WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.240 Now, we're going to go back together to the passage. If you have a Bible at home with 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:11.000 you, it would be great if you could open it at Matthew's Gospel. It's the first of the 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:18.839 Gospels in the New Testament, and it's chapter 9 from verse 18. And sometimes it's quite 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:25.640 difficult to look at a passage because although we're reading a section and it's coming to 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:30.399 the end of a chapter and it's got verses and paragraphs, none of that was in the original, 00:00:30.399 --> 00:00:34.960 and in many ways you would just normally have read it all in one. But nonetheless, we're 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:40.200 taking this section as we work through Matthew's Gospel. And if you were to take this section 00:00:40.200 --> 00:00:48.560 on its own, I wonder what you would choose to be the main message from this section, 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:56.040 verse 18. It's connected with some of the previous healings and the section of Matthew. 00:00:56.040 --> 00:01:03.600 But what would, I wonder what you would pick out as the really important teaching and the 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:12.439 message from what is God's living word to us? As you listened to the reading, or as you 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:18.319 think about the reading again, what is it that you think that God wants you to learn 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:25.799 about Himself? What is He saying to you, or what's He saying to me? We always need to, 00:01:25.799 --> 00:01:31.680 when we preach certainly, we always need to think about that, and we know that God can 00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:36.759 speak in many different ways to people through our reading in ways that we haven't even thought 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:45.340 about. But, and because the Bible is the Bible, it's, we can look at it from all kinds of 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:49.040 different angles and learn lots of different things. But there's one thing that I want 00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:55.000 to focus on today, and in doing so there'll be many things I don't focus on. But it's 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:03.840 really I want to focus today on good news, okay? Because in verse 36, we're told, well 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:09.599 in verse 35 and 36, and Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:14.719 synagogues and proclaiming the gospel, or proclaiming the gospel is just another word 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:19.840 for good news, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:24.640 every affliction. Now that phrase is used earlier in Matthew, and I'll mention that 00:02:24.640 --> 00:02:31.159 later. But this good news, this, because that's just what gospel means, it means good news. 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:39.800 And I think if ever we needed good news, it's just now, we need good news, and it's important 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:46.879 to remember that. So today I want us to celebrate, because it's good news. And when we get good 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:56.079 news, we celebrate and we enjoy hearing great things and good things. It's wonderful. And 00:02:56.080 --> 00:03:04.240 the good news is something very special and very powerful. And as Christians, we remind 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:11.280 ourselves that in Jesus we are new creations. We are new creations. And it's a reason for 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:20.720 celebrating. Now, as you watched earlier, the brief video by Rav Zechariah, he died this 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:30.439 last week. And his daughter wrote something online about him and said, he perpetually 00:03:30.439 --> 00:03:37.759 marveled that God took a 17-year-old skeptic, defeated in helplessness and unbelief, and 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:43.400 called him into a life of glorious hope and belief in the truth of Scripture. And then 00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:50.199 she goes on later to quote that famous Billy Graham quote, that he is more alive now than 00:03:50.199 --> 00:03:57.639 he ever was. And the gospel for Rav Zechariah was great news, was good news. It transformed 00:03:57.639 --> 00:04:03.439 his life and he spent his life telling other people about the good news. And I hope that 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:10.639 we can focus on that and listen to what God is saying to me and to you through Matthew's 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:15.000 gospel in this passage. So we're going to look at the good news and different aspects 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:21.240 of it from this passage. And the first thing I want to say about the good news is that 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:28.680 Jesus is always at the center of it. That's very important for us to remember in our Christian 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:36.040 lives today that Jesus is at the center of the good news. And