lord God, we come before that
one who we believe is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And Lord, although we are so
unworthy of any notice, yet we come, plead in the name of the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will look down upon
us here this evening and come into our midst and graciously
come and touch our hearts so that we may be amongst those
that we read about who did believe. Oh Lord, let us not be amongst
those who are left with an unbelieving heart. And so, Almighty God,
we come to Thee and plead that Thou would remember each one
here tonight with that favour Thou barest unto Thy people.
And Lord, come and visit our souls with Thy salvation. Oh Lord, how necessary, how vital
that is. And yet, Lord, we cannot produce
it ourselves. But we're thankful we have a
God who is almighty. We read, Lord, of that account
of Lazarus who was raised from the dead. And Lord, we're thankful
today thou can raise dead sinners to eternal life. So, gracious
God, we come tonight, unworthy as we are of any favour, that
thou would look down upon us and grant, Lord, life may come. Oh, we pray, Lord, that none
may be left out, that none may be passed by, but, oh, Lord,
that they will come and stop and say, live. Lord God, we live
in a dark day, but we're thankful to know the light of the glorious
gospel of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. has lost none of its
light, and it still shines gloriously brightly. And we pray, Lord,
even tonight, that light of the gospel may penetrate into dark
hearts and bring that glorious light. Oh, Lord, that light which
we know shines in the face of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we pray earnestly, gracious
God, that our Holy Spirit may move us. And Lord, we're thankful
indeed for the opportunity of gathering together on this occasion. Lord, as we remember thy goodness
and mercy in granting to our country another harvest, fulfilling
thy wonderful promise after the flood. And so, Lord, we come
this evening thankful that we have had a harvest. And, Lord,
we've had a good harvest once more. And, Lord, may we recognise
the great faithfulness of our God in these things, especially,
Lord, as we look around at our nation and we see how many walk
contrary to the word of God, contrary to the law of God and
not go about pleasing themselves, doing what they think is right,
rather than doing that which is right. And so, Lord, thou
hast been very gracious to our nation. But Lord, we fear the
future. We fear, Lord, the plans of the
government, bringing laws contrary to thy laws. Oh, Lord, we think
of that proposition to ease that suicide
situation. Oh Lord, we pray that thou would
stop laws being passed which are wrong. Lord, thou has permitted
abortion to take place in many ways, but again thou canst reverse
this if thy holy will. And so Lord, as we find ourselves
living in dark days, yet we're thankful the light of the glorious
gospel has not faded. We are thankful it is still an
effectual light, and we pray, gracious God, that we may yet
have much opportunity to observe Thy work. We love, gracious God,
to see the work of Almighty God appearing in the souls of sinners,
Lord, that true conversion which bears out those great words of
the Saviour as He spoke to Nicodemus so many years ago. ye must be
born again. Oh, Lord, we pray that every
one of us here tonight may have the evidence not only that we're
born again naturally, but more importantly, that we're born
again spiritually. Lord, the work is thine. We're
thankful it is so. And we know that power belongeth
unto God. And Lord, we come to that God
who is able to do far more, exceeding abundantly, than we can ask or
even think. And so, Lord, we come commending
ourselves to Thee. Once more, we would pray for
the church here in Cranbrook. Lord, we pray for a time of rich
blessing, a time of ingathering of precious souls. Oh, Lord,
do realise that nothing is impossible with God. And so, Lord, do come,
we pray, and work mightily and powerfully. We're thankful for
Thy servants with us here tonight, and we pray, Lord, that as they
preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, that the Word may
be in power, and in much assurance, and in the Holy Ghost, that it
may bring down O Lord, all that work of Satan. For we know, Lord,
he goes about as an angel of light. And Lord, how he deceives
so many in the day and age in which we live. But Lord, thou
art able to arise, and thou art able to cause thy work to appear. And we pray, Lord, it may be
so. We'd love to hear thy work, thy
work appearing, Lord. And we pray we may have much
opportunity to observe it in this day and age in which we
live. Lord, do we pray, send prosperity. Now, as said, I will be inquired
of by the House of Israel to do these things for them. So,
Lord, let us not be negligent in praying for this blessing.
