We're going to be in the book of Ephesians, both hours, if you'd like to turn. Ephesians chapter one. Here, Paul is expressing his desire for Ephesus. And that would remind us that in some places he has referred to the churches that he's writing to as his children. He told Timothy he was his son in the faith. And to these churches, he had great love for these churches. He's writing his desire to them out of love. and out of compassion. It's his desire unto the Lord. He mentions praying for them often, and he tells us what he's praying for for them. This hour, I want to look at what he desires. And then the second hour, I want to look at what that desire looks like once it's bestowed. So what is the desire of Paul first hour, and then that desire, which is given to all the Lord's people. Once it's given, what does that look like, I guess would be the best way to say it. So let's read this. Ephesians 1 verse 15 says, Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ The father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance to the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working. of his mighty power. I've titled this message, The Gift of the Father. The Gift of the Father. Here we find three desires of Paul. The first one's found in 17, and he says that the father of glory may give unto you the spirit of wisdom, that's one, and revelation and knowledge of him, that's two. And the third one is, verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. These are the gifts of the Father. This is what the Lord has purposed to give unto his people in order for them to see him as he is, to see us as we are, and to believe on him as our only hope for righteousness. We can't see ourself for what we are unless the Lord enables us to do that. A lot of people will see that they're They'll look at their self and say, yeah, I know I'm a sinner. I hear people talk about it. But whenever the Lord reveals that you're a sinner, that's a lot different than just thinking that you're a sinner. There becomes a deep understanding. We talked about it. It's enlightened. You're enlightened. Your understanding is enlightened. I had no idea that I was as bad as I was until the Lord showed me how good he was. Once he shows you that you need him as a savior, you need him as your surety, one that stood between you and God so that you don't receive the wrath due you, that he took that wrath. These three, the spirit of wisdom, the revelation of knowledge of him and the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, these stand as the eternal gifts from the one that created all things. This is our Lord's gift to his people. And I have to make sure anytime I talk about gifts, that it's freely done by grace. You don't purchase gifts that are given to you. A gift is something free. It costs someone else something. So these gifts are given to the Lord's people on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ's finished work, purchased by his blood. This was how this was made available. This is how this was made for you and I to have this gift given to us, is by the Lord Jesus Christ's work. First, verse 17 says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom. We've clearly seen in the book of Proverbs that wisdom is not learned behavior. What do I mean by that? Well, you ever heard somebody say, wow, he's a really wise man, or she's a really wise woman? You heard that before? What they mean is, is they behave their self, or they conduct themselves in a manner where they're patient, they know when to speak, they know when not to speak. Sometimes it's misperception, because some men and some women just don't talk, and people are like, wow, they're really solemn, they must be really wise. No, actually, they just don't have anything to say. So that's a misperception. So wisdom is not a learned behavior. Wisdom of God is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The wisdom of God is given by his spirit to his people. And what does wisdom teach us, his people? It teaches us that God is God, and I'm not. that he is sovereign, that he is holy, that he is true and just. I'm none of those things. That's what the wisdom of God by his spirit bestows upon us. This is the gift of God by his grace. He comes to a center. When he says live, and all these gifts are simultaneous, they happen at the same time, but we're gonna go one by one. This gift of the spirit of wisdom is the Lord's spirit that breathes upon his elect child and says live. And they see him no longer as a fairy tale god, no longer as an imaginary god, no longer as something made up. They see him as holy, as God Almighty. We see him as sovereign over all things. We see him as completely in charge, not asking us or waiting for us to do anything. He accomplished salvation. Now this causes us to realize I've got to have Him. I've got to have his salvation. If salvation is of the Lord, I thought, and yet I was wrong. Is that not what, you remember Naaman over in, whenever he was cursed with leprosy, he was going to go to the prophet and the prophet didn't come out and see him. He got offended. He said, well, I thought he would come out and he would do this and he would do that. Well, whenever Naaman was healed, He realized that God's God and Naaman's not. God's ways are above our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. Scripture says that as high as the heaven above the earth, so is his ways above our ways and his thoughts above ours. We can't, we no longer think about God the way we