How do I reset this thing? Got
it. Let's be turning to Luke chapter
7. Luke 7. We'll be picking up in
verse 17 where John Baptist sends two disciples to ask Christ a
question. Our Lord had been doing a lot
of miracles, many wonderful works. He had recently healed the dear
servant of a centurion and a picture of how the Lord heals that which
is precious to us. We have a precious soul that
needs healing, that needs salvation, and he does that for us, saving
his people. And then most recently, he had
raised a widow's only son. She was desolate, and he raised
that young man to life so that she would be cared for and provided
for these are all pictures of course of what our Lord does
for us spiritually how he heals us and what what he does for
us in grace and in mercy so picking up in verse 17 there was a rumor
of him that was spreading and and they were people were hearing
that there's a man in Galilee who's doing wonderful works he
he raised someone from the dead and this rumor of him went forth
throughout all Judea and throughout all the region round about. And the disciples of John showed
him of all these things." These were extraordinary things that
Christ was doing. And this rumor, were these things
so? The people were wondering. It
was spreading from Galilee where he was, he was up in Capernaum
and then Nain, which is also in Galilee. And it was spreading
down through Samaria and around Samaria, all the way down to
the southern part of the kingdom of Judea. And they were hearing
wonderful things told about this man, Jesus of Nazareth. And they were wondering now,
they were beginning to wonder and ask the question, is this
the Messiah? And if this is the Messiah, where
is the long-expected kingdom? If this is the Messiah, why is
this prophet of God, John Baptist, sitting in prison, wasting away? What's going on here? If the
Messiah is here, why is John, a faithful prophet of God, sitting
in prison? Will he be released? Will he
get out? Where are we gonna, when are
we gonna see the kingdom? When is that going to appear? And
you can imagine that they had questions. These faithful men
serving John Baptist, for example, had to have had some questions
and wondering, well, he's the Messiah, how can these other
things be? If there's all this trouble in
the world, I thought things were supposed to get better. How can
these things be? If Christ is Christ and he's
here, what's going on? so they're pondering these rumors
that they're hearing and we're told in verse 19 John calling
unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus saying art
thou he that should come or look we for another now you'll recall
that John received divine revelation of God to know that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Lamb of God Turn over to John 1, and in verse
29, it says, The next day John seeth
Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. That is divine insight. that
he would know in seeing Jesus of Nazareth that this is the
Lamb of God, this is the promised seed that should come? This is
he of whom I said, after me cometh the man which is preferred before
me, for he was before me. Again, that's some divine revelation
there. That's truth. He understood that
this is the Son of God, God manifest in the flesh, the Lamb of God,
sent to save his people. Entirely by himself by his work
of redemption. He understood that by God's grace
and spirit verse 31 And I knew him not I didn't know him according
to this flesh It's not because I have any wisdom or intellect
or insight to these things I'm as dead as a doornail in the
flesh But that he should be made manifest to Israel therefore
am I come baptizing with water? I was sent for this, that the
lead Christ would be revealed and made manifest to his people.
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not. But he that sent me to baptize
with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see
the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same as he which
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that
this is the Son of God. And you can imagine when he that
sent John to Baptist said, you'll know him when the Spirit descends
and rests upon him, John's thinking, What am I looking for here? But
when he saw it, he knew he said, this is the Christ. This is surely
the one whom the father sent and told me of. This is the Lamb
of God that should take away the sin of the world. Now, I'll
confess that I've seen the Lord do things in my life, and I believe
you You that believe him have seen him answer prayer, see him
do things that you stand in awe and say, truly, that was the
hand of God. Only God could have done that.
