Morning, everybody. If you'd
like to, turn over to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12. We'll pick up
in our text, it's verse 41. Mark 12, 41. And Jesus sat over against the
treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury,
and many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain
poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And I'll give you a frame of
reference for how much money that was in today's money. It's about
half a cent, half of one cent. That's what she gave. Verse 43,
and he called unto him his disciples and saith unto them, verily I
say unto you that this poor widow has cast in more than all they
which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their
abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had. Even all are living. How could the Lord say this?
This woman had given the equivalent of less than half of one cent.
And many rich people were there that day, and they were giving
their gifts. Maybe some gave a thousand. Some gave tens of
thousands. Very large gifts might have been
given. He's not just saying this woman
gave more than anyone else, one singular person. He's saying
if you combine all those riches, all those things that those rich
people gave, and you combine it together, it doesn't equal
what this woman gave. How could he say that? He's saying
it because he was engaging it based on how much it was given.
What was gauged was how much was left over once the gift was
given. The rich had much. They gave
much, and they walked away with much. This woman gave everything
she had, and she had absolutely nothing left over. Now, we can
look at this story, and we can see and take some good teachings
about giving. It's certainly here. But if that's
all we see here, we've completely and utterly missed the point.
Yes, this story talks about giving. This is an illustration of good
giving. But that's not the main point. The main point of this
is faith. This is an illustration, it's a type of what true God-given
faith looks like. And if I have faith, if I have
true God-given faith, and if you have faith, it's going to
line up with the same faith that this widow had in this story.
Now I want to look at it from both angles. The scripture says
a lot about giving. The scripture says a lot about
something. It deserves our careful attention. So here's what I have
you notice. Look back at verse 41. Pay attention
to what the Lord was doing when these people gave. And Jesus
sat over against the treasury and beheld how, not what, how
the people cast money into the treasury. Now let me see if I
can paint the picture for you here. As I understand it, the
treasury referred to these large chests that were in the courtyard
of the temple. And that courtyard would have
been a very busy place, very crowded, a whole lot of people
moving around, people giving, giving their alms, people socializing,
people interacting with one another. And our Lord has set himself
against the treasury. He's on the opposite end of the courtyard.
He's perched back there and he's doing something very interesting.
You know what he's doing? He's people watching. You ever done
that? You ever go to like a crowded
shopping mall, amusement park, something like that and you just
sit back in a corner and you just watch people with them not having the
advantage of knowing you're watching them? It's very interesting.
You learn some things. You learn how simple and base
and silly we really are just by watching ourselves. That's
what our Lord is doing here. He's people watching. But He's
doing it in a way that only He can do. He's not watching what's
happening on the outside. He's not watching what they're
giving. He's not observing that. He's watching how they're giving.
He's looking into the heart. He's looking at the attitudes.
He's looking at the purposes. He's looking at the motivations.
He's looking at the intentions. As people will come up and they're
giving, he's watching how they give. And this is the scripture
that came to mind on this. This is Hebrews 4 verse 12, for
the word of God is quick. And that's speaking of The preached
word, the effectual word, but it's preaching of the man, speaking
of the man who is the word. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the word, Christ, is quick, he's life-giving, and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
it is discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but
all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom
we have to do." Now, man looks on the outward appearance. We
judge by the outward appearance, and that is not where the Lord
looks. Here's where he looks. He looks at the heart. He has
two eyes that pierce that heart. He looks in those deep crevices
of the soul, and there is nothing hid from him. What is in your
heart right now, and what is in my heart right now, and what
is in the heart of every man right now? He sees it. He sees
it plain as day. Those two eyes pierce all the
way through. Now, a question. As he's discerning
how these people are giving, what is he seeing? What is he
seeing go through their heart? Thought of a few things. One
guy probably came up, and he gave, and maybe a very generous
gift. And the Lord discerned his heart. This is what he saw.
