31st March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 3v6-11) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


If you picked up three commentaries on the Song of Solomon they would all probably tell you different things. Indeed, some of them would argue that Solomon is the hero of the story and in chapter three he arrives to claim his bride. Nevertheless, as I studied the Song of Solomon I became more and more convinced that the King known for his wisdom is not the hero of the story.


There are various reasons for this but let me offer just a few. Firstly, if Solomon was supposed to be the hero of the story, then why couldn't he access the hareem? Wouldn't the King ride through the gate rather than glance through the lattice? Secondly, the Shulammite portrays her true love as a shepherd - Solomon was many things but he was no shepherd. Lastly, the comment in 8v11-12 seems quite critical and a direct comparison between Solomon's multiple sexual exploits and covenant faithfulness. Therefore I'm in agreement with those who argue that Solomon is not the Shulammite's beloved.


I think we see that here too. Solomon comes from the wilderness (v6) which is perhaps a negative comment about the King. The wilderness was a place of wandering for the Israelites and later Jesus would be tempted by Satan himself in the wilds. Solomon arrived from that place and he was a sight to behold. If you had been a witness that day then you would have been aware of his coming long before you saw him.


Solomon and his followers kicked up so much dust that it looked like columns of smoke rising on the horizon but even those "columns of smoke" were scented with myrrh and frankincense and all the fragrant powders of a merchant. When Solomon did arrive he was surrounded by sixty mighty men carrying swords ready to defend their King (v7-8). No one would fear the darkest night with these soldiers near by (v8b).


But Solomon himself was within his luxurious carriage (v9). It was made with wood from Lebanon which symbolised wealth and strength. Additionally, it was built with silver, gold, a seat of purple (v10) and it's interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem themselves (v10b). What are we to make of this? The King had arrived filled with joy (v11) because he was about to bed the Shulammite within the carriage where he had already bedded many of the daughters of Jerusalem.


Who would the Shulammite choose? Her Shepherd beyond the wall who had to flee from danger or King Solomon himself who arrived in luxury and splendour and could have any woman he wanted? Who would you choose? The life of ease or remaining faithful to the Shepherd who you might never see again?


Brothers and sisters, the world is described as Babylon in the Scriptures and Babylon is seductive indeed. When John saw her in Revelation 17 he saw a woman dressed in purple and scarlet offering the dwellers of the world all kinds of abomination and sexual immorality. What do we want in this life? Covenantal faithfulness or anything goes?  Contentment or compromise? The new Jerusalem or Babylon? My friends, this world is not neutral and it offers all kinds of seductions. Stand firm against them and choose the Shepherd, choose Christ. 


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Q29 How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ? We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.
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30th March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Psalm 75)


Message (Alan Burke) 


This coming Lord’s Day, we, like many believers across the world, will join together as we do every Lord’s Day, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Since the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God had appointed the seventh day, but ever since, it is the first day of the week appointed as the Sabbath, and will continue to the end of the world (WLC 116). But as we do that, I want to focus today on Psalm 75, a Psalm of Asaph, or rather what is in the hand of the LORD, the one who judges, and it comes in v8. 


“8 In the hand of the LORD is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices; he pours it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs.”


This is what will await the wicked when the judgement of the LORD comes; he has the final say. He brings one down and exalts another. This imagery looks ultimately to the judgement of God, a judgement that no one can escape. He is the one who has the final say, and this is what comes upon all the wicked of the earth. Who are the wicked? We are the wicked, as Paul summarised the teaching of Scripture in Romans 3. He says, “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”


There is not one righteous, not even one; by our very nature, we are not righteous but wicked. It means that I am wicked, and you, by your nature, are wicked! Yet it is through Christ Jesus that Asaph and all who look to God in faith are made righteous. It is an alien righteousness; it does not belong to us, but instead is given to us, imputed to us, as 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.


Christ Jesus was made sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God. He was regarded and treated as a wicked sinner, even though he himself never sinned. He did it for our sake; he bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24), acting as a substitute, taking our place, so that we might escape through him the wrath of God that awaits the wicked. Jesus drank of the cup of the wrath of God that was due to us; he drank of the cup of the wrath of God for us. For there is not one who is righteous, there is not one who deserves anything but his wrath. The night he was betrayed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus went off to pray. Falling to his knees, the ground he prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” (Mt 26:39). Jesus faced, as He faced what lay ahead, as He would drink of the cup of the wrath of God, the horror of what lay ahead caused Him to sweat drops of blood, that such was the weight upon Him, angels sent from heaven appearing to Him to strengthen Him as He prayed to the Father (Lk 22:44). 