Matthew is driving home 00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:43.399 this truth and this reality right throughout the gospel. It's all about Jesus. And you'll 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:49.159 have heard that many times from this pulpit when any of us are preaching. The focus of 00:04:49.159 --> 00:04:55.279 God's word is on the person of Jesus who is God in the flesh, a God that we can see and 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:01.839 understand and realize about his love. And so this section that Thomas looked at last 00:05:01.839 --> 00:05:06.079 week and I'm looking at today or the section before it that Thomas looked at last week 00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:13.639 and what we're looking at speaks so much about the person of Jesus. Nobody, nobody acts 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:22.439 like Jesus Christ. Nobody has ever acted like Jesus Christ. Nobody has the power to heal 00:05:22.439 --> 00:05:31.799 and to seal that healing by forgiving sins. No one has that authority. No one has unlimited 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:40.280 power over creation, over the waves and over the sea, over sickness, over demon possession 00:05:40.280 --> 00:05:46.720 and even over death as we see in this passage with the healings that happen. He's unique 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:56.960 in history. Nobody acts like him. And we see that in this section. And also we've recognized 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.879 over the weeks and months that we looked at the Sermon on the Mount, nobody teaches like 00:06:01.879 --> 00:06:10.279 him. It's so refreshing. It's so new. And yet it's so simple and also profound. He always 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:16.240 was using pictures in his teaching and what he was saying both here and in the Sermon 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:20.799 on the Mount and in other places. Pictures that would resonate with ordinary people. 00:06:20.799 --> 00:06:26.919 He wasn't a highfalutin teacher that used big long words that nobody knew or sometimes 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:32.800 would have even made up. He wasn't like that. He talked about weddings and clothes and wine 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:41.120 and shepherds and sheep and harvests. And he wove into these everyday illustrations new 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:49.960 truth and new ways of thinking. He expressed the radical love of God for other people. 00:06:49.959 --> 00:07:03.639 And he recognized that he was expressing truth that was authoritative and exciting and drew 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:12.319 many people. It was sharp and it was challenging and it was sometimes included a brutal diagnosis 00:07:12.319 --> 00:07:23.159 of our need of him. Nobody teaches like him. Nobody sees like him. Jesus is the center of 00:07:23.159 --> 00:07:29.240 all this kingdom good news that he talks about here. He in verse 36 towards the end of this 00:07:29.240 --> 00:07:36.480 passage in the verse we read earlier, just beyond it, when he saw the crowds, he had 00:07:36.480 --> 00:07:43.360 compassion on them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:51.439 When he saw the crowds, he saw them with a particular view and emotion from himself and 00:07:51.439 --> 00:08:01.080 he saw what they were like as he saw and looked with the eyes of God. He had this, the word 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:08.639 for compassion was so deep into his being, he was moved in his being by people and by 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:15.560 what he saw. And when he saw it, if we saw great crowds coming to church, we'd be excited 00:08:15.560 --> 00:08:22.560 and we'd be delighted and it would be wonderful to see that. But Jesus is delighted, I'm sure, 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:27.319 to see them, but he sees them spiritually and he sees their need and he sees them as 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:36.919 harassed and helpless. These are very powerful words, harassed or weird. It's a very unusual 00:08:36.919 --> 00:08:50.159 word. It actually literally means to be skinned alive. And it's as if he sees people distressed, 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:59.199 drained of protection, ultimately living in a self-destructive way. It's a difficult word 00:08:59.199 --> 00:09:05.399 to truly get to the bottom of, but he saw them as harassed and helpless. And again, 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:13.719 this word comes from a word that means to be thrown away or cast aside, to just be scattered. 