[0:00] Well, if we could this morning with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of Scripture that we read, the Gospel according to Matthew and chapter 2.
[0:18] Matthew chapter 2, and I just want us to read the opening verses there. Matthew chapter 2 from the beginning.
[0:29] Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
[0:45] For we saw a star when it rose, and I have come to worship him. Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
[0:56] I want to begin with a question this morning. Who rules Christmas? Santa or Jesus?
[1:08] Who rules Christmas? Santa or Jesus? You know, I asked the question because there's a Christmas board game which came out on the market a couple of years ago, and it's called Santa vs. Jesus.
[1:24] And as you know on Christmas day, when families were allowed to get together, they like to play games after their Christmas dinner. But when this Christmas board game came out on the market, it confronted people with the question, Who rules Christmas?
[1:40] Santa or Jesus? And in many ways, it's a question which has been raging on for decades, especially in the church and in Christian homes, the question, Who rules Christmas, Santa or Jesus?
[1:54] But you know, I want to be clear from the outset that the Christmas board game, Santa vs. Jesus, it isn't in any way at all a Christian board game.
[2:05] In fact, it's the complete opposite. It's very anti-Christian. It's one of the most blasphemous things that I've seen in a long time. And I would not encourage you to go out and buy the game, Santa vs. Jesus, let alone play it.
[2:20] Nevertheless, the question which the game poses, I think, is an important one. Who rules Christmas, Santa or Jesus? And it's an important question, especially when society around us wants to commercialize Christmas and make it all about Santa and shove Jesus to the side.
[2:39] But as a church, we know that Christmas should be about Jesus because He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. He's the one of whom we were reading there in Matthew chapter one.
[2:51] He's the King who has come. He's the one who humbled himself from the crown of glory to the cradle in Bethlehem. And he humbled himself all the way down to the cross of Calvary.
[3:02] This therefore should be about Jesus and Jesus should rule Christmas. But the question we all have to ask ourselves is, does He?
[3:13] Does He? Who rules Christmas, Santa or Jesus? And you know, last week I mentioned to you an article which I read recently. The article was entitled, The Gospel According to Christmas Carols.
[3:26] The Gospel According to Christmas Carols. And in the article it read, we call them Christmas Carols but they really are Christmas hymns celebrating the incarnation of our Lord and Saviour.
[3:38] For a few weeks each December, these profound songs of worship become part of the holiday atmosphere. Our society's pervasive interest in them provides us with a unique opportunity to share the Gospel.
[3:51] It is the perfect time, He writes, to explain the meaning of these songs to those who don't know Christ. It is the perfect time to explain the meaning of these songs who don't know Christ.
[4:04] And last Lord's Day, you'll remember that we consider the well-known words of Charles Wesley's Christmas Carol, Hark the Herald Angel Sing, who were giving this evangelistic plea to give glory to the newborn King.
[4:18] And in that Christmas Carol, we were reminded that it's not Santa who rules Christmas but Jesus. And there are many Christmas Carols which remind us that Jesus rules Christmas.
[4:30] There's Silent Night, Old Little Town of Bethlehem, Once in Royal David City, Joy to the World, Away in a Minge, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.
[4:40] And with each Christmas Carol, there's this evangelistic plea where we're to consider who Jesus really is.
[4:51] And this morning, I want us to think about the words of another Christmas Carol. The Christmas Carol that we're all familiar with, O Come, All ye Faithful.
[5:02] And as you know, in that Christmas Carol, there are four verses, or four stanzas, and they all have the lyrics, O Come, All ye Faithful.
[5:13] And I'd like us just to think about each verse under four headings. A Gospel Call, a Gospel Creed, a Gospel Choir, and a Gospel Command.
[5:24] So four headings, a Gospel Call, a Gospel Creed, a Gospel Choir, and a Gospel Command. So first of all, a Gospel Call, a Gospel Call.
[5:37] And it relates to verses one and two of Matthew chapter two. We'll read them again. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born King of the Jews?
[5:54] For we saw a star when it rose and have come to worship him. And as you know, the Christmas Carol, it begins with the lyrics, O Come, All ye Faithful, joyful and triumphant, O Come ye, O Come ye to Bethlehem.
[6:10] O come and behold him born the King of angels. And then it's got this chorus, O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him Christ the Lord.