Grant us, Lord, that true wrestling prayer that will grant these
things. We feel our prayers are very
feeble, very lukewarm. But Lord God, thou canst arise
and grant there may be that wonderful spirit of prevailing prayer,
that effectual prayer, that effectual prayer of a righteous man. And Lord, in ourselves, we're
not righteous, but only through the Saviour and through his sin
atoning death. And so, Lord God, we pray. for
these things. And Lord, we seek Thy blessing,
Lord, upon the whole Church of God in this world today. Lord, we're very blessed, really,
although we've wandered far away in our nation. We recognize there
are countries in this world where to worship the true God is against
the law. And Lord, if people are found
doing it, they're persecuted and often imprisoned and sometimes
put to death. O Lord, we pray thou will yet
arise and grant a time of spiritual blessing throughout the world. Nor we think of the area of war
in the Middle East and in the Ukraine. Again, Lord, thou canst
bring peace if thy holy will. O Lord, we see afar off and we
find it difficult sometimes to come to a right conclusion. about
what things are right and what things are wrong. And yet, Lord,
we believe thy ancient people in due time will be blessed again. And therefore we pray for Israel. We pray for the Jew. We pray,
Lord, thy spirit may rest upon them and there may be a true
turning unto thee. Oh, Lord, we pray for these things. We pray, Lord, for our nation,
our parliament, Lord, guilt as they are. Again, now can touch
hearts, now can exchange views. Nothing is too hard for our God.
Again, we pray for King Charles and the royal family. Lord, be
with them and bless them. Oh, Lord, then hear us, we earnestly
pray. We pray especially for our young
people, Lord. The children, young people, as
they go about in this evil world, Lord, stand by them, strengthen
them, deliver them, Lord, from evil. May they discern that which
is right and that which is wrong. And Lord, help them, give them
strength of will to turn away from evil things. O Lord, we
know there's many temptations, but Lord, we're thankful we have
a God who is an all-powerful God. And so, Lord, we pray that
you'll bless our young people and grant, Lord, that they may
be found following Thee and pillars in the church of God. Perhaps
those who are older, Lord, be with them, bless them. And those
that are very old, remember each one. Lord, we pray that everyone
may be a true follower of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Lord, leave none to make excuses. But Lord, grant my sovereign
will and purpose may descend and touch hard hearts. And Lord,
visit rebellious souls and grant there may be a time of great
blessing. But Lord, we know nothing is
too hard for our God. We come and pray, Lord, increase
our faith, grant us prevailing prayer. And so, Lord, we look
to Thee now. Lord, we gather here tonight
to hear what Thou would speak to our souls. And Lord, if there
are any who have not come with that desire, we pray that desire
may be put into their hearts, so that we may each desire the
blessing of the Lord, which maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow with
it. Forgive then our every sin, and
be with us, we pray, we ask it all for Jesus' sake. Amen. Let us continue by singing Hymn
5 on the hymn sheet. This is from Gadsby's Hymns 178,
The Journey's Sweet Name 730. This hymn is based on Matthew,
chapter 12, verse 30. He that is not with me is against
me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. It's
a reminder that we must be saved on Christ's terms, God's terms,
his way, and with Christ, not just deciding our own way and
seeking to attain heaven by way not set out in the scriptures.
Abundance of good folk I find are gathering goodness for the
wind to scatter it about. They seek with human care and
skill Their vessels with good wine to fill, but all the wine
leaks out. The fifth hymn on the hymn sheet. May it please Almighty God to bless
us together this evening as we meditate in His Holy Word. Let's
turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 11, and we'll read verses 43
and 44. the Gospel of John chapter 11
and reading verses 43 and 44. And when he thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot, with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Lose him,
and let him go. I expect this is an account which
is familiar to most of you here this evening. And it's a wonderful
account to realize how God raised up Lazarus from the dead. Clearly, he was dead. And Jesus made that point very
powerfully, so that there was no doubt that he was dead. And indeed, he'd been in that
grave or in that cave for four days, and it was quite clear
that he was dead. It was to be a miracle to bring
him back to life. A miracle to give him life. And that's what Jesus did. He came to him and Martha and
Mary, of course, were concerned. It was their brother. And they
wished Jesus had come earlier and saved him from dying. Jesus
has come to show the power he had over death. Now that's a
very clear picture for us, isn't it? But it has, of course, as
most of Scripture has, a double meaning. First of all, the meaning
is natural, natural life. And secondly, the meaning is
spiritual life. Now all of us here this evening
possess the first, natural life. We're all here, we're all breathing,
we all have natural life. The question is, of course, whether
we have spiritual life. And I'm not able to discern that.
