we read from God's holy word. We're going to be in the book of Luke, chapter 7, and I'm going to read 18 through 30. Our lesson will be just the end of this, 24 through 30, but to give you some context, let's start in verse 18. Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things. And John called two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? When the men had come to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, Are you the coming one, or do we look for another? And that very hour he cured many of the infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits, and to many blind he gave sight. Jesus answered and said to them, Go, and tell John the things which you have seen and heard, that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of me." When the messengers of John had departed, he began to speak to the multitude concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who are in glorious apparel and live in luxury are in kings' courts. What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. When all the people heard him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him. May the Lord bless the reading of his word. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Our Father, as we come into this section today, I ask, Lord, that you would give me clarity of thought and of speech. Father, I know your word is profitable for all people. Lord, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Lord, for all teaching, it comes with your authority. And Father, I just ask that as we study it, Lord, that you would open my heart to your word, and you'd open each person's ears and mind. And Father, that we would see you for who you are. And Father, we ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Thank you. You may be seated. We've been working our way through Luke. Jesus has just taken the time to demonstrate to John's disciples his great power. We looked last week at how this was a witness and a proof that God gave to the people that he was working through Jesus. Jesus was the one. It was greater than just saying, yes, I am the one. It was a manifestation of something no one can fake. The ability to cleanse sin, the ability to cleanse a leper, and I point that word out again, the cleansing. Leprosy was almost a sign of sin. Sickness definitely a result of sin, but leprosy in particular seems to be a type of physical disease that mirrors a spiritual disease. and even the dead were raised, and sight given to the blind. If you think of all of these in the spiritual sense, there's a depth there of what you're seeing, of Christ's ability to give life to the dead, which he does to each one who comes to know him as their personal Savior. And as the disciples go back to John, he offers the gentle rebuke, and I've classified that. Some people don't think it was a rebuke, but I think there was a gentle rebuke in it. He says, and blessed is he who is not offended because of me. And he takes that rebuke and he opens it up to everyone who listens. It's blessed is he, not blessed is John, but blessed is the one, whoever listens to me and is not offended. And I shared with you last week how that application is probably the most staggering application I have probably ever preached on. Because how often and how easy is it to be offended by the words of God? We are offended by His doctrine. The doctrine of election, the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of man's sinfulness, so many things that God says, and it comes to us, thus saith the Lord, and we go, well, that can't be right. And we pull back. And this is, there's other things too, what he has done, how he chose to save. And we get offended by what God has said. And so the application is just, it literally pulls me apart and it still does, even today. And Christ is not done. You know, sometimes we read through these accounts and I'm guilty of this and maybe you're not and I pray you're not. But I am so guilty of reading through these on some morning with my day planned out ahead of me and I get through the account and my quiet time is over and I get up and it hasn't made it past my mind. You know, it never made it into the heart. And I read this and this whole week I have been looking at it and I'm going to admit I struggled with this one. And I think the reason I struggled is we have this statement about John being the greatest. And I would almost like to call for a show of hands. You can raise your hand if you feel like it. Who feels like they really understand that? Because I could not raise my hand to that. I could raise my hand and say, I believe that everything God says is true. Absolutely comfortable. John is the greatest of all the prophets, I'm there. Jesus said it, I believe it. That settled it for me, right? But why did he say it? What is the purpose behind it? What is the whole understanding of this? What's he mean when he gives us this introduction of what did you go out to see? You know, we're given three different choices, a reed, a rich man, soft apparel, and a prophet. And then we're given this explanation about the prophet. And I have struggled with it. And I listened and I had a couple of thoughts and even had it all worked out. And then this morning, I got a different opinion. God kind of opened it up. I don't know that it's anything special. I mean, I don't want to say I heard a voice, but all of a sudden I think I started to understand something I had missed. And I'd like to share it with you, and I want to start with this difficult passage. where he says, I say to you, among those born of women, this is verse 28, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And when you get to a passage and it has a difficult section in it, a verse or two that really, you go, boy, I don't get that. I want to encourage you to camp there, right? Start praying, start studying God's Word, start asking and beseeching the Lord to reveal what's in there because I'm going to tell you something, a secret. It's not a secret, but the truth probably. You will not understand that passage until you understand the difficult part. Until you can get it to agree with the rest of Scripture, and to see how it fits in there and to open it up, you're not gonna understand it. And I have come across a couple of these in the last couple of years. Romans 8 was one of