I don't have any explanation other than it was the Lord who
did this work. But as time goes on, we must
confess that that memory grows dim sometimes. And we forget. And we begin to question and
wonder, did I imagine that? Or was there some coincidence
that I'm forgetting about that I overlooked? You know, we begin
to be troubled again. And even though at the time we
thought, I'll never doubt God again, I have seen it. I know
this was the hand of God and I'll never doubt him again. I'll
always look to him and trust him in every difficult situation. But then a new trouble comes
and the darkness rolls in and that memory begins to fade and
we're troubled again. But I believe that's actually
for our good. because we find that we always
need a refreshing of his grace, and we're always humbled again
that we might not condemn our brethren or look down on them,
but see our own weaknesses and our own faults, and find that,
Lord, I need your grace again. I need your help again. So his
mercies are new every morning. It's not a one-time thing. Our Lord is saving us. and continues
to save us and to bless us, and to give us those fresh seasons
of his grace and mercy, even when we see something that, just
like John Baptist saw and knew, this is the Christ. But he does
that many times for us in grace and mercy, each time renewed
and refreshing us with his grace, So it's possible that John did
have some doubts and needed to know and needed a reminder whether
this was the Christ or not. But there is another way of looking
at this too. John sending these disciples
might not be for him at all. but for his disciples. They needed
to know, you're ministering to me now, but it's him whom you
must serve. It's him who is the savior. I'm
not the savior. I'm just an instrument of the
Lord. I'm just a tool. I'm just a vessel
he's filled up and he's just about done with me. John was
decreasing, just as John said, I must decrease. And Christ was
increasing, just as John said, he must increase. That's taking
place. And so these disciples they needed
to know they needed to know that this Jesus of Nazareth is The
Christ is the best thing John could do for them and sending
them to Christ. He didn't keep them from Christ
He said you've got to go and you've got to know this you've
got to see whether or not he's the Christ You've got to be convicted. You've got to be saved and regenerated
and born again yourselves just because your mommy and daddy
is Saved that doesn't do anything for us. We need that that grace.
We need the Spirit of God We need to be born again and given
life because we're sinners. We all need that grace We can't
live on the grace of another we need that grace that Christ
has for us and mercy and kindness and so So our Lord does does
that that for us there are sinners in need of his grace. And so
I All that they were doing, their religious works, their sacrifices,
their giving of their lives, that wasn't gonna save them.
It's not by good works that we're saved. It's not by religious
works. It's not by what we know up here, but what our Lord has
revealed to us, that He is salvation. He is the Savior, and He does
that. We hear it, and then we really
hear it, by His grace and mercy. know he did this for me I'm the
sinner that he saved by his grace and mercy and so these two disciples
they would see and hear and then by the grace of God they would
carry that testimony back and then they tell the brethren what
they saw and heard they would tell it to John and they would
tell it to the other disciples you won't believe the things
that we saw him do it's true all these rumors they're not
rumors they're true they're true that he is Christ and so by God's
grace and mercy it would be a comfort and an encouragement to them
to ask to seek to knock and to know Lord reveal yourself to
me I need your grace to I'm a sinner save me Lord now this recording
of this account in Scripture I believe it actually goes beyond
even what John's disciples need they got what they needed They
lived it, they saw it. This is recorded here for the
people of God, both in those who opened Luke's gospel for
the first time and read it back then, and us today. This is written
for your sakes, brethren. This is written for your sakes.
This is recorded here by the Spirit. It's for your comfort
and for your understanding and for your joy and rejoicing to
know that Jesus of Nazareth, this man written of here, that
this word and the Spirit of God testify of him. He's the Savior. He's the one we must see. His
voice is the voice we must hear. We must see Christ. We must see
Jesus as the Savior, and the Lord does that for us. He makes
us to see Him and to know that He is salvation. So consider
that John's disciples, they heard rumors of Jesus, They looked
at John's condition and they wanted to know what's going on
if the Messiah is here Where's the kingdom because they were
looking they were expecting the kingdom to be established there
with physical sight and and and able to to explain things and
wrongs made right and and and things like that the rebellion
of man put down and and for Christ to rule and For the Gentiles
next to be under the foot and for them to have this this great
glorious kingdom here, but Think of that for ourselves. We too,
we see things that trouble us. If God is God, why is there such
sin in the world? Why is there such pain and suffering
and hurtful things that happen? Why did this happen to me, Lord?
