THE SERMON - Christ Came To Save Sinners ｜ Matthew 14_34-36
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1 hour and 11 minutes
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19
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41
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Summary
Pastor Ken continues our sermon series on the Gospel According to Matthew through Matthew 14:34, 35, and 36. In this sermon, we see a striking picture of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and how He came into the world to save sinners.
Transcript
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This morning, we're continuing our sermon series through the gospel according to Matthew.
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Our text for today is Matthew chapter 14, verses 34, 35, and 36.
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Again, that's the gospel according to Matthew chapter 14, verses 34, 35, and 36.
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
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at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
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One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew chapter 14, verses 34, 35, and 36.
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Three points that I believe are emphasized by these three short verses in our text today.
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Number one, Christ came into the world to save sinners.
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But this is a symbol and a sign that he is the great divine physician,
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that he heals more than just our physical maladies,
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another sign that Christ's means of grace are ordinary.
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the understanding of the ordinary means of grace
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grace, but not through extraordinary means, but ordinary means. And I'll flesh out what I mean by
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that when we come to that point in the text. Third, lastly, we see that there's a universal aspect of
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Christ healing. Not universal meaning each and every individual that ever was sick, but universal
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in the sense that all who came to him were healed. All who came to him. And that is the condition.
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The condition is that we come, and so we'll see that as well, that Christ does not reject
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or turn away any who come to him, but universally heals all who come. So Christ came into the world
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to save sinners, number one. Number two, Christ's means of grace are ordinary. Number three,
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come to me all who are weary. Christ gives a universal promise to heal and to give rest to
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all with one condition, the condition being that we come. By way of introduction, I've written this
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in your sermon notes. If you have them, feel free to follow along. In this passage, we are confronted
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with a striking picture of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. When the boat lands at Gennesaret,
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the people, having recognized Jesus, bring forth their sick with great haste, begging only that
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they might touch the fringe of his garment and we see that as many as touched it were made well
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here therefore we behold both the misery of mankind and the sufficiency and willingness
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of Christ to remedy all our many miseries mankind is indeed miserable afflicted by many ailments
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but most importantly, afflicted by guilt of sin, condemnation, the wrath of God.
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And yet we see that Jesus, once again, heals, remedies, all who come to him.
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Now, the first point in your notes, I've written this.
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First, we must observe the eagerness with which the people run to Christ.
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Though their knowledge of Christ was elementary, and this is key,
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They have a very primitive, basic, elementary knowledge of Christ.
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And yet, seeking chiefly, in their case, the healing of the body.
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For many, that's all they knew that Christ could provide.
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Nevertheless, they discerned in him, in Jesus, that he possessed a power that could not be found among men.
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Likewise, even the simplest among us must eagerly come to Christ as the one in whom God has placed the fullness of salvation and forgiveness of sins.
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The fullness of salvation and forgiveness of sins.
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There is a blessing and a promise that Christ extends to all who are willing to come that we must have faith.
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But that faith oftentimes is a simple faith, and simple faith will not be rejected.
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I think of the man who approaches Jesus, asking for healing, and Jesus asks him,
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We could argue on that basis that his belief was partial.
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Because at the end of the day, it's not the size of our faith, but the object of our faith that really counts.
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Is your faith, be it small or be it simple, is your faith in Jesus?
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The crowds that are coming to him in this region are coming to him with a very elementary understanding.
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that they understood Jesus and his true divinity,
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that they understood Jesus to be the Son of God,
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that they understood Jesus to be the Lamb of God
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There's nothing in our text that explicitly suggests
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that they had a robust understanding of justification
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by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
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is that these people understood that Jesus had the power to heal. And so they flocked to him.
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They did not waste any time. They ran to Christ to do for them exactly what they knew he was able
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to do, what they had faith for him to do. In their case, it was physical healing. And I think of us
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as New Testament Christians, there are many, many cases, many such cases, as the kids would say,
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where there are people who are very, very, very new to the Christian religion.
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They have a very elementary understanding of Christian doctrine.
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There are many things that they do not understand.
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They know that Christ offers forgiveness for sin.
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And they know that they wrestle under guilt and condemnation for their sin.
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Again, it is not the size of our faith that saves, but rather the object of our faith that saves.
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And he saves you by his grace, which is received through faith as an instrument.
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It's the empty hand, as the reformers argued, that lays hold of the grace of God.
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And faith is the avenue or the instrument that lays hold of the gracious salvation that Christ alone offers.
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But if it's true faith that has its object as Christ and Christ alone, then it is a potent faith.
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It is a powerful faith. It is a sufficient and effective faith for salvation. You've heard me
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quote from Pilgrim's Progress written by John Bunyan many times, but I'm going to do it once
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more. There is a character in the second edition, right? Everyone's familiar with the first.
