The leper came to Jesus and the first thing he said to him in his helpless condition in his Polluted condition his his plague of leprosy. That's what it's called in Scripture a plague of leprosy Sickness that goes deeper than the skin it says in the Old Testament in Leviticus that it was it was in that condition and when he was without any hope and helpless, that he was convinced that if Jesus simply willed to heal him, then he could do it.

There was nothing between him and perfect soundness than that the Lord Jesus would will his healing. And then with the centurion whose servant was sick, it was the word that Jesus said. So you can see the will of Christ and the word of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he came into this home where Peter's mother was sick and he touched her and raised her up. So his will, his word, and his touch, he reached forth his hand to do it. to perform what his own will, and that reminds you of Isaiah 46 where it says, I have spoken it, I will also do it, I'll bring it to pass. And this is the Lord Jesus, and then it says finally in verse 17 that we read last, that he himself took our infirmities. The way that Christ by his will and word and touch heals a sinner is because he himself took our infirmities.

What a blessed text of scripture that is, isn't it? So you can see that everything is done by the Lord Jesus. It was his will. And in scripture, whenever the Lord wants to express the will of God, he often uses these words, it pleased God. It pleased God.

Last night I was, as is commonly the case on Saturday night, I have trouble sleeping and so I'm awake for a while and I'm thinking about things and for some reason I began to think about Esther. Remember the book of Esther? The book is only, it's 10 chapters, but the last chapter is only three verses, I think. So you could actually sit down and read the entire book in a single sitting, and it wouldn't take very long either. I encourage you to do that.

There's a wealth of information there. But if you remember the history, the king who had dominion from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces. huge, vast area. The king's name was Ahasuerus, and he had a wife named Vashti. And the king made this huge celebration for like 180 days, I think, a long time. He was wealthy. He had all this wealth, and he wanted people to see his glory. And then he said, during this feast and celebration, that he wanted to show everyone the beauty of his wife.

Her name was Vashti, and she refused to come. And so the king thought long and hard, and he asked his counselors, what should I do? And they said, well, she hasn't just offended the king. She's made it bad for all of the husbands in our province. The wives will hear what she did, and they'll say, you know, I don't need to respect my husband like Vashti. And so they said, the king asked them, what should I do?

And one of their wise counselors said, this is what you should do. You should find another wife. Search the entire realm of your kingdom and have them bring all of these young virgins. And the one that pleases you, make her wife instead of Vashti, the queen instead of Vashti.

And so it's about Esther. She was found, she had an uncle named Mordecai, and her parents had died. The Jews at this time were under the rule of the Persian Empire. King Hazioras ruled over them, and he was wealthy, had massive, massive control over everything. And so Queen Esther was called to be one of those that he considered. And the king had these chamberlains, these men who were designed and appropriately prepared to prepare his wife. And they did for her. It took 12 months just to purify her, to be even considered by the king. And she was wise. God was with her. And the king loved her more than all the other women.

And her uncle Mordecai sat in the king's gate. He was there at Shushan the palace. And he saw and heard a lot of things. One of the things he heard were a couple of men who conspired against the king. He told one of the king's high up princes about it. Or no, he told Queen Esther, I think. And then Queen Esther certified that it was Mordecai that told him. That was recorded, and then they found out that it was true.

And these two men that conspired against the king were hanged. Time went on and the king, for some reason, we don't know why, he made this man named Haman, his right-hand man, and gave him all this power in his kingdom. As much power as the king had, almost. And so Haman passed by every day. He was a man who wanted people to worship him. He wanted to be king. That was the thought of his heart.

And so as he thought on these things in his heart, and he passed by Mordecai, Mordecai would not bow to Haman. And he refused to bow to Haman, and so Haman hated Mordecai. He made it his chief business to destroy Mordecai, not just Mordecai. He found out that Mordecai was a Jew, and so he decided, I'll kill all the Jews.

And this is the way I'll do it. I'll ask the king, King Hazioras, if it pleases the king, if it pleases the king. There's this people amongst us, and they're not like us, and they don't honor our laws. And so, if it please the king, I'll donate 10,000 pieces of silver, and I'll see that it's done. We'll destroy them. King said, sure, go ahead.

