Very good. Okay. Sorry we're
a bit late. As you can see, we have many
people away, so that's a good cause to continue to pray for
when the bills are not well. Anyway, it's good to see you
all here. We're here to worship God, and you'll only ever worship
an absolutely sovereign God. And I love the way he describes
himself in the scriptures, and I love the way that the gospel
is an an exposition. of the faithfulness of our God.
You may well have heard that Henry Mayan went to be with the
Lord two days ago on May the 31st. And what amazing things
Henry saw in the twinkling of an eye. What amazing things Henry
will see as eternity unfolds before him and such is the heritage
of all of God's people. And the wonderful thing is that
our God is faithful He says, he says, he will not suffer his
faithfulness to fail. He will not suffer his faithfulness
to fail. Psalm 89, 33. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the
thing that has gone out of my lips, once I have sworn by my
holiness that I will not lie unto David. When he doesn't lie
to David, he's talking about not lying to David's great son
and all those that are in him. He doesn't lie to us, our God. His seed shall endure forever. and his throne as the sun before
me. It shall be established forever
as the moon, as the faithful witness in heaven." God swears
by his faithfulness and he swears by his holiness that he won't
lie to us. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we do thank you for your faithfulness. We thank you in particular, Heavenly
Father, for the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ, faithful
in obedience, obedience unto death. And Heavenly Father, we
are amazed and in awe of the wonder of the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, which put us as one with Him in that eternal
covenant, and He, the great surety, stood in our place. And now,
Heavenly Father, the life we live in this flesh, the life
we live in this world, all of your people live by the faithfulness
of the Son of God. And may it be our portion, Heavenly
Father, that we might continue, as Paul said in that verse, He
has loved us, loved us, and shed his life blood for us. Our Father,
we do pray that we'd have our eyes fixed on your dear and precious
Son this morning. We would rejoice in who he is
and what he's done and what he is doing, and the gathering of
the people to him, which we bear witness to, Heavenly Father,
in the scriptures and throughout time, and we bear witness to
right here. And we do pray for your promises,
Heavenly Father, to be fulfilled. And as David said, do unto us
as you have said. May that be our portion, Heavenly
Father, that we might see your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in
something of his glory again this morning. For we have no
right into your presence and no right to request things of
you unless and except we come in his precious name and by him. And we pray that that's our portion,
our Father. as we meet together. Bless us,
Heavenly Father, for the sake of your dear and precious Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray in his name. Amen. We're
gonna sing number, I forget the number. Number 14, was it? Or 15, which one? Holy, holy,
holy. Holy, holy, holy holy holy holy ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? Holy, holy,
holy ? ? Holy, holy, holy ? ? To thee I'll sing, O land thy
glory may I sing ? ? Holy, thou art holy ? ? There is none beside
thee ? ? O empty ground, thou rimless stream ? Well as I said earlier Henry
Mahan went to glory and Many have written remarkable things
about Henry Mahan, but the most amazing thing about Henry Mahan
is, of course, that he just had one focus in his life. He was
a successful pastor in a church. He heard the gospel and it was
never changed. He heard the gospel and he never
went back. He heard the gospel and there was just one thing
on his mind and in his heart when he was preaching and that
was the Lord Jesus and him crucified. He came to Australia and in that
visit to Australia, Owen went to hear him preach with his wife
and others. And so we have members of our
fellowship, like Eglof and Isabel, who came to hear the gospel through
Henry Mahan. And someone said that there are
probably very few genuinely born again people in this world today
through whom Henry Mahan wasn't used to the Lord in remarkable
ways. And so a giant in Israel has
fallen. And Egloth carries around in
his phone the sermon of Henry Mahan's that the Lord used in
bringing Isabel to faith. And it was a sermon that you
can look up on the internet and it says, I never knew you. It's a sermon from Matthew chapter
seven. So there'll be many grieving
and many celebrating. Henry's been wondering why the
Lord's left him on this earth for a long time. Left him frail
and deaf. But now he has every reason to
