Multistreaming with Restream.io

I think we're good to go. If you want to start it, I'm going to go—oh, good, perfect. I'm going to try not to rustle, because we were waiting to see if—hold on, let me mute this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning. We are, um, gathered this morning for worship. It is also, um, Memorial Day weekend, uh, that day, uh, tomorrow set aside for us to remember, um, those who have, uh, died, uh, in the service of, um, freedom and their country. And so we are, um, thankful as we gather freely to worship this morning, um, of those sacrifices. So I'm going to pray and we're going to, um, read some Scripture together from Isaiah, 35th chapter. So let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for allowing us to gather this morning. We are thankful for, um, the freedom that you have blessed us with. And we, um, are thankful, um, and we remember the sacrifices that were made in order for us, um, to be able to gather and to worship without fear and without worry. And so we thank you for your provision. And we ask that as we worship this morning, as we

um, seeing as we read the Bible together, as we pray, and as we open your word, um, that you would encourage our hearts and our souls. We just thank you for Jesus. And it's in his name we pray. Amen. In just a minute, we're going to read from Isaiah 35. And before we do that, um, I just want to read the, um, the first few verses that preceded. And so, um, the first few verses before our Scripture reading this morning says this, the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord and the majesty of our God. And this is a picture of the salvation and the goodness that God brings. The dry wilderness is filled with rain and

flowers are blooming in the glory of the Lord and his majesty surrounds it. And as a result of seeing that, Isaiah then gives us this instruction. So if you would stand with me as we read beginning in verse three, strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God, he will come and save you. This is the word of the Lord. And we are, as we see this, that God is the one who both restores, but God is also the one who comes to bring salvation and to protect. And so in this, we can say, be strong and fear not because God will come and he will save us. God saves.

I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. I want us to see what God is doing in this passage. We're going to see what God is doing in this passage. We're going to see what God is doing in this passage. We're going to see what God is doing in this passage. We're going to see what God is doing in this passage. There is hope in your name. Morning tunes to songs of praise. Our God saves. Our God saves. In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Spirit, Lord, we come. We are gathered together to lift up your name, to call on our Savior, to fall on your grace. Hear the joyful sound of our offering as your saints bow down, as your people sing.

We will rise with you, lifted on your wings, and the world will see that our God saves, our God saves. There is hope in your name. Our God saves, our God saves. Hear the joyful sound of our offering, as your saints bow down, as your people sing. When you lift it on your wings, and the world will see that our God saves, our God saves. There is hope in your name. To psalms of praise, our God saves, our God saves. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sin like never before, O my soul. Worship Your holy name. The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. It's time to sing Your song again. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me. Let me be singing when the evening comes. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul.

I'll worship Your holy name. You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness, I will keep all my soul. I want to sing 10,000 reasons for my heart to apply. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul. Worship His holy name. And on that day, when my strength is failing, the end draws me, and my time has come. My soul will sing your praise unending, 10,000 years, and then forevermore. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul, worship His holy name. Sing like never before, O my soul, I'll worship Your holy name. Yes, I will worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. Lord, I'll worship Your holy name. Amen. Amen. Amen.

As we prepare to gather together and partake of the Lord's Supper together, we are going to move our mind and our sight toward Jesus, and we're going to do so by singing "Turn Your Eyes."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. Turn your eyes to that hillside where justice and mercy embrace. There the Son of God gave His life for us and our measureless debt was in place. Jesus, to You we lift our eyes. Jesus, the glory and the Christ. We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. Turn your eyes to the morning, and see Christ the lion awake. What a glory to you. The glorious dawn, fear of death is gone, for we carry his life in our veins. Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our prize.

For you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Turn your eyes to the heavens. Our King will return for his own. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will shout. All glory to Jesus. Oh, Jesus, to you he lifts our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our blood. We adore you. Behold you. Our Savior ever too. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Jesus, to you he lifts our cries. Jesus, our glory and our blood. We adore you. Behold you. Our Savior ever too. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. When I was much younger, our family took the short trip, it was just a few hours from where we lived in Vermont down to Boston, and it was a memorable trip for me for two reasons. One, we were visiting, it may have

