The Local Christendom Podcast with Aaron Ventura

Distinction & Adornment Sunday, September 13th, 2026 Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Genesis 1:1–19 Prayer O Lord our Lord, How excellent is thy name in all the earth! Who hast set thy glory above the heavens. As we hear Your word preached now, we ask that You would teach us in the secret place of the heart, please pierce, divide, discern our spirit and our soul, so that we may be adorned with the beautiful light of Jesus. We ask for Your Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Well this is our third sermon in our series entitled The Builder of All Things is God. And thus far we have established that Jesus Christ is the Creator and the Redeemer of the world. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, and it is His handiwork that is manifest in Creation and Redemption. Jesus is the focal point, the center and consummation of human history, and as Paul says in Colossians 1:16-19, For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell. So the glory of Jesus, as He reveals to us the Triune God, is what all creation and redemption is ordered towards. And yet as marvelous as these twin works of creation and redemption are, what is more marvelous still, is that Jesus invites us to participate with Him in His work. Jesus calls to himself disciples, so that they can be taught, catechized, trained up, and sent out to gather in a harvest of souls for the Master’s use. Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew 9:37-38, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. So if Christ Covenant Church is the Master’s House, God’s Holy Sanctuary, then what is the field we are to labor in? It is Centralia, Chehalis, Olympia, Lewis and Thurston County, or wherever it is that you may find yourself. The whole world is God’s field, today is the day of salvation, and it is our privilege to go out and gather in sheaves for our master to sort through. It says in Psalm 24, The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein.And so now is the time for people to repent and to believe, because it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment (Hebrews 9:27). So this is the work we are called to as God’s instruments, as God’s people, as God’s witnesses. We are to testify to the perfect life of Jesus, his atoning death, and justifying resurrection. We speak outwardly and God works inwardly. We point to the cross and empty tomb, and God makes effectual in people’s hearts the reality of those events. This is the most exciting vocation (the heavenly calling) that all the saints are called to. You are to bear witness to Jesus through living a holy life, and by demonstrating a faith that works by love. This is how God builds up, multiplies, and beautifies the church. We are His House. Now last Sunday we began to survey this Creation account in Genesis 1. And remember that whenever you read or hear these opening chapters of Scripture,you are receiving directly from God what He wants you to know about your origin, your heritage, and your place in the world. The Bible is the memory that God wants you to have. Of all the possible stories, images, and memories you may retain, Scripture is the inspired memory, the inspired history, that God wants you to store up and treasure to meditate upon. This is in part because your mind and your memory needs to be purified. Your mind must be purged, cleansed, and made holy for God to dwell there. Paul says in Romans 12:2, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. So when God’s Word, God’s Story, becomes your memory and meditation, your soul will start to reflect more and more the image of the Trinity in whose likeness you were made. We are told in Genesis 1:27, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And last week we said that sin shattered that image, but Christ is now picking up the pieces, Jesus is remaking us, reforging us, into something beautiful, as stained-glass windows of the saints and their heroic deeds which shine in God’s Holy Sanctuary. You are a living and breathing icon of the Trinity, though we are all very much still works in progress. But what will forward and accelerate that progress, is you learning how to become an imitator of God as His dearly beloved son or daughter. That is what we are doing in this series as we look at how God builds things. Recall the main principle we are drawing upon: In the Bible, buildings represent people, and people are God’s special building. So if you are called to imitate, and reflect, and cooperate with God in how He builds up the church, there is much we can learn here from the very first work of the Divine Artist, and that is what Genesis 1 and 2 presents for us. Outline of the Sermon So this morning I want to highlight just three of the patterns that are embedded here in Genesis 1, and then explore in depth this week and next, one pattern in particular, which is that of God Dividing and Adorning His Creation. What are some of the patterns you will find in Genesis 1:1-2:3? 1. First there is The Seven-Day Pattern of work and rest. God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. And that reality becomes the basis for what we now call the week. We observe from this seven-day pattern that God is the Lord of time, the Lord of the calendar, the Lord of numbers, the Lord of mathematics, God’s work is orderly, numerical, and He likes to count things. All this we find in Genesis 1. God especially likes this pattern of six days of work, followed by 1 day of rest. He also builds into each day a rhythm of light and darkness, and this helps define the boundaries of when most people can work (assuming they don’t have artificial light), and when most people should sleep. Jesus says in John 9:4-5 after he works a miracle of healing a blind man on the sabbath, I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. So Jesus picks up on this rhythm of work and rest, light and darkness, day and night, and he uses it teach us about who He is (the light of the world), and what He has come to do for blind sinners (namely, heal them from the effects of sin and death). Another observation we could make about this seven-day pattern, is that whereas modern people usually talk about trying to find the right “work/life balance.” The Bible teaches a work/rest balance. According to Genesis 1-2, work is good, God works, and man was created to work six days and rest on the seventh. And that is the ideal work/rest balance. So work is not opposed to life, or at least should not be. Work is what we live to do on six days, and then we rest from that work on the seventh day. In Exodus 20, when God gives the Ten Commandments, He grounds the logic of the 4th commandment, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy, in this seven-day pattern of Creation. He says in Exodus 20:11, For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. So part of your work of imitating God, is to observe this pattern of six days of good, honest, beautiful labor, followed by 1 day of rest for corporate worship. If we studied this topic in greater depth as Scripture develops, we would also see that all our work is to be ordered towards offering it up to God on the seventh day. We see this reflected in the Mosaic law with regular tithes, offerings, and sacrifices on the sabbath day. It is also punctuated at various worship festivals (First fruits in Spring, Pentecost at the end of spring, Feast of Booths in Autumn). The entire Hebrew calendar was structured around offering worship to God, according to His provision of food from the earth at certain harvest times, and also God’s works of redemption as at Passover, and the Feast of Purim. So the point of work, is not merely to feed our mouths and clothe our bodies, and keep a roof over our heads, it is ultimately for the joy of contemplating God’s goodness, working with what He has given us, so that we can offer it back to Him more beautiful and glorified than before. Moreover, the Lord’s Day, the Christian Sabbath, is a miniature judgment day. It is practice for the day of final judgment. Every Sunday, we come into worship, and God examines our works from the last week, and He either approves of them, or disapproves of them. He either accepts them or rejects them, depending on the heart and spirit from which our works were done. Recall what Hebrews 11 says about the difference between Cain’s offering and Abel’s offering. Both men offered a sacrifice to God from the works of their hands, and it says in Hebrews 11:4, By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. So every Lord’s Day is a judgment day for the Christian. And you are to examine the works of your hands lest you offer to God strange fire, or a vain sacrifice, or come under the condemnation of Matthew 15:8 where Jesus says, These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. Just as God judged His own work of Creation, calling it good, and then very good, so also God shall judge you. For as it says in Ecclesiastes 12:14, For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. And this leads us to a second pattern we find in Genesis 1, and that is this pattern of God… 2. Creating, Judging, and then Naming what he made. God creates something by the Word of His power, he then looks at it and renders some judgment, and then he names it. For example, consider the work of the first day in Genesis 1:3-5, And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. [Creation] And God saw the light, that it was good, [Judgment] and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night [Naming]. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Over and over again, God creates, judges, and then names what he made. And in Genesis 2 we see that this pattern is given for Adam to do as God’s image and representative. It says in Genesis 2:18-20, And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. So the order of Creation is that God names Adam (Gen. 5:2), and then Adam names the animals. And this is part of what it means it be made in the image of God. We are meant to make things, judge them, and name them. Whereas only God can create out of nothing, mankind can still make new things from the pre-existing materials God has given us. And indeed, God wants us to do this. He wants humanity to go out and cultivate the whole world, to overcome the thorns and the thistles, and to turn creation into a Garden City. This is the fundamental task of Genesis 1:28, which sin has only made more difficult. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. We learn much more about this task in Genesis 2. So God created trees so that we could build furniture. God created iron, bronze, silver, and gold in the mountains, so we could build tools, and then with those tools make jewelry, musical instruments, airplanes and computers. We mix things together, put them in fire, and re-arrange what God created, and then we look at what we have made, judge it, and name it. We are doing this all the time as image bearers of God, even unconsciously so. For example, a woman goes to her garden, she picks some tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos, and some herbs. She separates them with a knife on her cutting board, she mixes them together, adds some salt, and then tastes to see whether what she has made is good, or bad, mild or spicy. And if what she makes is very good, she might write down that recipe and name it, “Mama’s Best Garden Salsa.” You were made in God’s image to cultivate, steward, beautify and exercise dominion over some small sphere of creation. And when done for the glory of God, when done from a thankful heart, God delights in, accepts, and blesses your work. And so as Christians we want to become more conscious and aware of bringing our ways into greater conformity to God’s ways. That’s what Scripture helps us do. It gives us all these Divine Patterns to imitate. It tells us what God likes and dislikes. We look out at Creation and see that God paints with a wide pallet of colors. He likes blue, He likes green, He likes dotting the fields with wildflowers. God is neither a minimalist, nor a hoarder. He likes symmetry, harmony, and a unified diversity. He wants everything we make and do to have an intelligible order behind it. If God has so finely tuned the universe, with its seasons, and rhythms, and all for His glory, then we have work to do conform to that order. Scripture tells us that because of sin, our tastes and judgments, our likes and dislikes, are often out of step with what God says is good. And so we want to be growing as a church in our knowledge of what pleases God, so that we can love what God loves and hate what God hates. Moreover, because God created the world and everything in it, that meansthere is a real and objective standard to beauty, goodness, order, proportion, and all the rest. And so are we learning to notice and see God’s artistry and wisdom, and reflect that in our own little sphere? 3. Now the third pattern I want to highlight, and which we will explore in greater detail next week, is God’s work of Dividing and Adorning His Creation. Of dividing we see that on Days 1-4, God makes a separation, a distinction between two things. On Day 1, God divides/separates light from darkness. On Day 2, God divides/separates, the waters below from the waters above. He sets a firmament in between them called Heaven. On Day 3, God gathers up the waters below so that dry land can appear, and He thereby distinguishesthe Seas from the Land. And then He adorns that land by clothing it with grass, vegetation and fruit trees. On Day 4, God starts to adorn the firmament with chandeliers of light, and he does this by placing the Sun, Moon, and Stars in the heaven. It says in Genesis 1:14, And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. And so now God is using these ornaments of light to divide time into days, seasons, and years. We should also note here that if Sun, Moon, and Stars  were not created until Day 4, then some other light was shining on Days 1-3 to divide the light from the darkness, and to distinguish day from night. What was that light? John 1 tells us it was Jesus, according to His divinity. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not… He was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world (John 1:1-5, 9). So the Sun is not the ultimate source of light for the earth, Jesus is. And we are told in Revelation 21-22, that in the New Heavens and New Earth there is no need for the light of the sun anymore because Jesus lives there. It says in Revelation 21:23-25, And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And in Revelation 22:3-5 it says, And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. Conclusion The work of Creation in Genesis 1 is what Jesus transforms and glorifies by His death and resurrection. In between Genesis 1 and Revelation 22, is our Fall into sin, our descent into darkness, and the story of how God takes evil and works it for good. This is the gospel story. This is the greatest of all Divine Patterns. That the Creator God would come down to us, that He suffered and died in our humanity, and that because of His voluntary humiliation, He was raised up to glory above the heavens. Jesus did this all of this to raise you from the dead, to raise you up to glory, to separate you from all that is evil and dark, and to adorn you with light as a garment. For as it says Ephesians 2:6-7, He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And so may God seal up this word in your heart, together with His kindness, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Divine Architect Sunday, September 6th, 2026 Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Genesis 1:1–2:3 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the gift of life, the gift of creation, we thank You for the traces and reflections of Your beauty, wisdom, and goodness, that surrounds us every day. We praise You most of all for the gift of spiritual life, of regeneration by grace, and we ask that You would make us to praise You now more fervently, with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love one another, even as we have been loved by You. We ask for Your Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last week we began a new series entitled The Builder of All Things is God. And we considered from Hebrews 3:1-6, how Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our profession of faith, and He is also the Twofold Creator of the people of God. Jesus is the Creator of all that is, and He is also the special Creator, the Author and Founder of the church, the saints, his mystical body, the holy brethren who are partakers of the heavenly calling. It says in Hebrew 3:6, But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And so as we prepare ourselves to move from our current location here on Seward Avenue, to a much larger building in Chehalis, RE Bennett, it is not enough for us to just get the building repaired, renovated, and eventually beautified, it is infinitely more important that our souls are improved in the process, that our hearts are enlarged with thanksgiving and charity, and that we are dwelling in unity and peace together. It would be a great shame for us to inherit so large and glorious a space as REB, with its 42,000 square feet of rooms to get lost in, but to be a cranky, complaining, stingy-hearted people as a result. It took the nation of Israel about five minutes in the promised land to forget that God brought them there out of slavery in Egypt. And it would be just as easy for us to forget, that just five years ago, we were a little church plant, meeting in the Ford’s Prairie Grange, with about 60 people. And now we are three time that. Look at what God has done to us and for us in His mercy. It would be both easy and shameful for us to so soon forget the grace of God that brought us here. How He provided $600,000 for us to buy this Seward Avenue property from Calvary Chapel, and how gracious they were to carry the note for us. It would be easy to forget all the labors of our deacons and volunteers, and the many thankless jobs they did and still do to make Sundays happen. Not to mention all the work that went into starting Christ the King Academy. Mary Doelman wrote a book about how the school started, and do you know what the opening lines of that book are? “To God be the Glory! Great things He Has Done! Let us never take credit for what God has done. He is made strong in our weakness and whatever we humbly have to offer, He can use for His purposes.” And so I exhort you people of God, do not forget the grace that brought you here. Do not forget to honor those fathers and mothers whose labors of love we now presently enjoy the fruits of. And consider now your own duty, the duty of piety, to pass on to the next generation something even better than what we have received. Consider it your duty as Paul says in Romans 13:8, to Owe no man any thing, but to love one another. And therefore, from love and a generous heart, to freely give what you have freely received. This is the banner of love, of thanksgiving that must fly over all our works in this season and in every season. And so resolve in yourself to become this living and loving sacrifice unto God. For then we will not squander His lavish blessings. So that is an exhortation for all of us to keep in mind. Now the principle that undergirds this whole sermon series is this: In the Bible, buildings represent people (both individually and corporately), and the church is God’s special building. Buildings represent people, and the people of God are God’s special building. This the principle and theme that we will return to again and again in this series, and it is one of the most important themes to understand Holy Scripture, because it ties Genesis and Revelation together. History begins in a Garden and it ends in a Garden City. History begins with a marriage and a home for Adam and Eve in communion with God, and history ends with a marriage and a home for Christ and His Church. History begins with Mankind being given dominion over the earth, and history ends with Christ exercising dominion over heaven and earth and all that is therein, together with His saints. And so everything in between Genesis and Revelation, is just unfolding this theme of Creation, Fall, and Redemption unto Glory. What is the ultimate message of the Bible? It is about God’s desire to dwell with humanity in the most intimate and spiritual union. This is the logic of the Incarnation of the Son of God, and it is what all creation is ordered towards. As it says in Romans 11:36, For from him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. So what is Creation? For starters, it is the beautiful stage upon which the glory of Jesus is revealed. Creation is the first work of the Divine Artist, the Triune God, and it teaches us many things about our God, ourselves, and our relationship to one another. And so this morning as we begin to survey Genesis 1-2, I want to highlight just three truths about Creation, and all of them relate to the question: How Does God Build Things? If the world is God’s handiwork, His painting, His building, what can we learn about the Divine architect and His artistry? Here are the three truths we will consider this morning (and we’ll have more to cover next week): 1. Creation is a work of the Trinity. 2. Creation is a gift. 3. Creation is from nothing. Creation is a work of the Triune God, it is a gift, and it is from nothing. So starting in verses 1-2, let us consider Creation as a work of the Trinity. Verses 1-2 – Truth #1: Creation is a work of the Trinity 1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. We heard earlier in the service from Proverbs 8, and Colossians 1, that Christ is the wisdom of God, through which all things were made. And when we put all the passages of Scripture together that speak of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are forced to conclude that all three persons are the One God, and because they share the same Divine Nature, therefore they are inseparable in their work. Jesus will say in John 5:17, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” And then John tells us in verse 18, Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. And then in verses 19-21 it says, Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. And so this is just one of many instances where the Father and the Son are said to work in tandem, and we find the same to be said of the Holy Spirit. For example, in Job 33:4 it says, The Spirit of God hath made me, And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. And in Psalm 104:30 it says, Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: And thou renewest the face of the earth. And so in the Nicene Creed we confess this truth, I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And then we confess that Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God…by whom all things were made…And then we say that the Holy Spirit is, the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. So all three persons of the Trinity are involved in creating the world, and therefore all creation bears the traces of the Trinity, even as a man leaves his footprint in the sand. The footprint tells you that a man was there, but it does not tell you who that man is, or what his name is, so also with the God. It is not until Christ, that the mystery of the Trinity is made explicit for all to believe. However, we do find this reality implicitly contained in the words of Genesis 1, verse 26. It says there, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So while all creation is a work of the Triune God and bears the traces of the Trinity, mankind is a very unique and special work, in that he is made in the image and likeness of the Trinity. What is this image and likeness of the Triune God within us? It is what separates us from all the plants and the animals, the fish and the birds, namely that mankind alone has a body united to a spiritual soul. You are an immortal being. You are going to live forever, either in communion with the Triune God, or out of fellowship with the One who created you. As beautiful and glorious as the unfallen creation was, the sun, moon, and stars, the mountains, and oceans and rivers and trees (a world without weeds).None of it compares with the beauty of the human person, when they are in fellowship with God. However, at the same time, nothing is more ugly and devilish, than a human person who has rejected God, and is at war with Him.   And so do not neglect what is immortal within you. Your spiritual soul, which is made in the image of the Trinity. In Genesis 3 that image was shattered by sin. But Jesus Christ has come to remake you, as it says in Colossians 3:10, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. So you can think of Creation as God fashioning each person to be a unique beautiful stained-glass window within His sanctuary (created to reflect His glory in a particular way). The fall shattered us, but Christ comes and picks up the pieces, places us in the fire, and forges us back together. And then one day, on the day of final judgment, the pure light of God shall radiate in our souls and overflow into our resurrected body. This life is the forge, the furnace of affliction, to make us worthy of God after our fall into sin. Beloved you were made in the image of the Triune Creator. You were made for fellowship with God and all the saints in light. Are you living right now like that is true? The second truth we must consider is that Creation is a gift. Truth #2: Creation is a Gift The Apostle Paul says to the idolatrous Athenians in Acts 17:24-25, God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things. This truth of Creation as gift, means that every creature is born with an infinite debt of gratitude to the God who gave them their existence. In order to understand just how gratuitous, gracious, the gift of creation is, we need to do a little theology to remember who God is in His very nature. Do you remember the name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush? Moses asks God, “what shall I say to Israel when they ask me, who sent you?” We read in Exodus 3:14, And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Isn’t this is a strange name. I AM. Some other translations go with, HE WHO IS, or I AM WHO I AM. In the book of Revelation this special name of God is expounded upon when Jesus says, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. And in Revelation 4:8, the four beasts with six wings are found praising God day and night saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. This is the inspired praise of the One who calls Himself, I AM THAT I AM. Now this special name of God,I AM is a reference to God’s timeless eternity, and His fullness of being. In theology we consider this name, HE WHO IS, or I AM THAT I AM, the most proper and unique name of God that is ever given in Scripture. And what is contained within this name is the fact that God is very fullness of being. Meaning God does not need you. God is altogether perfect, unchangeable, happy in Himself. God is all sufficient, independent, without lack, without body, parts, or passions, God is a perfect unity of pure actuality. So however great and perfect your conception of God may be, God infinitely surpasses it. This is who God is, the great I AM. Just as a worm cannot comprehend the love and joy of human marriage, so also mankind cannot comprehend the perfect being that God is in Himself. And so when you consider who God is, and that He has zero need for anyone or anything, we are forced to conclude that the reason God created the world, was not because He was bored or lonely, but simply because He is so Good, He wanted to express and share that Goodness with His creation. Creation is pure gift. And that means that very fact of your existence, is a result of God’s love, wisdom, and abundant goodness. Moreover, God tells us in His Word, why He created us. It says in Proverbs 16:4, The Lord hath made all things for himself. And in Isaiahs 43:7 He says, Bring my sons from far, And my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: For I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. So your existence is a gift of God, for which you ought always to give Him thanks? You could have not been, but I AM chose to make you for His glory and good pleasure, and to share that good pleasure with you. This brings us to our third and final truth that we will consider this morning, and that is… Truth #3: Creation is from nothing. It says in Hebrews 11:3, By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. So unlike all the other creation myths, where the world is formed from cosmic violence, or chaos, or from some battle between rival gods, the biblical account of Creation is unique, in that One God created from nothing all that is, and everything that He created He called good. Whereas you and I cannot make anything unless we have some materials to work with. God gives existence to matter and form, to what is physical and tangible, and to what is spiritual and intellectual. God created what is visible and invisible, all of it came from the voice of I AM. This is what creation is: the eternal God speaking into existence that which did not exist. And this includes creating time itself. Our time is not God’s time. God is above time. God’s eternity is without beginning, without end, and without succession or change in between. The classic definition of God’s eternity is, the simultaneously-whole and perfect possession of interminable life And so from God’s eternity, it pleased Him to create time, motion, change, sun and moon, night and day, and all as gifts for our journey towards communion with Him. This is the wonder and mystery of creation. The unchangeable and eternal God created the world from nothing, without any change to Himself. As He says in Malachi 3:6, I am the Lord, I change not. Creation is therefore nothing less, than a relation of absolute dependence upon God. The Apostle Paul reflects on this truth in various places. He says in Colossians 1:17, of Christ, according to His divine nature,  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And likewise in Hebrews 1:3, it says God is, upholding all things by the word of his power. So everything that you can see, think, imagine, visible and invisible, from insects to the angelic hosts, if it has existence, it has existence from the God who is existence. Whose name He declares is I AM THAT I AM. This is how Paul could say to the Athenians in Acts 17:28, For in him we live, and move, and have our being. And so regardless of whether you are an unbeliever or a believer today, you cannot escape your dependence upon God. You are living in God’s world, as God’s creature, and it is God who is personally giving you your existence right now. And no one can cut the cord of that relationship however hard you may try. So what should you do instead? You should worship and thank your Creator, and more than that You should askGod to be Your Redeemer and Savior as well. Conclusion These three truths about Creation, that it is a work of the Trinity, that it is gratuitous, and that it is from nothing, are also true about how God saves you. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6-7, For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. This is to say that Creation is the pattern for your New Creation in Christ. Where sin has darkened your mind, God speaks the light of truth. Where evil has corrupted your heart, the blood of Jesus washes you clean. Where you are deserving of eternal punishment for your sins, Christ came down from heaven, suffered for your sins, to forgive you and give you eternal life with Him. For as great and marvelous as Creation is, Salvation far exceeds it. And so may you come to know Jesus today as your Creator and Redeemer, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Builder of All Things is God Sunday, August 30th, 2026 Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Hebrews 3:1–6 Prayer O Father for too long we have gone our own way, we have wandered from You like lost sheep. We have done our own will, rather than submitting to Your will. Please forgive all our evil choices, our foolish timing, our impatience and ingratitude with Your Kind and Wise Providence. As we hear Your word preached now, we ask that you would give us ears to hear, and a heart to love You as You deserve to be loved. We ask for Your Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction This morning we are pressing pause on our series in the Gospel of Luke. And for the next three months or so, I am going to be preaching on the theme of God Building His People. The title of this series is also the title of this morning’s sermon and that is: The Builder of All Things is God. As most of you know, on Novembers 1st, Lord willing, we will be moving from this building to a new building, or rather a very old building. On Novembers 1st, we will say goodbye to this wonderful location here on Seward Avenue, and we will relocate to the building presently known as RE Bennett. And so while there is a ton of good work being done there throughout the week, and even more work still to be done to prepare that building for us and Christ the King Academy, it would be the easiest thing in the world, to become a kind of Martha in this season, when Jesus wants us to be Mary. What do I mean by that? Well recall that Martha and Mary are both disciples of Jesus and close friends with him. Jesus famously raised their brother Lazarus from the dead. And in Luke 10:38-42 we read this, Now it came to pass, as they went, that [Jesus] entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. But Martha was distracted about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art worried and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Do you know the one thing needful for you? Do you know what is most important in life right now, and in every season? Because according to Jesus, the one thing needful that Mary has chosen, is to sit as Jesus’ feet, and hear His word. What is the point of having a bigger building? Is it to give us more work and bills to be worried about? Is it just to keep us busy? Or is it so that we can have more room for more people to come in and sit at Jesus feet and hear His Word preached? Isn’t that what the church is for? Worshipping the Triune God, proclaiming the gospel, teaching Divine Truth. This is the one thing that Jesus says is most needful for us, because by it we obtain the salvation of our souls. What does Jesus say to Peter three times in a row in John 21? If you love Me, feed My sheep. What does the Apostle Paul say to Timothy in his final letter to him? I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And so if my whole life as your pastor is to be taken up with this ministry of preaching the Word to you, well then your whole life is to be taken up with hearing, obeying, and applying this Word to your life and duties. The dishes need to be done. Laundry needs to be folded. Bills need to be paid. But what good is any of that work if it is done from a grumbling heart, or a discontented spirit? Everything we do is worthless if the grace of God is not animating us.This is the difference between Martha and Mary. So long before any of us forms an opinion about the color of the carpet in REB, or the paint on the walls, or the missing ceiling tiles, or the holes where the birds have made their nests, we must resolve to be a church that is hungry for God, hoping in His promises, zealous to see ourselves and our neighbors converted to the adoration of Jesus Christ, regardless of where we are. So how zealous are you for the salvation of your own soul? How much attention are you giving to knowing your own sins and growing in God? Martha was a true disciple; she really did love Jesus. But O how easy it was for her to complain to Jesus about her sister. Martha is busy. And busy-ness is good, but not when it is the busy-ness of an anxious and worried spirit. Mary is busy too. But she is busy with the contemplation of Divine things. She is busy with trying to obtain at all costs the peace that Christ alone can give. Mary is busy learning and worshipping at Jesus’ footstool. And Jesus says to Martha, Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. So it is this good part, the good portion, the good gospel and Word of Jesus, that I want to keep before your eyes amidst all the busy-ness and labor ahead. There is much good work to be done. There are many good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). But none of them will actually be good works, if we are not good, if we are not sanctified and walking in love together. And so here in our text, of Hebrews 3:1-6, we have a fresh opportunity to hear about the greatness of Christ. For here the Apostle Paul extols the supremacy of Christ above Moses. Moses was a great man, even the meekest man on earth in his day. And yet Jesus far surpasses Moses in many ways. And so as we unfold this theme, that The Builder of All Things is God, let us first consider that Builder Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ. Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 1-5 we are told Why Jesus is So Great. And then in verse 6, we are told How We Can Become and Remain a House for Jesus. Why is Jesus so great? How can we become and remain Jesus’ house. Verse 1 – Why is Jesus so great? 1Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; First note the audience Paul is addressing. He is writing specifically to Hebrew Christians. These are people who were familiar with the Old Testament law, but who do not yet understand how Jesus fulfills and surpasses all the types and shadows in the law. And so Paul writes them this 13-chapter meditation on how and why Jesus is greater than everyone else, and especially why His priesthood, His Apostleship, and His person, is better than every priest, king, and prophet in the Old Testament. And so he opens this chapter by calling them,holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. This is another way of calling them saints and family members in the kingdom of God. When Jesus saves a person, He saves them into a new family, a new body, a new community and household of faith. And that is what the church is here on earth. Once you are baptized, you are now related to every other person that is also in Christ. And it does not matter if you like those people or not. You are now family, Jesus says you must now learn to live at peace with them. Moreover, this relationship goes both ways. You have to love and tolerate them and their quirks and their sins, and they have to deal with you. And so much of the New Testament is taken up with Jesus teaching us how to live as members of one another. God does not save individuals to leave them on their own. God saves us into a community of faith. And so here Paul reminds the Hebrew Christians of their new identity. Who are we? Who is Christ Covenant Church? We are holy brethren, and partakers of the heavenly calling. And that is a very high calling to live up to. How do we do this? Well, the next thing Paul tells us to do is consider something, that is think, ponder, observe, contemplate, go on a walk and consider this: consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; This is where all wisdom and godliness finds its source, thinking about Jesus. Who is Jesus? First, He is the capital A, Apostle, The Messenger of God. Jesus is the Eternal Word in whom all truth is found. Whereas Moses was a human messenger, delivering the law from Sinai, Jesus is the Author of all Scripture according to his divine nature, and then according to his earthly ministry, He is the Apostle of Grace and Forgiveness. It says in John 1:17-18, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. So Jesus has more than propositional truth to reveal (He has that), but He also has a new law of love to inscribe upon the heart. Whereas Moses could only teach the law outwardly to stony and rebellious hearts, Jesus has the power to go inside a person, cut out their heart of stone, give them a new heart, and make them want to keep the law. This is the New Covenant of which Ezekiel prophesied. Jesus is the Apostle who is sent from the Father to indwell the saints by His Spirit. Moses could never do that. No mere human being could ever do that. But Jesus the Divine Apostle has done that for all the saints. As Paul says in Ephesians 3:17, May God grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And in Hebrews 13:5 it says, Let your life be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. This is the Apostolic mission of Jesus, He is sent from the Father to be the very life of our souls. Second, Jesus is also our High Priest. That is, Jesus is our mediator, our go-between. Jesus represents us before God, and Jesus is God for us. St. Augustine says of Christ’s high priesthood, “Four things are to be observed in every sacrifice—to whom it is offered, by whom it is offered, what is offered, and for whom it is offered. The same one true Mediator reconciling us to God by the sacrifice of peace, was one with Him to Whom it was offered, united in Himself those for whom He offered it, at the same time offered it Himself, and was Himself that which He offered.” In other words, Jesus is the God to whom all sacrifice is offered, He is the priest who offers it, He is the offering, and He it offers Himself up for us. Later in Hebrews Paul will explain some of the benefits of having Jesus as our High Priest. Amongst such benefits is the assurance that no matter how much you have sinned, no matter how much evil you have done, no matter how foolishly you have acted, God is willing to forgive you, if you repent and confess your sins to Him. It says in Hebrews 4:13-16, And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of Grace and Truth. And so whenever you fall short of the glory of God, whenever you fall short of the high and heavenly calling by which you are called, come to Jesus and come boldly to Jesus, because He already knows your sins. You cannot surprise Him with the contents of your confession. He is in heaven, just waiting for you to confess what He already knows you did. And He wants to forgive you. He wants to give you His mercy and grace to help you in time of need. Now so often God’s mercy comes to us in the form of painful discipline. But the pain of God’s discipline is infinitely less than the pains of eternal punishment, and that’s why we call it mercy. For indeed it is to save us from eternal punishment that God treats as His sons and makes us to suffer some temporal losses and pains. It says in Hebrews 12:6-11, For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So as you consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of your profession, consider also all the good that He is working for you and in you. Not only by the many blessings He gives in hearing and answering your prayers, but also in disciplining you, so that you may share in His holiness. Now in verses 2-5, we see that Jesus is the one who builds us up as His House. Paul says… Verses 1b-5 – Jesus is the God Who Builds consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. 4For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; So here we see that Jesus is the Divine builder of everything that is. If the world is a neighborhood, Jesus is the one who built that neighborhood. And if Jesus is the one who built the world, how much honor and glory does Jesus deserve? Well Paul goes a step further here and identifies the people of God, the saints, the church, as the particular house in which Moses was a faithful servant, but in which and over which Jesus is Son and Builder. Jesus is a Son over His own house. All human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, all human beings have sinned and defaced that image of God in themselves, and so the church is God’s remodel project. The church is God’s special house, who Jesus is rebuilding, renovating, expanding, and recreating by His sanctifying grace. And because of this twofold creation, the church owes to Jesus a two-fold honor. We honor Jesus as our Creator, and we honor Jesus is our Redeemer/Savior. Now there is great comfort in knowing that Jesus is the owner and builder of the church. Because what do you take better care of? The rental car, or the car you own? What you do invest your time, energy, and resources in, your neighbor’s house, or your own? Well, when it comes to the church, Jesus is both owner and inhabitant. He is both landlord, and resident. Jesus lives in the house, in the people He has built, and therefore He is jealous and attentive to take care of it. We are told in Ephesians 5 that Jesus cares for the church as man cares for his own body. It says in Ephesians 5:25-30, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. So Christ’s love for the church is manifest in how He seeks your purity, your holiness, your cleansing and glorification. Where there are blemishes and sins, Jesus wants them removed. Where there are spots and wrinkles, Jesus wants a white robe of justice and truth. Where there is the ugliness of pride and perversity, Jesus wants the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. This is what it means to be the House God built, and the House in which the Holy God desires to dwell. It says in 1 Peter 1:15-16, But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” Notice it does not say be holy some of the time, in some of your conduct, when you’re in a good mood. No, be holy in all your conduct. Sunday to Sunday, Sunrise to Sunrise. Live like God in all your living. So what is your vocation, what is your work, and have you sanctified your labor and your leisure to the Lord? If your work is lawful, then it can become holy. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:4-5, For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. So if you are a farmer, God says be a holy farmer. If you are a student, God says be a holy student. If you are a mother a homemaker, God says be a holy homemaker. Whatever your trade, whatever you stage in life, if you are a Christian, you are the one who has the Holy God within you, and by offering all your conduct in thanksgiving to God, that work becomes holy work. The perpetual refrain of a holy soul is thanks be to God. Finally, in verse 6, Paul exhorts to us persevere in the faith. Life is hard, life is painful, and so perseverance is most necessary for you to remain as God’s House, to remain within the Church. He says… Verse 6 – How do we become and remain a house for Jesus? 6But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Notice that the church here is called a house, and not a tent. Tents are temporary dwelling places, they might be fun for a weekend, but a house is meant to be a permanent living space. Well, when Christ founded the church upon His own sacrificial blood, He made us into His spiritual house. And that means, He wants to live permanently inside of us, and therefore we need to be permanent in our faith. And so against the many fears and sorrows of this life, we must hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. This means trusting less and less in yourself, and more and more in the power of God. This means hoping less and less for mere temporal goods, and more and more for eternal goods. This means self-denial, mortification, taking up the cross and doing what is honorable even when it hurts. We are God’s House, but we are not the foundation of the House, thanks be to God. We would have cracked and broken a long time ago. Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. Jesus is the foundation upon which all our faith and hope and rejoicing rests. Jesus rose triumphant over the grace, and He is the living stone upon which we as living stones are built. Conclusion It says in 1 Peter 2:4-5, Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And so I charge you Christ Covenant Church, consider Jesus. When you are shaken, He is firm. When you are uncertain, He is confident. When you are fearful, He is joyful. For He is the one who has suffered everything for the sake of love. Jesus is the one who died to the world to save the world. Jesus knows what death tastes like, and he swallowed it up by His glorious resurrection. Jesus knows you and loves you, and calls you to trust Him, because the builder of all things is God. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Love & Forgiveness Sunday, August 23rd, 2026 Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 7:36–50 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the gift of faith that works by love. We ask that you would teach us to adore Your Son more fervently, with all the affection, sacrifice, and honor that is due to Him. For we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He has authority to forgive our sins, and that upon the cross He died to cancel our debts, and reconcile us to You and to one another. Make this work of reconciliation more abundant in our midst, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last week we heard how Jesus divided the crowds by extolling the greatness of John the Baptist. It says in Luke 3:3 that John came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and in Luke 7:29-30 it says, And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. So there is a growing divide in Israel between these two classes of people: 1) there are sinners who justify God, and 2) there are sinners who justify themselves. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but not all are convinced of this. All are sinners, but not all agree with Jesus about the extent and degree to which they have sinned. And so here in our text, Luke narrates a story that further illustrates this great difference among sinners. For here we have a woman, whose reputation is such that she is simply called a sinner, and then we have Simon the Pharisee. And the question that hangs over this whole narrative is: Which kind of sinner are you? What kind of debtor are you in relation to God? How great is your debt to Divine Justice, and do you have sufficient funds to pay God back? This is what Jesus wants you to consider this morning, and so let us pay heed to His Word. Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 36-39, we have a contrast between Love and Contempt, The Woman and the Pharisee. And then in verses 40-50, Jesus gives The Parable of Two Debtors, and he does this to explain the spiritual status of each of these two people. So first a contrast between Love and Contempt, and then an explanation from Christ for why one person loves, and another does not. Verse 36 36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. First recall the context. Jesus has just criticized the Pharisees for criticizing him. He says in the verses immediately prior, verses 33-35, For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children. So lest anyone thinks that Jesus is unwilling to dine with the Pharisees, here he accepts an invitation to do so, and this is the first of three scenes in Luke where Jesus dines with a Pharisee. So Jesus goes to the Pharisee’s house, and he reclines at table to eat. Now in the ancient world, the line between public life and private life was quite a bit different than how we live today. And we see that here in verses 37-38, where it is known in the city where Jesus is eating. And by the fact that a woman was able to just show up, come in, and then do what she does. Verses 37-38 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now however different our social customs might be from the 1st century,this is still an awkward moment for any dinner party. Just imagine if you are the host. You have invited this man Jesus to your house along with other guests, you have all sat down to eat, and then this woman comes in, crying, weeping, so much so that she can wash Jesus’ feet with her tears. That’s a lot of tears. And then in case you were not uncomfortable already, she lets down her hair, and starts wiping his feet it, and then she starts kissing his feet. She takes her alabaster box of ointment and pours it on his feet. If you were the host, what would you do? What would you say? What would you think? Well in verse 39 we are told what Simon the Pharisee thinks. Verse 39 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Now it is this internal dialogue, that reveals the condition of Simon’s heart. Jesus says in Mark 7:21-23, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. So as pure as Simon the Pharisee thinks he is, as a religious man, the thoughts of his heart expose that he is actually defiled with sin, with evil, with pride. Notice the two judgments Simon makes in his heart, and also notice how both of them are false. The first judgment is about Jesus. This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Simon presumes to judge Jesus, as if Jesus were less than a prophet, because Simon thinks that Jesus does not know who this woman is. And that’s false assumption number 1. The truth is, Jesus is God. Jesus knows all things. Jesus knows who this woman is. Jesus even knows what Simon is presently thinking. The second false judgement Simon makes is about the woman. Simon judges her are as a sinner, but as we will see later on, this woman is a forgiven sinner, a former sinner, a sinner whose debt has been canceled, and whose life has been transferred to a state of grace. This woman is actually in the eyes of God no longer a sinner but a saint. We could also tack on a third false judgment, and that is that Simon assumes Jesus would not touch a sinner. When in reality, this is exactly what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to touch sinners so that his purity could be transferred to them. Jesus came to touch the untouchable, so he could make them lovable. Whereas man only loves what he esteems as good, God’s love is what actually make things good. And Jesus is that good God who has done this for this woman. So Simon is only judging by outward appearances, or by the rumors he has heard. And all those false assumptions come together and blind him to the truth. Simon cannot see that God-in-the-flesh is sitting at his dining table. The one who created the stars and the galaxies, the forests and the seas, is eating in front of him. Simon is also blind to the spiritual condition of this woman, and that if he were to see into her heart, and could behold the purity and beauty of Jesus within it, that it would put his own heart to shame. Or as C.S. Lewis says in the Weight of Glory: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.” Simon has judged this woman a horror, when in fact, God has made her into an everlasting splendor. Of course, all of these false judgments proceed from a false heart. Simon is self-deceived. Simon is dead in his sins. And worst of all, Simon has yet to admit it. How does Jesus evangelize Simon here? How does he preach the gospel to him? Well, he does this by a parable, a question, and a loving rebuke. First the parable. Verses 40-43 – The Parable of Two Debtors 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly (graciously) forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. So notice that for all of those false judgments hidden in Simon’s heart, Jesus now gives him an opportunity to make a right judgment, and that publicly. Jesus is drawing Simon out. He describes a scenario where there is a creditor and two debtors. And in this parable the creditor represents God, and the debtors represent two sinners. One debtor owes 500 pence/denarii, which is about 500 days’ worth of wages. Or, about a year and half salary. And the other debtor owes 50 pence/denarii, so about 50 days’ worth of wages. And while the difference between the two debts is significant, it hardly matters to the debtors since Jesus says, neither of them can pay. And so the creditor graciously chooses to forgive both the debts. Both sinners could not pay the Creditor back, both sinners are forgiven, now which one do you think will love the Creditor more? Simon knows the math, and as a Pharisee he would have known the Old Testament law fairly well, which has plenty to say about debts and slavery, lending and forgiveness. And yet the answer to the question seems so simple, so obvious, it’s as if he wonders that Jesus should even ask him. What is he getting at? With some hesitancy Simon answers, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And [Jesus] said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. So notice the wisdom of Jesus in evangelism. He starts with the knowledge that Simon presently has, and he gives him a story to help him get a little distance from his own self-deceit. And then once Simon affirms a true principle, he acknowledges the proportional relationship between love and forgiveness, then Jesus cuts to the heart. And here he does that with a searching question: Verse 44a – The Question 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? Think about this question. Has Simon seen this woman? In one sense, yes, and in another sense no. Simon has seen her and judged her a sinner, when in reality what is happening before his eyes, is the parable of the two debtors. Here is a woman who loves much because she has been forgiven much. Does Simon see that? At present he does not, and this is why Jesus then gives him a loving rebuke. Verses 44b-47 – The Loving Rebuke I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. So notice the comparison here. It is between the woman who has been forgiven for many sins, and Simon. And so when we map them onto the parable, Jesus is saying, this woman is the one who owed 500 pence, and was forgiven, and now look at how much she loves me. But where are you in the parable Simon? The person who was forgiven 50 pence should still show some amount of love towards the Creditor. But you have shown me no love, no water, no kiss, no oil. Even those common courtesies of hospitality have not been shown to Jesus. And so what does that say about you? The are really only two answers a person can give to this question: Either Simon thinks he has no debts to pay to God. Or, that he has the means to pay those debts off. In either case, Simon is sorely mistaken both about Divine Justice, and about Divine Mercy. For as it says in Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no way for anyone to pay back to God the debt of sin. It is far too much, and we less than nothing to pay with. Forgiveness must be asked for, and it must be received as gift. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:9, [Salvation is] Not of works, lest any man should boast. And then once that grace of forgiveness has been received, we become a new kind of debtor to God, we now owe Him the happy debt of infinite love, of infinite gratitude, of everlasting praise, and worship. These are all due to God according to His very nature as Goodness, and they are doubly due for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. And so the point of Jesus teaching here is that: where there is no love, there has not been forgiveness. And to the degree to which you know the debt of sin that has been canceled, in that proportion your love for God shall be. So dear brothers, dear sisters, do you know your debts to God? Have you forgotten all the sins that Jesus died to cancel and forgive? And are you loving God and loving one another in a manner that is commensurate with that great debt you were forgiven? Jesus says, you love in proportion to the debt forgiven. And so how much love for Jesus do you have? Finally, Jesus vindicates the woman, and her lavish expression of love. And he does this by giving her the words of absolution, or what we call in our liturgy, the Assurance of Pardon. Verses 48-50 – Absolution 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. So to you who are burdened and weighed down with the debt of your sins. Put your faith in Jesus today, ask him to forgive you for everything (sins known and unknown), and to help you see everything that needs forgiving. It says in 1 John 1:8-9, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Today can be the day that Jesus says to you these most precious words, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. This is the whole purpose for which the Son of God became incarnate. To save us from our sins. And to you have been forgiven, that is most of you here, Don’t you feel the poverty of your love in comparison with this woman? Are you not ashamed of how little your love for Jesus is, compared with the debt He has remitted? If so, take this woman’s example with you this week. All of us should blush at how ungrateful, blind, and unloving we have been, given the debt that God has cancelled. And so lest become like Simon the Pharisee, go home and do what this woman does. Wash your eyes with the tears of repentance, thanksgiving, and devotion. Wash the feet of Jesus, and kiss them, for they are the beautiful feet of which the Isaiah 52:7 speaks, How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” These are the beautiful feet, that were nailed to the cross, so that your debt might be erased. And so do what it says in Psalm 99:5, Exalt ye the Lord our God, And worship at his footstool; For he is holy. Let down your hair, that is your crown of glory (whatever you most esteem about yourself), and cast it before the King of Kings. Take what is precious to you, the alabaster box of ointment, the oil of your affections, and pour them out upon Jesus. At it says in Psalm 62:8, Trust in him at all times; ye people, Pour out your heart before him. And when you have given to Jesus your everything, truly, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then the words of Song of Solomon 4:10 come to pass, where the Bridegroom says to his Bride (the forgiven church), How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments than all spices! May God grant you to know and experience the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Love & Forgiveness Sunday, August 23rd, 2026 Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA   Luke 7:36–50 36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.   