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Pilgrim's Progress, the lead protagonist being Christian, right? And Christian's on his way to
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the celestial city. And ultimately what John Bunyan is doing, the author is painting a picture
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of in his mind the normative Christian life and I say in his mind not to say that he's wrong
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but to say that probably all of us are wrong and he's right because when he thinks of the
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normative Christian life he thinks that it's a life of constant trial and tribulation and
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difficulty that requires perseverance determination and vigilance and for many modern Christians
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today, we think that we're somehow going to just coast in to the celestial city, just coast in
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to paradise, that it's somehow going to be easy. Although Jesus literally promised us that we would
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have enemies in this life, that if the world hated him, that the world would hate us also, that we
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would have adversaries, that we would face all kinds of challenges and opposition. John Bunyan
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gets this right. Many modern Christians get this wrong. Yet, even in the conception of the Christian
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life, again, in his mind, the normative Christian life, John Bunyan still leaves room for those who
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have little faith. And those who have little faith still ultimately, by the grace of God, make it
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into the life to come, into the heavenly abode, into the celestial city. And we see this in his
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second book, Pilgrim's Progress, the second edition. The first being the individual normative
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Christian life. Christian, and he has a few sidekicks along the way. Hopeful is one of them.
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Faithful is one of them. But in his second book, John Bunyan's second book, Pilgrim's Progress,
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we now see a corporate picture of the Christian life, the Christian journey to the celestial city.
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No longer just one individual who perhaps has a friend along the way going to heaven together,
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but we see in the second Pilgrim's Progress a corporate ecclesiastical church-wide journey.
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We see Christian, his wife now, Christiana, and their four sons and they are joined by a great
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company. You have Great Heart who's kind of leading the way. He's a powerful warrior for
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the Christian faith who is helping them along the way and ends up slaying one of the giants
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who is antagonizing and oppressing Christians on their way to the celestial city. So they pick up
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members of their company who are strong in the Christian faith, like Mr. Great Heart. But they
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also pick up a great deal of members of their company who are weak. There is one called Mr.
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Ready to Halt. There is one who is called Feeble-Minded, right? John Bunyan, he doesn't
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really understand the concept of subtlety. It's very on the nose, right? When he names his characters,
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you know exactly who they are. And so, you know, feeble-minded, ready to halt. And another one is
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named Little Faith. And there's a certain point in the story where one of the characters is arguing
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with another whether or not Little Faith will ultimately make it throughout the entire journey
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to the celestial city. Whether or not he actually has the grit that is necessary, the vigilance
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that's necessary in order to make it into the kingdom of heaven or whether or not he will
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perish along the way. And another character who is arguing with him who's pro little faith he says
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well wait a second remember his name. His name is little faith. His name is not no faith but little
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faith. And this is what Jesus explicitly taught in the gospel narratives. We remember that Jesus
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says, if you have faith as of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. So it's not as though we need
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to somehow conjure up faith within ourselves, as though faith was a work of man, and that we somehow
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have to manufacture a great deal of faith, the size of a mountain, that we might somehow move
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mustard seeds. No, it's precisely the opposite, that if we have a small amount of faith, a mustard
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seed amount of faith, that faith, by the grace of God, can actually move mountains, including
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the mountain of your sin that stands between you and a thrice holy God. It is not, again, the size
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of your faith that ultimately determines whether or not you will inherit eternal life, but rather
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it is the quality of faith. It is the purity of faith. And to have faith that is pure, faith that
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this true, true salvific faith is to receive the faith that comes from God as a gift. God saves us
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by his grace, which is a gift. That grace, which is a gift, is laid hold of by faith, which is also
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a gift. This is what Ephesians teaches, right? Ephesians says that we're saved by grace through
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faith. And this is a gift of God, not a result of works, human works, so that no man may boast,
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but rather it's a result of God's gift, right? Saved by grace through faith. And this is a gift
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of God. What is the this? Well, it's not just the grace and it's not just the faith, but it's both.
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both grace and faith are gifts that God gives. If God has given you faith as a gift, then you can
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be sure that faith, albeit perhaps small, albeit perhaps incomplete and unfinished, albeit perhaps
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elementary and simple, even primitive, that faith, if it be truly a gift from God, it may be small,
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but it will be pure. It may be simple, but it will be true. And true, pure faith that comes from God
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is saving faith. It is the faith that saves. So these people are coming to Christ with a basic
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understanding. They don't understand all the theological intricacies that some of us may
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understand today. It is likely that some of them perhaps were regenerate or in this moment of being
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healed by Christ and seeing this sign, this wonder, this miracle, perhaps they became regenerated by
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the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the Holy Spirit of God gave them spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears
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to hear, and new hearts that were softened and malleable, able to receive Christ for the fullness
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of who he is. But one thing we know for sure, whether regenerate or not, whether they truly
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understood Christ's divine identity or not, what they did know of Christ is that he could heal
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the sick. And they come to him with eagerness because they're desperate to be physically healed.