Why did this happen? And it can be a challenge. It
comes against the truth of God when we see just how evil sin
is and how vile it is when we see it in others and when we
see it in our own hearts. And so we have those questions,
Lord, if these things are so, if you're the Christ, well, how
did this happen? Why did it happen like this? Why did it happen
to me? But our Lord has a message, like
he said to that widow with her dying son in the coffin, she
said, Weep not. He said weep not. Don't cry. I've got good news. I am the Christ, he says. He
is the Savior. And he's there for his people.
And all that he's promised, you that believe, it's given unto
you. It's given unto you in Christ. God's word is fulfilled unto
you in Christ. You have eternal riches of God
the never-ceasing never-ending riches of God all that's precious
it's yours and it shall never be taken from you because it's
fixed in Christ not based on what you do or don't do what
you say or don't say it's based in Christ fixed in Christ it's
yours in the Lord Jesus Christ he said to his disciples let
not your heart be troubled ye believe in God believe also in
me We're gonna know he's my Savior. He's my Lord. He's my Savior. He's not just the Savior. He's
my Savior. We're gonna know that. In my
Father's house are many mansions. If there were not so, I would
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. What is he talking about there?
He prepared that place in going to the cross for us. That's where
that place was prepared. that we might stand before God
accepted of him, holy and in perfect righteousness, God justly
saying, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into
the high rest prepared for thee for the foundation of the world,
right? And the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
He prepared that place. He prepared it. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again. I've not forgotten
you, he's saying. I've not left you or abandoned
you. You're mine, and you're precious
to me. And I know you, and I'll perform and do for you all that
you need. And you're going to know that
I am your salvation. He's going to make us to know
it. I'll come again and receive you unto myself that where I
am there ye may be also." So don't be troubled in your flesh
by the things you see and hear, by the things that happen, the
darkness and the tough times and difficult times, the afflictions,
the sorrows, the troubles, the hardships, the persecutions. Don't I know we're troubled,
but trust Him. Believe Him. He's able. And He
does it according to purpose. According to purpose. Even when
we don't see it, He does what is good and right.
And He provides for you, His people. You are tender to Him
and precious to Him. This Jesus is the Christ, and
this is what I wanna show you today by the grace of God. First, let's read what happened
when those disciples came to Christ in verse 20. Luke 7, verse
20 through 22. And when the men were come unto
him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying,
art thou he that should come? Or look we for another. in that
same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of
evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then
Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what
things ye have seen and heard, how that the blind see, the lame
walk, The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised. To the poor, the gospel is preached."
Now, these men would have had a sense of who the Messiah is. And when he came, they had a
sense of what they were looking for to some degree. They heard
John preach, and they heard John gladly. They received John's
word. And what did John preach? Well, he spoke of Christ. Because
if any man has the Spirit of God, he testifies of Christ,
because the Spirit of God testifies of Christ. We don't speak of
just religious things for the sake of speaking of religious
things. We're here because of Christ, and we want to hear Christ
and what he's accomplished for us. And that's what the Spirit
of God testifies to you, Christ. He declares Christ, because he
is salvation. And so they had an understanding
of these things, and they knew the scriptures, right? Genesis
49.10, for example, says, the scepter shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come, and
that is peace comes. unto him shall the gathering
of the people be well the scepter had departed right Rome was now
ruling it wasn't a son of David on the throne it was some man
appointed by Rome that was now ruling the scepter had departed
and truly unto Christ people were gathering they were being
gathered to this Jesus of Nazareth so what do all these things mean
that they were seen is this the promise see Because if it is,
then the head of the serpent is being crushed. his works are
being destroyed by the Lord Jesus Christ, by the Christ of God. And what do all these things
mean? What does it mean when they were healed physically?