[6:23] Now although these well-known words have often been attributed to a man called John Francis Wade, they're actually dated to have been written as far back as the 13th century.
[6:35] Now John Francis Wade, he often gets the credit for these words because for many years he made a living as a copyist of musical manuscripts, where he would find all these old musical manuscripts, he would find them in libraries and he would copy them out very nicely for all his clients.
[6:53] And it said that Wade's calligraphy, his handwriting was so beautiful that his clients requested that he would sign his work at the very bottom. Hence the reason that the Christmas carols have off, many of them have been attributed to John Francis Wade.
[7:09] And in this Christmas carol we're being reminded that the Gospel doesn't call us to join a cause or follow a code, the Gospel calls us to come to a Persian.
[7:22] The Gospel calls us to come to the Persian of Jesus Christ because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Persian. The Gospel is a Persian, he is the good news of salvation.
[7:36] And that's what's emphasized in this Christmas carol because we're being called and compelled, even constrained, we're being constrained to come to the Persian of Jesus Christ.
[7:47] That's what it says, O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem, come and behold him, born the king of angels.
[7:59] My friend, this is a Gospel call to come to the Persian of Jesus Christ. And the thing is you're not being invited to come to a place of worship or to a priest or to a pope or to a preacher or even to say a prayer.
[8:15] You've been invited in the Gospel to come to a Persian, the Persian of Jesus Christ. And you know the wonderful thing about this gracious and glorious Gospel invitation is that the word come, the word come appears over 500 times in the Bible, which ought to emphasize to us and to reemphasize the point that the Gospel call is for you to come, for you to come to this Persian, this wonderful Persian who is called Jesus.
[8:51] You know is that not the message that Isaiah preached in his day? You remember that Isaiah began his prophetic book, come now, let us reason together.
[9:02] Though your sins be a scarlet, they shall be made as white as snow. Though they be read like crimson, they shall be made like wool. And then you go through the book of Isaiah, he reveals who this Savior is going to be in chapter 7.
[9:14] He's the one who's born of a virgin. He's going to be called Emmanuel. We read that in chapter 1 of Matthew's Gospel. We read also in Isaiah chapter 9 about this Savior who's going to be named.
[9:27] He's the everlasting Father, the wonderful counselor, the mighty God. He's the Prince of Peace. We read in chapter 11, he's the rod from Jesse. We go to chapter 53, he's the one who will be wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.
[9:41] But then you come to the end of Isaiah's great Gospel you could say, and he gives a Gospel invitation. Chapter 55, a chapter probably most of us learned as a child.
[9:54] That gracious and glorious Gospel invitation where Isaiah says to us, everyone who thirsts, come. Come to the water. He who has no money, come.
[10:06] Buy and eat. Ye come buy wine and milk without money and without price. And Isaiah says, incline your ear and what? Come.
[10:16] Hear that your soul may live. But you remember Jesus, of whom Isaiah prophesied, Jesus, he appeared. And what did he do?
[10:26] He preached the same glorious and gracious Gospel invitation because he said, if anyone is thirsty, come. If any man, woman, boy or girl is thirsty, come to me and drink.
[10:41] You know my friend, this is the message of our Bible. This is the message of the Gospel. And in fact, our Bible extends this gracious and glorious Gospel invitation right down to the last page because in Revelation 22, the close of your Bible, we're told the Spirit and the bride say, come.
[11:05] And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty, come. My friend, this gracious and glorious Gospel invitation, it's full of gracious and glorious imperatives.
[11:20] We are invited to come. That's what the Bible tells us. Come. Look. Listen. Incline. Hear.
[11:30] Ask. Seek. Knock. Call. Come. All of these are imperatives. All of these gracious and glorious Gospel imperatives, they're inviting us to come.
[11:41] None of them say, stay where you are. None of them say, sit and do nothing. None of them say, wait for the bright lights and the voice from heaven and for God to speak to you out of the clouds.
[11:56] No, none of them say these things. Not one of these gracious and glorious Gospel imperatives is a perversion of the doctrine of election. Do you know so many people say to me, well, if I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to be saved.
[12:12] I'll be saved and there's nothing I can do about it. But you know, the Bible, it gives all these imperatives and not one of these gracious and glorious Gospel imperatives, not one of them moves our responsibility to seek the Lord.