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And all who come are received. And all who Christ receives, he heals. Period.
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So whatever they did know of Christ, they knew enough to come to him and to come to him with
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vigilance, with eagerness and with haste. They did not delay. And what they knew of Christ,
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the purpose of their coming, what they were coming to him for, they all received. No one
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was turned away. No one came to Christ for healing and was not healed. The text tells us
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that all were healed. Now, this is reading into the text. That was explicit. What I'm now going
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to espouse for a moment is implicit. Okay, so this isn't explicitly in the text. We don't know for
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sure, but I think that it's not a necessary inference from the text that we have today,
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but it would be a plausible or reasonable inference, meaning this is not infallible,
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what I'm about to say, but it is possible. It is possible that there were sick people in this
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region that were not healed. What's not possible from what the text explicitly says is that there
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could be no sick people that came to Jesus and were not healed. Because all who came to Jesus,
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that's what's explicit in the text, they were healed universally, each and every single one of
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them. But what is possible is that there were perhaps some sick people in this region who were
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not healed precisely because they did not come. Right? Perhaps as word spread, Jesus of Nazareth,
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He's in our region. The one who heals the sick. The one who opens blinded eyes. The one who causes
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the lame to walk. The one who heals the leopards spots. It's not leopards. This is a tough one for
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the kids. The leopards. The one who actually heals leopards and cleanses them so that they can
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re-enter into their families and society. He's here. He's in our region. He's in our town. He
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is among us. Well, it's possible that some who heard this news still did not believe. Not even
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an elementary belief a simple belief not even a belief much less that he was divine and could
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forgive sins but not even a belief that he was miraculous and that he could heal physical bodies
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and so perhaps there were some or perhaps even many who stayed home and anyone we can I think
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infer this from the text with great confidence any who did not come to Jesus they were not healed
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Well, as far as we can tell from this text and ample others throughout all of the Scripture,
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anyone who comes to Christ in faith, if they come to Him for salvation,
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those who ultimately, tragically, die in their sin.
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They die in their sin and go to hell for eternity
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and then enters into the eternal just punishment of God forever
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those who are not forgiven are those who did not come.
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Those who Christ does not save are those who did not believe.
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Those who die in their sin are those who died in unbelief.
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Christ saves all who come to Him in faith, even simple faith.
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Perhaps you're here today and all you know of Jesus
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This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance,
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that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
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that in me, as the foremost, that is the foremost sinner,
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Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience.
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that in his previous life, before his miraculous conversion,
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he was not only a sinner, as all people are sinners,
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He was a sinner of a high-handed kind, variety.
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Now it's true that every sinner outside of conversion, outside of salvation, does hate Christ.
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We know this because the book of Romans tells us.
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The book of Romans says that the mind of the sinful man is neutral towards God.
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No. The mind of the sinful man is hostile towards God's law.
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And he is unable to submit to the law of God because of his nature.
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right no one is saved by the work of man nor by the will of man but people are saved solely as a
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work of God's grace and the thing that God accomplishes in his grace among many things
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but one of these things chiefly is that he causes your very nature to change if any man is in Christ
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Jesus, he is a new creature, a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come.
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Ezekiel tells us that God must remove a heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh
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that is soft and receptive to the things of God. Every time God saves a man, he's saving and
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healing the blind. Those who are spiritually blind and cannot see his goodness unless he grants to
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them new eyes, spiritual eyes, that can see. Every time God saves a man, he is saving a deaf man who
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previously could not hear. His ears were dull of hearing, but God, who transforms the very nature
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of man, removes his physical dole of hearing ears and replaces them with spiritual ears, new ears
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that can hear the spiritual things of God. What God does in salvation is he actually changes us.
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It's not merely that he forgives us, but he actually changes us. No one comes unless God
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changes his very nature and causes him to be eager to come desirous to come willing to come
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this is what must take place God has to change a man the spirit of God must regenerate a man
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cause him to become a new man a new creature who then now with this new nature has the gift of
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faith and therefore comes. And as he comes to Christ, he will not be turned away. Again, 1 Timothy
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1, 15 and 16, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus
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came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. The apostle Paul was not neutral
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towards Jesus Christ. He was not indifferent towards Jesus Christ or the church of Jesus
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Christ. He persecuted the church of Jesus Christ. He hated the church of Jesus Christ because the
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mind of the sinful man is hostile towards the things of God, towards the law of God. He does
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not submit to God's law because he cannot submit to God's law. You will never make a choice that
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is not included within the confines of your nature. I'll say that again. You will never make a choice
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that is not included within the confines of your nature.