You're the only one that can discern that between your soul
and God. as to whether you have the blessed
gift of spiritual life, which of course is eternal life. And yet it is so vital, so important. And what a mercy it is, therefore,
that we have an illustration like this in the Word of God
to show to us really very clearly the spiritual picture. We read
in these verses, And when he had thus spoken, he cried with
a loud voice as Jesus, Lazarus, come forth. What happened to
Lazarus? Did he remain in that dead situation? No. Life came into him. Knife came into him and we're
told, and he that was dead came forth. Well, it'd be a great
blessing if you and I, in our life, have been brought to a
position that we have heard the voice of Almighty God speaking
to our heart, perhaps not in the same words, But the essence
being this, come forth, come forth. And we've been delivered
from death, spiritual death. You and I were born naturally
with life. We weren't born naturally with
spiritual life. But how necessary it is that
all of us possess the glorious gift of spiritual life, of eternal
life, before, in each of our cases, time will be no more. Sometimes it's hard to just understand
that our life is, as the Bible tells us, like a vapour. And I'm sure you young people
know what a vapour is. comes from a kettle or a saucepan,
it boils and the steam comes off, it just disappears into
the atmosphere so, so quickly. And that's the illustration of
our life. We're born, we're here, it's
observed, and then it's gone. And how important it is for each one of us possesses
the life of God in our soul. You see, we live in a day, a
day and age, when the devil is very powerful and very strong. The devil tempts us to believe
that, well, I've got plenty of time yet to consider these things
and to obtain this knowledge. Let us be quite clear, none of
us know what a day nor an hour may bring forth. We have had
many reminders of the shortness of life. No time really to reconsider
our position. So what a blessing it is if God
comes into our heart and causes us to truly desire to have the evidence
of life, spiritual life, divine life. This chapter really homes
in very clearly upon the great need there is to believe, to
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. halfway through the reading,
we read this, where Jesus spoke to Martha, and also we're told
many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to comfort them. They're
near Martha. As soon as she heard that Jesus
was coming, went and met him, but Mary sat still in the house.
Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here,
My brother had not died, but I know that even now, whatsoever
thou shalt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto
her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha said, I know that he shall
rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. And then he asked the question,
believest thou this? We can ask the same question
tonight, can't we? Believest thou this? Each one
of you. You see, we can't die for one
another. The parents can't die for the
children. The children can't die for the parents. They can't
die for their friends. They can't die for anyone. We
have to die ourselves. Well, what a blessing then, if
we're like Martha and says, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art
the Christ, the Son of God, which had come into the world. What do you believe? What do
you believe? Can you say that by faith? Do you believe? that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he came into this world
to save sinners. It's not something trivial. There's
many things today in the world which are trivial, which are
utterly irrelevant. But this is not irrelevant because It concerns the well-being of
our eternal soul. And just note what I said, eternal
soul. That means your soul and my soul
lives forever. And that's something which our
natural mind cannot really understand because we're in time. And we
understand time, but we cannot understand eternity. Try and think of what eternity
is. Try and think how long it is.