Prayer O Father, we thank You for the gift of faith that works by love. We ask that you would teach us to adore Your Son more fervently, with all the affection, sacrifice, and honor that is due to Him. For we believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He has authority to forgive our sins, and that upon the cross He died to cancel our debts, and reconcile us to You and to one another. Make this work of reconciliation more abundant in our midst, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.   Introduction Last week we heard how Jesus divided the crowds by extolling the greatness of John the Baptist. It says in Luke 3:3 that John came preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and in Luke 7:29-30 it says, And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him. So there is a growing divide in Israel between these two classes of people: 1) there are sinners who justify God, and 2) there are sinners who justify themselves. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), but not all are convinced of this. All are sinners, but not all agree with Jesus about the extent and degree to which they have sinned. And so here in our text, Luke narrates a story that further illustrates this great difference among sinners. For here we have a woman, whose reputation is such that she is simply called a sinner, and then we have Simon the Pharisee. And the question that hangs over this whole narrative is: Which kind of sinner are you? What kind of debtor are you in relation to God? How great is your debt to Divine Justice, and do you have sufficient funds to pay God back? This is what Jesus wants you to consider this morning, and so let us pay heed to His Word.   Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 36-39, we have a contrast between Love and Contempt, The Woman and the Pharisee. And then in verses 40-50, Jesus gives The Parable of Two Debtors, and he does this to explain the spiritual status of each of these two people. So first a contrast between Love and Contempt, and then an explanation from Christ for why one person loves, and another does not.   Verse 36 36And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to meat. First recall the context. Jesus has just criticized the Pharisees for criticizing him. He says in the verses immediately prior, verses 33-35, For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified of all her children. So lest anyone thinks that Jesus is unwilling to dine with the Pharisees, here he accepts an invitation to do so, and this is the first of three scenes in Luke where Jesus dines with a Pharisee. So Jesus goes to the Pharisee’s house, and he reclines at table to eat. Now in the ancient world, the line between public life and private life was quite a bit different than how we live today. And we see that here in verses 37-38, where it is known in the city where Jesus is eating. And by the fact that a woman was able to just show up, come in, and then do what she does.   Verses 37-38 37And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, 38And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now however different our social customs might be from the 1st century, this is still an awkward moment for any dinner party. Just imagine if you are the host. You have invited this man Jesus to your house along with other guests, you have all sat down to eat, and then this woman comes in, crying, weeping, so much so that she can wash Jesus’ feet with her tears. That’s a lot of tears. And then in case you were not uncomfortable already, she lets down her hair, and starts wiping his feet it, and then she starts kissing his feet. She takes her alabaster box of ointment and pours it on his feet. If you were the host, what would you do? What would you say? What would you think? Well in verse 39 we are told what Simon the Pharisee thinks.   Verse 39 39Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Now it is this internal dialogue, that reveals the condition of Simon’s heart. Jesus says in Mark 7:21-23, For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. So as pure as Simon the Pharisee thinks he is, as a religious man, the thoughts of his heart expose that he is actually defiled with sin, with evil, with pride. Notice the two judgments Simon makes in his heart, and also notice how both of them are false. The first judgment is about Jesus. This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheth him: for she is a sinner. Simon presumes to judge Jesus, as if Jesus were less than a prophet, because Simon thinks that Jesus does not know who this woman is. And that’s false assumption number 1. The truth is, Jesus is God. Jesus knows all things. Jesus knows who this woman is. Jesus even knows what Simon is presently thinking. The second false judgement Simon makes is about the woman. Simon judges her are as a sinner, but as we will see later on, this woman is a forgiven sinner, a former sinner, a sinner whose debt has been canceled, and whose life has been transferred to a state of grace. This woman is actually in the eyes of God no longer a sinner but a saint. We could also tack on a third false judgment, and that is that Simon assumes Jesus would not touch a sinner. When in reality, this is exactly what Jesus came to do. Jesus came to touch sinners so that his purity could be transferred to them. Jesus came to touch the untouchable, so he could make them lovable. Whereas man only loves what he esteems as good, God’s love is what actually make things good. And Jesus is that good God who has done this for this woman. So Simon is only judging by outward appearances, or by the rumors he has heard. And all those false assumptions come together and blind him to the truth. Simon cannot see that God-in-the-flesh is sitting at his dining table. The one who created the stars and the galaxies, the forests and the seas, is eating in front of him. Simon is also blind to the spiritual condition of this woman, and that if he were to see into her heart, and could behold the purity and beauty of Jesus within it, that it would put his own heart to shame. Or as C.S. Lewis says in the Weight of Glory: “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.” Simon has judged this woman a horror, when in fact, God has made her into an everlasting splendor. Of course, all of these false judgments proceed from a false heart. Simon is self-deceived. Simon is dead in his sins. And worst of all, Simon has yet to admit it. How does Jesus evangelize Simon here? How does he preach the gospel to him? Well, he does this by a parable, a question, and a loving rebuke. First the parable.   Verses 40-43 – The Parable of Two Debtors 40And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on. 41There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. 42And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly (graciously) forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. So notice that for all of those false judgments hidden in Simon’s heart, Jesus now gives him an opportunity to make a right judgment, and that publicly. Jesus is drawing Simon out. He describes a scenario where there is a creditor and two debtors. And in this parable the creditor represents God, and the debtors represent two sinners. One debtor owes 500 pence/denarii, which is about 500 days’ worth of wages. Or, about a year and half salary. And the other debtor owes 50 pence/denarii, so about 50 days’ worth of wages. And while the difference between the two debts is significant, it hardly matters to the debtors since Jesus says, neither of them can pay. And so the creditor graciously chooses to forgive both the debts. Both sinners could not pay the Creditor back, both sinners are forgiven, now which one do you think will love the Creditor more? Simon knows the math, and as a Pharisee he would have known the Old Testament law fairly well, which has plenty to say about debts and slavery, lending and forgiveness. And yet the answer to the question seems so simple, so obvious, it’s as if he wonders that Jesus should even ask him. What is he getting at? With some hesitancy Simon answers, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And [Jesus] said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. So notice the wisdom of Jesus in evangelism. He starts with the knowledge that Simon presently has, and he gives him a story to help him get a little distance from his own self-deceit. And then once Simon affirms a true principle, he acknowledges the proportional relationship between love and forgiveness, then Jesus cuts to the heart. And here he does that with a searching question:   Verse 44a – The Question 44And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? Think about this question. Has Simon seen this woman? In one sense, yes, and in another sense no. Simon has seen her and judged her a sinner, when in reality what is happening before his eyes, is the parable of the two debtors. Here is a woman who loves much because she has been forgiven much. Does Simon see that? At present he does not, and this is why Jesus then gives him a loving rebuke.   Verses 44b-47 – The Loving Rebuke I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. 45Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. 46My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. 47Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. So notice the comparison here. It is between the woman who has been forgiven for many sins, and Simon. And so when we map them onto the parable, Jesus is saying, this woman is the one who owed 500 pence, and was forgiven, and now look at how much she loves me. But where are you in the parable Simon? The person who was forgiven 50 pence should still show some amount of love towards the Creditor. But you have shown me no love, no water, no kiss, no oil. Even those common courtesies of hospitality have not been shown to Jesus. And so what does that say about you? The are really only two answers a person can give to this question: Either Simon thinks he has no debts to pay to God. Or, that he has the means to pay those debts off. In either case, Simon is sorely mistaken both about Divine Justice, and about Divine Mercy. For as it says in Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is no way for anyone to pay back to God the debt of sin. It is far too much, and we less than nothing to pay with. Forgiveness must be asked for, and it must be received as gift. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:9, [Salvation is] Not of works, lest any man should boast. And then once that grace of forgiveness has been received, we become a new kind of debtor to God, we now owe Him the happy debt of infinite love, of infinite gratitude, of everlasting praise, and worship. These are all due to God according to His very nature as Goodness, and they are doubly due for Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. And so the point of Jesus teaching here is that: where there is no love, there has not been forgiveness. And to the degree to which you know the debt of sin that has been canceled, in that proportion your love for God shall be. So dear brothers, dear sisters, do you know your debts to God? Have you forgotten all the sins that Jesus died to cancel and forgive? And are you loving God and loving one another in a manner that is commensurate with that great debt you were forgiven? Jesus says, you love in proportion to the debt forgiven. And so how much love for Jesus do you have? Finally, Jesus vindicates the woman, and her lavish expression of love. And he does this by giving her the words of absolution, or what we call in our liturgy, the Assurance of Pardon.   Verses 48-50 – Absolution 48And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. 49And they that sat at meat with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgiveth sins also? 50And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. So to you who are burdened and weighed down with the debt of your sins. Put your faith in Jesus today, ask him to forgive you for everything (sins known and unknown), and to help you see everything that needs forgiving. It says in 1 John 1:8-9, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Today can be the day that Jesus says to you these most precious words, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. This is the whole purpose for which the Son of God became incarnate. To save us from our sins. And to you have been forgiven, that is most of you here, Don’t you feel the poverty of your love in comparison with this woman? Are you not ashamed of how little your love for Jesus is, compared with the debt He has remitted? If so, take this woman’s example with you this week. All of us should blush at how ungrateful, blind, and unloving we have been, given the debt that God has cancelled. And so lest become like Simon the Pharisee, go home and do what this woman does. Wash your eyes with the tears of repentance, thanksgiving, and devotion. Wash the feet of Jesus, and kiss them, for they are the beautiful feet of which the Isaiah 52:7 speaks, How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” These are the beautiful feet, that were nailed to the cross, so that your debt might be erased. And so do what it says in Psalm 99:5, Exalt ye the Lord our God, And worship at his footstool; For he is holy. Let down your hair, that is your crown of glory (whatever you most esteem about yourself), and cast it before the King of Kings. Take what is precious to you, the alabaster box of ointment, the oil of your affections, and pour them out upon Jesus. At it says in Psalm 62:8, Trust in him at all times; ye people, Pour out your heart before him. And when you have given to Jesus your everything, truly, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then the words of Song of Solomon 4:10 come to pass, where the Bridegroom says to his Bride (the forgiven church), How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than wine! And the smell of thine ointments than all spices! May God grant you to know and experience the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, and bring you safely into his heavenly kingdom. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

When God Visits Sunday, August 9th, 2026 Eleventh Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 7:11–23 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the compassion of Christ, who sees us in our suffering, who visits us in our death, and who takes us by the hand to lead us to eternal life. Grant us to know Him more truly, to love Him more fervently, and to not be offended by Him in the midst of our doubts, we ask for Your Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last Sunday we considered the great faith of the Centurion. We marveled with Jesus at the humility of the Centurion, and also how bold his request was. Recall, the Centurion sent for Jesus to come to his house and heal his dying servant, but then on second thought the Centurion sent friends to Jesus saying, I did not think myself worthy to come to You. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed (Luke 7:7). This act of faith makes Jesus marvel, and he turns and says to those following him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel (Luke 7:9). So Jesus exalts the Centurion as a model of faith for you to imitate. You should aspire to know more intimately your own unworthiness. You should aspire to believe more firmly and confidently that Christ has power to forgive your sins, to heal you from every uncleanness (1 John 1:9), and to make you walk worthy of the calling by which you were called (Eph. 4:1). Jesus wants your faith to grow, and so he gives us many examples and opportunities to help us grow. Now if we are honest with ourselves, most of us must admit that we are not people of great faith. If we were living in the 1st century, we would probably not be the Centurion Jesus commended. Instead, so many of us are more like the disciples in Luke 24. Remember that scene, at the end of the book? Jesus has just risen from the dead, but he has yet to appear to everyone. Two of his disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus, and Jesus starts walking beside them, but they don’t realize it. And after asking about their conversation, and hearing their doubts, Jesus says to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken…And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. These two disciples receive the most epic Bible study ever given. Jesus Himself expounds the Scriptures starting in Genesis and going through all the prophets. And yet still, they do not recognize him. It is not until later, when they eventually sit down to eat together, Luke tells us, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” How often is that our state as believers? Jesus is right beside us. Jesus is walking with us. Jesus is teaching us His Word. And yet we do not recognize Him. We are foolish and slow to believe what God Himself is saying to us, and we forget that God is ever present with us to help. He is the one who said, I will never leave you or forsake you, I will give you of my very Holy Spirit (Heb. 13:5, John 14:18). Or perhaps you are on the fence, you’re not even sure if you are a believer. You are like the father with the sick child in Mark 9:24 who cries out to Jesus, Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! You have a measure of faith, but even that is mingled with doubts and fears and unbelief. What does Jesus do for us then? Outline of the Text Well here in our text this morning, we see how God visits three kinds of people who do not yet have great faith. In verses 11-13, Jesus visits a grieving widow. In verses 14-15, Jesus visits a dead young man, the widow’s son. And then in verses 16-23, Jesus is visited by two disciples of John the Baptist, and they are in doubt as to whether Jesus is who John says he is. And so here we have three kinds of people, with whom you may relate to more or less: 1) A Widow in her Grief, 2) A Young Man in his deadness, and 3) Two Doubting Disciples. So let us see how God visits them to strengthen their faith. Verses 11-13 – Jesus Visits A Grieving Widow 11And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people. 12Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not. So first notice the meeting of two large crowds. There is Jesus, his disciples, and many others with him. And then there is a crowd of mourners, a funeral procession, carrying a dead man outside the city. And it is there at the gate of the city of Nain, that these two crowds converge. The crowd with Jesus is probably joyful, expectant, and still talking about how Jesus healed the Centurion’s servant. Whereas the other crowd is in the depths of sorrow, they are walking through the valley of the shadow of death. They are sowing the ground with their tears. For what is the saddest kind of funeral to attend, but one where a parent must bury their own child. Where a young man or young woman in the flower of youth, about to enter adulthood, has their life suddenly cut short. All the labors of this mother to raise her son, and all her hopes that one day he may care for her in old age, all those hopes are suddenly dashed by death. Luke tells us this woman is a widow. So she has already suffered the loss of her husband. And so now for her only son to die, a young man now, is to compound grief upon grief. At the funeral of her husband the people could say “at least she has her son.” But what is there left to say now that her only son has died? We are reminded here of the story of Ruth, and how Naomi says, Do not call me Naomi [which means pleasant]; call me Mara [bitterness], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. This widow is in an even worse state that Naomi was. For Naomi at least had Ruth to help her. But this widow has no one. At least, not until Jesus comes to meet her. We read in verse 13, three actions of Jesus towards this widow. First, it says the Lord saw her. Here, Luke for the very first time in his gospel, explicitly identifies Jesus as the Lord. So whatever Jesus does it is the Lord’s doing, and what does the Lord do? In the midst of the crowds, amidst the flood of grief, with all the disorientation that severe loss inflicts upon us, Jesus sees us in our pain.The Lord looks upon this widow, singles her out, and gives her His special and divine attention. Of this special regard that God has for us in our afflictions it says in Psalm 138:6, Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar. And in Psalm 34:18 it says likewise, The Lord is near unto them that are of a broken heart; And saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. The God who is everywhere at all times, who knows all things and upholds all things in their being, is said to pay special attention to those are humble and hurting. Because they are the ones who most feel and know their need for God. Whereas the proud do not. This was true of Hagar in the wilderness. Remember how she was proud against Sarai, and treated her with contempt, and then Sarai treated her harshly in return, so Hagar runs away. But God meets Hagar and tells her to return to submit to Sarai, and promises the blessing of a son. And it is after Hagar has humbled herself that it says in Genesis 16:13, Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?” Pride, contempt for others, blinds us from seeing God. But humility opens our eyes and opens our soul to receive His blessing. So the same God who saw Hagar in the wilderness, now sees this widow in her desolation. And Jesus is that God who sees. The next thing Luke tells us it that when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her. When you are in pain, what do you desire but the removal of pain, which the Bible calls mercy, or compassion. And here it says that the Lord co-miserates with this woman. He sees her suffering and makes her suffering his own. This is what Jesus does for us pre-eminently on the cross. This the Divine Compassion. Yes, it is a comfort to have the sympathies of our friends and community, the flowers and the cards and the kind words, but only God can visit us in the depths of our broken heart. Only God can touch those invisible and spiritual places within us. This is one of the reasons why the very name for the Holy Spirit is Comforter/Consoler/Advocate, because the Spirit is the healing balm, the oil of mercy, sent from the Father and the Son to comfort us in our affliction. It is the Spirit who lifts us up when we are weak. It is the Spirit who indwells us, and makes us to know that God sees us, God pities us, and God has the power to work great good from these present evils. Isn’t this what He has promised us in His Word? Well, what does God to say to us when He comes to console us? Well here Jesus says to this woman, weep not. Do not cry. God is here. Notice how shocking and heartless this might have appeared to those standing around this woman, or even to the woman herself. How can you tell her to stop crying? Don’t you see the body? Don’t you see what has happened? Have you no compassion? When these words, weep not, come from The Lord, they are an invitation to hope in Him. It is true that in the moment when Jesus says weep not, nothing has changed. Her son is still dead. Her house is still desolate. Everything feels hopeless. And yet, Jesus comes to her and says weep not as an invitation to hope in Him. We are never told what this woman thought, or said, or did. She has no words of dialog like the Centurion had, there is no response from this widow recorded by Luke. And I think that is because God wants you to ponder what you would do in this situation. What do you do, when it feels hopeless, do you believe that God sees you, that God has compassion on you, and that God is inviting you to dry your eyes, to hear his voice, and to put your hope in Him. We are taught to pray in Psalm 33:18-19, Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, Upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death. And in Lamentations 3 we are taught to pray likewise, It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. Well in verses 14-15, we see that hoping in Jesus is a blessed hope. For here now he raises the dead son to life. Verses 14-15 – Jesus Visits A Dead Man 14And he came and touched the bier [that is, the open coffin or stretcher they were carrying]: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. 15And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother. Now what Jesus does physically for this young man, is what he does spiritually for every elect soul. And indeed, if you look at how The Apostle Paul describes salvation in Ephesians 2 (and elsewhere), you will see that it mirrors what Jesus does literally here. So how does someone go from dead in trespasses and sins to alive in Christ? Well what does Jesus do here? First, Jesus comes and visits you in your deadness. Before ever you could get up and call out to Him, God comes and says to your soul, Arise. And by that creative word of omnipotent power, God justifies you, God sanctifies you, God makes your soul upright, so that you like this young man may sit up and begin to speak. It says in Psalm 116:10, I believed, therefore I spoke. God speaks faith into our hearts, and then from the faith that He has given we make confession to Him. And thus, the words of Romans 10:10 comes to pass, For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. And then once God has made you alive in His Beloved Son, and washed you clean in the laver of regeneration (Titus 3:5), He delivers you to your mother The Church, who nourishes you, giving you the pure milk of the Word, so that raised in the Church Militant you may one day join the Church Triumphant. As it says in Galatians 4:26, But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. And as Paul says in Ephesians 2:5-6, Even when we were dead in sins, God hath made us alive together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God in salvation raises us from the dead, He makes us to sit up and speak, and gives us to our mother. All this Jesus does here, miraculously, unbidden, from the compassion of His heart. And so by this one miracle, two are made whole. The widow receives her son back, her desolation is undone. And the son receives his life back, as a testimony to God’s resurrecting grace. Now remember that every miracle that Jesus works upon the body, is infinitely less valuable than what He works upon your eternal soul. And so as marvelous as the raising of this son is, you should marvel far more that God raised you from your deadness, and all as free gift of His mercy. So we have seen how God visits us in our grief. We see how God visits us in our spiritual deadness. And now finally we see how God visits us in our doubts. In verses 16-23, rumor spreads about Jesus, and word reaches John the Baptist, who is currently sitting in prison awaiting execution. And so for John’s disciples, this is a real crisis of faith. Their leader has been imprisoned, and so they are starting to have some doubts. And so what does Jesus do to strengthen their faith? Verses 16-23 – Jesus Is Visited by John’s Disciples 16And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people. 17And this rumour of him went forth throughout all Judaea, and throughout all the region round about. 18And the disciples of John shewed him of all these things. 19And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Now some people have thought that John is the one who is having some doubts about Jesus. He is in prison after all,and Jesus has yet to rise from the dead and ascend to heaven. And while that might be possible, I do not hold that view, since it seems to contradict what Jesus says about John in the very next section, that he is not a reed shaken with the wind. He is not a soft man, living delicately in king’s courts. Jesus says, John is a prophet, and much more than a prophet, and, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. So I don’t think John is doubting here, I think he knows he must decrease so that Jesus must increase, and so he is sending his two disciples to Jesus, not for his sake, but for their sake. John wants his disciples to believe in Jesus and to become followers of Jesus. And of course, Jesus knows this and wants this as well. So what does Jesus do for them when they arrive? They ask him, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? So think about how Jesus could have answered this question. He could have just said, Yes, I am he. I’m God. Believe. But he does not do that. Instead, Jesus chooses to give them reasons to believe. He gives them motives to find His word credible. And he does this in two ways. First, he heals a ton of people. It says in verse 21, And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. They want to know if Jesus is the one the prophets spoke of. And Jesus shows them that He is by many miracles of healing and exorcism. But he does not stop there. The second thing he does is point them back to the Scriptures the he has just fulfilled. He says in verses 22-23, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. These are all quotations and references to the Old Testament Scriptures, especially Isaiah and the Psalms. To give you just a sample, listen to Isaiah 35:3-6, Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. This is Jesus, the fountain in the wilderness, the one who make streams of grace to flow in the desert. Or listen to Isaiah 61:1-3,“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, [as he just did for the widow] To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound [as he just raised the young man from bonds of death]; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” Wherever Jesus goes, God is visiting His people. And because the mystery of the incarnation is so marvelous and incomprehensible, for who could ever imagine that the Infinite Creator and Unchangeable God would take to himself our mortal flesh, Jesus condescends to our doubts, and gives us many reasons to believe that He is God. Most of all he will give us his death and resurrection as the ultimate sign of his divinity. Conclusion In closing, you see how few have great faith like the Centurion. The Centurion believed without ever seeing Jesus. He believed on account of what he had heard. That is great faith and with it comes great blessing. As Jesus says to Thomas in John 20:29, Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. But behold the compassion of God. God knows you have doubts, and so he constantly points you to the Scriptures. He points you to His many mighty miracles, signs, wonders, and all those prophecies that He fulfilled. As Jesus says to the Jews in John 10:37-38, If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. So do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Or are you offended by Him?Stumbled by his humanity that conceals his divinity? It says in Psalm 118,The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. May God grant you to find this stone precious, that you may be built up upon him and founded upon him, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