[12:30] No, these gracious and glorious Gospel imperatives, they all encourage and exhort you to come to the Persian. We're not inviting you to a creed or a confession.
[12:44] We're not inviting you to come and have a code in your life or join a cause. We're inviting you to a Persian, the Persian of Jesus Christ. And in him, you will find rest for your soul.
[12:57] That's why Jesus says to you in the Gospel, come unto me, all you that labor on that heavy laden and I will give you rest.
[13:07] Now I know that for some of you here and for some of you at home, you might be saying in your heart, how can I come to Jesus? I'm not good enough.
[13:19] I'm not fit enough. I'm not worthy enough. I don't know enough. This Christmas Carol Mardoe, it says, oh, come all ye faithful.
[13:33] I'm not faithful. I'm a failure. And you know, my friend, I would have to agree with you there.
[13:44] You are a failure. But so am I. So am I. In fact, we're all failures. And this Christmas Carol, if I was to write it or rewrite it, it should say, oh, come all ye failures.
[14:01] Because the qualification for coming to this wonderful person, the qualification is not are you good enough or are you worthy enough or are you fit enough or do you know enough?
[14:12] No, the qualification for coming to the person of Jesus Christ is are you a failure or are you foolish? Are you worried or weary? Are you burdened or backslidden?
[14:24] Are you distressed and distraught? Are you anxious or apprehensive? Are you tired or troubled? Are you struggling with sin, sickness, suffering or sorrow? And my friend, have you fallen to any of these categories?
[14:38] That's your qualification to come to this Jesus. And let's not deny all of these qualifications. They describe us. They describe you and they describe me because there's not one of us in this world who has it all together.
[14:54] Not one of us. It doesn't matter what front or facade we put on before the eyes of other people. The reality is we're all broken people living broken lives in a broken world.
[15:07] That's why we're being issued a gospel call this morning. Oh, come all ye failures, joyful and triumphant. Oh, come ye, oh, come ye to Bethlehem.
[15:19] Come to the house of bread. That's what the name Bethlehem means. Come to Bethlehem. The house of bread and you'll find there the bread of life. Jesus is the bread of life.
[15:33] And we're urged, oh, come, let us adore Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.
[15:43] It's a gospel call. But then secondly, we see a gospel creed. A gospel creed. So a gospel call and a gospel creed.
[15:55] We see in chapter one, adverse 22. We're told that all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us.
[16:14] The second verse of this Christmas Carol continues with the lyrics, God of God, light of light eternal. Although he abhorred not the virgin's womb, son of the Father begotten not created.
[16:27] And then the chorus, oh, come, let us adore Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him. Oh, come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. And as we said, this verse sets before us a gospel creed.
[16:40] In fact, this verse sets before us the Nicene creed. The Nicene creed. Now, the Nicene creed was a creed which was agreed by the early church in 325 AD.
[16:52] And it was agreed in order to descend and to defend against the heresy of Arianism. Now, you might be tempted to think, well, what does a fourth century heresy have to do with us here in the 21st century?
[17:05] But you know, it was actually the church historian, Dr. Nick Needham. He taught me when I was in HTC, brilliant guy. He wrote, written these books called 2000 Years of Christ's Power, and they're very readable.
[17:18] And he says, when it comes to the Arian Controversy, he says, the Arian Controversy was the greatest theological controversy in the history of Christianity. It was centered on the most fundamental of all questions.
[17:32] Who is Jesus Christ? Is he God in flesh? Or is he a created being? And as you'd expect, the Arian Controversy had created a doctrinal division and a debate within the early church.
[17:47] And it all began because this popular preacher called Arius. He was a popular preacher and he taught that Jesus had been created by God the Father.
[17:58] Arius, he based his understanding upon the words of Paul in Colossians chapter one, where Paul says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He's the firstborn of all creation.
[18:10] And with that, Arius, this popular preacher, he claimed that before anything was created, even before the angels were created in heaven, he says that God the Father created his only begotten Son.
[18:25] But even though Arius taught that God the Father created his Son, he insisted that because Jesus was the firstborn of all creation, Jesus was the greatest of all that the Father created and therefore he was the most special.
[18:42] But what Arius couldn't envisage was that Jesus was God. In fact, Arius argued that since God the Father was clearly God, God the Son couldn't be God because then there would be two gods.
