God, the God of our fathers, and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, come and meet with us this day, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and make this a unique day in the annals of Church history in our beloved province. when God again visits His people and there is the sound of abundance of realm. Amen. Everybody say it. Let's sing the doxology. It's printed out for you on your order paper. Praise God on whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, set the feet of His people. Praise His righteousness. Praise God! Praise God! Let's really sing the second verse for why the Lord our God is good. Let's really lift the roof now. Oh, why the Lord our God is good, And all man's wishes come true. We remain standing for the opening prayer which shall be led by our first deputy moderator of the church, Dr. S. B. Cook. Our gracious and eternal Heavenly Father, we come into Thy thrice holy presence in the fearless and precious and ever-prevailing Name of our great God and Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And our Father, we do thank Thee this Lord's Day morning upon every remembrance of the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. We thank Thee, our Father, for so great salvation. We remember, Lord, in biblical times, in the year of jubilee, it was on the day of atonement that the trumpet was sounded. And, our God, we do thank Thee for the atonement brought out on our behalf by the Saviour Himself. We thank Thee, Lord, that He went all the way to the cross, that He died in our room and in our stead. And, Our Father, we do thank Thee at this very moment. He is there in heaven's glory in the midst of the throne as the Lamb as if he had just been slain. We thank Thee, our God, for the power of the precious blood of the Lamb of God. We thank Thee, Lord, that that blood shall never lose its power, even when the church of God is saved to sin no more. And so, our Father, we do thank Thee for this day. We desire, Lord, above all things, that the Christ of God might have the preeminence. For we are conscious, Lord, that we are what we are by thy grace that was so abundantly bestowed upon us. We do raise our Ebenezer on this fiftieth anniversary of our church. We raise our Ebenezer unto thyself. And we say, hitherto hath the Lord helped us. We thank Thee, Lord, for the stand that was taken so many years ago. We thank Thee, our Father, for the manner in which Thou hast blessed that stand despite all that has been arrayed against us. We thank Thee, Lord, for the battles that were fought and the victories that were won. And so, our Lord, we turn to Thee this morning with thanksgiving within our souls And we ask You now, Father, to present Thyself with us. Blaze every aspect of this service we beseech of Thee. And our Father, as Thy servant would minister Thy Word, we would especially remember Him. Thanking Thee, Lord, for Him and for our fellowship with Him and for the leadership that He has given to this denomination and the ministry that Thou hast so wondrously bestowed upon him and blessed him not only here in this province, but right across the earth. And Lord, we ask you to be with him this day. May he be here in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Saviour be lifted up. May the people of God be blessed and challenged. And our Father, should it be those in our gathering who know not Christ, that this very day the scales might be taken from their eyes, that they might behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And, Our Father, even at this time in our land, we think of the plague that has descended upon it. And, Our Father, we do remember the farming community at this time, and we do ask Thee, Father, that Thou wilt stay Thine hand O God, reward us not according to our sins or our transgressions, but, O God, we beseech of Thee, if it be Thy mind and will, that this threat and this disease might be eliminated very shortly, and we shall give Thee the praise. We ask it for Jesus' sake. Amen. Everybody say, Amen. You may be seated. The Psalm 124 of the second version is really the signature tune of the Free Presbyterian Church. Now Israel may say, I am that truly. We'll stand to worship and I'll ask the Rev. William McRae to lead us in the singing of the psalm. Don't worry sir, you might as well sing us a song. God with them, may they ever have peace. It is by the Lord that our hearts are opened. ♪ Good God is there to make the fast-paced race ♪ ♪ Race for victory, victory for the home of the brave ♪ And we will be over the lake for her So happy, so wonderful, good and kind to her And we will be with her And when I'm gone, oh, where will I be? Oh, where will I be? Oh, where will I be? I would have given all it took for us to meet. If it hadn't been for you, I'd never He is risen from the dead, He is risen, He is risen, You may be seated. Just in a moment we're going to hear from our Jubilee Choir. We're indeed very grateful to our sister, Glenys Strong, who has trained our young people for this occasion, as she has done so acceptably and well in the past. We're grateful to Dr. Lindsay Wilson at