What Is Great Faith? Sunday, August 2nd, 2026 Tenth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:46-7:10 Prayer O God, we thank You for the healing power of Your Word, the Word who is eternally begotten from the Father, the Word from which proceeds the Love that is the Holy Spirit, and this same Word who was in the beginning with You, who was made flesh and dwelt among us, who lived and died and lives forevermore. Open our eyes we ask, that we may behold the beauty of Your Son, the Word Incarnate, for we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen. Introduction Last week we heard from Jesus, The Parable of Two Houses, or The Parable of Two Builders. And as we heard that parable again this morning, we are reminded that everyone is building something, but not everyone builds in faith. Everyone in this room is hearing the Word of God preached, but not everyone of you will obey what is preached. This is the difference, Jesus says, between a wise builder and a foolish builder, between a man whose house can withstand the storm to come, and the man whose life is suddenly destroyed. So how you are building your house? Well here as begin Luke chapter 7, Jesus encounters a living example of a man who built a house. In this instance, the house is a house of worship, a house for God, called a synagogue. Moreover, this house of worship is built from love, the Jewish elders say of him, he loveth our nation and he hath built us a synagogue. Further, this man is a most humble man (he has dug deep), he considers himself unworthy of having Jesus enter under his own personal roof, and yet because he understands how authority works, he believes that Jesus has the power to heal his servant with just a word, but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed, he says. Jesus marvels at this man and says, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. So if you want to grow in your faith, if you want to build a life that is honest, and firm, and worthy of God, Jesus wants you to consider now the greatness of faith in this Centurion. So that is what will occupy us this morning, answering the question: What is great faith? Outline of the Text We’ll divide our text into three sections according to what they emphasize and reveal about the faith of this Centurion. In verses 1-5, we have The Works of Faith In verses 6-8 we have The Humility of Faith In verses 9-10 we have The Reward of Faith. The works, the humility, and the reward of great faith. So starting in verse 1, Luke tells us…. Verses 1-2 – The Works of Faith 1Now when he had ended all his sayings in the audience of the people, he entered into Capernaum. 2And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear unto him, was sick, and ready to die. First recall that Capernaum is a city on the coast of the Sea of Galilee (about 100 miles north of Jerusalem). And ever since Jesus was rejected by his hometown of Nazareth (back in Luke 4, they tried to kill him), Capernaum has become the home base for his ministry. So already Jesus has performed (and we have read about) his many miracles of healing, of exorcism, and his powerful preaching in Capernaum (rf Luke 4:31-33). And so it should not surprise us when we read in verse 3 that this Centurion has heard of Jesus. And based on what he has heard, whether firsthand or second hand, he believes that Jesus is divine, and therefore has the power to heal his sick servant. We read in verses 3-5… Verses 3-5 3And when he heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. 4And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying, That he was worthy for whom he should do this: 5For he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. Now what exactly is a Centurion, and why does he go about summoning Jesus in this way? This title of Centurion (ἑκατοντάρχης), literally means Captain/Ruler of one hundred. In the Roman military, there were varying degrees and levels of authority, above the Centurions were Tribunes and Legates, and below Centurions were other officers, soldiers, and servants. Back in Exodus 18, recall that Moses father-in-law Jethro, advised this kind of hierarchy of authority to assist Moses in governing the people. It says in Exodus 18:25, And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And so this is just common sense for good government (it’s part of the natural law), and it is how a large number of people can all be united and governed under one head. So this Centurion is mid-level officer in the Roman government. He has a Tribune and the Emperor above him, and he has around 100 soldiers and servants below him. And it is this grasp of authority, of obedience and submission to authority, that will later ground this Centurion’s appeal to Jesus. Already her believes that Jesus has divine power, more power than Ceasar himself. Now just as this Centurion is both under authority, and in authority over others, so also are you. This is true for some of you externally (as fathers and mothers, or bosses in the workplace). But it is true for every single person individually and internally. Your mind, your spirit is to meant to be both ruled and ruler. Every individual member and faculty and power of your body and soul, is mean to work together in submission to your head (to reason enlightened by faith). In the garden, God created man in His own image, and thus Adam and Eve were subordinate to God (submitting their mind and wills to Him), and then as God’s representatives, they were to exercise dominion/rule/stewardship over the earth (Psalm 8). So before the Fall, mankind had a spirit/mind that was subject to God, and beneath that a body that was subject to the spirit, and beneath that a world of animals and plants that was subject to their rule. That was the original creational hierarchy of power: God over man, man’s spirit over his body, man’s body over the animals and the material world. However, at the Fall, that divine order of authority was turned upside down. What did Adam and Even do in Genesis 3? Rather than subjecting their spirit to God, Adam and Eve chose to obey the Serpent. Rather than subjecting their body to their spirit, they took into their body and ate what God had forbidden. Rather than Adam following God and Eve following Adam, Adam followed his wife into sin, and thus the whole order of creation was inverted, and ever since that time we have been experiencing the consequences of sin and death. Our fall into sin destroyed the integrity of our nature. We became alienated from God, alienated from one another, alienated from our own selves. Because we rebelled against God, now our own members are in rebellion against us. So this unnamed Centurion (real soldier as he was), is also an analogy for every person in this room. And just as this Centurion is great in his faith, so also he represents what God wants you to become. Because God intends for you to be the commander/ruler of your own thoughts, passions, intentions, and actions. Your mind is like a Centurion, who is to be ruled by God, believing whatever God says, and then justly ruling over everything within your sphere. The Bible calls this fruit of the Spirit, self-control. Can you govern yourself? Can you command your interior soldiers, your passions, your bodily appetites, to obey God? This is part of the lesson Jesus is trying to teach us here. Listen to how Scripture elsewhere describes your soul in these military terms. James 4:1-4 says, Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. So notice your life is like a battlefield, and unless you rule those 100 soldiers within you (with their conflicting and competing thoughts, desires, and passions) there will be war, and there will not be peace. You will be a divided person if you do not command your passions to obey Christ. Listen to how Paul describes this in 2 Corinthians 10:4-6, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. He says likewise to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:11-12, But you, O man of God, flee these things [referring to the love of money] and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. And in 2 Timothy 2:3 he says, endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So Paul wants every Christian to have the mind of Christ, the mind of a soldier in the Lord’s army, fighting in faith, armed with humility, and then as Centurions under Christ, to bring into captivity every thought. So do you see how Jesus is meant to come and rule your heart by faith, and that that is where the kingdom of God begins? Jesus says later in Luke 17:21, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. So outside in the world is the Roman Empire, with its legions and tribunes and centurions and armies. But Jesus Christ is king over all, and his kingdom begins by subduing our minds, and our hearts, and our wills to His power. This is the more perfect, invisible, and spiritual kingdom of God, which this Gentile Centurion recognizes. He knows by his own vocation as an officer how authority works. And therefore, he believes, even before Jesus has died and rose from the dead, that Jesus has power to heal with a word. O that we might have great faith like this. Now we know from Ephesians 2:8 and elsewhere, that faith is always a gift of God’s grace. God’s action always precedes man’s action, and so this Centurion has already been touched by the grace of God. It is not on the basis of the Centurion’s good works that he receives saving faith, rather it is from saving faith that he does good works. And so here in verses 1-5 we see some of those works of faith manifest. What are they? First, observe from verse 2, that this Centurion has a genuine concern for his servant’s welfare. It says he was dear unto him. The Centurion valued this servant, who was inferior in rank, but he acknowledging and valued him, even as he would want to be valued if the roles were reversed. This is a living out of the golden rule. Jesus just preached in Luke 6:31, And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. And here the Centurion is doing for his sick servant, what he would want to be done for him. Go and get Jesus! So that’s the first work of faith we notice, kindness, compassion, concern for the life and health of a lowly servant. Loving those subordinate to you as yourself. Second, observe that his internal faith in God, has built something external, namely a synagogue, a place for the Jews (and others) to hear God’s Word, and to worship the God of Israel. Recall that Jesus had been preaching regularly in the synagogue(s) of Capernaum, and so it is extremely likely, that this Centurion had funded and built the very place where Jesus has been ministering. To build a synagogue would have come at significant financial expense. And possibly also at great social expense, since the Jews were not always the best subjects of Rome. And so this was costly capital, financial and perhaps relational. But the Centurion subordinated his earthly goods to the greater good of worshipping God. The Jewish presbyters/elders say of him, he loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue. Of course the Centurion did not know that one day he would need to call in a favor from the Jews to go to Jesus on his behalf in hopes that he would heal his servant. Notice also that the Centurion does not appeal to his past good works, as a patron of the Jews, when he sends for Christ. No, the Centurion feels himself so unworthy of Jesus, that he sends the Jewish elders on his behalf. Here is a man who has military authority over the Jews, and yet humbles himself to ask them a favor for his dear servant. All this is just the first motions of humility. For we learn in the next section,verses 6-8, that on second thought, the Centurion thinks he has been too bold, he asked too much. He does not want to presume upon Jesus coming all that way, and so he sends another delegation, this time of his friends, so that Jesus does not trouble himself for the Centurion’s sake. Behold the great humility of faith. Verses 6-8 – The Humility of Faith 6Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed. 8For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. This is the appeal of humble faith. And by it we learn that faith is great to the degree that we are humble. Whereas pride is presumptuous, entitled, expecting favors from God as if we rightly deserve them, the Centurion appeals to nothing in himself, he appeals only to Christ’s power, and on that basis alone, he asks for Jesus to heal his servant. This is a pure faith. It is pure because it is not mixed with ego, it is not mixed with craving for sensual pleasures. It is asking for God to do for someone else, what only God can do, speak the word and my servant shall be healed. This is also a pure faith because it comes from love. A love and a value for what God loves and values, in this case, the life of a young servant, dying and at death’s door. Do you love what God loves, and value what God values, because that is the love that purifies our faith and our prayers to God. Second, observe that great faith is marked by a recognition of your own unworthiness. While the Jews say, he is worthy, The Centurion says, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. But think about this. What has already happened inside the Centurion? Jesus has already entered his heart. Jesus has already given him the grace of faith, and that is why he feels himself so unworthy of Christ coming to him in person. So dear Christian, you who believe, the Bible says that your body has become a temple for the living God, a dwelling place for the Holy Trinity. So do you realize how unworthy you are in yourself to have God take up residence within you? Do you realize that you never could have prepared your soul for grace, unless God’s grace first prepared you? Do you know, down into your bones, that salvation is of the Lord, from beginning to end, and that unless God makes you worthy, you will never walk worthy of Him? It says in Ephesians 2:5, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), The Centurion says to Jesus, what every person should say to Jesus, I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof. You are not clean until Jesus makes you clean. You are not alive until Jesus makes you alive.You are not a good Centurion of your soul, until Jesus comes and reigns over you. And even after you live a life of faithful service to Jesus, what does Jesus say that you should say to him? He says to his disciples in Luke 17:10, When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’ Obedience to Jesus is your duty, because we are all debtors to grace. And so the more we think of ourselves as Centurions under Christ’s authority, perhaps the more we shall likewise receive the rewards of faith. Verses 9-10 – The Rewards of Faith 9When Jesus heard these things, he marvelled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. 10And they that were sent, returning to the house, found the servant whole that had been sick. Observe here the two rewards of faith. Two rewards that you also should seek. The first is the most important, and that is The Divine Commendation: that is, when God judges you and says well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master. Notice Jesus commends the Centurion openly, publicly, and marvels at the faith that He himself gave according to His divine nature. And by this he is illustrating what shall happen when he returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. Jesus says in Matthew 10:32-33, Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. And in Revelation 3:3-5, Jesus warns the church to keep the faith saying, Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So do you have an ear to hear what Jesus says to the churches? And are you obeying what Jesus says? It is by the obedience of faith that you shall receive the reward of Divine commendation. Is this what you are aiming at? The glory of God through faith in Jesus Christ? That is what Paul says his whole mission of apostleship is. He says in Romans 1:5, By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name. The second reward of faith is that the Centurion receives what he asked for: His servant is healed. And as Luke records it, Jesus does not even say anything. The friends simply return the house, and find the servant healed. Jesus says in John 14:13-15, And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. If ye love me, keep my commandments. And so this is why we still ask God to heal us, to heal those we love. To provide for us in times of need. Because Jesus wants us to ask Our Father in heaven for daily bread, for deliverance from temptation, for all that we need to reach heaven safely. At times, God says no to our requests or not yet, but it is always because He wants to give us something more, something better, something that will actually serve the salvation of our soul. In Paul’s case, it was better for him to have a thorn in the flesh, and to rely upon God, than to have no thorn, and run the risk of self-reliance (2 Cor. 12). And so we ought to pray and ask God for many things. But most of all, we should ask God to give us God. We should ask God to change our desires, so that we ask for those things that are most good for us. As it says in Psalm 37:4-5, Delight yourself in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. Conclusion Jesus delighted in nothing else, but doing the Father’s will. And far from that obedience being a hindrance to his joy, or an obstacle to glory, nobody has ever been more joyful and blessed and glorified than Jesus. And so be like the Centurion, trust Jesus, honor God, love your servants, build up God’s house, send for Jesus in time of need, acknowledge to Him how unworthy you are to have him enter beneath your roof, and Jesus shall gladly come to you, and make his home permanently within you. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Parable of Two Houses Sunday, July 26th, 2026 Ninth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:46–49 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the preaching of Your Son, our Lord Jesus. Please grant that we may become obedient doers of the Word as true disciples, rather than being Christians in name only. Rid us of our self-deception, our hypocrisy, our blindness to our sins. Remove the planks from our eyes, that we may see more clearly whether the house that we are building has a foundation, or not. We ask for Your Holy Spirit now, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Ten years ago, I was living in Jacksonville, Florida. And if you don’t know where Jacksonville is on the map, it is on the northeast coast of Florida right by the Atlantic Ocean. And so you can imagine living near the beach has many perks, that is, if you like the sun, and sand, and salt water, and swimming, and beach volleyball, and good BBQ. You can find all that in Jacksonville. However, living by the beach also has some downsides, namely hurricanes. In fact, in Jacksonville we have something called “Hurricane Season,” which runs from June-November, with storms usually being the worst from August to October. So for about half of the year, there is always this possibility that a tropical storm will develop in the Ocean, and then depending on its severity, and how close it comes to land, you might be fine, or you may have to board up your house, leave the state, and drive to Georgia (as some of my own friends and family have had to do on occasion). Now in the 2.5 years that I lived in Jacksonville, I was blessed to never have to evacuate because of a hurricane. However, right after I left Florida, and moved to the rolling hills of Moscow, Idaho, Hurricane Irma hit the Atlantic coast. Hurricane Irma was a Category 5 tropical storm, and 5 is the highest category of tropical storm there is. 134 people died in Hurricane Irma, and there was about $77 billion dollars of damage done. At its peak the winds were blowing at 180 mph. which made Irma the third-strongest hurricane in the Atlantic, ever recorded. When that storm hit, some people called it “Irmageddon,” because it was  as if the world had ended in those places. Well in our text this morning, Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Plain with a very serious warning. And that warning is, a storm is coming. It does not matter who you are, or where you live, a category 5 hurricane is coming, and if your house is not ready and in good order, there will be death, there will be damages. You will not have a home to come back to. For as Jesus says in verse 49 the ruin of that house was great. And so there are really two big questions that Jesus places before us in this passage, and those questions will form the outline of our sermon: 1. Why don’t you do what Jesus tells you to do? 2. What kind of foundation, if any, is your house built upon? So, 1) Why don’t you obey Jesus? And 2) Does your house have a foundation that can withstand the coming storm? Starting in verse 46, Jesus poses this first question saying… Verse 46 – Q1. Why don’t you obey Jesus? 46And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? This is a question that you must ponder for the rest of your life. Why don’t you obey Jesus like he tells you to? First observe that Jesus is directing this question at professing believers. This is not a question for atheists, or secularists, or worldlings, it is a question for people like you: baptized Christians, sitting in the pews, singing the Psalms, going to church, taking communion, and hearing the Word of God every week. So this question is aimed at all of us who profess Jesus as Lord. Second, observe that the question is Why. Why do you call Jesus Lord Lord, and then not do what your Lord says? Do you have a good answer to that question? When Jesus asks Why, He wants you to be a little self-reflective. He is telling you to go look in the mirror, look at your past, look at the story of your life up to this point and think about how you got here. And then after that self-examination, explain to Jesus why you have not obeyed the one you profess as Lord. So how well do you know yourself? How well do you understand your own heart, your motives, your intentions, your goals, your duties, your temptations, your relationships, your past? Do you understand the story-arc of your life and where you are within it? Because if you lack this self-knowledge, you will not be able to answer this why question accurately. You will be living in a fantasy world, and not in reality. You will be your blind-self leading your blind-self into a ditch. You will be like a doctor trying to do heart surgery with a chainsaw and a blindfold. It’s not going to go well. Self-deception is a massive problem for us. As James 1:22 says, But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. So we need God’s help, we need the Word of God, we need pastors and parents and wise and virtuous friends to tell us what we cannot see. Why don’t you obey Jesus, what is wrong with you? Well let me give you a place to start. You can discover just by asking this Why question, that at least some of the answers might be ignorance, forgetfulness, laziness, a lack of real knowledge in our minds. Perhaps we’ve heard the golden rule but don’t remember the golden rule, and so we never stop to think in the moment, “How I can love this person in front of me as myself?” “How can I do good to my wife, or husband, or children, like I would want someone to do good to me?” Or take another example, we don’t remember that we are supposed to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, and so we get angry, we get defensive, we lash out at the people who hurt us, rather than doing what Jesus says, namely, turn the other cheek, when they revile you, bless them. Let all your speech with seasoned with the salt of grace. Or, we forget the gospel: that God forgave the infinite debt of our sins, and so we withhold forgiveness from others, exacting justice from our debtors, while expecting mercy from God. Jesus has something to say about that! He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy. (James 2:13). 2 Peter 1:9 warns against this gospel forgetfulness saying, For he who lacks virtue and the fruit of the Holy Spirit is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. And so forgetfulness is an enormous hindrance to obeying the words of your professed Lord. And then on top of our own ignorance and forgetfulness, then there is the additional problem of our bodily state. Our physical desires, passions, concupiscence, infirmities, pains and pleasures that can obscure our ability to think rationally, logically, clearly in the light of faith. Paul says in Romans 7:23-24 of this fleshly power, But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Only Jesus. Only Jesus. An example of giving in to this desire for sensible goods includes all the sexual sins, fornication, lust, adultery. And then sometimes more subtly we simplycling too tightly to money as our security, or our health, or some toy or hobby that we think we cannot do without. We forget that Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:8, And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. Are you content? Or perhaps you value too highly some earthly relationship, your job, your reputation, the esteem of other people (all good things). But we forget that Jesus said, Blessed are you who are poor, hungry, sad, and hated. Whereas a Woe (a danger) is upon those who are full, laughing, and self-satisfied. When you breathe the air of Babylon all day long (and by Babylon I mean America), it can choke out Heaven’s breath within you. And that is exactly what the world, the flesh, and the devil are conspiring to do: they want to choke out and quench the fire of the Holy Spirit within you, that supernatural love we call charity, without which you cannot see God. And so are you guarding this Divine flame? Do you treasure the sanctifying grace that the eternal God has placed within you? The whole Trinity of persons who reside in your soul? Because if you do not keep your heart with all diligence (Prov 4:23), the cares of this world will stomp you out! Jesus will describe a couple chapters later, in Luke 8:12-14, the different kinds of people who call Jesus Lord Lord and how they die in their sins. He says in the parable of the soils, Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. And the ones on the stony ground are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. And the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. And so you see, there are many reasons why people hear the Word of God, call Jesus Lord Lord, but then do not obey. Do you know what your reasons are? Whatever you come up with, we can basically reduce all those reasons down to three: 1) ignorance, 2) forgetfulness, and 3) selfishness. That covers just about everything. 1. If you are ignorant, perhaps it is because you never stop to listen and listen closely with all of your attention, you don’t try to understand what Jesus is telling you, because you don’t want to obey, you don’t want anyone telling you what to do. Of such people it says in Psalm 14, The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2. But most of you are not ignorant at all, and that makes your disobedience even worse, because James 4:17 says, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Ignorance can excuse you a little (1 Tim 1:13), but once you have been told, and told again, once you have recited and understood the Ten Commandments (as we do every single week), you are now responsible to do them. And so worse than ignorance is forgetting what Jesus told you to do. And this is why David says in Psalm 1, and Psalm 119 (and many other places) that memorization and meditation on God’s Word (day and night) is how you avoid sin. He says in Psalm 119:11, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee. And what does Jesus say right before posing this why question to us? He says in Luke 6:45, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. So what is in the treasure of your heart’s memory. What do you dwell in, and think about, day and night? For the blessed man of Psalm 1, it is the Word of God. And so also for every true disciple. It says in Romans 8:5-6, For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. So some of you need to confess to Jesus today, “the reason why I don’t obey you, is because I don’t value your Word enough to think about it and remember it.” Forgetfulness and laziness are your why. 3. Now this third reason, selfishness is really at the root of every other sin (including ignorance and forgetfulness). Selfishness, or more properly speaking, inordinate self-love (also called pride) is where you imagine that everything revolves around you, rather than God. The Bible calls this sin by many names such as being self-willed, prideful, haughty, exalting yourself over others, etc. And so while Jesus says seek first the kingdom of God, the proud man seeks first his own kingdom, he seeks first his own desires, and thus makes himself his own “Lord.” This is the chief sin of our day, we imagine that we are self-made, self-determined, self-actualized, and so we worship our own selves. And this selfishness is a kind of coup d’état, a revolt, against reality. Because who has all authority in heaven and on earth? King Jesus. And so to exalt the Self over Christ is to deny the crown rights of King Jesus. It is functionally to deny that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. And the Bible calls that denial of reality, idolatry, blasphemy, worshipping a false god. Think about what we you doing when you make Yourself the center of the world. You are imitating the devil, Satan, the father of lies. Listen to how Isaiah 14 describes the fall of Lucifer. For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. In the garden, Satan tempted Adam and Eve to do what he had already done, make himself like God apart from God. And this just cannot be done. Because we are creatures, and Jesus is the Creator of all. When your life becomes all about elevating yourself, moving up in the world, you imitate the devil who fell from an exceeding height. Whereas what did Jesus do? Jesus came down, Jesus descended, Jesus took to himself our mortal flesh, he suffered and died for a world that held him in contempt and despised him. Jesus forgave those who crucified Him, and Jesus subjected his human will to his divine will, and that perfectly. And so are you obeying Jesus when he says, follow me, imitate me. In Luke 14:11 he will say to his disciples, For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. So do you know why you don’t obey your Lord? Do you think you can go on living in disobedience, and that without eternal consequence? In case you are unsure, Jesus is now going to give you a window into your future. And he does this by telling the parable of two houses. And in this parable, the houses represent a person’s life and eternal destiny. And behind this parable looms the all-important question which is, Can your life withstand the storm of final judgment? Jesus says… Verses 47-49 – Q2. Does your house have a foundation? 47Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great. First observe what is common to both men in this parable. If we look closely, we will see that there are three things they have in common: 1. Both men hear Jesus’ sayings. 2. Both men build a house. 3. Both men have a storm hit their house. Apart from that, everything else is different. One of the first differences we should notice is that the man who builds his house upon a rock, is said to do three things in verse 47, Jesus says, Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them,I will shew you to whom he is like. So the wise man comes to Jesus, hears Jesus, and obeys Jesus. Whereas the other man (the fool) only hears and nothing more. So what is signified here by coming to Jesus? Well, this is most certainly referring to faith in Christ. Jesus says to the unbelieving Jews in John 5:38-40, But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. And so notice coming to Jesus is believing in Jesus with a living faith, and in the next chapter, Jesus promises in John 6:37, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. So have you come to Jesus with a living faith (a faith that works by love)? Do you have His word abiding within you? Is that Word bearing good fruit in your life? If not, then perhaps you have not actually believed. James 2:26 says, faith without works is dead. To profess Jesus as Lord Lord and then to not do what he says, is exactly what James is talking about. That’s a dead faith and it cannot save you, quite the contrary, it will only make your condemnation worse. Now if we look at the story of what this faith-filled disciple is like, Jesus assigns to him three actions. And if we put them in order of execution they are as follows: 1. He digs deep, 2. He lays a foundation on a rock, 3. And then third, he builds his house on top of it. So what is signified by these three actions in the parable? Digging, laying a foundation, and building. How does this relate to our real spiritual development? First, let us think about digging. If I hand you a shovel, and say go and dig the foundation for your new house, how long do you think that will take? Without an excavator, withouta tractor, or a skidsteer or a backhoe, you’re going to be digging for a while. And Jesus says, the true disciple digs deep. Moreover, you know, the bigger the house, the taller and wider the house, the deeper and wider you must go with your foundation. Now in Luke 16, Jesus will tell the Parable of the Unjust Steward. And in that parable, when the steward is about to be fired it says, Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. And so here we have verified this idea that digging is both laborious and humbling work.Not all are willing to dig. And so I think rightly the best commentators on this passage identify digging with humility. To dig into the earth is to humble yourself, it is to get down and spend time with the worms. To dig deep is make yourself base (very low), and despised, even nothing, because you know what 1 Corinthians 1:28-29 says, But God has chosen…the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. God loves the humble, the nothings, because only when your soul is empty of your ego, can God come and fill it completely. And so while many are too proud to dig (they tell themselves there is no storm to come, I can drop my RV here on the sand), true disciples dig deep, we seek to decrease so that Jesus may increase within us. It says in Proverbs 3:34, Surely He scorns the proud, But gives grace to the humble. And in Psalm 149:4 it says, For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. The kingdoms of this world are built on pride, and pride comes before a fall. Whereas the Kingdom of Heaven is built through the humility of Christ, and that is why God’s kingdom shall ever endure. So if to dig deep is to humble yourself, we can say that laying the foundation is to knowing the love of God in Christ. Paul says in Ephesians 3:14-19, For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love [that’s the foundation], may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And so the true disciple has no other foundation but the love of Jesus. Of course, ultimately it is God who lays this foundation within us. It is He who gives grace. It is He who pours out His love into our heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 5:5). And this is part of the mystery of salvation. Paul says in Philippians 2:13, it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. So that whenever you humble yourself, it is God who has first granted you humility. Whenever you dig deep and lay a foundation in His love, it is God who is pouring that spiritual concrete. And then when you build your house, as Psalm 127 says, Unless the Lord builds it, you labor in vain. So you know you are working with God to build your house, when  your life only exists for His glory. Then you say with the Apostle Paul, I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. So are you co-worker with God in the building of your life? Are you rooted and founded in charity (in friendship with God)? Does the edifice of your soul look more and more like Jesus with every year that goes by? Or have you left your first love, and become pre-occupied with other things? Conclusion Remember what is common to both men in this parable? A vehement storm is coming. And so who are you more like in this parable? Are you humble, is love your foundation, and are there good works of charity adorning your house? Jesus says in John 14:21, He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. So do you want to see the face of God? Are you actually looking forward to that hurricane of final judgment, because like a flood of fire, it will burn away everything ugly, everything corrupt, everything sad, everything evil, and crooked, and perverse shall be destroyed, and then only what is true, and good, and beautiful, built on love, shall remain. May God grant you to humble yourself, to be rooted in His love, and be a doer of His Word patient until the end. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

How to Judge Justly Sunday, July 5th, 2026 Sixth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:36–45 Prayer O Father we thank You for Your Son, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We thank You that out of the abundance of His heart, He has spoken to us good things, even the greatest thing, that is, the way to eternal life. Grant us to follow Him, in our words, in our deeds, in our judgments, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last Sunday we answered the question, What kind of judgements does Jesus forbid when he says, Judge not, lest ye be judged? And we said that there are three principal judgments that God forbids in His Word and they are (do you remember them?): 1) The Usurped Judgment, 2) The Rash Judgment, and 3) The Perverse Judgment. Now this morning we are going to answer the question, What kind of judgments does Jesus command us to make? Or put another way, How can we judge justly? Because right after Jesus forbids all those sinful judgments that are contrary to charity, he spends the rest of his sermon explaining how to judge in a manner that truly pleases God and leads to a life that is founded upon the rock. So it is not enough merely to avoid sin by withholding judgment, we also have to learn how to render righteous judgments that are in harmony with God’s will, consistent with God’s love, and that is what the rest of The Sermon on the Plain is all about: How to judge in such a way that leads to eternal life. Now we can start to learn how to do this by way of comparison with those three judgments that God forbids. So before we expound the words of Jesus in our text, let’s briefly review those three sinful judgments we must not make, so we can learn to do the opposite. 1. First there was the Usurped Judgment. And we said that this is any judgment that God has not delegated to you to make (so it’s outside your jurisdiction, “outside your lane”). This includes judgments about all final things, all hidden things, and all future things. Those judgements belong exclusively to the Lord, and we must not pretend to have the power, the knowledge, or the wisdom to judge better than He. Now beneath God’s Supreme Court, He delegates a measure of His judicial authority to human beings. In Romans 13 and elsewhere we learn that God delegates authority to civil magistrates, to parents, to husbands, masters, elders, and so forth. And so in order for a judgment to be righteous, you must at the very least, have the God-given authority to either punish or reward the person in question. And so we said that one of the ways you can know if you are making a usurped judgment, is if you lack the ability to reward or punish the person accordingly. For example, if you cannot lawfully execute the criminal for murder, then it does not belong to you to determine whether he is guilty or innocent. So unless God is going to require you to give Him an account for that person or case, then it is not your place, it’s not your duty, nor your responsibility to be a judge. Instead, you should simply withhold judgment. As Paul says in Romans 14, Who are you to judge another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls… But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ… So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother’s way. So a minimum requirement for a judgment to be righteous/just, is that God has assigned to you His own judicial authority, otherwise it is a usurped judgment. 2. Second, there is the Rash Judgment. And this is anytime we jump to conclusions about someone or something without having sufficient evidence to prove it. It is human nature that you easily believe what you want to be true. And therefore, it is the mark of a corrupt mind, to wish that bad things are true about anyone. And so usually rash judgments arise from an evil root, from evil suspicions, or from a bad conscience. For example, the thief imagines that everyone else steals too. The liar imagines that everyone else is as dishonest as he is. The guilty often impute their own guilt to others. And the Bible says that all such evil suspicions are contrary to the love of God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:5-8, charity thinks no evil,does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. So love never fails to believe the best about someone, because that is how we all want other people to treat us. We would like everyone else to always put the best interpretation on our words and actions, rather than imputing to us some evil motive. Now this judgment of charity (that believes the best and desires the best for others) is true even after someone has been convicted of a sin or a crime. And that is because Christians believe in the forgiveness of sins, in the correction of sinners through repentance and faith. We believe that God has the ability to convert sinners into saints, to convert compromised Christians into faithful Christians, to convert hypocrites and Pharisees (like Saul of Tarsus) into upright and honest citizens of heaven. Our earthly perspective is extremely limited, and this is in part why Christian must not make rash judgments, it is folly in the first place, and it is contrary to the mind that is one fire with the love of God. It says in Proverbs 18:17, The first one to plead his cause seems right, Until his neighbor comes and examines him. And so the opposite of a rash judgment then is a deliberate judgment, a judgment that waits until the biblical threshold for evidence is satisfied, and then only after that is someone declared guilty. Until then, you must regard them as innocent. 3. Third, there is the Perverse Judgment. And this refers to any judgment that is contrary or inconsistent with the Word of God. Under this category of perverse judgments are included sins like: partiality, respecting of persons, taking a bribe, using unjust weights and measures, or tipping the scales for one’s own private gain. Against such perversions of justice, God issues the strongest condemnation. For example, James 2 warns the church saying, My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? And then he says a few verses later, So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. So to summarize, in order for a judgment to be just, First, it must not be usurped but rather declared by the lawful authority. Second, it must not be rash, but rather deliberate and based on sufficient evidence to prove the case. And then third, it must not be perverse, but rather in accord with the Word of God. Those are three essential requirements for a judgment to be righteous/just. Now Jesus is going to cover those same three themes but from a few different angles in verses 39-45. And so let me give you the outline of our text. Outline of the Text Back in verses 36-38, which we considered last week, Jesus teaches us to judge with mercy, even as God has judged us in His mercy. And then he proceeds to give us some guidance in how to do this: In verses 39-40, Jesus gives a parable about following the right Master, because you will become like him. In verses 41-42, Jesus requires that we examine and judge ourselves before judging someone else. And then in verses 43-45, Jesus illustrates how to judge/discern between the good and the evil. So, 1) Who should you follow? 2) Who should you judge first? And 3) How do you discern between good and evil. These are the questions Jesus will now address. Verses 39-40 – Who should you follow as Master? 39And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? Shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. Now in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus applies this same parable, about the blind leading the blind, to the Pharisees and their followers (Matt. 15:14), and then later he denounces them saying, Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel (Matt. 23:24). And so the Pharisees become a kind of cartoon embodiment of this parable: they style themselves as leaders and teachers of the people, as those who have the law of Moses and can see why the nation is in such a sorry state. But Jesus says in reality, they are blind leaders leading blind followers into the ditch, and that ditch is eternal damnation. So here is a warning for all leaders, for all that are in authority (pastors, parents, husbands, masters, magistrates), and it is that we are responsible for where we lead other people. And therefore, we need to know and see if we are following Christ in all of our decisions. This is one of the reasons why it says in James 3:1, My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. So how do you know where you are going? How do you know (as a disciple) who you should follow? Jesus is pointing out a major problem here that we have as ignorant human beings: how can a blind follower even know that he is being led astray? Since the disciple is not above his master, how can the disciple know whether his master is worth following? The answer Jesus gives is that you must decide whether or not you want to become like that master.Whoever they are, if you follow them, if you obey them, Jesus says you will eventually become like them. So Jesus is saying in effect, Do you want to be like me, or do you want to be like the Pharisees? Do you want to be like the world and imitate them, or do you want to like God? Because Jesus is God, He knows all things, He says that He is the way, the truth, the life, and that He alone is the one who you should call Master. Jesus to his disciples in Matthew 23:8-12, But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren…Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. The Apostle Paul knew this well and says in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. In Ephesians 5:1 he says, Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. So only Christ is worth following and imitating absolutely, because He is perfect God. Call Jesus alone Your Supreme Master. And then every leader beneath Jesus, including the Apostles, are only to be imitated insofar as they imitate Christ. And so as parents we say to our children, obey me as I obey Christ. As husbands we say to our wives, submit to me as I submit to Christ. As elders and pastors we say to you, imitate us only to the extent that we imitate Jesus. For none of us is worth of imitating in every respect, we all have many faults and weaknesses, so imitate Christ who is perfect God and perfect man, follow Him. This means you need to know who Jesus is, what he does, how he lives, how he models his own teaching. How does Jesus judge the world as the one who knows all? It says in Psalm 98:9, He judges the people with equity. We know from the gospel that Jesus gives ample time for people to repent, he calls them to repentance, he pleads them to turn back from their crooked ways, and he goes to the cross to suffer for you, to pay your debts, to forgive your sins, to demonstrate by his actions God’s bleeding love for humanity. How much does God desire the salvation of His people? Well how much is the life of Jesus worth? That is how much. An infinite price was offered to rescue you from the infinite debt of sin. So how can you look upon Jesus, his life, his perfection, his cross, his resurrection, and not be moved to love Him? How can you look upon the mercy that was shown to you upon the cross, and then turn around and demand justice from your brother? Jesus says, The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. So if you were to look at all the judgments that you have made, would they look like the judgments that Jesus makes? If not, then you are not following Jesus closely enough. How can we learn to judge more like Jesus? Jesus says you need to start by exacting justice of yourself first. Examine yourself and accuse yourself for your sins before God’s mercy seat, and then you will be able to see more clearly. He says in verses 41-42… Verses 41-42 – Who should you judge first? 41And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye. These are familiar words to many people, and yet how often we fail to obey them. Do you even know that you have a beam in your eye? Do you know what your besetting sins are? Can you name your sins the way that God in His Word names them? Because the only way a beam can get removed from the eye is by you confessing them to God as the sins that they are and begging His pardon to remove them from you. Until you have washed your eyes with the tears of contrition, you will not be able to see or judge rightly. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:15 that only the spiritual man can judge spiritual things. And he says likewise in Galatians 6:1, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. So why is it, that you are so quick and sure about the sins of others, but so slow and uncertain about your own sins? Jesus is saying that if you are quicker to judge your brother (or sister) than you are to judge and condemn your own self, then you are a hypocrite, and you are unqualified to judge anyone if you cannot judge your own self rightly. If you do not know the state of your own conscience, how can you pretend to judge another man’s state? A hypocrite is someone who desires to appear what he or she is not. Whereas a true Christian is someone who desires to appear as he actually is, as someone who desires to be like Jesus, who too often falls short of accomplishing that desire, and yet by God’s grace, keeps getting up so that he can make progress in imitation of Christ. Remember, a Christian is a disciple, a follower, a student, a learner. None of us are perfect masters or perfect judges. So we should not act as if we are. Now there will be times when you have confessed your sins, you have removed the plank, and so you can see clearly now to remove your brother’s speck. And the way you’ll know that you are ready to remove that speck, is that you are possessed by the spirit of gentleness. For here when it comes to removing sin, the gentle hand is the most steady hand. You want the hand of an experienced surgeon who can remove the sin with as minimal damage as possible. That is the spirit in which we should address one another. Listen to how St. Augustine comments on this passage. He says, When we have to find fault with anyone, [first] we should think whether we were never guilty of his sin; and then we must remember that we are men, and might have been guilty of it; or that we once had it on our conscience, but have it no longer: and then we should bethink ourselves that we are all weak, in order that our reproof may be the outcome, not of hatred, but of pity. But if we find that we are guilty of the same sin, we must not rebuke him, but groan with him, and invite him to repent with us. That is the spirit of gentleness in which Jesus commands us to judge each other. It’s the judgment of charity, the judgment of mercy, the judgment of compassion that comes from having our own multitude of sins erased by Christ. To lament our brother’s sin as if it is was our own, this is how we love one another as we love our own self. Third and finally, Jesus teaches us what to do when a person or a case is doubtful. How do you discern between good and evil? To answer this Jesus gives us the analogy of a tree and its fruit. And he says that what fruit are to a tree, words are to a man’s heart. Jesus says in verses 43-45… Verses 43-45 –How do you discern and judge between good and evil? 43For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. First observe that a person’s heart can only be known to us by their words. This is in keeping with that earlier principle that God alone can judge the hidden things, the hidden motives of the heart, whereas we can only judge those things that are manifest, the spoken and written words of a person. And so it is not usurping God’s judgment, to conclude that a man is evil because only evil words ever come out of him. There is real causal connection between the heart and the mouth. And therefore, if a man’s words are mixed, we must conclude that his heart is also mixed, and that is the case for almost all of us as believers. We love God, but we still love ourselves too much. We go to church and praise God, but then we are also easily angered and sometimes yell and curse other people. We are a conflicted bunch. Our old sinful nature is still there (the old man), and yet we have been given a new nature, a new heart, and are told to put on the new man in Jesus Christ. As Christians we now have a choice, of what kind of treasure we want to gather up and store in our heart. If you store up Jesus, if you store up gracious thoughts, humility, meekness, the mind of Christ, then good will come out of you. But if you don’t, there is plenty of evil treasure remaining in our flesh that would love to come out. And Proverbs 10:2 warns us, Treasures of wickedness profit nothing: But righteousness delivereth from death. Now James 3 is basically an inspired commentary on this passage from Jesus. Listen to how he describes the inconsistency of our heart. It says in James 3:2-12,For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. So what are the implications of this mixed nature of our heart and words when it comes to judging other people? Well for starters, this is another good reason to judge other people with charity. Because we all have said things we regret. Things we would like to retract, undo, and have everyone forget. And so even when a person is speaking evil words, can we honestly say that we have never done that too? This is the beam in many of our eyes. We have evil thoughts, we have spoken evil words, and yet are quick to impute evil motives to others. This should not be so brethren. A second implication is that only time will tell if a tree is ultimately good or bad. So be patient with others but be urgent with yourself. Recall what John the Baptist came preaching at the beginning of Luke, bear fruits worthy of repentance…even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. If you know anything about fruit trees, some of them can look totally dead in the winter, when in reality it’s just not the season for fruit. And sometimes a tree can look green and healthy in the spring, and yet summer comes and it never produces anything that tastes good. Later in Luke 13:6-9, Jesus will give a parable about this saying, A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ” Conclusion So what kind of tree are you? What do your words say about your heart? And are you producing fruit for God? Because if not, Jesus says that on the day of visitation, you will be cut down and cast into the fire. And so I charge you, all who hear, repent of your sinful judgments, your hypocritical judgments, your perverse, rash, and usurped judgments. Cleanse your heart with the tears of repentance, and then cling to Christ and his cross by faith. Because that is the only safe place where mercy triumphs over judgment. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Judge Not Sunday, June 28th 2026 Fifth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:27–38 Prayer O Father, we thank You for Your judgments which are true and righteous altogether, we thank You most especially for your promise that There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Grant us to walk and to live forever in the Unity of the Trinity for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction This morning we come to what is probably the most misunderstood verse in the whole Bible, Judge not, lest ye be judged. This saying from the Lord Jesus, which is recorded here in Luke 6:37, and in Matthew 7:1, is a verse that many unbelievers know by heart, they’ve got this one memorized, and sometimes they like to shout this in our face whenever we tell them, “to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus.” Their response is often, Judge not. Who are you to judge me? I remember some years back, when America was in the throes of trying to normalize and legalize same-sex marriage. You could hear this verse shouted at protests, at pride parades, and it was intended to silence specifically Bible-Believing Christians who wanted to defend what God says marriage is (A lifelong covenant between one man and one woman). Only God can judge me. They would say. Love is love. Love wins. These were the slogans the world ripped from the Bible and twisted to defend what God calls an abomination (see 2 Peter 2:6-8). Well, what exactly does this verse mean in context, to judge not lest ye be judged, especially when elsewhere Jesus commands us to judge with righteous judgment (John 7:24). In what senses should Christians judge other people, or judge what is right and what is wrong, and in what senses must we not? These are important questions to answer, especially when our salvation is on the line. Jesus says very plainly here, if you judge not, you shall not be judged. If you condemn not, you shall not be condemned. Therefore, unless you would like God to judge and condemn you, well then, you need to understand and observe what Jesus is teaching here. And so to help us understand this passage, I have organized this sermon and the next sermon around two basic questions: Q1. What kind of judgements does God forbid? Q2. What kind of judgements does God commend? What kind of judgements are sinful (and therefore prohibited), and what kind of judgements are truly pleasing to God? So this morning we’ll answer that first question about forbidden judgments, and then Lord Willing next week we’ll focus on the kinds of judgments we must make. So first let’s get the context of Jesus’ word fresh in our mind. Review of the Context Recall where we are in the Sermon on the Plain. Jesus began his sermon by telling us where true beatitude (eternal happiness) can be found. And he told us that beatitude is found by hating/contemning every earthly good that this world can offer and instead choosing to love God supremely above all else. He then expounded what this supernatural love which we call charity, does in the face of enemies and people who hate us. Rather than hating them in return (tit for tat), we love them with the very love with which God has loved us. We hate the sin, but we love the sinner for God’s sake. We hate all that is evil and immoral and corrupt, because we love God who is most Good, Wise and True. And therefore, what we desire most for our enemies (and everyone) is their conversion and conformity to God. The friendship that we have with God, we want everyone else to have too. That is how you know have God’s love inside of you. Jesus then goes on to say that when we follow through on this love for our enemies, both in our heart’s disposition, and in act, then we attain to the divine reward, which is the increase of our unity with God (the enlarging of our heart), and the imitation of God as His beloved children. Thus, in verse 36 Jesus says, Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. This brings us to our text, verses 37-38, where Jesus now prohibits judging and condemning other people, while commanding that we forgive and give to others the way that we would like to be repaid. Jesus says… Verses 37-38 37Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. So we could summarize these two verses by saying it is just the Golden Rule of verse 31, applied in the realm of judgment. Now what exactly is a judgment? In a broad sense, a judgment is a determination of what is right or wrong, good or bad, true or false. Between men and neighbors in society, a judgment is more specially a determination of what is owed to someone, it is the