[18:56] So he must have been created. And as you can appreciate, all of this got quite confusing. But you know, it's because of all these doctrinal divisions and debates and discussions, that you know, it's because of all these things that we have our creeds and our catechisms and our confessions today.
[19:15] We stand on the shoulders of giants. And we should always be thankful for that. But you know, the Aryan controversy over the Persian of Jesus Christ, it all came to a head when Constantine, who was the first Christian emperor in the Roman Empire, he felt it was his duty as a Christian emperor to bring and to heal this divide within the church.
[19:37] And so Constantine, he summoned the first ecumenical council in Nicaea in 325 AD, where there was over 300 church leaders. They all came together at the Council of Nicaea and they all discussed and disputed and debated over the Persian of Jesus Christ.
[19:56] And the end result was that they drafted this doctrinal statement. It was a confession of faith. It was the Nicene Creed. And I want to read the Nicene Creed to you.
[20:07] I want you to read it when you go home as well. But I want to read it to you because in many ways the Nicene Creed is a Christmas Creed. It's a confession of faith about who rules Christmas.
[20:20] The Nicene Creed says, we believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made of the same essence as the Father, through him all things were made for us and for our salvation.
[20:47] He came down from heaven. He became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate.
[20:58] He suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again according to the scriptures. It says he ascended to heaven. He seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will never end.
[21:14] Then it continues, we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
[21:24] He spoke through the prophets. Then it goes on to say, we believe in the one Holy Catholic Church, meaning universal and apostolic church. We affirm one baptism, the baptism of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins.
[21:38] We look forward to the resurrection of the dead and to the life in the world to come. And I'd encourage you to look up the Nicene Creed because it's a gospel creed.
[21:50] And it emphasizes to us that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was eternally begotten, not created. He's God from God, light from light. He's the one of whom Isaiah prophesied that the people who walked in darkness shall see a great light.
[22:06] He's the one of whom John said that he is the true light which is coming into the world. Jesus is the one who declared himself to be the light of the world. He said, I am the light of the world.
[22:17] Whosoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but you'll have the light of life. You know, my friend, Jesus is as the Christmas carol of firms.
[22:29] He is God from God, light of light eternal. Lo, he abhors not the virgin's womb. Son of the Father, begotten, not created. It's a gospel creed.
[22:43] And as I said, we might be tempted to think to ourselves, well, what relevance does a gospel creed? What relevance does this fourth century creed, Nicene Creed, what relevance does it have for us who are living in the 21st century?
[22:57] But you know, the truth is, even though Arianism was denied and declared as a heresy back in the fourth century, Arianism still exists today.
[23:08] But Arianism, it exists under a different name. They're called Jehovah Witnesses, which makes this very relevant to us because, as you know, Jehovah Witnesses are everywhere.
[23:22] They have a kingdom hall and store in a way. And in many ways, we look at them and we'd say that they're more committed and more passionate in their outreach and evangelism than we are.
[23:35] And what they're spreading is lies because they say that Jesus is the Son of God, but He's not God.
[23:46] They say that Jesus was created. They don't celebrate Christmas or the resurrection because they say that Jesus is not God. He's created. But you know, my friend, it all boils down to this.
[24:00] If Jesus is not God, then this morning you have no mediator. If Jesus is not God, you have no one to stand as your middleman between you and a holy God.
[24:15] If Jesus is not God, you have no advocate with the Father. You have no possibility of ever having a relationship with God.
[24:25] If Jesus is not God, you have no substitute who died on the cross. If Jesus is not God, you have no savior to take away your sin. If Jesus is not God, you have no promise of salvation and the promise we were giving to the children of eternal life.
[24:41] My friend, if Jesus is not God, then there's no gracious and glorious gospel invitation to give. If Jesus is not God, then I have no right to call, commend or compel you to come to this Christ.
[25:01] I have no right to say to you, oh come, let us adore Him. Oh come, let us adore Him. Oh come, let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.
[25:11] But as you know, my friend, Jesus is God. He is Lord. He is King of kings. He is Lord of lords.
[25:21] And we are to worship Him. We are to adore Him. We're to follow Him. We're to commit our lives to Him. We're to live every day for Him, for His glory and ultimately seeking the furtherance of His kingdom.