He who was True God and True man, Jesus Christ, as the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person; without conversion, composition, or confusion, he faced death in his manhood. Jesus, True God and True man, could not die in his divinity but could in his humanity, and he died for us. If that was the end, then Jesus was just another man who died, a death that in a sense was unremarkable, nothing that had not been experienced before, but it was not the end and it was not a death like any before; before he died to take the penalty of sin and he experienced the wrath of a Holy God, there he hung on the cross, experiencing hell for us so that we might become the righteousness of God and escape the cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices that he will pour out on all the wicked (2 Cor 5:21). 


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Q28 Wherein consisteth Christ’s exaltation?
A. Christ’s exaltation consisteth in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.
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28th March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 3v1-5) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


The Shulammite watched as her beloved turned away from the hareem's walls - today would not be the day that they would be together. Later that night she went to bed and fell into a dream. What did she dream about? Her Shepherd who was still beyond her reach.


As she slept she began to search out her beloved (3v1). He was nowhere to be found and so in her dream state she began to search the streets and the squares of the city (3v2). The watchmen found her and she sought their help to find her true love but they had not seen him (3v3). Just as she began to believe that he would never be found, she turned to see her beloved. Her passionate response echoed her passionate language - she held him and would not let him go until she took him to meet her mother (3v4).


Is this the end of the story? The happy ending? No. The Shulammite was dreaming. Her beloved remained outside the hareem and she remained far from his love. No wonder then did she wake and immediately adjure the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up or awaken love until it pleases (3v5).


There's something very cruel about a dream that convinces us of one thing only for us to wake and discover the true reality. Maybe you've experienced that yourself? You dream of having a conversation with your mum who has been dead for many years or you dream that your illness has been cured only to remember when waking that it isn't true. I wonder if the Shulammite wept when she woke? Her heart longed for her Shepherd but the only place she could find him was in her dreams.


Brothers and sisters, life is often heartbreaking and we often see it in our relationships. How many of you can testify to broken marriages, broken homes and broken hearts? The Scriptures say that "weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning." (Psalm 30v5). Joy? Where? In Christ. We await His return and whilst currently He remains outside the wall, a day is dawning when He will come in power. Wait for Him child of God for He will bring with Him a kingdom in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3v13) where there will no no more death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21v4).


The Shulammite could not yet find her beloved but we know where Jesus is. "Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come." (Hebrews 13v13-14).


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Q27 Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? Christ’s humiliation consisted in his being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law, undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under the power of death for a time.

27th March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 5:16-30 focus v25-30)


Message (Alan Burke)


How good is your hearing these days? Mine isn’t what it used to be. I can hear fine, but when an ambulance goes past with the siren on, the pain I feel is unreal. I think it is called hyperacusis, and thankfully our ability to detect high-pitched sounds diminishes as we age, so that is one positive for me in getting older. But what’s your hearing like? Have you got the hearing aid in? Or can you manage? Hearing is one thing; listening is another, isn’t it? We can hear what we are being told, but then it goes in one ear and out the other (were you ever told that, or was it just me?). 


Look again at what Jesus says in v25, “a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” Think to what we were working through on Wednesday: how Jesus came to give the dead life, how we are, by our nature, dead in our transgressions and sin (Eph 2:1). We are dead. We might be physically alive, hearts beating, but none of us think that if we die, none of us think that if we died right now, we have the ability to bring ourselves back to life. Scripture teaches us that because of our transgressions and sin, by our nature, we are dead, spiritually dead. Well, Jesus offers life to the dead, not only in what is to come but life now, to raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life.


And Jesus tells the Jews not to be amazed at this, for the life that he offers is not only for the now but also for all eternity. For those who have believed, who have been brought from death to life in this life, they will live. They are the good that will rise to life, life eternal. But for those who have done evil, they will rise to be condemned. All those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. Now we might want to think that the good that Jesus speaks of are all those who have done good works in this life. But we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). The reality for all is that there is only one who is good and that is God, and some might read this and think that they have done enough good things, that God grades on a curve and will take the best of the best, that those who do enough good can tip the scales in their favour, but that isn’t what we are being told here. For there is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Ro 3:10–12).