them that has always challenged me and it's so clear, right? But after Romans 7, what's the tie? Well, Romans 8 is all about how God is the one doing the work. It's the sacrifice of Christ. There's no condemnation in Christ. It's the leading of the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit praying for us. It's Christ up in heaven making intercession for us. And it's the Father predestining us and conforming us to the image of his Son and holding us and keeping us. It's all about God. And that's where our salvation rests in. It doesn't rest in our own strength. It rests in God's strength. And you come to James, you have another one on the end of James, trying to understand the verse talking about healing. And it's not until you go back to James 4.1 and 5.1 that you're starting to see the sin in the church and the division that he's talking about. And you start to see that healing is about healing in the church. And that's why you come to the elders in the church and you make confession of your sin, because you've offended your brothers in the church. it's brought war within the church. So each of these ones that we found has had a... when you understand the section you didn't know, all of a sudden it becomes very clear. And I think this morning God gave me some insight on how to understand this and why we get it wrong. Let me make sure I don't leave my notes or it will get off. But I think the key to this is seeing this second line. We can take verse 28, the first half of this, and it's pretty simple. For I say to you, among those born of women, there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. And we go, okay, that's easy. I got that, right? That's somebody out there. He did a lot of good things. He followed the Lord. He was humble. We think of John 3 when he says, he must, it's not John 3, John 2, he must increase, but I must decrease. And boy, doesn't that hit my heart? I know I need that. And we got a lot of good lessons there. And then Jesus makes this but statement. And this is what gets us into all sorts of problems. He says, but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. He who is the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. And we have, We have the right answer. I mean, I thought about this. I thought, well, what is the answer I've always heard? And the answer is pretty simple. We say, well, we have the Holy Spirit and we have knowledge. And so we must be greater than John the Baptist. And we have the right things. But I'm gonna say this, and I tried to underline it, and I'm not seeing it, but we have the wrong application for it. We have the right things, the right reasons why we're greater, but we have the wrong application for it. Jesus, here we go, let me try this. What makes anyone great is not us. but our distance from God. I want you to think about that. What makes anyone great is not us, but our distance from God. I want you to think of us as reflectors of God's glory. And God's glory is described as light. It's seen as light when he comes down into the temple. It's described as light in 2 Corinthians 4, 6. And if you think of us as reflectors, you might have a small reflector and a large reflector. But a large reflector, someone who appears large and is far away from God, how much glory does he reflect? How strong is the light coming off of him? Not much. So you have an Elijah who stands on Mount Carmel and is a figure in history that makes you quake in your boots. who says, choose you this day whom you will serve. And that cry comes down through history. And you say, how can John the Baptist be greater than he? And the answer is, he's greater because he's closer to Christ. And he's the one who's pointing and he's saying, the kingdom of God has come, repent and believe the gospel. And as he points to Christ, because he's so much closer, the light that he is showing is thereby greater. It's a bright light. Even though in our humanness, we would look at Elijah standing on Mount Carmel, calling fire down from heaven, and we go, oh, it doesn't get any better than that. And truly, you know, I mean, I get goosebumps just thinking about Elijah on Mount Carmel. But God says John was greater. Why was he greater? He was greater because he was closer to God. And why are we greater? We are greater because we are closer to God as well. Even the least of the saints that has entered into the kingdom of God, been truly saved, is going to be closer than John was. He was still outside. He was still in the old covenant. He was still, it was this time of transition. I mean, just think of what Christ had, now this is, if you know, if you've got something right, you can go back and it fits into your context, right? If it doesn't agree with the context of what you're teaching, then there's a problem with your understanding of it. What did John just done? He had just sent to Christ saying, are you he or do we look for another? And the reason was he was thinking Christ was coming in vengeance. and going to bring in a perfect holiness, and instead Christ was coming as a sacrifice and an atonement for sin. He didn't understand that there were two comings of the Lord, a first coming where he came as the servant of Isaiah 40 through 48, and a second coming, it's actually beyond 48, up through 50 something, and then a second coming when he's gonna come as the returning king. at the end of time. And so John was hoping for the end-time Christ that would purify his people, save Israel, bring them to the Lord, you know, see sin taken out of the land. And when he didn't see Jesus coming, because he misunderstood that, he was in doubt. He had struggles. And yet we see Jesus can be gentle in his rebuke because even in his doubt, where did he come to? He came to Jesus. And he said, I know you're the one who came from God. Are you the one, the Messiah? And Jesus says, look at the proofs. Just look at the proofs. And he sends him back. And then he comes into this teaching. And he is showing that the closer we are to Jesus, the greater we are. And it's not because of us. It's because of the light of God's glory. And I want you to just, let's read two passages, and you know both of these, I think, but they're long sections. The first one's in 2 Corinthians 3, 9-18. 