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That the lion, if you put before it hay and meat,
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that the lion would choose, not most of the time,
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every single time, the lion would choose to eat the meat because it's in his nature. His literal,
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physical nature can't even process or digest the hay, so he's never, ever going to choose it.
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He's not. Free will, as many by default understand it today, is an absolute myth,
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and you must understand that. Now, there is such a thing as human agency because if there is no
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human agency whatsoever, then there can be no moral culpability. And if there is no moral
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culpability, then God cannot be just when he judges the sinner. Or to argue it now in reverse
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of these three steps, God is just when he punishes sinners. Because sinners are morally culpable.
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That is, they are morally responsible and guilty for their sin. And they are morally responsible
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for the sin that they commit because they actually do have human agency. But human agency should not
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be interpreted in this broad banner, limitless free will, as it's often defined by modern
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Westerners today. Let me give an example. You do not have true free libertarian will
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in multiple instances, meaning that you cannot make limitless choices because limitless choices
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are not afforded to you because of the limits of your finite nature. For instance, you cannot
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choose to fly. You can't. You can fly on an airplane. I'm aware of that, okay? But you cannot
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choose to climb on top of a tower, jump off, and naturally fly. Why? Well, I'm free. I have free
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will. I can choose anything I want. No, you can't. You can only choose those things within the
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confines of your nature. You cannot will yourself to be nine feet tall, right? And you might say,
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well, these are some ridiculous examples. Oh, they go far further, far further. Turns out there are
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even ticks, insects, that if they bite you, you will no longer choose to eat red meat. Do you know
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why? Because your nature will be changed and become hostile to red meat, and you will be allergic,
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And you can be sure that as soon as this news got out, there's a whole group of liberals who are now, I just read this, trying to multiply those ticks so that everybody becomes allergic to red meat, so that Bill Gates wins the day and you have to eat your beyond meat, synthetic, whatever, and the cows get to live.
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Once again, this is a typical thing, liberals trying to destroy all of humanity and ruin the world, right?
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But my point is that even when it comes to choices like eating,
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there are a ton of choices that some of you can't make.
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Because your physical nature doesn't allow for it.
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All of us cannot make the choice of, I would like to eat cyanide, right?
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But some of you, even beyond that, I can't eat tree nuts.
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Or I got bit by a tick last week and now steak is off the menu.
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The point is that your choices are limited by your nature.
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What God does in salvation is He causes you to become a new man.
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It is not that you make a new choice and then are rewarded by becoming a new man.
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No, that new choice is a choice you'll never make.
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And so what has to happen first is regeneration preceding faith.
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God first has to cause you to become a new creature.
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And then all of a sudden, as a new creature with a new nature,
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you have a new spectrum of choices that are now available to you.
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And so you're able now to choose new things that previously you would have never chosen left to yourself.
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you didn't desire God you were hostile towards God but in grace in mercy he caused you to become
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a new man so the apostle Paul is saying this I received mercy verse 16 of first Timothy chapter
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one for this reason that in me as not just a sinner but the foremost some translations say
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the chief of sinners, a really, really bad, visibly bad, manifestly bad sinner in me by God
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saving me as a foremost sinner, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience towards everyone
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else. Essentially what Paul is saying is this. He's saying God saved me as a testimony so that
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everyone would know that if God could save me, then he's able to save them. Because there's no
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one worse than Paul, when he was once a different man, Saul of Tarsus, outwardly, visibly, manifestly
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hating and persecuting the church of Jesus Christ. So Paul's saying, God saved me. And how did he
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save him. He caused him to become a new creature who then had new choices, now willing to run to
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Christ because he had faith in Christ, because he had a new heart. He was a new creature in Christ.
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And if God was able to do that for the apostle Paul, he is able to do that for anyone that he
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chooses. So Paul says, I know this, this saying, it was a saying in the churches, the New Testament
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churches. There's a saying, there's lots of things to know about Christ, many truths about Christ.
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But here's a basic one that everyone knows. This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance
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that Jesus Christ came into the world, his incarnation, he took on flesh and he came into
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the world to do what? To save sinners. And he saved Paul, who was a chief of sinners, which means that
00:32:51.920
he is able, if he be willing, to save any sinner. That's what Paul knew. And it seems as though
00:33:01.380
Paul is saying that many other New Testament Christians at that time were aware of this, knew
00:33:06.400
this also. So a simple elementary faith that would cause us, like the people in the region where
00:33:15.360
Jesus was healing the sick, to flock to him eagerly to come to him. A simple faith would be this,
00:33:22.600
knowing that Christ Jesus has come into the world and that he came for the purpose to save
00:33:27.860
sinners and that he's able to save the worst of sinners. Therefore, he's able to save us also.
00:34:04.380
any sense of assurance or hope or belief or trust
00:34:44.220
And that He saved even one of the worst of sinners,
00:35:01.180
If you believe that at all, then you will come to Christ.