used to. We no longer think about ourself. As we used to the Lord makes us centers, not just sinful, but full of sin from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet. That's what the spirit of wisdom gives to his people. Wisdom is far more than learned behaviors due to experience. It's more than knowledge to be patient during fearful times. Wisdom is the gift of God that reveals who He is and what we are. You know what that's called? Repentance. Repentance. This is what the Spirit of the Lord gives to His people is repentance. Our minds are completely changed. Linda was talking to me on Wednesday and she made a statement that Greg Youngquist said, I'd forgotten this, but repentance is a radical change. It's not just a change, it's a radical change about how God saves sinners. It comes freely by his grace alone. And that's something that the spirit of the Lord has to reveal. He has to bestow, he has to give, and he gives it freely by grace. This is the how. God's elect are called out of darkness into his marvelous light. This is the how. This is the cause. This is the way that the Lord does it. No one And I'll say this, it's the only way someone's saved is for the Lord to come to them and say, live. For the Lord to come to that individual and blow his spirit upon them. You remember Ezekiel was with the Lord and he said, Ezekiel, can these bones live? They were in a desert, scripture says, and it was a valley of dry bones. And the scripture says, and lo, they were very dry. They wanted just to understand how dead and trespasses and sin we are by nature. That's the picture. And Lord said, Ezekiel, can these bones live? And what does Ezekiel say? Lord, thou knowest. What did he mean? Well, if he's going to live, you're going to have to do it. I can't make these bones live. Neither can we make our dead soul alive unto the Lord Jesus Christ by a choice that we make. No one's saved by making a choice. Salvation's a choice is not ours. It was God's and God chose to save sinners. God chose to elect a people. God chose to save those whom he elected and he did so on the cross of Calvary. We have the affirmation that it's finished because Christ said it is finished. And we can't obligate God to give you his, we can't obligate God to give us his spirit. And that's what men say, whenever they talk about give Jesus your heart, you're obligating him to do something by giving him something. I'm going to pray this prayer. I'm going to obligate God. You can't obligate God, his spirit. Well, what did Lord tell Nicodemus? He said, the wind bloweth where it list us and thou can't tell where they're coming, whether it goes. So as every one that is born, of his spirit. You can't tell where it's going to happen or when it's going to happen or how it happens. It's a mystery. But it's the Lord that does it and he gets all the glory for it. He gets all the glory for it. We can't obligate God because if it's merited, if I do something in order to please him, if I do something in order to become something in his sight, then it's not a gift, it's merited. But the Lord saves freely by grace, and it's a gift all by grace. Men made God out to be puny, made God out to be pathetic, made God out to be a God that's pacing the floor and waiting on men to make decisions. And I remember in false religion, there was a time where men would say, the Lord's waiting on you. All you have to do is take the first step and he'll take the rest. I don't know if any of you ever heard that one before, but It was always about what I had to do. And that's what they put the emphasis on. The spirit of wisdom teaches us that it's not what I do. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but it's according to his mercy. According to his mercy hath he saved us. It's his choice. It's his power. And the amazing part, I'm getting ahead of myself for next message, but if you go down and look, In verse 20, this is talking about His power by His Spirit, which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places. This is His power, the same exact power that He used to resurrect the Lord Jesus Christ is the same power He uses to call His people out of darkness into His light. Isn't that marvelous? That's why it's so silly to say, I gotta make a choice, because you're controlling God's power at that point. How foolish is that? No, it's His decision. It's all by His determinate counsel. It's all purpose. Look at verse four. According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world. That's how far back it goes, before time ever began. This is what the spirit of wisdom teaches the Lord's people, that He's God in salvation, and I'm not, I'm not. The wisdom of God teaches his people that in the fullness of time, Christ became a man born of a woman, born under the law to redeem them that are under the law. We were cursed by the law. We didn't even know it until the Lord reveals it. Men think that they can keep the law, they can do things and please God by their moral living or their ceremonial living or their However, they live civil and it's not true. We can't please the Lord. We're under the law guilty until until Christ came and he died in our room. Instead, his people's room. Instead, he bore our guilt and our sin in his own body on the tree, putting it away for all time and forever. We were resurrected in him because we died in him, one with him. The scripture talks about that. And then by his spirit, he chooses to regenerate us at his appointed time. He comes to a center, and this is a mystery, but