2 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 9. It says this, and this is a comparison between the law of Moses in Mount Sinai and Moses coming down with the Ten Commandments written on the tablets of stone. And you remember that there were people that were worshiping a golden calf and 3,000 of them died. That's the history of the old covenant. Christ is the new covenant. It says this, starting in verse 9, For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, when the law came, could the law save? No. All it could do is condemn. Thus saith the Lord, Thou shalt not. All it could do is condemn. If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels." In other words, even the glory of the old covenant. They came down from the mountain, he came into the tabernacle, the cloud filled the tabernacle. They couldn't even minister. Aaron's two sons offer strange fire before the Lord and because of the glory of the Lord, it comes out and it slays his two sons. And you go, wow, that's glorious. And Paul says, no, I mean, in comparison with the glory that came in the new covenant, this old covenant, it's nothing. Verse 11, for if what is passing away was glorious, if something that was temporary was glorious, what remains is much more glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech, unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. But their minds were blinded until this day. The same veil remains, unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their hearts. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. You even have the picture there of us as a mirror. We're looking into the Lord, but we all with an unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. We're seeing God for who he is in Christ. And we're seeing such a bigger picture of God. Listen to Galatians before we get to the second passage in Hebrews 10. If you want to read that up, let me just give you one from Galatians 4, 3 through 7, because this isn't about our glory, but the glory of the Lord in the new covenant. It says, Even so, when we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth His Spirit of His Son into your heart, crying out, Abba, Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. So we see here that the difference even between the Old Covenant and the New, the one was temporal and it was passing away. It was written on stone. The other is written on flesh. The one was a condemnation of death. The other is a ministry of life. Here, Galatians, it tells us we were slaves and now we are what? Sons, crying Abba Father. And then Hebrews 10, 11 through 21. talks about this new covenant as well. And it says, every priest stands ministering daily, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sin. This is the old covenant. But this man, Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. For that time, waiting till his enemies would be made his footstools, for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us, for after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them in those days, says the Lord, I will put my law into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them. Then he adds, their sin and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, with a full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. We who are far off have been brought near. See, that's where this glory comes from. That's why we're greater. It's not about anything in me, anything I have done. If I look and I lift myself up and I say, well, I am blessed, it's true. but it doesn't make me great. I have only received that blessing. Everything God gives us is in spite of who I am. I have earned none of it. And so to try to make ourselves understand and to say, well, we're greater than John the Baptist because I have done this, I have the Holy Spirit, and I have, and I have, and I have, the application has been wrong. I am greater than John the Baptist because I have been brought near passively. God has drawn me near to his side. And instead of the old covenant where the tax collector came and he stood outside the temple a long ways off and he looked down, he would not even lift his eyes to heaven and he said, have mercy on me a sinner. That's the old covenant. The condemnation came and sinners knew they could not even come into the court of the Lord. You remember the actual walls around the temple. There was a Gentile court on the outside and just a little bit closer in, the Jewish women had a spot. And then beyond that, the Jewish men had a spot. And each one of these were areas of greater and greater restriction. And then beyond that, only the Levites could go. And beyond that, the priests. And beyond that, the high priest alone could enter into the Holy of Holies. And even he could not enter in at will. He could only enter in once a year after making atonement for his own sins, then making atonement for the sins of the people. They were far off. And yet, as we come to the new covenant in Christ, we have been brought near. And we have been brought in until Hebrews 4.16 tells us we've come to the very throne room of God. Let us draw near that we might find mercy and obtain grace to help in time of need. We come boldly into the very throne room of God, crying, Abba, Father. This is why we are glorious. It's not because of what I've done. It's the position of where I'm standing, where I am. I am near to God. Imagine a king in his court and you have an ambassador or you have a herald. Let's use that instead. You have the herald that's sent out to the furthest reaches. He's glorious. He's the one who speaks for the king. But his glory is eclipsed by the one who stands in the door to the palace and declares the visitors who come into the king because he's closer to the king. And that herald's glory is further eclipsed by the son who comes in before the very throne room of God and says, Father, I need help. And when the Son steps forth, the whole court bows down. And that is who we have been united with in Jesus Christ. He sits at the right hand of the Father on his throne of glory, praying for you and I. And the reason we are glorious is not because of what I have, but because of where I am in Christ. and who Christ is. And when you understand that, you come back and you understand what Christ is asking. He says, who did you go out to see? Did you go out to see a reed in the wind? I went back and I looked