It seemed as if he was ignorant of what was going on. He wasn't, but that was God's way of recording this whole account of history. And so Haman sets out to destroy the Jews. He goes home and he tells his wife, the king has made me his right-hand man. Mordecai won't bow to me. I've gotten authority from the king to destroy all the Jews. And he's happy.

And then Mordecai tells Esther, you need to go into the king. You need to tell him. You need to petition the king. not to allow the destruction of the Jews. Now, Esther was a Jew, Mordecai was a Jew, but nobody knew that Esther was a Jew. And nobody knew that Mordecai was, well, maybe they did know that Mordecai was Esther's uncle, but she was the queen. But the problem was is she couldn't go into the king, unless the king called for her. Nobody could, in fact. And if anyone went to the king's outer chamber where he was, and he didn't raise the scepter to allow them to come in, they were killed.

So it was very strict. And Mordecai said, you need to do this. Mordecai was so troubled. He was in such great sorrow that all the Jews were gonna be destroyed and killed by this wicked Haman that he, He clothed himself in sackcloth and ashes and he mourned and fasted. And this was not allowed around the king's court. You were not allowed to go around with a sad face and stuff. Not allowed to enter the king's gate in any kind of sackcloth. But he was like this just outside of the king's gate.

Queen Esther sent clothes to him and told him, you know, you need to put these on, you need to clean up and stuff. He said, no, no, the Jews are going to be killed. You need to go into the king and petition the king. So she goes into the outer court and the king sees that it's Esther, even though she wasn't invited, and he raised his scepter. because he loved her. And so Esther approached the king and she was accepted. And he said, what do you want?

I'll give it to you up to half the kingdom. And she said, well, if I find if if the king is pleased with me, if I find favor in his eyes, then come to a banquet of wine and bring Haman. Haman was the king's right hand man. And Haman thought, Man, I've got the king's favor. I've got the queen's favor now. I'm riding high. I'm getting what I want.

And so Haman and the king come to Queen Esther's banquet. And the king asked her at the first day of that banquet, he said, what do you want? Whatever you want, I'll give it to you, up to half the kingdom. And she said, if it please the king, then come tomorrow with Haman. to the banquet, my banquet of wine. And when you come, I'll tell you then what my heart's desire is."

Haman gets up and he goes, things couldn't be better. He goes home to his wife. He says, you know what? This is what's happening. The king really admires me and so on. The queen even invited me only into a banquet with him and the queen. So this is really good. And his wife said, that's great.

But Mordecai, Mordecai. Well, so he goes home and he builds this gallows. He didn't do it himself, of course. 50 cubits high, 75 feet or so high, a gallows to hang Mordecai on. He had already had permission to destroy all the Jews. And so he goes home and he talks big about all this and I'm thinking big about himself.

And he goes, but the king that night couldn't sleep. And while he couldn't sleep, he thought, well, why don't you bring some of the account of the records of what's going on in my kingdom to me and read them to me. And lo and behold, someone read to him what Mordecai had done that had uncovered the conspiracy against the king when those two men were hanged. and found guilty and hanged. And the king said, what was done for Mordecai when he did that?

Nothing. How really? Well, at that time, Haman just happened to come into the king. He's walking in, bouncing, I'm sure, because he was so happy. And the king, before Haman had anything to say, said, Haman, I have a question. What should be done to the man whom the king delights to honor?" And Haman thought, hmm, who would the king delight to honor more than me? And so Haman said, this is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. Let the king's royal apparel be put upon him. then put the crown of the king on his head and put him on a horse and have the most noble servant of the king lead him through the city and the provinces and declare, this is what shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. And Haman said, that's what he told the king, this is what should be done. And the king said, That is exactly what I want.

You take Mordecai and do exactly what you said for him. And you can know at that point, Haman's heart sank because he was the one who would have to lead Mordecai, whom he hated and conspired to kill, through the city streets with the king's robe and the king's crown and declaring, this man is the man whom the king delights to honor. And so after that, Haman went home to his wife and said, I don't know what he said exactly, but he was in a wreck emotionally, no doubt. And his wife said, if you have begun to fall now and Mordecai is exalted, then you are going to fall.

