Good afternoon and welcome to our weekly live stream Open Air Witness. And this week we're coming from Buchanan Street in the heart of the city of Glasgow. We're here from Partick Free Church of Scotland, continuing with a local congregation. And we meet at 2 Thornwood Terrace, Upton Barton Road. And when you come to the Thornwood Park, go up the hill there, and you'll come to Thornwood Primary School, and you'll meet our building there at the crossroads next door to the school. And we extend a warm welcome to you. Come along any Lord's Day. That's the first day of the week, Sunday at 11 a.m. And we also meet in the early evening at 6pm and we also have a midweek meeting on Wednesday evening at 7.30 and we extend a warm and sincere welcome to you to come along to any of these services. They're open to the public. We have nothing to be ashamed of. Nothing that we want to conceal. We simply want to draw to your attention the essentials of biblical Christianity and what it's all about. Because I'm sure, and I've no desire to embarrass anyone here, but if I did ask you, could you give a reason why the Lord Jesus Christ came from heaven? I wonder if you could present to me a biblical reason for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what we seek to do when we gather together in our public acts of worship, and also when we come out to the street, and to the highways, and into the byways, we seek to use this opportunity to bring to the attention of those who are sitting around, maybe those who are in their offices, or those who are walking past, that we might be enabled to tell them something about basic biblical Christianity because we have to acknowledge today that we live in a time when there is much ignorance regarding the Christian gospel. We'll never really understand why Christ came and his purpose and what he achieved unless we have a firm grasp of the problem that faces mankind. The Bible would tell us in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. God is the great creator, the great I am that one who is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days nor end of days, who alone is immortal and eternal and unchanging and unchangeable. He's the great God with whom we have to do with. And on the sixth day of creation, he made mankind. The Bible would teach us God created man, male and female, after his own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. And there we have the Bible's account of our creation, way back in the beginning. God created man, male and female. Notice they are friends, two genders, male and female, after his own image and knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures. And when our first parents were created, Adam from the dust, And Eve, his wife, from a rib that was taken from him, they were perfect. They resembled their Maker in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. And for a period of time, they enjoyed communion and fellowship with their Creator God. They had a wonderful relationship. For how long, we don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us, but for a period, for a time, our first parents knew a wonderful, harmonious relationship with their Creator God. But then something happened, something that affected the whole of mankind and the history of mankind. God has an enemy, and that enemy is a fallen angel called the devil or Satan. And he's out to destroy everything that God has done. And seeing this wonderful new creation and this wonderful relationship that mankind had with their creator God, he sought to disrupt that relationship. He didn't want it. And he went along to Eve and he tempted her. because God had given our first parents a clear and simple command in order to test whether they loved him or not. They had been placed in the Garden of Eden and everything was laid on for them. A wonderful place, everything was at their disposal, but they had a clear command from God that there was one tree that they were not allowed to eat the fruit of. And the devil came and tempted Eve and said, has God really said that? Did God really say that, that you must not eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? You know, God just wants to keep you back. God doesn't want you to get on. That's what he was insinuating. God is feathering you and he doesn't want you to get on. That's why he said you should not eat of that fruit from that tree. In other words, God's not for you at all. God's against you. And poor Eve succumbed to temptation. She saw the fruit. She saw the tree. Everything looked pleasant. She wanted to be like God. She didn't realize that she was already like God. But she listened to the temptation presented to her by that arch tempter, the devil himself. And she took it and gave some to Adam. She was deceived and Adam disobeyed. And here you are. on the 7th of February, 2025, and you're saying to yourself, well, what has that got to do with me? That happened, what, 6,000 years ago? What has that got to do with me? It doesn't concern me. Well, it does, friends. It does. Because the Bible tells us, wherefore, As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. There you see it. Our first parents fell, sin entered into the world. What came with sin? Well, sickness, disease, The earth was cursed, ultimately death itself came, all as a result of mankind's sin. It was not a little matter, it was a great matter because the devil himself caused Eve to succumb to temptation and she rebelled against God, against an almighty God, a gracious God who had displayed his love and care and concern for the human race in all that he did. And they showed their love towards him by disobeying that clear and simple command. And that's how sin came into this world. And that's why we have all these