the organ and Diane McCauley at the piano. And could I say McCauley is a name treasured in the Free Presbyterian Church. Her grandfather was one of the foundation elders of our Tebra Ballymunny congregation. Somebody has on a telephone. All telephones need to be put off immediately. So, put them off. We want to hear higher than telephone lines, whether they be orange or any other line. We want to hear higher than that this morning. Thank you. So, young people, thank you. And Dennis, will you take over now? My faith, my faith, my faith, My faith, my faith, my faith, The joy of love is great. The joy of love is great. The joy of love is great. The joy of love is great. The joy of love is great. God gives me to proclaim the faith we've learned to live. And with true love, we never have died. We honor the hard work we've done. And with our sorrows we weep, And with our sorrows we weep, In my life health and peace. In my life health and peace. In my life health and peace. He takes the prisoners free. He takes the prisoners free. He takes the prisoners free. He takes the prisoners free. He takes the prisoners free. He takes the prisoners free. And let us lift every vision of him, of him. O come, let us adore Him, sing we the Lord's hymns of joy. Let all the earth rejoice, now His day is done. O come, let us adore Him, sing we the Lord's hymns of joy. Let all our hearts be one, faithfully, Let all our loves be one, faithfully, Forever and ever. ♪ Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ♪ O praise Him for His holiness, His whispered and His praise. We praise Him for the precious blood, ancient and all our age. We praise Him, we glorify Him, A land so great for us, A land where our lives are told, This, this, this land. The fire of my conscience will after you be gone. No hope to restore, no blessing can be borne. No faith will ever, never be true in your forever. I know that I'm still in this world, still in this world, still in this world. There is no one holding me, there is no one holding me. And I, and all my people praise Thee, And I, and all my people praise Thee, And I, and all my people praise Thee, Lord have mercy, have mercy on me. We thank the choir for that contribution and we thank God for young people who love the Lord and sing the praises of His name. And now the hymn, What Though Clouds Are Hovering O'er Me. The Rev. John Wiley and the Rev. Ivan Foster and myself spent three months in the Crumlin Road prison. We had such an effect on the prison that it eventually closed down. And that was because of my cooking in the hospital ward of the prison. John Wiley taught us to sing this hymn. Well, Ivan Foster cannot hold a tune and I get the air outside. So you may guess the three of us singing this, it really got up the nostrils of the governor. He sent over a man one night to get us to stop singing. He didn't appreciate the trio that was singing. But the words of this hymn have been a great blessing to us all. They are about the One whom we love, the One whom we serve, and the One that needs be, we would have grace to die for, the wonderful, blessed Savior. What though clouds are hovering over me, Willie, will you come now and lead this? Let's stand. ♪ And I will sing to all that are ♪ ♪ Proudly with my cares enthroned still ♪ ♪ For the joys and powers of old ♪ ♪ In my heart I sing of glory ♪ ♪ And I will sing to all that are ♪ And the stars of Bethlehem. Gloria in excelsis Deo. I'll rise up high instead of low. Till I see the King of glory, I will send a doctor there, he will Can you know what travel does to me? Can you know what life is worth to me? Can you know what home is worth to me? In my dreams I'll feel your holy face. Lord of all the world, raise your crown to the Lord today. When I'm poor, who can comfort me? Help me make the fire within me. Lead my way, and lead not me astray. By you, the power is within me. you. Dr. John Douglas, who is the clerk of our General Presbytery of Ulster and also the principal of our Whitefield College of the Bible, is now going to read the Word of God to us. It's a great delight for me personally to have Dr. Douglas on this platform. He was the first soul that I led to Christ in my ministry of the Rehabilitation of the which commenced in 1946. Lasting fruit. And we thank God for our brother, his talents, and all that God has done in him and through him. Dr. Douglas. Let us all turn in our Bibles to the first chapter of the epistle to the Colossians. I'm giving a little time so that everyone with a Bible in the congregation can turn to the place. We intend to share the reading. We're looking at the authorized version of the Scriptures. We're going to read at verse 9 of the chapter, proceeding from there through to the end, verse 29. Now, I'll be reading verse 9, and I would like you in the congregation to read verse 10, and so on, alternately to the end of the chapter. And when it comes your turn to read, I want you to read with all your heart, read feelingly, read with prayer, read with the expectation of heart that the Lord will speak to you from His Word. With the size of this place, as we can all imagine, it's