by his gospel, Paul said in Romans chapter one, verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it's the power of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth. When the gospel goes forth, The gospel of God's free grace goes forth, it is declared, and the Lord chooses to be pleased to bless it unto salvation for someone. They hear it, not with these ears. The Lord said multiple places, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the bride. Come, come to the water, come drink. It's given freely by grace. He births his people, regenerates them by his spirit. This is what the spirit of wisdom reveals. It abases us entirely. It shows that we have no power. Men believe they have power, they have a will. Well, the problem with man's will is that it's bound to his nature. And you've heard me say this quite a bit recently, but that was something that men don't understand, that I use the example often about the dog. A dog barks because it's a dog, not to become a dog. We sin because we're sinners by nature. Our will is bound to our flesh. We're going to choose whatever is good for us. That's why the Lord said, you will not come to me that you might have life. This is what the spirit of wisdom reveals unto the Lord's people. He's got to save me. If he doesn't save me, I won't be saved. I'll be lost forever. He's got to do all the saving, not just part of it. It's not me taking one step and him taking 20. It's not me taking 20 and him taking one. I don't take a step. I'm dead. He's got to save me or I'm not going to be saved. That's the glorious news of the gospel. He shall save his people from their sin, and he did, and he did. His spirit reveals that he is God and we are not. He's holy and just, and we are false and full of sin. We're unjust and vile, vile creatures by nature. His Spirit says to us, and we would never do this had it not been for the grace of God given to us by His Spirit. It says, don't look to yourself. Don't look to yourself as any part of your salvation anymore. Because if you do, you're looking in the wrong place. Which brings us to our second point. It's verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and the revelation and the knowledge of Him. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's the gift of the Father. So first of all, He gives us His Spirit that reveals unto us we're sinners. But at the same time, the same Spirit points us, drives us, shuts us up to Christ Jesus. It reveals Him as the Savior. So this is repentance and faith, isn't it? Always go hand in hand. The Lord changes our mind about who we are, about what we are, about what we do, about who He is, what He's done. Then he gives us Christ, our all-sufficient substitute surety, as our only hope for righteousness before God. Spirit causes us to see sin, shame, and guilt, and simultaneously, he gives us faith to see Christ who took our shame, Christ who took our guilt, Christ who has made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. This is what the Lord's revelation reveals. You've heard me say this before, I've heard a lot lately, it seems like, about the book of Revelation, more so since recent events. People are concerned in times, different things, and people talk about Revelation, like, well, this is gonna happen, this is futuristic, this is gonna happen, this is gonna happen, and they'll debate forever over that stuff, but I would encourage anybody that reads the book of Revelation to start on the very first page that says this is the revelation of Jesus Christ, not the revelation of future events. That was the revelation. Who did John see? He saw God. He saw Jesus Christ. That's what the Lord gives when he gives the revelation. We see Christ. We see him as the savior that we must have. We see him as the substitute we must have or we're not going to be saved. So now we have repentance where we don't think the way we used to think. And we have faith to believe what we never could have believed unless the Lord made us. That's the catalyst that allows us to believe. And faith just looks to Christ, it no longer looks to self. So the Spirit's saying, don't look to self, look to Christ. That's exactly what the Lord's people do. We no longer look to self as any part of our righteousness before God. The Lord Jesus, he was the only one that was worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof. He's the chosen redeemer. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He's called Wonderful, Counselor, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God. This is what we see when he is revealed to us. He's King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He's not baby Jesus meek and mild. He's God in the flesh, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He's the Savior of His chosen people, the Savior of sinners. The one that stood between God and man and was not destroyed by the wrath of God and was not defiled by touching man. He's the only one that could do that. He was the chosen one to redeem his people. God chose him to redeem. And that's what we see when this revelation, the light of the Lord's gospel, shines into our dark hearts. We see this, he is the light. He is the light, in him is no darkness. This is his gift to his people. What did the scripture say? John 3, 16, it's used all the time, that verse. For God so loved the world, he gave. I'm gonna stop, I'll finish in a second, but I'm gonna stop right there. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Why did he say the world? Well he was talking to Nicodemus who was a Jew and the Jews believed that they were the only ones that were God's elect. They believed they were the only people that had opportunity of salvation. They believed that the Messiah would come to them, set up an earthly kingdom. He says, no it's not just the Jews, it's the world. Every nation, every tribe, every kindred, every tongue will be represented in glory when we get there. That's what the Lord promised. So he's no respecter of person. He doesn't look at your skin. He doesn't look at your speech. He doesn't look, thank God he doesn't look at my intelligence. You understand what I'm saying? It's not about us. It's about him. He elected according to his own purpose and grace given to his people before time ever began. So Nicodemus, it's for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Every person elected in the covenant of grace from every corner of this world, that gives me hope. Because if it was just to the Jew, we would be in trouble. If it was just to, bloodline, we would be in trouble. If it was just to a creed, we would be in trouble. You get what I'm saying here. God chose in mercy whom he would have mercy on. That's what he said. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I will, I'll harden. Now that what the Lord does in revealing himself as we now see that this is not, it's not just the father, but Jesus Christ is God. He's the one that said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy and whom I will harden. Can't separate the deities of our Lord, they're all one. They're all one. And that's what we see whenever we see him. You remember, I think I used this last Sunday too, but it went along with this one also. You remember when they brought the Lord Jesus to the temple, and the Lord had told Simeon, the priest, that he would not die until he seen the Messiah. And they bring the Lord Jesus to him, And it doesn't mention any conversation that Mary and Joseph had with him whatsoever. So we don't know about that. But what we do know is his response to seeing the Lord Jesus. He said, I can die now because now mine eyes have seen thy salvation. See, Christ isn't just a part of salvation. He is salvation. He is salvation. He is the Lord's salvation. His work is salvation. His doing is salvation alone. He's not a key component. His perfect life, His perfect death and offering by His blood, by His resurrection, He's God's salvation for His chosen people. That's what we see when we see Him. So first we see ourself as the sinner. Then we see him as the savior, the appointed one, the successful redeemer of his people. We no longer look to self to save ourself. We no longer look to self as any part or evidence of salvation. We look to him as the fullness of our salvation. He's the fullness of our salvation. He's not 65%. He's not 95%. He's the fullness of it. He's a hundred percent our salvation, or we have none. We have none. Scripture tells us that there's no other name given among men whereby we must be saved. What does that mean? Well, if you're bearing his name, you must be saved. That's what it means. It said even if we deny him, yet he abideth faithful. He remains faithful. Why? He cannot deny himself. And the gift of the Lord is that he's given us his name over. Uh, scripture tells us that he shall be called Jehovah. Sit. Can you, the Lord, our righteousness, but it goes on to talk about the church. And it said, her name is Jehovah. Sit. Can you, the Lord, our righteousness, we bear his name. Therefore we shall not perish. First gift is the spirit of wisdom that reveals who God is. He's thrice holy. He's holy, holy, holy. That's what the cherubims and the seraphims and the four and 20 elders chant daily. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty. Lord God omnipotent reigneth. We'd never seen that with these eyes. We'd never came to that understanding. You can't imagine God being as big as he is, as powerful as he is, as sovereign as he is. It takes faith to believe it. We don't, we still can't comprehend the depth, the height, the width of his awesomeness. We just believe it because he's declared it. Faith allows us to believe it. So the spirit of wisdom reveals God, who he is, and that we're sinners. Gives us repentance. The second gift is the revelation of Jesus Christ. He gives faith to believe on him as all of our wisdom, all of our righteousness, all of our sanctification, and all of our redemption. Nothing more, nothing less. He is all. Which brings us to the last gift. Verse 18 says, The eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance to the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power. This is the glorious result, if you will, of repentance and faith. Your understanding is enlightened. We don't think like we used to think about God and the way that he is, about us and the way that we are, but we don't think about God's salvation like we used to think. And I'll say that what I said before is repentance is a radical change of mind about how God saves sinners. We're talking a complete turnaround. We're not talking, okay, I had this wrong and I had this wrong, so let's cut that out and cut that out. No, we had everything wrong. I mean, it's a complete turnabout. This result is what God gives to his people because he gives them his spirit and because he gives them the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now they have a changed perspective entirely. Now they have their understanding enlightened. Now the second hour, Lord