been like the Mayflower II. My parents will remember this. They had, you know, costume period actors on the ship, and I walked in, and at the time I had my hair, like, buzzed really, really short, and the, you know, the costume period actor who didn't know anything about modern technology goes, "Oh, you must have been, you must have been a prisoner, and they shaved your head because of lice." And then he went on this big spiel asking me what I was in for, and like seven or eight-year-old Brandon had no idea what to do with any of this other than, like, you know, vigorously protest my innocence. The second ship that we went to visit there in Boston Harbor was an old, I don't remember the name of the ship or the function of the ship. I know that it had served in World War II, and the guy who was doing the tour, to describe him politely would be to say that he was curmudgeonly, and he was going through, and he would ask questions and try to get

engagement from people, and you could tell that maybe people didn't know, or maybe they were afraid to answer, because if you're wrong, he's pretty curmudgeonly. And at one point, he asked a question, and I knew the answer, and I was going to answer. I think he saw that I knew, but wouldn't say anything. And finally, he just kind of loses and goes, "People on this ship, they gave their lives so you could talk freely." And I wanted to, at that age, say, "Well, maybe not to get yelled at by an angry former Navy chief." But I understand your point. And I've thought about that on and off a lot since then. The fact that we have freedom, and the freedom to speak freely, we may lament that it is not as much as it once was, but the reality is it's still much more than much of the world has. And that freedom to do what we do, to worship, and to speak, and to sing,

all of our different freedoms that we enjoy came at a cost. And while his point was probably not the most tactfully made, it definitely made an impact and had a way of thinking about, a way of changing my thinking on the fact as a young man. And as we come to the Lord's table, one of the things that we find is that it is a wonderful thing for us to have physical freedom. Right? Paul says in 1 Timothy that we pray that we would be able to live at peace and proclaim the gospel in the world without interference. But we know that there is something more than simply physical freedom. That there is a weight of sin, there is a weight of guilt, a weight of shame, and the weight of death that hangs over our head.

And Jesus, in stepping into our world, being born as a baby, living a perfect life, and ultimately going to the cross, completely innocent, bears the price for all of our sin. That those things that we were slaves to, to sin and to death and to fear and to shame because of Jesus, we are free. And this is not just an intellectual revelation, but it is something that changes how we live. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, Paul is dealing with some issues in the church in regard to morality. And he ends by instructing us to live righteously, but he does so with these words: "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body." That righteousness does not come from our goodness, but because of Jesus at the cross, defeating sin and death, and bringing us out of that slavery,

and bringing us into his grace and mercy and forgiveness. Let's pray. Father, help us as we remember this weekend, and as we remember in this moment. Help us to remember that we were separated, that we were slaves to sin, and we were slaves to death and to fear. And through Jesus, there is hope and there is salvation. So as we remember his body and his blood this morning, may you nourish our souls with the good news of the gospel. I ask that you bless this bread and this cup. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's partake of the bread together as remember Jesus given as a sacrifice for us. Let's partake of the cup together remembering the new covenant that he has bought for us with his blood. And as we do this in

remembrance of Jesus, it doesn't just reorient our hearts, but it transforms how we live to be reminded and to see and participate in the gospel. And the ultimate goal of that is that we would not lose focus or lose step with the gospel. We would be nourished by Jesus until he comes again. We're going to be, just for a few minutes this morning, in Hebrews chapter 1. It may be a familiar passage to some of you. Out of the books of the Bible, I always say that whatever book I'm in, it always seems to be my favorite because the Word of God is so wonderfully full and so wonderfully deep. But out of all of the New Testament, Hebrews is one of those books that has brought sort of continual joy and hope to my soul.

It not only proclaims Jesus as better than anything that we could ever find. You know, it's something that we're kind of always on the lookout for. We always want to improve and upgrade and to find better. And the writer of Hebrews reminds Christians, specifically those who are struggling and who are fearful that Jesus, there is nothing better than Jesus. But it also so beautifully ties together the Old and the New Testament so closely that you can see throughout this, this picture of Jesus throughout the Old Testament coming to fruition in his life. And then the author of Hebrews explains to us the wonder of what Jesus has done. So we're going to be in these first four verses. I'm going to read through them here in just a moment, and then we will pray, and then we will dive right into it.

And so it begins like this. Long ago, at many times, some of your translations will say in many portions and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. And after making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name that He has inherited is more excellent than theirs. This is the word of the Lord. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus, and I thank you for this word that shows us so clearly that you have saved us.