[25:35] And you know, that's why there was a gospel choir when He was born, which is what we see in the third verse of this Christmas Carol. A gospel choir.
[25:46] So we have a gospel call, a gospel creed, and then a gospel choir. A gospel choir. The third verse of this Christmas Carol contains the lyrics, sing choirs of angels, sing in exaltation, sing all ye citizens of heaven above, glory to God, all glory in the highest.
[26:10] And as you know, we're familiar with choir singing. We're familiar with the mod, with all these Gaelic choirs. They all sing and they sing together beautifully.
[26:21] But you know, there's actually something very uplifting and something very enriching about a gospel choir. I'm sure you've seen these black American gospel choirs.
[26:31] They sing with such joy and gladness where they sing not only with their lips, but they also sing with their heart. And they sing with this desire to give glory to God.
[26:42] And you know, singing, it's so important for us because it's good for us to sing to the Lord. It's good for us to worship the Lord. That's one of the things I find most difficult about being in church where we're unable to sing.
[26:58] Even if we were to hum behind our mask. It's still not the same, is it? Still not the same. Which is, you know, along for the day where we can throw our masks off and sing praise to the Lord, where we can worship the Lord and sing because it's good for us to worship.
[27:18] It's good for us to sing praise to the Lord. I know this is something the Psalms pick up on repeatedly. They emphasize our need to sing because you know, my friend, when we're at our lowest and when we're at our weakest and when we feel furthest from the Lord, you know, the remedy to that is to sing.
[27:40] You know, we should stop sinking inward and start singing upward. That's the remedy. When we feel at our lowest and our weakest and when we feel so far away from the Lord, we should stop sinking inward and start singing upward.
[27:58] You walk around your house and you praise the Lord. That's what you should do. Praise Him in the car. Praise Him wherever you are. Sing praise to the Lord. Sing praise and worship the Lord and ascribe worth to the Lord because that's what worship is.
[28:13] It's worthship. And that's what the angels were doing when they appeared at the birth of Christ. We looked at this last week more in Luke chapter two. They were ascribing worth.
[28:23] They were giving glory. They were this orchestra of honor. They were proclaiming praise to the Lord. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.
[28:37] You know, I love what we're reminded about Jesus in verse one of the Christmas Carol. In verse three, we have the angels standing together as a choir, but in verse one, we're told that Jesus was born the king of angels.
[28:54] He was born the king of angels. Jesus was king over the gospel choir. This choir that was filled with multitudes of angels who sang at his birth.
[29:05] And what's remarkable about the angels is that Jesus was praised in exaltation and yet he was in a position of humiliation.
[29:15] Jesus was praised with exaltation and yet he was in a position of humiliation. But my friend, it's because Jesus was in a position of humiliation that we should continue to follow the example and the encouragement and the exhortation of all these angels and do what they did.
[29:38] We should praise him because this gospel choir of angels, it's saying to us as it is in the Christmas Carol, Oh, come, let us adore him.
[29:49] Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Christ, he is Christ, the Lord. And so in this Christmas Carol, we see a gospel call, a gospel creed, a gospel choir.
[30:03] And lastly, I'm very briefly a gospel command, a gospel command. Matthew one verse 21 says she will bear a son, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
[30:22] And this Christmas Carol, it concludes with the lyrics. Yeah, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning, Jesus to thee be all glory given, word of the Father now in flesh appearing.
[30:36] Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Christ, the Lord. Now, we mentioned earlier to the children about Christmas wreath and how in the past wreaths were made from leftover cuttings of Christmas trees.
[30:56] Where the cuttings of the evergreen tree, they were all twisted together in order to create this circular shape of the wreath. And because the wreath was in a circular shape, as you know, it has no beginning and has no end.
[31:08] And it became a symbol of eternity that Jesus promises to all who trust in him, he promises them eternal life. But as you know, in ancient Greece, a wreath was not only an ornament, it was also a crown, a crown which a champion athlete would receive upon victory.
[31:30] They would wear a wreath, not of an evergreen tree, but a wreath of flowers. You know, I don't know about you, but when I look at it at the Christmas wreath that was hanging in our house before I took it down here, you know, when I think of that Christmas wreath, I think of it not only as the symbol of eternal life, but also the crown.
