We're turning to John chapter 1, John's gospel and the chapter number 1 together. Let's read the word of God. We're beginning at the verse 29 of the chapter. So John chapter 1, the verse is the verse number 29. Read the word. The next day John seeth Jesus coming on to him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. As is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove. it abode upon him and you him not but he that sent me to baptize with water the same said unto me upon whom i shall see the spirit descending and remaining on him the same as he which baptizes with the holy ghost and i saw him bear record that this is the son of god Again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see. And they came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon, Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother, Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when he beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone. We'll conclude at verse 42, the reading. Let's bow in prayer. Father in heaven, now bless our time around thy word. We thank Thee for the central act of worship. Now in the hearing and the preaching of Holy Scripture, may we come to understand more about our Savior, who He is. Oh, may we come to love Him as a result. And Lord, may we come to prize Him above all others. Lord, bless our time. Fill the preacher now with the Spirit. We pray these our prayers in and through the Savior's precious, holy, and wonderful name. Amen. Over the last number of weeks we've been considering together the three worded title or name that is ascribed to the Son of God. A title that is ascribed some 85 times in the New Testament scripture. That title, that name being the Lord Jesus Christ. The title, Lord, it reminds us of the reality that we as Christians live under a higher authority. Since Jesus Christ is Lord, then we are His servants. And as His servants, we are to do His bidding. And we are to perform His will. Sadly, there are many times in our Christian lives when we do not live under the reality of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But He is Lord. He is Lord. The name Jesus, well it conveys to us the purpose or the intention or the reason why the eternal Son came into the world. We are told that He came to save His people from their sin. Those words remind us of a number of things. Those words, it needs to be stated from them, that God has a people. They are termed His people. He shall save His people. God has a people, and it is a people whom He saves, and He does save them from their sin. Thus the person who claims to be one of God's people and yet they remain in their sin, they continue to indulge in sin, they continue to love their sin, they continue to cleave to their sin without feeling any remorse, any guilt, any shame over their sin, cannot be one of the Lord's people. For that calls into question the Son of God's ability to carry forth the stated intention for which He came into the world, namely, the saving or the delivering of His people from their sin. To say that you're a Christian and you have not been saved from your sin is to then put a question mark over God's intention, and you wouldn't want to do that, would you? Well, today we come to a third part, the third part in this title. that we've been considering together, namely the title Christ. It was this title that Andrew excitedly employed when conversing with his brother Simon Peter in John chapter 1. Having come to faith in Jesus Christ himself through the ministry of John the Baptist, Andrew now makes a beeline for his brother Simon Peter. And when he finds him, Andrew says to Peter, we have found the Messiah. which is being interpreted, the Christ, verse number 42. It is this title given to Jesus of Nazareth that we want to consider this afternoon before we gather around to commemorate the Savior's death at the communion supper. I want you to consider first of all with me the meaning of the Christ, the meaning of the Christ or the meaning of the title itself. The Hebrew word Messiah, a word that we find only twice in the Old Testament Scriptures, and the Greek word Christ, a word that we find some 571 times in the New Testament, are equivalent terms. What I mean by that, they are the same. They are the same. They are interchangeable terms. Both words, Messiah and Christ, have the same meaning. And so when you encounter the title Christ in the New Testament, you're really encountering the Messiah, the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. The two titles mean the same. Anointed One. Anointed One. That's why in Psalm number 2, We have a veiled reference to the Messiah, the Christ, by the psalmist. When he writes in verse number two of Psalm number two, he writes, The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. The Hebrew word is Meshechah, or Messiah. Psalm 2 is one of the first of the Messianic Psalms. Psalms that point us very clearly to the promised Messiah who would come in to the world. And so Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Old Testament Messiah comes to find its fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the Anointed One. Now to us in the West, to us who are non-Jews, to us who are Gentiles, that really would mean very little to us. but