Well, I'd like to thank our brother Ian for his kind words of welcome. It's lovely to be back amongst you, and I have to say a big congratulations to all the boys and girls for doing so well. You folk forget that these boys and girls have had a very busy day. They've been up early, they've been at school, and they've maybe had a few homeworks, and they maybe had to tidy their room, and then they had to get dressed for the meeting, and then they had to come and take part in the meeting. So I'm going to have a job to keep them all awake for the next wee while because it's getting late, but it's been lovely to be here to hear all that's gone before. And I want to set the record straight, just in case somebody begins a little rumor. Uncle Ian and me, we didn't fall out in the pulpit during the first wee bit of the meeting. What happened was this. I love to be able to see the boys and girls taking part. And that's why I disappeared off down to the side here, because I like to see what's going on and to enjoy the program. And I'm really glad I did clear out when I seen that big crowd coming up near the end. I was hoping that poor Uncle Ian didn't get trampled up there. They were all mad keen to get up, and they did really well. Now, let's maybe just have a wee word of prayer and ask the Lord to bless, and then I want to bring to you. Now, the difficulty is this. all year long. You've been sitting in your Sunday school class, and you've been hearing lots of stories, and it would be a real shame if I was to tell the very same story that you've been learning And you might come at the end and correct me in case I've left a bit out. And so tonight we want to bring something completely new, hopefully, to the ears of the boys and girls and to the mums and dads alike. But let's just unite our hearts together in a wee word of prayer, please. Dear Lord, we just thank Thee for all that's gone before. And we just pray in the closing moments of the meeting that Thou would have Thine own way. Take that which is of Thyself and apply it to the hearts of all. And we pray, O Lord, that this would be even a day of salvation, even amongst those that are gathered in this place tonight. These things we ask in our Savior's wonderful and precious name. Amen. Now, tonight, mums and dads and boys and girls, I want to tell you a story that hopefully you have never heard before. It's a wonderful Bible story, and it's about four men and four trees. And I hope that you haven't heard this story before, four men and four trees. And the reason why I want to tell this story is because of something that my wife noticed. Now, my wife never misses too much, and that's why I get into a lot of trouble at home. But she noticed something in the middle of October, and she said to me as we were driving along, look at that, look at that. And do you know what she saw? You saw in the window of somebody's house a big Christmas tree up, the first one, middle of October. And of course, since that time, I'm sure you've seen a lot more going up left, right, and center all over the place. I've seen lots of fancy ones coming in tonight. And I want to talk tonight not about Christmas trees, but about four trees and four men. And I've brought along with me here, I couldn't take the whole tree out of the garden. I was out in the garden looking at some of my trees, and I couldn't bring a whole one. And then I thought, I definitely couldn't bring a whole one in that wee bag of mine. But I managed to get the top of one of the trees, and I brought a wee bit of one of my trees with me. And you can tell that this tree belongs to somebody who lives in Ballyhalbert, because of the wind blowing off the Array Sea, that's the way all of my trees, all of my flowers, and even myself sometimes would be shaped because of the wind blowing. But I want to talk very quickly tonight, very briefly, about these four men and these four trees. And the thing is this, I do not want you boys and girls to get them all mixed up. That can happen sometimes. You can get all confused, and you can get them mixed up, and you can… But we're going to help you tonight. And each of these four men, we're going to take just one word to describe them. And to make it even easier, we're going to use the first letter in the alphabet to describe each of these four men. So we're going to take words that begin with the letter A. Now, I forgot something. I was so excited about getting up and getting into this story, I forgot, did you see the big cane I have sticking out of my bag? Yes, well, we were familiar with that in our school growing up, a big cane. But this cane has got a lovely sweet side to it as well. It's this other side. And this is, boys and girls, my wee fishing rod from Ballyhalbert. Now, we didn't catch too many fish, but we've caught a few sweeties. And I am looking out for people who are sitting really good. I might be able to give them a wee sweet. And if you're sitting fidgeting and you girls are doing your hair, there's no chance you're going to get a sweet. But I'm looking for... There's spotted somebody already. And what I'll do is I just come straight down to that person and just go... And you can take a sweet. Go ahead. There you are. You're probably like me. Whenever I go to church, I get a good chiseling beforehand and I don't move. She was like a statue there. So we'll keep a wee eye out and see if we can see anybody else during the meeting. Pop them down there. Now these four men, the very first of these four men, boys and girls, you can read about them yourself in your Bible. If you get away to the beginning of your Bible, right near the front, you'll read about a man called Adam, a man called Adam. And boys and girls, whenever you read about Adam, you will find that Adam is hiding behind a tree. He's hiding behind a tree. He's hiding there behind a tree, and he's doing that for a reason. There he is in the shadows, lurking away behind a tree because Adam has sinned against God. He has disobeyed God. And the word that we have to describe Adam is this word here. It's the word ashamed. Now, I have to apologize to the people who got the cheap seats at the back. Maybe next time