Well, good evening. It's nice to be with you tonight. Maybe you're watching this in the morning time. Maybe you're not watching it as it's going out live. But whenever you're watching it, it's good to be with you. And thank you very much for having me along to speak tonight. If you have a Bible, would you mind turning to Psalm 90, verse 2, please? Psalm 90, verse 2. We're just going to read the one verse. Psalm 90, verse 2. Maybe you don't have a Bible and you just want to listen. That's OK. But if you have a Bible, Psalm 90, And I'll just give you a wee minute to find a place. And just as you're turning, I don't know about you, but maybe you set New Year's resolutions or goals at the start of the year. That's what I done last year. Normally I don't do it, but last year at the start of the year, I decided to set myself, well, it wasn't really a resolution, it was more a goal. And the goal I set myself is I wanted to climb or do the Mourne Wall. And for some of you who maybe don't know, the Mourne Wall, really just a wall that goes around the moorings. It just goes around a wee circle. It's like 22 mile and it takes in about 13 of the different mountain peaks. And I know what you're thinking. You're probably thinking, why on earth would you ever want to do that? And I'm sort of thinking that myself, too. You need to be crazy. But I wanted to do that there. And I set myself the goal of doing it. And I didn't really know the mooring mountains. So I thought, if I'm going to do it, I'm going to have to do a few wee recce runs, go about exploring, trying to find what way I'm going and where the route takes me and all that there. So I've done wee recce runs every Saturday. And I started figuring out the route and doing different mountains and things. And then came the day. I was going to do the mooring wall. And I was doing all right. I got to the ninth mountain. And I was doing all right. But as I got to the top of the mountain, the mist came down. The mist came down so thick, you could hardly see the hand in front of your face. And to tell you the truth, I got lost. I know you're thinking, how can you get lost when you're falling on a wall? Well, I couldn't even see the wall. It was that bad. And I just got down off the mountains. And a couple of weeks later, I thought, I'll have another go. So I went for it, and I managed to do it. I was absolutely knackered. I was about to call mountain rescue. It was done. And I was fit for nothing for a couple of days after, to tell you the truth. But I done it. But as I was doing those wee recce runs and I was doing the mooring wall, I started to fall in love with the mooring mountains. Absolutely love them because they're so beautiful. There's a peaceness. There's a stillness up there. And it's so quiet and peaceful. And it just seems to get the head shard. So it helps you to get the head shard. There's one mountain in particular, and I would say it's my favourite, it's Sleave Burnet. It's quite a difficult mountain to get to the top, it's quite steep. It's difficult to get to the top, but if you get to the top, the views are just, they're spectacular. They're wonderful, so they are, and the landscape is phenomenal. You can see so many of the older Mourne mountains from the top of it, you just look around and you can see so many of the Mourne mountains. You can see Sleaf Cora, Sleaf Cometa, Sleaf Donard, Sleaf Beg, Cove, Lamegan, Doan, Ben Crumb, the two Sleaf na Glachs, Muck, Carn, Loch Shannon, Sleaf Loch Shannon, Meal Beg, and Mealmore. And you can just see all these mountains as you look around you, and it's so beautiful. You can also see Loch Shannon. You can also see Loch Binyon. And you can see way out to sea. You can see as far as the horizon when the sky meets the sea. And it's just absolutely wonderful when you're up there. The views are spectacular. It just seems to take the breath away. All you can think of is, wow, how beautiful is this? And when I'm up there, my thoughts, they always seem to turn to God. I just think, how wonderful, how powerful, how almighty is God to create all this? Look at it, it's fantastic, it's so beautiful. How great is God to create all this? It didn't happen by chance. What a Creator God we have. And often my mind turns to the verse I ask you to turn up to. It's Psalm 90, verse 2. And it says there, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. I'll just read the verse again, because it's only one verse. Before the mountains were brought forth, wherever thou had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. Amen. See, even before the mountains were brought forth, even before the mountains were raised up, God was. God is older than the mountains. He made the mountains. He is eternal. He created the mountains, and it was him who made them come forth. And he is older than the mountains. He is eternal. He has always been. Notice the end of the verse. From everlasting to everlasting, they are God. He has always been, and God will always be. There's never been a time when God was not, and there'll never be a time when God is not. God is eternal. From everlasting to everlasting, he is God. You know, sometimes we can look at the mountains, and we can maybe