00:35:05.180
And as we see in our text, if you will come to Christ, you will be received by Christ.
00:35:11.100
There are none who come and are ultimately turned away.
00:35:24.720
Back to this saying, 1 Timothy 1, verse 15 and 16.
00:35:28.240
this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance
00:35:36.760
There's one last prerequisite required for salvation.
00:35:53.220
But you also must believe that you are a sinner.
00:35:58.940
Jesus did not come into the world to save people
00:36:02.120
who simply struggle in their ability to communicate with their spouse.
00:36:07.940
Jesus did not come into the world to save people
00:36:11.320
who their real problem is simply a matter of ignorance, right?
00:36:22.140
They're just missing a few pieces of the puzzle.
00:36:27.740
Their innocence stems from their ignorance.
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Jesus did not come into the world to save ignorance.
00:36:34.760
He did not come into the world to save lack of communication.
00:36:45.640
so that you don't spend eternity under the just judgment of God,
00:36:57.240
but you also must believe that the group he came to save are sinners and you must include yourself
00:37:03.460
in that group of sinners. You don't get to be saved by Jesus who saves sinners
00:37:08.980
if you're not willing to admit that you yourself are a sinner in need of his salvation.
00:37:17.000
And that's part of the problem. Many do not come to Jesus for salvation because
00:37:44.680
They don't believe at the end of the day that they
00:37:50.960
describe them as someone who is hostile to Jesus, who hates Jesus, who is at war with God, they would
00:38:00.460
say, no, no, no, not me. I don't hate Jesus. Well, there is no middle ground. You are either for him
00:38:11.980
or against him. You either bless him or curse him, love him or hate him. But there is no neutrality
00:39:16.780
But if you're not a Christian, if you have not been caused by God supernaturally to go from
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death to life, from the old man to the new man, a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, then you do
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hate Jesus. You do. Now, I'm not trying to pick on anybody, but I thought about this in preparation,
00:39:37.960
and I just think that the illustration helps to make the point more clear. Okay, so I'm going to
00:39:43.360
use an individual as an example, okay? I'm not trying to be particularly rude to this individual,
00:39:49.240
but I think that it makes the point very clear. It's a well-known individual. That's why I'm using
00:39:53.720
them, because if I use someone obscure, then nobody would know, and the point would fall
00:39:57.600
in deaf ears. Ben Shapiro. Ben Shapiro is not at least regularly. He has said a thing or two,
00:40:05.500
but at least regularly. It would not be fair to say on a regular daily basis or weekly basis,
00:40:11.300
he's saying blatantly antagonistic, hostile things about Jesus. I hate Jesus. Jesus is,
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you know, the son of a W-H-O-R-E. You know, this, that, and the other. Jesus is currently burning
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in hell. He's a false prophet. I hate him. Okay. Ben Shapiro is not saying that, as I just stated,
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2025 with as much as much compromise and degeneracy as our nation is currently steeped in
00:41:14.580
even now even now what tangible benefits to somebody garner for themselves by being hostile
00:41:23.180
visibly audibly verbally against Jesus I mean think about this even the progressives who we know
00:41:33.280
hate Jesus. They still don't say it out loud, right? Don't they still take time to do triple
00:41:39.860
axle, you know, aerials, you know, in midair, jumping through 17 different hoops in order to
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argue, well, the reason why you need to trans your kids is it's actually really pro-Jesus.
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Why? Why take all that time to make some kind of argument for, well, actually the will of Jesus
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is that you don't have a country because you let millions and millions of people from the third
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world in. Actually, the will of Jesus is that you embrace every sodomite you've ever seen.
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Actually, the will of Jesus is that you have drag queen story hour. I mean, that's a lot of effort.
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Right? I mean, it's hard for me to say, well, actually, two plus two equals 47.
00:42:18.760
Right? It's a lot easier just to say two plus two is four. Why do that? Because America is still a
00:42:24.640
Christian nation. That's why. It is. Perhaps Christian in name only. I'm willing to admit that.
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But you still stand to benefit by speaking positively of Christ.
00:42:38.200
Even if it's twisted speaking, deceitful speaking, insincere speaking.
00:42:45.540
Everyone knows that it does not serve any tangible goals
00:42:58.480
and facilitate a full invasion from the third world
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Everybody knows, I don't think that's going to win an election.
00:43:22.860
it's actually because I'm really, really, really pro-America.
00:43:33.060
And it's actually that I'm really, really pro-Jesus.
00:43:37.440
really, really loves the trans community, right?
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that you think might be an example of the exception.
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In a country that since its founding has been shaped by Christian thought?
00:44:31.000
Oh, well that's why he doesn't say out loud that he hates Jesus.
00:44:36.120
But if he's not submitted to Christ as a Christian, then rest assured, he does hate Jesus.