not to the Jew. For the Jew knew full well, with regard to this anointing, they knew full well that three Old Testament offices required the office bearer to be anointed. Those offices were the offices of prophet, priest, and of king. That anointing was the moment in that individual's experience when they were set apart for special service or for holy service. Now we'll consider these offices when we think of the title Redeemer. Christ is our Redeemer. He executes the office of Redeemer. And we know what those offices are, the offices of prophet and of priest and of king. But let me show you a number of times where this anointing took place with regard to those who took up these particular offices in the Old Testament. And as we do so, I want you to remember that Jesus Christ, He comes to fulfill all three offices. The Lord Jesus Christ was the anointed one. He wasn't anointed with oil. We never read of John the Baptist anointing the Savior with oil, but we do read of his anointing, an anointing that was prophesied with regard to the Messiah over there in Isaiah chapter 61 and the verse number one. Could we turn there? Isaiah chapter 61 and the verse number one. where we read the words, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. The Messiah was going to be anointed by the Spirit of God. That was his anointing. And Jesus Christ takes this specific passage and He applies it to Himself in Luke chapter 4 when He finds Himself preaching in the synagogue of Nazareth. He applies these words to Himself. And as He does so in Luke chapter 4, The Savior then takes the scroll, hands it back to the minister off the building, and then He declares these words in the verse 21, In other words, I am the Anointed One. I am the Messiah. And so we find the Savior fulfilling all of these offices. The first Old Testament office that required its holder to be anointed was obviously the office of the prophet. In 1 Kings chapter 19, Elijah is directed by God to anoint three people. He's encouraged, first of all, to anoint a king over Samaria, and then he is to anoint a king over Israel, and then he is to anoint his successor, he's to anoint the next prophet of God. We read of that in 1 Kings 19, in the verse 15 and 16. And the Lord said unto him, speaking of Elijah, Go, return to the way of the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint Haziel to be king over Syria. And Jehu, the son of Nishmiah, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Elisha, the son of Shaphat of Ebal-meloliah, And so this anointing verified Elisha's now taking over from Elijah the prophet. Now before his anointing, Elisha had already been appointed by God. We find it there in 1 Kings chapter 19. Elisha is already appointed by God, but there's going to come a moment when that appointment is going to be publicly verified by the anointing publicly of Elisha the prophet with oil. In other words, the anointing verified the appointment. When it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, he was already appointed to be the prophet of God before he was anointed by the Spirit. Many believed him to be the prophet when he came to preach. Many believed him to be the prophet that Moses spoke of there in Deuteronomy 18, in the verse number 15. In John chapter 7, in the verse 40 and 41, we read this testimony. John 7, verse 40 and 41. Many of the people, therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the prophet. Others said, this is the Christ. They go a little further. But some say, shall Christ come out of Galilee? And as a result, there is a division among the people because of him. Because that's always the way when the word of God is preached. There's always a division. Some believe, some do not believe. And we leave that for the Lord to decide who that is and who that is to be. But they come and they declare, this is the prophet. This is the prophet that they've been looking for. They were disappointed with every other Old Testament prophet. Whoever that prophet was, they had their flaws, their faults, their failures. They had their weaknesses because they were all sinners. And so they were always looking for this perfect prophet, the prophet of whom Moses spoke of. And as they listened to the Lord Jesus Christ, they become fully convinced, I believe by the Spirit of God, they believe that this one is now the prophet of the Lord. You know, as the prophet of God, as the prophet of Jehovah, of whom Jesus Christ is, this gives weight then to the Savior's teaching and to His doctrine. If He is the prophet of Jehovah, this gives weight to His teaching and to His doctrine. Such cannot be set aside by us as the people of God on the premise that we don't like it. It doesn't suit us. It doesn't, as it were, appeal to our own self. When we come to read the words of the prophet, Christ himself, we are to receive that word. His teaching is authoritative, and therefore it must be obeyed from the directive to repent and believe the gospel, to the exhortation that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and strength and mind, and every directive and every counsel and every precept and every statue in between, We are to receive His teaching as authoritative in our lives. I wonder, do we believe that? Are we obeying the teaching of