Now we'll have the congregation please stand as we receive the colours. You're all indeed very welcome to this worship service and also our Remembrance Sunday commemoration service of all those who gave their lives so we might enjoy religious, social and spiritual freedom in our world today. and we want this to be a very special time. Do please remain standing as we sing together hymn number 70, Oh God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come. I will ask you to please remain standing at the end of this hymn and we will observe a minute's silence as we remember those who gave their lives. It's interesting in these days when the generations are younger and younger and we move more and more from the first and the second world wars and subsequent wars It is easy to forget the great cost of our freedom and we wanted to be a very special time today to remember those who gave their lives that we might have freedom of democracy in our world. So do please remain standing for the last post and then at the end of the last post I shall close that moment's silence in prayer. Let's all stand and sing together number 70. O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, our shelter from the stormy blast, Beneath the shadow of Thy throne Thy saints have mercy done. He bore the guilt in order to honor His Savior's name. However much we love our God, through endless years of strife, a thousand angels in my sight are like the evening star. And the night before the rising sun. An ever rolling stream, bears all its sons away. They fly forgotten as a dream, dies at the opening day. Of the hardened, wretched man, and our eternal home. the the Hmm. Let us pray together. Our Father, we humbly draw near to you here this morning, realizing, Lord, that we enjoy freedom, we enjoy liberty, and we enjoy so many of the blessings and so many of the comforts that have been so dearly bought by the blood of those who have gone before us. As we humbly bow before you, Lord, we want to mark our gratitude and appreciation for those who endured suffering, pain, and even death as a consequence of their fight for freedom in our part of the world. Our God, we thank you for those who, sacrificially, and unreservedly give their lives at such great peril so that we might be free. We rejoice, Lord, in our religious liberties and freedoms, our freedom of speech and our freedom of democracy. We thank you, Lord, that these are privileges for us, Lord, to enjoy, and yet the responsibility that comes with them Lord, to observe them and to live a right as God has foreordained for his people. Lord, we do remember those who lost loved ones in all the conflicts, Lord, whether it has been recent or in years past. Thank you, Lord, that there is comfort from knowing God. And thank you there is comfort that comes from the throne of grace and from our heavenly Father. And we would pray, Lord, today that those who endure and feel the pain of those who were taken from them through conflict and strife, Lord, might be comforted by God, and may they know your peace at this time. Our Father, we pray for those who are constantly and currently involved in the struggle to keep democracy for other nations and other worlds. We know that, Lord, many tyrants and dictators would seek to usurp the authority, Lord, in many countries. We thank you for the dedicated, committed, sacrificial service of those who on a daily basis risk their lives for our freedoms. And so, O God, we pray that you'll protect them. We ask, O God, that you'll visit them. May they know your protection Lord, may they know most of all your provision for them daily. We pray, Lord, against every dictator that would raise his hand against every democracy in this world. And we pray that God will have his way and usurp all authority and show himself to be sovereign Lord in every situation. We thank you, Lord, most of all, for the freedom that we have in knowing Christ. We thank you for his life that was given that we might be saved from sin and know peace with God. And we pray, Lord, in these days that we will hold valuable and dearly the great sacrifice that Christ made for all of us. Lord, may we not discard it. May we not forget it. May we not, Lord, seek to sideline it or put it into the sidelines. may it be the most prominent of all our aspirations to know Him and to live for Him. So, Lord, be with us in this service. Guide our thoughts, guide our words, guide our actions. And Lord, we pray, will you rule our reactions. We just pray, O God, now that your hand will be heavily upon us, And thank you, Lord, for the blessings we get from your hand daily. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, if you would like to follow the scripture reading that we're turning to this morning, then I'm going to invite you to turn with me to the Romans, the book of Romans, Paul's letter to the Romans, and chapter 1, and we're going to read the first 16 verses. Something worth dying for is the message this morning and I trust the Lord will bless it to our hearts Romans and chapter 1 and we're reading the first 16 verses of this passage together Romans chapter 1 and the verse 1 down to the verse 16 Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. by whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you. For I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established. That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you but was let hitherto that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise. So as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Amen. And