know, every reason for everything. And it's all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. He fills heaven with his glory. He fills the earth with his glory. He fills eternity with his glory. And as I've said several times,
we are here in church preparing ourselves and practicing for
the worship of him. So we have a debt to those who
have gone before us and been faithful. His life was not easy. His eldest son, I think it was,
was called up and drafted and went to Vietnam. And on the first
day he was in Vietnam, he was shot and killed. And Henry had
been preaching about the sovereignty of God and the absolute sovereignty
of God and the God who does all things well all the time. And
some preacher who hated the gospel rang Henry when he heard the
news of his son. And he said to Henry, where's
your God now? And Henry said, he's exactly
where he's always been. He's sitting on the throne of
this universe. Reality is that Henry's life
has been a blessing to many, but much of the blessing has
come through the trials of his life. He was a gifted man, but
the Lord had to take away his natural giftings and give him
gifts from heaven to bless his people. So it's a good thing
to think about as we look into Acts chapter 16. We are coming
in Acts 16 to the glorious passage of scripture that I've been anxious
to get to for a long time, which is that we have in Acts 16 the
record of the first convert in Europe. There may have been converts
from Europe in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost and others,
but this is the first missionary journey to Europe, and of course
this is a significant time in the history of the world. The world as we know it today
has been impacted hugely and significantly and sovereignly
by God, sending the Gospel to Europe, because from Europe the
Gospel has gone out to the rest of the world. So let's just read
some of these remarkable verses. Acts chapter 16. Then he came
to Derby. This is Paul. We last week looked
at him being sent out by the grace of God from Antioch. Then he came to Derbe and Lystra,
and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the
son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess and believed, but
his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren
that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have go forth
with him, and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which
were in those quarters. For they all knew that his father
was a Greek. And as they went through the
cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were
ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem.
And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in
number daily. Now when they had gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy
Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they had come to Mysia,
they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not. And they, passing by Mysia, came down to Troas, and a vision
appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia,
and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia and help
us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. Excuse me. Therefore, loosing
from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracea, and next
day to Neapolis, and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief
city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony. And we were in
that city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath, we went out
of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made, and
we sat down and spake unto the women which were resorted thither.
And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us. whose heart the
Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken
of Paul. And when she was baptised and
her household, she besought us saying, if you have judged me
to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there. And she constrained us. This is the first European convert.
What a glorious story. What a glorious picture of the
sovereignty of our God. Let's sing again. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. When we were tossed from Jesus'
mount, we found the sheep that led us free. Praised His arms
and gently laid, He carried me to the land of the free. Yes, I'll sing the world His
glory on His protest, He bruised the tide
of Nehemiah's war. Oh, what silent shame He stressed,
He cried out His love and smiled at all. Yes, I'll sing the wondrous story
of the Christ who died for me. ? As still they kneel ? ? Sorrow's
walls are all they fill ? ? But He spreads His stillness with
me ? ? Pride He's running and I'm filled ? ? Yes, I'll sing
the wondrous story ? ? Of the Christ who died for me ? That's a great verse, isn't it?
He'll keep me till the river rolls its waters at my feet.