No, instead the good that is here spoken of are not works that earn salvation; the good that is spoken of here is the evidence of salvation. The evidence in the lives of those who have heard has come to life, as they respond to the demand of the gospel. And well, those who do evil, well, that is everyone who has not responded to this call of Christ Jesus; they are those who will rise to be condemned. How do people have life? It is through hearing, hearing the voice of the Son of God; i.e. it is through the word preached; it starts with hearing the word; faith comes through hearing. (Rom 10:17) So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ, through hearing. What we need is the word of God, for he speaks when his word is preached, and just as the voice of God worked in the beginning, the voice of God still goes out today in faithful churches where his word is preached. If you want someone to hear, have you invited them to come and hear, or have you told them so that they can hear? Let us pray that many would hear and have life.


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Q26 How doth Christ execute the office of a king?
A. Christ executeth the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.
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26th March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 3v8-17) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


You could stop reading the Song of Solomon at 2v6 and be able to explain that the Song involves two people who are deeply in love and so you might even say "and they all lived happily ever after." Nevertheless, that wouldn't be the whole story because before the Shulammite and the Shepherd go hand in hand into the sunset there is one small problem - the Shepherd is on the wrong side of the wall.


The Shulammite heard her beloved's voice but she described him as "behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice." (3v9). It isn't everyone's interpretation but I am convinced that the Shulammite is enclosed within Solomon's hareem. Historically, hareem's were managed by eunnuchs who were castrated men who wouldn't have been able to enjoy the King's women. Everyone else would have been outside the complex and although the Shepherd came bounding over the mountains, he was unable to access Solomon's hareem.


As he tried to catch a glimpse of his beloved through the lattice he called to her and urged her to come away (3v10). The winter was past, spring had come (3v11-13) and so was the perfect time for the Shepherd and the Shulammite to be together. The Shepherd again urged the Shulammite to come away and leave the hareem behind (v13). He longed to see her face and hear her voice (v14) but all he could see was a mere glimpse through the lattice.


It seems to me that the Shulammite then asks the Shepherd to catch the foxes who ruin the vineyards (2v15). What did mean? She longed for the problems in their relationship to be put away - she wanted the walls of the hareem to be pulled down and for their love to flourish. But now it was time for the Shepherd to leave the walls of the hareem, to flee from potential danger (2v16) and wait for a better day.


The Shulammite and the Shepherd were not yet able to live happily after after and if the Song ended at this point we wouldn't be sure if they ever would. The problems they faced seemed insurmountable and isn't that the story of many of our relationships? Things don't go as planned after the big day ends, money is tight, promotions don't come and the home is tense constantly. Love in this world will not always look like the movies.


Brothers and sisters, if the foxes are to be put out of our own relationships then we would be wise to heed Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4v12 where he wrote that a threefold cord is not quickly broken. What does that look like in reality? Christ in our marriages, Christ in our courting, Christ in our parenting, Christ in our friendships and Christ in our interactions. May he chase the foxes and tear down the walls - all glory be to Christ.


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Q25 How doth Christ execute the office of a priest? Christ executeth the office of a priest, in his once offering up of himself a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and reconcile us to God, and in making continual intercession for us.
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25th March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 5:16-30 focus v19-24)


Message (Alan Burke)


There are two big things we are being taught here in this section, firstly the work of the Trinity and second how Jesus came to give life to all who the Father is pleased to give life. Let’s think first of the Trinity, for we learn that the relationship between the Father and the Son is not one of independence, rather dependence. There is an inseparable operation between all three persons of the Trinity; they act as one in all that they do. What the Father does, the Son does; what the Son does, the Spirit does; and our salvation comes from the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. There are three persons of the God head at work for our salvation, and the Father reveals Himself through the Son to us. 