That you have spoken many times and in many ways, and you have spoken to us through your Son. And as we glimpse just a brief look at the glorious excellencies of your Son, may you stir our hearts to worship and to hope and to joy. Thank you for Jesus. It's in His name we pray. Amen. And so we're going to begin where the writer of Hebrews begins with this glorious truth that God speaks. And he says it this way, "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets." And I want to begin just with three sort of very simple observations from these words. They're not complicated. They're not hard to see in this text, but they are incredibly wonderful. And the very first thing we see is that God speaks. And this is so wonderful.

If you begin to consider what is being said in just those two simple words, that the Creator and Upholder of all things, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, eternal God has spoken. It is a wonderful thing. He has not hid. He is not standoffish, but He has spoken. Secondly, we see that God has spoken through the prophets. Now, this does not mean that at any point in history, God has not spoken in any other ways. Right? We see throughout the Bible that occasionally God has spoken through dreams. Once He spoke in a burning bush and a cloud on a mountain at the baptism of Jesus from the heavens, proclaiming, "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased." When we say that God speaks by the prophets, we don't mean only primarily. There is a way in which God speaks primarily. And you might say, "Why does this matter?"

It matters because there is an objective Word of God that by which we can see and understand. The truth. That God has spoken to us, not just spoken to us, but He has spoken to us in a way that is objective and verifiable so that we can see and can understand truth. And third, we see that He has spoken. In many times and in many ways, I think it's the New American Standard where I first memorized this as in many portions and many ways. Another way of saying this is simply just like this, that God has spoken a lot. In many times and in many ways, the word in Greek both means time and portion. And the picture here is that this is a piece spread out. So another way of saying this would be one at this time and another at another and another at another, that God has spoken repeatedly.

And the reality is this is a glorious truth. Because here's the thing, the creator of the universe doesn't make us guess, right? Have you ever had to guess maybe why somebody was mad at you and you go, "Hey, why are you upset? Oh, I'm fine." Right? We have to guess. Or maybe there's that moment where we're trying to find a gift or something for someone. And we sort of have to try to figure out and guess and it causes us no end of thought and anxiety because we want to get the right thing. Notice that with God there is no guessing that he has spoken. We also see that God has not hidden himself. He doesn't sort of hope that we will come and find him. In my younger years, and maybe you remember this era, there was a time where there was a lot of comics and jokes

where this guy climbs up to the top of the mountain to find wisdom from the holy man. And he would climb to the top, and he would ask about the meaning of life, and there would be some humorous response. And the picture was that if you really want wisdom and you really want guidance, you've got to struggle to climb the mountain to find it. And then when you get there, it may not be exactly what you were looking for. That's not the reality with God. That when God speaks, he does not do so in a way that is hidden. And he also doesn't speak in some kind of Indiana Jones-like weird code where you have to have some sort of book along with the Word of God to be able to understand and figure out.

It's wonderful that God has spoken. However, in this text, these wonderful things that God has spoken, that He's spoken in a way that is objective, and in a way that is a lot, the author of Hebrews here is making a contrast. And he's saying, "As glorious as that is, and as wonderful as that is, there's something more." He starts like this, "But," here's the contrast, "In these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name that He has inherited is more excellent than theirs."

And what we find in these words and in this text is that there is something even more wonderful. And before we try to understand what it means, we need to understand what it doesn't mean. What the author of Hebrews is not saying is that that prior speech and that prior way of God speaking, and interacting is bad or wrong in any way. This isn't commentary on the goodness of that which happened long ago. This is commentary on the more wonderfulness, if I can make up a word, of Jesus. He's saying that Jesus is better and is greater in every conceivable way. And the writer of Hebrews is saying, "Listen to Jesus." If you listen to this and you saw it as wonderful, understand that there is something that is bigger and that is more wonderful, and that is Jesus.

This message is not simply informational, but it's transformational. We understand the difference between information and information that puts us to work. A few months ago, I was sitting in the living room, and we were going over to the neighbors for dinner, and I had some food on the smoker. And Rachel was in the kitchen, and she looks out the window and goes, "Hey, there's a lot of smoke coming out of the smoker." And I, being the kind of person that I am, was like, "Yes, Rachel. It's a smoker. That's what it does." And I said it in probably the most snarky voice possible, and then she replies in an equally snarky voice, "Is there also supposed to be flames coming out from under the lid?" And at that point, it turned from informational to transformational as I headed out the door screaming,

"My beef," right? Trying to save the meat that was on the smoker. When we hear here about the wonder of Jesus and who He is and how God has spoken through His Son, it's not meant to simply go, "Oh, that's interesting." It's to move us in a very specific matter. The Word of God doesn't just tell us stuff. It goes to work on our lives to transform us. And I want to take a look at how God has spoken through His Son, Jesus, in several different ways this morning. First of all, it is a message of authority. Listen to this. "But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world," right? There are several ways that we can be an authority, right? We can be an authority over things that we own.