you'll get a better seat and you'll be able to see these. You'll probably just see a lot of red marks here, but I'll tell you what it is. It's the word ashamed. And Adam, boys and girls, was ashamed. That's why he was hiding away there behind the tree. He had sinned against God, and he knew that later in the day, in the cool of the evening, God would be coming to commune with him. And feeling his guilt and knowing his shame, he was hiding from God. And you know, I really believe that when God came and spoke to Adam and to Eve, He did it in a very tender manner. He was speaking to them to prompt them to seek for forgiveness, to say they were sorry, to repent of their wrongdoing so that He could put it right. But they didn't do that. Adam immediately began to blame Eve. Even if you read your Scripture carefully, he even began to put the blame back on God. And whenever Eve was challenged, she then began to blame the serpent, and everybody was blaming everybody, and nobody was owning up to their wrongdoing. And yet, Adam hiding behind the tree was evidence enough of his guilt, and he was ashamed for what he had done. against God, and things have not changed, not one bit. I would just know it, maybe in school, even today, could happen today. Out in the playground, running about, something said, somebody's hurt, somebody's done something they shouldn't, and all of a sudden, I'm telling teacher. And then, of course, you're guilty, and you run away and hide. Or you've been fooling about in the house, and you've been playing about, and you should have been in the good room, and you've knocked down the ornament, broke it, and you hide it. You're covering up. Don't want to face the consequences. And there is a shame and a guilt about those sinful actions. And that's how it was with Adam. But let's move on. Boys and girls, I want to take you to another man in the Bible, and you'll find him in John chapter 1, and his name is Nathanael. Nathanael. And boys and girls, Nathanael is not hiding behind the tree. I should have got a bigger chair or a bigger table or something, everything's falling off here. He wasn't sitting, he wasn't hiding behind a tree, he was sitting under the tree. It must have been a hot day. He was getting a bit of shade, enjoying himself, relaxing. He was waiting on his friends, you know. It's good to have good friends. And he was waiting on his friend Philip, and Philip came running with good news. You see, these two young men had been listening to God's Word. Oh, they had been listening attentively. Then maybe even like the boys and girls tonight, they had been learning it. And they knew from the Scripture that God had promised a Messiah, God had promised a Savior to take away the sin of the world, and Philip came running to Nathaniel, and he had a big smile on his face, and he said, Nathaniel, I met a man today, and I believe with all my heart It's the Messiah. It's the Savior. It's the Lord Jesus. Never a man speak like this man. The miracles that he's doing. Get up Nathaniel from under the tree, and we'll go and we'll see him for ourselves. You know, boys and girls, whenever Nathaniel met with the Savior, the Savior said something And I have a word here to describe how Nathanael reacted. He was astonished. He was astonished. He couldn't believe it. The Lord Jesus looked at Nathanael, and the Lord Jesus said to him, Nathanael, I saw you sitting under the tree. You see the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, co-equal with God, God the Son. He's the very same as the Old Testament to the New. And there's four words, you know, just four words in the Old Testament that tell us that God sees everything. Thou God seest me. And the Lord Jesus had seen him sitting there, and Nathanael was astonished, but that was only the start of it, because the Lord Jesus went on to say, "'An Israelite in whom there is no guile.'" That word, guile, boys and girls, just means meanness or wickedness, because within the heart of this young man, there was a desire to live for the Lord, to serve the Lord, to obey the Lord, and to live for the Lord." There's a man sitting there pretty well. He's trigged up pretty good as well. I think he fell out of a shock window. He looks brilliant. Good man. Okay. And so there was Nathanael, and the Lord Jesus was not only able to look at him on the outside, He could look right into his heart and life, and He could see a young man seeking to live for the Lord. And I wonder tonight if we were just to stop the meeting, if we had the ability to shine the light into your heart, If we could see what God sees, I wonder what would we say. I wonder what God would see if He looked into your heart tonight. I actually know the answer. He sees everything. That's the answer. And I wonder tonight, does He see a heart that's cleansed and washed, forgiven, set free, and ready for heaven? What does He see? Does he see a heart that's hard and full of sin and wickedness? He can't wait to get out of this meeting and away from this place. There's no time for God. What does he see? Let's move on very quickly. The third man I want to talk about tonight, boys and girls, moms and dads, he's not hiding behind a tree. He's not sitting under the tree. This third man, you read about him in the book of Luke, and he is up the tree. There he is, up the tree. That's where he is, at the top. Look at that, woo-hoo. Up the tree. And you know, boys and girls, this man who's up the tree, he's up there for a reason, because if you know the story, the Lord Jesus was coming to the city of Jericho. That's where this man lived. The Lord Jesus was going to meet this man. He didn't realize it at the early part of the day. The Lord Jesus stopped and called for this man, and he wasn't ready for it. You see, this man was called Zacchaeus. And if he lived nowadays, and you lived in the same area, your mummy and your daddy would say, don't you go near that man. That man's a cheat, and he's a liar, and he's a thief, and he's a badden. Keep you away from such a man like that. Don't go near him. But boys and girls, people had to do business with him because he was a tax collector. But he stole more than he should