problems that we have in this world today. The Bible tells us, let me remind you from Romans chapter 5 and verse 12, wherefore, as by one man, that's Adam, sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. You see Adam and Eve sinned and they became sinners and they had a sinful nature from that point on And therefore, all who have come from Adam and Eve, that's all of us, we have inherited the guilt of their sin, and we have inherited their sinful nature, so that we ourselves are sinners. We are conceived in sin, we are born in sin, we're shaped in iniquity, and because of that, we are estranged and we are separated from God by nature. We don't have that relationship that we should have. because of this great barrier of the thing called sin. Now, what is sin, you might say? And it's a good question to ask. Well, sin is any want of or conformity unto the law of God. God has given us a law, and that's not surprising if he is our creator. He has given us a law whereby we are to live our lives according to that law. That law is codified, if you like, in the Ten Commandments, and we do have the essence of that law written in our hearts, but God has given it to us in codified form in the Ten Commandments. And we are required to keep that law as it is outlined for us in the Ten Commandments. But the problem is, friends, although we are obliged to keep this law, yet because we have a sinful nature, we cannot keep this law. That's our great problem. For instance, what does the Sixth Commandment say? The Sixth Commandment says, thou shalt not kill. Now, here we are on Buchanan Street in Glasgow City Centre, and I'm very sure that all the people that I'm addressing this afternoon have never killed anyone. But the Lord Jesus Christ and his teachings on the Sermon on the Mount would remind us that if we vent our spleen against someone without a just cause, we are guilty of murder by speech. Or if we have evil thoughts about a person without any good cause, then we have committed heart murder. You see, the law of God is not just concerned with our physical actions. It's not just concerned by what we do with our hands and our feet and with our bodies. it is also concerned about what goes on in our hearts. And therefore, if we hate someone without a cause in our hearts, then we are guilty of murder in our hearts, says the Lord Jesus Christ. And the heart is the very essence of all things, friends. As it says in the Bible, The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't know our own hearts, but God does. And this is the real problem with mankind. We can live outwardly respectable lives. We can be, in some sense, morally upright. And to be sure, the law of the land would have nothing to say against our lives. We're not in danger of a policeman coming to the door, accusing us of a crime, and we're not expected to appear in court to give an answer and to stand trial for some misdemeanor. No, we're far better behaved than that as far as the law of the land is concerned. But God is concerned about your hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And there we are reminded that our hearts are desperately wicked and that we don't really know our hearts. We don't really know what lies and resides within our hearts. But he goes on to tell us, I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. We don't know our hearts, but God does. And the Lord Jesus Christ tells us not to flatter us, not to make us proud or big-headed, but in order that we might be informed of our true plight and our true condition before God. And he talks about the heart in this way, those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. You know, some people were taking exception to the behavior of the disciples of Christ They weren't washing their hands before they would eat their food. And to some people this was regarded as being defiled. But Jesus tells them, no, that is not what defiles a man. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashing hands defileth not a man." And here the Lord Jesus is reminding us that Christianity is all about purity of the heart. And friends, before we can ever be pure in the heart, we must recognize that the Bible tells us, because of our sin, we are not pure in our hearts. And we need to be made pure in our hearts. Jesus goes on on another occasion to talk about the heart. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things. and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. Judge yourself. I'm not here to judge anyone. What comes out of your mouth? What things do you speak about? Are you ones who blaspheme the name of the Lord our God? What does the third commandment say? Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. What kind of conversation do you have? Do you take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain? Do you take the name of the Lord our God in vain, that is, to use his name irreverently? Do we not realize that His name is holy? He is the absolutely holy, pure God, and He will not in any sense overlook when we take His name in vain. That's what the third commandment tells us. Judge your own conversation. How often have you cried out, O God, or Christ, or whatever, using His name inappropriately in everyday conversation? You hear it in the streets on occasions like this? You hear it when you go shopping. You hear it in the playground. You hear it in school. You hear it on the television. It's quite common today to blaspheme the name of the Lord our God. Well, the third commandment tells us, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who taketh his name in vain. And all of this lying, cheating, cursing, blaspheming, it all comes from the heart. murders, fornications, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, all of these things they ultimately come from the heart. And therefore what does that reveal to us? It reveals obviously that the Bible is true. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We don't know it ourselves. But God does. He goes on, I, the Lord, search the heart. If the Lord was to search your heart today, what would he find there? Would he find belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? Or would he find hatred towards God? It's a very important subject. It's not something that we should gloss over. It's very important that we consider these things and that we might realize and assess ourselves according to the Word of God. According to God's Word that tells us the heart is deceitful above all things. You know, you very often hear it. Someone may not have lived a good life, He may have been an alcoholic or he may have been a fornicator or an adulterer or a robber or whatever, but somehow people say, well, as far as his heart was concerned, he was a good man. He had a good heart. He maybe didn't behave properly, but he had a good heart. Well, the Bible doesn't support that at all. The Bible tells us that every one of us, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Before the flood, before that great flood that came upon the ancient world, We are reminded in Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. There we have the ancient world was assessed by Almighty God and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Well, do you think mankind has changed? Do you think mankind today is better? Has his heart changed? I don't think so. Why are our courts overflowing with work? Why are our prisons full and we're having to release prisoners early because they cannot accommodate all the prisoners? Why do we have so much crime, violence, sexual crime? Why is it? It is because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And as the Lord our God saw the ancient world, as he looked at the hearts of all the individuals that lived in the world, he said, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. I put it to you, friends, if you're seriously thinking about the moral and spiritual condition of our nation today, you have to acknowledge that nothing has changed. Nothing has changed whatsoever. Man is just as wicked as he always was. He's fallen. And you know, friends, what do we need then? We need to be saved. That's what we need. And this is what the Christian gospel is all about. It's about what God has done in Christ for mankind. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Oh, there we are, friends. There we have the very heart and the very essence of the Christian gospel. As I began earlier on, I asked, would you be able to give an answer if I asked the question, why did Jesus come into this world? Well, there you have the answer. It has been provided for you. And you'll find the answer in God's Word. 1 Timothy Chapter 1, verse 15. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Well, how did He manage to do that? How could He possibly do that? The only way He could do it, friends, is by becoming just like us. The Son of God became the Son of Man. The Son of God was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary and he was born in the normal manner. What does that mean, sir? Well, I don't think we recognise that language. But we're here to tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ, what He's done, what He's done for mankind, how He humbled Himself and came down to this world and suffered and died after He lived a perfect life that no one else could do, a life that He lived as a substitute for us in order that we might put our faith and our hope and our trust upon Him, the God-appointed Saviour. In fact, we would stress the only God-appointed Saviour. There is no other Saviour There is no other way to be reconciled to God. There is no other way that your sins can be forgiven. There is no other way that you can find acceptance with God unless you come through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is something that Christianity is dogmatic about, and we cannot give an inch in this department, the Lord Jesus Christ himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. No one will ever end up in glory, and no one will ever have their sins forgiven unless they go through the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whom God has provided. the one whom God himself has provided, and therefore he comes with divine approval, and he has been attested by God himself and found acceptable. You may well be familiar with that well-known verse in John chapter 3, verse 16. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. That verse is remarkable. because it's telling us God who has been offended by the behavior of mankind, it is God himself who has taken the initiative and done something about our plight. He has been instrumental. He has made the first move. And what was that first move? The first move was that he sent his Son and he displayed his love in a very tangible manner, and he displayed the full extent of his love, for God so loved the world to such an extent that he sent his only begotten Son. He didn't send a holy angel or a hundred holy angels. He just sent His Son, His only begotten Son, in order that He might suffer and die and do everything that was required of Him in order to work out a way whereby we could be saved. And friends, this is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And sadly today, Some 2,000 years after the coming of the Lord Jesus, many of us are ignorant of what the true gospel is. Well, the true gospel tells us we're sinners by nature, we're sinners by practice, We're under God's wrath and curse by nature, but there is a way to be reconciled. There is a way whereby all of