very difficult to hear the voices of the congregation. But I want you to do your best. Don't read feebly, but put your heart and soul into it. We will read when it comes the time for the congregation. We'll read at a measured pace, and I will try to give the lead. It will be helpful for the sake of unison if you can follow with me. But let's hear everyone participate. This, in a way, is your testimony in the service. As you read the scriptures, you're testifying to the grace of God made known in the gospel. Colossians chapter 1, verse 9. For this cause, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness, giving thanks unto the Father from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood. even the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the Body, the Church. who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven. And you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard, which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister, who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ, in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church. For of, I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God. Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. For unto thee I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. Amen. May the Lord richly bless the reading of his holy and inspired word to all of our hearts. O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder Consider all the works Thy hands hath made, I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder, Like power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great thou art! How great thou art! And when I think that God His son not sparing Sent him to die Why, scarce can take it in That on the cross My burden gladly bearing He bled and he died to take away my sin, then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee. How great the Lord, how great the Lord That sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great the war! How great the war! When Christ will come With shout of acclamation And take me home What joy shall fill my heart Then shall I bow in humble adoration, And then proclaim, My God, how great Thou art! Then sings my soul, How great thou art, how great thou art. Then sings my soul to thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Amen. Very briefly, But nevertheless, very sincerely, I'd like to welcome you all to this service today, these services that mark the golden jubilee of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster. We welcome our congregations and ministers from across the oceans of the world and the continents of the world. This church has works in five of the continents, in all the continents of the world. And we thank God for that. We pray that those who are visiting us at this time will be blessed and encouraged to fight the good fight and to lay hold on eternal life. We have had greetings from across the world. from all the fundamentalists and the separated churches with which we are associated in the World Congress of Fundamentalists and also the British Council of Protestant Christian Churches. Dr. Brian Green, the General Secretary of the Council, would have been with us, but he is very ill at the moment. We might remember him at our prayers. for God's healing touch. Over 2,000 churches under the presidency of Dr. Rod Bell, our good friend, have sent an official greeting to us, greeting us in the name of the Lord Jesus and thanking this church for its bold and militant stand, contending earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the We are grateful for these greetings. We now come to a very important announcement as far as free Presbyterians are concerned, the part in which you all can take part, and that is the offering. I don't feel for your purse yet, dear, or open the handbag. I have a word to say. We want to raise today the small paltry sum of 60,000 pounds. And that's nothing to free Presbyterians, because they are tithers. And I might say that if you have a substantial gift to make, we can get something from the tax man of that gift. And anything I can get out of Tony Blair's pocket, I'm glad to do it. So you can do that today. You can bring your covenant and make it clear to the treasurer, Mr. Brown, that this is a covenant gift. I've had one covenant gift of 1,000 pounds to start us off, and that is a good start. Now, I want you to realize that we need you to help us today. Every church has its commitments. We're all in building programs. We're all exceedingly pushed. But you don't have a 50th anniversary every year. It'll not come again until another 50 years. So you'll have plenty of time to save up for it. So you make sure today you say to God, what must I do? And then do what the Lord directs you to do. The hymn for the offering is, All Heal the Power of Jesus' Name. Keeping our seats while we sing, except, sir, you want to stand up to get deeper into your pocket, we'll not object to that. All Heal the Power of Jesus' Name. Willie, would you come and lead us? Oh, hail the power of Jesus Christ, that he will show us all. Bring forth the joys of life and death