[31:54] Jesus humiliated himself, he humbled himself from the crown of glory to the cradle in Bethlehem, all the way down, down, down to the cross of Calvary.
[32:05] He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And you know, in my mind, I think of Jesus as someone who never lost his crown. He never lost his crown, because from the point of humiliation, from the crown to the cradle to the cross, all the way back to his exaltation in glory again, Jesus was always crowned our champion.
[32:30] He was always crowned our champion, because he was crowned in glory as the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Creator over all. He was crowned in the cradle of Bethlehem.
[32:42] He was crowned as the angels worshiped him. He was crowned with the name of Jesus. Call his name Jesus, they said, he will save his people from their sins. Call him Savior, call him salvation, because that's what his name means.
[32:56] Call him Jesus, because he will be crowned champion for his people. And that's what we see at the cross of Calvary, isn't it? Jesus was crowned champion on the cross.
[33:07] Jesus was crowned with a wreath, not of evergreen tree, but a crown of thorns. He was crowned with a wreath of thorns, all twisted together and placed upon his head.
[33:21] But it was through the cross, through the crucifixion, through the crown, our Jesus saved his people from their sins. And you know, the wonder of our crowned champion is that from glory to Golgotha to the grave, he never lost his crown.
[33:44] He never lost his crown. From glory to Golgotha to the grave, he never lost his crown. And that's the reason Jesus rules Christmas.
[33:58] You know, it's for that reason, it's not Santa who rules Christmas. It's Jesus. Jesus rules Christmas.
[34:08] And from this well-known Christmas carol we're being given, as we said, a gospel call, a gospel creed, a gospel choir, and a gospel command.
[34:19] And the command is very simple. O come, let us adore him. O come, let us adore him.
[34:29] O come, let us adore him. Because he is Christ, the Lord. My friend, let's follow this gospel command and come to this Christ that we may adore him.
[34:48] Well, may the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Let us pray together. O Lord, our gracious God, may we give thanks for that gracious and glorious gospel invitation where we are invited to come, to come and adore this King, where he was born the King of angels, where they worshiped him in choir and in song.
[35:14] And yet, Lord, we thank thee that he humbled himself and was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. But we give thanks that that is not the end of the story, nor will it be, for he rose triumphant over the grave.
[35:29] He brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, and help us then we pray, ought to adore him today and every day. Not only to see him as the Christ of Christmas, but the Christ of every day of our lives, the one whom we walk with and talk with on the way, the one whom we look to and love and live for.
[35:51] And Lord, we pray that we would do so for thy glory, for the furtherance of thy kingdom, and to lift up the name of Jesus. All bless us then we pray, bless us as homes and as families, and have mercy upon us, for we ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake.
[36:09] Amen. Now we're going to bring our service to a conclusion this morning by considering the words of Sam 95.
[36:22] Sam 95 in the Scottish Salter. Sam 95, we're considering the words verses 1 to 6, where there is that great gospel call, even the Psalms were doing it, inviting us to come and adore Christ the Lord.
[36:46] There's this gospel call in verse 1, no, come let us sing to the Lord, come let us everyone, a joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation. And then again in verse 6, oh come and let us worship him, let us bow down with all and on our knees before the Lord, our maker, let us fall.
[37:05] So Sam 95 to God's praise. Oh come let us sing to the Lord, come let us everyone, a joyful noise make to the rock of our salvation.
[37:42] Let us be all in presence now with grace and gladness, oh Lord.
[38:01] Let us sing to him with grace and give him a joyful noise.
[38:18] Oh come let us sing to him with grace and give him a joyful noise.
[38:33] Let all the earth fall in his hands, the Sam of his saving.
[38:50] Oh come let us sing to him with grace and give him a joyful noise.
[39:06] Let all the earth fall in his hands, the Sam of his saving.
[39:23] Oh come let us worship him, let us bow down with all and on our knees before the Lord, our maker, let us all.
[39:57] We'll conclude with a benediction. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
[40:08] Now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.
[41:08] Amen. Amen.
[41:48] Amen. Amen.
[42:08] Amen. Amen.
[42:28] Amen. Amen.
[42:48] Amen. Amen.
[43:08] Amen. Amen.
[43:28] Amen. Amen.
[43:48] Amen. Amen.