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Simple faith, elementary faith, incomplete faith,
00:45:15.960
this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.
00:45:20.120
Do you believe that Christ came into the world?
00:45:25.240
And this group that he saves, namely sinners, that you're one of them.
00:45:38.320
That you once were hostile towards the law of God.
00:45:41.740
That you once, like Paul, hated the church of Jesus Christ.
00:45:46.360
even if Jesus saved you as a five-year-old child on the pew can you at least still admit
00:45:54.360
that when you were a four-year-old child on the pew you despised going to church you thought it
00:46:00.220
was boring you did not love Jesus whether it's a four-year-old hatred of Jesus whether it's a
00:46:08.500
34-year-old hatred of Jesus whether it's the hatred of Jesus of the Islamic variety or the
00:46:14.620
Jewish variety or the libertarian atheist variety. All of us, myself included, were once enemies of
00:46:25.000
God. The scripture says, but God showed his love for us in this, while we were yet sinners, Christ
00:46:33.760
died for us. We were his enemies, not just ignorant, not just indifferent, not just neutral, hostile,
00:46:42.780
but Christ came into the world to save sinners these people in Gennesaret they knew that Jesus
00:46:52.820
could heal the sick and they knew that they were sick and so they came to Christ and he did not
00:47:02.000
turn them away we know that Jesus not only heals the sick but that Jesus saves sinners and we know
00:47:12.260
that we are not merely sick, but sick with sin. And so will we come to Christ? If so,
00:47:21.740
then we can trust He will receive us, He will forgive us, and He will save us. Second, the
00:47:30.180
healing effected by the mere touch of Christ's garment teaches us that the power of Christ
00:47:34.960
is not confined to outward means. Notice how Jesus heals. We've looked at the what,
00:47:40.920
we've looked at the who. Now let's look at the means. How does Jesus heal in this instance?
00:47:46.680
There are many instances of Jesus' miraculous healings throughout the gospel narratives.
00:47:51.740
But notice that in every single case, the means by which he heals is always an ordinary,
00:47:59.860
simple means. He heals by his word. He simply gives the word and it's done. Or he heals by
00:48:08.800
a garment. A really special Roman Catholic garment that was seamed, you know, four million years
00:48:15.300
previously by this saint in a cape. Nope, just a garment. Just a garment. He heals by word. He heals
00:48:23.360
by garments. He heals even by spitting in the dirt and making mud. Really, really special mud. Nope,
00:48:29.900
just mud. In every case, the power of Christ comes to those who need it most, who trust in him
00:48:40.860
And this has application and relevance for us also.
00:48:45.500
The healing affected by mere touch of Christ's garment
00:48:50.420
is not confined to outward extraordinary means,
00:48:54.420
nor is it dependent upon the dignity of visible signs.
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who uses even the least and simplest things to convey His grace.
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In this, we are instructed to lift our minds above the sign
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is the touch of faith by which we apprehend Christ
00:49:27.980
as He is offered to us in the Word and sacraments.
00:49:35.740
Sometimes we wish that it was more extraordinary
00:49:42.040
in our finitude it might seem to us more convincing,
00:49:48.660
But the reason why extraordinary means of grace
00:49:53.480
would seem to us more sure, more certain, more secure
00:49:57.140
is because we would be putting at least some degree of our faith
00:50:31.580
It's the exposition of his word, which is found in preaching.
00:50:36.540
And notice that even this means of grace, namely the preaching of Christ's word.
00:50:41.420
What does the Apostle Paul say elsewhere about preaching?
00:50:49.780
That God is pleased to save sinners even through the foolishness of preaching.
00:50:55.780
and it's true although it's certainly not flattering to myself since i happen to be the
00:51:02.320
one currently preaching but it is exceedingly true and i can tell you as a preacher that there
00:51:08.720
is a foolishness of preaching it is foolish it is absolutely absurd to think that what i'm doing
00:51:18.060
right now would have eternal ramifications that what i'm doing knowing that i am a sinner
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the foremost of sinners that by simply standing behind a stack of wood and opening a book
00:51:34.000
and giving meaning and application for the words on a page out loud that this somehow
00:51:41.520
would save souls dangling over the flames of hell and usher them into the bliss and glory
00:52:17.320
he saves with water really special water right water that we go behind this curtain me and the
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elders and we say incantations and and if we mispronounce the words then it doesn't work
00:52:32.440
no just water holy water water wine well what kind of wine i mean did you did you purchase it
00:52:43.760
from Italy? Is it even good wine? No, I regret to tell you it is the cheapest of wines used here
00:52:50.640
at Covenant Bible Church. I don't know where it was made. I don't feel like a lot of effort was
00:52:57.500
put into it. I've got to shoot you straight. Water. Ordinary water. Usually cold, uncomfortable
00:53:06.880
water wine cheap wine bread cheap bread word infallible word preaching foolish preaching
00:53:21.800
but of the infallible word and you put all those things together and what do you get
00:53:29.580
eternal souls saved from hell and ushered in to the glory of god
00:53:35.260
ordinary means extraordinary salvation and why these aren't the means that we selected i wouldn't
00:53:46.320
have selected them right in a million years if i was sitting and contemplating i'm going to start
00:53:51.520
a religion and there's going to be mechanisms avenues means of salvation i would never think
00:53:59.720
and they will be water, wine, bread, and a book.