declaration of what is just. So Jesus is saying that for those who have received God’s love and mercy over and above what was justly owed to us (wrath, punishment, condemnation), we now owe to everyone else, for God’s sake, the judgment of charity. As Paul says in Romans 13:8, Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. So Paul is just summarizing and applying what Jesus teaches here in verse 31, and verse 38, as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. With whatever measure you use to judge others, God will use to judge you. If you are generous in your judgments, putting the best interpretation on everyone’s actions, that is how you will come to be judged. James 2:13 makes this same point when it says, For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. So that is a summary of how Christians are to judge other people, and we’ll say much more about that next week. We must judge from charity. We must judge the way we want God to judge us. Now there many ways that we can judge unjustly, or think we are showing mercy when in fact we are perverting God’s justice. And so let us consider all the sinful judgments we need to avoid, lest we bring God’s condemnation down upon our heads. What kind of judgments are not judgments from charity? Q1. What kind of judgements does God forbid? There are three principal judgments that God forbids in His Word, and they are: 1. Usurped Judgments 2. Rash Judgments 3. Perverse Judgments Sometimes a judgment can fall into all three of these categories, but let us consider what exactly these three sinful judgments are, and how we may avoid them. The Usurped Judgment 1. What is a usurped judgment? A usurped judgement occurs whenever we make ourselves a judge in a place or a case where God has not given us that job. All judgment ultimately belongs to God, and therefore God alone can delegate judicial authority to people subordinate to Him, whether to the civil magistrate over the people, to parents over their children, to masters over their servants, to husbands over their wives, and so forth. There is a judicial hierarchy that you must respect, acknowledge, and not transgress. There may be appeals from a lower court to a higher court, or from one sphere to another, but an inferior is never permitted to make himself judge, jury, and executioner over his superior, that would be transgress and usurp the judgment God has established. This is what Paul teaches in Romans 13:1-2, Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. So what might be an example of a usurped judgment? This would include all final judgments that belong to God alone to render. For example, a person’s eternal destiny, whether they are elect or reprobate, their rewards or punishments, their faithfulness or unfaithfulness in this life, and so on. Paul warns in 1 Corinthians 4 of forming such judgments specifically about minister/pastors in the church. He says, Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. So one of the ways you know that a judgment is usurped, is when you lack the authority to actually reward or punish the person accordingly. Paul makes this same point in Romans 14 when he says, Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. So before you start to form a judgment in your mind, first ask yourself, is judging this person a duty God has assigned to me? Are the people or matters involved things that God Himself will ask me to give Him an account for. If the answer is no, then leave it alone, mind your business, focus on judging yourself and those who are under your authority according to God’s law. This is the “stay in your lane” principle that we must learn to observe, lest we subvert the real authorities that God has ordained. Now there are two main classes of cases that are reserved exclusively for God’s judgment, and therefore we must withhold our own private judgments about them. And they are 1) hidden things, and 2) future things. Hidden things include all secret thoughts, motives, and intentions of the heart. And this is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4, yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Paul is saying that he has examined his own heart, and he is not aware of any unrepentant sin in his life, his conscience is clean. However, no man has the power to absolve himself before the throne of God. That judgment he has of a clean conscience does not automatically justify him, only God can do that. Moreover, Paul knows Jeremiah 17:9, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? And he knows Psalm 19:12, Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. And so the logic of withholding judgment about people’s motives runs as follows. If we you scarce know our own heart, our own motives, and why we do what we do, how then can we be so bold to judge with certainty the heart, motives, and intentions of others? They might not even know why they do what they do. And so we do not usurp the judgment of God by trying to peer into secret things. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God (who has revealed them to us). So hidden things and future things and final things, are God’s jurisdiction, not ours. And so leave those things to Him, and you will be safe from usurping the judgment of God. Now the second class of judgments we must avoid are rash judgments. The Rash Judgment 2. What is a rash judgment? A rash judgment occurs when we lack knowledge and certainty about the matter or person(s) involved, and then based on that lack of information, we pronounce a judgment as if we are certain. For example, the Bible says that you need two or three eyewitnesses in order to convict a person of murder, and therefore it would be a rash judgment for a court to execute a person based on mere suspicion, or hearsay, or public opinion, or even based on just one eyewitness who claims they saw the whole thing (and perhaps they really did). God says in Deuteronomy 17:6, At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. Now this means that sometimes guilty people (even murderers) will “get away” with very serious crimes. And yet it is God’s will that we leave vengeance to Him, and refer all doubtful cases to His final judgment. In God’s wisdom, it is better that in this fallen world, the guilty sometimes appear to “get away with it,” rather than running the risk of putting an innocent person to death. God’s law for human judges has a kind of built in mercy to it. It sets limits on our judgments, and forbids us to speculate beyond them. We cannot execute a person for murder just because we think they are guilty. Now if you find that hard to accept (because you have a strong sense of justice), you need to be very careful, because what you might be saying in your heart is, “I know better than God how to run this world down here. I know better than God what the laws of justice should be.” That is a dangerous logic to follow, and it is what Jesus is prohibiting here. Don’t make a rash judgment when you do not have certitude, when you cannot see the whole picture. This is especially where we as Christians must learn to walk by faith and not by sight. We pray and sing the psalms that cry out for God’s perfect justice to come into this world that is abundant with injustice. We have to trust that God knows better than us, how to order the world, even if it means that someone we know is guilty (because we saw them commit the crime), goes free. In such cases, we have to trust that God’s Supreme Court will one day settle accounts with everyone, including us. A final judgment is coming for all, and we must learn to live in light of it. Moreover, that hope of justice should give us peace and rest as wait. We can be patient and forgiving because we know that all our earthly appeals to the heavenly Supreme Court shall receive a perfect verdict one day, one that we will say Amen to. Of course, our hope for all people is that they find mercy on that day of judgment, and turn away as soon as possible here and now from all and every sin they are engaged in. Think of how patient God has been with you. If God had just executed us at the first big sin we committed, well, none of us would live long enough to even seek His mercy. But God is patient with us in our evil, and so we must be patient with others as well. If you believe that God is a perfect judge, then practically this means that whenever you are in doubt about some case or controversy or dispute, you can just withhold rendering your own judgment (even in your heart and mind), and instead say, “I don’t know.” Most of the time, those controversies and disputes are none of our business anyways, and so we would be committing a twofold sin by both usurping judgment from God or the lawful authorities, and then making a rash judgment about things we do not know with certainty. By the way, this also applies in parenting and disciplining children. If the kids are fighting, and it is uncertain who hit who and who hit first, well only discipline for the things that they confess to, or that you were eyewitness to. Teach your children that you are under God’s law, and that you are only disciplining them as an instrument in God’s loving and restraining hand. God bless my mother, who would say to us children in doubtful circumstances, be sure, your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:21). We are going to miss stuff as parents. But that’s okay, if we ask God to catch and discipline whatever we miss. Now that standard of needing 2 or 3 witnesses before rendering a formal judgment also applies to cases in the church, and so let me say a word about this since this is a protection for you as members and for us as elders. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 13:1, In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. And in 1 Timothy 5:19-20 he says, Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. So unless there are two or three independent witnesses who can confirm and substantiate the accusation being made, the church cannot even accept it or proceed to a formal investigation of it. Instead, what you must do is follow the process laid out in Matthew 18. Jesus says, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector. So that is the process Jesus sets forth to help prevent rumors, scandals, evil suspicions, and those situations where everyone feels like they have to pick a side. There are going to be sinners and big sins in the church, and our first instinct should be to cover as much as we can in love (as Peter says, charity covers a multitude of sins), and then when something is too big to cover in love (because it would be unloving to do), we should first remove the log from our own eye, so we can see clearly to confront the person privately, and only after they refuse to repent do we bring others in. Here must be careful to observe what Galatians 6:1 tells us, Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. So all of you must learn to hate in yourself, the formation of any evil and rash judgments, whether about an individual, or a group, or a whole class of people. You must ask God to shield your ears from rumors and lies, so that all gossip, slander, and evil opinions become utterly distasteful to you. It says in Proverbs 6:16-19, These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren. And Paul warns of such people in 1 Timothy 6:4-5 saying, He is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself. So this might be the strongest argument for some of you to get off social media, to stop listening to those podcasts, stop texting with those people in that group chat. If they are these kinds of people, who want you to form evil opinions about someone else, From such withdraw yourself. Otherwise, you will become like them. It says in Proverbs 14:7, Go from the presence of a foolish man, When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge. And in Proverbs 13:20, He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. So don’t be a fool by dwelling amongst fools. It is okay to form an opinion or first impression about someone, but beware that an evil opinion or a bad impression can very easily become an evil judgment, or worse, you go looking for dirt to confirm your evil suspicions about someone. That habit of mind (which many media and news industries run on) is totally contrary to charity, which Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:5-8, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Imagine a news station that had charity as its governing rule. So use this golden rule of love as your guide for judging others. Would you like someone to judge you without having all the facts, without knowing all the details, without first hearing everyone out? If not, then withhold your own judgments, think the best about everyone, and don’t worry about people deceiving you (they will). But it is far better to think good about someone who is actually secretly evil (to let the guilty go free in your mind, because you lack evidence), than to think evil about someone who might actually be innocent. Jesus forbids such rash judgments, and Scripture condemns them in the strongest of terms. So be on guard against this. Third and finally, there are perverse judgments. The Perverse Judgment 3. A perverse judgment occurs whenever we judge something contrary to the law of God. It says in Exodus 23:2, You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. It says in Proverbs 28:4-5, Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But such as keep the law contend with them. Evil men do not understand justice, But those who seek the Lord understand all. It was the perversion of justice amongst God’s people, who had God’s law to guide them, that brought down upon Israel the most severe punishments. Judgment begins with the house of God. For example, Isaiah 5:20 says, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! These are the people who pervert God’s justice. Psalm 82 is all about this. It is a declaration that God shall punish all those earthly judges (called gods or elohim) who in the name of God pervert what God’s law required. It says, God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods. How long will you judge unjustly, And show partiality to the wicked? Defend the poor and fatherless; Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy; Free them from the hand of the wicked. They do not know, nor do they understand; They walk about in darkness; All the foundations of the earth are unstable. I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes.” Arise, O God, judge the earth; For You shall inherit all nations. This is the cry of the church for God to judge, for God to come and make things right. Conclusion And so I close by returning to where we began, those scenes where the world is shouting at us, Judge not lest ye be judged, so that they can defend sodomy, homosexuality, abortion, trans-surgeries, and whatever new perversity they come up with next. What are they doing? They are making perverse judgments about right and wrong. They are charging Christians with hating them, when in fact what we hate is the evil and future punishments they are inflicting upon themselves if they do no repent. And so to keep the words of Christ truly in that kind of situation, what must we do? First, you must be courageous to agree with whatever God says in His Word. Whatever God judges to be right and wrong, good and evil, that is our judgment as well. We agree with Him that sin is destructive, it deserves eternal punishment, and that all have sinned and fallen short of His infinite glory. That is the bad news we proclaim before the good news. And then we believe in our hearts, and proclaim to the world, that God delights to show mercy. He says in Ezekiel 18:23, Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? And it says in 1 Timothy 2:4, He desires all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. If that is God’s revealed will to the world, then that should be our will for the world as well. All judgment belongs to God and that is a great gospel truth. Because on the cross, Jesus suffered the single greatest act of injustice there ever was or ever shall be. Man murdered God, and appeared to get away with it. But in God’s infinite wisdom, He turned the greatest act of evil, into His greatest act of good for the human race. Through our injustice, God manifested His own perfect justice, and He crucified our sins in the innocent body of Jesus, so that we could be justified. As Paul says in Romans 3:26, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. And so if God can turn our injustice again Him, into the instrument of showing His mercy and grace towards us, then we can trust Him to do the same with all the injustices that we suffer down here. So go to Jesus, go to the cross, and give all your sins and sinful judgments about others to Him. He will blot them out in the ocean of His mercy. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Rewards of Divine Love Sunday, June 21st, 2026 Fourth Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:27–36 Prayer O Father, we thank You for Your Only Begotten Son, who lived what He taught, and who showed us by his life and death and resurrection, how to overcome evil with good. Teach us to do the same, by the power of Your Holy Spirit working within us, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction In Acts 20:35, the Apostle Paul says to the Ephesian elders, Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Now where exactly does Jesus say this? Well, if you were to search all four gospels, you would discover that Jesus never says these exact words anywhere in his teaching. And therefore, Paul is either quoting some oral tradition that he and the Ephesians are familiar with, or what is probably more likely, Paul is just summarizing what Jesus is teaching right here in the Sermon on the Plain: It is more blessed to give than to receive. It is more blessed, to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate you, and to lend to those who cannot repay you, because this is what God has done for us, and God is the most blessed, the most happy, the most joyful God, abundant in every good. So if you had to summarize this section of Jesus’ sermon, you could rightly summarize it by saying, It is more blessed to give than to receive. Now this morning we are focusing on verses 32-36, which is where Jesus seeks to motivate us, motivate his disciples to give away the love that they themselves have received. And the logic of his argument runs like this: Because God’s love is a free gift of Divine mercy, therefore you should freely give what you have freely received. Once upon a time, you were God’s enemy, you were God’s debtor, but Christ came and paid your debt, He suffered and died on the cross to reconcile you to God, and so the friendship with God that you now enjoy is all a gift of His mercy, so therefore show mercy to your enemies. Moreover, because this supernatural love of charity is infinite (it is a participation in the very essence of God), the more love that you give away, the more love God bestows. As Jesus will go on to say in verse 38, Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you. So charity is this grace that increases the more you give it. You could think of your heart like a little teacup (or if you prefer, a shot glass), and when you become a Christian, God pours out His love so that it fills your little cup to the brim. On His side, He is and has an inexhaustible ocean of love to give you. But on your side, you can only receive as much love as the size of your heart allows. Paul describes this reality in 2 Corinthians 6:11-13 when he says, O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. That is, open your heart to God! Well how does God open your heart? How does God give you a bigger cup? Well, He does this by giving you opportunities to pour out the love that He has given you into people who do not deserve it. God enlarges your heart by giving you opportunities to show mercy to people who do not deserve mercy. When you do this, walking in faith, living in hope, trusting God to supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, then God expands your capacity to both give His love and receive His love. And thus, we experience what Paul says that Jesus says that, It is more blessed to give than to receive. So that is main point of this section (the blessedness of charity), and Jesus gives us two incentives (motivations) to be generous with our love the way that God has been generous towards us. And we find those two incentives in verse 35, where Jesus says, But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest. What are the two incentives to love your enemies? 1) For a reward that shall be great. 2) And that ye may be the children of the Highest. What does this mean? To understand these incentives, let us walk through our text, starting in verses 32-34. Jesus says… Verses 32-34 32For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. First, notice the contrast Jesus is making here, between the way that sinners love, and the way his disciples are to love. Sinners are people who love those who love them, who do good to those who do them good, they make loans and receive back interest on those loans. That is just what ordinary human beings do, and Jesus calls them sinners. Sinners love this way. So ask yourself, do you only love like these sinners love? Do you only do good to the people you like, to the people who look like you and share your values, to people who appreciate your love, and say thank you? Is there anything in how you act, that transcends what is common amongst sinners? This is the question Jesus asks three times in a row when he says, “what thank have ye?” Other translations say, “what credit is that to you?,” or “what benefit is that to you?” In Greek the word for thank/credit/benefit is χάρις, from which we get the English word charisma, grace, or favor. The idea is that a believer is someone who has received χάρις/grace from God, and therefore χάρις/grace should be manifest in how we treat other people, even those who are our enemies. So do you love those who love you? Great. Sinners can do that. Racists and Kinists do that. There is nothing meritorious, gracious, or praiseworthy about that kind of love that sinners have for one another. What thank have ye? But believers, we are those who love those who hate us. We do good to those who desire to do us evil. We lend to people who cannot repay, because we have God’s grace within us. This is the contrast Jesus is making between sinners and true disciples, between Christians in name only, and those who love God above all else. One has grace, the other does not. So which kind of person are you? What do the thoughts of your heart and your words, and your actions reveal about what you actually love? Do you have grace within you? Now in verse 35, Jesus tells us plainly that there is a reward for those who have and manifest grace. He says… Verse 35 35But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest… What is this great reward that Jesus speaks of? Recall that charity is the love that comes from God, unites us to God, and loves everyone in relation to God. Charity values God more than anything else, and therefore desires God more than anything else. The soul that has been touched by this Divine flame says with Song of Solomon 8:7, Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can the floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, It would utterly be contemned. Or if you like a more homely analogy, we are all like onions, you don’t just take a bit out of an onion, but God’s love comes along and cooks us low and slow until we become sweet. So if you were to ask a person that is full of charity/sweetness, “What reward do you want for loving your enemies?” They would say to you something like, “I just want my enemies to know and love God, and I want to know and love God more than I presently do.” Or, as Moses says to God upon the mountain, if I have found grace in thy sight, please, show me Thy glory (Ex. 33:17-18). Is that what you heart desires? The great reward that charity desires is the increase of charity in oneself, so that more charity can be shared with others. Put another way, charity asks God for a bigger cup, a larger heart, a sweeter and more open disposition, so that we can have more of Him. And if that is the honest desire of your heart, that is the surest sign that you are a true son of Abraham. For what does God say to him in Genesis 15:1, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Now this great reward of knowing and loving God begins in this life and is perfected in the next. God says to Moses in Exodus 33:20, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And it says in 1 John 3:2, we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And in Revelation 21:3-4 it says, And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” To behold God face to face in glory, after death, is the greatest reward of all. That is when Jesus will say to us, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord (Matthew 25:21). So that is the future and perfect reward that God promises to those who love Him, but there are also rewards we can begin to experience in this life, here and now when we love our enemies. So what are those rewards? They are joy and peace. Joy and peace are the two unique effects of divine love. It says in Psalm 119:165, Great peace have they which love thy law: And nothing shall offend them. And Jesus says in John 15:9-11, As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. So do you know the joy and the peace that comes from possessing and delighting in what no one and no thing can take away? Do you have God hidden in your heart? Are not you hidden in God’s heart? Is not your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, where no mortal creature can ever blot it out? It says in Zephaniah 3:17, The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. So what can your enemies really take from you, if God is your exceeding great reward? If God is truly your all in all? What if your enemies are actually helping you do what John the Baptist says in John 3:30, “He must increase, and I must decrease.” Sometimes God permits us to suffer temporal losses, persecution, hatred and contempt, because He wants to increase our joy and peace in Him. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10, Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. How is this possible? Only if you know that God is the good that cannot be taken from you, no matter what they do to your body, your reputation, your possessions, your homeland, your culture your family, the people that you love. Jesus says in Matthew 10:28, Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And what does Paul say at the climax of Romans 8? If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is the truth that gives birth to joy and peace, because it is rooted in what no creature can take away, namely the love of God for us. This is also what will set you free to forgive those people who have hurt you the most. As Jesus says in verses 35-36, ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. So whose child are you? Who is your father? God, or the devil? God forgives; the devil holds grudges. God forgets your sins, He removes them as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103), he drowns them in the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). Whereas the devil is constantly out to accuse you, to condemn you, for sins you may have done and for sins you have not done, the devil is a fanciful liar and he will do whatever he can to keep you holding on to sins, real or imagined, and he will encourage you to play the victim, to blame other people, to not take responsibility for your actions, to exaggerate the faults of others, and to minimize your own. The devil is a deceiver for he himself is deceived. Who is Jesus? He is the way, the truth, the life. Jesus is the God who humbles himself even unto death for sinners. Whereas the devil never humbles himself, he exalts himself in pride. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is kind to the unthankful and evil, the devil is cruel to everyone he meets. So whose child are you? Who is your father? You will know who you are, by how you treat those who hate you. James 2:13 says, For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. Conclusion Are you merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful? Because showing mercy is its own reward. It says in Proverbs 11:17, 25, The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: But he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh…The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters others, will also be watered himself. It really is more blessed to give than to receive. It is better for your health, in this life and the next, to show mercy rather than to harbor bitterness. And so the place you must constantly dwell and return to if you would become merciful as your Father is merciful, is the place where God most revealed His mercy: Upon the cross of Jesus Christ. At the cross you must see what your sins deserved. Not just the world’s sins, or those people’s sins, but your sins. Your sins deserve crucifixion. Your sins deserve never-ending punishment. Your sins were an affront to the infinite dignity of God. Your sins were an offense against your Creator such that Peter says the Jews is true for you. He says in Acts 3:14-15, But you denied the Holy One and the Just…and killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. Do you really believe what God says about your sins and what they deserve? If you don’t believe that you deserve damnation, then it will be hard to show mercy and to forgive the people who hurt you. But if you do believe that you have truly offended God, and that He would be just to condemn you to hell for all time, then you can also see just how kind He has been to you, to the ungrateful, and the evil. At the cross we also see what Jesus gave up to win us. What he sacrificed to save us. What value the Father placed on restoring us to fellowship with Him. As it says in Romans 8:32, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Do you see how pitiful we are!? We are hardly willing to suffer the slightest insult, the slightest injustice, the slightest indignity. We are petty to the core. Would like God to be petty with you? It says in Psalm 130:3, If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? None of us, apart from the cross. A soul that is filled with grace, thinks to itself, “whatever evils I suffer here, are infinitely less than the punishment I deserve, and whatever evil is done against me, is less than that wickedness I have committed against the infinitely glorious God.” If that becomes your heart’s rationale, well then God has started to enlarge your heart, and pour His love into it, and so may He, both now and forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Acts of Divine Love Sunday, June 14th, 2026 Third Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:27–36 Interpretive Note: These precepts are binding upon all believers as to the disposition of the heart (the habit of charity). They are binding in action when the following conditions have been met: 1. It is a case of serious necessity (e.g. without a coat they will freeze). 