Then he'll bear me safely over where the loved ones I shall
meet. We have a great God, brothers
and sisters in Christ. We have a great God and a great
gospel. Oh, if Henry could come back
and speak now and say, I just didn't say enough. Only the half
was told me, like the Queen of Sheba said to Solomon. Let's
turn in our scriptures to Acts chapter 16 again. And here we
have Paul heading off on his second missionary journey and
his initial aim as you go back in Acts chapter 15 verse 26 is
to, let's go back, verse 36, let's go back, let's go again
and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the
word of the Lord and see how they do. Let's see how they do
in the Lord. In verse 40, Paul is commissioned
by the church in Antioch again. He's recommended by the brethren
unto the grace of God. Grace is not an ineffectual activity,
brothers and sisters. Grace is powerful. Grace is saving. Grace is sovereign. Grace draws
sinners like Paul to the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
is powerful. So to recommend them unto the
grace of God is not just a throwaway phrase for the Church. It's hugely
significant. and to be recommended by the
brethren is hugely significant. So he went out again. He goes
out in each of his journeys, he goes out honouring the Church. None of God's servants will ever
do anything which is helpful to the Saints of God without
it being an honouring of the Church of God, which is the place
where the Lord Jesus Christ promises to reveal Himself, it's the place
where God the Father promises to get glory for His dear and
precious Son. And Paul had a mission. He had
an aim, to go out and see what they were doing, he had a commissioning
from the Church, and he had a mission. Verse 16, verse 4, was to deliver
unto them, to deliver them the decrees for to keep." The Church,
as we have seen of late, is not just some disorganised, chaotic
man-made organisation. It's an organism which is ruled
and reigned by its great head, our Lord Jesus Christ. It's set
upon foundations. It's set upon foundations and
the stones are laid and the stones are put into that building by
a sovereign hand of a sovereign God and so nothing in the church
is out of order. in the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So he was delivering these decrees, these decrees
that stated that salvation is entirely by grace, these decrees
that were to establish the fact that the Gentiles were not to
live in such a way as to offend their their Jewish brethren by
the freedom that they could have exercised in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the Jews were not to offend the Gentiles by saying that you
need to be circumcised and go back and obey the law of Moses. And Paul went out with a hope,
didn't he? And with a success. In verse
5, and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in
number daily. So Paul went on this missionary
journey as he did in those first journeys as we saw. He went back
to those places where he was stoned to death. He went back
to those places where he was rejected. He went back to those
places where the Jews stood in violent opposition to him. But
in those places, in the midst of all of that opposition, the
Lord Jesus Christ raises his banner and says, these are my
people, this is my church, and they will be gathered and they
will be strengthened. And throughout the book of Acts,
we have read again and again that the Lord added daily to
the church such as should be saved. The increase in numbers
daily is the work of God to put his church together. And he has
promised that it will be successful. All that were ordained to eternal
life believed. Acts 13, 48. So the church goes
on as it did in the beginning of Acts. It goes on with God
adding to its number all the time. You can read about it in
Acts 2 and Acts 5 and Acts 6 and Acts 9 and Acts 11 and Acts 12.
It's there throughout Acts that God is adding to this church.
This is the church that the Lord Jesus Christ had bought with
his precious blood. And nothing, nothing in heaven
and nothing in earth and nothing in hell is gonna stop the successful
reign and rule of the Lord Jesus in the lives of his people. So
Paul had these companions with him on this journey. He had new
companions now. His first journey was with Barnabas
and Mark. This time, he takes Silas with
him. Silas, in verse 22 of chapter
15, is declared to be one of the chief men among the brethren. Verse 22 of chapter 15. In verse
32, he's declared to be a prophet. which means that he's a preacher.
He exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them. And he was sent, in Acts 15,
22, he was sent out by the Jerusalem council, this chief man, this
man among the brethren, this prophet, this preacher, this
man was sent as to bear witness to the fact that this decree
from Jerusalem was going to be witnessed by more than one person,
was going to be witnessed by those letters, and those letters
went to all of those churches. Everywhere that Paul went, he
left a copy of that letter, so that all of the established churches
in all of Christendom at the time, for want of a better word,
all had that decree laid out before them. that Gentile believers,
by simple faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, have kept the law of
Moses perfectly. And to put them back under a
burden of works and a burden of doing, doing, doing, is a
blasphemy against the Lord Jesus Christ. It is simply saying to
him that his work is not sufficient. It is simply saying to God the
Father that there is more to be done in salvation than what
your son has done. It is saying to the Holy Spirit
that all you promised about your son and wrote in this book is
not satisfactory and I must do something. Wouldn't it be wonderful,
wouldn't it be wonderful in this world today if the simple message
of the liberty and the security and the safety and the success
of all of God's people was published in the churches all the time?