think, well, the mountains, they'll always be there. Look at them. They're so strong, and they're not gonna move. You can think the mountains will always be there, but that's not the case. Because in Isaiah chapter 54, verse 10, it says, for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed. See, that verse tells us there's gonna be a time when the mountains shall depart and the hills will be removed. They're gonna be done away with. When you look at the mountains, they're not always gonna be there. God is gonna do away with them. He's gonna destroy them at some stage. They're only temporal. This world, this earth, it's only temporal as well. At some stage, God is going to destroy the earth. He's going to do away with it. It is all temporal. It's not going to last. But see, when God made us, he gave us a soul. And our soul is eternal. Our soul will never die. Our soul will live on forever and ever. Our soul is eternal. But not only do the mountains make me think about God, the mountains also make me think about death. And you might think, well, Simon, how can the mountains, how can going up the mountains make you think about death? Well, see, when you're up the mountains, you can't help think about death. But we see on the top of some of the different mountains, there's wee memorials that have been laid to different people who have passed away. If you go up to the top of Sleave Donard, you'll see at the summit there loads of wee memorials to different people who have passed away. Their friends or their loved ones have come up the mountain, and they've laid a wee memorial, a wee plaque in memory of their loved one that has passed away. On Sleave Commodore, I've seen a memorial to someone there as well. I've seen a memorial to someone up on Mealmore as well. And even on the Trassy Track, that's sort of like the main path that people would use if they're going up to the Hirsch Gap, maybe you've heard of that there. But even on the Trassy Track, there's a wee memorial to someone who has passed away there. And even when you're on the mountains, you can't help but think about death, because you see wee memorials to different people who have passed away. And you know, it's a good thing to think about death. You might be wondering, well, how's it a good thing to think about death? But it says in Ecclesiastes 7, verse 2, it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. Can you understand what this verse is saying? It's better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. God's word says it's good to go to where there's mourning, where someone is grieving over someone who has passed away. It's good to go to a funeral. It's good to go to a wake. Why is it good to go to a funeral or a wake, or go to a house where someone is grieving and mourning for someone who's passed away? Well, the end of the verse gives the reason. For that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. See, when you go to a funeral, see when you go to a wake, or see when you go to a house where someone is mourning and grieving for someone, the verse tells us that subconsciously, in our heart, we'll be thinking, one day it's gonna be me. One day it's gonna be me in the coffin. One day it's gonna be me in the hearse. One day it's gonna be me that they're lowering into the ground. One day it will be me, because that is the end of all men. Unless the Lord comes back first, we know from God's word that God's gonna come to the air and he's gonna take all the believers, all the born-again Christians to be with him, to meet him in the air. But if the Lord tarries, if the Lord delays his coming to the air, everyone will face death. And we will all die because we're all sinners. We have all broken God's laws, we have all broken his commandments. If we were to take time just to look at some of the 10 commandments, we would see that we're sinners. I wonder, have you ever told a lie? Look, I'll admit, I've told a lie. To my shame and to my disgrace, I've told lies. And I'm sure you'll be honest enough to admit that you've told a lie. And I know that's a wee bit funny, you're a wee bit Irish saying that you're honest enough to admit that you've told a lie, but that's the case, we've all told lies. It doesn't matter if you think it's only a wee white lie. Or you might say, well, it's only a wee fib I told. It doesn't matter if it's a wee fib or it's a wee white lie. It's still a lie, isn't it? At the end of the day, it's still a lie. And you've still broken God's law because he says that I shall not bear false witness. In other words, don't tell lies. But we've all told lies. And can you see in God's sight what we are? We're all liars in God's sight. Because we have told lies, no matter how small you think the lie might be, we're still the heirs on God's side. I wonder, have you ever coveted? Have you ever been jealous of someone, or have you ever wanted something that isn't yours? Have you ever been jealous? Well, that's coveting. Being jealous of someone or wanting something that's not yours, that's coveting. And God's word, God's commandment say, thou shalt not covet. But we've all coveted. All of us at some stage in our heart have wanted something that isn't ours or