He saw a man who was duty-bound. He didn't really want to give. He'd have much rather given that
money to something else, maybe bought a new fishing pole, or
maybe put it in the bank, give himself some extra cushion for
a rainy day. He didn't really want to give,
but he recognized it was his duty. And he's a man of his word, a
man of honor. And so since he's duty-bound and he would feel
real guilty if he didn't, he gave, begrudgingly. You know
what that is? It's evil. And that's not too
strong of a word, folks. That's evil. That's exactly what
it is. Another guy came up and he probably
gave the biggest gift of the day. Probably had a huge load
of stuff he was going to put in that treasury box. And he
makes a big show of it. He gives this big old gift, right? And he wants everybody to see.
Attracts as much attention as he can. He's giving this big
gift. He's doing it because he wants
to be seen and met. He wants a pat on the back. He wants to
be told thank you. He wants those priests in the temple to think
real high of him. Everybody's going to think I'm a real generous
guy. Look at me. That's why I gave. You know what that is? It's evil. Another guy I probably gave as
a matter of investment. He comes up and he says, well,
this is a solid investment here. I'm going to put $1,000 in this
chest here. And the Lord's going to reward
me with maybe $10,000, maybe $20,000 after this, right? This
is a great investment. This is better than Apple when
I was on the ground floor. This is perfect, right? Better
than playing the stock market. I'll invest this money here,
and I'll get back tenfold for sure. You know what that is? That's evil. Another guy probably
gave out of fear. He walked up, didn't want to
give, but he says, well, if I don't, the Lord's going to take it out
of me some other way. If I don't give something, I'll
lose my job, or I'll lose my health, or something calamity
is going to happen to my family. So as a way of insurance policy,
to keep the Lord from getting me, I'll give. Don't want to,
but I will. That's incredibly evil. What
a low view of the Lord. What a low view of his character,
wrong view of his character. That's evil. Now, somebody might
be asking right now, say, how do you know? How do you know
what these people were thinking? It doesn't say that in the text.
How do you know what was going through their hearts? I'll tell
you what I know. Same reason you know. Because
I have thought all these things, and when I look inside my heart,
I see all those things. And if you're honest with yourself,
you have thought all those things, and all those things lie in your
heart. Now somebody might say, no sir,
not me. I love that Bill read that in
Matthew chapter 6. It was perfect. I don't sound the trumpet. I
do my alms in private. I don't make a show of it. I'm
real discreet. I'm real secretive about it.
Don't want anybody to know. I'm very good about doing this.
I do it right. No sir, that's not me. That may
be the case. Maybe so. But in knowing that
you did it right, you feel real good about yourself. And that's
evil. Here's the point I'm coming to
here. And the point is found in Proverbs 27. I'm going to
read you this. I saw this proverb the other
day, and it speaks to this point right here. It says this, Proverbs
27, 19, as in water, face answereth to face. So the heart of man
to man. So what does that mean? If you
want to know what you look like, You can go out there and you
find a clear, non-moving body to water, crystal clear, and
stand over top of it. What are you going to see in
the water? You're going to see your face. You're going to see
your reflection coming back. If you want to know what you
look like, go look in the mirror. The face answers to face. If I want
to know what I look like on the outside, go to a mirror, go to
a still palm that's clear. The face will answer to face.
I'll see what I look like. If you want to know what you
really are, And if I want to know who I really am, the heart
of man, the heart. If I want to know who I really
am and what I really am by nature, all I have to do is look inside
my heart at all those evil motives and those evil intentions and
those evil purposes and it bears witness to what I really am and
who you really are, evil. And that is not too strong of
a word. I think it's interesting. What
is more wholesome than giving? Can you think of a more wholesome
activity than giving back to the Lord just some small portion
of what he's given us freely? Can you think of anything more
wholesome than that? I really can't. And you know
what? Look at all those sinful, wicked, devilish motivations
and intentions and purposes that accompany it. That bears witness
to who we really are. We're sinners, folks, and nothing
more. His heart is bad. This is what Genesis 6, 5 said.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, the
intentions, the motives, the purposes, the will was only evil
and that continually. You know what that means? If
that's the heart, that means that everything that flows from
that fountain, that flows from that heart, it's bad. My best
work, the best gift I've ever done with the least amount of
self-centeredness that I've ever had. You know what it is? It's
sin before God. It's wickedness before God because it came from
this heart. I think it's interesting. The
Lord was speaking to his disciples and here's how he began. He said,
if you then, speaking to his disciples, speaking to men who
knew God, who had been saved by the grace of God, if you then,
being evil. know how to give good gifts to
your children. How much more will your father that is in heaven
give good gifts to him that ask of him? He was speaking to his
disciples, not that you used to be evil, being evil. Now that was kind of a downer.