your sins can be forgiven and you can know the gift of eternal life and you can have that gift now. You can be reconciled to God. You can have that new nature. You can be right with God now through what Christ Jesus has done in the cross. Wherefore, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. What security we have in Christ. To have Christ as your Lord and Saviour is to have God on your side. He is able to save to the uttermost, no matter our sins, no matter how long we have lived in sin, no matter how long we have rejected the Gospel. When we come to Christ, we have a clean slate. All our sins are forgiven. We are reconciled to God. Because, friends, He not only paid the price of our sins, but He intercedes. at God's right hand today for His people. You see, our Saviour is alive forevermore. He cannot die. Death no longer has any hold upon Him. Having suffered and died, He has conquered death. Romans chapter 6 and verse 9. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. I put it to you, that's the Savior we need. One who is alive. One who has lived this world. Who knows what it's like to live here. He knows what it's like to be tempted by the evil one. He has tasted death. He has suffered the pains of hell on Calvary's tree. He has been put into a tomb, but on the third day he rose again. And now, after being seen for a period of 40 days by many, many different individuals on different occasions, he has ascended up into heaven. where he is until he shall return in power and in glory, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. And therefore, you need not be afraid to put your faith and hope upon the Son of God. He's alive. He's in heaven, and one day He will return. And at that time, He will take all His people to heaven, to glory, forever and forever. Now, what is your hope this afternoon? What is your hope for eternity? Have you given it any thought? Do you have a hope? You realize, obviously, that you're mortal, and one day you'll pass into eternity? Where will you go when you pass into eternity? A very solemn question, even for the youngsters, it's a solemn matter. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. And there's an exhortation to the young and to the not so young. Thank you, sir. Thanks for listening. May the Lord bless His word to you. But there's an exhortation to the young. to give their life to the Lord Jesus Christ when they're young. Well, we could extend that invitation and that exhortation because we would tell you friends, give your life to the Lord Jesus Christ at whatever age you're at. Certainly the young are encouraged because you'll not always be young. and what a life it is to live for the Lord Jesus Christ. What a profitable, what a fruitful life it is to give the best years of your life to the Savior. No one regrets ever believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, that's why Solomon, who had tasted everything that this world could give him, says, remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. While the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them. There may well be some people here who are getting on a bit. Indeed, we're all getting on a bit. And maybe they don't have pleasure in their latter years. They haven't much to look forward to. Maybe because they haven't got that great hope that lies before all the people of God. Well, it's never too late to turn to the Lord Jesus. It's never too late to repent. It's never too late to believe. It's never too late to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will always hear the penitent, those who are prepared to turn their backs upon their old lives. He will not, in any sense, disdain the penitent. And that's why, friends, we go out with the Gospel to young and to old, and we tell them all the same message, repent, and believe the gospel, repent and turn away from your sins, turn away from your blasphemy, turn away from your lying, turn away from your cheating, turn away from your Sabbath breaking, turn away from your idolatry, turn away from your fornication and adultery, turn away from all sexual sins, do not kill, honour thy father and thy mother, this is what's required of us, and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, that one who completely, perfectly, perpetually fulfilled the law of God, and who at the end of his life, having lived a life that pleased God like no one else, He gave up his life as a sacrifice. Why did he do that? He did that in order that he may pay the penalty for mankind breaking God's law. You see, friends, sin is a very serious matter. It may not be serious with mankind, but it is serious with God. and the wages of sin is death. Not just physical death or spiritual death, but eternal death. That's what sin deserves. That's the wages. That's what it pays. Well, that's what happened to Jesus. He suffered the pains of hell on the cross, not because he was a sinner, because he wasn't. but he was standing in the room and in the place of sinners. He was their substitute. He took their punishment on him. He was punished in their room and in their place. Well, it's good to be here. We're from Partick Free Church of Scotland continuing. We're going to take a short break. But may the Lord be pleased to bless his word to you this afternoon. Hello again and welcome to our weekly live stream Open Air Witness. This week we're coming from Buchanan Street in Glasgow City Centre. We're here from Partick Free Church of Scotland continuing We're a local congregation, we minister, as you might expect from our name, in the Partick area of Glasgow. We meet at 2 Thornwood Terrace, Upton Barton Road, and when you come to Thornwood Park, if you go up the hill there, you will come first of all to Thornwood Primary School, and then