Well, there's no end to it. There's no end to it. It goes
on forever and ever and ever. And when you and I leave this
earth, as we will, we shall be in eternity. Eternity. Tremendous sound it is. And how vital and important it
is. Therefore that you and I hear
this great question that the Lord put to Martha, believest
thou this? Believest thou this? You must
answer. Not to me. You must answer to
God. And what a great blessing if
you can come in and say, yea, Lord, I believe that thou art
the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And
why is that important? It's important because You and
I cannot save ourselves. We cannot deliver ourselves from
that which is described as the wrath to come. We cannot free
ourselves. We cannot give ourselves spiritual
life. We cannot give ourselves spiritual
life because we're spiritually dead. It's quite obvious, isn't
it? You can't give yourself spiritual
life. But blessed be God, the Lord Jesus Christ can. And therefore,
what an important consideration it is. That as we read this account,
you may have thought was an interesting account we read tonight. So it
is. But it's a very important account. And it's given there in some
detail, so that we may absorb what is written. And what a blessing
God gives you and me a spiritual understanding. We need to have
an understanding. I sometimes think, you know,
in the days when Ezra and Nehemiah were on the earth after the children
of Israel were returning from those 70 years of Babylon and
they were gathered together and Ezra and Nehemiah brought the
people together and they had people to help them, to give
the people an understanding. This is so important for you
and me. You can go to chapel all your
life and have no understanding. We need the Blessed Spirit of
God to open our eyes, our spiritual eyes, to understand these things. It's an interesting account.
But it's far more than an interesting account. It speaks to us about
our soul. And that is the vital thing,
really. We gather here tonight, whether
you know or not, not for the welfare of our body, but for
the welfare of our soul. And therefore, how wonderful
if the Holy Spirit comes and gives us a spiritual understanding
that how needful it is that you and I are blessed with that faith
to believe the truth of God's Word. It's not something which
is optional. It's not something which is inconsequential. It's vital because it determines
where you and I will spend Eternity and so we have this picture then
and the picture is this Lazarus dead no life And if you've ever
seen a dead body, you may have done you may not have done perhaps
your younger ones haven't But if you've seen a dead body, you
will know That there is absolutely no life You can prod you can
shout you can yell no effect No life. My friends, that's the
same in our spiritual state. No life. No life until the blessed
work of the Holy Spirit touches our heart and awakens us. I love that statement that The
Apostle Paul makes, when he wrote to the Ephesians in the second
chapter, he commences with these glorious words, And you hath
he quickened, that means, and you hath he made alive, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past he walked
according to the course of this world, according to the Prince,
of the power of the air, the devil. The spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our
conversation in time past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were, by nature,
the children of wrath, even as others." We have a but-God, some wonderful
but-gods in the Word of God. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love, wherewith he loved us. That's an amazing statement. Just imagine you and I walking
contrary to God, far off from God, disobeying God, following
our own way, and yet we read, this statement, when we were
dead in sins. Oh, my friends, rich in mercy
for his great love with he loved us, even when we were dead in
sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Together with Christ, the sinless
savior, almighty God, the ruler of the universe, And then he
says, by grace you are saved. We sing, don't we? We sing sovereign
grace or sin abounding. And we sing amazing grace, how
sweet the sound. But is grace a precious word to you? Do you
know what it really means? It means free, unmerited favor
of God. We never deserved it. because of God's love. For God was rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us. We could say that's because of
his mercy. We pray it's because of his love.
You and I are here tonight. And so the eighth verse tells
us, again, it repletes this word, for by grace are you saved, through
faith, and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. You see, if you and I were able
to claim that we have saved ourselves, we would take away glory from
God. And my friends, God is a jealous
God and God will have all the glory and rightly so. And you'll be pleased it is so
to be able to come to this great and glorious saviour and to seek
for his mercy and for his favour. So here we have these words then
when he had thus spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come
forth. And I believe that gives us a
picture. Lazarus was dead, totally dead,
no life. God called, come forth. Lazarus woke from that sleep
of death and came forth. Well, what a blessing. in our
life, in our spiritual life. If we've heard such a voice,
come forth. And what has it done? It's brought
life, like it did to Lazarus. It brought life into his natural
body. What a blessing if it brings
life into our spiritual body, our spiritual soul. Come forth. When God speaks,
the soul hears. The soul hears. God doesn't waste
words. God's word is all-powerful. God's word is all-powerful. It
was all-powerful here. How wonderful it was. It's good if you and I can look
back in our lives to a time when that word came, very many different
ways, but that word came, however it was, and made us concerned about our
eternal state. And that not in our, just a passing
way, just a head knowledge. It'll be in a very real way.