00:09:13.719 --> 00:09:18.279 And I remember I was telling someone this recently, I did an assembly many years ago 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:26.799 up in Roskeen when I was doing the story of Judas and I used to have visual aids with 00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:31.519 me to do it. And this day I decided I had a whole lot of one-pence coins in the house 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:38.120 and I put them in a bag and I was going to use them as the silver that was used to betray 00:09:38.120 --> 00:09:45.839 Jesus and how Judas threw them away. And as I was doing the story, I threw the bag away, 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:51.639 the bag split and the coins went everywhere. It wasn't meant to happen, but that's what 00:09:51.639 --> 00:09:55.519 happened and of course it was a great delight for the children who were watching, but they 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:01.160 were scattered everywhere. And that's really the same root word, the same kind of word 00:10:01.160 --> 00:10:09.800 that's used here. That's how he sees it. He sees us as wearied and harassed and isolated, 00:10:09.799 --> 00:10:23.519 helpless, all over the place. And that's the spiritual vision that he has of us. And 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:30.359 as he sees us in that condition and the crowds in that condition, he has great compassion 00:10:30.359 --> 00:10:38.559 over them. So we see Jesus being the center of good news and we know as Christians when 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:45.199 we can associate with the gospel as good news, it's because Jesus is the center of it. It's 00:10:45.199 --> 00:10:50.639 not a philosophy, it's not a set of rules, it's the person of Jesus Christ. And he must 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:56.959 today for us, and he must today for you remain at the center of all the good news that you 00:10:56.959 --> 00:11:02.479 know to be true of him. And he's the center of your life and he's the center of your heart 00:11:02.479 --> 00:11:07.199 and he's the center of your change. It's a relationship with Jesus Christ. It's letting 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:15.440 him transform. It's letting his compassion touches and his diagnosis of our need expose 00:11:15.440 --> 00:11:23.240 us and throw us towards him in salvation. So Jesus is the center. And as this verse 00:11:23.240 --> 00:11:31.240 says, he came and taught and proclaimed the gospel, the good news of the kingdom. So the 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:39.480 kingdom is a kingdom of good news and he declares that good news. And interestingly, this verse 00:11:39.480 --> 00:11:48.019 that we have here is the same if you go back to Matthew chapter 4 and verse 23, it's almost 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:54.080 exactly the same verse that's used, the same phrase. He went through it all, Gally, teaching 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:58.480 in the synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:03.320 and healing every disease and affliction among the people. And that's because both these 00:12:03.320 --> 00:12:10.200 verses are introducing a new section of Matthew, a section about teaching, a section where 00:12:10.200 --> 00:12:15.399 he's speaking to and giving guidance. The one in chapter 4 is just before the sermon 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:21.320 in the mount. And now we come to this verse, which is just before a section of more teaching 00:12:21.320 --> 00:12:27.200 where Jesus teaches the disciples about the mission, the mission they're on in the kingdom. 00:12:27.200 --> 00:12:32.400 So the kingdom declares good news. What does that mean? What does it mean to be part of 00:12:32.400 --> 00:12:41.240 the kingdom of God? Well, we're reminded that Jesus is inviting through the good news, inviting 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:47.759 us into a different reality. He's reminding us that this world, the kingdom of this world, 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:53.200 is it where, is not all that there is. And he's saying we are made for something more 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:59.360 than just this kingdom. He reminds us in his teaching that sin has distorted everything 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:06.520 and separated us from the king of kings, from the most important person in the universe, 00:13:06.520 --> 00:13:14.960 our Creator, who alone can give us full life. We're alive today, but we're living in shadow. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:22.320 And it's an ever-darkening and deepening shadow leading towards death. And that, he 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:28.520 says, that that is us under God's judgment because of our sinful hearts and our rebellion 00:13:28.520 --> 00:13:35.640 against Him. And His kingdom has come. And the good news of His kingdom is that when 00:13:35.640 --> 00:13:43.440 we come to Jesus Christ, we become new creations, we become different. And we enter into a, 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:50.520 become citizens of a different kingdom where He is king, and it's a spiritual kingdom. 00:13:50.519 --> 00:13:59.600 And He's reminding us that His work is transformational, both in our hearts and indeed in this world. 00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:07.079 And He has come as the king, and He has broken into this world to save this world. And He 00:14:07.079 --> 00:14:13.759 has come into this world and defeated the power and the curse and the judgment of death that 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:20.879 is upon us all. And as we put our trust in Him, He will come into our hearts, will renew 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:29.960 us, and ultimately will renew this universe. And that is the work of His kingdom. And as 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:41.639 Christians, we belong to His kingdom. We follow Him. He is our king. We associate with Him 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:48.879 as our boss, as our leader, as our guide. We have entered an everlasting kingdom that 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:55.480 