And so he goes back now, because it was the next day, the queen's banquet of wine, and he shows up. And at the banquet of wine, the king said to Queen Esther, now, Queen Esther, what is it that you want? I'll give you up to half the kingdom. And Queen Esther said, Lord, my king, she said, if it please the king, and there's that will of God again, if it please the king, then let my life be given to me and the life of my people. If it had been just that I and my people would be put as slaves, I would not have spoken, but I am appealing to you for my life. And the king said, who would even think of doing such a thing? And she said, this wicked Haman. The king, no doubt, was in a furious rage, as if he didn't know what to do.

He arises, he goes into the next room, or out in the garden, I think, and then Haman, being terrified, knowing he had nothing, no way of escaping, he falls down, pleading to Queen Esther. And as he's pleading with Queen Esther on the couch there, The king walks in and sees him fallen down before Esther, and he assumes that he is assaulting her in his house. And so his rage rises up to the point where one of his chief servants takes a hood and puts it over Haman's head. And the servant to the king said, he built a gallows for Mordecai. And the king said, hang him on it. And then as the rest of the book unfolds, what happens is everything that Queen Esther asked, and especially Mordecai, Mordecai was put over all of the rule of the king and was given the king's ring and Esther and Mordecai were given to write in the king's name and enforce it and all the Jews were spared and their enemies were all destroyed and Haman and his 10 sons were hanged on the gallows he intended to hang the Jews on in Mordecai. Now, I say all that because these thoughts were going through my head last night. It pleased the king.

Because of his love for Esther, when the king learned that someone had thought to destroy the woman of his love and her people, then the vengeance of the king arose and destroyed them. Now, The unfolding of this account is amazingly wonderful because Mordecai represents the Lord Jesus Christ and Queen Esther represents the church of God. And they're called the Jews or the true Israel of God. And so what we see here is that God, represented by King Ahasuerus, because it pleased him, because he loved the church, because Christ himself loved the church and gave himself for it and humbled himself in order to save the church in sackcloth and ashes and sorrow, that God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name.

And it pleased God to put into his son all of the fullness of all that God is for them as their mediator. so that everything that God has, he gives to him as the mediator for his people. And everything that pleases God in his people, it pleased God to find it and to provide for it in his son. And that's what Colossians is saying when it says this in Colossians chapter one and verse 19.

It pleased the father that in him should all fullness dwell. It pleased the Father. It was God's will. It seemed good to Him. It became necessary. He issued the command. It was His decree and no one could prevent it. Everyone fell in line to fulfill it.

It pleased the king to exalt Mordecai. It pleased God to exalt his son above everything and everyone. It pleased the king to spare the Jews, the people of the queen and of Mordecai. It pleased God to spare his people who were the people of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved by his precious blood. And all the queen had to do is say, the adversary seeks my life, and immediately the wrath, the fury of the king was vented against her enemies. And this is the coming vengeance. This is the wrath of God Almighty.

We don't see it today, do we? We don't see it. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of grace. But there's coming a day when all that oppose, who think to oppose Christ and his people, like Haman did, Mordecai and Esther and all the Jews, that the King of glory, God the Father, is going to see to it that they're all brought to justice. this vengeance of God. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I wanted to read the entire book of Esther, but we wouldn't have time to do that. But he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, he says, In verse one, now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ who in presence am base among you, but being absent and bold toward you.

This sounds like Mordecai or somebody reasoning with the church here, doesn't it? But I beseech you that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, in this body, we do not war after the flesh, not after our old nature.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, they're not material, they're not of the natural man, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. In the book of Esther, all of their enemies were destroyed. Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And where is that knowledge? In Christ. And bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

Do you see how it pleased the King? It pleased the King that everyone should serve Mordecai. It pleased God the Father that everyone should serve Christ. Everything that pleased the king was what Mordecai wanted. And everything that pleased God the Father is whatever Christ wanted, whatever he willed.

Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You know what that is? When the leper said that, What was he doing? He had come to Christ. He was coming to Him that He might be healed. He was asking Him. He was looking to Him. He was waiting on Him. He had no power. He had no reason, no basis in Himself. It had to arise from the will of Christ alone. It had to be by His power, coming from His will, by His Word, because He Himself bore our sicknesses and our infirmities.