That's the task of preaching. What was Silas going at to exhort
the brethren of many words? He was confirming them, wasn't
he? He was saying, The gospel Paul preached to you is the gospel
that we're all saved by. It's a gospel of free and sovereign
grace. And I'm here, says Silas, I'm
here as a prophet and a preacher and a chief man of that Jerusalem
church, I'm here to bear witness to the fact that what you have
read is what we all agreed on. It was all agreed on. And he went out as a preacher.
is recommended by the brethren in Antioch. He came from Jerusalem,
he stayed in Antioch, and he's declared throughout the Scriptures
as Paul's faithful companion in so much of his work. In 2
Corinthians 1.19 it says, For the Son of God, who was preached
among you by us, even by me, Paul, Silvanus and Timotheus
was not yea and nay, but in him was yea, because All the promises
of God in Him are yea, and in Him are men. He's declared by
Peter in 1 Peter 5, verse 12, as a faithful brother unto you.
So all faithful brothers are faithful brothers unto you. You
can't be a faithful brother on your own, you're a faithful brother
amongst the brethren. Peter says he's a faithful brother
unto you in the true grace of God wherein you stand. And then we come to Paul's other
companion, Timothy. Timothy is declared to be a certain
disciple. You might have noticed that Lydia
was a certain woman. Timothy is a certain disciple
and he's the son of a certain woman. I love the Lord's certains. He has certain people. He has
a certain people, and He has a certain time, and He has a
certain calling on their lives, and He has certain things for
them to do in this world, and He has certain results of all
of that. Everything is certain. He was going with this certain
apostle on a certain journey, and He was going on that journey
to a certain woman. that they didn't even know about
at the time. They had no idea where they were
going. As Abraham went out, he didn't know where he was going.
He just went out trusting God. So Paul's initial plan was just
to go to these churches that he'd been in before. But as we
see in the rest of Acts 16, Paul was shepherded and directed and
hedged by God to go all the way past all of those places and
come to that port city and be met there with the vision of
a man and be taken across the sea to Philippi. He's a certain disciple. And
he's a certain disciple that believed. He believed. He simply believed the gospel.
Paul had declared the gospel to him. In Acts chapter 13, we
have read Paul's declaration of the gospel in those cities.
and says, you know, be it known unto you, therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man, this man Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
dead and raised, crucified and risen, is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified
from all things which you could not be justified by the law of
Moses. They just went back to say the
same thing. Paul didn't have to change his message at all. And he was someone who has taught
the scriptures. We can read something of his history when Paul writes
to him. His mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois were believers
in that same city. So Timothy was a young man when
Paul first went there and now he's old enough to go out on
this journey. And Timothy is also a young man
who was well reported by the Brethren. Well reported. That word reported means that
he was a martyr. In the transliteration of it,
it's a martyr. He's a witness. He's a witness
to the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a witness to the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a witness to what God had
done through him. He's a witness to the preaching
of the gospel. He's a witness to the gathering
of the saints together. And him Paul would have go forth
with him. But his mother was a Jewess, but
his father was a Greek. Verse three, Paul would have
him go forth with him and took him and circumcised him. because of the Jews which were
in those quarters. For they all knew that his father
was a Greek." And so you might well think that Paul has this
letter saying the Gentiles don't need to be circumcised. He's
got this letter and he's got this gospel that says that circumcision
avails nothing and uncircumcision avails nothing. And here you
are, you've taken Titus all the way down to Jerusalem, an uncircumcised
Greek, and you take him there into that Jerusalem council,
and you stand there with him, and you say there's absolutely
no way in the world is Titus going to be circumcised at all.