you'll meet our building, at the crossroads to Thornwood Terrace. We meet on the Lord's Day, Sunday, the first day of the week at 11 a.m. And we also have an early evening service on Sunday at 6 p.m. And we meet also on Wednesday at 7.30. You're welcome to come along to any of these services. They're open to the public. We have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide. We simply want to tell you about the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the very reason that he came was in order that he might save. There's a text here, and I'm going to quote from Isaiah. Isaiah is an Old Testament prophet, and he wrote about 600 years before the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. And he says in Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 22, Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. Now, let's be clear right at the very beginning. Isaiah was not referring to himself. He was speaking about another individual. And when he says, look unto me, he's not saying, look unto the prophet. He's saying, look unto the one whom the prophet is speaking about. Now who is that one that Isaiah was speaking about? He was speaking about the Son of God. the eternally begotten Son of God, that One who had been promised throughout all the Old Testament to come and to be the Saviour. And this One was going to come. And when He would come, the people were to look to Him to be saved. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. And friends, we are delighted to be able to stand here this afternoon on Buchanan Street and to tell you that 2,000 years ago or so, the one whom Isaiah spoke of finally came. He arrived, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, brought forth in the normal manner, born in Bethlehem, lived in Nazareth for about 30 years, and then he began his public ministry when he was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan, and then he began his public ministry when he went about teaching and preaching healing, performing miracles, declaring to all that He was the long-promised, long-sought-after Messiah. And He was telling us ultimately what He would do in order that He might save His people. It was necessary for Him to go to the cross, to suffer and to die, to give up his life as a once for all perfect sacrifice. Now, why had he got to offer up a sacrifice? He offered up a sacrifice because the law of God demands that the penalty for sin is death. And before he could save anyone, the Lord Jesus Christ had to die because he had to pay that penalty. He was paying it on behalf of others. He was our substitute. And we are delighted to tell you that He did suffer and He did die, and God laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. And when He was taken down from the cross, He was put into a borrowed tomb, and there He stayed on the Friday nights and all day Saturday until the early hours of the first day of the week when He arose, when He came out of the grave, when the grave could no longer hold the Son of God. His work was complete. He would never be raised from the dead if His work wasn't complete. And the very fact that he arose demonstrated that he was the Son of God, and that he was God's appointed mediator, and that his work was acceptable. And friends, he was seen by many, many people over a period of 40 days before he was taken up into heaven. before he ascended up into heaven, where he sits at God's right hand until that great and glorious and terrible day when he shall return in power and in glory. Well, friends, we are delighted to be able to stand here this afternoon and to declare these things to you because this is the day of grace. What does that mean? It means it's a day of God's grace and favour towards sinful mankind. It's an opportunity to get right with God. It's an opportunity to have your sins forgiven. It is an opportunity to be reconciled to God and to have that great hope for time and for eternity through what Christ Jesus the Lord has done. And therefore, friends, we urge you to make your peace with God through the Saviour whom He has appointed. Because, as the text I've quoted to you earlier would tell us, look unto me and be ye saved. You need to be saved. You may well ask me, Minister, what do I need to be saved from? I have everything in this world. I have good health, a good education. Maybe I've got a spouse or a partner, children, grandchildren. Maybe I've got a home, a business, a job, plenty of money. I go on holiday. I have everything that this world can give me. I lack nothing. I'm very happy. What do I need to be saved from? You need to be saved from your sin. Oh, but I'm not a sinner, minister. That's okay to call maybe someone who's in prison a sinner, but not me. I'm not a sinner. Friends, what does the Bible say? For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's Almighty God's verdict. That's His judgment. That's His assessment of your life, of my life, of your heart, my heart. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We've all missed the mark. We haven't managed to live the way that God would have us to live. And the way that God would have us to live would be a perfect life. Now that's not surprising because God himself is perfect. God is perfect. And he would have his creatures to be perfect. But we're not. And indeed we cannot be. because we're sinners by nature and sinners by practice. But here's the wonderful hope, the hope that God Himself has secured for us by all that He has done. He has provided a Savior and that Savior has undertaken all that was required of Him to secure the salvation of His people What is required of us? What is required of you? You must put your faith and hope and trust upon Jesus. You must believe the gospel. The gospel tells us, repent and believe the gospel. It tells us to turn away from our old life, turn away from our sin, turn our backs upon our sinful behavior, and to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe that He is the Son of God. You know, many people believe upon the Lord Jesus. They believe He's an historical figure. They believe in His miracles. They believe in His teachings. But they don't believe that He is God in the flesh. They don't believe that He is the only begotten Son of God. They don't believe that He suffered and died on Calvary's tree. Well, friends, there's no gospel, there's no Christianity without the suffering Christ. There's no gospel without Christ being crucified. As the Apostle Paul says, we preach Christ and Him crucified. And this is the very heart and the very essence of biblical Christianity because there's no hope. Our hope rests on the fact that one was condemned in our room and in our stead. That's the hope of the Christian. You see, Christianity deals with mankind's greatest problem, sin. No other religion deals with it. If you're following any other religion, If you're following any other religion, friends, you'll be disappointed because no one else deals with sin. No one else recognizes that God is a holy God and He cannot and He will not overlook sin. It must be dealt with and that's why He has dealt with it in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, friends, it's hardly surprising that we come out and we seek to tell you this wonderful message that God has fully displayed His love towards mankind. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. And this is the great matter that you must deal with. You must be saved, friends, because if you're not saved, what will happen? We're all mortal, you know. I don't need to tell you. I may need to remind you, but I don't need to tell you. You know it. We're all getting older. We're all headed towards eternity. When you pass into eternity, where will you go? The atheist loves to delude himself by saying there is no life after death. And he simply believes, or he wants to believe, and he tries to believe He suppresses his own conscience in order that he might believe that when he dies, it's all over. Well, friends, we've got news for him and for any others. When you die, in one sense, eternity begins. You live forever. You are an eternal being because God has made you that way. and you will either live in heaven or you will live in that place called hell, a place that has been prepared for the devil and his angels. If you like, it's God's prison. So where will you be? Will it be heaven with Christ, with the church, with his people? Or will it be hell with the devil and his angels? It's a very clear and stark choice. If you hope to be in heaven, friends, something must happen. You must be prepared for heaven. Heaven's a holy place. And by nature, we would not like heaven. That's why many people run away from the gospel and run away from going to church to hear the Word of God. They don't want to come in contact with God. They don't want to hear from God. Well, how do you think you're going to live in heaven when you die if you can't come to the house of God and hear something of His Word or worship Him? Heaven is a holy place, and it's only holy people that can get there. It's only people who are transformed and changed. It's only people who know the new birth. That's why Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must be born again. Now, Nicodemus, in case you don't know, Nicodemus was a religious man. He was a very educated man. He was a very morally upright man. He was a religious man, but he didn't know the new birth. He didn't know that he needed to be changed. He needs a new nature. Well, it's the same for us all. We call this Christian conversion. We need to be converted. We need to be prepared for heaven. None of us can simply march into heaven. We need that great change. And only God can change us. And that's why we must go to him. Look unto me, he says, and be ye saved. all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. And we are to be encouraged to go to God. He will receive us. He is willing to receive all who will genuinely come to Him. He will turn none away. The Lord Jesus Christ is one who will receive sinners, glad to receive them. And therefore, we are to run to Him. We are to be found in Him, seeking to be reconciled to God through what Jesus Christ has done. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That's the new man. That's the man who's been converted. That's the man who's ready for heaven. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. We're here from Partick, Free Church of Scotland continuing. We're going to take a short break, but may God be pleased to bless his word to you this afternoon. Welcome back to our weekly live stream. open ear witness. This week we're coming from Buchanan Street in Glasgow City Centre. It's good to be here. It's a very cold afternoon, but the weather is suitable for what we seek to do here. It's dry and we're very glad to the Lord for this day whereby we might be able to come out and seek to preach a word in season. And we have one or two gentlemen out who are handing out gospel tracts. If you're approached, we're very happy if you take one. It contains a very short and concise gospel message, and it also provides our contact details that you might know that we're a genuine Christian congregation and we're not fly-by-night cowboys. We operate in the Partick area of Glasgow, and we meet at Two Thornwood Terrace. We meet on the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, Sunday at 11 a.m., and we meet in the early evening at 6 p.m., and we also have a midweek meeting on Wednesday, and we extend a warm welcome to you to