What does it mean spiritually that he did these things? Our
Lord is demonstrating to these men through these works that
he is the fulfillment of Scripture. These Scriptures testify of him,
of Christ, and Christ is this Jesus of Nazareth. God come in
the flesh and it's being manifested to his people. You're going to
know this is the Christ. It's not going to contradict
this word. It's going to be in according to this word. And he's
makes us to know and to see this word does testify of this man
who came and he fulfilled exactly what the Lord said he would do
for his people. So for example, turn over to
Isaiah 35, let's see a few scriptures. We're gonna look at a few in
Isaiah, so we'll make it kind of easy. Isaiah 35, in verse four, say to them that are of a fearful
heart, kind of like what our brother read before from Luke
five, say to them that have toiled all night in religion, and drawn
in nothing, had no fruit in that. This labored and toiled in darkness
and had no fruit. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not, behold, your God will come with vengeance,
even God with a recompense, he will come and save you. And you
think about when Christ came and who he ministered to. There's
the Pharisees with all their high religion, all their doctrine,
and their discipline, and their laws, and their custom, and he
goes right on by them, and he goes and ministers to those who
are poor, and weak, and diseased, and filthy, and in rags, and
have nothing, they're smelly, and he goes and he touches them,
and he heals them. And those people were the ones
that were thrust out by the Pharisees and their dead letter religion.
They couldn't measure up to their laws and their customs. They
didn't have enough to put into the pot to be recognized. They
didn't have anything to boast in, and yet that's who Christ
went to and ministered to. That's what he's saying there.
You that are afraid, you that stood before the law of Moses
and said, I don't measure up. I'm trying, Lord. I'm trying,
but I can't do that which you say in your law to do. And we're
not measuring up. That's who Christ comes to. That's
who Christ saves. That's who Christ ministers his
tenderness and his love and his grace and mercy to, those that
are blind, those that are filthy lepers with putrefying sores
covered from head to toe That's who Christ came to save. And
what an encouragement that had to be for them, that they could
go and grab their loved ones that were diseased and in beds
and invalids and take them out of the house and bring them to
Christ. And all who came to him, Luke says, I think in chapter
six, all who came to them were healed to Christ, were healed.
Everyone. Doesn't say any one of them was
ever turned away or cast away. those who need salvation, who
need mercy, you that need the Savior, the salvation of God,
he says, come, come to the waters, come to the fountain, drink freely,
deeply, take all you want, all you need, feed upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved. He's a merciful Savior, merciful
Savior. And so that's who Christ healed,
verse five. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as in heart, and the tongue of the
dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out and streams in the desert, and the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water,
in the habitation of dragons where each lay shall be grass
with reeds and rushes. I suspect that you in San Diego
have a good sense of what that looks like, right? Because it's
pretty dry here and it can get pretty brown and dead and then
all of a sudden water starts flowing in and those empty pools
fill up and then the brown dead things spring to life. And it's
beautiful, that jacaranda tree. It's beautiful, these tropical
things here. But it's a picture of what our
Lord does in healing us. And that in us, which dwells
every unclean, creepy, crawly, vile thing, now springs to life. and were made living new creatures
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn over to Isaiah 61, here's
another. Isaiah 61, and we know this speaks
of Christ because this is what Christ preached from in Nazareth,
when he preached grace to those in Nazareth. They hated it, they
threw him out, they wanted to kill him, but he preached grace
words, grace words. He testified of the grace of
God to save his people. And in verse 1, Isaiah 61, 1,
the spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He that sent me
to bind up the broke, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn,
to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty
for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees
of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be
glorified. And so wherever Christ went,
sinners bound in sin, bound in disease, painfully made aware
that because they are sin and this world is sinful and corrupt
and ruined, that they are where they are, suffering in what they're
suffering, and yet he came to them and ministered the gospel
to them. and touched them and spoke to
them and cared for them. And publicans, he sat with them. I mean, you think about that.