2. It would not undermine the common good (e.g. they ask to borrow your phone but then refuse to give it back, you should freely give it to them, vs. they ask you for your gun and likely intend it to use it to harm someone, therefore you refuse to give it). 3. It would lead your enemy to eternal life (e.g. the object demanded, or endurance of the wrong suffered, would not contradict the manifestation of kindness and gentleness). In doubtful circumstances, these become counsels of perfection that may or may not be acted upon depending on one’s state. These precepts are not civil laws, nor contrary to the justice of the civil law. In cases where the civil law cannot or will not restrain evil, we may not take vengeance into our hands. In cases where greater harm would be done by not appealing to the civil law, we are bound to appeal to the civil law, but not for private vengeance, rather for the public good. We may desire temporal evils for our neighbor, namely the just punishment for sin, but only for the sake of their attaining to eternal life. Prayer O Father, we praise You for great Your mercies. Your mercy that removes our misery, heals our defects, and gives us a perfection far beyond what we justly deserve. Grant that we may become merciful and kind, even as You are, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Last Sunday we began to wrestle with this command from Jesus to love your enemies. And we acknowledged that this command is probably the most difficult moral action that any human being can do. We said further that this act of loving your enemies from the heart is indeed impossible apart from the grace of God. And therefore, to love your enemies, you must first receive God’s love, receive salvation, receive a new heart, so that you are no longer an enemy of God, but rather His most intimate friend. This friendship that results from God’s grace is what we call charity. Charity is a supernatural kind of love, that comes down from God to raise us up to God. When God converts you and regenerates you, He infuses into your soul this new power to love the way that He loves. And when you exercise that power, you become what 2 Peter 1:4 calls, a partaker of the Divine Nature which is essentially love all the way through. Love unites the Beloved to the Lover. Love unites us to the love that God is. It says in 1 John 4:16, God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Paul says in Romans 5:5 that, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And so here in this Sermon on the Plain from the Lord Jesus, Jesus is giving now spiritual laws for a spiritual people. Jesus is giving supernatural precepts that only a supernatural person, living in a state of grace, has the ability to carry out. And therefore, if you are unable to love your enemies, the way Jesus is telling you to, you are either not a Christian at all, or you are a very spiritually stunted Christian. Whatever the case, these commands to love your enemies expose the radical selfishness of our own hearts. And what we discover behind all these commands to love, is that love is radically God-centered, not Me-centered. Love considers what is best for others, not merely what is best for Me. When God’s love comes and indwells a believer, it starts to mortify/kill/crucify/purge the Self (the Ego). God’s love is like a consuming fire, a jealous flame, and we are like a stump of wood. And what happens at conversion is God cuts you down, graciously sets you on His sacrificial altar, and then He turns up the heat. He starts to transform you from a stubborn piece of wood that was fixed to the dirt, into a heavenly fire that can now ascend upward. This is the divine flame of the Holy Spirit. And He is intent on converting you from wood to fire, from earth to heaven, from dust to divinity, from inordinate self-love to a God-ordered divine love. This is the love Jesus is revealing here, the supernatural fire of charity. Now with all that by way of review, let us consider again the outline of our text. Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 27-31, Jesus teaches us What Charity Does Toward Its Enemies. And then in verses 32-36, Jesus teaches us Why Charity Does This. So what does charity do, and why does charity do this? This morning we’ll focus mainly on the specific acts of charity, and next week we’ll focus on the reasons why. So starting in verse 27 we see that charity does good to those who hate us. Jesus says… Verse 27 27But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Now recall that charity does not just seek any good for our enemies, charity seeks the greatest good for our enemies, which is their conversion to Christ. And just as we were formerly enemies of God,living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another (Titus 3:3),so also are those people who presently hate us. And therefore, observing the Golden Rule as Jesus will give in verse 31, we are to, Do for our enemies what we wish someone had done for us when were God’s enemies. This is the logic of charity. It says in Titus 3:4 that what converted us from a state of hatred was that, the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. In other words, because salvation is wholly of grace from beginning to the middle to the end, therefore, we are to be gracious, merciful, kind, generous, to show our enemies what has already been shown to us. If it was the appearance of God’s kindness and love that converted you, then that same appearance of God’s kindness and love through you may become the means by which God saves your enemies’ soul. Well how do we do this practically? Jesus goes on to give five illustrations of charity in action. And they are: 1) we bless, 2) we pray, 3) we turn the other cheek, 4) we give away necessities, and 5) we forgive our debtors. So in verse 28 Jesus says… Verse 28 – We Bless & We Pray 28Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. Now to bless means to say something good to someone (or to wish them good). And the good that we wish for those who curse us, is that they stop cursing, stop blaspheming, and instead confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now consider for a moment the alternative. What if you curse those who curse you? What do you think they will do in return? Probably curse you again. And so what is Jesus doing here? He is calling for a de-escalation of the conflict. And the way you de-escalate is by choosing to not return evil for evil, but rather to overcome evil with good. As we heard earlier from Proverbs 19:11, The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression. And in Proerbs 10:12 it says, Hatred stirreth up strifes: But love covereth all sins. So this how God intends to make peace on earth. When they curse we bless them back. When they wish us evil, we wish them good in return. It says in Proverbs 26:2, As a flitting sparrow, as a flying swallow, So a curse without cause shall not alight. Meaning, it does not matter how much the wicked may curse you, if you are innocent, that curse cannot land on your head. And in fact, sometimes that curse boomerangs, and falls upon the person who sent it. And so don’t fall into the trap of cursing back. Choose to bless, and not merely with your words, but genuinely from the heart, desire their salvation. David prays in Psalm 141:10, Let the wicked fall into their own nets, While I escape safely. That is, we pray that those who curse, fall in their own wickedness, so that they cease from sin. This is how you bless, even as you ask for God to punish your enemies. You pray for their temporal punishment, so that they may escape eternal punishment. Charity only wishes God’s justice upon the evil, as a means to them seeking His mercy. Now when we do this, and bless from the heart, what we are also doing is praying for our enemies. The next thing Jesus says is, pray for them which despitefully use you. Now think about a time when someone has used you for their own selfish interests. How did that make you feel? Angry? Bitter? De-humanized? Like an object and not a person. Well now think about a time when you have used someone else for your own selfish interests. Can any of us honestly say that we are not guilty of that sin? We have all done this in various degrees to our shame. Well Jesus says that when people use you, and use you with contempt, they want to spite you, they want to humiliate you, they want to de-humanize you, then go to God and pray for them. Do you see how God’s love, charity, is totally opposed to man’s natural desire for vengeance, for what you think is justice. When in reality, to pray for those who use you, is also to humbly acknowledge that you are guilty of having done the same (and maybe worse), and yet God forgave you. How many of us have despitefully used Christ? We come to church, we receive baptism, we hear the Word, we receive the very body and blood of Christ from this table, but then we go out and commit the same sins again and again and again. Thanks be to God that Jesus prays for us. That we have a mediator who is willing to forgive us, again and again and again and as often as we confess our sins and return to Him. And so this is why we pray for those who use us. This is what Jesus has done. Later in Luke 17:3-4 Jesus will say to his disciples, Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” Why do we do this? Because God does this for us. And so bless those who curse you, and we pray for those who despitefully use you. In verse 29 Jesus teaches us to 3) turn the other cheek, and 4) give away necessities. He says… Verse 29 – We Turn the Other Cheek & We Give Away Necessities 29And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. Notice that both of these actions require supernatural humility and restraint, what the Bible calls meekness/mildness/gentleness. When someone strikes us, our reflex is to strike back. When someone robs us of our raincoat (called here the cloke), our instinct is to cling even more closely to whatever we still have on, our shirt (coat here refers to the undergarment). Well, the love of charity that arises from meekness does not clutch to what it has, but rather opens its arms wide, even as Jesus did on the cross. Charity is willing to suffer consecutive assaults on our dignity. That is what Jesus is saying here. They smack you once, and you are willing to be smacked again. They take your coat, and you are willing to give them your shirt too. It is the repetition of personal affronts that Jesus is calling us to patiently endure. Now we should note here that this is not a command for absolute pacifism, as if there is never a time for self-defense, or the defense of others, or even the defense of your property. Remember these are not civil laws, they are private precepts (or counsels) that depend upon the situation. The principle is that your heart does not desire personal vengeance, or retribution, your heart desires their attainment of eternal life. Because when they strike you, they are really striking at God. When they take your coat, they are really robbing God. What does God say to Saul after consenting to the murder of Stephen? “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Notice, Jesus takes our suffering personally, as if it was done to Him. And because of this, later the converted Apostle Paul will say in Romans 12:19, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. So whatever you and I suffer for righteousness’ sake, Jesus takes personally as done to Him. And He says, I will repay. I will see that justice is done, and mercy is shown, in accord with my perfect wisdom. So leave it to Him who knows better than us what is good for us, and for our enemies. Jesus is the one who has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. So give place for God’s wrath, don’t take vengeance into your own hands. Now the fifth and final action Jesus describes is that of forgiving our debtors. He says in verses 30-31… Verse 30 – We Forgive Our Debtors 30Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 31And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. Now what is most likely in view here is a situation where you choose to lend to someone, and then they either defraud you, or refuse to pay the loan back, or squander the money and are unable to pay you back. And in such a situation, Jesus says, write it off as a gift. Forgive whatever they took you for. One of the reasons this is the most likely situation in view is because a few verses later Jesus will contrast this act of forgiveness,with the way the sinners lend to one another. He says in verse 34-35, And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return. Now if you find this to be a hard saying, to forgive someone who has defrauded you, then it might be because you still don’t know the blessing of hating money. Recall the very first words of this sermon, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. That is, blessed are those who do not love money, whose hearts are not attached to earthly goods. They are the blessed ones to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs, and they shall be heirs of everything. And so because God has forgiven us, and paid our debts (which we could never repay!), and He has given us grace, and promised us eternal life, and has in store for us imperishable riches beyond the heart’s imagining, we are then willing to forgive those people who defraud us of mere earthly stuff. In Hebrews 10:34 the Apostle Paul encourages the Hebrew Christian who practiced what Jesus is preaching here. He says to them, for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. Dear Christian, do you know what you have? A better and more enduring possession for yourself in heaven? Because only that will detach your heart from the love of money. And when your heart is attached to this world, it prevents your soul from flying upward to God, to heaven. And so heaven is where you need to be making more frequent deposits. And you do that at times by suffering temporal losses, by forgiving debts, by being wise and generous with whatever God has given you. This is how, Jesus says, you become rich toward God. He says in Matthew 6:20-21, But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our heart is secure, when it is hidden in God. And that security is not shaken by liars and cheats and robbers. Conclusion David says in Psalm 119:32, I will run the way of thy commandments, When thou shalt enlarge my heart. And so if you are struggling to run in God’s commandments, or perhaps you feel that you can hardly walk in them, then start by asking God to enlarge your heart. Remember charity is God’s love, flowing into us, and then into others. So go to the one who has nothing but love flowing out of him. Go to the cross, go to the dead body of Christ, of which it says in John 19:34, But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. If you go the cross and stare at Christ, and think about why He is there, and what He has suffered, and how there is no greater love than this, that a man lay down his life to turn His enemies into His friends, well that is what enlarges our heart.     To know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph. 3:19). May God grant us this fullness of love, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Logic of Divine Love Sunday, June 7th, 2026 Second Sunday After Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:27–36 Prayer O Father, we thank You for Your great mercies, how they are new every morning, how they sustain us in the night, and how they lead us to eternal life. Please teach us now to become merciful as You are merciful, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Imagine for a moment that you are alone. And you are standing on the shore of a secluded lake. The water is still. The sun is shining above you. It is warm but not too warm. There are no sounds or noises or any people to disturb you. All is calm. All is peaceful. Now imagine flying above the surface of that lake. And see how the more still it stands, the more it can reflect the light of the sun above you. If that lake is perfectly still, it can become a mirror image of the heavens above. Well that is what God created you to be. A perfect image and likeness of the Divine light, reflecting as in a mirror God’s radiance, warmth, goodness, and love. In the Garden of Eden we were like this. But after the fall, sin shattered us. Sin made us to be more like a stormy sea, dark, brooding, with waves of doubts crashing against one another, and therefore unable to reflect the Divine light above. The Bible says that your mind, your heart, your soul, is like a body of water. It’s like the Sea of Galilee, which can either be peaceful and calm at the word of Christ who says, “be still” and all is still (Mark 4:39), or we can be stormy, dangerous, and full of fear. Paul says in Ephesians 4:14, that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. In Jude 13 false teachers are described as, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. In Isaiah 57:20 it says, But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. It says in James 1:5-8, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. So what kind of body of water are you? What is the state of your heart? Do you have inner peace, or do you feel tossed about by conflicting thoughts, passions, fears, desires? Nobody likes being double-minded, anxious, fearful. We all want to experience tranquility, but too often we do not know how to acquire it. Well in our text this morning, the Lord Jesus teaches us where the peace of God may be found. And that peace of God, which Paul says in Philippians 4:7, surpasses all understanding, is only ever found where love is found. It says in 1 John 4:16, God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. And so this means that you will only ever experience peace, to the degree that you also have God’s love dwelling within you. Perfect peace can only come from a perfect love. However, in this life our peace is so often imperfect (or altogether lacking), our minds are easily disturbed because of the inconstancy of our affection for God. And so here in this sermon from the Lord Jesus, God wants to show you what His perfect love looks like in action. What does God’s love look like, when it dwells inside a believer? That is what we shall begin to explore this morning. Outline of the Text Looking at our text, we can divide it into two basic sections as each relates to love. And this morning we’ll just look at the first section, and Lord willing next week we’ll take up the rest. In verses 27-31, Jesus teaches us What Divine Love Is. And then in verses 32-36, he explains Why we should love the way that God loves. So what is divine love, and what is the logic of this love so that we can love even our enemies? To answer these questions is really to show us the path to peace. Verse 27 – What is Divine Love? 27But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, First recall the context of this saying. Jesus has just pronounced four blessings/beatitudes upon the poor, the hungry, the sad, and the hated, “Blessed are you” he says, looking especially upon his disciples. And then he pronounced four woes/warnings upon the greedy, the self-indulgent, the haughty, and the vainglorious, “Woe to you” he says. And now here, Jesus announces a new audience for the teaching that follows. He says, But I say unto you which hear… Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you. Who are those who hear? Jesus is referring to those who are listening in order that they may understand and obey Him. In other words, Jesus is talking to believers. Jesus does not expect unbelievers to be able to hear and do what he is about to command. And that is because this ability to truly love your enemies, and to do good to those who hate you, is a supernatural ability that comes from God above. This power to love your enemies the way that God loves them, is a power that you must first receive from God as a heavenly gift. And therefore, only those who first hear with faith can also receive this gift of supernatural love. Now we call this supernatural love from God charity, to help us distinguish it from the all the other natural loves where even sinners can love those who love them (as Jesus says in verse 32). But to love one’s enemies, and to do good to those who hate us, that is a divine kind of love. And in fact, it is a gracious participation in the very love that God is. Paul describes the divine origin of this love in Romans 5:5 when he says, the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Notice that our heart was like an empty space, until God poured His love in. And so we say that when the Holy Spirit fills our heart with God’s love, what we receive is a new heart, a new creation, a new disposition and habit of our soul where we can now love other people the way that God loves them. This is what we call charity. And it is a supernatural gift. In 1 Corinthians 12 and 13, charity is described as the greatest of all spiritual gifts. And that is because unlike the gifts of faith, and hope, which eventually give way to sight and fulfillment, charity is a love that unites us to God here and now, and then increases even more when we behold God face to face. Paul says, charity never ends. So charity is the beginning of God’s life within us, and it is only by His indwelling love, His Holy Spirit poured into our hearts, that we could ever dare hope to love people who hate us. Charity is also the highest form of friendship, because charity unites our will with God’s will. Charity is like the love-knot that ties us to God. It is how our spirit becomes interwined with God’s spirit. Paul describes this in Colossians 3:14-15 saying, And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Note again the connection between love and peace. To Summarize: Charity it is the love that comes from God, it is the love that unites us to God, and when we are united to God as His most intimate friends, we are enabled to love other people, even our enemies, for God’s sake. Charity transforms every ordinary relationship into a relationship that has God as its reference point. You could visualize this with a triangle. There is you and some other person on the same horizontal plane, and that line between could be a line of love, or enmity, or something in between. Charity sets God above that relationship, and so you can now love that other person through God, with God’s help, with the very love that God pours out into you, you can now pour out to them. So this how charity transforms everything, and it is why it is the greatest of all spiritual gifts. Now a second thing we need to note before we get into some of these actions that love does, is that these commands in verses 27-30 are for Christians as private persons, and not for the civil magistrate or public officials as such. To put it another way, what Jesus is commanding here is not a new civil law for the government to enact or enforce. Because if it was, then it would contradict the Ten Commandments, and many other things that Jesus will say and do elsewhere. So we always have to interpret Scripture with Scripture, and that is especially true when it comes to these teachings here. Don’t get confused, these are personal and private commands for Christians as Christ, not new civil laws for the commonwealth or magistrate. To give you just one example to illustrate this point, when Jesus says in verse 29, him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also, by saying this Jesus is not trying to legalize theft. Jesus is not decriminalizing stealing. He is saying that insofar as belongs to you as a Christian, freely give what you have freely received, and God will make it up to you. He clothes the grass and the lilies and can find you a new coat. Don’t take vengeance into your own hands. The Apostle Paul elaborates on this more in Romans 12 and 13 when he says, Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. And how does God repay evildoers? Paul goes on to say a few verses later, But if you do evil, be afraid; for [the powers that be, the civil magistrate] does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. (Rom. 13:4). So there is no contradiction between a Christian loving his enemies and suffering loss or persecution, and then the civil magistrate coming along and executing those same enemies for their crimes to protect and maintain the common good. Whenever the common good is jeopardized by evil, the most loving thing the magistrate can do for them, is punish them, prevent them from doing more harm to themselves and others. This is the love the magistrate (as magistrate) shows for the common good, and it is in no way opposed to the love you show by not withholding your private goods when certain need demands. But the point is, that punishment, the sword, vengeance, belongs to the lawful authorities, and not to private individuals as such. So if you misunderstood this, you can end up with all kinds of weird and false conclusions about what a Christian can and cannot do. And so just remember Jesus never contradicts himself, he is not abolishing the law in any way, he is rather showing how love is the fulfillment of the love, specifically in our private affairs. So what exactly does love for our enemies look like? Well, we learn in verse 27, that to love means to do good to someone. Jesus says, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, So to love is to will what is good for someone. And we should go further and say that divine love (charity), wills what is what is most good for someone (what is best for them). And so we should ask here, what is the best good we can will for our enemies? It is that they get converted to knowing and loving God. And this is what separates charity from all other loves. Charity wills God for other people, and therefore does whatever is within its power to give God to that person. And so Jesus says the way you will lead people to me, is by doing good to them, even when they hate you. Later he will explain this more saying we are to be merciful, even as God is merciful. And then he goes on to say in verses 28-31 what kinds of private actions lead people to God. Verses 28-31 28Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 29And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. 30Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 31And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. These are the concrete actions of a person who desires his or her enemies to be converted to God. These are also the actions that only a blessed person can do. And by that I mean, you must be blessed in the sense that Jesus just pronounced blessings, upon those who contemn riches, who are poor in spirit, who hungry for righteousness, and so on. Only a person who first has the blessedness of God can love like God loves. We observe in this list of actions, that these are all sacrificial acts, acts of suffering, of enduring the loss of material goods, the loss of our dignity (to be backhanded on our right cheek). It can include at times even the loss of our lives and livelihoods, and all because we desire God for the people who hate us. This is the logic of divine love that produces Christian martyrs. Think of what Stephen says to God about the people who are presently stoning him to death. It says in Acts 7:60, And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Did God answer that prayer? Yes, and the fruit of that prayer was the conversion of Saul who became the Apostle Paul. Stephen’s blood was the seed of Paul’s conversion. Stephen overcame evil with good, and O how God blessed that offering! Love of this kind is shocking. It is other-worldly. It does not make sense to the selfish heart, and that is the point. It says in 1 Corinthians 13:5, charity does not seek its own, it is not provoked, it thinks no evil. Who loves this way? Nobody forsakes their goods and lives for their enemies, unless they are first convinced that God has loved them in this way. So think. What did Jesus give up to save you? Heaven. What did Jesus suffer to make you His friend? Hell. Everything here that Jesus commands, Jesus himself will later do as he goes to the cross. Jesus blesses those who curse him. He prays for them from the cross saying, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And he prays this as they are parting his garments and casting lots for them. The soliders took his cloke, and he offered them his life. They struck him on the cheek (John 18:22), and he turned to offer them his whole body to be crucified. They mocked at him. They stripped him of every dignity they could, and Jesus patiently endured all of it, from love for those who hated him. This is the gospel. That while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. That when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son (Romans 5:8, 10). And so if God’s love could change you from an enemy into His friend, then He can do the same for your enemies, changing them into His friends and yours. Conclusion And so I close with a question of application. Do you love your enemies? Do you do good to those who hate you? Sadly, most of us are guilty of not even loving our friends. Many of us are guilty of not even loving our spouse, our children, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. How could we ever love our enemies, if we don’t even have genuine love for one another here? This should make you sad. How little you love God. How little charity we exercise in our hearts for one another. And so I want you go home this week, and meditate on this. Do you love other people with divine love? Have you actually received from God the love that the Holy Spirits pours into a believing heart? Because if you are cold to other people. Cold to your spouse, cold to your parents, cold to some other race, or skin color, or class, or people group, cold to anyone, that should alarm you. Wherever there is coldness in your heart, that is a place where evil grows, and where God is absent. So hear these words from 1 John 3:13-18 and ask God to convict you where you are fall short of His love. John says, Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And so may we, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.  

