The witness

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES – SUNDAY 5 JULY 2026 – PASTOR HENRY CASKEY

RUTH 1 verses 1 to 7 

I want us to turn this morning to this little portion of scripture that we've been reading together. It's a wonderful, wonderful book, the book of Ruth. Many, many instructions coming from it. And the period in which it was written was a period of discontentment. It was, I suppose, a period of a very low spiritual and indeed a social time in the history of Israel. We read here of this little family. And you know, whenever I read of this little family, Elimelech and Naomi and her sons, when I see where they're living at here, they're living in Bethlehem, Judah. The interpretation of Bethlehem Judah is the house of bread. So they're living here in the house of bread. And there's a famine in the land, a famine in this place that is called the house of bread. And so it reminds me that we can go through difficult times. It reminds us that we come through disturbing times and hard times and times perhaps whenever we can see very little light at the end of the tunnel. But it's at times like those that we really do need to really rely upon the Lord and stand for him. Sometimes, you know, this little lesson here gives me a caution at times. You know whenever you have to sit down and make a decision and you have to decide on things. You have to decide maybe on the future.  We have to be very careful because here was Elimelech and he allowed the conditions that he was living in to somehow crowd him out and to make a very poor decision indeed. Because the decision that this man made in the state of this famine was that he would take his wife and he would take his two sons and they would go down into the land of Moab there to live. He didn't intend to spend long. He intended to go down for a while, but things overtook him there. Elimelech and his wife, you can almost see them sitting down around the table. You can almost see them discussing things.

You can almost see them coming to that decision what they were going to do.

They were going to leave this area in which they were living in and they were going to go to Moab. You see, it tells us in the book of Judges and that just

uh it sums up the spirit of the age. It tells us in the book of Judges, the very last verse in chapter 21 and 25, it says, "In those days, there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." That was the spirit of the age. And from this place here, they would leave. Can you imagine them? Can you imagine them packing up all their belongings? Can you imagine them putting them onto the little cart or whatever it was? Can you imagine them

getting up and heading off and looking back and saying farewell to that? What were they actually doing? They were actually leaving the place that God would have them to dwell in. It wasn't God's idea for them to move. God could God could take care of them even through the famine. God could provide for them even through the famine. But they decided not. And so they were going to move from the place where God would have them to be. And that's sometimes where we need to be cautious. We need to be careful because of situations and circumstances that we're moving from the place where God would have us to be. Not only that, but they were moving from the people of God. They were going to separate themselves from the people of God, God's own people. And they were going to go down to Moab to the very enemy of God's people. And they were going to dwell there. They thought it'd be better off down there than they would be amongst the people of God. And of course, they were going to move from the promises of God because God's promise was that he would take care. Then after 10 years, after the death of her husband and after the death of her of her sons and everything was gone and her whole life seemed to be turned upside down, it tells us in verse six "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread." How did she hear? When did she hear? Some of the commentators around this little portion, they tell us it was an angelic visitation. But it doesn't really tell us that. Maybe it was just another person. Was it was someone who was friendly with Naomi in the past, friendly with Elimelech in the past and they had gone through the famine. They had gone through the famine and now God had visited and God had come with blessing. God had provided food in this place where there was a famine. Now, here was someone who just didn't want to live in the blessing, but he was thinking to himself, we would need to reach Naomi. We would need to tell Naomi. This witness, the witness to what God was doing. 

And the first thought I had was it was a faithful witness. Perhaps they've been enjoying the blessing of God. Can you imagine what it must have been like? Can you imagine the famine that they were going through and there was hardly enough from day to day to eat but then God comes with great blessing. And he brings again food to this land. He brings the blessing of God. And rather than sit back and enjoy what they were having, here was someone who thought to themselves, "Well, we would need to go and let Naomi know." Naomi left here a way back some 10 years ago, and she's living down in Moab, and she doesn't know about what God is doing here. So, we would need to go, and we would need to tell her. Maybe it was a family friend. Maybe it was someone who actually tried to persuade them in the first place not to leave. Maybe it was someone who knew all about them. How Naomi had turned their back and Elimelech had turned their backs and took their children away. But here this person, this witness, they didn't want to just give up. They wanted Naomi to share the blessing. Is that what we are today? We want others to share in the blessing of God. Oh, sometimes we can go through difficult times. We're going through a very lean time at this moment in time in the churches. Most churches numbers are small. But you know, as we hold on to the God of heaven, maybe God will come with great blessing. We want to share the blessing of God. We want to share the blessing that we receive in coming into the house of God with others. Can you remember Moses? Do you remember whenever Moses was called upon to go down into Egypt? And there he was. He was leading that multitude of people out of Egypt. Oh, it came after a very difficult time. He had a great battle there with the with the king of Egypt first. He would not let the children of Israel go. And Moses time after time he went in and he battled with the king and he come out and went to God of heaven in prayer and then he would go back again. He didn't give up until he led that people out of captivity. And then you remember how he met his father-in-law? He met his family. And you remember how he explained to his family on the way that they were going to the land that God has promised to give us." Do you remember what he said? He says, "Come thou with us." He didn't want them anywhere else. He wanted them enjoying the blessing too. Maybe there's someone this morning that used to be here in the house of God. Maybe there's someone used to sit with you in the house of God. Maybe they were in the very prayer meeting and you remember them lifting up their voices in prayer and they're no longer with you. Have we forgotten about them? Or do we want to go and speak to them? Do we want to try and encourage them back into the house of God, into the blessing of God? This faithful witness knew that Naomi was down there in Moab. And he knew that he was enjoying the blessing of God here. And somehow they wanted to get word down to Naomi of the blessing that that God was giving. I think of those early disciples. Do you remember how they left their boats? The Lord said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And they wanted to leave because they wanted to be witnesses of what Christ had done. Do you remember the young man of Gedara? Do you remember how he had his dwelling there out amongst the tombs? He was possessed of the evil spirits and he could find no rest. He wasn't allowed to live amongst his own family, his own little village. He was driven out amongst the tombs and that's where he would live. He would cut himself. He would cry out. He would run about naked and nobody could approach him because everyone was afraid of him. And then one day the Lord Jesus Christ came across his pathway and the Lord delivered him. And that young man said to the Lord “let me follow you.” And the Lord says “no, go you back into your own village and you tell your friends the great things that the Lord has done for you." Have we told someone this week of the great things that the Lord has done for us in saving our precious souls, in turning our feet away from that lost and Christless hell for all eternity and setting our faces toward God and the blessings that he's bestowed upon us since then? Do you remember whenever the woman folk looked into the tomb, the empty tomb on that resurrection morning? The angel sitting there asked them  “why do you seek the living amongst the dead? He's not here. He is risen. "Go and tell my disciples. Go and give them the news that the body's not here, that the Lord is risen." But then you remember what they said? "And Peter.”  Peter must have been feeling awfully down. He must have been feeling awfully alone. You remember how he walked afar off in the garden? Do you remember he didn't follow the Lord as closely? Do you remember how he denied knowing him? He must have been feeling awful. And yet the Lord said, "Go and tell my disciples and Peter.” I'm sure those woman folk wondered to themselves, why should we tell Peter? He was the one that walked away, but they were faithful in their witness. I always think of the Apostle Paul whenever he's writing there to the young man Timothy. He spoke to Timothy in chapter one of second Timothy of another man Onesiphorus. This man Onesiphorus was a good friend of the Apostle Paul. He says, Timothy, he says, you know the way that he ministered to me whenever he get the opportunity in Ephesus. He says, you know all about this man. He says, let me tell you something more about him. He says, whenever I was down in Rome, and he says, I was in prison and Onesiphorus sought me out very diligently. And the words behind that and the thought behind that is that here was a young man and Paul was out of circulation for a while. And this young man, seemed to think in his heart, I would need to be looking about Paul where he's at. And so he went down to Rome and it's as if Paul is saying that he knocked every door until he found where I was. He sought me out, but he did it. You see, he was a faithful witness. Oh yes, he ministered to Paul, but now he's looking after Paul and going to try to find him. In Acts chapter six, we find the same thing, don't we? Whenever we find Peter, Peter's been arrested, cast into prison. James had already had his life taken. The king there was going to put down very witness of Christianity. Peter was taken from the streets and locked up in the prison house. But the church, do you remember what it said? It says they prayed without ceasing onto God for him. They didn't forget about him. They were there. It was a faithful witness. You know, we're called to be faithful. I always remember this man saying to me, whether he thought maybe

the sermons I'd preached wasn't that powerful or not. He took me to one side and said "Brother we're only asked to be faithful, we are not asked to be successful." Isn't that a wonderful thing that you and I are called to be faithful? Will we be faithful today - that we just don't sit back and enjoy what we have? Of course we do, but we want to share it with others.