I get it. But that's the truth. But let
me give you some good news. I'm going to read you this. It's
Luke 6, 35. Our Lord speaking. He says, but love your enemies,
and do good and lend, hoping for nothing again, and your reward
shall be great. And ye shall be the children
of the highest, for he is kind, he is gracious, he is merciful
unto the unthankful and to the evil. That's what that passage
of scripture says. The kindness of God, the loving
kindness of God, the saving kindness of God. Who is it upon? Is it
upon the righteous? Is it upon those who are doing
real good? No. It's upon the unthankful and
the evil. Now, if you look inside yourself
right now, and you look at all those little crevices of the
heart and all the motivations and the intentions and the purposes,
if all you see in that heart is an evil man and nothing more,
here's good news. Here's comfort for you. Christ
died for you. The very loving kindness of God
is upon you and it is a kindness that always saves. Now the inverse
is true. You can look in your heart and
you can see reason why God would have mercy on you. And you can
see merit before God. This is not for you. The loving
kindness of God is not on you. But if you are one who is unthankful
and evil, the loving kindness of God is upon you. Now, A couple
final thoughts on this thing of giving. Giving is not for
the Lord. It's for you. So in 2 Corinthians
chapter 8, Paul recounts something. The church in Jerusalem had fallen
on hard times. They'd become very impoverished.
And he spoke of the church Macedonians. And he speaks of them, and he
said, and they were in a great trial of affliction. And they were
in deep poverty. That's what the scripture says.
Worse off than the church in Jerusalem. Paul went around all
these churches trying to take a collection for the church in
Jerusalem to support them. And the church of Macedonia,
they got together, and they scraped up everything they had, and they
gave it to Paul. And he said, give that to the
church in Jerusalem. And Paul was hesitant. Paul said,
this is too much. You guys don't have anything. And he said, you
take it. You take it, and you give it to that church in Jerusalem.
And they asked him this. And they said, now send Titus
down to those churches in Corinth. Tell him about this gift we gave,
and see if they want to give a gift too. Why would they do
that? Were they putting themselves
in competition? Saying, hey, look at this big gift we gave.
You guys see if you can do better. Look at that. No. They were so
blessed, personally blessed, in giving this gift to the church
in Jerusalem, they wanted the churches in Corinth to have that
same blessing as well. You see, this thing of giving
has absolutely nothing to do with the Lord having any needs.
He has no needs. This is the sovereign of the
universe. He is the creator. A cattle on
a thousand hills are all His. He has everything. He is the
one that speaks that which exists into existence. He does not need
me, and He does not need you, and He doesn't need my money,
and He doesn't need your money, and He doesn't need my preaching,
and He doesn't need your worship or my worship. None of those
things. He does not need me and you.
He is the self-sufficient, all-independent God. This thing of giving is
not about Him and meeting some need. It's for us. It's a great
blessing for us. And you say, well, what was the
blessing this church in Macedonia had? I don't know. Not for certain. It doesn't say it in the scripture.
But I have an idea. These people were left with absolutely
nothing. They had nothing, and yet every
day they ate. By the grace and mercy of God,
they ate. They had absolutely nothing,
and yet they had clothes on their back every single day. And they
had absolutely nothing, and yet they had a roof over their head
every single night. They had absolutely nothing, and they
lived every day in complete and utter dependence on the Lord
to provide for their every need. And every day it came. And at
night, when they would lay their head down on their pillow, they
got to go to bed with this in mind. He thinks on me. He cares
for me. He thinks on me so much, this
great God who controls this wide universe, he thinks on this speck
of dust here, right here, me. And he's faithful every day to
provide for my needs. You know what that means? If
he is faithful in providing for these lesser needs, these temporal
needs, How much more faithful has he been in providing for
my greatest need, which is everything in my salvation? They got to
live that illustration every single day. I have a tendency
to think that was a blessing. And here's the last thing I'll
say on it. This is what Paul said to the Corinthians about
giving, 2 Corinthians 8.8. He says, I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity
of your love. What he's telling them is this.