we trust that the Lord will bless that reading of his word to all of our hearts. Back there in September, we had our missionary convention. I'm sure many of you attended that convention. Perhaps some of you don't know that it exists. But back in September we had our missionary convention. It starts on a Sunday morning, continues through Sunday evening, and then Monday and on Tuesday. One of the most encouraging and inspiring reports of that convention was the Sazra report. I don't know if any of you remember that, but I do very definitely remember it. And the representative of Sazra started off his report with a little video clip. And the video clip was of a soldier who, having come from the battlefield, returned to that same battlefield on several occasions. As far as I remember, seven occasions. If that's not true, it may have been six, but I think it was seven. And his purpose to return to the battlefield was to seek and find his commanding officer and bring him home back to the company. He unsuccessfully, he was unsuccessful in his endeavor. But the thing that struck me was that every time he came back, he came back with another wounded soldier. And in seeking for his commanding officer, he saved six other lives, as far as we know. and his life also was preserved. I think that is noteworthy of outstanding honour and bravery, isn't it? Of a degree not known and not experienced by many. And it struck me that that young soldier was greatly taken with his love and affection for his commanding officer, to the point where he was even willing to risk his own life. He found someone that he was willing to die for. He found someone, a cause, a purpose for which he was willing to risk his own life. And he too was fighting for our religious freedom. He too was fighting for our social freedom and democratic freedom in the world in which we live. When we look at this passage of Scripture, We're looking at another man who thought that there's something worth living and dying for. And it was the Apostle Paul. Paul was willing to risk his neck and his life for the sake of the gospel and those to whom he wanted to communicate it to. We know this was true of Paul's life. Many times he was beaten and left within an inch of death. Many times he was hunted and hounded by those who opposed the gospel. In fact, here's a breakdown of all the sufferings that Paul endured in his endeavor to bring the gospel to those in Rome and throughout the world. When he preached in Jerusalem, the religious center of the world, he was mobbed. When he preached in Athens, the intellectual center of the world, he was mocked. When he preached in Rome, the legislative center of the world, he was martyred. In fact, in Paul's calling to preach the gospel, one of the things that God conveyed to Paul's heart was that he would give his life, he would suffer many things at the hand of evil men. as he did God's bidding, as he preached the gospel to those who needed it. And it was there in Rome that his life was finally martyred. Paul had found a message, something worth dying for. Just like that young soldier that was very inspiring as I heard that story for the first time, found something worth dying for. But here's Paul, one who was so intelligent and so learned and who was so privileged in his background and so, as we would say, sophisticated. What was it that had grabbed his life and what was it that motivated his life and what had he found that made him willing to sacrifice his life. What was it that motivated him? Let me very quickly then spell it out to you. Because I think you'll learn something of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it will determine whether or not you have it or don't have it. And I trust that it will whet your appetite that you might receive it and give you something worth living for. The first thing that I notice about Paul is this. He was willing to die because of his constraint. It says in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14, here's what Paul says, The love of Christ constraineth me. The love of Christ constraineth me. It would be very easy to misconstrue and misunderstand that little text. It would be very easy to think that somehow, magically and mystically, God had placed in his heart some kind of a switch, had clicked some little switch in Paul's heart and he began to love everybody because he was willing to risk his life. But here's what really did happen. Paul, as he noticed and as he observed the motivation of the love of Christ, and the love that Christ had conveyed to the world by willing to die for mankind. As he measured that love, as he meditated upon that love, the love that drove Christ to Calvary, he said, if He was willing to do that for me, then I'm willing to give my life for Him. He was constrained by the love of Christ. Something that had captured his heart was the measure, the magnitude of the love that Christ had for the world. You know, he wasn't trying to assimilate Christ's love. Because you and I could never assimilate Christ's love. He was the Son of God, God the Son. He was the second person of the Trinity. He was the one who inhabited the praises of eternity. In fact, here's how we measure His love. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It would be a very rare event when anyone would die for their enemy, wouldn't it? In fact, we would want to see our enemies get the full measure of the justice and of the judgment of God, wouldn't we? But whenever we think of the measure of Christ's love, And I want you to think about this now as you meditate upon this remembrance Sunday. And what was it that drove our military to be imperiled in the fields of battle? Love for country, love for freedom, yes. But what was it that imperiled Christ on the cross and impaled Him upon the cross? It was His love for you and I. And Paul, as he had observed this love, as he measured this love, It captivated his heart. In fact, here's how he refers to it. In Galatians 2 and 20. He said, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. He thought about his own life. He thought about the unworthiness of his life. He thought about the mess of his life. He thought about the sin of his life. How they used to even take Christians and put them in prison and even martyred some of them. He even held the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen to death. And yet he said, God still loved me. Even though I was the chief of sinners, he said. That's the motivation. That was the measure of his love. He was constrained, urged by the love of Christ. Do you know anything of the love of Christ for you? Can you tell me, could anybody possibly name to me one thing, one reason why you think that the Christ of glory would die on the cross for you? Can you think of any virtue, any value, anything worth dying for you? Well, think of your life. Think of the sin of your life. Think of the selfishness of your life. Think of the self-centeredness of your life. Think of the deceptions of your life. Think of all the thoughts that run through your mind. Can you think of one good thing, one good reason among all the mess of sin that has infested your life and mine? And yet Christ showed the measure of His love in that He died, listen, He died for you. He died for you. I often hear people say, I hate myself for what I did. I hate myself for what I said. I hate myself for what I thought. You know, in the midst of all of that, Christ said, I love you. You see, He doesn't love the sin, but He loves the sinner. That was the constraint. Paul was willing to sacrifice his life He found a message worth dying for because of the constraint of his life. But very quickly Paul found something worth dying for because of the conviction of his life. You'll find in verse 14 he says that I am a debtor both to Greek and to barbarian. In what way was Paul indebted to them? Did he owe them some debt? Had they done something for him? Had they somehow given him something that we don't know anything about? Absolutely not! But when he thought of the great debt that was paid for him, he felt in his heart that because Christ had forgiven him, you listening? Because Christ had forgiven him, he was willing then to ensure that others found the same forgiveness. And he was now looking at the responsibility of every believer. Because Christ has forgiven me, I'm willing to spend my life to see that others find this forgiveness. Now let us very quickly, I don't want to run over time today, but I want you to turn with me to a very interesting story that you'll find in 2 Kings in chapter 6. Just very quickly, and I'll try and give you the story as quickly as I can, but I find this amazing little story in the Old Testament. Some people try to tell me that the Old Testament is irrelevant today. Do you believe that? I certainly don't. And I find some very valuable cameos of God's grace and love, and very clear pictures of the gospel in the Old Testament. Well here we find in 2 Kings 6, an interesting story, verse 24 and verse 25. And it says here, and it came to pass after this that King Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his hosts and went up and besieged Samaria. What did they do in those days? They thought by sieging these countries that food lines couldn't get in, water would be cut off, and the people in those cities would be starved into submission, or even defeat. And verse 25 says, and there was a great famine in Samaria. So this siege had affected the whole land. Everyone was affected. In fact, it was so bad, and you may not like me to say this, but this is scripture. It was so bad that mothers were eating their children. If you read the whole story, it's there. I don't want to read it, but they turned to cannibalism. That's how bad it was. So a sustained siege upon these lands had brought the place into terrible famine. Now let's read on. And there was a great famine, and behold, they besieged it until an ass's head was sold, or a donkey's head was sold for four score pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of doves' dung was sold for five pieces of silver. That's starvation of a magnitude that you and I don't know anything about, isn't it? They were being starved into submission. But let me tell you, fill you in with the rest of the story. There they were, they were in the city, they were about to die of starvation and hunger. And there were two lepers in that same city. Now, can you think of anything more hopeless? At least this is the way I was thinking this morning. Can you think of anything more hopeless and helpless? Two already condemned people, lepers were condemned then. This was known as a plague, the punishment of God for some secret sin in their lives. That's what they thought. And so here's two lepers in Samaria, and they're also in a starving city, so they can't get any worse, can they? And so because they couldn't see how worse it could be by throwing themselves at the mercy of their enemies, what did they do? They went out of the city and went towards their enemy. But here's the wonderful thing, get this, God already had disturbed the enemy, and the enemy