It's really a faceless witness as well. We're not told how Naomi heard. It just simply says she had heard in the country of Moab how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread. News had come to her ears. But you know, I always like to give that we bit of credit to someone. That we bit of credit that someone actually enjoyed the blessings of God and then went to tell Naomi about it. Maybe knew all about Elimelech dying. Maybe knew all about the two sons dying. Maybe knew all this the situation, but they were faithful to her. They wanted to tell her about this. You remember those men in the Old Testament scriptures, the four lepous men that were sitting outside the city walls? The enemy had surrounded the city and there was a great famine behind the walls. Those men thought to themselves, well, if we go down to the enemy camp, they might kill us, but we are going to die anyway. They made their way down into the enemy camp and as they made their way down into that enemy camp (1 Kings 7) they found food in abundance. They went from every tent and then they come to a place where they said to themselves, you know what we do this day, it's not good. There are those up there behind the city walls and they're starving and yet we have all this food and abundance. Let's go up and tell them. They were faithful but also faceless because we do not know who they were. You and I are called to be faithful. We may never know the impact of what we do on a precious soul. You may never know the impact that you have on that next door neighbour just by simply going out and getting into your car each morning, coming home or whatever the case may be. Maybe the little deed is done over the fence, a little word here or there or whatever the case may be. You may never know meeting that person in the shop tomorrow morning or the next morning just when you're in buying your paper what the effect has upon that person. In John chapter 4, we read about the woman at the well.? She came out to the well and there she found the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour and as her Lord. And off she went to tell the men of the city. And there she just spread the word, but we're not told her name. Sometimes we like our name to be broadcast, don't we? But not in this situation. And your name may not be

talked about, but maybe the actions that you have done will tell an eternity to come. In the great revival movements, we read about the main characters, don't we? We read there of the Wesley's and the Whitfield’s, and we read of the Nicholsons and Duncan Campbell, and we could go on. We've read about the histories of them and all. And Duncan Campbell made a point apparently after every meeting and every mission of going around them that met together with him for the times of prayer just to thank them. They were faceless witnesses

because we're not told their names. There are those who prayed through times of revival and we don't know their names.

Duncan Campbell told a story of a local butcher. He told the story of a local butcher that met with them every night at the revival meetings to pray. Then the butcher one morning explained to Duncan Campbell that God had laid it upon his heart to pray for Greece. And Dr. Campbell looked at him and he asked him, "Do you even know where Greece is?" And he says, "I don't. But God knows." Duncan Campbell, I suppose, maybe shrugged his shoulders and went off. But then he was sitting in a meeting one night a few years later and this man was preaching, but he stopped to give a word of testimony. He told about how he had went to Greece on his holidays and while he was there he was asked to preach. He preached a few nights there and then they came to him asked if he wouldn’t he mind staying on would he mind staying on just to preach another few nights and so he did he preached then for another two weeks. And he says God began to move in a mighty way. Night after night souls were coming to the front and were getting saved. They were going home and they were getting saved in their own homes. And God was breaking in in such a mighty way. And Duncan Campbell was in that very meeting. He's listening to this man telling this story. And he began to calculate and he began to think back and he began to put the dates together. And it was the very dates when he spoke to the butcher man whom God had placed upon his heart to pray for Greece. Maybe that's what we'll be. Just a faceless witness.

It was a fearless witness as well. Look at what it says in verse number six. It says, "Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard that the Lord had visited his people in giving them bread.” So she was still in Moab when she heard this. I wonder did that witness make his way down to Moab? I wonder did they did they send a message down? But she heard. Maybe this person had times of fellowship with Naomi previously, whenever the times were good and then the famine came, there were hard times and the little family made a very, very tough decision. A decision that cost them so dearly. And now Naomi had spent some 10 years in Moab. Do you remember what was said on her return? It tells us in verse number 19 what was said. The people saw her coming and the people looked at her and they said, "Is this Naomi?" She was barely recognizable after 10 years. It was such a hard time for her. Her reply was, "Call me not Naomi, call me Marah." 10 years had taken its toll. 10 years away from the Lord's land. 10 years out of fellowship. Others might have felt she was out of reach. But not this fearless witness. They were going to keep at it until Naomi found out about this bread. God desired her to hear of what he was doing. And thank God for the faithful, fearless witness who never gave up, never feared about wrong responses. Maybe they had thought to themselves, "Well, Naomi's been down there that long she'll not want anything to do with this." It didn't matter. Fearless in going that extra mile. Just like the woman folk at the tomb that day. They were to tell the disciples, but they were also to go and tell Peter. They didn't know what response they would get from Peter. And maybe that's you today. Maybe there's someone that you would love to talk to, but you're afraid of that response. You're afraid of what they're going to say. You're afraid of the answer that you're going to get. That woman at the well was fearless. She was going into the cities. She was going to tell the people about the Lord Jesus Christ. She didn't know what response she would get, but she was fearless. She had got something in her heart that day that she wanted to tell others. She says to the men of the city, "Come and see a man." She only wanted them to come and see the Lord Jesus Christ. “Come and see a man that has told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ?” She said, "Is this not the one that the world has been waiting for?" And that's the message that you and I have. That's the message that we have today. Are we fearless as we spread it abroad? Whoever brought this news, they were entering into the enemy territory because here we find that Naomi was still in Moab. It says in Judges 3 verse 12, "The children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord. And the Lord strengthened Eglon, the king of Moab, against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the Lord." The Moabites were the enemy of God's people. And here was one servant, one witness, and they were prepared to go down and enter in enter into the enemy territory just to tell Naomi. That's our message to others this morning. But you know, remember if you're going to out to witness this week, you're going into the enemy's territory. You're going into the very devil's territory. And he has a hold on his his people. He doesn't want them to see the light of the glorious gospel. He doesn't want the gospel to come into their hearts and into their lives. He doesn't want to see them changed. He doesn't want to see them transformed. That's what you're up against. And when you come into the prayer meeting and are praying for men and woman, that's what you're praying against. We're battling not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, and against the rulers of wickedness in high places. That's our enemy today. That's the one that we battle against this morning. So, we need to put on the full armour of God as we go out tomorrow morning, as we go into the supermarket, as we go down the street, as we speak to others, as we give them a gospel tract. We need the full armour of God because we're going into the enemy's territory. We need to be fearless. Do you remember when David went out to face the great Goliath? Oh, they tried to put Saul’s armour on him. He says, "I can't go in this." But he was fearless. He stepped out. You remember he went down to the little brook. He picked up five little stones out of the brook. He put them into his shepherd's bag. And off he went. And he said to that great giant "You've come to me with all your experience, with all your military power, with all your armoury, with all your weaponry. But I'm coming in the name of the God of Israel. And he took that little stone out of his out of that little pouch and he brought that great giant down. We enter in to the enemy's territory whenever we're seeking to tell men and women about Jesus Christ.