Otherwise it's a denial of the gospel. And yet, As many would
think, well here's Paul being a hypocrite because there's Timothy
and he's going to take Timothy with him and the first thing
he does before he sets out from those cities of Lystra and Iconium,
the first thing he does is get him circumcised. Why? Why? The answer is really simple,
isn't it? The answer is really simple and
it's there in our text. And it says, he took him and
circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters. You might recall that as Paul
went on his journey, the first thing he did in every place he
went, he went to the Jewish synagogue. He went to the places where there
was a door opened and he was often invited to speak. He went
to the Jews. And he went there and spoke. So Paul was going into those
quarters where the Jews lived, and they knew that Timothy's
father was a Greek, was an uncircumcised Greek. And what that simply means
in those quarters amongst those Jewish people is there's absolutely
no way in the world Timothy would be allowed in, and there's no
way in the world Timothy would be allowed to speak. And if Paul's
associated with him and brings him into those places, Paul wouldn't
be able to speak. It's as simple as that, that
Paul had decrees from the Jerusalem Council to deliver to the churches
and to deliver to those communities, and he wouldn't have been able
to do it. He wouldn't have been able to
do it. And Timothy, Timothy simply submits. Timothy submits. Why? Preaching the gospel is more
important. Timothy was chosen to be God's
pastor to his sheep. Timothy's on a journey which
will take him to places like Ephesus where he'll remain a
pastor for some considerable time. Timothy's a pastor to God's
sheep. These blood-bought sheep, these
grace-bought sheep, Timothy's their pastor. on this journey
to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ. And anything in the flesh of
man that gets between God and his people needs to be cut away. Timothy is declaring So many things. I love the fact
that there is just a simple submission. Barnabas argued with Paul And
Mark argued with Paul, and here we have a picture of a man who
simply obeyed. He was called into the Lord's
service, and he was called into a service where he was going
to declare, as Paul did, as in Philippians 3.3, he says this
great gospel declaration, we are the circumcision which worship
God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. They cannot draw man's attention
to any fleshly works. Not fleshly works of mine and
not fleshly works of yours. As the Lord Jesus Christ said,
flesh gives birth to flesh. The flesh profits nothing. So he had these decrees. These decrees were delivered
into the cities where Timothy lived, and no doubt, No doubt
all of those people knew of Timothy's background, that his mother was
a Jewess and his father was a Greek. But Timothy is also a remarkable
picture and portrayal of grace. Is this thing doing something
that it shouldn't be doing? Am I doing something that it shouldn't
be doing? The man who's circumcising him
or causing him to be circumcised is a picture of the grace of
God. Paul had nothing in himself. And it's remarkable to think,
isn't it, as I've reminded you before, that Paul is sent to
the Gentiles, where all of his Jewish breeding and all of his
Jewish heritage and all of his Jewish learning and all of the
esteem that he had amongst the Jews meant absolutely nothing
to a Roman. In fact, they despised the Jews.
And Peter, was the apostle to the Jews. Every time Peter stood
up and spoke in Jerusalem, everyone in that crowd would have said,
this is an ignorant and unlearned Galilean fishery. All of the natural abilities
of man are going to be stripped away. His picture is a portrayal
of grace. He's a picture of salvation by
grace, isn't he? His mother was a Jewess and his
father was a Greek. So she was unlawfully married
to him. His mother Eunice disobeyed,
openly and flagrantly disobeyed God in marrying the Greek man. You can read about it in Deuteronomy
7, 3 and 4. You are not to marry outside of the Jewish people,
you are not to marry uncircumcised men. And the reason is simple
in the Scriptures. The reason is, they who worship
other gods will turn your hearts from the true and living God,
which happens throughout Israel's history. That's what Deuteronomy
7, 3 and 4 says. So they were unlawfully married, and according
to the law, Timothy was unlawfully conceived, and Timothy was therefore
uncircumcised. See, Timothy's birth, his fleshly
birth, is a picture of our birth, isn't it? Every elect child of
God is born of an unlawful marriage between Adam and this heart of
unbelief. Like Gomer, Hosea had to go and
marry a harlot. Find a lady from the red light
district. And we, like Timothy, go many
days in this world in our uncircumcised hearts. Hearts of flesh. Timothy's flesh and his mother's
rebellion are pictures. of the fact that God saves by
grace. He doesn't save on account of things that are in people,
things that they do. Where sin abounds, did grace
much more abound. Timothy's Timothy is a trophy
of grace. His mother, Eunice, is a trophy
of grace, and his grandmother, Lois, would have been wicked
in allowing the marriage to go forth in the first place. All
three of them are trophies of grace. God's grace and His mercy
is free. Adam's sin Adam's sin did not
affect the grace of God to the elect, and your sin doesn't change
the grace of God towards his people. The sin of these three
people in this family had no bearing on the grace of God. It's something that we can't
get into our natural minds and we can't even get into our born
again minds except we hear the gospel again and again. That
God deals with his people on the basis of the faithfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. There will be consequences to
your unfaithfulness. But God deals with his people
on that basis and that basis alone. Timothy was going to declare
that circumcision avails nothing and uncircumcision avails nothing. As Paul says in Galatians, He says in 1 Corinthians 7, he
repeats it again and again. He says that you are saved by
grace. Let's turn to 1 Corinthians 7
and see what he says to these people that he's heading off
to see. 1 Corinthians 7, verse 19. He's declaring the liberty the
liberty of God's children under grace. He says in verse 17, but
as God has distributed every man so the Lord called everyone,
so let him walk and so I ordain in all the churches. Is any man
called being circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised.