Now look at 2 Corinthians 11. The apostle there says, would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly and indeed bear with me, for I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one husband, one king, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. That means the singularity, the onlyness, simplicity, no mixture, nothing but Christ. As a chaste virgin, I have espoused you to him. Everything else is a Haman. Right?

He says in verse 4, for he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom you have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might bear well with him. And then he goes on, he talks about how what he had done, verse five, I suppose I was not a whip behind, a little bit even, behind the very chiefest apostles, for though I be rude in speech yet, not in knowledge, but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things, have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I preached to you the gospel of God freely? You see, the Corinthians, they saw other men walking tall and exalted, who claimed to be apostles.

Paul was made low and suffering and laboring and didn't even ask help from them financially, but ended up in prison and all these things that they might have the gospel of God freely. He was serving them. I robbed other churches, taking wages of them to do you service.

And when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man for that which was lacking to me, the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied. And in all things I've kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself as the truth of Christ is in me. No man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore, because I love you not, God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion, that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we."

Listen to this. This is Haman. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. For no marvel, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. An angel of light. Therefore, it is of no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works.

You see what he's saying here? Haman, like Satan, had one desire, his own honor, his own glory. He wanted to rule in the place of the king. He wanted the king's crown, the king's robe, the king's horse, the king's servants. praising him before the people instead of the king.

That thought had to be brought into subjection of Christ. That thought. And everyone who seeks to beguile Christ's virgin bride from him, they have to be cut off. And everything in us that would tempt us to look anywhere else but the Lord Jesus Christ has to be put down and brought into subjection to him.

Now turn to Colossians. This is what Colossians is trying to do. The apostle in this book is guarding the queen from the assault of the enemy, Satan and his ministers, and they don't come. They don't come openly preaching error. I mean, you can't see it. What they do is they come preaching Jesus with a little bit more. A little bit more than him. But look at Colossians. Let me look at these verses with you today, because I want to emphasize the most important thing you will ever learn. The most important thing you and I will ever learn. Look at verse 27. Well, first of all, look at verse 19.

It pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. It pleased God the Father that he would make the Lord Jesus Christ our mediator so completely full in his role as mediator that all fullness would dwell in him. How would he do that? The fullness of the Godhead bodily would be in Him. Look at verse 9 of chapter 2. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

It's talking about Christ as the God-man, the mediator, right? It pleased God the Father. It seemed good to Him. It delighted Him. to exalt His Son and to make Him the fullness of God for His people. All that God is, He He made Christ to be because He is God in a body, in the human nature. So suited to us that He's as much man as if He were not God and so suited to us from God is as much God as He's not man. He's the one man, the God-man, the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. It pleased God. I love to think about those words. It pleased the King. It pleased the king. It seemed good to him.

Now look at verse 27. We're talking about the one who is the fullness of the Godhead bodily as it pleased the king, just like King Ahasuerus exalted Mordecai, he says now in verse 27, to whom God would make known this mystery, the gospel, what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.

Chosen elect sinners over an entire province of God's rule, if you would say it that way. to show them the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. The hope, your hope is Christ. And because Christ is in you, it's a certain expectation. Nothing can fail of all that God has prepared, all that please God to give to his people cannot fail because Christ is in them. the hope of glory, the certainty of it, our future expectation of it.

No, at this time, it seems like Haman rules. But Christ is on the throne. And that glory, which will appear in chapter three and verse three, you are dead, your life is hid with Christ and God, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory. That's the time coming when that glory That's ours already because Christ is in us, but we don't have it in our experience.

Then when Christ appears, openly will be manifested all of the people of God. It pleased the father for Christ's sake to save them all and to make them his own children. Amen. And look at chapter two. He says, verse one, I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted. The comfort of God. What is the comfort of God? What comfort does he give his people? Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably unto Jerusalem, that their warfare is ended. For they have received of the Lord's hand double for all their sins. They've already received it. God has already destroyed their enemy, their own sins.