"This is mine, and I can do with this what I want because I own it." But there's also an authority of knowledge as well, right? I know this so well that when people have a question, they come and ask me, because I'm an authority. So if you have a weird bird, send it to Rachel. In our house, she's the authority on birds, right? You ask her a question, "What's this bird?" And then she tells us what kind of bird it is. There is a way to be an authority that says, "I own this and it's mine." But there's also an authority that says, "I know more about this, and I am the expert in this subject." And in Jesus, we first of all see an authority of ownership. In that, He is the heir of all things, and through whom He also created the world.

That the one who makes it owns it, and not only that, is that Jesus is the heir of all things. And so there is an authority in the words of Jesus that He says, "All of this belongs to me, and it is under my dominion and under my control." But He also has the authority of knowledge. What you find is that Jesus knows us better than we know ourselves. And notice that Jesus is not a rightful authority. He is the rightful authority. Both in ownership and position, and also in knowledge as the creator of all things. I want you to understand that Jesus, your creator, knows you deeply. And the implication of this is that he knows what's good for you and he knows what's bad for you. And when he says to us, just like a parent to our child, maybe don't do that, there's a reason for it.

And when he calls us to obedience, it's because first of all, it's right. And secondly, it's what we were designed for and made for. Understand that Jesus, the authority, has an authority of position. But he also has an authority of knowing you more than you know yourself. We see next not just the authority of Jesus, but we see the power of Jesus. Look in verse 3. He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So there is this idea of power that we need to discuss. Because there are people who can say whatever they want, but they can't do anything about it.

And I remember one time, Brent and I were camping. This was before I were married, and we were in Pennsylvania. And we got this really bogus parking ticket. And I was like, "I'm going to go back and fight this." And I threw it in my glove box. It was in an Army Corps of Engineers campground. And then I missed the court day because I forgot about it, and then I forgot about it for like another year, and then I sold the car. And at this point, like, it's been three years, and I'm like, "What are the Army Corps of Engineers going to do? Show up and build a bridge in my front yard, not realizing they live right over here?" And I've been thinking about this. In fact, a couple months ago, I went and looked to see if it had ever been filed,

if there was any warrants for my arrest for a $25 parking ticket, and there wasn't, right? Despite all the dire warnings of consequences on the back of this parking ticket, which was unfairly given, there was no ever enforcement of those consequences. You can say whatever you want, but if you don't have the ability, or you don't think to, or you don't enforce us, enforce that, there is ultimately a problem. And notice what it says about Jesus, that He is the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. Not only did He create all things, but He upholds all things. In fact, in the beginning of the Gospels, there's a story about John the Baptizer, and he's in prison. And eventually a favor is given to the daughter of Herod, and she asks for the head of John the Baptizer on a platter,

and that's what happens. They end up carrying his head on this platter. And it's a gory illustration, but this is the same word here that Jesus is literally carrying the world, not in a gory way, but in a way that cares for it. That the picture here is not Jesus sort of sitting there watching over the world, but he is literally upholding it by the word of his power. Have you ever sang the children's song, "He's got the whole world in his hands"? That is what is happening in these words, that he is upholding it. And here's the reality. Authority and power can be terrifying. When we encounter real authority and real power, it's a scary thing. I was thinking about when I was a kid, there'd be times my cousins and I were out doing stuff,

and it wasn't anything bad. And one of our parents, normally one of our dads would show up and be like, "We haven't heard the boys for a while, better go check on them." And they show up and they go, "What are you guys doing?" And if we weren't doing anything bad, right, it was like, "Oh, there was no problem," right? Because we hadn't done anything wrong, we didn't have to be afraid. But then there were times, and there's one time specifically. I don't think my parents know this, but I'm going to share it with them this morning. We would go to this big church gathering in Rutland, Vermont. And I remember this particular year, there was always one announcement. It was, "Stay off the stone wall." This year there was a second, maybe it was a couple years that happened.