thought that there was a great conflict and a great adversary coming, and what did they do? God showed through their camp into confusion, that they all fled. Now maybe they thought, we see two lepers coming, we don't want to get infected, I don't know. But the Bible says that God affected the whole enemy's camp, and they turned tail and run. and they left everything in the camp, food and everything else. Now turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 7 and verse 9. When they get to the camp, what do they find? They find food and ladies, they found fashion, clothing, they found all sorts of luxurious items and they feasted on it. But then they turned one to the other and what did they say? Well, listen to what they said in 2 Kings chapter 7 verse 9. They said, then they said one to another, we do not, well this day is a day of good tidings and we hold our peace. Ah folks, listen. Paul's conviction was that Christ had purchased us forgiveness of sins. Satan had been defeated. Sin had been atoned for. Provision had been made. Grace was available in vast supply. There was a way out. There was a way up. There was a way back. And there was a way in to God's presence. And it had been purchased through the grace of Almighty God. And tonight in the enrollment of the girls' brigade, they're going to sing a song. It's the new one, Amazing Grace. And my chains are gone, my sins are... What is it? I've been set free. I think I've got an early onset of something. I've been set free. The wonderful thing, men and women, young people, I must say you are listening very well and that is greatly appreciated by the preacher. It makes it a lot easier when you sit so well and listen. I trust that I'm interesting enough for you to listen anyway. Or what I've got to say is interesting enough. But the wonderful thing is, God has made wonderful provision for all of us. Sins have been forgiven. the opportunity of knowing freedom, the opportunity of knowing a place in heaven, and much more than that, the opportunity of knowing God's presence with us day by day is very real. Here's what the Word of God says, Paul himself again said it, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, and has committed unto us the message of reconciliation. Listen, if you're saved, you've got a message worth preaching. In fact, it's a sin to hold it to yourself. But if you aren't willing to share it, it means you haven't got it. Because something so wonderful that these two men experienced as they found this camp so full and abundant, how could they hold it to themselves? And they went back into the camp of Israel and they said, listen, we've found, or Samaria, and we've found food and abundance, and the whole nation come out. The whole town come out. and indulge themselves in the grace of God there and then. There is one, dear soul, who cares. There is one who cures all our diseases. He binds up all our wounds. He heals all broken hearts. He reconciles us back to the Father. I think it was Mercedes Benz in an early day, discovered a new system of braking. I think it was, I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it was ABS braking. It was a new system of braking which helped stop the car much, much quicker than old systems. Some of you young fellas will be into this kind of thing. Especially the speed that some of you boys drive at. And it was a life-saving It was a life-saving system. Do you think they held it to themselves? The moment they discovered it, they informed every other car manufacturer. And someone asked Mercedes-Benz, why did you share this with every other car manufacturer? This could have made you the leading manufacturer in the world. And they said this, there are some things too valuable to keep to yourself. Can I challenge every believer in this meeting today? There's a message much too valuable to keep to ourselves. It's the message of God's amazing grace. Paul was willing to sacrifice his life because of his constraint, because of his conviction, But we notice also he was willing to sacrifice, he is willing to die, willing to lay his life on the altar because of his calling. You know it says in Acts chapter 9 verses 15 and 16, the Lord said, Go for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings as well as to the people of Israel and I will show him how much he must suffer for my name's sake. You know, Paul knew the privilege and the purpose of his calling. He knew the importance of his calling, and he took it seriously. That's why he preached so faithfully. That's why he preached so fearfully. And that's why he preached so powerfully. You know, it wasn't a matter of him being politically correct. You know, one of the things that World War I and World War II were fighting for was religious freedom. But have you noticed the encroach of, we have to now be politically correct, even in the preaching of the gospel? If the politicians of this world had their way today, every faithful preacher of the gospel would have nothing to say. because they couldn't say it. And is that not an infringement on the religious freedoms that were purchased by the fallen brethren on the battlefields of the world? We've had the Asher's case and we've had all sorts of silencing mechanisms placed upon us because we dare not be politically incorrect. I think we're getting to a day when the erosion of our liberties have been stolen from us from before our eyes and we're not even fighting back for it. Paul didn't mind being politically incorrect. He nailed sin as sin. And he wasn't afraid to put his neck on the