And this boggles our mind. It's one thing to recognize that Jesus Christ is the creator, the eternal uncreated creator of all things, and for whom all things were created. It's another thing entirely. It's at another level of awe and wonder to think that God came in the flesh, And that He not only created the first creation by His will and His word, but out of the death of that first creation by His will and His blood, He created the new creation, and He's head over that creation, which is the church. And now he says, in order that you might know this, he says, and your hearts might be knit together in love to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ.

You see where our assurance is? It's in Christ. He's called the rock, the rock. And a rock can't fail you, can it? You might stand on the rock, you might wonder, will the rock Crumble, will the rock fail? No, it's not dependent upon your strength, it's dependent upon the strength of the rock. Christ is the rock of our salvation.

So our assurance is Jesus Christ. Our hope is Jesus Christ. The fullness that pleased God to give to his people is in Jesus Christ. And look at verse 3. and whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, the knowledge of God, to know God is eternal life, to come to Him and to see Him in His glory and in His beauty, that's life. And that knowledge is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see how God continues to emphasize this and emphasize this. Look at verse six, as you have received, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. You started there, continue there. You'll finish there. You'll enter glory in him. Continue living upon him by faith. Don't be beguiled by the serpent or his ministers of righteousness. They're trying to seek to depart to cause you to leave Christ. You have only one to hold to, it's him.

He says in verse seven, rooted, built, up in Him, established in the faith. You see, when we look to Christ in faith for Him to be to God for us everything, and we look to Him by faith for Him to be All to us from God, that's looking to Christ, dependent upon Him to be our all before God, and dependent upon Him to be our all from God, to bring us to God and to give us all that it pleases God to give us because of Him. Then we're rooted by God, we're built by God, in Him, by God, and we're established in Him, in this faith, in Him. As you have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving, Everything in scripture, whether it be the account of Esther and Mordecai and King Ahasuerus and the Jews, or the flood, or the fall, or whatever it was, everything is designed to teach us one thing, the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 8, beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy, vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments, those basic elements that the Old Testament required the Jews to adhere to in order to, until Christ came and would be the fulfillment of all those things. Not after Christ.

For in him, in the Lord Jesus, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you, notice this, you are complete in him. There's nothing that can be added. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Look at chapter three of Colossians in verse 11. He says, at the end of the verse, sorry, chapter three, verse 11, he says at the very end, these three words, Christ is all. And he's in all. The next part says he's in all, meaning he's in all of his people. The glory of God. Christ is all. You see this? This is the most important thing you will ever learn. And God has to teach it to us.

When the king overthrew Haman in Esther, And it was revealed that the queen was a Jew. It shows us the appearing of God's people in the appearing of Jesus Christ. God the Father will make known the woman of his love, this daughter, this one who is like him as a daughter, the bride of Christ. He will do that, and He will make known this, that for her sake, He does everything. But He does it all because of Mordecai, or because of Christ, as the story goes there. This is what the Lord is teaching us, in all of Scripture.

People will say this, you know, over and over, Christ is all, and a lot of times we wonder, what does that mean? Well, it means everything. It means He's everything. Everything that pleases God, Christ is. Everything that God is, Christ is. All the will of God, that's what Christ does. That's His will. The Word of God, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The work, that's what He did.

God does nothing but what He does by His Son. Let's see, what else about God? How about His His own radiance of His glory, His majesty, that's the Lord Jesus. How are we gonna know God? You'll know Him in His Son. And what has God spoken about in Scripture? He's spoken about His Son. How did He do it? He spoke in His Son. And why did He do that? To exalt His Son. How did God glorify? He glorified Himself in His Son.

You see, Christ is the object of our faith. Christ is the author, the one who begins our faith. He's the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. Christ is the object of our love, our worship. Christ is the fullness of the Godhead. You're not doing anything to diminish from God by giving all glory to Christ, because you give all glory to God when you give it all to Him. It pleases God.

Honor my son, he says at the Mount of Transfiguration. This is my beloved son. Hear ye him. Hear ye him. Listen to him. Serve him. Let every thought be brought into the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I think about that, I think about Haman's intention to find something he could bring glory and honor to himself. And I find that same wicked thought is in me. What should I do? Appeal to the king. Lord, subdue this thought, subdue this heart. Give me faith, open my eyes. Take vengeance against my sin and put it to death. And bring me out of that death into life to live to God by your life in me.