have been jealous of someone. And can you see, in God's sight, we're coveters. What about stealing? Have you ever took something that's not yours? And you might say, oh, well, I'm not a thief. But I'm sure if you really think about it, at some stage, we've all stolen something. We've all taken something that's not mine. I remember when I was a lot younger, when I was in school, I remember I couldn't spell, I still can't spell to tell you the truth, but every week you had those spelling tests and I didn't have a clue so I didn't know how to spell. So I had to look over and steal the person's answer beside me because I couldn't spell. It was the only way I was going to get a half-decent mark. And I stole the person beside me how they spelt their answer, how they spelt the word. And I stole. Maybe you've done that there, maybe you took a pencil or a rubber or five or 10p that wasn't yours, or maybe you're in a shop when you're younger and you've seen a few sweets and you just grabbed them, put them in your pocket and ate them down the road. At some stage I'm sure we've all taken something that's not ours. But God's word tells us his commandments say, thou shalt not steal. But I'm sure at some stage we've all stole. And can you see from just looking at God's commandments, some of the commandments, three of them, You can see what we are in God's sight. We're sinners. We have told lies, we're liars, we're coveters, and I'm sure we're all thieves too. That's what we are in God's sight. And you might say, but Simon, I'm a good person. I'm not a bad person, I'm a good person. But you know what God's word says in Romans chapter three, verse 23? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. See, that includes everyone, me and you and everyone else. For all have sinned. All of us are sinners in God's sight. It doesn't matter if you think you're badder than me. You know, it wouldn't be hard to be badder than me. It's not too hard to be badder than me. And you might think, well, Simon, you're way down here, but I'm way up there. I'm badder than you. You might think, well, I'm the best person in the country. I'm the best person in the town. And you might well be. But notice what the verse says. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. You might be badder than me. You might be badder than everyone else. But you come short of God's glory. God's standard is perfection and you fall short of his standard, of his perfection. And that's why we all must die because we're sinners and we've come short of the glory of God. It says in Romans chapter six, verse 23, for the wages of sin is death. And I'm sure everyone, I'm sure you know what wages are. Wages is getting something that you earn, something that you deserve. You know, I go to work, I work for a funeral director, so I do, and I turn up Monday to Friday, sometimes I get called in as well to do a bit of action and stuff, just the nature of the business. But, you know, I turn up every day, and at the end of the month, my boss gives me my wages. He gives me what I have earned for the work that I have done, and he gives me money. Because that's what my wages, for the work I have done, he gives me my wages, he gives me money. So wages is getting what you earn, what you deserve. But the wages of sin is not money. The wages of sin is death. That's what you earn, that's what we deserve for sin. It's death, that's why we all must die. Because I have sinned and you have sinned. We're all sinners in God's sight and that's why we must die. But remember what we learned earlier on. God has given us a soul and we said and we looked And we saw how our soul is eternal. It will never die. Our soul will live on forever and ever. It is eternal. But then that raises a question. What happens when our soul, what happens to our soul when we die? Well, the soul leaves the body. This is clear from 1 Kings 17, verse 22. When someone dies, the soul leaves the body. So when you pass away, or when I pass away, Our souls will leave our body. But that then raises another question. Where will our soul go to? It leaves the body because the body has passed away, but where will our soul go to? Well, the Bible teaches that the soul can go to one of two places. There's only two places that this book teaches us that if you were to pass away tonight that your soul could go to. It's heaven or hell. If you were to pass away tonight, The Bible says there's only two places that you can go to, your soul will go to. It's heaven or hell. And you know, if you die with your sins in your life, if you haven't had your sins forgiven, if you haven't put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll have to go to that horrible place called hell. The only way you can get to heaven is if you have repented of your sins, turned away from your sins, and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and are living for him. I wonder, have you ever done that? Have you ever asked the Lord Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Saviour? If you've never done that, If you never repented of your sins and asked for forgiveness, well, then you're on your way to that horrible place called hell. I don't like telling you that there, but