willing, I want to look, title that message, understanding enlightened or enlightened understanding. I can't remember one or the other, but there's three things right here that are the result of that. And we're going to talk about them, Lord willing, the second hour. But for now, I want to just mention briefly that this enlightened understanding, by definition, is not something that we can attain. It's not something that we can merit. It's not something that we can earn. It's not something that we can choose. It's something that is of the Lord by grace. He gives understanding. He gives the ability to believe. And without that, we'll never understand. In Proverbs, it actually refers to the Lord himself as wisdom and as understanding. He is our understanding. So we see how all three of these really are just the same kind of hand-in-hand gifts, aren't they? They're not that different, truly. Brethren, we don't think like we used to think. You remember a time whenever you used to glory in what you knew? What you practiced? How often you go to church? Remember a time you'd glory about what you don't do or what you do? I do. We don't do that anymore. Why? Because God's gifts. Because the Father's gifts. Without them, we would. We would say, look at me, look at what I've done. We would compare each other to each other. And I would say, well, I'm not as bad as you are, so I must be all right. Or you'd say, well, I'm better than you because I'm not doing this anymore. I haven't done that in three years. People talk about different vices that they had. I have a grandmother that didn't have a TV. It's all the moral and civil law. They're putting their self under. It's not salvation. It's not evidence of salvation. It's just morality. That's all that it is. We don't do that anymore. We look to our savior to satisfy God in every way necessary for our salvation, because we realize salvation's of the Lord. He's given us repentance and faith. He's given us his spirit and the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have had our perspective completely changed. We've had our eyes enlightened, our understanding enlightened. We don't glory in what we know anymore. That's what I was saying. We glory in who we know. Paul said, I know whom I have believed. And to know him is to know salvation. It is. To know him is to have salvation. You remember the woman at the well. The Lord came to her. He said, I must needs go through Samaria. I love that because the Lord chose to go there. And you say, well, yeah, I understand that, but you know how glorious it is that he went to a Samaritan. They didn't talk to each other. The Jews and the Samaritans hated each other completely. They were enemies. A Samaritan was a half-bred Jew. Israel intermingled with another tribe, another nation, and the offspring of that intermingling which was actually around the time of Balaam that that happened. But the intermingling ended up causing the Samaritans to come to fruition. Well, the Jews, being full-blooded, imagine they had pride, they had arrogance, say, you're not a real Jew. You're only a half Jew. So we're better than you. And that was their attitude. They were very racist towards each other. But yet our Lord in mercy chose, and they were enemies, but is that not us by nature? That's the whole point. We're enemies against God by nature. And yet the Lord chose in mercy to go to exactly where this woman at the well was, met her right there, knew she would be there, purposed her to be there, walks up to her, and he says, give me to drink. She said, sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. And he said, if you knew who was talking to you, you'd asked of him, I need to give you living water. She immediately, she immediately reveals her righteousness. And what was her righteousness? Think about this. We worship in this mountain. Now that was the mountain that Moses had declared as the holy mountain. That's where she said, that's where we're supposed to worship. But you say we worship in Jerusalem. Well, the Lord says, The time is coming and now is where you won't worship in that mountain or in Jerusalem. God is a spirit, and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. And he tells her, go fetch your husband. Go fetch your husband. And she says, sir, I have no husband. And the Lord says, you spoke truth. You've had five, and the one you have now is not yours. And she said, sir, I perceive that you're a prophet. And that's whenever the religion came out. That's whenever she immediately said, we worship in this mountain, when she perceived that he was a prophet. What is my point? Well, up until this point, she hasn't received repentance and faith. She's still thinking the old way. She hasn't had her understanding enlightened to who God is and what he has done to save his people. She had no idea. Her righteousness was that they worshiped in that mountain, thinking that they were pleasing God. What did the Lord tell her? He said, that God's a spirit and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth. When you tell truth to someone that can't believe the truth, they're going to be defensive. And so what she said was a trump card. She said, well, Messiah is coming. When he comes here, he'll straighten you out. That's what she was basically saying to the Lord. And he said unto her these words, he that speaketh to you, I am, I am he. Lord Jesus Christ, there's the revelation right there, boom. Why, how do we know? Because she immediately leaves her water pot, doesn't defend