Christ the prophet? The second Old Testament office that required its holder to be anointed was the office of the priest. Oftentimes we think when Moses goes up into the Mount Sinai, we think, well, all he got was the Ten Commandments. Well, that's simply not the case. Moses went up to Mount Sinai, he got more than the Ten Commandments. He got the pattern off the tabernacle. He comes to understand the priestly garments and all that was to be involved in the setting up of the tabernacle. And then providing a people, providing a group from among the children of Israel to exercise the office of priesthood within the assembly. And so Moses is given instructions regarding the religious structure of Israel on Mount Sinai. Aaron is to be set aside along with his sons, the Levites. as the high priest was to engage and to lead in the worship of God. And as a result, he was given special vestments or garments all pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thought about that a few years ago with the Reverend Johnson. He would then be clothed with those garments and then a golden crown, a mitre was placed upon his head. And whenever that happened and whenever he was fully dressed, We then read that Moses was instructed, Exodus 29 verse 7, to take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head and anoint him. At that moment, Moses was then consecrated to be the nation's high priest. The holy oil was not poured on his feet. The holy oil was not poured upon his hands. The holy oil was not poured upon any other body or part of the body but the head. And why the head? The reason is that Aaron is but a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ was anointed the head of his church. He is the only head of the church. Christ is the only head of the church. no moderator, no pope. Christ is the head of his church, and he was anointed with the oil, anointed with the Spirit, as it were, by the Spirit as the head of his church. Jesus Christ is our great High Priest. Hebrews 6.20 makes that very clear. Whether the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus. Made a High Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Jesus Christ was the chosen priest. Jesus Christ was a designated priest. Jesus Christ was an appointed priest. Jesus Christ is an authoritative priest, is a qualified priest, is the one who is equipped to be the great high priest for his people. Do you know this priest? Do you know this priest? The priest with the nail-scarred hands, the priest who died for sins, who died for the sins of his people, are you trusting in his sacrifice today for salvation, a sacrifice that is of notable worth, that has put away sin? And if you are, are you as one united to Christ, the great high priest, are you experiencing his sympathizing ministry? One who is touched with the feelings of your infirmities. We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted such as we are, yet without sin. For if knowing his sympathizing ministry as a child of God, you're a great high priest. Oh, may you know that today. The third Old Testament office that required its holder to be anointed was that of King. The anointing of kings, something that we saw a year ago in Westminster Abbey in the act of consecration where Charles III went behind that screen, was anointed with oil on his head, on his breast, and on his hands. That anointing service, it goes all the way back to Old Testament times, the first one to be anointed as king. was to be Saul. 1 Samuel 15 verse 1, Samuel said also unto Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people Israel. He was anointed as king, set apart. This is the idea, this anointing, this anointing process, it's a setting apart of one for sacred use or for sacred purposes. And so we have the setting apart of Saul from the rest of Israel, from even his own family, his own tribe. Saul is going to be king. And then David, he'll be anointed in future days. Samuel will anoint him to be the next king, and so on and so forth. And so the king would be anointing Jesus Christ as king. He's king of kings. He's Lord of lords. The wise men, they sought for Israel's king. In Matthew chapter 2, where is he that is born? King of the Jews. The Jews would crucify the king beneath the superscription of his accusation. The king of the Jews. That's what they wrote. The king of the Jews. Jesus Christ as king has been anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Hebrews 1 and the verse number 9. He's anointed as king. I wonder, can you say today with all honesty, Christ is my King? Or would you be one who would say something like this? Would you be, these words, would they be more in line with your thinking regarding the Lord Jesus Christ today? I will not have this King, this man, to rule over me. Would that be more in line with your thinking today? If Christ is not your King, Then no matter what your profession of faith might be, you are a rebel. You are a rebel against God. You are an enemy of the crowned prince of heaven. Oh, that today you would crown him king, king of your life. Come under his reign, his sovereign reign, his glorious reign, not reign of grace, that Christ would be your king. And so the meaning, the anointed one, that anointing pointed to the offices of prophet, priest, and king. Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of prophet, priest, and of king. He is the prophet of God. Listen to his word then. He is the priest of God. Believe on his sacrifice today. He is the king, the king of God, as it were. Oh, come under his reign today. reign of grace, a reign of love, the meaning of the name, the meaning of the Christ. But having thought about the meaning of the Christ, let's look secondly at the revealing of the Christ, the revealing of the Christ. The anticipation of national deliverance through a man anointed by God had been long awaited by the Jewish nation. They waited. And I waited a charismatically endowed descendant of David who they believed would break the yoke of the heathen and to reign over a restored kingdom of Israel to which the Jews of the exile would return. And so they wait. They wait for the promised one, the Messiah. This is why John the Baptist says these words from his prison cell. Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Simeon was one who waited for the consolation of Israel, waiting for the salvation of Jerusalem. And so this thought of a Messiah coming, a deliverer coming to the nation, this wasn't some kind of new idea, but rather this was long prophesied and the Jews continually waited for the Messiah. Every Jewish mother hoped that she would be the mother of the Messiah. And so John, along with many first century Jews, they eagerly waited for the Messiah. Now this anticipation for a deliverer to come wasn't based on some kind of fanciful dream or aspiration of the nation. Some kind of, as it were, story that was passed down from generation to generation. No, this basis or the basis upon which this anticipation grew was on the revelation of the Messiah given in the Old Testament Scriptures. For very frequently, those who wrote the Scriptures turned their readership to the coming Christ, the one who would redeem and the one who would deliver Israel. I don't have time to point you to every reference but let me paint in broad strokes and give you an idea of the progressive revelation of the Messiah, the Christ that we find in the Old Testament books. Think about the messianic hope in the first five books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch. Pentateuch really reveals much about the coming Messiah. It does so in broad and general terms. The first messianic prediction is one that you know well happened just after the fall of Adam and Eve. Speaking about the seed of the woman who would come to crush the head of the serpent. Genesis chapter 3 in the verse 15. That seed, that seed mentioned in that particular verse became the root from which the tree of the Old Testament promise of the Messiah grew. And throughout the Old Testament scriptures and these initial five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we find that there is a progressive pointing to the Messiah. This is the one who would die, as we find in Genesis 22, the ram caught in the thicket, Isaac's substitute. The Messiah would become a substitute for his people. This is Shiloh, the one of whom we read concerning in Genesis 49 as Jacob speaks on his dying bed, Shiloh coming. And to him shall the gathering of the people be. There would be a gathering on to this one, this one called Shiloh, out of the tribe of Judah. And so there is a progression of thought being given who this one is, always pointing to the coming Deliverer, to the coming Messiah, to the coming Anointed One. You think of the messianic hope and the historical books of the Old Testament, the books of Judges and Joshua and Ruth. Maybe there are books that maybe have little reference to the coming Messiah, but in the book of Ruth do we not see a picture of the Messiah in Boaz, this kinsman, redeemer, this one that brings in to the family of God a Gentile girl called Ruth? This is a progressive revelation. What the Messiah is going to do, yes, He'll come for His people, He'll deliver His people, but the Gentiles, the Gentile nations will also be brought in. He is the Kinsman, Redeemer, Deliverers. In the form of judges were raised up in times of national crisis. These were all types of the coming Messiah who would deliver his people in a spiritual sense. And then whenever you come into the books of Samuel and Kings 1 and 2, of both books, you'll find indicators that the Messiah was going to come from the family tree of David. Nathan told David in 2 Samuel 7, in the verse 12 and 13, 2 Samuel 7 verse 12 and 13, And when the days be fulfilled, he said, Thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now those words, they obviously point to Solomon and his coming sons. But the word forever, points us and indicates to us that David and his throne, his dynasty would be an eternal dynasty, not one that would last for a few generations, but his dynasty would last forever. His kingdom will be forever. And this would be ultimately fulfilled in the Messiah, the one that would be designated from David's lineage. You think of the messianic hope in the poetic books of the Old Testament. Some of the most beautiful messianic promises are found in the book of Psalms. 10%. 10% of the 150 Psalms are messianic. 