There's no law concerning this. There's no commandment concerning
this thing of giving. That thing of tithing, that 10%,
part of the Old Testament economy of worship, that was done away
with as soon as that veil was rent in two. When Christ came,
when that Old Testament economy of worship was put away, that
thing of tithing was put away. You're not under law. There's
no law here. Law never breeds It's cooperation
in any way. There's no law here. This is
your rule. As you love, give. Paul says there, he goes, what
you give is going to prove the sincerity of your love. I want
to apologize for that statement. That's what he said. But flip
that on its head. This is what this means. Here's
your rule. As you love, give. If you don't
love much, don't give much. But if you love much, give much. Give generously, give in secret,
give in sincerity, and give knowing the blessing is for you. Now, we talked about giving,
but I want to get to the heart of what this illustration actually
points to. Like I said before, this is a beautiful illustration
of what true saving faith actually looks like. Consider this woman
for a moment. Look at verse 42. And there came a certain poor
widow And she threw in two mites, which make a fart. Now, this
woman is described as a poor widow. This is about one of the
worst places you could find yourself during this period of time. If
you were a poor widow, this is what you meant. You lost your
husband. He was your source of providing. He was your source
of income. And you've lost him. And if he hadn't left you any
wealth, and if you had no sons to take care of you, you were
complete, completely and utterly destitute. You had absolutely
nothing, you had no way of providing for yourself, and you were completely
dependent on charity, on the unearned kindness of someone
else to have what you needed to live. And I want you to notice
what this poor widow did. She took everything she had,
not much, half a penny. Halfpenny's not going to do much
for anybody. She took everything she had and
she gave it to the Lord. And the Lord said she gave more
than everybody else combined. Why? Because of what she had
left over. She had absolutely nothing. She became completely and utterly
dependent on the Lord for everything in a destitute state. And folks,
that's exactly what faith is. It is being completely and utterly
dependent on Christ for everything in your salvation in your destitute
state. That's it. It's a very, very
simple thing. What do I need? Well, here's
what I need. I need to be justified. I need
something to be done about my sin. There's absolutely nothing
I can do about my sin. I need to be made sinless, and
I need to be made holy, and I need to be made righteous before God.
I'm trusting that He provided all that in Christ. I need a
new man. I need to be born from above,
trusting Him to do it. I need faith. I need love. I
need to be brought. I need all these things. I need
to be called by irresistible, invincible grace. I have to be
given a need. I can't even come up with a need
on my own. I'm a completely and utterly
dependent creature. And that's exactly what faith
is. Being completely dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ for
everything in salvation. Folks, we can't take that too
far. Everything in salvation in a completely and utterly destitute
state. Poor, needy sinner with nothing
to bring to the table. I touched on this before, but
I want to show you again our Lord's posture. Look there at
verse 41. And Jesus sat over against the treasury. Now, I
told you before, this is a very crowded place, this courtyard,
very crowded. And our Lord's sitting on an
opposite wall. He's not standing. He's not standing where everyone
can see him, and he's not in a chair in an elevated position.
We know that from Luke's account, because Luke says he actually
had to look up to see these people giving. He's seated. And you
know where he's seated? He's seated on the ground, in
the dirt, in the dust, probably leaning with his back against
a public building. Now, who do you find seated on
the ground in the dirt, leaning against a public building, lowly
and meek. He found poor people. That's
it. And you know who would have felt real comfortable going over
there and sitting right next to him, wouldn't have felt like
she'd been held off in any way? That poor widow. She would have
saw him and she would have saw one who she was in good company
with. You know what this speaks of,
this thing of him sitting down in the dirt? This is the approachableness
of Christ by the Senate. This is what he said, Matthew
11, 28 says, come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
for your souls. You see, he's meek and lowly
in heart. This man receives sinners and
he eats with them. No sinner will be turned away
from his presence. Any sinner that comes to him
begging mercy, having nothing to buy with, needing Christ to
do everything for him, you know what he does? He takes up their
cause. Because he's meek and lowly. He's on their level. Now
let's look at some scriptures about this. Turn to Isaiah chapter
42. This is the father speaking,
he's speaking of his son. Isaiah 42, and look at verse
one. It says, behold, my servant whom
I uphold, mine elect. In whom my soul delighteth, I
have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. I love there where the father
speaks of his son, of Christ, and he says, he's my elect. Now,
does God have a people? Absolutely he does. That's the
teaching in this book, that before time began, God elected a people.