They were content. These publicans, these tax collectors
that were hated by everybody else, actually sat with Christ
and spoke to him. They weren't afraid of him. They
actually had that freedom to go in and sit with Christ. He
wasn't some standoffish kind of guy. He received sinners and
ate with them. And that's good news to sinners
who are otherwise afraid of holy God. But no, God is, God receives
us. The father receives us through
his son. That's how wonderful Christ is,
how gracious he is. he should receive sinners like
us and so he comes to us like if you've ever been in debt if
you've ever been loaded down with debt you know what a mercy
it is when those debts get wiped clean and they're gone and how
that oppression of that heavy debt on you is lifted and that's
what Christ did for for these sinners and these disciples are
there seeing These people glorifying the Lord, being raised up and
healed and cared for and provided for, and they're witnessing these
things and they're thinking of these scriptures. He's, wow,
this is the Messiah. I think this is him. This has
to be him. Who else can do these works?
They're seeing it. And so they saw it, and before
they left, our Lord says in verse 23, and he said, and blessed
is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And so our Lord
is saying to them, consider what you've seen and heard this day. Consider what you've seen and
heard, what you've seen and witnessed concerning Christ. You know,
the Lord didn't come in a manner like the Pharisees expected him
to come. They thought he would come to
them and say, look at what you guys have done. Well done. You
know, give him pats on the back and high fives and and say, you
guys really tightened it up. You even did better than what
we saw in the law of Moses. You really made things strict
and and holy. But he didn't come to them. He
didn't praise them. He didn't worship them or tell
them good job. He actually opposed. their teachings by declaring
the truth, by declaring the truth of God. And then even John's
disciples, he came in a manner different from John. I think
if John got an invite from a Pharisee, John probably wouldn't have even
gone. He wouldn't have eaten with them and drank wine with
them. He would have said, no, thank you. But I don't think
they would have invited him because he had a smelly leather girdle on. He had funny eating habits, locusts
and wild honey. And so they probably didn't want
to be around him either. But he lived an austere life, I think,
which just means a severe, very disciplined life. He was very
careful what he did and what he took in. It's just how he
was. Some people are like that. But
our Lord came eating and drinking, and he spoke to all who wanted
to speak to him. He even spoke to those who didn't want to hear
from him, but he told them the truth. And so, again, that's
another testimony of Scripture. Isaiah 8, verse 14 and 15, He
shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling, and
for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a gin
and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among
them shall stumble and fall and be broken and be snared and be
taken. But what jumps out to me is how
Christ is a sanctuary Right at the beginning of that, we're
needy sinners. He's a sanctuary. He's our holiness. He's our righteousness. He's
our acceptance with holy God. And so that's who Christ is. Those steeped in religious ceremony,
traditions, and practices, he's an offense to them. And that
is, he's an offense to everything we are by nature. He's an offense
to everything we are by nature and what we think of God. And
so we stand in awe because of the grace of God knowing what
we know of ourselves now by his spirit and revelation and revealing
his word to us. And so what every sinner needs
is a new birth. We need this regeneration. We
need this salvation. We need his spirit. We need his
truth. We need him dwelling in our hearts
by faith. We need him to do this for us
because like John's disciples here, we can know the scriptures.