and love in us all. front. Those folks that are stewarding the meeting and lifting the offering, immediately you're finished when you come up here in front of the platform and the treasurer of the church will take you to the room where we can get these offerings back. So come here and stand here and wait until everybody comes. That's for everybody taking up the offering. Thank you. He speaks of his love for them And there's a song I'll never forget The words you left so cold Those letters won't be forgotten Oh, oh, oh Oh, oh, oh Let's stand for the final verse, please. Amen. Let's sing as these brethren are just coming forth with the offering baskets. Let's sing the last verse again. O that with yonder sacred throng we at its feet may fall. Let's sing the last verse again, please. You may be seated. The choir are now going to sing a beautiful piece called Come Holy Spirit. May he come. The Holy Spirit may not pass me by, He's been with my people the day, He's filled this city with warmth and love, And knows it's just before the day. The angels will carry over the world, in thanks to our fulfilling deeds. So come, O God, here at Jeliah's birth, in the glory of His victory. Come, Holy Spirit, God is beyond. We need your help to lighten our hearts. Where art thee, Lady? Come, Holy Spirit, May my prayers be answered. In the evening when darkness breaks the earth, The Church shall live by faith once more. The Holy Spirit gave the Church new health, And health for nations by her birth. When there is a great divine display And it would lift your heart and pray So often can we hear Thy holy name When there is a shouting of the grave Oh, glory, glory, glory to God in the highest. By the power of my love, you have betrayed me. I'm longing to be with you, and you have betrayed me. I take the promised Holy Ghost the blessed power of Pentecost to fill me to the uttermost, I take. Thank God He undertakes for me. And the people of God said, Amen. You may be seated. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 18. And He, that is our Lord Jesus Christ, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. that in all things He might have the preeminent. That in all things He might have the preeminent. I come today to do a glorious and exhilarating task, to join with you and to lead you to exult and extol and excel in honoring our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is Lord to the glory of God the Father, that in all things He might have the preeminence. We are not here this day, as certain sections of the press and the leaders of apostate Christianity have said, to honor any man. We are here to give all the glory and all the praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that has been accomplished We were not responsible for it. It was the doing of God. And we were but spectators watching a glorious and gracious God at work. I'm not going today to give you a summary of fifty years. happy and glorious and dark and dismal part of them may be. But I have a glorious task today to uplift my Savior and your Savior and to put the diadem of honor on the brow that once wore the diadem of thorns. for our redemption. Wonderful Jesus, the Lamb upon the throne, King of kings, Lord of lords, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. When I think of that little tin church in Killaloe Street, when I think of people walking to that church and some of them were spat on, And their coats were white with the spittle of their detractors. And I think of what the churches of this land said about us. They mocked us. They scorned us. They ridiculed us. We were the poison pen. We were the target for every poison pen in the country, yes, and even across the world. The Unitarian Church here in their magazine said that we were being blighted again by the rise of the Ramp Earth. But soon, the little tabernacle in Krosgar would perish and the Ramp Earth would rant no more. In the last census, our church was five times larger than the Unitarian Church. Their church is a rapidly decreasing church. This church, according to even the newsletter, is a rapidly growing church. Well, if they admit it's growing, it must be really running at great momentum. The runners are in the best of health. The sect everywhere spoken about, as the New Testament called in the early days of the church, is flourishing. And we're here to say, the bush burns, but it's not consumed. It is still flourishing. I have three very simple points to make today. First of all, I want to say, our Lord Jesus Christ, we mark the preeminence of His person, the preeminence of the person of Christ. His person as the second person in the holy undivided Trinity of God must ever remain shrouded in the deepest mystery of the Godhead. Anything we know about God is written in the Word of God. If God had not revealed Himself in this book, the Bible, the Word of the living God, inspired and infallible from the first in Genesis to the last, amen, in Revelation, If we hadn't this book, we would know nothing about God in regard to His saving work and the wonder of that saving work. When, however, in order to do this great saving work, the Son of God and God the Son became manifest in the flesh, Then and then only could man behold Him and see God incarnate in the flesh, walking alive upon His own created universe, and walking among the sons of men whom He had created. He took upon Himself deep humiliation. He took into union with His eternal and mysterious Deity, our humanity. He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. The unseen God we could not touch, but thank God the Word made flesh. God manifests in human flesh. We can touch Him. Some of us can say He touched us. And oh, my heart, it's filled with joy. It would be my prayer today that He would touch every one of us in a special and in a new way. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. That's the answer to all the apostate deniers of His Godhead and His virgin birth. He is God. All things were made by Him. That puts pay forever to evolution. Lot of them about today. I'm sure you remember their testimony. Once I was a tadpole beginning to begin. Then I became a frog with my tail tucked in. Then a monkey up a banyan tree. And now a professor with a PhD. That's of course their testimony. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Creator of all things. Nothing was made that He did not make. The deity of Christ as the eternal Word is a mystery. But when that glorious person took into union with His manhood through the virgin birth and became God clothed in the nature of mankind, We were able to see Him. We were able to know Him. Deity robed with humanity. Or as John, moved with infallible inspiration, puts it in the first chapter, verse 14 of his Gospel, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. O Word of God incarnate! O wisdom from on high! O truth unchanging! O light of our dark sky! We praise Thee for the radiance that from the hallowed page, the lantern to our footsteps shines on from age to age. And thank God we can say He is shining now in the hearts of His people. He is shining through the ministry of His church, and He will shine until all darkness is eliminated, and His light shall lighten the heart of all the redeemed of God. " In His incarnation, His person to that time unseen became seen. He was seen for the first time by angels. He was seen of man He was beheld by the fallen sons of an accursed race. He was seen, as Paul states in the epistle to the Hebrews, that God hath in these last days spoken unto him by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, by whom also he knew the world. He is the brightness of God's glory and the express image of His person. He upholds all things by the Word of His power. Oh, the glorious person of our beloved! We would say today with the godly Robert Murray McSheehan, there was a time when friends spoke in rapture of Christ on the tree. But Jehovah said, Can you? The Lord Jesus was nothing to me. But I can say to you, I have heard His inviting voice. Have you? His grace and glory have been revealed in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Has His grace and glory been revealed in your heart? Behold, I stand at the door and knock, he says. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and sup with him and he with me. I can say today, I have opened the door and he came in And what sweet communion I have had with Him ever since. Someone said to me once, What was it like in Geel? I said to him, I had the greatest moment of my life in Geel. When the door swung to and the warder said, You'll be out once before midnight. And then you'll be locked up till eight o'clock in the morning." And I went into the cell. And I sat down. And my tears flooded from my cheeks, not in sorrow, but in glorious joy that I was even counted worthy to suffer shame for the Lord's great namesake. It's a wonderful thing to know Christ. Have you met Him? Is He in your heart? Do you know Him? If you have never met Him, you can meet Him today. If you have never received Him, you can receive Him today. If you have never confessed Him, you can confess Him now. Are you asking the question? What must I do to be saved? Hear the answer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. You can know this personal salvation. You can know it in a truer way than you know anything else in the world. I wish I had a tongue that was filled with oratory. I wish I had language to do justice to my praises of the Saviour. Blessed Lily of the Valley, oh, how fair is He. He is mine and I am His. sweeter than the angel's music is His voice to me. He is mine. I am His. Where the lilies fair are blooming, by the waters calm, there He leads me and upholds me by His strong right arm. All the air is love around me. I can feel no harm. He is mine. He is mine. He is mine. And I am His. If you can say that, would you say a good, loud amen? Amen. He is mine. And I am His. My Savior is not the lily of the valley. My Savior is the lily of the valley. all valleys, whether stained by sin, temptation, darkness, dismay, disappointment, disillusionment, or death itself, Jesus Christ is the lily of all valleys. Secondly, I want to talk a little about the preeminence of His passion. Here is a subject