You see, that's what looking to Christ is. It's looking to Him to be for me everything that He is as God and man. And it's looking to Him to bring from God all that God is pleased to do for His Son. He's all, isn't he? He's all, he's everything. If Christ is all, then everything else is nothing outside of him. If Christ is all, then we have nothing unless we are in him.

And it's God who does that for us. So this is the most important thing you will ever learn. Haman learned it, but it was too late for Haman, wasn't it? Because he was left to himself. And so come to the Lord Jesus Christ and ask him, like Nicodemus, How can these things be? The Lord lifts up himself on the cross and he says, as a serpent, look to the serpent, looking to Christ, you see.

In verse nine, I'm sorry, chapter two, verse 10 of Colossians, it says, you are complete in him. Now that's a present status, a present condition. You lack nothing in Christ because he's everything. He's the fullness of God. Who are these? Who are these who are complete in him?

Look back at chapter one. He says, we give thanks in verse three of chapter one. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have to all the saints, those who look to Christ are those who are in Christ.

So that looking to Christ, we are in Christ. That's the evidence. We've come to Him for all because we're in Him by God's doing. And faith is the evidence of that. And in Him, we are complete. Every believer who is looking to Christ has come to God the Father. by Christ who is the way. And they've understood now who God is according to Christ who is the truth. And they now have the life in order to believe, in order to live to God, because Christ is the life.

He's everything, isn't He? The hope of glory, He's our hope of glory. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He's our assurance. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. We're complete in Him. Christ is all. That's all you have to learn. Everything in scripture.

Some people will say this, and I'm going to correct them here. Some people will say, it's not what you know, it's who you know. You probably have heard that. Some of the people I really love have said that. But that's a mistaken way of expressing it. What is the only way you know who? You can't know who unless you know what he has said, what God has revealed about him. It's not a problem, the what is not the problem. It's what without faith, you see. Jesus said, search the scriptures, in them you think you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. Remember that?

Romans chapter 1, he says that I'm a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ for the gospel, which was promised for by his holy prophets in the holy scriptures. Christ, the gospel. And Hebrews says God spoke in olden times in previous days by the apostles, but now he's spoken in his son. It's all the same revelation.

The blind man in John chapter nine, when Jesus saw him, he put stuff on his eyes so he couldn't see, but he was already blind in order to show that unless you're blind and sent to Christ, which was the name of the pool, sent, we can't see. because we are blind.

But because we're blind and he comes and opens our eyes, then we have no sin. So the whole thing was to teach this, it was through the revelation of who Christ is. Without that revelation, we can't know him. And knowing him, we see what the revelation is. It all goes together. It's not that there's something wrong with the what. The problem is that when we don't believe the what, then we can't know the who.

And so we preach Christ and Him crucified, evidently set forth among you, and that setting forth is through the gospel of His grace. But when you learn the gospel, this is where you come to, as a needy, helpless sinner, like the leper, like the centurion, like the mother of Peter's wife, I think she was, Jesus says, I will, and he speaks, and he touches, and he then takes our infirmities and our sicknesses because that's who God is. Christ, the fullness of the Godhead, we see the glory of God in his humility. Just like Mordecai, he made himself low to save the Jews. The Lord Jesus Christ became a man of sorrows. that He might save us.

He's all, isn't He? Oh, how I want this heart to own Him alone as everything. In all of my salvation, in all of God's dealings with me in the providence of my life, in God's goodwill, in all of my comforts, in all of my understanding, in all of my boasting, I want it to be Jesus Christ and Him crucified only. And if God gives us that, then we are in Christ.

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we want you to be exalted. We admire your person and your work. We see your glory in the gospel and how you have endeared yourself to us by that revelation through your spirit. You've caused us to know ourselves to be helpless and ruined and even dead in our sins. But we see in the Lord Jesus Christ everything, the life of God, the the covenant God made in order to remove our sins from us and to free us from the dead body of our sins and to free us from the wretched man that we are in order to bring us to God in the Lord Jesus our Savior. Make Him high in our eyes and our opinion and our love and everything we have. Help us to trust none but Him and not seek anything from any or ourselves especially to add to all that He is. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.