It was, "Stay off the stone wall." And the guy who was part of the church goes, "And stay away from my grapevine." He had a grapevine, because he had a grapevine out by where he lived. And so my cousins, and some cousins of my cousins who also happened to be Cody's cousins, we somehow had our hands on some fireworks as like eight-year-olds and some firecrackers. And so where did we go to set off? Not intentionally, but we're in the stone wall next to the grapevine, and we're setting off firecrackers in the stone wall. And this guy comes running over. "What are you boys doing?" And I was like, "Definitely not setting off firecrackers in the stone wall," right? There is a difference when you're legitimately in trouble than there is when you're doing nothing wrong.

And so here we are in our sin, and in our brokenness, and in our rebellion against God, and we hear that He's spoken. He's made His standard clear to us. He has the authority and the power to enforce it, and we know that there is a problem. How does this help? Listen to the end of verse 3. Because what we find in this is for broken, sinful people, there is a message of hope. Look at the very end of this verse. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. The glory of God and the power of God is great, and it's terrifying, and we want to run away because we're in trouble. And what does Jesus do? He made purification for sins. The Greek word literally means to clean up.

He takes a bunch of messy, broken, sinful people, and He picks up their mess, and He carries it to the cross, and the beatings and the nails and the death make us clean. He pays the penalty for our sins by dying in our place, dealing with our wrongdoing. And this brings us hope. In fact, in Luke chapter 2, there's this man in the temple by the name of Simeon, and he is in Jerusalem, and it says this about him in verse 25 of Luke chapter 2. There was a man in Jerusalem. His name was Simeon. This man was righteous. And he was waiting for the consolation or comfort or hope of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And Mary and Joseph arrive with Jesus, and he takes Jesus into his arms. And he says this, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

My eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all people a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your purpose, people Israel." And Simon is looking at Jesus as an infant as he says this, right? Jesus isn't just going to tell us about this, but Jesus himself will be our salvation. He will be the light who will be for the Gentiles and for God's people. In Jesus, Simeon sees hope and consolation, that we don't have to run and that we don't have to hide and that we desperately need Jesus. And this brings us ultimately to a message for us of joy. The reason that we're joyful is because the one with the power and the authority has come to save. If you think about how the birth of Jesus is foretold, these are familiar words.

And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news or gospel of great joy that will be for all people." When the birth of Jesus is announced, the one with the authority and the power who is speaking to God's people, that is an occasion for joy. And I want to talk to you just a little bit about that joy, because I think sometimes we have minimized it. And we've made it small, and we haven't thought deeply enough about it. In John chapter 2, there is a beautiful picture of how God takes pride, despair, and emptiness and turns it into joy. And He does it all at a wedding. And Jesus goes to this wedding, and I've always loved the idea that Jesus and His disciples get invited to a wedding.

It may not be as special when you realize His mom was probably in charge of it, so she's like, "Hey, bring the boys, come to this wedding." Jesus does, and in the midst of this wedding, which would have lasted for days, they run out of wine. And so the celebration is not going as it had been planned. And Jesus' mom gives the servants some instructions. She goes to Jesus. And in John 2:6, we find that there are these six stone jars. They're between 20 and 30 gallons apiece, which means a total of 120 to 180 gallons of liquid. And they're used by the Jews for rites of purification, right? These jars are for serious religious business. And what does Jesus do? They fill these jars to the brim with water. And Jesus turns that water into wine.

And for us, it sparks this big debate. What kind of wine? That's not the point of this text. The point is that Jesus intends to produce lavish joy in large quantities. And He does so by taking these jars that are used in one way to establish pride. Look at how I have followed the law of God, and I've washed my hands ceremonially before God three times before breakfast. And the Pharisees are very invested in this. Jesus' disciples eat some grain out of a field, and they get mad that they haven't gone to the stone jars and washed their hands. These jars, for many in Jesus' day, were a source of pride. Look at how righteous and how good I am. But I imagine for others these jars would have been a source of despair. Look at how unrighteous I am.

I can't even go a day without having to cleanse myself before God. And so these jars, picturing both pride and despair, that we haven't done enough, despite all the rituals and the rites, my sin is still there. Jesus takes both the pride and He takes the despair, and He turns it into wine. But more than that, right, there is a couple celebrating this wedding, and they don't have enough. And Jesus shows up with an abundance. I want you to understand this morning that Jesus will take your pride, and He will take your despair, and your badness, and your emptiness, and He will fill you with joy in His authoritative, powerful work of salvation in your life. That Jesus takes all of that pride that pats itself on the back and says, "It's of no use. You can't do it, but I can."