herself anymore, goes into the city, said, come see a man that told me all things ever I did, is this not Christ? That's having your understanding changed. That's having your understanding enlightened. The Lord has to come to the center and do the work, give the gospel, and the center believes by God-given faith and by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's how he does it. She no longer gloried in her righteousness. Do we see that? That's having your understanding enlightened. That's the gift. She said, come see a man. Another account that goes hand in hand with this is the blind man that The Lord healed on the Sabbath and the Pharisees, all they all go, he's got up in arms over him doing anything, but especially healing on the Sabbath. Cause they, they were worshiping the day, not the person Lord Jesus Christ is the Sabbath. Um, all those were just types and pictures of the Lord. Every bit of the old Testament is Pharisees. They were just mad because the Lord wouldn't conform to their image. Lord wouldn't do as they wanted to do. They were religious. They were self-righteous. And so they go to this young man, he's healed, the Lord walks up to him, he heals him, the Lord leaves, and they go up to this young man, and they say to him, give God the glory. Is this man a sinner that healed you? And they're calling the Lord Jesus Christ a sinner, ain't that wild. But the Lord says this, or I'm sorry, the young man says this, he says, whether he's a sinner or not, I don't know. But this one thing I do know, whereas I was blind, now I see. Now I see. Why? Because Christ healed him. And the Lord saves him a little bit later on, but the whole point is, is our confession is no longer, look at me in any way, it's whereas I was blind, now I see. It was a miracle of grace. He did it all. That's what having your understanding enlightened means, is that you're able to see salvation is of the Lord, all of grace. It's the same picture as Blond Bartimaeus, isn't it? Blond Bartimaeus said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Everybody's shushing him, telling him to be quiet. And he won't be quiet because he had a need. God gives you a need. Whenever he gives his spirit and he gives the revelation of Christ, he's made a need that only he can fix, only he can provide. Blind Bartimaeus had a need. He was blind from birth. He cried out, Lord, have mercy on me. Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Everybody's shushing him, telling him to be quiet. Leave the master alone. He's busy. Don't bother him. He cried louder. It didn't stop him. And what happened? Well, I love what the Lord said. Fetch him. Fetch him. Go get him. Bring him to me. Why did he say that? Because Bartimaeus couldn't have found his way to Christ if he needed to. He was blind. He didn't have a seeing eye dog like some people do now. He was incapable of getting to Christ. That's us by nature. We're incapable because we're spiritually blind. We can't get to God. Lord, you're gonna have to come to me or bring me to you. I can't do neither. And that's what he does. And what did Bartimaeus do? He left his robe there. Which is a picture, if you're gonna approach Christ for salvation, you're gonna have to leave your righteousness behind. Our righteousness is filthy rags. The Lord ain't gonna have that. He's not gonna have your righteousness and his righteousness mixed together. It's gonna be his righteousness or no righteousness at all. Bartimaeus gets to the Lord and he's made to confess what he needs. The Lord said, what would you have me doing to you? He said, my sight, that I might receive my sight. And the Lord healed that man. Did the Lord heal him because he was a mercy beggar? Well, yes. But why was he a mercy beggar? For the purpose of the Lord healing him. The Lord had made him a mercy beggar. When you have your understanding enlightened by God's grace, when we have our understanding enlightened, we're mercy begging sinners with one hope, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious salvation. If he gives us the gift of the Father, you and I will cry out, have mercy on me, the sinner. And the Lord has never failed to save a mercy-begging sinner, and he has never turned away a mercy beggar. That's good news if you're a sinner. That's good news if you're a mercy beggar. He's never turned one away. That's why he said, coming to me, all you that are labored and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. What's that laboring? That's laboring into salvation, trying to obtain salvation by what we do or what we don't do. He said, I'll give you rest. No, put that yoke down, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest to your soul for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. My burden is light. First gift of the Father is, first gift of the Father is the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of wisdom, the Lord's spirit that causes us to see who he is and what we are. The second is the revelation of Jesus Christ, gives us faith to believe on him as everything in salvation. And lastly, he gives both of those, and that means our understanding is enlightened. We don't think like we used to think. We don't believe what we used to believe. We don't talk like we used to talk. We brag on him, not self. Thank God for the Father's gifts to his people. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would take this and bless it to our understanding for your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Let's take a break.