We know a lot of doctrine. Some of us were raised in churches,
right? Hearing this truth all our lives,
but except God give it to us with power, by his grace and
mercy, it's just dead words on a page, right? We might be religious,
we might be into it for a while, but until we receive the spirit
by the grace and power of God giving it to us, we're just dead
lost sinners. and but by his grace and mercy
he it's living because it's Christ Christ is living and alive and
he gives us life in himself and so these disciples needed it
just like we need Christ sinners need they need the Lamb of God,
we need the blood of Christ, we need his salvation and deliverance,
we need his healing, and that's what he does for us. We need
him to take away my sins. Now, having seen Christ's work
in the people here, John's disciples, they return, they go back and
tell others what they've seen and heard. So again, was this
for their sake alone or is it for the Lord's people throughout
the ages who hear these words and see who this man is, what
he's done for his people and how that he is the fulfillment
of the scriptures. I believe that this is for us,
not for them, but for us. This is for us, for you and I
here this morning. And we've been gathered here
today to hear this gospel, to hear that Christ has come. The
gospel tells us that this man went to the cross willingly,
being appointed of the Father, he went willingly as the Savior
as the substitute of his people bearing us in his own body taking
our sins unto himself and bearing us in his own body and he went
to the cross to obtain eternal redemption for his people to
obtain forgiveness the forgiveness for our sins to put away our
dead works, to deliver us from bondage, to heal the plague and
disease of our heart, which is our sin, and to save us by himself. that we would not be ashamed
and confounded and confused and found naked before holy God in
that day with a fig leaf religion, but that we would stand clothed
in the white robe of Christ's righteousness, the wedding garment
being accepted and received of him. So to testify of this to
his people, to you today, our Lord gives you two witnesses.
And John sent two disciples to see and take these things back.
Well, he gives us two witnesses, the Holy Spirit and his word. And he testifies by his gospel,
he testifies that he is the Christ. And by his grace and power, he
manifests to every one of us that he is the Christ. Every
one of his people are gonna know that he is the Christ. We're
going to know that He is the Savior. I'm the sinner. He's
the Savior. And I need that salvation. I
need His forgiveness. I need His blood. I need Christ
to save me. I need to know. I need that conviction.
I need that deliverance. I need to see the grace of God
in the face of Jesus Christ. I need Him to shine through the
darkness of this heart. So John's, this is what we see
in here in this passage. John's disciples asked Christ,
art thou he that should come or look we for another? This
is what the spirit and word testify to you and I. To know that this
is He who should come, we need not look for another. We don't
need another salvation. We don't need something more
than Christ. By His grace and power, He makes us to know this
is Him of whom we sought. This is the Savior. We found
Him. We found Him. Hallelujah! I have
found Him whom my soul so long has craved. Listen Jesus ready stands to
save us by his life. I now I'm saved something something
like that But we found him we found him as as as Philip said
to Nathanael We found him we found him and that's what the
Lord gives to every one of his children to know this Jesus of
Nazareth is the Christ and he's made himself known to me and
he's blessed me and saved me and delivered me from bondage
in darkness and So we may not see it often in ourselves and
we might look at this flesh and say how can the Lord save a wretch
like me? How could he be gracious to me?
But we know that he is the Savior and for her to be saved It's
gonna be by Jesus Christ and him alone and he keeps us coming
to him saying Lord save me Heal me like that Syrophoenician mother
help me Lord. I Don't pass me by. Save me, Lord. I know I'm a filthy
Gentile. I know I don't deserve your grace.