And to the despair, He says, "You can't do it, but I can." And to the emptiness, He says, "You can't fill yourself up, but I can." And He fills you with joy. There's a story in John, the fifth chapter. A man who has been an invalid, it says, for 38 years. And he's waiting by this pool for the water to be stirred up, some would say by an angel. And when the water moved, everybody tried to cannonball into that pool as quickly as possible in the hopes of being cured. And this man has laid by this pool for 38 years. Hoping, beyond hope, that one day he could get into that water and then he could be clean. And in John 5 and verse 6, Jesus walks up and asks him a very simple question.

Do you want to be healed? And this man doesn't even, I think, hear the question. Because he goes, "I don't have anyone to help me into the water. I'm too slow. I can't get there. By the time I get to the water, somebody else is already in." And what has happened to this guy in John 5 is there is no glimmer of hope when Jesus comes in and says, "Do you want to be healed for him?" It's not even because he's established in his mind that he can't. And do you know what Jesus does to this man who is without hope? He heals him right then and there. Jesus doesn't ask him if he can do it or if he has help. He simply says, "Do you want to be healed?" And he is healed.

Like us, we are in many ways very similar to this guy. It's so easy in our hopelessness to make excuses that we can't and we're unable to. And what does Jesus do? You hear the good news about Jesus that he has the authority and the power to make a difference. And maybe for us, it's like, "Well, that's not me. You don't understand how far I am or how bad I am." Here's my list of excuses and reasons. Jesus is not asking you for your excuses. He is saying with the authoritative power of the Son of God that there is forgiveness for your sins. That there is in Jesus a victory that is beyond anything you can hold on to and grasp. And as Christians, it is so easy for us to walk through this life discouraged, not seeing that Jesus has done it.

That our weary hearts can rejoice that it is finished in Him, and He is seated at the right hand of the Father. And if you are not a Christian this morning, Jesus is saying to you in all of His power and His authority and in His salvation, bringing goodness. Do you want to be healed? Do you want that joy? Do you want that hope? For all of us, Jesus is asking us to turn our eyes to Him. Let's pray. Father, thank You for Jesus and for grace and for hope. Help us. It's so easy for us to find ourselves full of pride in what we have done. And for others of us, it's easy to find ourselves in the depths of despair because we can't do it. So come to us in Your power and authority through Your Word, through the work of Your Spirit, and remind and encourage and convict us.

Most of all, turn our eyes to You. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We're going to stand and we're going to sing, "In Christ Alone."

In Christ alone, my hope. He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are still, when strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all, here in the love of Christ I stand. In Christ alone, who took on flesh the fullness of God in helpless faith, this gift of love and righteousness, scorned by the ones He came to save. Till on that cross, as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied. For every sin on Him was laid, here in the death of Christ I live. There in the ground His body lay. Light of the world by darkness slain. Then bursting forth in glorious day. Upon the grave He rose again. And as He stands in victory, sin's curse has lost its grip on me. For I am His, and He is mine. Brought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death. This is the power of grinding. From life's back to final breath, Jesus commends my destiny. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever block me from his hand. Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand. No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever block me from his hand. Till he returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I'll stand. I want to thank you for joining us this morning. We will be back Wednesday night at 6 p.m. for midweek. Beginning next Sunday, we're going to spend part of the summer spending time in the book of 1 Samuel. I'm not going through the entire book of 1 Samuel, because I don't know if I have enough time left on this earth to

do so, but we will go through the first seven chapters to see this beautiful picture of how God comes to us in the book of Leviticus and through the time of the judges, and he comes to us in Samuel that ties together that and the promises of Jesus. And there is this beautiful gospel picture that runs through Samuel in the providence and the power of God that is both encouraging and convicting for our lives. especially when it seems like sometimes we live in the midst of unsettled times. You come to Samuel in the beginning of the end of the judges period, which is incredibly unsettled, and there is God at work for his people. So that's where we're going to be next Sunday for probably the next probably 10 or 12 weeks through the summer. We're going to spend it with Samuel. So I'm going to pray, read a verse of Scripture, and we'll sing the doxology. Father in heaven, I thank you for Jesus, and I thank you for

grace. Thank you that we can gather and that we can worship together. We can gather around the table and in your word, and that we can spend time encouraging one another. Thank you for Jesus and for what he has done for us. It's in his name we pray. Amen. At the end of the book of Hebrews, it says, "Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing to his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen." Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.