is beyond just the flesh and blood of this life. That means that even when we do grow 00:14:55.480 --> 00:15:03.960 old and die, yet we will live in Christ's presence and look forward to the renewal of 00:15:03.960 --> 00:15:14.720 all things when He returns, and we are resurrected bodily as well. And Him being our king is 00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:23.920 embedded into our understanding of the kingdom. And that is good news. But we recognize it's 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:29.120 not good news for everyone. There's always two reactions to Jesus. Thomas looked at 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:36.480 that last week. And also we see it continuing in this passage here in the different reactions 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:42.240 when among those who are healed and those who are watching the healing and the religious 00:15:42.240 --> 00:15:53.879 leaders of the day who are adamant in their response to Jesus and not seeing Jesus and 00:15:53.879 --> 00:15:58.840 the inauguration of His kingdom as good news. And there's always these two reactions to 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:05.600 Jesus still right through history. He is marmite to people. And you need to think about 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:11.280 that today. What's your reaction to Jesus Christ? And the interesting thing is that 00:16:11.280 --> 00:16:19.740 although there is two reactions to Jesus, by nature, naturally everyone reacts badly 00:16:19.740 --> 00:16:25.040 to Jesus because of our sinful hearts. See, it's not a case of, oh, well, that works for 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:31.759 you and that's good, it's not for me. And I would love to believe, but I can't. Or it's 00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:36.879 just cultural. It's not like that at all. It's not that some can believe and some can't 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:44.159 believe. And it's just a matter of choice. By nature, none of us believe. By nature, 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:50.599 we are rebels. By nature and ordinarily we are sinners and the wages of sin is death. 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:59.480 And we don't naturally, we're natural rebels against Jesus. And we see that here in at 00:16:59.480 --> 00:17:05.319 least some of the people. You would expect when Jesus is healing the woman and He's 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:10.599 healing two blind men and then He goes on to heal a demon-possessed person and lots 00:17:10.599 --> 00:17:14.079 of other people, you would think everyone would be happy. You would think everyone 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:21.279 would rejoice. Why wouldn't you? Why wouldn't everyone rejoice? And yet we find in the story 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:29.720 when Jesus goes to heal the little girl who, the daughter of the ruler who comes and asks 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:37.039 Jesus to heal his little daughter and Jesus goes to the house and Jesus says to the crowd 00:17:37.039 --> 00:17:43.119 who are mourning and wailing, He says, look, the girl's not dead, she's just sleeping. 00:17:43.119 --> 00:17:48.279 And they just laughed at Him. And He sent them out. So their response was just laughable. 00:17:48.279 --> 00:17:53.799 They just laughed at Him and what He said. We know that the crowds very often misunderstood 00:17:53.799 --> 00:17:59.479 Him. And I think that's why Jesus in verse 30, when He heals these blind men, He says, 00:17:59.479 --> 00:18:04.599 look, don't say anything about it to anyone because He knows it draws crowds and it draws 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:09.639 crowds who love His miracles and they think He's a good and amazing guy and He'll make 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:14.880 their life better for them. But in the end, they don't like His teaching and they don't 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:20.560 like His authority. And in the end, they crucify Him that same crowd. And so the crowds misunderstand 00:18:20.560 --> 00:18:29.400 Him and the religious leaders attribute His miracles and His goodness to Satan. They've 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:33.920 got nothing good to say. In verse 34, the Pharisees said, He casts out demons by the 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:41.560 prince of demons. So they regard Him as evil, that they think He's controlling and manipulative. 00:18:41.560 --> 00:18:48.920 And that's unbelievable. So clearly Jesus wasn't good news even when He walked on this 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:55.279 earth. And so again, you need to ask it, as I often have to ask as well, when I think 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:01.240 of some of the rebellion in my own heart, is Jesus good news today for you as you listen? 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:07.279 Is He good news for me? Are we battling with the wrong ideas? Maybe you're not a Christian 00:19:07.279 --> 00:19:15.279 and you're battling with the wrong ideas of Jesus. Or you're afraid. Or you like bits 00:19:15.279 --> 00:19:22.480 of Him on your own terms. But all that stuff about Him being first at His Lordship, the 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:28.039 stuff about sin and disease and judgment and death and hell, you reject that. And that 00:19:28.039 --> 00:19:36.279 isn't the kind of good news or what would lead to good news that you want to hear. And 00:19:36.279 --> 00:19:43.399 so the message of the gospel isn't good news to you, and you reject Jesus Christ and His 00:19:43.399 --> 00:19:50.240 Lordship. And even as Christians, I think we do continue to battle sometimes with grumbling 00:19:50.240 --> 00:20:00.559 and complaining and not embracing the magnitude of the good news of Jesus Christ and belonging 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:08.240 to the kingdom of God. But can I just say one thing about that? It's not like Marmite 00:20:08.240 --> 00:20:14.880 at all. And He's not like Marmite. You know, who cares whether you like or dislike Marmite, 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.680 you can just stick it in a cupboard and never look at it again with the other five spices 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:28.240 that are there. But it matters. It absolutely matters whether you think Jesus is good news 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:34.759 or not, whether you love Him or ultimately hate Him for the claims He makes in your life. 00:20:34.759 --> 00:20:45.000 It matters eternally. So what then makes the difference? What makes the person and the message 00:20:45.000 --> 00:20:51.960 and the truth of Jesus really good news? Well, I think again in this story, we see it again 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:59.799 and again in Matthew's teaching us by repetition, it's faith. It's faith. It's key to all these 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:07.319 healing accounts that we've read about. The ruler who comes to see his daughter, ask for 00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:12.119 his daughter to be raised from the dead, he believed that Jesus could do it. The two blind 00:21:12.119 --> 00:21:20.639 men who come to Jesus, Jesus says, do you believe that I'm able to? Yes, they say I am. And 00:21:20.639 --> 00:21:28.679 the demon oppressed man who was brought to him and he and those around him, they believed 00:21:28.679 --> 00:21:35.319 that Jesus could do it. And people came to him because they believed in him. Now there's 00:21:35.319 --> 00:21:40.479 undoubtedly varying degrees of understanding and faith. And there's all kinds of different 00:21:40.480 --> 00:21:46.480 people here, a grieving ruler, a sick woman, blind men, demon possessed people. But all 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:52.079 of them saw their great need. All of them understood that they were harassed and helpless, 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.920 that they were vulnerable and weary and broken. And they all saw that the one hope, the one 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:09.799 answer was Jesus Christ. And as they come to him in faith, it is remarkably good news 00:22:09.799 --> 00:22:15.319 for them. And they recognize the glory and beauty and the healing and the hope and the 00:22:15.319 --> 00:22:22.759 love and the joy that Jesus brings into their lives. And faith is what changes everything 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:29.839 for us. And there's a verse in Hebrews 11.6 which says, without faith, it is impossible 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:38.079 to please God. And we recognize the importance and the significance of that. And we recognize 00:22:38.079 --> 00:22:47.559 that as a gift of God. And you can read Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 and 10 that we recognize 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:58.839 that He asks us to see what He says, to believe what He says, and to entrust ourselves to 00:22:58.839 --> 00:23:06.960 Him as our Lord and Savior. We go to Jesus because we believe His diagnosis and we ask 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:16.519 Him to save us. We trust in Him and we follow Him. And that involves action. As we go towards 00:23:16.519 --> 00:23:23.480 Him, He promises He never turns anyone away. And He promises that gift of faith that we 00:23:23.480 --> 00:23:30.240 need. And we are, from our point of view, we are simply to go. Like all these people 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:34.759 in the, you know, if the ruler had stayed in this house or if the blind men had not 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:43.279 cried out or if the crowds had not come to Jesus, He couldn't have done anything. He 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:51.359 did what He did because people were moved towards Him in salvation, in need for salvation. 00:23:51.359 --> 00:23:57.960 And as they did so, and as we do so, then we see the newness and the good news of belonging 00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:09.039 to Him. We have a new worth, you know. In verse 35, He speaks about the kingdom of God 00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:15.840 and He is speaking about the message of the kingdom and the work of the kingdom that's 00:24:15.840 --> 00:24:19.440 going to involve, and you'll see that in the next chapter, the sending out of the twelve 00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:29.880 disciples. And He is reminding us that when we come to Him, He gives us great worth, a 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:35.360 new sense of worth, you know. What is your life worth without Jesus Christ? You know, 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:44.680 why do you get up every day who ultimately cares? What significance is there in our lives? 00:24:44.680 --> 00:24:53.480 If there is no greater being behind this world and no greater hope beyond this life, what 00:24:53.480 --> 00:24:58.920 will make you stand out among the millions of people, billions of people in this world? 00:24:58.920 --> 00:25:07.680 It's very difficult to find worth without recognizing an ultimate being like God who 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:16.200 loves you and who died for you and who makes you a partner with Him. You've got a new worth 00:25:16.200 --> 00:25:27.240 in Jesus Christ, a tremendous value, no greater love as anyone than He lays down His life 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:31.680 with His friends. You've got a new worth. You've also got a new way of looking at the 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:41.200 world that mimics, not in a insincere way, but in a transformational way that our lives 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:48.900 are changed, and we look at the world and we look at people much more like the way Jesus 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:54.160 looked at people with compassion. You know, He was moved to the core of His being with 00:25:54.160 --> 00:26:02.600 love and with longing, and in Christ we receive that compassion in salvation when we come 00:26:02.600 --> 00:26:08.759 to Him in faith and we receive His love, and it's beyond imagination. It's beyond anything 00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:16.240 that we could ever dream of, both now and eternally. But we begin also to start seeing 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:25.559 other people that way, the way Jesus sees people. So we begin to see people, spiritually, 00:26:25.559 --> 00:26:30.000 lovely people, great people, people we're friends with, people that we're attracted 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:36.559 to, people that are in this world. We see them differently, and we see people we don't 00:26:36.559 --> 00:26:44.400 like and people that we think are ugly in the way they live. We see them differently 00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:51.920 too, broken, searching, all people broken, searching, weary and lost, needing the great 00:26:51.920 --> 00:27:00.480 love of God to rescue them from self-destruction. And that changes, doesn't it? It changes the 00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:04.960 way we live. It changes the way we look at the world. It begins to deal with sometimes 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:14.080 the selfishness or the bitterness or the judgmental spirit or the shortness or the short temperedness 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:25.799 or the indifference or the way we're so selective about who we pour out our energies and love 00:27:25.799 --> 00:27:34.599 into. And that is what we're looking for in our testimony, in our testimony of Jesus Christ 00:27:34.599 --> 00:27:39.199 and the good news of the gospel that He's changing us from the inside. He's changing 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:44.960 the perspective we have and the life we have in the life we live. So it's a new worth we're 00:27:44.960 --> 00:27:51.600 given in Him, a new way of looking at the world and also a new work He gives us to do. You 00:27:51.600 --> 00:27:57.240 know that's linked in with our compassion and it's linked in with our worth. He gives 00:27:57.240 --> 00:28:02.960 us a new work. He said, He saw the crowds, this is towards the end of the passage here. 00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:07.160 They were compassionate, they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. 00:28:07.160 --> 00:28:12.400 Then He said to the disciples, the harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few, therefore 00:28:12.400 --> 00:28:18.440 pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. So 00:28:18.440 --> 00:28:25.360 that's great. That's the pinnacle of this whole section for me is that we find that 00:28:25.360 --> 00:28:33.560 He gives us the great privilege of being involved in His kingdom and in His kingdom work. He 00:28:33.559 --> 00:28:42.279 chooses in His sovereign power, God chooses to ask for our help. He chooses our cooperation. 00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:49.519 He chooses to give us a role to play in the ushering in of His kingdom, in spreading the 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.039 good news, in reaping a harvest of souls for the gospel. He could have just snapped His 00:28:57.039 --> 00:29:07.079 fingers and made His people, but He chooses to use us as part of this great mission. He 00:29:07.079 --> 00:29:17.000 chooses to partner with us. He gives us a new work and it involves praying fundamentally, 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:29.279 praying earnestly, praying missionally, praying for the kingdom to come, for the harvest to 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:37.279 be reaped, for souls to be saved, for the people who will believe to believe. It's ready. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:43.119 It's His harvest. He's guaranteed it. It's there. His kingdom is coming. He is Lord over 00:29:43.119 --> 00:29:50.479 this harvest. There is fruit to be had. There are people to be found. There are people to 00:29:50.479 --> 00:29:55.439 be saved in this city of Edinburgh that we love. I have many people in this city. We 00:29:55.439 --> 00:30:01.519 need to start believing that again and praying that earnestly, because that's what He asks 00:30:01.519 --> 00:30:08.759 of us. You know, when we have these prayer times and the engine, and yeah, praying individually 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:14.279 is hugely significant, but also praying together is hugely significant. We're not kidding when 00:30:14.279 --> 00:30:24.960 we do that. It's not a ritual. It's this vital declaration that as God's people, we are obeying 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:34.039 His command to pray earnestly, because we are the local church that is part of His kingdom, 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:41.799 and it's our foundational work. But just in case you think, and I think that, okay, all 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:45.879 we need to do is pray, that's easy. I can do that either with my Christian friends or 00:30:45.879 --> 00:30:53.680 just on my own. You know, the great thing is, He says, pray that the Lord of the harvest 00:30:53.680 --> 00:31:04.000 will send out labours. He's not sending out angels. He's sending out UNI. So the prayer 00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:12.200 is answered. The prayer we offer is answered by us. We're the answer to the prayer we make 00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:18.440 to the living God. That's the new work He gives us. He gives us work to pray earnestly 00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:26.240 and then to be the answer ourselves to that prayer. Yes, it means, we talk about labourers, 00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:31.680 He's talking about preachers, full-time workers, evangelists, church leaders, but He's also 00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:36.320 talking about disciples. Yes, it's to the twelve He originally gives us. Yes, it's to 00:31:36.320 --> 00:31:41.480 the law sheep of Israel initially, but yes, it's the great commission He gives at the 00:31:41.480 --> 00:31:48.080 beginning of Acts. And we know it's a call to have more full-time or dain shepherds 00:31:48.080 --> 00:31:55.400 of the sheep, but yes, it's to every person having a reason for the hope that's within 00:31:55.400 --> 00:32:01.880 them, being light and sharing their faith and being a witness and being an example and 00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:09.280 being workers for Jesus Christ. Great picture in 1 Corinthians 3 verse 6 that Paul is the 00:32:09.280 --> 00:32:14.400 one who sows, Paul is the one who waters, but it's God who gives the increase. That's 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:21.880 the partnership that we are asked to remind ourselves of in St. Columbus in our calling 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:30.040 to plant churches and to reach out to the city of Edinburgh, that we love so much and 00:32:30.040 --> 00:32:38.240 that we see as being a people that are wearied and harassed and helpless, a sheep without 00:32:38.240 --> 00:32:44.240 a shepherd who desperately need to be led and who desperately need a king. So there's 00:32:44.240 --> 00:32:51.760 work to do. It doesn't finish on our knees. We are co-workers with Jesus Christ. So to 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:58.599 be in Christ, to be part of the kingdom, to recognize the good news is to recognize that 00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:03.640 we're new creations, we have new worth and new way of looking and new work. It's great 00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:11.960 news and it's great news, maybe even especially in lockdown. And so I just ask, is it great 00:33:11.960 --> 00:33:22.519 news for you? What will it take to make you grasp this good news and grasp the core of 00:33:22.519 --> 00:33:28.920 this good news, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, to accept His diagnosis of your need of being 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:39.960 harassed and helpless and lost and dying and separated from Him. I'm guilty and yet 00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:50.440 Him expressing His outstanding love by dying for you in the cross. Go to Him, put your trust 00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:59.319 in Him, receive the good news and live in the kingdom as we almost do. Pray and serve. 00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:06.960 Amen. Pray, Lord God, we ask and pray that you would teach us from your word today, not 00:34:06.960 --> 00:34:17.880 in a kind of academic or school, teachery kind of way, but in a powerfully spiritual 00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:24.039 way that you would take your truth, maybe even nothing that was said in preaching but 00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:33.440 something that was read that has really weighed heavily on someone who has listened today 00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:40.559 as being a living word piercing sharp into our hearts and conscience. So speak to us, 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:47.800 we pray, work through your word and through your Holy Spirit and help us to go from this 00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:54.280 day remembering the amazing good news that is ours in Jesus Christ and the remarkable 00:34:54.280 --> 00:34:59.320 glorious Savior who is at the center of all, even in the darkness and the doubt and the 00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:08.080 fear and the trembling that we experience in this time of crisis. Amen.