It was a fruitful witness because it tells us in verse number six, then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab. When she heard this account, when she heard how God was blessing, she could no longer stay in Moab. She says Moab's not for me. And off she went to come back unto the land of Bethlehem Judah, the land of blessing where God was blessing in a mighty way. Let's not give up this morning. Let's keep witnessing and telling others. Maybe like Elimelech and his family, we feel that we're living in very, very difficult times. Times of famine. Now, there were times when our churches were full and overflowing. Times whenever we had brought in extra chairs for missions. But God's the same yesterday. He was the same God where you were bringing in extra chairs. He's the same today and he'd be the same forever. Are we willing this morning to surrender all? To give him all this morning in his service and whatever he'd ask of us?

 

 

The Seeking Saviour

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2026 

JOHN 4 VERSES 4 TO 30, 39 TO 42

THE SEEKING SAVIOUR AT SYCHAR

 

Samaria was first established in the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 880 BC. Omri was the first man to buy the city. He was the father of Ahab – 1 Kings 16. Samaria served as the capital of the Northern Kingdom comprised of the 10 tribes that separated from the Southern tribe of Judah after the death of Solomon. It was a city that held significant importance politically and for religious reasons. It was associated with the worship of false deities and gods other than the true God. The Northern Kingdom eventually fell to the Assyrians in 722 leading to the exile of many of its inhabitants. Foreign people were brought into the land and they intermarried with the remaining Jews. These people were called Samaritans. They had a complex relationship with the Jews. Samaria is on the northern west bank today. There have been historical tensions and animosity between the Jews and Samaritans even those considered enemies and outcasts. This Samaritan was helping a Jew. Jesus ministered in Samaria. He would have interacted with them despite the prevailing prejudices of his time. This is a challenge to us. We also live in a time of prejudice yet the Lord is showing us through his ministry into Samaria he had no prejudices.

 

We read early on in the chapter “he must needs go through Samaria.” The disciples were with him. I am sure they were wondering what on earth Jesus was doing in going to Sychar because it was in Samaria. ‘Why do you want to go there Jesus?’ Jesus knew exactly why. He had an appointment with a woman who was coming to draw water and she was not expecting to meet the Saviour that day. His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Sychar was significant. This event in John’s gospel highlights Jesus’ acceptance of Samaritans. Sychar was 34 miles from Jerusalem. Sychar means in Hebrew drunken so it gives a flavour of what this city was like. Jesus detoured. He knew the detour other Jews normally took. It was a longer detour that the one Jesus took. He went through Samaria and came to Sychar

 

The contact – verses 3 to 6. There is something very important here that we must bring to your attention. Verse 6 Christ was wearied with his journey. This shows Christ’s humanity. Christ is both God and man, man and God yet he has 2 distinct natures – the human nature and the divine nature. The proof of that is seen in that Christ came through this area and he was weary. He is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh. Hebrews 2 verse 11 “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,” Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. Those that he gave his life for you who are saved, Christ gave his life for you and me. We are his brethren and he is not ashamed of us. Are we ashamed of him? He is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh and he was wearied at this well. The great importance of his humanity – he came to meet us at the point of our need. We could not keep our salvation because we are fallen sinners. Christ came born of a virgin lived a perfect life in his humanity and died and the God man went to the cross to give his life for you and me. We see his humanity here in this contact. He came and met with this woman.

 

The conversation – verses 7 to 15. It was the sixth hour. The Jewish hour cycles meant it was 12 noon. We have experienced that heat in our province recently. We wouldn’t go out at 12 midday. The sun was fierce. Christ was on his journey through that heat and it was now the sixth hour at the well. The temperatures could have been anything from 40 to 50⁰. Stifling hot. Here the Lord had been walking in this heat. Then he reached a well and it was noon and he was weary. Here cometh a woman to draw water. This was strange because the water would have been gathered either at the start or the end of the day. This is very unusual circumstances. The Lord finds himself at the well. Here comes a woman to the well. A surprising meeting for the woman but not for Christ. No accident. This was an appointment. God’s timing is perfect in the providence of God. Here the Lord was not too early or too late. He was right on time. Remember we have an illustration in the Old Testament in the story of Elijah and Elisha. Whenever Elijah met the woman with the barrel of meal outside the city gate she was gathering sticks as he arrived. Here Christ was at the well at this particular time. We see this conversation being struck up. For us as believers we can be encouraged – God works in our lives at the right time. His timing is perfect. Take heart from this story – maybe you have been praying for a loved one, maybe for months, maybe years. The Lord has heard your cries. The scripture declares he puts our tears in a bottle. They are remembered. He will step in at the right time. Here the Lord meets this woman and in doing so he begins with a conversation. “Give me a drink”. The discourse. He reacts with the woman. As it continues the woman is talking of physical water but he is speaking of spiritual water. She doesn’t understand. Verse 10. Maybe you are here and not saved tonight. Maybe you are a stranger to God’s grace and goodness yet from this pulpit tonight is presented to you the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus saves sinners. This man is the man that gives eternal life. The gift of God. The Lord says to her “if you had known you could have asked me.” Look unto him in faith, realise he is the only Saviour of sin. You cannot save yourself. He is the only one who can do it. If you are unsaved coming to this place of worship will not save you. This beautiful building will not save you. You cannot put faith in this church building – only put your faith and trust in a person. That person is presented in John 4. The one who gives the gift of eternal life. Spiritual water from a spiritual well. The only giver of eternal life. No denomination will give that. We are here tonight to worship him. Not seeking to gain salvation. If you are here tonight because of that you must be warned on the basis of Holy Scripture. It is only through Jesus Christ. This woman was leaning into this conversation. Verse 14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” Now the Lord had the woman’s attention. She asked for the water – verse 15 “Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.”

 

In this conversation we find her confession – verses 16 to 27. We seen the Lord’s contact at the start of this chapter, then the Lord’s conversation, now we see her confession. She had been searching in relationships and in pleasure. She found they did not satisfy. Now she meets the one who can meet her at the point of her need. The God man Jesus Christ. He is the one. She meets him here. Then she confesses “I perceive thou art a prophet.” We find here as this conversation goes on that the woman sees the Lord looking into her heart and life. She realises this is the Christ and we see not only her confession but also her conversion. She left the water pot. So excited having met the Christ she believes in him. He is the Christ. She leaves her water pot and returns to the city. She left it in a sense like leaving her old ways. When the Lord saves us he changes us. Not only does she return but she begins to witness. Remember what it was said of Paul – “behold he prayeth”. This woman is converted. She realises this man is the Messiah. She goes to the city and witnesses of Christ. She takes this information and returns to the city to witness to the men. We read later in verse 39 the woman went back and spoke of her Saviour the Messiah and many believed. This is the challenge to us tonight as we learn the lesson of what this woman did. She witnessed to the men of the city. Many were invited to come out and meet Jesus. There were other towns in and around Jerusalem that didn’t want Jesus but here they begged him to stay. Many more believed because of his own word. Notice the words in verse 42 “the Saviour of the world”.

 

This is a challenge to us that we would speak to others – our friends, our family. Family is hard to make a difference in but we are to do it. The right time, the right moment, the right way to stand for him. What a challenge this is. In verse 35 we have the summing up of this challenge. The Lord speaking to his disciples – a great challenge is in this verse. Often it is spoken of in a missionary context. What a challenge this is to us. In this portion the Lord met the woman and she found the seeking Saviour at Sychar. If you are unsaved tonight look to the Saviour. If you are a believer in Christ look to the fields for they are white unto harvest tonight.