Is any called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised. Circumcision
is nothing. And uncircumcision is nothing. What matters? What is something?
Uncircumcision is nothing. Circumcision is nothing but keeping
the commandments of God. What's keeping the commandments
of God, brothers and sisters? If you don't keep the commandments
of God perfectly, you cannot enter into heaven's glory. Henry Mahan kept the commandments
of God perfectly, didn't he? What is it to keep the commandments
of God? Turn to 1 John 3, just briefly,
and we'll just see that this is what the Word of God says. This is keeping the commandments,
1 John 3, verse 23. And this is his commandment. that we should believe in the
name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another as he gave
commandment. Isn't it wonderful? Keeping the
commandments of God is trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. It's relying
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those Pharisees came up to the
Lord Jesus and said, what must we do to do the works of God?
What must we do to do the works that please God? And he says in John 6, 29, Jesus
answered and said unto them, this is the work of God. It's not your work. This is the
work of God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent. Simply believing. It's a liberty
for Timothy. is to be circumcised so the Gospel
is unhindered. Liberty for Timothy is to just
simply be obedient and bow to the wisdom of the Apostle to
the Gentiles. As Paul says to the Galatians,
Brethren, you have been called unto liberty, only not use liberty
for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Keeping the commandments of God
is simply trusting Him. Trusting Him, relying on Him,
putting all of your eggs in one basket. As Paul wrote to Timothy
in 2 Timothy chapter 1, at the end of his life, he says, for
which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I'm not
ashamed, for I know whom I have believed." It doesn't matter
what you believe, it's a matter of whom you believe. If you believe
the right whom, you'll believe the right what's about the whom.
It's a matter of whom you believe. I know whom I have believed,
that I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have
committed unto him against that day." Timothy, in his circumcision,
was able to go to those places and turn people's gaze away from
his flesh. to turn those Jewish eyes away
from condemning him as having been born in wickedness and having
lived in rebellion against the commandments of God. Timothy
having been circumcised meant that there was a door open both
to him and to Paul and to Silas into all of those places. Having
Timothy circumcised is simply a declaration a declaration that
the gospel matters more than anything else, even the comfort
of my flesh. And the real Jews, the real Jews,
the real circumcised people, says Paul to the Romans, Romans
2.29, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. And circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, And not in the letter,
when he's talking about the letter, he's talking about the law of
Moses. And then this is the reason, isn't it? Whose praise is not
of men. Whose praise is not of men. Our natural flesh wants to get
praise all the time and wants to be affirmed all the time.
But real Jews have a circumcised heart. And it's a spiritual circumcision. And it's not a legal circumcision. It's in the spirit, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. Is that where your praise comes
from? Is that where you're seeking praise? Praise from God. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would bless your words to our hearts and
cause your son to be exalted in these things, our father.
Write your words on our hearts. Write your law on our hearts,
heavenly father. Cause us simply to believe and
trust your dear and precious son. For we pray in his name. Okay, let's have a break.