He chose a people unto salvation, but where? In Christ. He chose those people in Christ. And folks, have no fear. Have
no fear. If you want to know right now whether you're elect,
it's a very simple question. Are you a destitute sinner that
is completely dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ for everything
in your salvation? If the answer is yes, you're
elect. It's just that simple. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I can't see my election.
But if you're a destitute sinner whose only hope is in Christ
alone, that's the evidence of your election right there. But
where did that election begin? It began with one man. It began
with God the Father choosing one man. He chose His Son, Jesus
Christ. And when He chose Him, you know
what happened? Everybody who shares that eternal union with
Him, we came along too. Package deal. Can't separate
the two. Christ and the Church have always been one eternally. And when the Father chose Christ,
mine elect, Take him, you take us all. Everybody got brought
to. Everything's in Christ. Every blessing is because of
being in Christ. Salvation is all in Christ. Everything
is in Christ. The Father's love is in Christ. Now, look here at verse two.
He says, he shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice
to be heard in the street. He didn't go around threatening
and yelling and bullying men into believing on him. That's
not his style. I don't say that flippantly,
but that's not who he is, and that's not how he has to be.
This is one who is meek and gentle, and he works in the still, small
voice. This is the sovereign of the
universe. He doesn't have to bully. He doesn't have to threaten.
He simply calls. Come to me. Senator, come to
me. You come right here. And you know what? Everybody
he calls, they always come. They come because they have no
choice and they want no other choice. He's gentle and he's
meek with his people. Now look at verse 3. A bruised
reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench. He shall bring forth judgment unto truth. Now what's
that bruised reed? That's the sinner. Bruised and
battered by the fall, a sinful man, broken, brokenhearted. Heart
that doesn't work. It's no good. Can't come to God.
Can't move an inch towards Him. Can't produce a good work. A
bruised reed, he says here, he's not going to break them. Bruised
reed comes to him, you know what he does? He heals them. And he
does it every single time. And smoking flax that he won't
quench. What's that about? That's talking about preservation.
He's the giver of life. He's the giver of faith. He's
the giver of repentance. and always feels like that fire is
just smoldering and it might go out any minute. But he says,
I won't quench that smoking flax. I'm going to fan that flame,
that flame that I started. I'm going to fan it. I'm going
to keep it burning all the way to the end. I won't quench it.
And he ends with a very interesting statement. He says, he shall
bring forth judgment unto truth. What does that mean? For every
bruised reed that comes to him, for every sinner that comes to
him, here's what he does. He makes it to where the truth
about that sinner is, he's perfect, and he's righteous, and he's
sinless, and he is blameless before God. That's how he makes
him to be. This one that was total depravity,
he makes him to be perfect in the eyes of God. So much so,
truth unto judgment, that when God looks with those two eyes,
and he looks inside, and he discerns that heart, and he looks up and
down in every crevice, he says, he's perfect. He's just, he's
holy, and he's right. Because when he sees that elect,
he's seeing Christ. And here's the confidence we
have in relying completely on him. Look at verse four. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth
and the isles shall wait for his law. Not one bruised reed,
not one sinner who has ever come to Christ and depended solely
on him ever perished. He shall not fail. Who shall not fail? Christ. Why
won't he fail? Because he can't. Because he's
God. Look at another one. Look at Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2 and look
at verse 5. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. Why did he not think it
was robbery to call himself equal with God? Because he is God. Who's Jesus Christ? He's God.