 

 

The Gospel

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SUNDAY 21 JUNE 2026 – MR CIARAN THOMPSON

THE GOSPEL

 

The apostle Paul says in Romans that he was not ashamed of the gospel because he said “it was the power of God onto salvation for anyone who believes.” For every man who believes, every woman, every child who believes. And he says later on “and everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” But he said “how can they call on the one they have not believed in? How can they believe in the one they have not heard about? And how can they hear about someone if someone does not preach to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?” Paul also says in Romans that God does reveal himself independently of the gospel. He reveals himself in creation. And he says men are without excuse for not knowing God – they know him through conscience and through the commandments as well. But we are commanded to share the gospel because that embodies the whole truth of God and God will judge people based on what they were exposed to in life. But we know that the gospel or we should know that the gospel is not just about people like me standing up here and preaching. It's a certain kind of lifestyle as well. Paul says elsewhere in 1 Timothy to watch your life and your doctrine closely. So, it's not just a doctrine, it's a lifestyle as well. If we say we're following the Lord, but we don't treat each other well, then we're liars. John says that in his letter. If we don't love our brothers and sisters, we have to demonstrate our love for God and our submission to God through our love of our neighbour and love of enemy. As Jesus said, if we don't do this, then we are deceived and we can fall into even greater deception. Well, we live in an age of hostility towards Christianity. Although, as I said earlier, we are seeing a bit of a quiet revival taking place, which is exciting, and we hope that that bears much good fruit in the next generation. Some Christians may find it tempting to give up or give in. And I do believe that we will face real persecution in the future as well as the way things are heading even if there is a revival on the way because the Bible promises it and says it will increase as we go through time. But we're told in scriptures not to be frightened. Jesus said that. He warned us of things in advance so that we wouldn't fear and so that we would continue to have faith in him. He says the one who endures to the end will be saved and indeed, we must always put Christ at the centre and always first in all things. So Peter says in 1 Peter 3:15, “always” - notice that word “always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that you have, but always do it with gentleness and respect.” And that's a wonderful way, isn't it, that we were to be like. So he's saying that with Christ you have hope and always be prepared to give the reason. Why do you have a hope when other people are despairing? You know, when people say, "What's the world coming to?" We can say, "Well, we know that there is hope at the end of the tunnel if you believe in the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ who is coming again to set things right." Let's turn to Hebrews 11 verses 1 to 3 “So now faith is the substance of things hoped for (there's that word hope again), the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders, that is the men and women of faith who've gone before obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So that things which are seen were not made by things which do appear.” And then skip to verse . “But without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must believe that he6 exists and that he is the rewarder of those who diligently seek him,” who earnestly seek him, as some translations say. So a summary of that basically is saying that we cannot see God yet we must believe in him because he is real. Why do we know that God is real? How do we know? Well, we've experienced his power, his presence, and his immeasurable ability to answer prayer. We've seen how he's changed our lives and the lives of others. And verse six basically says there that we must first believe that God exists and secondly that he created the world around us. Why does the writer to the Hebrews say that? I think it's because it's the very first two things we discover about God in the scriptures. The opening verse of the Bible, Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning, God," so it's acknowledging that there is a God created the heavens and the earth. So Hebrews is saying we must first believe that there is a God and two that he created the world around us. And for some time now for about 150 years or something like that we've lived in an age of scepticism really an age of sceptics and mockers. Peter actually in his second letter predicted that in the last days mockers would come and ridicule the idea that there is a God, that God created the world, that he caused the flood at the time of Noah and they'd also mock the idea that Jesus was coming again. We see that amongst atheists particularly the likes of Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Particularly 20 years ago they were very vehement and quite popular. But we are seeing a change in that where people are turning back to the Lord now which is very encouraging and people are really rejecting the new atheism as it was called. Even so many still say that science has disproven the Bible and rendered it sort of a fairy tale. They have rendered Christianity outdated and bigoted even and unnecessary and false. But you know, the Bible does make scientific statements. So in Genesis 1 it makes clear that the universe had a beginning. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” And scientists for a time in the past believe that the universe was eternal. I think the ancient Greeks might have thought that. But the Bible says there was a first cause. There was a beginning. And now scientists acknowledge there was a beginning. The book of Job says that the earth is suspended over nothing. That it floats in space. That's in chapter 26. And this was written at a time when a lot of people thought that the earth sat on a large giant or on atlas.  The Quran says that the earth sits on a large animal. But the Bible was right all along that God has suspended the earth in space over nothing. It floats in space. Isaiah says in chapter 40 that the earth is a circle. And the Hebrew word for circle can be translated as a ball or a sphere, a 3D object. At a time when man thought the earth was flat and there was just a big dome. And still today some people think the earth is flat. But all along the scripture has said the earth was a circle and that God sits enthroned above. Many of our greatest scientists were inspired by the bible. Sir Francis Bacon who's considered the first of the modern scientists even Louis Pasteur, Sir Isaac Newton said “there are more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than any other history.” Gregor Mendel as well who was a Austrian priest became the father of modern genetics as well and Francis Collins who's alive today spearheaded the Human Genome project in the early 1990s and he came to know the Lord because he could see as he studied human DNA he said there is it is so intricately and amazingly designed there is no way this came about by evolution, by random chance.  He's actually friends with the atheist Richard Dawkins and Dawkins just can't understand why someone so intelligent like Collins could believe in God but Collins said “I believe in the death, the atoning death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” To believe in the word of God means that you believe God exists. You can see that God has revealed himself in creation just as Paul says in Romans 1. The Bible says that in the beginning God created a very good world. That's how God describes it himself. Where there was no sin or disease or death or destruction, no war, no problems, no suffering of any kind. And he placed man in a perfect environment. And he said that the world was his and he was to take care of it and to have dominion and to spread over the earth and multiply and to look after the creation that he has it were bestowed to us. But he didn't force this on man in a way. He gave man the ability to make his own moral choices. And that's wonderful because if God had forced Adam and Eve and all people to live a certain way, that's not love, is it? That's not relationship. God gave us the ability to reject him or to believe in him. And that's grace, isn't it? If grace is forced upon someone, it's not grace. It's like if you give a gift at Christmas, you say you have to receive it. You know, you can't kind of refuse it because someone might say, "Well, I don't want that". But God graciously offers everything. He offered eternal life to mankind in the beginning. But he gave them a choice as to whether they wanted to take it. And he said, "If you keep my ways and you stay within good boundaries that I've set, you will continue to live and enjoy eternal life and delight in me." And in a way, we'll build a wonderful world together. But if you disobey me, you will die this day, you will suffer and pay the consequences. And of course, all humanity has suffered ever since because we're all descended from our first parents who sinned against the Lord. Very quickly, man deliberately followed the way of the devil, the serpent, who had already fallen from grace himself. Again, God gave the angels the ability to follow him and to worship him. And many manly angels fell with Satan as well and became demons as the scripture says. Paul says in Romans that “just as sin entered the world through one man and death also came through sin, so death has now come to all people because all of us have sinned. For the wages or the payment of sin is death.” That's the penalty for sin, it is both physical and spiritual death. You see, God is just, isn't he? If we break a law, we pay a price. And we've all broken God's laws, haven't we? He's