All the things that Jesus had done and would do were so that those who accuse Him of being a Sabbath breaker and blasphemer would see, they would marvel; yet these Jews would reject all that they saw. For they thought that He was dishonouring the Father, that He was breaking the law of God; He was sinning, for He broke the Sabbath, instructed someone to break the Sabbath. Not only that, He equated Himself with God Himself. In their minds, He was a sinful blasphemer who had brought dishonour on the one truth, God. But Jesus here in His words confronted them with how their attitude, their desire to kill Him, to see Him put to death, meant that they, not He, were guilty, for they would not honour Him as the one sent by the Father; they would not honour Him as the Son of God who does His Father’s bidding.


But also look to the purpose that Jesus reveals that he has come for, and that is to raise the dead. He came to give life to those whom it pleased Him to give it. Now we can think, oh, what he was talking about is the resurrection of the dead, but it’s not; it is speaking of salvation as we cross over from death to life. The thing is that every person who has ever lived is by their nature dead. Paul reminds us in the book of Ephesians, we are dead in our transgressions and sins (Eph 2:1). We are by our nature dead in our transgressions and sin. We are dead. We might be physically alive, hearts beating, but none of us think that if we die, none of us think that if we died right now, we have the ability to bring ourselves back to life. Scripture teaches us that because of our transgressions and sin, by our nature, we are dead, spiritually dead. This is the doctrine of ‘Total Depravity’, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. But Jesus came that we might have life, life comes from Him, He gives it to those whom it pleases Him. 


Notice the words of Jesus in v22, because there is something that doesn’t sit easily with many people. The reason why is that they have this idea of Jesus that is more of a figment of their own imagination; they believe certain things that the scripture teaches, maybe some of the things that they have heard, but the teaching of scripture is something that they have either rejected or at the very least have not even tried to understand for themselves. There are many who have this idea of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament, they equate to the Father and see that he’s a monster, full of wrath, judges all people, whereas Jesus, well, he comes and he is all loving, forgiving everyone. Jesus though has come to judge and he will accomplish all that he has come to do, all that he is pleased to give life will have life. In salvation we are reliant first on God to act; dead people can’t bring themselves back from the dead, they are reliant on another to act. We are reliant on Christ to act so that we might have life. In a culture it is all about the choices we make, we are ever more individualistic, it’s all about how we feel, what works for us. But when it comes to salvation we learn that it is all about the choice of God, and either it will provoke in you a response of adoration, or it will cause you to recoil because it goes against everything our individualistic natures want, for we want to be king or queen of our own destiny.


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Q24 How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
A. Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
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24th March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 3v8-17) 


Message (Scott Woodburn)


True or false? Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me. I can't hear your answer but for me, names sometimes don't hurt but they often do. The Shulammite was kept behind lock and key in Solomon's hareem far from the intentions of any man bar Solomon himself but her heart was elsewhere. She had issued her first adjuration to the daughters of Jerusalem (2v7) and in the very next verse she heard the voice of her beloved (2v8).


After each adjuration a new figure enters the Song and this time it is the Shepherd. We have heard his voice previously but now we are given a glimpse of the man himself. How did the Shulammite describe her one true love? She couldn't have spoken more highly saying "The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag." (2v8-9).


Wow! Gentlemen, imagine being described in such terms! Imagine being seen as a gazelle or young stag in the eyes of your lover. In reality, our words probably have lost that initial sense of spark which was evident in the very early days of courtship. Today if we say anything about our other half it is probably quite negative.


Let me ask, did you know that John the Baptist had his real doubts about Jesus? John found himself languishing in prison and sent some of his disciples to ask Jesus “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” (Matthew 11v3). That's a pretty sore statement. Put yourself in the Lord's shoes - you are in the middle of your work and one of your greatest friends sends word to say "I'm not convinced you are what you say you are. I wonder if I was right about you." The Lord's response was full of grace. He sent word back to John that he had nothing to fear and then he turned to the crowd to tell them that there was no one greater than John the Baptist (Matthew 11v11).


Brothers and sisters, learn again to speak positively of one another. Try and see the beauty once again in your spouse. Tell your wife that you still adore her, tell your husband that you deeply appreciate him, tell your children that they cause your heart to sing and tell your neighbour that you value their kindness. The Shulammite adored the Shepherd and her words made it abundantly clear. May our own gracious words be like honeycomb which brings sweetness to the soul and health to the body (Proverbs 16v24). 