up reed. I thought there must be something special about this word. There isn't. It's a very common term. It's used for anything that is just small and thin. Nothing special about it all. I think the key to understanding that is the wind. You know, in Ephesians 4, it talks about that God gave gifts to the church, pastors, teachers, evangelists, so that we would no longer be children tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of men. Did you go out to see a man who pleased you with his speech? A man who, when the wind blew to the right, he swayed. When the wind blew to the left, he swayed to the left. And the answers are resounding no. You went out to John the Baptist who decried, and you can look it up, both the Pharisees and the crowds got the same condemnation. You brood of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? This is not a man who tickled your ears. You did not go out to see a reed swaying in the wind. Then he says, how about someone in soft apparel? The old time apparel was very rough. Only those who were of the highest orders could have something that was soft and comfortable. Cotton was basically unknown. Only the kings would wear these soft gowns. And someone in soft apparel, even if he wasn't the king, he would be sitting in the king's palaces. He would be the rich man. And you would go to a rich man for advice, you know, and for help. You know, I need a loan. I need to know how to live my life. Did you go out to John to hear, you know, how to get rich? How to have your best life now? Is that what you went out for John for? No. The message was pretty clear. Repent or you will perish. The King is coming. Repent. So what did you go out to see? He says, you went out to see a prophet. And you know, you can just see the people sitting there going, amen. You went out to see a prophet. What's a prophet? The prophet, that term emphasizes that he speaks the Word of God. Not just a foretelling, a foretelling. What he says is the Word of God. It's coming out from the Lord. He's speaking the Lord's Word. You went out to hear a man who spoke for the Lord. He called for repentance. He called for a change in life. And then he says, I tell you, this is even greater than what you thought. This is greater than a prophet. And he takes us to Malachi 3. Let me just start at the end of 2, so you have the context of as he gets to 3, 1, where he's going to quote from, and I'm going to read it from Malachi 2, from the book of Malachi. And he says, you have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, in what way have we wearied him? In this you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them. The children of Israel had gotten to a point where they saw no difference between those who did evil and those who did good. They said, the Lord is so forgiving. I was listening to a message this week and I was appalled to hear of a movement called the Hyper Grace Movement among conservative evangelical Christians that say God is so loving and His grace is so great that even when you sin, you glorify God in your sin because of His forgiveness and His ability to cover your sin. And instead of calling men to repent and calling men to holiness, they're doing exactly what we read here today. The same thing that was happening in Israel is happening today right here in this nation. Let us sin that God may be glorified. They said, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delights in them. Or, where is your God of justice? Why doesn't God do something? And then it comes to verse one. Into that you have this. Behold, I send my messenger, John the Baptist, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple Even the messenger of the covenant. Now you think about the ministry of Christ and you think about what he did. One of the very first acts he did was come into Jerusalem and cleanse the temple. And one of the last acts he did before his crucifixion within the last couple of days on the last Sabbath before his death was what? He cleansed the temple. He is the messenger of the covenant, the new covenant. When we take of the Lord's table, he says, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. This new covenant in his blood. He says, he will prepare the way before me, the Lord whom you seek. Why was John greater than Elijah? Because he was nearer to the Lord, the one who was coming. It continues on, in whom you delight. Behold, he's coming, says the Lord of hosts. And then he continues on with verse two. And I just want to point this out because again, we see this near, far. Half of it is about Christ's first coming. Half of it is about His second coming. Second coming in verse two. But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? He will be like a refiner's fire and like a launderer's soap. John was waiting for this. Where is this vengeance, Lord? Where is the day of righteousness? And he missed that Christ was coming to establish this new covenant where He would take away our sins. So Christ is standing there and he's talking to the people. Who does John say that I am? He's a prophet. You should listen to him. He's the messenger. He's the one coming with the new covenant. Moses had prophesied that there was one coming like him, a type of Moses. Moses came with the old covenant. There would be another prophet that would come with the new covenant. Christ is pointing the people to who John is. Are you listening to him? Are you listening to him? I'm gonna stop there and just go into application. Does this fit, first of all, with the surrounding context in Luke? And the answer is yes, resoundingly. Christ came to save sinners. We needed something that would pay for our sins. Absolutely. He had just proved through the centurion's great faith, the centurion understood that if you had the authority to cast out the effects of sin, to raise the dead, you did not have to come and lay hands on somebody. You could speak the word only. And he had just showed it through the raising of the widow's son and giving life to the dead. And yet the Jews, they were there to listen, but they weren't there to follow. They were there to listen, but they weren't there to follow. Can you listen and not follow? Does that work? No. No, it does not. We're gonna get into the rebuke of the people that this brings next week when he says, you are