a father. And of course, today is Father's Day. We remember the role of fathers in our lives. And any good father will discipline his disobedient children. It's only right, isn't it? The Bible speaks about this. But no one is perfect. And as I say, we're all sinners in God's eyes. God had promised eternal life to Adam and Eve, but they allowed themselves to be stained and tainted with sin, which began the process of death in their bodies and in their relationship. It damaged their relationship with him as we know. Disobedience, sin, impurities are all detestable to a pure and holy God. And that begins separation. You know, it's like the Michelangelo painting. I remember seeing that as a child. not the real one in the Sistine Chapel in Rome but you know a picture of it on the television and you see the two fingers and I used to think that represented the fall of Adam falling away from God but it's actually the creation but it's like as though he started to become separate from his creator. The Bible also says in Genesis 3 and Romans 5 verse 6 and 8 that sin didn't just affect us did it, it damaged all creation contrary to modern scientific teaching that, you know, we've always had natural disasters and we've always had violence in nature. We've always said killings and the survival of the fittest and all that. The Bible actually says that sin affected the animal  kingdom, the plant kingdom, the whole world and brought about disease and disasters and death and also injustice in our human world as well. Paul speaks about the frustration and decay that the creation was subjected to, but he also says that it longs for the new creation as well to be a part of that. What's so wonderful as well when you see in Genesis 3 that when God punishes Adam and Eve and says this is what's going to happen, he punishes the serpent, he punishes the man, and he punishes the woman. He says despite this he said a curious thing he says “the seed of the woman or an offspring of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.” I wonder if Adam and Eve really knew what that meant. So the seed would crush the head of the serpent. Well the serpent was revealed to be the devil. In other words, it would some sort of seed, some offspring of the woman, of Eve would break the power of Satan, of evil that man had let into the world. But God also says that the seed would be bruised in the process. Isn't it amazing that right at the very beginning, God, we see the first glimmer, the seeds, if you excuse the pun, of redemption of our world. God had made sure that there was a way through this in his mercy. We see in this that God is both just and merciful, isn't he? And it's justice he has to punish. And in his mercy, he offers a way out, as it were, because he loves the creation. He loves mankind who he made. The Bible says that God doesn't desire anyone to be lost, but for all to come to repentance and the knowledge of salvation. But we know most people do get lost. As Jesus said, most people go down the wide road to hell. Few find the narrow path. To prepare people for the seed to come, God established a chosen people, a special people on earth called Israel, of course. And the man called Abraham was the first father of this nation. And God also promised him a seed. He mentioned the seeds to him as well. Paul speaks about this in Galatians 3. It's also in Genesis 12- 15 and 20 chapter 24. Later through the man Moses centuries later, he gave Israel a set of laws and commandments and then Joshua Moses successor as we know brings the nation of Israel into the promised land. Israel was placed at the crossroads of the world. If you can imagine in your head a map of the world and you see, you know, North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, and Antarctica at the south, you've got Israel is in the middle. In the time of Jesus, it was in particular a popular place to pass through. You know, the atheist Christopher Hitchens criticized, the message of Christianity, the gospel, because he said, "Why would this random man from Nazareth, die on a cross, and what about the rest of the world? And how would anyone know about that? It's this insignificant place really in the world." But that's a complete lie. The Galilee, you know, where Jesus grew up and Nazareth, it was called Galilee of the Nations because caravans of people would travel from Europe through Galilee to Africa. They travel from Africa through Galilee to Asia, from Asia to Europe. It was the crossroads, three different continents. That's where people passed through. And Jesus would have grown up seeing all these people passing by. There were constant flow of people coming through. And they'd stop in Israel many a time. And we know that the Jewish people spread over parts of the world as well. We read in scripture that God gave his people Israel lawgivers, liberators, kings, and priests and prophets to lead them towards righteousness and away from evil. But we read, don't we, in many of the books of the Old Testament that many of the leaders of Israel turned Israel away from God and towards sin. Not one king or one judge or one leader could live up to God's perfect standards. You see, what the people needed was a lawgiver, a liberator, a king, a priest, and a prophet all rolled into one. But someone who would live perfectly, sinlessly before God the Father. Only such a person could destroy the power of the devil that God spoke about in the beginning. The power of the serpent that has affected and infected the whole world. The Bible is clear that we cannot save ourselves. We needed a Saviour. And God was preparing his people for this. So that person, that seed sort of had to be both human and divine really to be that bridge between man and God. And so it began to be born in the hearts of particularly the prophets in the Old Testament that God would send such a person would save a Saviour, a redeemer, a Messiah from heaven to earth. Around 740 BC, 740 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah said, "The Lord himself will give Israel a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us.” And that's exactly what Israel needed, exactly what the world needed, God with us in human form. Someone we could relate to who wasn't distant in heaven because we'd caused that separation. That distance. It's interesting when you see in the Garden that God walked, God the Father walked with Adam, you know, and Eve probably as well. And there was such closeness. It says he walked with Enoch, you know, the seventh generation from Adam and he was close to Abraham and Moses and others. But there's almost this distance that develops. And the Bible says “shout to the Lord” and it's almost like you have to really shout to get through the heavenlies. The Bible says there's all these demonic forces. We heard about this this morning, didn't we, in Ephesians 6. And there's a battle sometimes in prayer, isn't there, to get through to God sometimes because of all the evil in the dark spiritual realm. So we needed someone to come to us to our level. John says in the opening of his gospel that the word became flesh and dwelt among us. In other words, he pitched his tent amongst us. A very Jewish picture there of the Jews who lived in tents beginning with Abraham. God wanted to come and live amongst us. And over 2,000 years ago and more than 2,000 miles away, a young virgin named Mary conceived this seed by God's Holy Spirit and later gave birth to a baby boy in Bethlehem as promised. Joseph, her husband, who was the foster father of Jesus, named him Jesus in obedience to what God told him to do through an angel. and his name means God saves. I don't know if you know this, but sorry I'm sidetracking a bit, but you know how Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. Well, Moses represents the Lord, doesn't he? Elijah represented the prophets. And Jesus said, "I came to fulfill the law and the prophets." Moses was succeeded by Joshua. Elijah was succeeded by Elisha. And John the Baptist, we read, prepared the way for Jesus. The name Joshua, Elisha, and Jesus all mean the same thing. They all mean Yeshua. They mean God saves. Isaiah, actually means the same as well. And he's the most sort of messianic prophet of the Old Testament, isn't he? We read of Jesus that he grew up and he perfectly obeyed his human mother Mary and his foster father, Joseph, and learned his father's trade, carpentry. He only lived 33 years but lived a perfect sinless life before God because we needed that perfect example. How do we live? What does perfect living? What does godliness look like? See all the other characters we have in the Bible, they all were far from perfect. They were very many of them were very good and godly men and women, but they were all imperfect. Whereas Jesus was totally sinless in every way. Never once sinned. There was no deceit found in his mouth. Jesus recruited 12 disciples, didn't he? And drew massive crowds as he taught them parables and healed the sick and loved people in a way never seen before or since. In all the other religions, man is having to reach up to God or to the gods as it were, whatever they believe in to earn God's favour, never knowing if they had done enough good deeds to outweigh our bad deeds. But we know that in Christ, God came down to us. Jesus himself said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you know the Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." And when Jesus's closest followers began to realize who he was, the prophesied Messiah, the son of God, that the Old Testament spoke about many times he could then reveal to them what his ultimate mission was. Remember when Peter said, "I believe you are the son of God. I believe you are the Messiah, the son of the living God." Jesus said, you know, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. He says, "You now know need to know that I, the Son of Man, will be rejected by the chief elders and the leaders and he'll be handed over. He will be condemned, but on the third day he will rise again." And