come along to any of these meetings. Don't feel in any sense embarrassed or apprehensive. It may well be that you're not a regular churchgoer, or it may be that you've never been to a Christian place of worship, and you might feel that you might be out of place, well, please come along. We would give you a warm and sincere welcome, and you would be under no obligation whatsoever. And if you are one who would like a copy of God's Word. We have one or two Bibles here and we would be happy to give one to you. And we have some literature printed in Mandarin for any Chinese persons who are passing by. Please make yourself known, we can give you a copy of the New Testament in Chinese, we'd be very happy to do that. We realize that in China we could never do what we're doing here, or indeed in many, many countries of the world, we're not free to evangelize. Many Muslim countries would never have us out on the street and you wouldn't be able to have a Bible. And we do appreciate the freedoms that we have in this country and we recognize that these freedoms have been given to us by Almighty God in order that we would take opportunity to proclaim the Gospel Because we know that our moves afoot, even in our own country, where people might despise and seek to stop what we do. But our freedoms have been won for us at a great cost. and we were not prepared to surrender them. And one of the freedoms that we have is that we're able to go out into the highways and into the byways and into the public square and to tell people the good news of the Christian gospel, that the Lord Jesus Christ The only begotten Son of God has come down from heaven, and he's come down on a mercy mission in order to seek and to save that which was lost. And friends, we need to realize and humble ourselves under God's mighty hand, because the Word of God tells us For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. And by nature, we're all under God's wrath and curse. But the good news of the Christian gospel is that God has provided a savior, a glorious savior. a Saviour who is able to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth, to make intercession for them. And we are encouraged, therefore, to invite you to turn away from your sin, Turn away, repent and believe the gospel and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will know what it is to have your sins forgiven and to have that wonderful and secure hope for eternity. Would you not like to be at peace with God? Well, you may well be saying to me, I have no problem. I don't have any difficulties. I don't know what you're talking about. Well, I don't think that's exactly right. Because you have a bad conscience. And sometimes that conscience will manifest itself more times than others. Sometimes you're troubled. You don't maybe know what it is. Well, I can tell you what it is. You're not right with God and you know that if you pass into eternity, you will face God, you will meet God. You will give account of yourselves and of your actions and you're not ready for that because you know you're a sinner and you know that God is a holy God. The Bible describes them like this. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity. And that troubles you, because the God of the Bible is holy, and we are not. And there is a great gulf and a great chasm between us and a holy God, and therefore you're not ready to meet Him. Well, friends, we want to tell you how you can meet with Him and how you can be reconciled to Him. How can that be? It's only through Jesus Christ, because He has suffered in our room and in our place. He has lived a perfect life that we ourselves could never live, but are required to live, but we cannot do it. but He has done it on our behalf. And here is the wonderful news of the Gospel, that God is prepared to accept someone as our substitute. Someone who has fulfilled God's law, kept it perfectly, and someone who has paid the penalty for God's law that was broken. That penalty was death. Because the wages of sin is death. That's why Jesus had to die. He was dying in order to meet the just demands of God's holy and inflexible law. A law that condemns us. You know, many people try to get right with God by obeying the law of God. When they cannot really obey the law of God, then maybe they can do it outwardly, but they cannot do it inwardly. You see, the law of God is concerned not just with what we do with our hands and feet, but also with our hearts, with our thoughts, and with our words. And when we realize this, we realize we're sinners before God. Well, there's a way to get right with God. There's a way to make peace. And that way has been made for us by Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our offenses and raised to life for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can know that. You can know it today. You can know it the moment that you truly come to Christ. You can have your sin forgiven and you can have that gift of eternal life. Therefore, Or I should begin, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation. There is no condemnation for the Christian. Why? because the Christian's substitute was condemned instead. Christ was condemned. Christ was forsaken. Christ paid the penalty for our sins. And we are to believe upon Him, the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God. who suffered and died in the room and in the place of sinners. Well friends, it's been good to be with you this afternoon. We're going to draw our time to a close. We're here from Partick, Free Church of Scotland continuing And it's a pleasure to be out in the street, and we do pray that the Lord might follow with His own unique blessing upon the proclamation of His Word. And thank you for listening to us throughout the afternoon.