that's the case. That's what God's word teaches. Some people will tell you, well, I've heard people tell me, you know, they say hell's a place the Jews have made up. You just use it to scare among other people into joining us. You just use it as some sort of a recruitment drive, sort of a tactic so you do. But you know, hell isn't something that I've made up. Hell is in God's word. God tells us about it in his own inspired word. Hell is a real place. The Lord Jesus Christ himself, when he was here on the earth, God the Son, he taught about hell. If we were to take the time to look up Luke chapter 16, the Lord taught about two men. There was the rich man, and he ended up in hell, and then there was the beggar Lazarus as well. Of course, he didn't go to hell, though, the beggar. But the Lord taught that there was this rich man, he's in that horrible place called hell. Some will tell you, well, that's a parable, but it's not a parable. The Lord in all the parables that he gave, he never once named anyone, but he named the beggar Lazarus. So we know it's not a parable. It's a real, they're two real people. And the sad thing is that rich man, he's still in hell tonight. And the Lord tells us that he's in a flame. He's in torments. He's in darkness, he's separated from God and he's begging just for a drop of water, one drop of water to cool his tongue. It's not a nice place. It's not a place that you want to go to. It's not a place that I want you to go to and it's not a place that God wants you to go to because he loves you and he cares for you. He cares for you and He wants you to spend eternity with Him. But I wonder if you were to pass away tonight, if you were to die tonight, if something was to happen to you unexpectedly and you were to pass away tonight, where would you go? Are you on the road to that horrible place called hell? Or are you on the road to heaven? And you might think, oh, well, I have a clean bill of health. Nothing's going to happen to me. I'm fit and I'm healthy and I've got my whole life in front of me. I have plenty of time to get that all sorted. But you know, death can come to you unexpectedly. Remember, I was telling you that there's a wee memorial on the Tracey track. That's the main path most people would use to get up to the Harz Gap. Well, this is what the wee memorial says on the Tracey track. It says, Dara Murray died here the 15th of August, 1995, aged 16. He was only 16. I know nothing about this young fellow, Dara Murray. I know nothing about the circumstances of his death. There's a wee memorial on the Trassy Track. He was only 16. If he was on the Trassy Track, it's probably most likely that he was heading up towards the Harz Gap. He's probably fit and healthy, but something happened to him, and he passed away. Death can come to you unexpectedly. It's no respecter of age. It can happen to you at any stage. I told you earlier on I worked for a funeral director there, and it wasn't that long ago I was doing a funeral. for a young fellow, he wasn't that old, and he was coming down from the mountains. He was fit enough to get to the top of the mountains, but something happened to him, and he passed away as he was coming down from the mountains. See, death can happen to anyone, even if you're fit and healthy, even if you're young, it can happen to anyone. It can happen to anyone. See, it says in Hebrews 9, verse 27, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this, the judgment. See, we all have an appointment with death. We don't know when that appointment is, but it is an appointment you must keep. You cannot miss that appointment and we will all die, but we don't know when that appointment is. That's a scary thought. But if it was to happen tonight, where would you go? Would you go to that horrible place called hell? Because if you've never repented of your sins, God's word teaches that that's where you're headed. If you've never asked Christ to forgive you for your sins, that's where you're heading. But let's get back to the mountains. And this time, I don't want to take you to Sleeveburn. This time, I don't want to take you to one of the other mooring mountains. This time, I want to take you in your mind to a mountain in Israel. I want to take you to a mountain called Mount Moriah. You might think, why do I want to take you to Mount Moriah? Well, on the top of Mount Moriah is a city called Jerusalem. See, Jerusalem is built on top of Mount Moriah. Jerusalem is really just a city built on top of a mountain. You know, it's sort of a bit like how Riphraeland is built on top of a hill. You know where Riphraeland is, the town on the hill? Well, Jerusalem is really just a city on top of a mountain. We see that there in 2 Chronicles 3, verse 1, because Jerusalem is said to be in Mount Moriah. So can you picture it in your head? Try and visualize it. Jerusalem is a city. on top of Mount Moriah. But why do we want to go to Mount Moriah? Well, it's because it was there at Jerusalem on top of Mount Moriah that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. He died on the cross for me. He died on the cross for you. He died on the cross to be able to save us from our sins. See, God's word tells us