that defies explanation or human illustration. The passion, the sacrificial suffering, love of Jesus Christ for sinners. Christ's passion is preeminent in its age. It is eternally unaging love. It never grows old. It never wearies. It never dims. It never weans. It cannot grow old. It is the very oldest thing in all of eternity and of all the world. But still, It is the very newest thing in all the world and in all the eternity. Let me trumpet it forth from this platform today. Time plows no wrinkles on the brow of the eternal Christ of God. He is the one who unfathomably and authoritatively and sovereignly says, I am alive forevermore. And if he lives forevermore, his love lives forevermore. The divine passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, no scars of age will ever mark the face of that divine passion. Our little thoughts in Sabbath school. The lambs of the flock of God are right when they sing with gusto those well-known verses. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes! Jesus loves me! Yes! Jesus loves me! Yes! Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so. About 50 years ago, over 50 years ago, 54 to be exact, I ran rescue meetings on Saturday nights. in our old church. In those days the pubs closed at 10 p.m. and we had our meeting at 10.30. About 300 men attended those meetings straight from the pub. I visited every pub in the district an hour beforehand and gave them all a personal invitation. So 10.30 marked a stream of drunk men going to our church. I used to take the bottles off them at the door and pile them up on the windowsill. Two very aristocratic Irish Presbyterians were passing the church one night, and I heard one say, Paisley's an awful man. That alerted me. My ears pricked up. You know he has whiskey bottles. on the shelves or windows of the church. She said, wait till you see. So when they came up, she pointed at the mic, sure enough they were there. And I then put my hand on both their shoulders and I said, you have to come inside. And when they came inside, 300 men were standing and they were singing this hymn, Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so. I said, only for the grace of God, madam, you would be like that man. But my Savior loves him! And thank God, many of those men were gloriously converted. Their homes were changed. I attended them when they came to die. And they passed across to dwell in the love of Christ forever. Christ's love is immutable. It cannot alter. No matter where you go or what you do, get this message into your heart that God loves you. That Christ is calling you. That the Spirit of God is beckoning you. The love of Christ knows no barriers. It brooks no opposition. It never bows in defeat. It is glorious in its exploits, outstanding in its conquest. And this love is for you, my dear hearer. And thank God it's for me. Could I say something more? Christ's passion for your soul beats with infinity. There is no shortage of supply. Its depth, with all its immense outlays, still remains at the highest level, the unalterable level of God's Word. Its sufficiency knows neither measure nor end. Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. If your sin is long, the love of God is longer. If your sin is high, the love of God is higher. If your sin is deep, the love of God is deeper. If your sin is broad, the love of God is broader still. The love of Jesus Christ superabounds. Christ loved you to the bitterness of rejection. By His own, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Christ loved you to the utter slandering of His character. They said, He was a devil. Christ loved you to the vilest suggestions ever made against a fellow man. His family said, He's mad. Christ loved you to the misunderstanding of all His disciples. They all forsook Him and fled. Christ loved you to the rejection by the whole world. He is despised and rejected of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Why? Because He loved you. That's why. He loved you to the sweat of blood in Gethsemane's darkness. He loved you to the scourging in Gabbatha, Pilate's judgment hall. He loved you to that death of shame. that death of torture upon the cross of Golgotha's hill. Oh, what love is this! Oh, what passion is this! It's incomprehensible! It's inconceivable! It's incredible! Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Jesus Christ loves you. He is preeminent in His passion. And finally, He is preeminent in His power. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not only mysterious in His person, majestic in His passion, but miraculous in His power. Jesus Christ's power is covenanting power. The Bible has two covenants. The old covenant and the new? Or what a difference between the old and the new. The old says to man, do this! But he can't do it. He's unable to do it. But the new covenant says, believe this. The difference between labour and a free gift. Oh, my friend, today, away in eternity, before the hills in order stood, our earth received its freedom. God gave His people to His Son. The Lord Jesus said, Thine they were, Father, and thou givest them to me. This is a calendar meeting of the Trinity that is unimaginable. This is a council meeting of the Holy Trinity that is indefinable. This is a circumstance in the great, unbounded eternity of the past, which we will never understand. But this I know, God covenanted the Father with the Son, and if the Son took our freedom, and made the long journey out of eternity into time, and broke the eternity barrier, and broke the barrier between deity and humanity, and died upon a cross for sinners. And all who put their faith and trust in Christ shall be delivered from wrath to come forevermore. He covenant And this covenant is ordered in all things and sure. It is covenant power. It is preeminent because it is creative power. He spoke all things into existence. He commanded and it stood fast. He spoke and it was done. Everything was made by Him. It came running from the womb of nothingness at His command. He spoke, and it was done. That is the way men and women are converted to themselves. God speaks, the soul turns to Christ, and in the hearing there is faith. and seeth cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. He is the great conserving power. He not only is the Creator, but He upholds all things by the Word of His power. By Him all things consist. People say to me, Do you not worry about the world? Christ has the world in His hand, completely and totally. And Christ is in control of this world. You may not understand the mystery of His plan, but when the last chapter is written, you'll understand then that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called, according to His purpose. My Lord, Jesus is preeminent in His converting power. He is the great finder. He has come to seek and to see of that which is lost. Is there some man, some woman, some boy or girl sitting among the thousands here today and you feel lost in a lost world? Jesus is here to find you. What did He come for? He came to seek and to save those that are lost. Oh, thank God He is the Great Converter. I am saved. Are you? Why not? If He could save Ian Paisley, He could save anybody. Even my enemies would say amen to that. Let me tell you something, friend. He saved me. He keeps me. And I am here today because of His converting power. And my Savior doesn't make you miserable. He makes you merry. He makes you happy. Some of you have mighty long faces. Meet Jesus and you'll go out smiling. He makes the path grow brighter every passing day. He makes the burden lighter all along the way. His Word is my delight. His will I now obey. I cannot help from shouting glory. Do you want to know the way of salvation? Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for Grace, foul eye, to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. Cry out in your heart, wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be whiter than snow. My Lord Jesus is preeminent in His consecrating power. His name is Jesus. I shall call His name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sin. He really saves. He breaks all sinful habits. He pardons. He purifies. He preserves. He is the great emancipator, the great liberator. You lose only your chains when you meet Jesus. His Word is perfect freedom. I have witnessed in my ministry thousands of people converted by the grace of God. Boys and girls in our children's work finding Christ early and having their whole life saved from a life of sinning and shame. And I just want to say it is my greatest desire in all my life to bring men and women to know this Saviour But I know I'm going home to glory soon, to see the city bright, to walk the golden streets of heaven and bask in God's own light. But some of you are out of Christ. You're held by many a snare. I cannot leave you lost and lone. I want you over there. But I must be faithful. My Lord Jesus Christ is not only preeminent in these powers, but He is preeminent in His consuming power. I dare not close the book today and say an amen to this sermon without at this juncture be faithful to your soul, and to your eternity. Christ is preeminent in His consuming power. His forerunner John the Baptist said this, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly pour his floor and gather his wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Oh, there's a great thrashing floor in this great hall today. There will be gathered fruit, for the Word of God will not return unto him void, but there will be chaff left behind for the fire. There comes to me today on the wings of my memory the words of a gospel song I heard when I was but a lad. I dreamed that the great judgment morning had dawned and the trumpet had blown. I dreamed that the nations had gathered for judgment around the white throne. From the throne came a bright shining angel stood on the land and the sea, and swear with His hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. The rich man was there, but his money had melted and vanished away. The pauper, he stood at the judgment His debts were too heavy to pay. The great man was there, but his greatness, when death came, was left far behind. The angels that opened the records, not a trace of his goodness