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Q23 What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer? Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.
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23rd March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 5:16-30 focus v16-18)


Message (Alan Burke) 


Do you remember ‘The Generation Game’? I’m sure that for many you do. It was a staple of the telly. I remember Bruce Forsyth, and may I add, not in his original run as the presenter but in his second stint. I’m not that old, even though some of your children in Lissara think I’m hitting 60. I’m not. There was one time that I remember this fella doing plate spinning, and you know what I did? Well, actually, I didn’t because my mum saw the look in my eye and warned me if I even tried it, there would be consequences. Think though of a plate spinning; it doesn’t just happen, does it? It takes someone by their actions to start it spinning. It doesn’t take a genius to know what would happen if once it was started that it was just left to see what happened. You’d have a smashing time. 


Here Jesus responds to the Jews. They had come after him, persecuted. Can also be translated as pursued. They came to Jesus, and he says to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” Now, that might not seem like a big deal to us, but to the Jews, they were enraged. We are told that because of this, they tried all the harder to kill him, and the reason was that he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 


Think of that plate spinning again, it needs someone to actively keep it going. Well, Jesus saying that my Father is always at work to this very day is speaking of how the Lord is enabling the existence of creation itself. Some people have this view that God is like a watchmaker, made creation and let it tick over, but that is not the case. God is actively at work. After he had created all that is, he didn’t just put his feet up on the seventh day, no, for everything in creation is reliant on his continuing work to sustain it all, for everything is dependent on him for its continuing existence. The Father has been at work, through the Son sustaining all things. This world, the universe, and all that is, is reliant on the constant providential care of the Lord our God. All of creation, all that he has made, is dependent on him every single second of every single day (see Heb 1:3). 


In saying what he said, the Jews understood what he was saying; he also called God ‘My Father’, and it was as if Jesus was saying, “right now I, with my Father, are enabling your life, your being”. While they knew that Jesus was only able to do what he had done because he was from God (see Jn 3:2). They knew that God was with him, they knew that he couldn’t have done what he was doing unless God were with him, but they cannot comprehend what he has done, how in their mind he had broken the Sabbath even though there is no prohibition on acts of mercy, and they could not tolerate from him this claim that he was God. To them, Jesus was a blasphemer, for he was claiming to be God. 


There are lots of people today confused about who Jesus is. Some think he was a good teacher, maybe a good example; he’s to some was a revolutionary. People even in the church cherry-pick the bits that they like and ignore the rest. But Jesus wasn’t confused about who he was; he reveals himself as the Son of God. Jesus is God incarnate, the Jews desired to kill him all the more and they would succeed to an extent, he was nailed to a cross, fulfilling the plans and purposes of our Triune God from eternity past that he would die for our salvation and rise again defeating death and its power (Heb 2:14-15). 


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Q22 How did Christ, being the Son of God, become man?
A. Christ, the Son of God, became man, by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin.
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21st March 2026


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Song of Solomon 2v7, 3v5 & 8v4)


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


The Shulammite adjured those around her that they shouldn't stir up or awaken love until it was ready. I've read that the adjuration should actually be considered as a curse, something akin to "If anyone stirs up love before it is ready, let that person be cursed." This is serious business and it shows that the Shulammite didn't want Solomon's love, she didn't want the life of a concubine and she didn't want to turn her back on her one true love. This righteous woman was prepared to wait for love and not to embrace the wisdom of the world and she warned those who sought to force her the other way.


In our day and age we are constantly told that physical intimacy is meaningless and just a bit of fun. There is no point in waiting and sex should be enjoyed by anyone at anytime without any reservation and I think we see the rotten outcome of this when it comes to abortion. It never ceases to amaze me that in the UK abortion is seen as a non-negotiable  "good." The Americans to their credit have considered their stance on abortion and a recent Supreme Court decision changed the landscape there dramatically. Here in the UK it is hard to imagine the topic ever being debated again - we want our sexual freedom and we want to be free from any consequences.


The Shulammite's adjuration is therefore an incredibly important word for 2026. All she had to do to have a life of safety and leisure was to sleep with Solomon a few times. She was a woman who was forced by her brothers to work in the vineyards, there is no mention of her father and I think it is reasonable to assume that her life was quite hard. Even so, she longed for her beloved and not the false intimacy of Solomon's hareem. Tremper Longman III helpfully states that we shouldn't arouse love until we are ready to meet its rigors, both physical and emotional, "Love is not a passing fling but rather a demanding and exhausting relationship." No wonder then did the Shulammite urge the daughters of Jerusalem not to stir up love before it was ready lest they be cursed.