Save me, Lord. Help me. And that's what he makes
us to do. So we know we found him. We're not looking for another
salvation. We don't need additional things. We've got all we need
in Christ. And we're told that in that same
hour, he cured many of their infirmities and plagues and of
evil spirits, and unto many that were blind he gave sight." And
so when the Spirit of God comes, he testifies to the lost sheep
of his grace, of what he's done for us. He heals every one of
God's children of that plague, that disease of our heart. He
does for us what we cannot do, what our works don't do, what
our trying and attempts and religious works and sacrifices and spending
and laboring and toiling to do for ourselves, we can't do it,
but Christ does. And he heals the plague and the
disease of our heart. And he shows us Christ is all
and that he's everything. John the Apostle John wrote but
if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship
one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth
us from all sin and the plague of sin that's everything brethren
he cleanses us from that and will not enter into life half
and and diseased and crippled and blind, we enter into life
whole and complete, seeing and hearing and speaking the truth
in love by His Spirit and His grace. If we say that we have
no sin, We're deceiving ourselves. We're liars. We're not being
honest and truthful. The truth isn't in us. But if
we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Because that confession is brought
in us by his grace. He put it there. you that that
are sinners and that is you confess your sin he he's giving you that
confession he's giving you a spirit it's a testimony that you are
his that he has saved you that he has put away your sin but
so long as you're content in yourself and you got life and
you got it all together you have no pardon him that is it's not
been testified yet that you're his child but seek him beg him
Knock, ask, and it'll be opened unto you, because he does that
for all his people. But every one of us are gonna
know that I'm the sinner whom he saved. He's gonna make you
to know, if you're his, you're gonna know that he saved you
from your sins. We were blind, but now we see. Our Lord gives
sight to the blind eyes of his people. He makes us to see what
the Father sees, that in him is all righteousness. He's who
you need to stand before me complete and whole. The father says we
couldn't walk before God. We were lame on our feet. We couldn't walk in the way of
righteousness. We didn't know faith. We had nothing. We were
dead, but Christ has healed our lame feet and made us to walk
by his grace before him. We were altogether sin. We were
lepers steeped in utter corruption, but now we're cleansed. and called
to stand before God in the light. And he's pleased to look upon
us. I've seen some pretty ugly things of what disease can do,
but God brings us right into the light and looks upon us in
his son, and we're perfect, perfect before him, precious to him,
accepted of him. We were deaf, but now we hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches. There might be some
scriptures that we don't know or understand, but we know it
testifies of Christ. We don't see it always, but we
know, I know it's talking of Christ. Lord, help me to see
him. Help me to see him, to see who your precious son is here. We were dead in trespasses and
sins, but he's raised us to spiritual life, and his life remains in
us. Even when we are weak and stumbling
and falling, his life remains in us, because his seed cannot
sin. His seed is incorruptible. That
which is born in us of Christ is his. It's fixed in us. And we that were poor, needy
sinners, have the gospel preached unto us. privilege that we should
hear the gospel that we should have it preached and actually
hear it and rejoice in Christ Jesus that's a blessing brethren
that's a blessing so Christ says to you that here verse 22 go
your way and tell what things you have seen and heard how that
the blind see the lame walk lepers are cleansed the deaf hear the
dead are raised and to the poor the gospel is preached you know
and some say that that word can be interpreted the poor preach
the gospel and that's true because you that are blind but now see
and death but now here we're lame but now walk where lepers
and filthy and dirty are now cleansed you were dead and now
you're raising the dead You can't help but tell others of what
Christ has done for you. That's what we do. You don't
have to know all doctrine and all things. Just tell others
of what Christ has done for you. And say, come here. Come in here
and tell that these things aren't so. You'll hear if the Lord is
merciful to you. And so the poor preach the gospel.
And blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me. And that's what our Lord does. We're not offended in Christ.
We take sides with Christ against ourselves by his grace and power. to the praise, honor, and glory
of his name. I pray the Lord bless that word
to your hearts, brethren. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we do thank you for your grace. We thank you, Lord, that you
testify to us by your witnesses, your spirit, and the word. Lord, that reveal to us that
this Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God, promised
to us in the garden that should come and that he has come. And
Lord, thank you that we have seen him and heard his voice.
Thank you for your grace. Lord, if any, Here be yet trapped
and burdened in in the pollution of sin Lord save us deliver us
from that death reveal in us what you do for all your people
how that you've put to death that body of sin and the made
us members of the body of Christ. Lord, thank you for your grace.
Pray that you would bless each one here, that you would minister
this gospel to their hearts and make us to see what Christ has
done for all his people and is doing and does do perfectly,
wonderfully. Lord, fill us with your love,
one for another. to be patient with one another,
long-suffering, loving and kind to one another, that you would
send us home safely, each one, each couple here, each person,
that you would send us home carrying forth this word that we've heard
and testifying of what Christ has done for a vile sinner like
me. Lord, let your name be glorified
and worshipped. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen.