Please turn in your copies of God's Word to the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 13 and we'll read verses 10 to 21. Verse 10. Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hand on her, and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days to be healed and not on the Sabbath day. Then the Lord answered him. You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? As he said these things, all his adversaries were put to shame, and all the people rejoiced at the glory, all the glorious things that were done by him. He said, therefore, what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. And it grew and became a tree. And the birds of the air made nests in its branches. And again, he said, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. So ends the reading of God's word. Let us pray and ask the Lord to illuminate the text to our faith. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would help us to understand more of the kingdom we think of earlier in Luke when Jesus was said to rejoice in the Holy Spirit and pray to the Father, thanking you for revealing the kingdom to the disciples. And Lord, would you do this same joyful and glorious work even among us this morning, that you would reveal to us more of the kingdom and more of the King. who is Christ himself. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, have you ever found yourself captivated by stories from distant lands, their culture and their people? And being from Ireland, I'm often asked, well, what's it like there? What are the people like? What's the culture like? What's the weather like? What's the economy like? And so forth. When we hear about another country or we meet someone from another country, we're often very curious to want to know more. Well, what's it like there? You know, what are the people like? Tell me about some of the unusual customs. How, how is it different from where we're from? Well, Jesus has just come announcing the in breaking of his heavenly country into this world and into this dark age. And as we hear of, This kingdom, we're curious. We have the same sorts of questions. We want to know, well, what is it like? And so in our passage, Jesus gives us a presentation on his kingdom. He wants us to know what his kingdom is like. And so through several interactions and parables, he paints a vivid picture for us. Jesus shows us how the kingdom of heaven is a place of liberty. realm of salvation from bondage to the devil. True liberty is not found in sin or in living for what sin promises, but rather it's found in being released from sin to serve the living God. And yet as wonderful as this is, Jesus also shows us how the kingdom is opposed. and even how that opposition can come from those who claim to be within the kingdom. We see that in this image and vignette of the synagogue and this leaven of hypocrisy that has crept in and taken over. And yet, despite the challenges that come from opposition, Jesus assures us that the glory and growth of his kingdom, though usually imperceptible to our natural eyes, is assured. Christ's kingdom does not depend on what man does. It's not limited by the opposition of man or the expectations of man. Rather, it unfolds according to the sovereign workings of God, according to his promises. I know how we need to be reminded of this today as our faith is often so weak and how often we become misguided as we confuse the kingdom of this age and even our own nation with the kingdom of heaven. No, we need to be reminded of the liberty that Christ has won for us and of the promise that he is working in his church today, even in ways that may be imperceptible to us. And so in answer to the question, what is the kingdom of God like? Jesus shows us the freedom of Christ's kingdom, the opposition to Christ's kingdom, and the imperceptible glory of Christ's kingdom. So first we see the freedom of Christ's kingdom. Now as you remember, the broader context of the narrative here is that Jesus has set his face towards Jerusalem. That is his final destination. It's there that he told us that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. So that's where Jesus is headed. However, more recently, he's been delayed a little bit by crowds gathering around him, asking questions and so on. But now finally, in our passage, he's able to make some headway as he advances to the next town. And as is his usual practice, he visits the local synagogue on the Sabbath day and preaches there. as Luke tells us in verse 10. Now, he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. Again, as a reminder, the synagogue was the local meeting place for Jews where they worshiped the Lord on the Sabbath day. Remember, there were no sacrifices there or Levitical bands or instruments or those kinds of things. No, they focused on singing prayer and the preaching and reading of the word, much like in a new covenant worship service. So Jesus preached in this local synagogue, and perhaps it was the same message he has been preaching since chapter four of Luke, that message from Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And so, most likely, as he's preaching this gospel message of liberty to this whole congregation, one person in particular sticks out to him. Verse 11, and behold, there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit for 18 years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. So as Jesus is preaching of liberty and of the gospel, he sees this one woman who is bound, she's disabled, she's hunched over, she's not able to sit upright. This woman had been crippled for 18 years. You can't imagine how difficult that must be. Surely her disability affected everything in her life. Her ability to work, her ability to get around, Ability to sleep well at night was all affected by her chronic illness and pain, and anyone who's experienced anything like that can testify. Not only is it very physically debilitating, it can also be very discouraging. And not only that, but also from the context, it would seem that she was also ostracized from her community because of her ailment. The common thinking of the day was that if you have some kind of disability or you have some kind of sickness, well, you must have done something terrible to receive this. This is obviously some kind of judgment of God against you for what you did. And so they wondered in their minds, do you know what terrible thing she did? They asked questions like, who sinned, her or her parents? That's how people saw her. They assumed she had done something terrible. However, the unusual reference to 18 years of being crippled is a subtle reminder to the unusual number of the 18 who were crushed by the Tower of Siloam. And there, Jesus' point was these 18 who died didn't suffer as a result of sin. Likewise, this woman is not suffering as a result of sin or God's judgment on her. No, in fact, it's made explicit why she's suffering. Her disability is attributed to Satan's cruelty. Luke attributes her ailment to a disabling spirit in verse 11. And in verse 16, Jesus speaks of her being bound by the devil. No, this is not to lead us to think that all illness, just as all illness is not God's judgment against us personally for some sin we've committed, we must also not go to the extreme of thinking that all illness and all disability is some kind of satanic oppression. That would also be a mistake. Here, it is the case because we've been told that it is. So this woman, has been physically bound by Satan for 18 years. And really, this serves as a picture of how Satan holds all of fallen humanity in his grip. While we may not be physically bound or physically bent over as a result of Satan's oppression, this is true of what Satan has done to our souls and how sin has us in its grip and distorted us. For 18 years, Satan had bound this woman in a dungeon of death. It's like Hebrews 2, which speaks of those who are held through fear of death in lifelong slavery to the devil. And that's what bondage to sin is. It's slavery to the devil. It doesn't always seem that way. In the moment of sin, it can seem like the opposite. But it is bondage and slavery to the devil. The great allure of sin is that it presents itself to us as true freedom. The husband or wife who feels trapped in their boring marriage seeks to have more excitement and fulfillment through hooking up and meeting with people online. The young single man or woman is promised freedom from loneliness and giving in to some of the same sorts of sins. Sins of theft, greed, Envy, covetousness, promise us a life that is free from boredom and discontentment and poverty. Children, the sin of disobeying your parents leads you to think that you'll be free from someone bigger than you telling you what to do. In so many ways, sin promises us freedom if only we'll indulge in it, just like the sin of our first parents. Satan promised them freedom from God through sin. And yet what came through their sin was not freedom, but bondage. And since that sin, humanity has been bound to Satan's sin and death ever since. And however much it promises us freedom, we all know that sin is enslaving. It's enslaving. The more you tread the path to sin, the easier it becomes to the point where you almost feel bound to walk that path. Sin is enslaving. Sin is addictive. Even now, you may be nurturing a private sin in your life that you think nobody knows about. And at this time, perhaps you think that you have it under control and it's giving you a certain amount of freedom and prosperity in life. You think it's your pet. You think you have control over it. You have it on the leash. It's secure. But what you don't know, or at least what you don't realize, is that sin is powerful and sin is enslaving. And brother, sister, friend, what you need to beware of and be warned of is that if you treat sin this way, soon sin will have you on the leash with its hand gripping your throat. As Jesus said so clearly in John 834, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who makes a practice of sinning is a slave to sin. Sin is enslaving. And like with this woman whose body was distorted, so also sin distorts. Sin takes that which is good and that which is meant for good. and it distorts it into something that is not good. And if you've seen your own sin in light of God's law, you know this to be true. If you've honestly assessed the damage that your own sin has at times caused to others in relationships and whatnot, well then you know that sin is nothing to be smirked at. Sin is nothing to be treated lightly, but it is a darkness in which there is no light. Sin is enslaving, sin distorts, and sin disables. Fallen in Adam, our natures are corrupted and bound to sin and folly, and there is no way for us to free ourselves from this debilitating spiritual bondage. As it says in our catechism, without the saving work of God, we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all that is spiritually good. In other words, we cannot get rid of that back-bending burden of sin that has crippled us. But whatever the state of your soul this morning, whether you do not know Christ, but you would like to, or whether you are a believer wrestling with indwelling sin, the answer is always the same. It's always the same. True freedom is found in seeking Christ. in confessing your sin to him, in asking him for forgiveness, and seeking from his hand the grace of repentance. Christ is able to do for you what you cannot do for yourself. You cannot save yourself from sin's bondage. You cannot pay off your debt to the law that you incurred through your sin. You cannot unshackle yourself from sin's bonds. But Christ is able. He is able through his atoning death, and now the application of his work through the spirit, to save you from sin's bondage. He's able to break sin's chains. For he came to destroy Satan's kingdom. In the words of Hebrews 2. He came to destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. As you trust in him, he releases you from the dark domain of Satan. As Paul says, he transfers you from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the sun, the kingdom of light, where you can know true liberty. This is precisely what he did for this woman, as we see in verse 12. When Jesus saw her, he called her over, and he said to her, woman, you are freed from your disability. And he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she had glorified God. So we see Jesus laying his hands on this woman, as he always does, speaks that word of life to her, and immediately she's healed from her devilish disability, and she responds. Glorifying God. Well then, let all of us who have received this same grace of the Lord Jesus Christ respond as this woman does. Let us return to Christ the praise that he is due. Let us sing with the saints and angels and heavenly creatures from Revelation chapter four, all glory and honor to the King. Let us thank him. for saving us from the bondage of our sin, not only paying sin's debt, but then placing us as sons and daughters in his kingdom. In the words of Wesley's hymn, long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine I diffused, a quickening ray. I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free. I rose, went forth, and followed thee. So we see the freedom of Christ's kingdom. And typically, whenever Jesus manifests the kingdom in some kind of way, whether it's through miracles or teaching or some other way, we've come to expect in Luke's gospel some kind of satanic opposition. Well, where will that opposition come from this time? Will it come from the local authorities like Herod? Will it come from Pilate? Will Pilate strike again? Will more demons join the fray? Well, we may be surprised to find that opposition to the kingdom comes now from those who claim to be within the kingdom. In fact, those who claim to be teachers and elders of this local synagogue. This ruler is essentially like an elder in the church. And look at his outburst in verse 14. But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. Notice several things with me. Notice how angry he is. Luke tells us he's indignant, he's furious with Jesus. Well, what terrible thing has Jesus done to incur the anger and wrath of this man? He healed someone on the Sabbath. Well, according to this ruler, Jesus did something that should not have been done. Notice also that the ruler doesn't actually quote any scripture. Now, he appeals in a general way to the law of the Sabbath, but makes no specific reference. And that's because there is no reference to what he is trying to accuse Jesus of. There is nothing in the Mosaic law that says you can't or shouldn't help someone or heal someone on the Sabbath. He doesn't quote scripture. Instead, what he quotes essentially is his own tradition of what ought to be done. In other words, he's angry with Jesus, not because Jesus broke God's word, but because Jesus broke his word. He broke man's traditions. Notice also that the ruler doesn't actually speak to Jesus at all, but he gets up and he speaks to the congregation. He said to the people. By speaking to the people and not to Jesus, well, he's trying to publicly shame Jesus. The ruler explicitly commands the congregation not to come for healing on the Sabbath because that is not what should be done. In effect, he's identifying Jesus as a false teacher and a false worker, one who twists the scripture and whose work is sin. Keep away from this guy, so he says. Well, this is awkward. What is Jesus to do at this point? Well, I suppose the good Christian thing for Jesus to do is to maybe just leave, not to ruffle any feathers, or maybe just to sit down and be quiet for the sake of the peace of the congregation. No, that's not what our Lord does. Jesus instead addresses their hypocrisy head on. He rebukes them in verse 15, saying, you hypocrites, The you there is plural. So yes, Jesus is primarily addressing the ruler, but he's also addressing the congregation who, at some level, have been complicit in this hypocrisy. Next, Jesus makes his argument for why they are hypocrites and why his teaching is correct. He says, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And what not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for 18 years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? So Jesus is arguing from the lesser to the greater. All the Jews knew that it was consistent with the Sabbath law to take care of your animals. None of them in that synagogue would have let their animal go hungry or thirsty or keep them tied up on the Sabbath day. No, they'd take care of their donkey. They'd lead the donkey to water. They'd give it a scratch behind the ear. They'd take care of their animals. To do anything less would be cruel. And so Jesus' argument is, You take care of your donkey on the Sabbath. You loose him, you water him, you care for him, you give him what he needs. How much more does this woman deserve your care and your compassion and your love? Jesus essentially is accusing them of treating this woman worse than their donkeys. Whereas they see this woman as less than an animal, someone who's not only burdened, but probably even a burden on them. Jesus calls her a daughter of Abraham. In other words, this is a woman of faith. This is one who's following in the footsteps of Abraham. And if an animal of all things is to be loosed from its rope, how much more fitting that this woman of faith, this daughter of Abraham, is loosed from the cruel chains of Satan. Well, we see the response to Jesus' rebuke in verse 17. As he said these things, all of his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. So the first response is the adversaries, the leader. The leader who had tried to shame Jesus by essentially calling him a false teacher and a false worker is himself shamed. He's shown to be the false teacher and the hypocrite. The other response is the people. The people recognize that Jesus has done a wonderful thing. They recognize that Jesus is rightly interpreting the scriptures and they rejoice at the glorious things Jesus had done. This language of glorious things is language that we've sung already in the service. It's used throughout the Old Testament and the Psalms to speak of God's glorious work in the Exodus when God gloriously led Israel out of bondage and slavery to Egypt and brought them out that they might serve the living God. And so by identifying Jesus' work here as glorious things being done, They're identifying Jesus as the one who is bringing, as he said in his own words, the second exodus. Well, in Jesus' rebuke, we have another reminder of one of the themes that comes up again and again and again and again in the Gospel of Luke. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. In order to beware of hypocrisy, we need to know what it looks like. And here we see that religious hypocrisy always has at least two ingredients. Legalism and a lack of love. Legalism and a lack of love. We see the ruler's legalism first in how he binds the conscience of the congregation, not to God's word, which he does have the authority to do, but to his own man-made traditions. Now tradition, of course, can be a very good thing. As a church, we have many traditions. Whether we stand or sit for a hymn, whether we stand or sit for the preaching of the word, that's a tradition. Whether we sing the words of a hymn from memory, from a bulletin, from a bound hymnal, from a projector screen, again, that's tradition. Churches do different things. One isn't right and one isn't wrong. Even on a Lord's Day, we do all three of those things, depending on the venue. We have freedom to do those things, and which we choose is a matter of tradition. However, tradition becomes a bad thing, and a dangerous thing, and something that's fatal to the faith, when it's placed above Scripture, and when it's used to bind the consciences of believers, and it's used as a stick to beat believers. If there's a tradition that can't be questioned and has no basis in scripture and is treated as sacred as one of the Ten Commandments, well then there's a good chance that we've done exactly what this elder is doing. We've elevated that tradition above scripture. There's legalism. The other ingredient to religious hypocrisy is a lack of love. This elder is willing to uphold, again, not scripture, we must uphold scripture, we must uphold the truth of scripture. This elder is willing to uphold his man-made traditions to the detriment of those who are suffering in his congregation. In other words, policy over people is the telltale sign of a lack of love and of religious hypocrisy. Recall Jesus' words against the Pharisees and the lawyers who load heavy burdens on the backs of the people and yet will not lift a finger to help. These are the men who carefully tie a tenth of their little herbs from their herb gardens growing on their windowsills, and yet they neglect the weightier matters of the law, like love for God and love for their neighbor. Well, this man clearly does not love the people in his congregation, he does not love this woman, and he does not love Christ. And dear church, these are not your pastor's words. These are Jesus' words given first to his disciples and now given to you again. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy, which as we see so easily creeps in and like leaven works among us. It creeps into our hearts and we need to be aware of it. Why? because Jesus told us to. Hypocrisy is antithetical to the kingdom and therefore let us as a church continually examine our own practices and policies and expectations of others and be willing to repent if error is revealed. Let us also examine our own hearts as individuals, that we may not allow this leaven of hypocrisy to creep into our own souls, that we might not give into legalism and a pride that looks down on others. Instead, may we be filled with Christ, that we may share his same zeal for the law of God and also his same love for the people of God. Well, we've seen the freedom of Christ's kingdom. We've also seen opposition to his kingdom. And Christ, in dealing with both of these things, left the people rejoicing in the glorious things that Christ had done. They even compare what he just did before their eyes with the glorious works of the Exodus. And that's appropriate. However, Jesus also wants them to remember that this picture of glory that they see now with their eyes will not be the ordinary experience of the believer. Jesus wants us to know that his kingdom, though present and active in the world, won't always appear very glorious. And so third, we'll consider the imperceptible glory of Christ's kingdom. Well, in response to the marveling of the congregation over glorious things done by Jesus, Jesus says in verse 18, what is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made their nests in its branches. So Jesus says, let me tell you something about the kingdom. And then he compares the kingdom to something not very glorious at all. A little seed, a mustard seed at that. Now a mustard seed was a common seed that one planted, and as it grew, it could grow into a large plant, maybe two meters high at most. The mustard seed does not grow into a tree or anything near the height of a tree. And yet Jesus says that this kingdom mustard seed will one day be a tree that's big enough to house all of the birds and the animals of the planet. What is Jesus talking about? Well, Jesus is alluding to Old Testament imagery that we saw earlier in Ezekiel 17 and Daniel 4 of God's kingdom one day being a tree that will reach into the heavens, filling the whole earth. This tree will cover all of creation with its shade and provide life and sustenance to all things. So the kingdom of God that appears small and weak now to our eyes, will one day be a tree whose branches reach to the heavens, whose roots fill and encompass the earth, whose leaves will give shade to every living thing. It's a picture of the new heavens and the new earth. Well, next, he compares the kingdom to Levin in verse 20. And again, he said, to what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it was all leavened. Now, leaven is a common metaphor for Jesus to use. Sometimes he uses it in a positive way and sometimes in a more negative way. Obviously, the leaven of the Pharisees is a negative example. Here, it's positive. Leaven, as a reminder, is a kind of yeast that leavens bread dough and causes it to rise. And the main imagery of leaven is twofold. Leaven works imperceptibly. You can't see it at work. It works behind the scenes. It works slowly. But it also works powerfully. Just a pinch of leaven can leaven a whole batch. If you've ever made bread or beer or wine, you know that just a pinch of leaven can cause so much to happen within the thing that you're making. So it works powerfully, it works imperceptibly. And in Jesus' parable, the woman puts just a pinch of leaven into her dough, and the end result is enough dough to make 54 large loaves of bread. What's the point? Well, the point is that the kingdom starts out small, like a mustard seed, and yet what is small now will grow and one day be a tree that fills the world. And the kingdom is like that dough with a pinch of leaven. You can't always see what's happening, but the leaven is working and it will result in a mountain of bread. From our vantage point as the church, we will only ever see the lump of dough. We will only ever see at most the seed as it goes in the ground or the small little shoots coming up. Not until Jesus returns will we see that massive cedar tree or that pile of loaves. Why do we need to be taught this by Jesus? Well, we need this truth because like the people of Jesus' day, we tend to expect the kingdom to be a little bit more glorious than it seems to be. We expect the kingdom to be a bit more impressive and powerful by man's standards. This misguided expectation of a visibly glorious kingdom leads some people to confuse Christ's kingdom, his redemptive kingdom, with the common kingdom of this world. And so they measure the progress of Christ's redemptive kingdoms with things like election cycles, and what happens in the news, and who takes the position of POTUS, and who sits on SCOTUS. When their man gets elected, their hopes soar. When he falls in the ratings and the approval rating drops, they despair. But Jesus says, my kingdom