that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He came into the world with a purpose. He left heaven and came to earth so that we could go to heaven, so that we could spend eternity with Him. See, He loves us, and He wants to be able to save us from our sins. See, Christ, He knew that we were all on our way to hell. He knew that I was going there. He knows that everyone is on their way to hell. He knew that we were without hope. He knew that we were doomed. He knew that we couldn't earn our salvation. He knew that we couldn't pay for our salvation. There was nothing that we could do to save ourselves. So he decided he was going to leave heaven and come to earth to be able to save us, to make a way of salvation possible for us because he loves us so very much. He loves you so very much. And when he came to the earth, he was fully man. Yes, he was still fully God, but he was fully man, and he never sinned in word, thought, or deed. He was perfect. See God's law that we looked at earlier on, and we saw how we haven't kept it. Well, the Lord kept all the commandments. He kept all the commandments. He kept the law in full. He was perfect, but when Christ was on the cross, he was made sin. He took my sin upon him. He took your sin upon him. He took the sin of the world upon him. The iniquity of us all was laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And God the Father then poured out his wrath upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the world. And Christ satisfied the wrath of God for the sin of the world. He paid the price of sin and fool. He took the punishment that I deserve. He took the punishment that you deserved on the cross. That's what Christ done in those three hours of darkness. He died for me and he died for you. What love that is. Can you grasp how much he loves you? He died on the cross, but you know what happened next, don't you? You know Christ didn't stay dead because three days later, he rose again, didn't he? He came back to life and today he lives. Today he's in heaven. He defeated death. He defeated the grave. He lives and he has the power over death. And you know he has the power to forgive you for your sin. Remember on the cross how he shed his blood. Remember how he had a crown of thorns put into his brow. He had his hands and his feet pierced with nails. They put a spear in his side. He shed his blood for me and for you. And see the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It has wonder, work, and power. It can cleanse you from all your sins. It has cleansed me from all my sins. I'm a sinner, but I'm saved by grace. And the Lord's blood has cleansed me from my sins. I'm not perfect, but the Lord's blood keeps me. It cleanses me, and I know I'm on the way to heaven. You know, I wonder, have you ever asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you for your sins? If not, why not? You need to get right with God. You need to have peace with God. See, God is a just God, and he must punish sin. and you need to ask for forgiveness, and the Lord Jesus Christ, he can forgive you because he's took the punishment in full already. Will you come before the Lord tonight? Will you bow before him and will you ask him to be your Lord and Savior? Will you ask for forgiveness? Will you repent of your sins and turn away from your sins and turn and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? Will you call upon him and ask him to be your Lord and Savior? Thank you for listening, and we'll just close in a wee word of prayer, and then the meeting will be over. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time we've been able to gather around your word. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for what we can learn from it, Lord. We know we've been looking at the mountains, but Lord, we can learn so much from them, Lord. We can see that you're the great creator. You created all things, Lord, and you're eternal and you'll always be. The mountains aren't eternal, they'll be done away with at some stage, but you're eternal. And Lord, We know, Lord, that we have this soul that is eternal, Lord, and we need to get right, Lord, with you. Lord, we know even from the mountains, from the memorials and things, we all will have to die. But, Lord, we know the Lord Jesus Christ died for us on the cross, and he took the punishment for the sin of the world. And, Lord, we know he rose again, he defeated death, and today he's in heaven. And, Lord, we know he can cleanse us from our sins. Lord, I thank you for my own salvation, Lord. Lord, we just pray for everyone who's listening to this here, Lord, They might get right with you, Lord. They might ask for forgiveness, Lord. They might ask the Lord Jesus Christ to become their Lord and Savior. They might repent of their sins, and they might get right, Lord, with you. Lord, we ask this here, Lord, for your name and for your glory, Lord, because we want people to worship you and to bring glory and honor to your name, Lord. And nothing overshadows it. We just ask that you may be pleased to bless the effort, Lord, tonight, Lord. And you might help us, Lord, at all at this difficult time, Lord. And we ask this all in your name. Amen. Thank you.