00:54:07.800
And you can look at all the different religions
00:54:20.320
where everyone's gathered and circled around
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00:54:27.820
that they splash in water and everybody gets a little little drop right i mean there are multiple
00:54:33.560
different different religions with different you know hocus pocus special mystical means
00:54:41.100
but the christian faith the true christian faith god saves extraordinarily but through simple
00:54:50.400
ordinary means and the reason why we know that these means were selected chosen by god and not
00:54:57.800
by man as one. They're simple. But if we were to beg the question a little bit, why would God
00:55:03.360
choose for the true religion in the worship and salvation of people as we worship the true
00:55:09.820
triune God, why would he select such ordinary means? Well, I think the answer to that is
00:55:15.920
something that's quite simple. And I think we can all agree, we can all assume, why would the true
00:55:22.180
God select for himself for true salvation such simple ordinary means so that our faith would be
00:55:31.960
in him and not the means so that he would get the glory and not the robes and tassels and not the
00:55:40.060
candles and not the incense and not the special wine that's flown in from Italy not just him
00:56:15.180
he alone gets the glory because he alone does the work of salvation lastly we see in this
00:56:25.440
universal healing all who came were healed a testimony to the boundless mercy of our savior
00:56:31.640
none were rejected none were turned away all who approached jesus and touched his simple garment
00:56:37.440
were made well. So it is even to this day with the malady of sin. If we come to Jesus truly,
00:56:45.500
humbly confessing our need, he does not turn us away, but cleanses us completely. I'm reminded
00:56:52.760
of Matthew chapter 11 that we saw in weeks prior. Verse 28 that says, come to me. This is Jesus
00:56:59.060
speaking to the crowds. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
00:57:06.240
but again all the way back to the first point of the sermon today you must ask the question
00:57:12.840
rest from what you must come you must come to him that is christ but you must be desiring for him
00:57:22.440
to give you rest for what i'm just so busy right now you can pray that god would give you literal
00:57:29.840
rest i mean the psalms even say that he gives sleep to those he loves so i'm not saying that
00:57:34.880
We can't pray and ask for God to make physical provision,
00:57:38.640
to provide physical rest, to provide physical healing,
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a physical residence, somewhere to live, shelter, all these things.
00:57:46.500
That's permissible and even commendable because God tells us to ask.
00:57:50.500
But the chief thing that we seek Christ for is forgiveness of sin
00:58:00.560
And further, we might say, rest from the guilt of sin.
00:58:25.000
is to trust and believe that Jesus came into the world,
00:58:34.880
when is the last time that you were weary and that you rooted the cause of your weariness
00:58:43.040
in your sin when was the last time that you were heavy laden that you were stressed and rather
00:58:51.460
than thinking well i merely need my circumstances to be better and my stress will go away i merely
00:58:58.720
need this to happen this outward external thing and all of a sudden i want to be so tired i
01:00:33.500
The difficulty of work, the difficulty of the cost of living, even if you work hard.
01:00:44.580
And we can think to the life to come, the heavenly life, and long to be free of death.
01:00:51.920
To be rejoined, reunited with loved ones who have passed away.
01:01:21.820
the greatest thing that we should wish to be free of,
01:01:24.760
The greatest misery that we should wish to be done away with is the misery of sin.
01:01:48.800
I can't wait to be free of James Lindsay's sin.
01:01:50.340
But most importantly, I can't wait to be free of my sin.
01:01:56.040
No one's sin causes me more trouble than my own.
01:02:01.280
And that's not to say that the world is not filled with other people's sin.
01:02:04.860
And it's not to say that other people's sin don't have real serious consequences because they do.
01:02:13.080
I would like to be free of that sin in the life to come when Jesus does away with it once and for all.
01:02:18.780
I'd also like to be free of at least some of the earthly consequences of other people's sin
01:02:24.780
in this life before Jesus' final physical return through some decent policies.
01:02:31.440
You can actually have people who have sinned, but let them sin 3,000 miles away, right?
01:02:38.960
That's called the great solution of salvation, deportation.
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01:02:44.760
Powerful, and I would say thoroughly Christian.
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01:03:17.660
No. If you do that, if you give way to that kind of cultural, political apathy,
01:03:25.580
then your children are doomed. And you are a terrible father and a terrible mother.