And you will fear, you will tremble at the prospect of passing out
of time into eternity without that good hope that you're born
again in the Spirit of God. You've been made spiritually
alive, but you want to know that you are eternally safe. Now here
was Lazarus, and we're told, and he that was dead came forth
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
about with a napkin. Well, try and imagine what that
was like. He didn't come running out, did
he? He didn't come waving his arms about. There was life. But it wasn't very evident apart
from the fact that he was moving. There was movement. And then the glorious words came
from the Saviour. Loose him and let him go. The grave clothes then were unwrapped,
taken off him, and he was free to move and free to walk. Reminds
me of that verse in the 8th chapter of John, I think it's verse 36.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. The blessing is, that is an eternal
freedom. And when the Holy Spirit comes
and removes, as it were, the grave clothes, So that you see
clearly. Remember there was that character
in the Word of God where the Lord came and opened his eyes
and he said, was asked, do you see? He said, I see men as trees
walking. He didn't see anything clearly.
And then the Lord blessed him again and he saw clearly. See
when that spirit first came here upon Lazarus, Well, he was bound
around his head as well. He couldn't see, could he? He
was alive. Sometimes it's like that. You
and I can't see really. Yet there's something there which
has given us life. We can't let go. We have to pray. We have to cry. Cry to God for mercy. And then it is. that such a prayer
as the publicans prayer becomes very powerful. God be merciful
to me a sinner because you and I will feel to be a sinner and
we'll need mercy. Won't be a theory, it'll be a
need. What a blessing when the Holy
Spirit works on that in our heart and causes us to pray. You see, prayer really is the
first sign of life. And when I say that, I mean true
prayer. And true prayer will reflect
the need of our soul. We'll come praying for mercy, because the
Holy Spirit will have convinced us We're guilty. We're guilty. You won't be able to pat yourself
on the back and say, well, of course, I'm not as bad as that
person. You'll be a bit like David when Nathan the prophet
came in and told him, gave him that parable. And Nathan said,
thou art the man. Conviction. If you want to know,
in David's life, what that conviction was, and how powerful it was,
you can go home and you can read the 51st Psalm. That gives you the experience
of a born again sinner, convinced of his sin, pleading for mercy,
and coming to the Saviour. What a favor to be found like
that. And so here was this man, Lazarus,
came forth. He came forth, he heard that
voice then that he was bound for, came forth, and those glorious
words, loose him and let him go. We can say that brings us
really into what we can term gospel liberty. And I believe
the great blessing of gospel liberty is when the Holy Spirit
brings us to the cross, brings us to Calvary. And there we see,
by faith, The living Saviour dying to take
away our sins. It'll be freedom. It'll be relief. I don't often speak about myself,
but I suppose when I was probably about 20, maybe a little bit
more, but about that anyway, and I was ill, And I was in bed
and I was praying, or at least I was trying to pray. And my prayers just appeared to bounce
off the wall. Didn't seem to make any access.
Just seemed no point in praying. And then it came like this. you should say, for Jesus' sake. And there was glorious freedom, glorious access for Jesus' sake. You see, the Blessed Saviour presents our prayers to His Father,
our prayers to the Father presented by the Saviour. Oh, what a mercy to be blessed with access real religion is more than notion. And it's wonderful when by God's
grace, he comes where we are. He knows where we are. He knows
what we need. And in that occasion in my life,
it was clear that the grave clothes were removed. And it was really as I came to
Calvary, as I viewed by faith the living Savior. And that was
a precious time, it's still precious to think of. And what a mercy if you and I, by the grace of God, are brought
to Calvary. You can't bring yourself there.