like, what shall I liken the men of this generation to? What are they like? Verse 32. They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another. We have played the flute for you. You did not dance. That's what he's talking about. Application to the Jews. If you acknowledge John as his prophet, why are you not bowing to the authority of Jesus? They had missed the message of John, even though they understood and acknowledged him as a prophet of God. He spoke for God, but hold it. We don't want the words that he actually spoke. So Jesus' instruction, John was greater than all the prophets. He was the greatest. But thereby, because of this, woe to you if you do not hear what he is saying. Is there an application also to us? Oh, I fear there is. First of all, how is our focus? You know, my problem with understanding this verse is my focus has always been on I. I have more knowledge, I have received the Spirit. Instead of my focus being on the glory of God, God has brought me near. And now I am a reflection of His glory. And the reflection is greater than the reflection of John, and the reflection is greater than the reflection of the prophets. So if my focus is on me, then we're missing this teaching. We are. Any teaching that misses this emphasis on God and his glory is wrong. It might use only Bible verses, but they're taking out a context. They're taking out a context. You remember the four spiritual laws. God wants you to have a wonderful life and it goes immediately to the John 15 with the vines. I have come that you might have life and that you might have it abundantly. But it doesn't give us the context that that life is only found in when we abide in his words and he abides in us. You can't have a wonderful life outside of Christ. Any teaching that misses this emphasis on the glory of God is in error, even if the teaching is directly from Bible quotes. But if it turns us to looking at ourselves without God, we've missed something. Secondly, not just do I have to examine my heart to see if it's about me or about God, but why do we come to church? Let me ask you that in all honesty. Why do we come to church? Do we come to hear the opinions of men? And I know you're gonna say no, but I want you to think about this. Do we come to hear the opinions of men, the reeds that are blowing in the wind? You know, we blow to the right and we're all this way, and then we blow to the left and we're all that way, and we just get tossed to and fro. Do we come to hear that? How do you judge a church? Do you judge a church by how much truth you understand or do you judge a church by how it makes me feel? You know, we've become this consumer mentality with the church, have we not? Where we come to a church and we judge a church saying, well, I don't feel very good at that church. Does the church teach truth? Is that what we're looking for? Or are we looking for the wind and the swaying in the wind of men? I think in this church, we can honestly say no. I pray we can. I pray I'm not being swayed by the doctrines of men. Do we come to see someone in a suit, in a soft garment? Let me tell you how I had found success. Again, I pray that the answer is no. And we all could hopefully stand and say, well, you know, that's good for me. But, you know, we have to go on to the third lesson. There are those that came to John, even went through the baptism of John, and still denied Jesus Christ. Because they didn't like all that Jesus Christ said. They didn't. How often do people come to a church believing that they preach the gospel and the message of God, but they're unwilling to put God to the test, to obey it. And I pray you think about yourself in each one of these. I'm considering myself when I say these. Do we really yield to the message of God? Do we seek God? Do we look for him? You know, we want it to agree with us not to stand as it is the unchanging word of God that we must obey. Do we come to learn? Do we come to hear? Do we come to serve? Or do we come to be served? You know, and even in a good church, we have that same problem, that we can come, just like the people came before John. And it didn't do them any good to be there, it just added to their accountability. So when you look at this section, this is not about how you and I think of greatest, this is about who's been drawn closest to the Lord. We have a knowledge of God, and with that knowledge comes a greater accountability, that God has called us. We must answer and we must give an account for how we're gonna live our lives and how we when we stand before him. I Pray each one of you think about this Because Christ is just getting ready to get in and talk to the children of Israel. They acknowledge John as a prophet to the point that the Pharisees would be Afraid to answer Christ's question is if John's ministry was from God or from men if it was of God or of men Because the people all acknowledged him as a prophet. I mean, hey, he preached a hard message. But it was a message of God. But they did not let it change them. They did not let it change him. And that's the difference. When we come to Christ, we come to follow. We come to be a servant. We lay down our lives. We lay down our desires. And we can't be offended. You know, when Christ teaches us, we just say, yes, Lord, and we follow. And this is what Jesus is talking about. Have you acknowledged who Jesus Christ is? That he is the Son of God. When he speaks, he speaks with the authority that comes from the very throne room of God. Let's stand as we close in a word of prayer. Our Father, we come before you this evening or this morning, and we just ask that you would help each one of us, Lord, to understand your word. Lord, may we not be, it's so easy for us to be like others. to want to go with the flow. And Father, may we be called and put to the grindstone of your word. Lord, may it have its effect in washing us, purifying us. Lord, in making our conscience clear before you. Lord, may we be ready to lay aside every sin and the weight which does so easily beset us, and to run with patience the race that is set before us. Father, may we be true followers of you. I ask for this blessing to be upon each one who hears these words, and I ask for it in the name of your Son, who called sinners to come to him. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.