That means every attribute of God, Jesus Christ is that. That
sovereign, that omnipotent, that omniscient, that omnipresent,
Everything God is Jesus Christ is but look what he did look
at verse 7 But made himself of no reputation and took upon him
the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Now,
we looked at Isaiah 42. That's talking about his meekness
and his lowliness in receiving sinners. Now it's talking about
Christ actually making himself meek and lowly to accomplish
the salvation for those sinners. Here's what he did. He made himself
meek. and lowly. He came down, God
in all His glory, He was born in a body in human flesh and
He took on human limitation. And He submitted Himself, He
put Himself under God's holy law and He kept it perfectly
for Himself and for everyone that was in Him. And then He
submitted Himself unto the Father when He was made the sins of
His people. He was made meek and lowly, bearing our sins in
His body. And then He was made meek and
lowly when He died under the wrath of God. Accomplishing the
salvation for everybody he died for look at the end state of
all this look at verse 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted
him And give him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven
and things in earth and things under the earth. And that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Because he made himself meek
and lowly and he stooped and he stooped and he stooped. What
did he do through all that? What did he accomplish? The epitome
of glory. He got for himself the greatest
glory, infinite glory. He stands in the halls of heaven
and he says right now, I did that. I saved them. I saved the unsavable and I did
it all by myself. And all glory goes to this God-man,
Jesus Christ. He was made meek and lowly that
the end state might be this. He has infinite glory. Now, We've
got time for one more. Turn over to Genesis chapter
22. Most of you are probably familiar
with this story. This is the story where the Lord commands
Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. And at the end of this
story, Abraham names this place. He names it Jehovah-Jireh. And
what that means is the Lord will provide. And it seems like a
very befitting place to end this message. So what happened here?
The Lord told Abraham, he said, you take your son, you take your
only son, Isaac, the one you love, and you take him up to
a place where I tell you of, and you offer him as a burnt
offering unto me. But the Lord had made a promise to Abraham
prior to this. He told Abraham that the seed,
the Messiah, was going to come through Isaac. And Isaac didn't
have any children at this time. What Abraham believed, rightly,
was that the Lord was going to raise that boy from the dead.
And that very day, he was going to do it. So Abraham woke up
early, and he saddled his ass, and he took Isaac, and he took
two of his young men, and they went traveling. They went to
a place where the Lord told them to. And when he saw that place
afar off, he took Isaac, he left the young men at the base of
the hill, and him and Isaac went up that hill. Abraham's carrying
the knife and the fire, and put the wood on Isaac, that picture
of Christ. Now look at what Isaac asks here.
Look at verse seven. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, my father? He said, hear my, my son. He
said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for
a burnt offering? That's a logical question. Isaac
knew how sacrifices were to be offered. He says, I see that
fire. I see that knife. I see that wood. The only thing
we're missing is this, the sacrifice for the sacrifice. Here's how
Abraham replied. Look at verse 8. And Abraham
said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Now, this is the stuff of faith
right here. Number one, God will provide. What does faith rest on? That
in the Lord Jesus Christ, God provided everything that was
necessary for my salvation. Everything God required of me,
he took, he got in Jesus Christ. God will provide. You cannot
take that too far. In every aspect of salvation,
where is it? Where is my salvation found?
It's found in a man. God will provide. God will provide
himself. Who is the only acceptable sacrifice? Who could do this thing of substitution? Who else could take the sins
out of a man and bear them in his own body and suffer and die
and actually put them away and to be raised again after three
days? Who else could accomplish this thing of justification?
Who else could do these things? No one else. God provided who? He provided himself. God provided
himself. And finally this, God provided
himself for himself. Our salvation is a just salvation. This is my hope. On that cross,
Jesus Christ bore my sins in his body. He suffered under the
wrath of God, and he put those sins away, and now the justice
of God is completely satisfied with me. And it is with every
member of the elect. Now, this woman, What does faith
look like? She was completely and utterly
dependent on the Lord for everything in an absolute destitute state. And folks, if that's you, if
all your hope is in Christ and Him crucified alone, you've got
nothing else. And you're a destitute sinner.
You have true, saving faith. I'll leave you there.