he fulfilled what the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1 where he says that he will be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Paul says in Romans, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the payment of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ." I love how Paul says, "It's a free gift." You know, it cost Jesus everything as we know, but we got it for free. It didn't cost us anything. He paid the price for us. And I know everyone here, I'm pretty sure that we all know this, but we can never fully get our heads or our hearts around that, can we really? And in obedience to God, Jesus willingly allowed himself to be falsely accused, although he'd done no wrong, physically and verbally abused, murdered in the most cruel and humiliating way, completely naked on the cross. We see him when you see crucifixes, always a loin cloth around his waist, but that's not how it was. They were completely naked on the cross. On a Roman cross, he took our place and our punishment that we deserved. Jesus endured at the hands of evil men so that the hand of the evil one would have no would no longer have authority over us. In his dying breath, Jesus said, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Let's just pause there for a moment at that point. It's as though the father had to look away as his son became sin itself. Jesus Christ, the son of God, had a perfect loving relationship with God the Father for all eternity. Again, we can't really get our heads or our hearts around that. We just have to believe. But for that brief moment, they were separated. That I believe was far worse than any of the physical, emotional, and mental torment that Jesus endured. In a way, he endured hell on the cross for us. It's interesting that the last three hours Jesus was on the cross, it went really dark. Jesus said, "I thirst." Hell is a dark place. It's the place of outer darkness, the Bible says. And it's a thirsty place because it's very hot. And it's a place where you're separated from God. And Jesus for one brief moment at the very end was separate to God. You know, it says that in the scriptures that a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to God. I think that day felt like a thousand years to Jesus. Albert Einstein actually said that because we interpret time differently, don't we? Paul says in 2 Corinthians that God made him who knew no sin to become sin for us so that we would become the righteousness of God. He clothed us in his righteousness and takes away our sin such as the achievement of his death on the cross. He was there, you know, with his arms outraised, suspended between heaven and earth. God was saying the payment of man's sin is dealt with. But it's only dealt with for those who believe and repent of their sins and acknowledge their need for salvation and forgiveness. We read that all of this was done out of love. The most famous verse in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but enjoy and have eternal life. So Jesus was restoring that original promise that God made to Adam and Eve. The ardent atheist who I mentioned earlier, Richard Dawkins said, "If God wanted to forgive our sins, why did he not just forgive them? Who is God trying to impress by allowing his son to die on the cross? That's a ridiculous thing to say when you think about it. God is also a judge. Can imagine in a UK court of law if a murderer was on trial and the judge said, "You know what? We'll just forgive you. You're free to go. I'm sure you didn't mean to do that. We'll forgive you and just move on." We'd be absolutely outraged. And that sort of thing has happened in human history because it's so unjust. We know that God has to punish sinfulness. But because he also wants to forgive, he provided a way of escape, as it were, from our sins. Isaiah says, "The Lord himself laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was pierced for our transgressions." Pierced. He was pierced in his hands and his feet. As we know, that was written before Roman crucifixion was invented. He was crushed for iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was laid on him and by his wounds we are healed. Written more than 700 years before the event. Jesus died and was buried. But that was not the end. We know that on the third day he rose again from the grave. And in doing so, he defeated death itself but also the power of sin, the power of hell, the power of the world, the power of Satan and his demons. Those things only have power over people who give them the that power. But those of us who are in Christ and safe in him, the only safe place there is to be, we share in the same victory of Jesus. And we then through the Holy Spirit who has given us, we can overcome the sin that we struggle. We won't go to hell. We can overcome the worldly passions and pleasures of the world and the flesh and we are not subject to Satan. We don't have to allow him to influence us. Christ's death was the payment for our sins and he took our sins and died for us. But because he was completely innocent, not deserving of death, that punishment of death was reversed. God vindicated him by raising Jesus back from the dead. It's interesting that that God, the father, the son, and the spirit were all involved in his resurrection because God him, it says that God raised him back from the dead. Jesus himself said that “I lay down my life for my sheep and I will take it up again. No one takes my life from me.” So he had power over his own death and resurrection in a sense. And Romans Paul says the spirit who raised Jesus from the death is living in you. So Father, Son, and Spirit were all involved. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. And a time is coming when all those are in their graves will hear my voice and come out. Those who have done what is good will rise to life. Those who have done what is evil will rise to condemnation." There's a resurrection coming of the righteous and the unrighteous when Christ after Christ's return. And despite great scepticism even amongst some Christians. There was a polling years ago about Christian churchgoers, if they believed in the resurrection. And many said, "Well, they believed spiritually that he rose again. I don't know if you saw “The meaning of life”, which is a series on RTE that Gay Byrne, the late great Irish presenter, presented for many years, and he interviewed. One of the women on the Irish band The Corrs said, she was a committed Roman Catholic. Gay Byrne asked her, "Do you believe in the death of Jesus?" And she said, "Oh, absolutely." He again asked her, "Why did Jesus die?" And she was like, “I don't know really. I think it's to help us in our suffering.” And he said, "Do you believe he rose again?" And she said, "spiritually, I think I don't know about physically." And you could just tell she had no idea. I know from being a Roman Catholic originally that there was such an emphasis particularly on the death of Jesus. Yes there was a belief in his resurrection, but it was never really taught. Why is that so important? What does that mean for us? It's really sad when people who purport to be believers just don't understand these things. There's a disproportionate number of lawyers and judges across the world who've come to know the Lord because they've examined the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus and his death as well. And they've been overwhelmed by the evidence. And they know how to examine evidence, how to spot truth, how to spot integrity in reports and things like that, in evidence that's laid before them. I'll give you some examples. Dr Simon Greenleaf, who lived in the late 18th to mid- 19th century was the famous Royal Professor of Law at Harvard University. He was considered one of the greatest law makers in history. He concluded that the evidence for the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus was so overwhelming that he could hold it up in a court of law. And also Brooke Fos Westcoat who was born in Birmingham in 1825 was a scholar and a distinguished theologian. He once said, "Raking all the evidence together, it is not too much to say that there is no historic incident better or more variously supported than the resurrection of Christ." If you've heard of the story of Lee Stroel as well, there's a film about him. It's amazing. It's a really good film if you've seen it, The Case for Christ. It's based on the book that he wrote. And he was a real strong atheist and his wife became a Christian and he really turned against her and their marriage nearly broke up. But he said, "I'm going to try and look at the evidence." And he thought, "I'm going to disprove that Jesus died and rose again." And he actually came to the conclusion that it's true. And many of the people who've taken that path have found the same thing. As you probably know, they set out to try and disprove and then they realize, "Oh, actually, I can't disprove it. It's got to be true." We have to remember as well, there's other evidence as well for the resurrection of Jesus. Think of the early Christians we read in the book of Acts in particular who saw the risen Christ or were converted by people who saw the risen Christ and they risked their lives and they faced torture and death. They were fed to the lions. All on the belief that Jesus was real, that he was alive, that he rose again. And millions have suffered ever since for this. I don't believe many people would really put themselves to that. I mean, why would some put themselves through that torture and death if it was all a lie, if it never happened, Christianity would be a very short-lived thing. It probably wouldn't have lasted very long. But no, they knew and believed with all their hearts that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and is alive. We read that these early Christians had such boldness, didn't they, in the face of  imprisonment and death and suffering. What gave them that boldness? Well, the Bible says that Jesus remained with the disciples for 40 days after