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You are. You need to feel that in your bones. God is angry with you. And your children will
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01:03:39.680
rise up and not call you blessed. They will call you cursed. Because like Esau, you sold their
01:03:44.980
inheritance for a bowl of soup. In this case, maybe it was curry soup and H-1B visas.
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01:03:53.580
You're a terrible person. Shame on you. And also, you're a sinner. And your kid's greatest threat,
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01:04:04.700
even greater than mass immigration, all that, is you being an angry father. You not loving their
01:04:10.600
mother with every fiber of your being as Christ loved the church? You not leading the way with
01:04:15.920
humility and repentance and grace? In other words, it's all the above. In other words, it's a tall
01:04:25.260
order. In other words, the Christian life, maybe John Bunyan got it right. Maybe it is really hard.
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01:04:31.220
It's everything. It's fighting for civilization. It's being engaged politically and culturally,
01:05:05.360
and with big messes accrued over long periods of time you do not solve those
01:05:16.720
personal work individual work collectivist work also
01:05:22.960
both are true when you stand before god you will stand before god alone you will not be able
01:05:57.720
Everybody else thinks of themselves as a group.
01:06:01.220
everybody else ilhan omar is thinking in a group mentality she's like i am leading for what's good
01:06:08.900
for somalia i mean america she says it out loud all the time she's not thinking my fellow americans
01:06:18.520
of every stripe and color whatever you know no one group my group and i serve their benefit
01:06:28.580
Everybody else, one group, my group, and I serve their benefit.
01:06:34.060
The only people who don't think like this, Western Christians, particularly white Christians.
01:06:45.020
You're the only people who don't think like this, and that's why you're losing.
01:06:50.740
And I will say this, historically speaking.
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01:06:53.080
when you look at nations that are minority white that minority is not treated with benevolence
01:07:00.840
when you look at nations that are majority european the minorities are treated with much
01:07:06.520
more kindness and so as a christian who cares more about religion than i care about color or
01:07:13.920
ethnicity i care more about christ and christianity but it's because of my christianity
01:07:19.540
that I want a benevolent society and I know statistically speaking and historically speaking
01:07:27.560
if America remains predominantly majority European it has a higher likelihood of being
01:07:35.980
kind and benevolent to everyone else so I want that I want that for my children I want that for
01:07:45.000
your children because it is a net positive and that's just the history read a book you will find
01:07:52.140
that what i said is true so i desire this because i'm a christian first and foremost and as a
01:07:58.760
christian i love people and i want their good all of this is true also our sermon today
01:08:07.680
I'm a sinner and if I save the West what is a profit a man if he gains the whole world
01:08:16.840
but forfeits his soul you can fight for Western civilization and God bless you for it
01:08:22.920
you can fight to restore America and God bless you for it you can have courage political and
01:08:29.840
cultural courage to say the things that people don't want to hear and to be called a bigot and
01:08:35.860
a racist and a homophobe and everything else and god bless you but you can do all that and go to
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01:08:42.900
hell you can do all that and always think that the problem is someone somewhere else
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01:08:49.880
but forget that this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that christ
01:08:57.820
came to save sinners of which i am the foremost true christian faith historic christian faith
01:09:05.260
in the West, throughout Christendom, in Europe, held both of these in tandem. They understood that
01:09:11.780
Western civilization was different, that it was worth preserving. They thought in groups,
01:09:18.920
and also they thought as individuals. My sin, I will have to stand before God one day, and Christ
01:09:25.980
is my only hope. My sin, needing my salvation and civilization, and caring for that as well.
01:09:35.260
it's all the above we must learn to walk and chew gum at the same time no one will enter the kingdom
01:09:42.600
of heaven without vigilance or as the scripture says since the beginning the kingdom of heaven
01:09:47.700
has suffered violence and the violent will take it by force meaning apathy will not work you must
01:09:55.680
be diligent you must press in you must press in let's pray father thank you for your word i pray
01:10:02.540
that you would bless it to your people that we'd be strengthened and encouraged by it we pray all
01:10:07.220
this for your glory I pray Lord that we would be reminded first and foremost every day that we are
01:10:13.800
sinners that we are sinners and that we need your mercy and your kindness Lord I pray that we would
01:10:22.000
not lose the heart of the Christian faith which is the gospel for sinners of which we are the
01:10:28.520
foremost. But Lord, I also pray that we would not truncate the Christian faith and narrow it
01:10:34.820
with such simplicity that we only care for the life to come while this temporal world around us
01:10:42.160
perishes, leaving no hope or future for our children. Help us, Lord, this church to be a wise
01:10:49.460
and discerning and mature church, able to articulate all these truths with grace, but also
01:10:56.580
courage, no matter the cost. We pray this for your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.