But why did the woman urge her friends to swear by the gazelles and does? Why didn't she call upon God Himself (He doesn't really get mentioned in the Song)? I've read that the Hebrew for gazelles and does sounds quite like swearing by the Lord of Hosts of by God Almighty. Others have said that in Solomon's books men and women are sometimes compared to gazelles and does (2v7 & Proverbs 5v19). Perhaps as James M. Hamilton Jr. suggests we are supposed to think of the sure footed swiftness of these animals as we too flee temptation or maybe it is a reminder that we are not animals and should not act impulsively when it comes to love.


Brothers and sisters, true love is worth waiting on and so too is the enjoyment of physical intimacy. Teach this to your children and impress upon them the need to protect their hearts. The world says "hurry up and get with the program" whilst the Word urges caution, seriousness and a willingness to wait. Long ago the Apostle Paul rebuked the sexually free Corinthians amongst whom there were step-sons who were having sex with their step-mothers (1 Corinthians 5v1). Paul's wisdom was sharp and clear - we are to flee sexual immorality and glorify God in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6v18-20). May we heed Paul and the Shulammite - I adjure you, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. 


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Q21 Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect? The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man, and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two distinct natures, and one person, for ever.
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20th March 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (John 5:1-15 focus v7-15)


Message (Alan Burke)


The scene that Jesus entered at the pool of Bethesda was a pitiful sight. Seeing a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, Jesus heals this man. At Jesus’ command, the man at once was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. There is no drama, no magic spell; Jesus doesn’t have to perform some incantation; he simply commands this man to get up, and at once he was healed. The power of the Word incarnate, the one who we were introduced to in the prologue by John, the one who was with God and was God, the one whom all things were made through— this is the one, the agent of creation who commanded this man to get up and walk. It wasn’t that this man needed faith; if only he believed, if only he trusted, no, it was from beginning to end the work of God. It is the same with salvation; it takes God’s work within us; it is God who works enabling us to believe. What was required for this man was the work of God; what is required of us is the work of God; we are totally unable to save ourselves; salvation isn’t that we do our part and God plays his part; we do the first bit or he does the first bit and then we do a bit; no, it is the sovereign work of God; it was the sovereign work of God in the healing of this man just as it is the sovereign work of God in our salvation; it shows his deity, it is evidence of who Jesus was and is, that the one who healed this man is God. The man is then confronted by the Jews, referring to the Jewish authorities, including the Pharisees, who were increasingly hostile and opposed to Jesus’ teachings. 


They say to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But the law does not say that; their oral traditions do, but not the word of God. While they knew the rules, they did not know mercy. This was a man who had been carrying his mat; he had been healed after thirty-eight years, and instead of seeing what had been done and, as a result, being filled with joy, praising the Lord God, they challenged this man for working. It was religion of the worst kind, rules without grace. In response, the man points the finger at someone whom he didn’t know, in effect saying this isn’t my fault. While Jesus had slipped away into the crowd, he came and found the man. He didn’t need to do that; he didn’t need to speak to him; he could have simply left it as it was. He didn’t need to tell him to stop sinning, but his mercy warned this man about his sin, even though this man would then go and tell the Jews who he is. The mercy of Christ was willing to warn this man. 


While sometimes our illnesses are a direct result of our sin, our choices can directly impact our health. But more often than not, the problem is that we live under the curse (see John 9:2-3). We don’t know if this man’s sin had caused his paralysis, but that isn’t the point of the words of Jesus to him when he says, “Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” His words confront us with how sinning without repentance means that there are consequences, eternal consequences for our sin. This man’s greatest need was not to be healed from his paralysis but to turn to the one who had healed him and trust his life into his hands. Christ Jesus was his greatest need, and it is the same for all of us. We might think what was worse than lying for thirty-eight years in your own filth. But there is something a lot worse; this man showed no evidence of repentance; he went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. We do not know if the man came to saving faith; what he faced in this life would pale into insignificance to what would await him in the next. For all who will turn to Christ Jesus in repentance, they will know his mercy, for he was the one who came to take what we deserve, the terrible consequences for our sin, and know salvation. 


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q20 Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?
A. God having, out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.
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