line. Tell me, if you were faced tonight with having to stand up for Christ and the gospel and your profession of faith, would you stand? or would you throw in the towel? Ah, but let me bring that a little bit closer. What about all the temptations facing the Christian today? Considering what Christ died for, the forgiveness of sins, the selfishness of man, how willingly we threw in the towel to every little temptation of sin without even thinking of it. Paul was called to preach the gospel. It was interesting whilst over in America how the TV presenters and radio hosts and chairmen and compares of different programs presented this one and that one and the other. And every time that they presented someone, they would always say, it is my great pleasure and privilege to introduce to you, and then they would name the record-breaking feats they've had, the box office receipts, the Grammy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the Oscars won, and it's often a sense in which the selfish element in all of these things were portrayed. But whenever we think of Christ, it wasn't for his own sins, it was for the sins of the world. That he may buy onto himself, purchase onto himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Paul's calling was, as he says in Corinthians, to preach Christ and him crucified. I heard of a preacher in south of England, and he was working... No, I didn't hear of him. I know the person that did the preaching. He was from the Faith Mission, of which I was 13 years involved in evangelism, Esther and I. But one of our faith mission workers was preaching in a little church down in the south of England. And they took as their text, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Several of the congregation and one of the leading men of that church came to him afterwards, if you're ever back here again, don't you ever mention the blood. Paul says, We preach Christ and Him crucified. And if we ever get ashamed or embarrassed for preaching Christ, the Savior of the world, then we need to hang up our boots and do something else. But not only did he preach about Christ, he preached about sin. and He exposed sin in all its ugliness. And that is our responsibility also. That was Paul's calling. To deny him his calling was to deny who he was in Christ. And may I say to you that all sin has to be judged. And I remember listening to a sermon by Sam Workman some years ago. You either allow your sin, when you receive Christ, your sin was judged on Christ, or if you refuse Christ, the sinner will be judged on the Judgment Day. And that's your choice. And here's the last thing. Paul was also willing to lay his life on the line, his neck on the line, and sacrifice his life because of his confidence. He says in verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation. You see, here's this man, exceedingly intelligent, exceptionally persuasive in his language, had a great mind when it came to the things of God, had a training and an upbringing second to none. In fact, he says, he says, I was a Jew of Jews, he was a gent, he was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, is what he said. Yet nothing satisfied him like what Christ did. He had a confidence in the supremacy of the gospel. He had a confidence in the superiority of the gospel. He had a confidence in the sufficiency of the gospel. It was able to make him wise and was able to satisfy him. But he was also confident in the strategy of the gospel. What was the purpose of the gospel? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. It doesn't get any easier than that, does it? The reason that Christ came, and the message is worth preaching, and the message is worth dying for, is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I believe he's confident in something else. He's confident in the simplicity of the gospel. Repent. Believe and be saved. You do not need a degree in theology. You do not need a degree in doctrinal matters. You don't need a comprehensive knowledge of the Bible to get saved. There's only two things that you need to know. You're a sinner. And Christ died for sinners. And when you know those two things, there's only one reaction that ought to come from your heart, and it's this. Trust Him with your life. A message worth dying for. It says of our dear Savior, who for the joy that was set before Him, laid down His life that you may be free. In all our talk about religious and democratic freedom, are you free from the guilt of sin and the penalty that lays before you? Have you trusted in Him? Are you willing to honor Him who gave His life for all men. Let's pray together for a moment. Our Father, we thank you for the message of the gospel, and we thank you for the messengers of the gospel that have gone out through all the years, giving their lives, Lord, to proclaim the message Jesus says. Thank you, Lord, for those in this congregation who know something of that freedom and forgiveness, and Lord, who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. And Father, I pray that there will be those yet in this service who will further trust in the one who gave his life that they might be free forever in eternity. Grant that the Spirit of God will move throughout hearts and lives and meet the need of every individual. Thank you for your great love and your care for us. And we pray, Lord, that we'll ever hold on to the one who is able to save to the uttermost and that message and proclaim it to a world that is dead and dying. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake alone. Amen.