16 of them. Just over 10%. Psalm 2 speaks of the Messiah as the one whom God would install as king over Israel. Psalm 22 portrays the suffering Messiah on the cross. Psalm 72 depicts the reign of the righteous king who will judge his people in righteousness and in judgment. Psalm 110 speaks of the exaltation of the Messiah to the right hand of God who will rule over his enemies with a rod of iron. You think of the messianic hope. In the prophetic books of the Old Testament, Jeremiah spoke of the Messiah as being an offspring of David. He would be the righteous branch, gathering the scattered flock of Israel, restoring righteousness and justice to the land. Micah would speak about the righteous reign of the Messiah. In chapter 5, he would actually pinpoint the place of his birth, Bethlehem of Judea. Micah 5, verse number 2, Daniel refers to the death of the Messiah. Daniel 9, 26, and after three score and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for himself, pointing to the substitutionary death of Christ. It is Isaiah, however, that has the greatest to say about the Messiah. Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 40, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 61, just a selection of the chapters that speak repeatedly and directly about the Messiah. And so throughout the Old Testament Scriptures there is a revealing of who this Messiah is going to be. Specific information is given concerning the coming one. Information that was then to be used by the nation to verify the identification of the Messiah when He did come. Because many were going to claim to be the Messiah. And many will still claim to be the Messiah. We're told that in Matthew chapter 24, there will be those who will come and say that they are the Christ. They are messiahs. But who is this messiah? Oh, the information is given. The Old Testament scriptures, they reveal that the messiah would be the seed of a woman, a man without a father, human father. He would be the son of Seth, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Jesse, David. We're told that he would be virgin born. That he would be born in a city associated with David called Bethlehem. And that his reign would be an eternal reign. And that he would be an eternal being. He would be heralded by a coming one, by a prophet, a forerunner. He would be preceded by a prophet, by a herald. According to Isaiah 40, Malachi 3, he would speak as the prophet of Jehovah. He'd be a worker of miracles, according to Isaiah 35. He would enter into Jerusalem riding on an ass's colt. He would be the servant of Jehovah. He would be anointed by the Spirit of God. He would be despised and rejected of men, Isaiah 53. He would suffer crucifixion, Psalm 22. He would save his people by being their substitute, Isaiah 53. He would rise again from the dead, Psalm 16. He would be a light to the Jews and to the Gentiles, Isaiah 49. isaiah 61 he would be exalted as king so who is this messiah who is this direct descendant of david whose public ministry began some 483 years after the Babylonian captivity of the Jews, as it was predicted, who was born in Bethlehem, who was born of a virgin, who claimed to be the Son of God, whose coming was preceded by a man, a messenger, preaching repentance, who was renowned for wisdom and his teaching and his power and his righteousness, who performed miracles, who rode into Jerusalem on the back of an Asses colt, who was scourged, who was beaten, who was pierced, who was hated, who was despised, who was tortured, who was pierced, who was crucified, who was killed, who was numbered with the transgressors, who died in the place of sinners, who was buried in a rich man's tomb, whose clothing was distributed by the casting of lots, who rose again from the dead and became a light to the world. It can only be one person, Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Messiah. The Promised One, the Promised One of the Old Testament Scriptures. Do we acknowledge Him as such today? The Christ? It could only be Jesus of Nazareth. Think thirdly and finally about the ministry of the Christ. I think we could sum up His ministry in one word. The ministry of the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. We could sum up His ministry in this one word. Mediation. Mediation. When every Old Testament prophet, priest, and king was anointed, their anointed acted as a visible demonstration that they had been set apart by God to mediate for God. When I say mediate, I mean that they were to be a mediator between God and man. The king ruled for God among the people. The prophet spoke for God to the people. The priest provided the necessary intercession and the necessary sacrifices for the people to bring man to God. And therefore they were all mediators in a little m sense. They were little messiahs. They weren't that messiah, but they were little messiahs in the eyes of the people. However, their mediation, as I've already said, was limited because they were all imperfect. They were all sinners. But the promise of the Old Testament that there would be one who would come, who would not just be a prophet, a priest, or a king, but who would come as the perfect prophet, the perfect priest, the perfect king. The one would be anointed by the Spirit of God. This one would be the anointed one, the Messiah. As prophet, he would reveal God. As king, he would rule for God. As priest, he would redeem and reconcile for God and to God. And Jesus Christ is the one who comes to fulfill these offices perfectly. And it is through his mediation, the mediation of Christ, the mediator, that sinners are reconciled to God. Turn to 2 Corinthians, and with this we'll close. 2 Corinthians. Chapter 5, a portion of God's Word that speaks about the mediation, and Christ's mediation on our behalf. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we'll read from the verse number 18, And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given on to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit that God was in Christ. Reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto him, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then are we ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead be you reconciled to God, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Five times the word reconcile in some of its forms appears in this passage and portion of God's word. It's all about being reconciled to God. And notice the references to the Christ, the Messiah. We find His name mentioned in verse 14, verse 16, verse 17, verse 18, verse 19, and the verse number 20. Twice in verse number 20, there is a repeated pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject matter is about being reconciled to God. And who does Paul point us to? Whose meditatorial work does he point us to? None but Christ. Christ is the mediator. Christ is the one who by his death, by the sacrifice of his life, has by his sacrifice reconciled sinful God to holy are sinful man to holy God and holy God to sinful man. The function, the ministry of the Messiah was to reconcile, and that reconciliation only takes through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. Through His mediation, there is a change of hostility to a friendly relationship between God and man, Through the work of Christ, alienation, alienation that exists between holy God and sinful man is dealt with. Reconciliation takes place as they come to trust in the Christ, the Messiah. And so, sinner, you settle it in your mind today once and for all that there is only one, one being. in the entire created universe who is competent to be the mediator between God and man, the only one who is competent to be the mediator between God and His offending subjects. And that is none other than Jesus Christ. And that is why I point you to Him today, to the Christ, to the Messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who alone is able to reconcile you to God. Andrew said to Simon Peter, his brother, we have found not a Messiah. He says we have found the Messiahs. We found the one long prophesied. We found the one who is contained and concealed in the Old Testament Scriptures. He has now come to manifest Himself in flesh, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Anointed One. He is the Prophet, Priest, and King of His people. And I have come to believe in Him. I have come to believe His Word as the Prophet. I have come to believe in His sacrifice as priest. I have come to submit myself to His reign of grace as king. And thank God, Peter too came to believe in the Christ. I wonder today, do you believe in Christ? Can you say with Andrew, we have found the Messiah? Have you found him in the gospel? Are you trusting him for salvation today? And if you are, let me ask you, are you doing what Andrew did? Are you seeking to introduce others to the Christ? Are you seeking to do that? May God help us all to do that. For in him alone is salvation to be found from our sin. We have found the Messiah, Jesus Christ. May God bless His word to our hearts. Let's bow our heads in prayer. I trust that over these weeks you are getting a more rounded, a more measured, a more balanced view of who Jesus Christ is. He's not just simply a good man, a moral teacher, but that He is the Son of Man. He is the Son of God. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust you know Him, and if not, that you'll call upon His name and be saved from your sin. Our gracious and loving Father, We come now to thee ever thankful for thy dear son. We rejoice in the Christ. We rejoice in the Messiah who has come to the world. While the Jews, they still await the Messiah. Their eyes are blinded to the fact that he has already come. We thank thee for many in this congregation who believe that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Christ. He is the one anointed to be the prophet and priest and king of his people. Oh, may we come to live under the light of this truth this day, and may we come to appreciate who Jesus truly is. May we not, Lord, be those who are ignorant of our Savior, but may we know more and more about him. God, as we thought about even in our prayer time, we often think, what's a good meeting? What's a good meeting? We often think a good meeting is where there's many people present. Some people think a good meeting is where the praise is full and joyous and enthusiastic and energetic. But surely the greatest meeting is where Christ is exalted. where the Savior is left at high, where He has spoken of, will help us to have meetings like that. May we come to love our Lord and Savior more and more. We offer prayer through the Savior's precious name.