But what a mercy that God, by His grace, does come and brings
us there. Then you see, Calvary becomes
a precious reality. It's then that we see, by faith, the suffering saviour, dying
in our place, on our behalf, to take away our sins. It's a very personal thing, it's
real religion, it's true and it's very wonderful. It's a great
blessing to think that such a God, holy God, gracious God, Merciful God, look
down upon us, poor sinners, and does that for us which you and
I cannot do for ourselves. We cannot bring ourself spiritually
to Calvary. You can think about it naturally,
but when the spirit of God brings you and me there, when you see
everything, as it were, vanishes. And the blessing is that it's
Jesus only. The grave clothes are removed. What a mercy and what a blessing
to be found walking in this path. To realise that we have a great
and glorious saviour who does not deal with us as our sins
deserve. And so, how wonderful. We have an account like this,
a familiar account, I'm sure, but there's a great depth in
it and there's a great, wonderful significance in that life which
was given to Lazarus and indeed how he was freed. It's wonderful,
isn't it, to think that we today worship the same God that is
able to come and to deliver us. The same God, who is able to
come in answer to that great command, come forth. By His grace we come forth. And
then, as we move on, there's no time scale given. Sometimes
it can be short, sometimes it can be long. But when God brings
you and me into what we can call gospel liberty, It's a wonderful
blessing to hear these wonderful words. Loose him and let him
go. Well, you and I can trace out
in our little lives such a wonderful truth. And just going back to
the verse that I quoted earlier, if the Son therefore shall make
you free, ye shall be free indeed. The devil can't counter mine
now. I sometimes like to quote the
life of John Warburton. John Warburton was greatly blessed.
Once in his life, or he may have been many times, but one time
in particular, and he was so blessed that he went into a field
and he danced in the field, praising God for the blessing he'd had.
And the devil said to him, I did that. And John Warburton then,
in his quaint way, said, OK, devil, if you did it, do it again.
And of course, he couldn't. So the devil may try and pretend
that it wasn't real. You can tell him to do it again,
and he won't be able to. It's a very clear sign that it's
the work of the Holy Spirit. And you can rejoice in it. So I don't know where any of
you are tonight. It may be perhaps you haven't
even heard this voice come forth. It may be that you've heard this
voice come forth and you're still wrapped in grave clothes. It may be the Lord's come and
taken away the grave clothes by faith you viewed. the suffering
Saviour. Well, what a mercy, if so, and
you can go on your way then rejoicing and praising God that He looked
upon such an unworthy sinner and set you free. And you see,
that is a freedom which is eternal. The devil may try and stop it.
He may try and say it wasn't real. But my friends, he'll never
be able to take it away. because it's done by the work
of the Holy Spirit. And when he thus had spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead
came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face
was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto him, Them, loose
him, and let him go. Amen. I mention that the collections
today are for our Free Bible Fund. We are not doing so many
schools now, finding it difficult to get into them. Those who are
interested, though, to see where our Bibles have gone, on our
notice board on the website, and there's actually one into
the notice board out here, is a map where all the Bibles have
gone, just to postcodes. And since we've been doing this
for the last four years, There's been 350 Bibles taken from our
Bible box at our home, and 727 from here. That's 1077 just in
Cranbrook alone. And then in 2021, 601 Bibles we sent out
through the UK, and 22, 1080. Between 3,848 and this year so
far, 427. So a total of 4,033 Bibles, each
one sent with leaflets, gospel summaries, bookmarks, and sent
right through the UK. So there's much to pray for that
the Lord would bless that word that is sent out. And this collection
enables us to postage each Bible sent out as 325. The Bibles are
just over five pound each. And we're very grateful for support
so far and from charities that have helped us to continue. So
that is the collection. Lord bless you in your giving. Now after our next hymn, after
the benediction, we will sing the doxology. Now let us sing
hymn six on the hymn sheet. The tune is Southport 69. and
this is actually hymn 420 in Gadsby's. Oh bless the Lord my
soul, let all within me join, and aid my tongue to bless his
name, his favours are divine. Oh bless the Lord my soul, nor
let his mercies lie, forgotten in unthankfulness and without
praises die. The sixth hymn on the hymn sheet. 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 evermore. Amen. Praise God from whom all blessings
flow. Praise Him all creatures hear
alone. Praise Him above ye heavenly
host. Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.