is not of this world. Do not confuse my kingdom. with the Roman Empire, or the American Empire, or any common kingdom on earth. No, Jesus says, my kingdom is like a mustard seed. It's not going to look very impressive, at least now, at least not according to the world's standards. This misguided expectation of a visibly glorious kingdom can lead to another mistake. It leads some to misunderstand how the kingdom grows. Some people identify real kingdom growth with a concept that came about in the 18th century called revival. The idea is that if God is really working, then whole towns are going to be swept up in some kind of pietistic fever and zeal. And then our nation will return to being a Christian nation here on earth. And then we won't have to live like pilgrims and exiles because we'll all be Christians. And until God brings revival, well, then the church is really just treading water, plodding along. What we're waiting for is the Holy Spirit to really work in and through the church. Is that how the kingdom grows? Is that what Christ has promised us? No. Christ tells us that his kingdom is like leaven in dough. It works slowly. It works imperceptibly in ways that are not terribly glorious. But it is working. That's the point. It is working and his kingdom is advancing. Yes, one day, one day the kingdom will appear to your eyes as a tree that fills the world. Yes, one day you'll see that bakery full of bread. but today is not that day. For now, it is a seed that is growing, and it is like leaven working, unseen in the dough. And beloved, this is good news, and this is comfort for your faith that is so often tossed about by things that happen in the local church, things that happen in the church more broadly, things that happen on the news, as we experience the ups and downs We see good things that happen, we see people come to faith, and yet we also see others who fall away. We rejoice as we see churches planted and missionaries sent, but then we see whole denominations drift into theological error. As you look at your own sanctification, at times it can feel like one step forward, two steps back. You're discouraged that you're not further along and you're wondering, have you been forgotten by God? Or are you missing some kind of secret ingredient, some secret aspect of piety that will unlock the next level of sanctification? Whenever you get discouraged, remember that at this point in redemptive history, the kingdom is not a global tree. It's a seed. It's not a pile of loaves. It's a lump of dough. But that seed is growing, and that dough is being leavened. The work of Christ in our lives and in the church is not always easy to see, but do not be dismayed. Christ has already freed you from the prison house of death. He has released you from bondage to Satan, sin, and death, and he gives you the promise of Philippians 1.6. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion, when? At the day of Jesus Christ. God doesn't promise some spectacular and climactic spiritual moment that will supercharge your sanctification forever. What he does promise to bless, and what he calls you, dear believer, to commit yourself to, is the ordinary routine means of grace, the preaching of the gospel and the administration of baptism and the Lord's Supper. This is what we're called to. This is what we're called to give ourselves to. This Sunday, the next Sunday, the Sunday after that, the Sunday after that, until you die. This is the ordinary pattern of the Christian life, and this is the means he uses. Through preaching, he is saving sinners and growing his kingdom. And through the word and sacrament ministry, he is growing you. Don't think for a minute that God is holding out on his church or on you and that only if you work harder or if you find out some new pietistic ritual, then he'll really bless you with some kind of revival fever. No. It's as you commit yourself to the ordinary means of grace, those things that Paul says looks like foolishness to the world and sadly look foolish to much of those who confess to be the church. But as you commit yourselves to the things that Christ has promised to bless, He is working, however slow, however imperceptibly. Christ, by his grace, is at work, and he's growing you, and he promises to be with you, and he will raise you on the last day. Now is not the time of sight. Now is the time of faith. By faith, we trust in promises yet unseen. By faith, we wait as servants, expecting the return of our master, who, when he returns, will feast with us and fellowship with us. And on that day, our faith will become sight. And then we will more fully behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, even as we sang of your saints of old who you preserved through the wilderness by giving them manna from heaven, we thank you for the manna you've given us this morning. And we thank you as we gather once again this evening to feast from your word that you would continue to nourish us. through the ordinary things that look like foolishness to our unbelieving neighbors, and yet to us it is the aroma of life, it is the wisdom of Christ himself. Lord, feed us now and keep us, preserve us, even to the end as we keep our eyes fixed upon Christ. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.