he rose again. And towards the end, he commanded them in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 1, he says that to wait in Jerusalem for the gift that my father will send. And he was referring to the Holy Spirit. The rest of the New Testament is indeed a testament to the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus entrusted his disciples to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And we must remember that it was the Holy Spirit who came to live within them and all believers as well. Jesus said, "You must be born again of the Spirit, born again from above to enter the kingdom of God." And then the Holy Spirit filled them and anointed and  inspired them and guided them. Just as Jesus was anointed and filled with the spirit so too his followers would be so that they wouldn't do things in their own strength and their own flesh which we see in all other religions really it would be done by God as it were through them. We are just vessels aren't we for God. See Jesus is no longer on earth. And he actually said "It's better that I go away because then the Comforter can come, the Counsellor can come, the Advocate, an advocate just like me." Jesus is the advocate, isn't he, before the Father. And he also said there is another advocate coming, the Holy Spirit. And he says he will come to convict the world of its sin. And he'll be with you always. And he says that he will empower you with gifts and with fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, humility and self-control. The fruit of the spirit is a description of the character of Christ. And Paul says “against such things there is no law.” You can't legislate against that. You can't say that those things are wrong. Who could say that love is wrong and peace and joy and kindness? That's Galatians 5 that we read about the fruit of the spirit. Jesus and every writer of the New Testament says that he was going to return to earth one day. He was going to leave the earth but one day come back. When Jesus was on earth, he told parables explaining this to his disciples. He said the master was a long time coming. So from the earthly perspective, it's a long time and it has been 2,000 years nearly now. But when Jesus speaks in the book of Revelation, he says, "I'm coming soon." Because a day is a thousand years to him. It's only been two days to Jesus since he was here. But to us, it's been 2,000 years. What's he going to do? Why is he going to come back? Why does Jesus need to come back? Well, we see the state of the world. He will come to remove and punish the devil and his followers, the antichrist that we read about, the great tyrannical leader who will rise up at the end. He will fully establish his kingdom on earth. He will later judge all people for how they lived and then bring about the new heaven and new earth where righteousness dwells. Let's turn to 2 Peter 3 verse 8 “But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” In verse 11 he says “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought you to be? Ye are to be in all holy conversation and godliness." You are to be holy and godly looking for and even hastening the coming of the day of the Lord, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements will melt in fervent heat. “Nevertheless, we according to his promise look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found in him in peace and without spot and blameless. And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” We can even speed the coming of the Lord because Jesus said when he predicted the end times he said the gospel will reach all nations and he said then the end will come and Peter is saying here that as you spread the gospel you are in a way hastening the coming of the Lord. Jesus now is preparing a beautiful place for us. He said “I go away to prepare a place for you. If it were not so I would not have told you. In my father's house and many rooms, many mansions, and one day I'll take you to be with me so that where I am, you may be also. A place where there'll be no more sin, no curse of sin, no disease, no death, no war, no problems. God himself will wipe the tears away from people's eyes." After all that Jesus has done, particularly in his work on the cross, he's still doing things for us because he said, "I go away to prepare a place for us." In a way, he's gone back to carpentry because he's preparing a room or some translations say a mansion, don't they? He's also interceding for us before the Father. He ever lives to intercede us for us. And he is able to save those to the uttermost. He's filling people with his Spirit. He's appearing to people in visions and dreams as the Bible says. Many Muslims are coming to the Lord Jesus because he's appearing to them in dreams and revealing to them who he is. So Jesus is still working and then when he comes later on at one point we'll have the marriage supper of the Lamb and it says in Luke 12 Jesus talks about this and he says the master will wait on the servants and will wait on us. You know that after all Jesus has done and he's going to wait on us. You think of the humility of the Lord Jesus, there is no one like him. Surely if we know this, if we know the good news, the gospel of Jesus, the only good news there really is in our world, we should surely be spurred on every day to live by his good news, to live by the word from Genesis to Revelation, cover to cover, to continue to spread his gospel, regularly confessing our sins. John speaks about this, doesn't he, in his letter. “If we do sin, we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And we are to confess our sins regularly to him. And the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We are to love others John says. This is how we know we are saved. That we show love. That we live like Jesus in this world. You know, if we knew the cure for cancer, we wouldn't keep it bottled up. We wouldn't keep it a secret, would we? And sin is a cancer and it's metastasized across the world, hasn't it? If we don't know this, the Bible says that if we are stirred by this message, we feel convicted. As Jesus said, the spirit comes to convict the world of its sin. We must first say, "Yes, I am a sinner. I have done wrong." We say sorry to God the Father and acknowledge him and ask him to forgive us of all past sins. This is repentance, isn't it? To turn away from your way of living. The Bible also says that we are to believe in our hearts that he sent his one and only son to pay the price of our sins and that he raised him back from the dead to offer us eternal life. We are to confess with our mouth as well that Jesus now is the Lord of our life. We're not the Lord of our lives. Jesus is now Lord. And we ask that he fills us with his Spirit. It's so important that we encourage new believers to come to a bible believing church, to be baptized in water as a sign of that faith, of the burial of the old life and the beginning of a new life. That new believers are well discipled, that they are encouraged to study the word, that they keep confessing sin and living for Christ in the Spirit. Let's encourage those around us to look at the word of God more because it has a purifying effect on us. The Bible does. It's the pure, flawless, spotless word of God, isn't it? And Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2 that there'll be a great falling away around the time when the antichrist comes. And he says they fall away because they did not hold fast to the truth. They preferred to believe the lie that came from Satan rather than the truth. And again as I said Paul says elsewhere to have that belt of truth. Keep truth very tight around you. The Bible is living and active. It's a double-edged sword. It divides between flesh, doesn't it, and soul and spirit. It gets really to the heart of the matter. No other book can do that. It's the only book that you can read and read and read and study and study. And you'll never exhaust it. You'll always see something new. It's always yielding up new things. Just like the earth yields up precious stones forever. This word is precious. Let us memorize it. There may come a day where this gets taken away from us. And when people outside the church criticize us for believing and mock us for believing the Bible, well, challenge them and say, "Have you ever read it? Just read it.” I remember Billy Graham saying that. He said that to someone when he was invited to some dinner, great big banquet or whatever, and this man opposite him was an atheist and he was ridiculing him. And Billy Graham said, "Have you ever read any of the Bible?" And he said, "No." and he said “I challenge you to read the New Testament over the next six months and then contact me. The man did contact him after six months and says “you know I have to say it's changed me, I am not sure I like what it's doing but it has actually changed me.” So it has an impact on people. Probably everyone here knows the Lord Jesus Christ because someone told you about him so let's not keep Jesus from the people of Coleraine and those around us wherever we may live. It's often our parents who've told us about the Lord or a friend or a preacher or even a stranger. There are some exceptions because sometimes people have just said to God “if you're real please reveal yourself to me” and he has but again God will do that through a person. So let's share and show the wonderful powerful gospel and good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to spread his kingdom in the world as he told us to do and let's live for him in every way and every day. Revelation 22 verse 12 “And behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and the sorcerers, and whoremongers, and the murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say come. And let him that heareth say come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of this book, of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from things the things which are written in this book. He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

 

Getting Past the Past

 

COLERAINE EVANGELICAL CHURCH

SERMON NOTES SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2026 

JOHN 21 VERSES 1 TO 22 – GETTING PAST THE PAST

An encounter in some respects we would never think would have happened after what did happen to Peter in the judgment hall. Here the Lord meets with Peter.

Once again after the name of the Lord himself the 4 gospels are full of Peter. No name comes up so often as him. No disciples speaks so often and so much as Peter. Our Lord speaks more often to Peter than to any other. Sometimes he spoke in blame, sometimes in praise. No disciples ever boldly confessed or outspokenly confessed Christ as Peter. Repeatedly he blessed his master. Yet as the pendulum swings the other way no other was tempted as Peter was. The Lord spoke blessings to Peter. He spoke to no other man as Peter. At the same time he said harder things to Peter than any of the other disciples except Judas. No disciple ever spoke as much as Peter.

“Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Luke 5 verse 8

“Lo we have left all and have followed thee.” Mark 10 verse 28

“Lord if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” Matthew 14 verse 28

“Lord save me.”

“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16 verse 16

“To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.” John 6 verse 68

“Though all men shall be offended because off thee, yet will I never be offended.” Matthew 26 verses 33

“Thou shalt never wash my feet ... Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” John 13 verse 9

“I do not know the man.” Matthew 26 verse 72

Peter turned back to his master again like a little child. Does it sound familiar to us? Not in the context of Peter but in the context of you as a believer? On Sundays we walk into church, smile and shake hands and usually make polite conversation. We look very respectable but life isn’t just that neat and tidy. Just beneath the veneer some are really struggling and yet others do not know. We are not as altogether on the inside as we are on the outside. There could be ongoing struggles, besetting sin, maybe someone who is a thorn in your flesh, perhaps a marriage failure or a failure in your life in the past that you cannot get over, depression, something that is locked in to your life. The life we preach on Sundays is not the life experienced through the week. Whatever it is, it makes us anxious and we cannot get past it. Even now it is in your mind. The last encounter Jesus and Peter have together in the gospels is here in John 21. It gives us great encouragement as believers when we read this account. The key to the story is understanding what was going on in the inside of Peter. Recently he had denied the Lord thrice. Failure burned in his mind. His worse crushing moment was the third time he denied the Lord and the rooster crowed. At that moment his eyes locked on the Lord and the Lord gazed on him. In that moment Peter went out and wept bitterly. No amount of tears could wash away that image from his mind. The sense of failure was all consuming. Peter was now crushed, crumbled, carrying around a black mark on his name always yet in our passage we find that the Lord comes and meets him. In verse 4 we see the start of a new day and a new start for Peter. Here the Lord comes to meet him. It some sense it was spontaneous. Not in the sense of the Lord’s approach to the disciples but in the actions they were fishing all night and had caught nothing. Then the Lord tells them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. The net is overflowing but it did not break. John whispers to Peter “it is the Lord” and Peter rushes to the shore. He loves the Lord. The Lord has prepared breakfast for them and they sit down to eat together. When the breakfast is over and there is no more small talk Jesus turns and addresses Peter. The bible does not tell us what is going on in the inside – his heart is racing, stomach is churning and there is a lump in his throat. As the Saviour spoke directly to him …

There is a reminder in verses 1 to 14. Jesus comes and finds Peter. He actively seeks out the disciples and Peter. A great spiritual truth is found here. Christ pursues us. Why? The disciples went fishing. They went back to the old labours. They needed to feed their families. Different people have different views on why they returned to fishing. The fact is – Christ pursued them and met them there. No matter what you or I have done in the past that is under the blood. Christ has paid the debt for that. The great God of the universe pursues you this morning. This thread runs through all the scriptures. Christ pursues his people. We think of the Garden of Eden, after the fall of man, God pursued them in the cool of the day. After 40 years God takes the initiative to bring Moses in and through the burning bush. He had thought it was all over. For 40 years he was in the desert far from God. Forgotten about. After 40 years God comes to him and recommissions him. Jonah ran from God’s call to Nineveh but God ran after him. He sent a great fish. What a lesson to learn. Peter after denying the Lord thrice went back to his old job of fishing. Jesus comes in spite of his failure. A reminder to us – Jesus will never leave us. God seeks out the believer. The one who has stumbled and fallen. He restores them. The one who is wracked in their mind and body in regards to pain and suffering. God cares for his children. We are reminded of that here.

There is restoration – verses 15 to 17. Jesus has already had breakfast with Peter. There was fellowship, communion. There was small talk but there was no word of rebuke. Jesus certainly could have taken him back to another fire. I wonder did Peter think back to another fire? The fire at which he warmed himself. Consumed in regret. The time when he began to curse and blaspheme, to deny he knew the Lord 3 times. Jesus could have taken him back to that fire but he didn’t. We are reminded here of this restoration. We see the Lord comes graciously to Peter and he communes with him. He dines with him and then he commissions him. He restores him in regard to bringing him to himself. Jesus is all of grace. Some one said ‘Jesus is in the grace business not in the guilt business.” He approaches Peter in grace and restores him. He is in the healing business not the humiliation business. Here Peter is restored and we know that it was a difficult time for Peter because we find he was grieved – verse 17. 3 times he had denied the Lord and 3 times the Lord asked him to search his heart. He looked into his soul and said “Peter do you love me?” We are reminded of Romans 8 verse 1 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” Christ restores Peter.

In verses 18 to 22 we have Peter’s recommission. We are reminded that Christ does not forget his people. He seeks after us even after failure. We see Peter’s restoration and now we find him being recommissioned. The Lord recommissions and sends him back into the harvest field. 3 times the Lord says to Peter “feed my lambs” or “take care of my sheep”. We read in scripture “a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4 verse 12). The Lord brings it to Peter 3 times. The Lord knew he would soon ascend back into heaven. The most precious thing to him is his people. He wanted a under shepherd to look after his people, to care for his people. Here he commissions Peter to do so. “Peter look after my sheep, the little lambs, the ones that are in danger.” The lion will come and rip and tear. The wolves will ravish. Look after them. Tend to them. Maybe encourage and bless those older ones through the word of God. He is being recommissioned. The Lord is asking Peter to take care of them that are most important to him. He puts his most valued possession, the church, the people of God in the care of Peter. If that had been you or I seeking someone to look after the sheep and lambs who would have we sought out of the 11 disciples? Probably it would not have been Peter. Yet this is the moment that Peter was recommissioned. What a beautiful thought. The Lord was simply saying to Peter “I am not through with you.” The Lord was seeking to build his church and he wanted Peter involved. The Lord is continuing to build his church. That church is being built here. You are involved. Think of just a few chapters in front – Acts 2. Peter stands boldly and preaches to over 3000 people. In one day alone 3000 converts are brought into the church of Christ. The Lord was not through with Peter. The Lord is not through with you today. The Lord will not forget you.

What lessons do we have here?

In Luke 22 verse 31 the Lord warned Peter “Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” The “I” is emphatic and the “you” is singular. It was referring to Peter alone. “I have prayed for you as an individual Peter” and that means in a season there will not be complete denial and turning from the Lord because Christ prayed for him and all the disciples. The lesson is that the Lord prays for us. He sits at the right hand of his Father praying for you as an individual. The creator of the universe prays for you. You are on his mind. You have not been forgotten about. In Luke 22 verses 33 and 34 Peter was bold in saying “Lord I am ready to go with thee, both into prison and to death” yet a little maid recognised him and Peter denied the Lord. We have to be careful just what we say. At times this little member can get us into trouble. Some times we can use it too quickly. It is sometimes too sharp. Let us learn from Peter. There are 3 points of application to note.

First we have to remember we will be tempted. Satan as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour. If he wanted to thrash the disciples how much more us? If Satan attacked our Lord he will attack us.

Secondly let us pray that the Lord will give us the grace not to fall. That when I hear the lion roaring and the wolves ravishing I will not capitalise and deny the Lord. The place of employment can be a viscous place. As we seek to stand up for our testimony and say “I am a believer, born again” there will be those who will respect us but others will not let us. Remember Peter in that moment the cock crowed. 2 eyes met him at that exact moment. It should be borne into our hearts that it doesn’t happen to us. Peter wept bitterly. Let us learn from that.

Thirdly let us offer grace to others that have fallen. Others that have denied the Lord. May we have grace as we deal with them. The Lord had grace  when he dealt with Peter. If you had made that breakfast you might have made the fire bigger, like a bonfire. You might have made sure that Peter stood right beside it. Maybe you would have dropped hints alluding to the courtyard experience. We would have let Peter know how we felt. May we instead offer grace because that is the Lord’s example here. The key is being like the Lord and staying close to him. To be in constant touch with him means we will have grace to deal with others. The wolves and lions may wear us down but we need to get past our past. The Lord did not forget Peter and he will not forget us. In his restoration there was grace. He was recommissioned to look after the sheep and lambs. The most important thing to God is his people, his children. They were given to Peter. Let us learn from this. If there is someone stumbling over the past can you leave it with the Lord today. The Lord has forgiven you from your sin. That does not mean he has forgiven 99.999999% but all your sin. That sin of yours was dealt with on the tree of Calvary. When Christ died he shed his blood for the sins of his people. That sin was covered. Christ took off his cloak of righteousness and put it on our shoulders. He took the cloak of sin and depravity and put it on himself. He wore our cloak of sin and depravity and punishment on the cross of Calvary. The Lord has paid the debt for your sin so let us get past our past. Let us embrace the restoration and be recommissioned to do what he wants us to do.