Four Aspects of Worship / Discipleship!

[0:00] Chapter 9, if you're visiting with us, you can pull out that black Bible. It should be a black Bible in the chair in front of you or the chair next to that one. Black Bible, go towards the back.

[0:12] Find page 6, Matthew chapter 9, Matthew's Gospel chapter 9. Page 6 in that black Bible. We're gonna study, excuse me, Matthew 9 verses 9 through 17 this morning.

[0:30] Matthew chapter 9 verses 9 through 17. Matthew chapter 9 verse 9.

[0:49] And as Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax office and he said to him, follow me. And rising, he followed him.

[1:01] And it came that as he was reclining in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And seeing this, the Pharisees said to his disciples, why is your teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?

[1:22] But hearing this, he said, not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this is. I desire compassion and not sacrifice.

[1:33] For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Then the disciples of John came to him saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

[1:46] And Jesus said to them, can the attendance of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast.

[2:01] But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment and a worse tear comes. Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins.

[2:12] Otherwise the wineskins burst, the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins and both are preserved.

[2:27] Some time ago, Jane Cross sent me a list of stories about her late husband, Bob, and he'd written some of them and she actually helped him write.

[2:40] And there's one story concerning his brother, excuse me, his brother George and Bob, they had a good idea they were playing a game of hide and go seek.

[2:52] It was actually George had the idea. They would go hide in the storm drains, the sewers, which were made of clay at the time. That was some years back. So they would, they hid under the storm drains and it was pitch black.

[3:07] But they would crawl in the storm drains, they would crawl and they would actually come out on the other side and there was the safe tree, you know, when we were playing hide and go seek and they would go run over to the tree and touch the tree and say, hey, we're free, hey, we're free.

[3:19] Well, they did this numerous times. One time, another kid followed them. They had no idea. Kid followed them and he got stuck.

[3:33] George and Bob, they figured out who the kid was. They went and told the boy's father. Of course, father called the police, fire department, whole, I'm cutting this story way short.

[3:46] It's just amazing what happened. Anyways, a crew, a team, actually had to cut out that portion of the storm drain and they had to lift it up and they actually had to cut it open to actually free this little boy.

[4:02] Once freed, and the family was Hispanic, once freed, the father said, turned to his little boy and said this, I don't want you to play with those white boys again.

[4:14] You stay away from them. They will get you into a lot of trouble. There you go. Well, you won't get stuck in a sewer following Jesus.

[4:26] I can guarantee you that. Although you might feel like you're stuck. You may be all alone with possibly your life in jeopardy because when you decide to follow Jesus, he wants everything from you.

[4:43] there's no half and half with Jesus. But he's so compelling to follow. He's so desirable.

[4:57] It's pleasurable to follow Jesus. But mind you, he wants all of you. Today, as we see Matthew's gospel, the driving force of Matthew's gospel is bowed down and worshiped Jesus, the Messiah, King of Israel.

[5:11] That's what Matthew's trying to convey to his audience, to his hearers, to his readers, to us today. And today, with our passage, we will see four aspects of this worship or four aspects of discipleship.

[5:29] What does it really mean to worship Jesus? What does it really mean to be his disciple? What does it really mean to be a Christian? And there's other things that are involved in this, okay?

[5:39] I understand that. But from the text today, we will see four. I'll put it in a statement for you, four aspects of worshiping Jesus.

[5:51] Discipleship, being a Christian. We'll see these today. These two historical stories or accounts convey what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, as well as Jesus' mission, which spawns out of the Pharisees' harsh, judgmental criticism of his ways.

[6:14] That's what we'll see. Jesus and his disciples, they did not follow man-made rules, the man-made rules of the Pharisees. No, no, no. On the contrary, they enjoyed table fellowship with the riffraff, the outcasts of society.

[6:33] Oh, and they didn't fast. Oh, oh, big deal. We'll see what's, all this is involved. But one of the points that's going to be, the driving force of this as well, is that Jesus came to save, not judge.

[6:52] Jesus came to save, not judge. That's why we're calling people, repent now, if you're hearing on a Christian.

[7:04] Repent now, Jesus came to save you. He's not judging now, but he will. He will. You will see how the Pharisees defined discipleship and how Jesus defined it were totally different.

[7:21] For the Pharisees, they sought those that were like them. Not Jesus. Jesus sought the social outcasts, the sick, the needy, and those who humble themselves and cry out to him will be given great mercy.

[7:39] He'll be merciful to you. That's how God rules. That's how Jesus rules. When you humble yourself, teachable, as we saw in our first hour, when you say, God, I come to you and I humble myself, he welcomes people like that.

[7:57] He does. So what are four aspects of worshiping Jesus? What are four aspects of discipleship? What are four aspects of being a Christian?

[8:09] And like I said, there's others, but here's four. We'll start with number one. Worshiping Jesus or discipleship involves these. Number one, we follow our king in everything.

[8:25] We follow our king in everything. You see that just here in verse nine. As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew who was also known as Levi.

[8:36] It was very common for people, for Jews to have two names. He saw a man called Matthew sitting in the tax booth, tax office. The booth was possibly situated near the seashore to collect taxes.

[8:51] You know that famous, the bad T word that we talk about? That three letter word that we hate. Tax. Taxes on fish, on duties of goods that were brought into Herod Antipas.

[9:05] He governed this area. All these goods that were coming in, he had jurisdictions they would tax at that time. Situated very strategically. Put in a strategic spot in order to collect these hated, despised taxes.

[9:20] And, you know well, tax collectors were known for extortion, exploiting people, and being sellouts to their own people. Not to mention they were unclean because they were around Gentiles.

[9:32] Eww. So they were hated by everyone. Everybody hated tax collectors. Kind of like now. Anyways, the Jews hated them because they were sellouts.

[9:46] The Romans hated them because they knew they were cheaters. And they're like, well I know they're cheaters, they're going to cheat me. So the Jews hated their own people because they sell out to their own people.

[9:58] The Romans hated them because they knew they were cheaters. You weren't very well liked as a tax collector. And he said to him, follow me. Jesus took the initiative.

[10:14] Matthew followed immediately and without question. And rising, the main verb, he followed him. Now Jesus calls everyone.

[10:25] Yes, that's true. But there's a call that he gives to his elect which always produces a faith response. We call this in theological terms the effectual call. The call that produces the effect.

[10:38] And no details are given about what Matthew already knew about Jesus. Do you know about the ministry of John the Baptist? Did he hear about Jesus' healing? Did he hear about Jesus' teachings? We don't know. Whatever he knew, he took a radical step.

[10:57] He left his whole way of life to follow Jesus. He was making a huge sacrifice when he left the tax office because he could never go back.

[11:10] He truly was trusting Jesus through and through. It was a response of his will. He had to give up everything to follow Jesus. Friends, this is true belief.

[11:23] This is what it means to worship. This is what it means to believe. This is what it means to be a Christian. Like this. You follow your king in everything.

[11:36] William Barclay says this about Matthew. He lost a comfortable job but he found a destiny. He lost a good income but he found honor.

[11:48] He lost a comfortable security but he found an adventure the like of which he had never dreamed. End quote. Because see, to follow Jesus means your whole life.

[12:05] That's just what it means to be a Christian. There's no half and half of Jesus. You can't have him today and not have him tomorrow. That's not how it works. What does it mean to be a Christian?

[12:19] What does it mean to follow Jesus? To be his disciple? Radical obedience to Jesus. You repent, you turn from your sin and you follow him. You trust him.

[12:31] You say, he died for my sins. I have forgiveness in him. I follow you. I will follow. Now granted, the disciples grew in their belief of Jesus.

[12:44] I understand that. Did they totally understand everything of what it meant to follow Christ? No. Eventually they would. But it was that initial step that Matthew took.

[13:00] He left everything and he followed Jesus. If you're here, you're not a Christian. That's what you need to do. You need to realize that there's nothing you can do. It's what Jesus has already done.

[13:12] Turn from sin. Put your hope in Jesus. Trust him. Follow him. What does it mean to be a Christian? We follow our king in everything. Number two.

[13:25] We proclaim our doctor to everyone. Everyone likes to talk about their doctor. Right? Especially the one who really helps you. No, you gotta go to my doctor because my doctor...

[13:37] I understand. I mean, we have affections for our doctor. But let's talk about the doctor. Maybe we should say we proclaim the doctor to everyone. Notice in verses 10 through 13.

[13:50] And it came that as Jesus was reclining in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. Okay, what's going on there? Apparently, Matthew had a big dinner party.

[14:02] Come on, y'all. It's time to jam. Come meet Jesus and his disciples. He invited Jesus and his disciples. Tax collectors and sinners came to the dinner.

[14:18] The sinners present, one writer put it like this, they were egregiously ungodly. Yeah. You think?

[14:30] Egregiously ungodly in their conduct. Questionable characters were here. just like Matthew was. Plus, these guests would not observe the traditional man-made pharisaical laws.

[14:45] Ritual purity, don't eat this food, sabbath, type stuff, blah, blah, blah, blah. The Pharisees never attend this kind of dinner.

[14:56] Nor would they actually be invited. And it totally offended them that Jesus and his boys attended this. Why? Because they were fellowshipping, they were eating.

[15:08] It was a big deal. You didn't just go eat with somebody. You were sharing food with them. To eat with someone in this time period implied a deep unity with those in attendance like having someone in your own home today.

[15:26] Right? I mean, think about it. The outcasts of society, close with Gentiles, a hated profession, egregiously ungodly, as far as Jesus was concerned, perfect.

[15:47] Perfect. Because those are the ones that need me. Verse 11. Pharisees saw it.

[15:59] How did this possibly happen later when it was heard that Jesus did this? Were they actually watching? Matthew doesn't give his details. They said to his disciples, why is your teacher eating with your tax collectors and sinners?

[16:10] That's how they talked, right? That's how they always talk to. The Pharisees talk like this. I'm just kidding. Why did they do that? The question was not directed at Jesus.

[16:22] It was at his disciples. Why? Because it wasn't a real question. It was an accusation. Harsh. Judgmental.

[16:35] Critical. And to eat with these guys, as far as the Pharisees were concerned, you were tolerated in their lifestyle. I was just eating with these tax collectors and sinners.

[16:50] church. And you know what? Matthew didn't care about any of this, did he? Matthew didn't care about anything else but getting his friends to meet Jesus.

[17:05] That's all he cared about. You gotta meet this guy. And notice how Jesus responds. In verse 12, hearing this, he said, you overhears him talking to his disciples.

[17:21] Wait, what's going on over here? Not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this is. I desire compassion and not sacrifice.

[17:36] These sinners were sick and needed the doctor. Doctors don't go see healthy people. Well, they have all the well checks, you know, when you have little kids.

[17:49] I understand that. But really, you don't usually go to the doctor unless you're sick. Because that's why us as men, we don't think we're sick. That's why we don't go to the doctor. I mean, come on.

[18:01] Duh. How come none of you men are saying amen to me? That's why we don't go to the doctor. Because we know we're not sick. Of course. Thank you.

[18:14] I'm just kidding. Well, no, that's true. That's why we don't go to the doctor. That's why I don't go to the doctor. Anyways. But he quotes here Hosea chapter 6 for 6. And he does this because Jesus showed that prioritizing performance rituals over reaching out to outcasts with the gospel is totally insane.

[18:37] Or may I just say it's stupid. God's grace. He says those who are healthy they don't need a physician. Those who thought they were righteous who thought they were healthy that's the Pharisees.

[18:54] And the sick were those who knew they were sinners. In need of God's amazing grace and mercy. mercy. It's these sinners that Jesus calls to repentance.

[19:08] It's these sinners that Jesus calls to trust him. I mean think about it. What is Jesus really saying to these Pharisees?

[19:22] Why were these healthy ones not doing anything to help the sick ones? Plus why did they not see that his concern was to help these sick ones not persuade them to stay sick?

[19:38] Or why didn't these healthy ones take the sick ones to see the doctor? When you're enamored by Jesus you just have to tell people.

[19:57] When you're enamored by the doctor who showed me everything that was wrong and he directed me to truth because he is truth don't you want to proclaim that?

[20:12] unfortunately the Pharisees were ignorant to the fundamental teaching of the Old Testament. Oh they prided themselves. We knew the Old Testament man.

[20:26] And yet they did not know the fundamental teaching of the Old Testament. What is it? That's what you're thinking right? saying. As Yahweh God reached out to Israel a nation of slaves and outcasts so should they reach out to people who need the gospel who need Christ.

[20:49] Israel was nothing and there's still nothing. There's just a little right there on the map big world you know you see Russia you know you see all these you see Israel is like little bling bling right there.

[21:02] A little teeny thing. That's why God chose them because they're nothing. God goes after the outcasts and he shows grace and mercy to them.

[21:15] That's the whole point of this. People who need the gospel and of course they rejected Jesus as the Messiah. He didn't meet their standards as Messiah. Go and learn what this is he says.

[21:31] I desire compassion and not sacrifice. God desires mercy and compassion not doing a ritual. God wants our hearts not just us doing all the right things.

[21:45] One writer puts it like this he desires quote inner purity over ritual purity. Jesus called them to show compassion to outcasts instead of rejecting them.

[22:02] That's why he says go and learn what this is. You Pharisees you think you know the law and yet you totally miss the law. God wants the humble.

[22:16] He wants the contrite. He wants the outcast. He says come. And I will save you. Come. And I will give you such satisfaction you never even believed could happen.

[22:32] Because Jesus did not come to judge but to save. John 3 17. The son did not come into the world to judge the world but to save the world. He didn't come to congratulate people like the Pharisees.

[22:48] Good job. He's keeping the law. Good job. Who were stuck on themselves and condemned anyone who didn't follow them. You and you you're dumb and you're dumb too.

[23:02] He was concerned about those who needed the truth who needed to be saved who needed the gospel who needed him. And the Pharisees are ready to let these people die in their sins.

[23:18] And they didn't give a flying flip about it. But Jesus was ready. He was ready to call them to repentance in order that he may love and save them.

[23:31] Friends, is this our attitude? Friends, is this how we respond? Jesus was, is, not concerned with ritual purity, ethnic superiority, gender pomposity, or social vanity.

[23:55] For I do not come to call the righteous but sinners, Jesus said. One writer put it like this, God, quote, relates to sinners by showing them mercy as they come humbly and meekly.

[24:13] It's costly love, not some type of careful ritual. God wants our hearts to truly follow. Jesus starts from here, not by following some external man-made code.

[24:28] Jesus came to save sinners who admit they're bankrupt and they need his mercy. God have mercy on me. Notice, I keep bringing up these two implications from this part of the text as we go and we proclaim the doctor.

[24:44] First, the first implication is this, are we just going through the motions during this time? God wants our heart, not just your little checklist. Okay, I did the first hour of Sunday school, went to church, okay, I'm good.

[24:58] I'm a good Christian. No, that's not how it works. He wants your heart. It's not about just doing the ritual, going through the motions.

[25:09] That's not what it's about. So this is good for us to think through this. Am I just going through the motions? Does God have my heart?

[25:20] We're going to celebrate the Lord's Supper, which will be good. It's a great time. I'm going to reflect upon the gospel, upon Christ, salvation, forgiveness, reconciliation. God, you want my heart.

[25:32] That's the first implication. Second implication, do we have a heart for the lost around us to proclaim Christ? Do we proclaim our doctor to everyone?

[25:43] Do we have a heart to see them respond to Jesus? People not like us. Not like you. Not your ethnicity. Not your social standard.

[25:56] Not how you look. And I know what comes. I understand. Yes, we must be wise as we associate with unbelievers.

[26:08] I get that. I understand that. We don't want to compromise our ethics. We don't want to be tempted ourselves. I understand that. Yet, we can become so fearful that we make it an excuse to isolate ourselves from the unsaved, from those who need to hear about grace, and mercy, and forgiveness, and joy in Christ.

[26:35] We isolate ourselves. We follow our king in everything. We proclaim our doctor to everyone. Number three, we celebrate our groom and his coming.

[26:51] You say bridegroom, if you want. We celebrate our bridegroom and his coming, verses 14 to 15. It changes gears, but not really. Verse 14, John's disciples came.

[27:05] We fast, the Pharisees fast. How come your disciples don't fast? Kind of like a whiny voice now. We fast. Pharisees fast.

[27:16] We fast. How come you guys party? I mean, that doesn't make any sense. I mean, obviously, John, he lived an ascetic lifestyle, right? He ate locusts and wild honey. Mmm.

[27:28] Yeah. Dipped that locusts and honey. All right. Want some? No, thanks. I'm trying to cut down. And he probably, and so did his disciples. I mean, they're all having the locust type meal together.

[27:43] Anybody want some more honey? So they felt snubbed. As if Jesus and his disciples did not take loyalty to God seriously. You don't take loyalty to God and his law seriously.

[27:56] Why? We fast. How come you guys don't fast? Fast. And what fast are they talking about? Probably the twice weekly fast, which was done Mondays and Thursdays.

[28:09] And now there's other times here that they would probably fast. Most likely not talking about the Day of Atonement. That's when they would all fast. And perhaps the Pharisees, I mean, obviously the Pharisees, they probably saw it as a way to gaining merit before God.

[28:23] Luke chapter 18. Remember the Pharisee comes into the temple and he prays to himself, God, I fast twice a week, blah, blah, blah, blah. Look at what Jesus says.

[28:34] Verse 15. Jesus said to them, Can the attendants of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Literally, it's sons of the wedding hall.

[28:47] It's an idiom for those attending the groom at the wedding ceremony. I mean, think about it. What's Jesus trying to say here?

[28:59] In other words, it would be totally inappropriate for groomsmen to fast, wail, weep, and be broken and sad while they're with the groom. I mean, to be completely insane, ridiculous.

[29:13] Oh, this is horrible. This is horrible. And the groom's like, What's your problem? Get out of here. I don't want you around me. This would be a happy day. It's a time of celebration.

[29:25] The groom is here. The groom depicts Jesus as the Messiah. The Messiah has come. He's arrived. It's not time to fast and rejoice. Weddings are, I love weddings. It's fun.

[29:38] Obviously, the Pharisees didn't recognize Jesus as the Messiah, nor did John's disciples. We'll see this later on. But John the Baptist, he sent his disciples to Jesus and said, Are you realistic?

[29:51] It's really the expected one because we expect that somebody's going to come in and go, Oh my God. And you're like feasting with everybody. Why are you doing this? So what's going on here?

[30:06] They're feasting. They're enjoying time. But notice what Jesus says. The very middle of verse 15. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast.

[30:21] In the future, Jesus will be taken away. Notice, he's alluding to his death. And then they will fast.

[30:33] That will be a time to mourn and be sad because for us, we await his return. We'll look at that in a second. When the groom comes again, we wait for him.

[30:44] But now, worship, what's part of worship and discipleship? We rejoice. We celebrate that our groom has come. That's why we partake of the Lord's Supper.

[30:57] We're celebrating together that our king, our groom, he has come. And in Jesus, there's forgiveness of sins. I can be made right with God through the gospel.

[31:12] The bread is a tangible way I touch this and reminded of the body of Christ. The juice is a reminder of his shed blood. It's a time of celebration. The bridegroom has come.

[31:25] And number four, we desire our groom to return. We celebrate him and his coming and we desire for him to return.

[31:36] That's where verses 16 and 17 come into play. Which seems odd. It's like, kind of weird. Jesus starts talking about, that one puts a patch of under the front cloth and old garment and he starts talking about wine and everything like that.

[31:51] It's like, why are you talking about wine? We're Baptists. We want to drink wine? What's he talking about wine for? That's supposed to be funny. Okay, never mind. Jesus gave two metaphors as a way to describe how the old was, is, incompatible with the new.

[32:10] You don't put a new patch on an old garment. It'll make it worse. That's what they would do in those times. You would not put new wine in old wineskins. Notice he says at the end of verse 17, the wineskins burst, the wine pours out, and the wines ruin.

[32:27] The wineskins are ruined. You don't do that. In both instances, bad results happen. They stored wine in containers made of animal skins.

[32:38] And so as those old skins, they would lose their elasticity because as it fermented, it would grow. It would grow in that fermenting process. So you wouldn't put new wine in there because it would burst. The obvious question comes, how do these metaphors connect with the illustration of the bridegroom?

[32:55] Well, since Jesus, the bridegroom, was with his disciples, it was not a time to fast, but to feast. When he was taken away, they'd fast.

[33:07] But not like the Pharisees fasted. Not like John's disciples fasted. Why did they fast? Because they were waiting for the king to come. In other words, they don't go back to fasting as if Jesus had never come.

[33:24] That's ridiculous. They fast in a different way now. One does not go on fasting in an updated version of Judaism. That's not why we fast.

[33:37] We desire for our king to return. We're longing for him to return. We're waiting for him to come. And notice Jesus says at the end of verse 17, but they put new wine into fresh wineskins and both are preserved.

[33:52] What does he mean by this? Did he mean that both the new wine and the new wineskins are preserved? Did he mean the old wine and a new wine is preserved? I think it's the latter. Because remember, Christ is the ultimate goal of the law and the prophets and to whom they point.

[34:10] Jesus showed the true meaning of the law. He is the authoritative interpreter. He's the fulfiller of the law. So keep in mind, too, that we would say Judaism was, is flawed.

[34:24] They teach one gains merit before God by keeping the law, but Jesus taught the intention, the true intention of the law of the Old Testament. He is the goal. He is the fulfiller.

[34:35] It all points to Christ, to him. He fulfilled it. And now, we live under the law of Christ. See, true disciples live the true original intent of the law, which is now seen in and through the eyes of the true authority of the law, Jesus, the Messiah, King of Israel.

[34:56] We balance submission to him. We worship him. We live under the law of Christ. That's now how we live. And that's now why we fast.

[35:06] Fasting is preserved in the new context that Jesus Christ has come. It's not done in man-made traditions like the Pharisees came up with. It's now the law of Christ.

[35:21] We don't fast for God's approval. We don't fast to mourn that is coming. We fast having been loved and forgiven by God.

[35:34] We fast desiring for him to return again. In other words, Jesus, we want you more and we can't wait to have you. When you fast, you're withholding food, right?

[35:47] And your body is screaming for that food because you need that sustenance, right? And that's what we're doing when we fast. We're saying, Jesus, I need you. We're desiring for you to come again.

[36:01] When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, that's what we're doing. We're thinking about him. He's going to return. And we're proclaiming his death and we're proclaiming he will come and fulfill his promise that he will take us home.

[36:16] This is what it means to be a Christian. What are these four aspects? Worshiping Jesus or discipleship? We follow our king in everything. We proclaim our doctor to everyone.

[36:27] We celebrate our groom and his coming and we desire our groom to return. And there's other aspects of what it means to be a Christian. There's other aspects of what it means to be a disciple of Christ.

[36:40] There's other aspects of what it means to worship him. I know that. But here we can see these from this text. Follow, proclaim, celebrate, desire.

[36:52] Let those sayings be your focus as we come to the Lord's table and we think about what he has done on our behalf. In a few moments I'll have you ponder and think and examine your hearts before we prepare ourselves to prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper.

[37:10] If you're here and you're visiting, look, if you're from a church of like faith and practice, you've been baptized by immersion, partake of this with us. Don't feel like you have to be a member here or I can't partake of the Lord's Supper unless I'm, no, no.

[37:24] If you come from a church of like faith and practice you've been baptized by immersion, partake with us. If you don't know Jesus, we would advise you not to partake though. And we would also advise you if you have something against someone else, Christian or otherwise, and you have not gone to try and make things right with them, to reconcile with them, we would advise you to not partake of the Lord's Supper.

[37:44] First go try and reconcile with them and whether it succeeds or not, that's not up to you. But go try to reconcile and then come and partake of the Lord's Supper. But this is for us to examine our hearts and to have joy over the fact that we've been forgiven, man.

[38:02] Jesus, the Father loves us in Jesus. That's what we're gonna celebrate. So take this time, a few moments of silence for you to think and ponder, to let yourself think and ponder about the truth of God's word.

[38:15] And before we do that, let's pray. Father, thank you for Jesus Christ. Thank you for our Savior and our Lord. Lord Jesus, we follow you in everything.

[38:29] You are the great physician who's healed us from the sickness of sin. We celebrate the fact that you've come and we desire for you to return.

[38:42] We pray this will be a time for us to be encouraged in the gospel truth, reminded of how horrid and despicable our sin is, and yet you love this by sending Jesus, Father.

[38:58] And he died for all our sins. Encourage us with the gospel truth as we see the tangible reminders and actually taste the tangible reminders.

[39:11] May it be examples and illustrations of how we take in and drink deeply of Jesus himself. Amen. So take this time between you and the Lord to let your mind think and ponder upon these things.

[39:27] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.