or greatness could find. The widow was there, with the orphans, God heard and remembered their cries. No sorrow in heaven forever. God wiped all the tears from their eyes. The gambler was there, and the drunkard, and the man who had sold them the drink with the people that gave them the license to gather in hell. they did think. The moral man came to the judgment, but his self-righteous rags would not do. The man who crucified Jesus had passed off as moral men too. The soul that puts off salvation and says, not today, I'll get saved by and by." No time now to think of religion. At last he had found time to die. And oh, what a weeping and wailing when lost men heard of their fate. They cried to the rocks and the mountains. They cried, but their prayer was too late. Will your lot on the day of judgment be eternal punishment or eternal pardon? There's only one thing can make it eternal pardon, and that is the reception of Christ, the partner, into your heart as your own and personal Savior. Seek the Lord, dear friend. The Lord is preeminent in His person, preeminent in His passion, and preeminent in His power. Seek Him. He can find you in this great hall today. And you can find Him today. May it be so, for the Lord's great name's sake. Amen. Let's bow our heads. I have been speaking plainly to you because I don't want one drop of your soul's blood on my skirts as I leave these great gatherings today. Could I say of God as touched your heart? And you have felt as you never felt before. It is time for you to seek the Lord. Right there in that seat where you sit, you can close with Jesus. You just need to bow your head and close your eye and remember this great promise, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be seized." I am a sinner. Pray it from your heart. I am a lost sinner. Pray it from your soul. I need to come just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thy bids me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come. On the left-hand side of the concourse on the ground floor of this building, you'll find a whole row of inquiry rooms. There will be ministers in those rooms immediately as you're leaving this service. If you want counseling and help and want to know further the way, then call in. And there is a leaflet there that I have used, I wrote it myself, I have used during all my ministry. I'd like you to get a copy of it. It has helped many hundreds of souls on their first steps to heaven. It can help you. Oh, today I long after you in the bowels of the Lord Jesus. I long that you might know my Saviour and go out with peace that passive knowledge and all understanding. Be in time. Be in time. While the voice of Jesus calls you, be in time. If in sin you longer wait, you may find the open gate, and your cry be just too late. Be in time. Let's keep bowed in prayer. The Reverend Frank McClellan, Dr. McClellan from our Toronto Church, is going to lead us now in prayer. Let us all pray. Our loving Heavenly Father, we bow today before Thee in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been exalted in the preaching of Thy Word today. And Father, we thank Thee for Thy greatness. We bless You, O God, that Thou art the infinitely eternal and the unchangeable God. And beside Thee, Lord, we, the very nations of the world, are but as a small dust of the balance and even as a drop in a bucket. And Lord, even this great concourse of people, O God, were so small and so insignificant in the presence of the great God with whom we have to do. But, our Father, we thank Thee today that Thou art a God of love and of mercy. And even though Thou be high, yet dost Thou have respect for the lowly, And Father, we rejoice today that for every precious soul in this gathering that already has come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and they are able to say today, it is well, it is well with my soul. And Father, we pray for those to whom Thou hast spoken this morning, that Thou would apply Thy Word to their hearts. And Father, we pray if they know not the Lord Jesus, that this day, this fiftieth anniversary of our church should be the very birthday, the spiritual birthday, when they be born again and come to know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour. So, our Father, we pray that Thou wilt bless every soul and grant that none shall leave this place untouched by the hand of the Lord. Our Father, we thank Thee today for Thy providential dealing with us all. O God, we look back over these fifty years. We marvel at the pathway Thou hast caused us to travel. And Lord, we would say today that this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. We ask You, O Father, today, that as we face the future, that Thou would help us to exalt the mercy, the grace and the person of the Lord Jesus. O God, we thank Thee for what we have heard today. And Father, we pray that this church may ever exalt Him, because He has said that He, if He be lifted up, will draw all men unto Him. And Father, we ask of Thee that just as this church in the days gone by has been prayed into blessing, O God, we pray that Thou would help us to pray through.