have, and he took off the poor especially. What a rotter he was, to think of those he hadn't got enough to start with. And this was his whole life. And nobody liked him. Everybody hated him. But he got wind that the Savior was coming to his city. And no doubt that day he got the business closed up, and the receipts in the till, and the money put away in the safe, and the people out of the shop, and the door locked, and he went out into the street. Too late. Oh, too late. The crowds were gathered, and he was stuck at the back, and he wasn't too tall, and nobody would let him in. Don't let him in. Keep him back. Don't let him in. You know what he's like. But he wasn't going to be beat, and there he is. He's seen the sycamore tree, and he climbed right up it, and there he's at the top, and the Savior comes along. And the Savior stops, and he looks up into the tree, and he says, "'Zacchaeus, isn't that amazing?' You're thinking, maybe, what's amazing about that? Sure, that's his name. But they had never met before. The Lord Jesus knew his name. In fact, He knew all about him, and we have a word that we're going to use just now to describe this man. He was accepted. Everybody else hated him because he was wicked, sinful, horrible, but the Lord Jesus was willing to accept him just as he was. Oh, that should put a smile on your face tonight if you're not saved. He'll accept you just as you are. And let me tell you something about this man that's better than you. Despite all of his wickedness, something that's better than you, let me tell you what it is. You have come to these meetings for years. You have sat in Sunday school, children's meetings, Bible clubs. You have sat in youth meetings and church meetings, morning and night. You've gone to missions, and the Lord Jesus has been calling you countless times. And there have been times when you've nearly come, but something's held you back. Countless times the Lord in mercy has come and He's called for you to come and trust Him. And even still tonight you haven't done it. This little man only had to be called once. And he came immediately. He answered in obedience to the call of God, and he came down, and they communed together, and were not recorded what was said, but I'll tell you, the Lord Jesus spoke to him in tender, wondrous tones, and told him of his need of the Savior, told him how he could be forgiven, and that wee man believed it all and trusted in the Savior. And what a change! He was accepted. Let's move on very quickly to our last man. Now, if you forget all the others, that's okay, but don't forget this one. This is the most important one. The fourth man I want to speak about is the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, not behind the tree, not under the tree, not up the tree, the Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ was upon the tree." Now, boys and girls, what I mean by that is very simply this. There's lovely poetical wordage used in the Bible, lovely poetical language, lovely illuminating words. And sometimes the Bible calls the cross of Calvary that the Savior died upon, the tree of Calvary. No doubt, both were made of wood. just like a tree in the ground. The cross would have been upright and set into the earth. It's just a picture of a tree. And the tree of Calvary is the cross of Calvary. And whenever I say the Lord Jesus was upon the cross, He was also upon the tree. And He was upon that tree, and He suffered and He bled and He died for you and me, for this Word that I'm going to share with you now. Are you ready for this Word? This is some Word. This is the best Word ever. Let me get it. Let me tell you something about this Word. If you go to school on Monday, hope you do, don't be missing off near Christmas and all, but if you get to school on Monday and you remember this Word and you write it in your comprehension, You'll get a hundred percent no matter what else you write in front or behind it. This is some word. The Lord Jesus was upon the tree to make atonement for you and for me. Now, that's a really big word, and I'm not keen on really big words, for the chances of spelling it wrong would be very high. I would use too much ink. I like short words. Let's change it. Let's get a shorter word, because I want you to understand that the Lord Jesus was upon the tree, the cross of Calvary, upon the tree to atone for us. Have you got it now? No, I don't think so. That's still too difficult a word. Let's change it one last time, and with this we're finished. And I want you to look very, very carefully at this card. I don't even want you to blink. I want you to stare at it, because I'm going to turn it around. I'm going to change it, but it's going to be exactly the same. That's going to be something else, isn't it? It's going to be the same word, but it's going to be completely different. The Lord Jesus. Now watch this carefully. Lord Jesus was upon the tree. He suffered, He bled, He died so that you and I could be at one with God. Are you at one with God tonight? Have you peace in your heart? Are you forgiven? Are you ready for heaven? You know tonight you don't need to be like Adam. The shame can be taken away. There's no need to hide anymore. You've got to come clean to the Savior. You don't need even to be like Nathanael, astonished that the Lord knows all about you. Tonight you can be like Zacchaeus. You can be accepted just as you are by coming to the Savior, trusting in Him. Stop depending on yourself. And tonight, because the Savior died upon the cross, you can be at one with God. No more His enemy. No more against Him. No more hard heart. No more sinful attitude. You can be completely changed, and you can be in tune with God and at one with God and peace with God and forgiven by God. What a gift salvation is. Have you got it tonight? Oh, I hope that you'll come, you'll trust in Him. Because the only alternative is this, to go on in your sin and to live and to die and go out into a Christless eternity to be lost, lost for evermore." What a tragedy to leave this place, having heard these wondrous words, to do that. Come, be wise tonight, trust in the Savior, and thank you so much for listening so