Woe Unto You Sunday, May 31st, 2026 TRINITY SUNDAY Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:20-26 Prayer O Father, we thank you for the blessedness of Christ, and that by faith in His Passion, we may not only avoid eternal punishment, but we may attain unto eternal life. Teach us O Lord by the grace of Your Holy Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction In Revelation 3:20, our Lord Jesus says to the church at Laodicea, Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. Why did Jesus give this particular message to this particular church? What problems did the church at Laodicea have, so that they needed to be told in an inspired letter from Jesus, “I am outside! I am standing on your front porch, I am knocking on the door, and you need to let him in!” How did a Christian church, likely planted by the apostles, become deaf to hearing the voice of God? Well, we discover in the verses immediately prior that the church of Laodicea had become lukewarm. And they had become lukewarm because of their wealth. Jesus describes their condition in Revelation 3:16-19 saying, because you are lukewarm, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, I have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—but you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. And then he says, Behold I stand at the door and knock. So you see the church at Laodicea had a No Soliciting sign on the doorway to their heart. They did like or want visitors. They did not like or want anyone disturbing their way of life. They did not like or want anyone knocking and asking to be let in for a meal. And it was that imagined self-sufficiency, their own lack of felt neediness, that prevented them from hearing the voice of their Master. And because they could not hear his voice, and could not hear him knocking, they never got up to open the door and let God in. You see the problem if you are lukewarm is that you are not needy enough for God. You have just enough Christianity to feel good about yourself, to feel secure. You go to church. You take communion. You work hard, perhaps you even tithe, and because of this God has blessed you and you have started to prosper. But somewhere along the way, you start to rest in that prosperity and lose your sense of neediness. And thus, bit by bit, little by little, you stop seeking the eternal things which are above, the kingdom of heaven, and start to settle for earthly goods below. This is how Christians, how churches, how whole societies become lukewarm. We forget that naked we came into this world and naked we shall leave it (Job 1:21). You brought nothing into this world, and it is certain you can carry nothing out (1 Tim. 6:7). Well, it is for such lukewarm people, and lukewarm churches like Laodicea, that Jesus pronounces these Four Woes upon the crowds. Woe to you who are rich. Woe to you who are full. Woe to you that laugh now. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you. And so this morning, I want you to receive these four woes as the word of love that it is. Jesus says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. So whether you are a believer or an unbeliever, or unsure of what you believe, Jesus has a word of love for you this morning, if you will open your heart to hear it. Outline of the Text Now if you look at our text this morning, we are focusing on verses 24-26. And there Jesus addresses four classes/kinds of people: In verse 24, Jesus pronounces a Woe upon The Greedy. In verse 25a, He pronounces a Woe upon The Self-Indulgent. In verse 25b, He pronounces a Woe upon The Haughty. In verse 26, He pronounces a Woe upon The Vainglorious. The Greedy, The Self-Indulgent, The Haughty, and The Vainglorious, these are the people Jesus wants to evangelize and bring into His kingdom. And he has already begun to do this by announcing who the blessed are. Who are the people that are truly happy? They are those who for Christ’s sake and the glory of God, become poor, hungry, sad, and hated. Jesus says, these are the blessed. However, since not everyone is motivated to walk that hard path to blessedness, Jesus now turns to warning us of what awaits those who don’t follow that path. Where does the broad and easy way of sin lead to? It leads to destruction. It leads to eternal woe. And so you could ask yourself here, What do I find more motivating in my relationship with God? The four blessings of Jesus, or the four woes? Which moves you to God more quickly and fervently? The promise of eternal life, or the threats of eternal punishment? Well, the mature Christian should start to become more and more motivated by a love for God rather than a fear of God’s punishment. For as it says in 1 John 4:18-19, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear [referring to the slavish fear of punishment]: because fear hath torment. He that feareth [like a slave] is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. So that is the mature state you want to grow up into, loving God because He loved you first. You go to God simply because you love Him and want to rest in Him. Love should be the motivating force of your relationship with Jesus, not the fear of punishment. However, there is a proper place for the fear of God’s judgment, and that place is usually found at the beginning of the Christian life. The fear of hellfire and damnation can jolt us awake. It can jumpstart and awaken us to a new openness to hearing God’s voice. Of this it says in Proverbs 1:7, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction. So are you are motivated more by love, or by fear? Well, it is for those people who are motivated by fear that Jesus now directs these four woes. And we see this in how Jesus marks a break between the four blessings and these four woes. It says earlier in verse 20, And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. So the disciples are the first and primary audience as an example to the crowds. They’ve begun that life of poverty, hunger, sadness, and being hated. But then here, he says, But woe unto you that are rich, marking a contrast to the blessings he just pronounced on the disciples. So who is this first Woe aimed at? It is aimed at whoever is Greedy. Jesus says in verse 24… Verse 24 – But Woe unto the Greedy 24But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Now recall from last week that it is not riches or wealth in itself that is evil, but rather the love of riches that is evil. And we know this because Paul says, everything that God created is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4). And so find in Scripture that many of the holiest men were also immensely rich. We could think of Job for example, or Abraham, or Daniel (who helped the rule the empire). In the New Testament, we could think of Lydia in Acts 16, or some of the other women who helped bankroll Jesus’ ministry. Matthew 27 tells us that Joseph of Arimathea was rich and used his wealth to give Jesus a burial place. So this woe is not aimed at just rich people in general (Jesus is not a Marxist or socialist or trying to stir up class envy), No. This woe is aimed at those who live for riches, those who serve Mammon and not God, or who serve Mammon in the name of God. Many of the Pharisees were amongst this class. And so the warning Jesus has for them is that ironically, they are not rich enough.Jesus says they have already received their consolation. Meaning, they are presently enjoying and spending their wealth, but at death, they won’t have anything left for eternity. Their investments and accumulation of riches is too shortsighted. They have not planned their finances around living forever. And in this sense, they are most poor and to be pitied. Later in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus will illustrate this truth with the story of the rich man and Lazaurus. Listen to this section from Luke 16:19-26, “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted [consoled] and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ (Luke 16:19-26). This story is a window into the future of everyone who does not live for God. And from the perspective of eternity, who has the better life? Who is truly rich? Lazarus, or the unnamed man now in torment? We see also in this story that after death, there is no second opportunity to repent. There is great gulf fixed that none can pass over. There is a division at death between those who love riches and those who love Christ. Between those who have their portion in this world, and those who have God for their exceedingly great reward. If you spend your life serving and enjoying the world, hell is your reward. But if you spend your life in service of Jesus, enduring evil for Him, then an eternal consolation awaits you. So which future is yours? On which side of the gulf will you be carried to if you died today?Jesus pronounces a woe from His love upon those who have their best life now, rather than reserving their best life for the age to come. Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Now the second woe is upon The Self-Indulgent. Jesus says to them in verse 25a… Verses 25a – Woe unto the Self-Indulgent 25Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Who are The Full? Again, we could think of the rich man in Jesus’ parable, who feasted sumptuously every day without giving a thought to the beggar outside. These are those people who fill themselves with the world’s goods, with sensual pleasures, who live to gratify their carnal appetites. Paul speaks of such people in 2 Timothy 3:2-4 saying, For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. These are the full that Jesus is warning here. People who live to enjoy whatever makes them feel good, even if it is forbidden by the law of God. Now there many ways that a person can commit these sins of self-indulgence. For example, if you indulge in food to excess, that is the sin of gluttony. If you indulge in alcohol to excess that is the sin of drunkenness. If you indulge in drugs and pharmaceuticals, marijuana and the like, that is the sin of insobriety. If you indulge in sexual activity outside the bonds of marriage, that is fornication, lust, idolatry. And of such people who live to indulge their flesh, the Bible says, they will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). And so Jesus sounds the alarm from His heart of love and speaks, Woe unto you that are full [in this life]! Because [one day] ye shall hunger [but then it will be too late].And so unless you repent now of your sensuality and perversity, you will experience a hunger in every part of you that will never be satisfied. This is the horror of hell. To be always hungry but with no hope of eating or drinking anything ever. To starve but to never die of starvation. To live in misery and to know that your misery will never end. What could be worse? What does the rich man cry out in the story? ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ Abraham says, “No water is coming. Not a drop.” Whatever hell actually is, whatever realities are signified by these fearful parables, it is a torment far worse than anything you can imagine. To be in misery without hope of that misery every ending, it is fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God having rejected His love.   And so Jesus describes hell over and over again as being a place of fire, darkness, where the worm does not die and where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so descend into hell now in your imagination. And then shudder and fear for your life. Fear for those who are headed here. Because forever is a long time to be hungry and thirsty and in torment. And so from love Jesus says, “Woe to the self-indulgent, save yourself from this hell. Come to me and you will never thirst, come to me for abundant life. Come to me and hide yourself from the wrath that is to come.” This is the warning of love. Now the third Woe is upon The Haughty. Jesus says in verse 25b… Verse 25b – Woe unto the Haughty Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep. The laughter here is the laugh of those who scoff at Christ and His Word. This refers to every person who laughs at hell thinking it is just a myth, a lie, a made up place to satisfy man’s psychological need for justice. Haughty and proud are such people. Heartless and cruel are they who deny God and exalt themselves against Him. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah before it was destroyed. Think of King Belshazzar at his feast, before the Persians came and executed him. Think of the whole world before the flood, when for years Noah was building the ark, preaching righteousness, but they laughed at him to their own condemnation. Or think of the Athenians in Acts 17, when Paul preaches of Christ, and the resurrection, and the judgment to come. It says, And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. Those who laugh now, shall mourn and weep. Those who scoff and treat lightly of the things of God, shall no longer be laughing on judgment day. So are you sober to this? Have you taken to heart the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes when he says, It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity (Eccl. 7:2-6). So Jesus, the wise man, the man of sorrows, the one who gives kind rebukes, says Woe unto you that laugh now! For ye shall mourn and weep. And blessed are you who weep now, for ye shall laugh and rejoice in eternity. The Christian life is so often a valley of tears, but it is valley of tears that cleanse the heart, and water the soul so that it can be sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Sad over sin but hopeful for forgiveness. Sad over evil, but trusting that God has a good purpose in every evil He permits. Fourth and finally, Jesus warns the Vainglorious. He says in verse 26… Verse 26 – Woe unto the Vainglorious 26Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets. We know from elsewhere in Scripture that,A good name is to be chosen more than great riches (Proverbs 22:1), and Paul makes having a good testimony with outsiders a qualification for eldership (1 Tim. 3:7). But what is impossible to do without, lying or deceiving yourself and others, is to be well spoken of by everyone. Universal popularity is impossible for an honest man. And you have to accept that. If everyone likes you, then you have no principles. You are two-faced, or thee-faced, or four-face, or just a mirror of whoever you are around. And that is what false prophets do, they just tell people what they want to hear. Paul warns of such people in 2 Timothy 3:12-13 saying,Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. So be warned if nobody dislikes you for your Christianity. Be warned, if nobody looks contemptuously at you for following Jesus. Be warned, if you are always hiding your light under a bushel, living in fear and shame of your Christian faith. Because that is the fear of man and it is offensive to God. So confront this idol in your heart today if you are a people-pleaser. And by the way, that is pretty much all of us. None of us wants to be disliked, or lied about, or to have false rumors spread about us. We should want a good reputation, but we should want a good reputation with God and the godly. Who do you fear offending more? God, or your coworker? God, or your unbelieving in-laws? Whose good opinion do you seek? God’s, or man’s? Do you want heaven to approve of you, or do you want the world’s applause as they head for destruction? Jesus says in Mark 8:38, Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And Jesus says in Revelation 3:5-6, He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Conclusion Receive these woes and warnings as a loving rebuke from Your Savior. Don’t go on in your lukewarmness, be zealous and repent. Jesus suffered hatred and persecution far more than you ever will. He endured the cross, He was mocked, He was spat upon He was laughed to scorn, and all because He wanted to welcome you into His paradise. So if you are still breathing it is not too late for you, to forsake this world that you may gain the world to come. Now is the time to contemn your riches, your self-indulgence, your wantonness, and vainglory, and every other sin that clings so closely. Renounce and abandon those efforts to make a name for yourself, so that you may receive a name in heaven’s book, in the book of life, in the mouth of Christ, when he confesses your name before His Father and the holy angels. Live for that. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Poor, Hungry, Sad, Hated, and Blessed Sunday, May 24th, 2026 The Day of Pentecost Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:17–26 Prayer Father, we thank You for Your Beloved Son, who teaches where true blessedness may be found. Teach us that way of salvation, by the grace of Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction What does it mean to be blessed? What does it mean to be bless-ed? These words, bless, blessing, blessed, are very common words in the Bible, and in our Christian vocabulary. We speak of blessing all the time in our worship, and prayers, and conversation. These words are also used outside the church, in the broader culture. But even there you will find that everyone wants to be blessed. Whatever they are, blessings are good, and we want to receive them, usually from someone or something or some higher power that can bestow them. Well, we see in our passage this morning, that Jesus just assumes that everyone wants to be blessed. To put it another way, Jesus assumes that everyone wants to be happy. For he knows as our Creator that it is our nature as human beings to desire and pursue what will make us happy. Both the Hebrew word for blessed (אַשְׁרֵי), and the Greek word for blessed that Jesus uses here (Μακάριος), refer to a person that is satisfied, favored, fortunate, privileged, happy in the deepest sense. For example, it says in James 5:11 of Job, Behold, we count them happy (μακαρίζω) which endure. In Psalm 1 the blessed man is described as someone who is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, That bringeth forth his fruit in his season; His leaf also shall not wither; And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Who doesn’t want that? To have everything they do prosper in every season? This is the blessedness, the deep happiness of soul, that Jesus assumes everyone wants and should want. It is in our very human nature to seek this. However, Jesus also teaches us here, that we are so often mistaken about what will make us happy, and how to find satisfaction. We are so often mistaken about the Object of supreme blessedness, and the means by which we may attain to the enjoyment of that Blessing. This what sin has done to us. It has bent humanity inward on itself. It has made us slaves to our own carnal appetites. And so we spend our days seeking pleasure and experimenting with things that we think will make us happy, and some of them do for a time, but eventually we feel hollow inside, and have to go searching again. Solomon describes the futility of this experience in Ecclesiastes. He says in Ecclesiastes 1:8, the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. He says in Ecclesiastes 5:10-11, He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; Nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. When goods increase, They increase who eat them; So what profit have the owners Except to see them with their eyes? So this is the problem Jesus wants to awaken and provoke in you.  And he confronts you with this problem in the opening lines of his two most famous sermons. The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, and the Sermon on the Plain here in Luke 6. Both begin by provoking and solving two all-important questions: Where can happiness be found? How can you attain unto it? Well Jesus answers those two questions by giving you four blessings and four warnings/woes. And so this morning we’ll consider these Blessings/Beatitudes in verses 20-23, and then next week we’ll take up the four corresponding Woes/Warnings in verses 24-26. So starting in verse 20, What is blessedness, and how can we attain unto it? Verses 20 – Blessing #1 – Poor 20And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. First note that Jesus is preaching to a vast and mixed multitude. We are told in verses 17-19 that large crowds have gathered to touch him, to receive healing from him, and to have their unclean spirits cast out. And this Jesus does for them, but not without also giving them the healing medicine of truth, namely the gospel of the Blessed God. Just as your body needs nourishment to live, so your soul needs God. Your mind was created to feast upon God as the First Truth, and your heart was created to find repose/rest in Him as the Highest Good. Jesus says in John 17:3, And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. This means that everlasting happiness, eternal life, consists in an operation of your mind knowing the true God and then being united to Him in love. By faith your mind is elevated/illuminated and joined to the Divine Mind, and by love your heart is kindled, melted, and then forged into a new unity with the Divine will that is essential love. This is what the Bible calls union with God, union with Christ. In 2 Peter 1:4 it is called, partaking of the Divine Nature (deification/theosis). And this is the only thing that Jesus says, can make you permanently happy: To know God truly, and to love Him supremely, to be united to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In nothing else, and nowhere else can blessedness be found. And so these four beatitudes, these four pronouncements of blessing, are Jesus showing you the way back to the God who most blessed and most happy in Himself. Now there are many, many obstacles to your union with God. And we call those obstacles sins (or sometimes evils). And what Jesus does through pronouncing these four blessings, is attach a good purpose, an eternal reward, to four things we naturally shun, but which when properly understood, actually remove the obstacles to our Union with God. Jesus attaches a good purpose, to things we dislike, in order to remove the obstacles to fellowship with Him. What are those four things we don’t like? They are poverty, hunger, weeping, and being hated. No one naturally desires to be Poor, Hungry, Sad, and Hated, these are all contrary to our will, and indeed we much prefer the opposite. We’d rather be rich, satisfied, joyful, and adored. So Jesus lifts up his eyes on his disciples in particular, because they have already started down this road to blessedness. They have voluntarily embraced being literally poor, hungry, sad, and hated. Recall that in the previous chapter, the disciples were accused of breaking the sabbath because they were so hungry they had to pluck grains from a nearby field. The disciples are being criticized and attacked and threatened with punishments because they are following Jesus. So this is the real and current state of Jesus and his disciples, Poor, Hungry, Sad, and Hated. And Jesus wants to teach them (and us) that there are real blessings here, and infinitely greater blessings await us, if we will embrace these things as a way of a drawing closer to God. God is jealous for your affections. He wants to get close to you. He wants to remove every obstacle to fellowship with Him and so Jesus comes to remove those obstacles by preaching. So what is the obstacle that Jesus wants to remove by saying, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God? 1. One of the obstacles is your love for money. You want to be rich. You want to be able to buy whatever you like. And so the poverty Jesus commends here is a contempt for earthly riches. To be poor in such a way that you inherit the kingdom, is to so despise money that it no longer has any control over you. You are willing at any time, should the Lord ask, to give it all up for Him. This is what it means to be poor and blessed. You are no longer a servant of money, but rather money is your servant to do God’s will. Jesus will say in Luke 16:13, You cannot serve God and mammon. It says in Psalm 62:10, If riches increase, Do not set your heart on them. And Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:8-11, And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows…And then he gives a word to those wealthy Christians in the church, in verses 17-19, Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. What is Paul doing here but applying this beatitude, Blessed by ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God, to ordinary Christians in the church. So for us who are rich in this age, who have earthly wealth beyond mere food and clothing (and that is most of us), we must be on guard against the deceitfulness of riches. Money appears to be the thing that will solve so many of our problems. But money is a liar. And you should not trust liars. If riches increase (because God blesses your labors), Do not set your heart on them. That is what it means to be poor. To have contempt in your heart for earthly riches. 2. Now there is a second obstacle here that Jesus also wants to remove by this saying. And that is the fear that comes from not having money. We call this stress, anxiety, worry. And yet, when our poverty is the result of following Jesus, and not from our own folly, laziness, or poor spending habits, well then there is a special blessing attached to it. Because Jesus promises that if you seek first the kingdom of God, then all that you need will be provided for you. Later in Luke 12, Jesus will say to his disciples, consider the ravens, how God feeds them. Consider the grass and the lilies, how God clothes them. And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So there is a blessing attached to being poor for Christ’s sake. Of exchanging earthly goods to obtain spiritual goods. Jesus is saying in essence, “if you let go of that all that gravel in your hand, that you think is so valuable, I will give you diamonds, rubies, gold and silver that never perishes.” Part of our blindness is that we don’t know what is actually valuable. And this is something that only faith can see. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:18, we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. To love what is invisible, is to love what is eternal. And Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:17 that God is the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. So do you love God more than money? Do you trust God more than you trust riches? Do you fear losing communion with the invisible God more than you fear losing your visible goods? If your answer yes, then you are poor and shall inherit the kingdom. You are blessed now and shall enjoy perfectly blessedness in the world to come. This brings us to the second beatitude in verse 21. Verse 21 – Blessing #2 – Hunger 21Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. What obstacles to God does hunger remove? 1. The first obstacle is self-reliance, the idol of independence and self-sufficiency. Hunger makes us to feel our own weakness and dependance on things that are outside of us. And by that daily act of eating God wants to teach us that He is the source of our life, body and soul. Recall what Jesus says after fasting for 40 days in the wilderness, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So physical hunger is meant to lead us to spiritual hunger for God, for His Word, for the Lord Jesus, who says in John 6:35, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. The person who is not hungry, who is self-satisfied, does not know just how starved their soul is. They are like the dying man on hospice, who refuses food, not because he is healthy but because he is not. Again, see how sin obscures your own knowledge of yourself. You think you’re full, you think you don’t need Jesus, you think you can go on living without Him and be fine. You are mistaken. But to you who are hungry, to you who know your own weakness, frailty, and utter inability to keep yourself together, to you who hunger for God, Jesus says, you shall be filled. You are blessed to be hungry because God will feed you with salvation. It says in Psalm 34:10, The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: But they that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Do you believe this? Are you hungry for God? He promises to fill you. The third beatitude Jesus announces is… Verse 21 – Blessing #3 – Weep Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. I hope by now you are seeing that it is not mere poverty, or mere hunger, or mere weeping in itself that makes us blessed. The blessing depends upon the reason for which we are poor, hungry, sad, and hated. And the kind of sorrow that Jesus is speaking of here, is the kind of sorrow He himself expresses and approves of in others. Godly sorrow, not worldly sorrow. What makes Jesus cry? What makes Jesus weep? For starters, the death of Lazarus, a dear friend who Jesus loved (John 11:35). Jesus laments the effects of sin and how death is the just consequence for our rebellion against God. Jesus also laments the pending judgment for those who do not repent. He says in Luke 13:34, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! And he says in Luke 23:34, as he climbs the mount to be crucified, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. Because the days of vengeance draw nigh. Isaiah 53 describes Jesus as, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Moreover, it says he took to himself our griefs, and chose to carry and bear, our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed. So Jesus weeps over your sins and the evils that afflict you. He co-miserates with you in your sorrows. This is what it means for God to be a God of mercy. It means He makes your miseries His miseries and then seeks to relieve them. Jesus does this by taking your sins upon Himself, dying for them on the cross, and then rising again victorious over them. This is how the person who weeps now, can laugh later. This is how Psalm 126 is fulfilled, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. God’s promise is that your tears of real contrition are as seeds for future blessing. It says in Psalm 56:8, that God puts your tears into His bottle (as if He numbers them). And in Psalm 30:5 it says, For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. So there is a sorrow unto salvation, a sorrow that gives way to joy and laughter, and it is when you weep over your sins and lament the evils your sins have caused. It is when you do what the woman in Luke 7 does. It says, she stood at Jesus feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with precious ointment. Jesus says, Do you see this woman? Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much. Where there is great love for Jesus, there is also great sadness over sins. And where there is sadness over sins at the feet of Christ, there also is perfect forgiveness. Jesus says to her, Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. (Luke 7:48, 50). We laugh with God when we are at peace with God. We enjoy God more when we regard His disciples as His mercy to keep us as His beloved sons and daughters. James 4:9-10 exhorts the church to obtain this blessedness saying, Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Fourth and finally, Jesus says in verses 22-23 Verses 22-23 – Blessing #4 – Hated 22Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. 23Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. So what is the obstacle to union with God, that being hated removes from us? It is our desperate desire to have other people approve of us. Your fear of man must be destroyed, if you would be united to God. For Paul says in Galatians 1:10, Do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. Whose servant are you? A servant of heaven, or a servant of man’s constantly changing opinions? So there is a blessing, for those who suffer evil, for the Son of man’s sake. It says in 1 Peter 1:18-21, Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. And in James 5:10-11 it says likewise,My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. So Jesus wants to fortify you, to give you courage, by the promise of a great reward in heaven. Of winning heaven’s approval, God’s commendation, that you were faithful unto death. It says in Acts 5:41 after the apostles were beaten for preaching Jesus, And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Conclusion Are we worthy to suffer for Jesus? We should want to be. Because Jesus suffered for us. And the more that you imitate Jesus, the more you will get to experience His blessedness. By faith and baptism we are united to God in this life, but that union is partial and imperfect. We still struggle with sin, and doubt, and fears. And so hear these four blessings as an invitation to a more intimate union with God. Ask Christ to remove the obstacles in your heart that are holding you back from experiencing the blessedness Jesus wants to give. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:9, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. Jesus became poor for a season to make you rich forever. Jesus hungered for a season to make you full forever. Jesus sorrowed unto death, weeping in Gethsemane, but now he who sits in the heavens laughs his enemies to scorn. Jesus was hated by men, so that He could give you God’s everlasting love. So go to Him, go to His cross, go to God, from whom all blessings flow. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

In its original form, presented in 1647 (about 380 years ago), the title was, “The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines, Now by Authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster, Concerning A Confession of Fath: With the Quotations and Text of Scripture annexed. Presented by them lately to both houses of Parliament.” First, notice, the WCF, in its original form, was a public statement of Christian doctrine, (which is what the word faith means here, the contents of our faith as derived from Holy Scripture). Second, notice this was advice, from a group of theologians called divines to both houses of Parliament, who had called these 121 divines together at Westminster in England, initially to revise the Thirty-Nine Articles, which was the current doctrinal standard for the church of England. Third, given the number of divines involved, the WCF is a both a compromise and consensus document (in the positive sense). Imagine how difficult it would be for 100+ pastors to all agree on something. We have today the minutes of many of the debates that took place at the Westminster Assembly, and it is clear that various compromises had to be made in order to reach agreement on how to word certain doctrinal matters. This also means there are some intentional ambiguities to allow for a diversity of viewpoints on some doctrinal matters (e.g. the imputation of the active obedience of Christ). The upside is that this also represents a strong consensus of what is actually stated in the WCF. NOTE: We can read in WCF 31.3-5 what the divines thought of their own authority in writing this confession of faith: “III. It belongeth to synods and councils ministerially to determine controversies of faith, and cases of conscience; to set down rules and directions for the better ordering of the public worship of God, and government of his church; to receive complaints in cases of mal-administration, and authoritatively to determine the same: which decrees and determinations, if consonant to the word of God, are to be received with reverence and submission, not only for their agreement with the word, but also for the power whereby they are made, as being an ordinance of God, appointed thereunto in his word.IV. All synods or councils since the apostles’ times, whether general or particular, may err, and many have erred; therefore they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a help in both. V. Synods and councils are to handle or conclude nothing but that which is ecclesiastical; and are not to intermeddle with civil affairs, which concern the commonwealth, unless by way of humble petition, in cases extraordinary; or by way of advice for satisfaction of conscience, if they be thereunto required by the civil magistrate” So there is a unique historical and political context to this doctrinal statement, where one of the civil powers, Parliament, calls together 121 theologians, to help them reform and unify the church in England. Eventually, this Confession of Faith, along with the other documents the assembly produced, would become the basis for a new religious uniformity. I’ll read you the title of the 1851 Edinburgh Edition: “THE CONFESSION OF FAITH, agreed upon by the ASSEMBLY OF DIVINES AT WESTMINSTER, with the assistance of commissioners from the church of Scotland, as a part of the covenanted uniformity in religion betwixt the churches of Christ in the kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland approved by the general assembly 1647, and ratified and established by acts of parliament 1649 and 1690, as the public and avowed CONFESSION OF THE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND, with the PROOFS FROM THE SCRIPTURE.” So you can imagine there is a long and complex history to how this religious-political advice, from 120-some English theologians in 1647, came to be the doctrinal standard of Presbyterianism in America and beyond. Well whole books have been written on this history, and I refer you to them if you want to study this more, but I say all this to alert you to the real human and historical context in which the church produces doctrinal statements. Summary Takeaway: All theology, including the inspired books of the Old and New Testament, are produced within and amongst real people, in real places, with the same human nature as you and I. And if we do not factor in that human element, along with the absence of Divine Inspiration in the apostolic sense, we may easily misunderstood or misuse or misapply what our fathers in the faith were attempting to do: Hand on to the next generation, the faith once received from the Apostles as best as they could. So rather than giving a complete historical overview of the Westminster Assembly right now (which would be impossible to do), I am going to just chip away each week at giving you a little bit of that context in each lesson. So we’ll start most lessons with a little history and background, and then get into the contents of the Confession itself.

He Chose Twelve Sunday, May 17th, 2026 Seventh Sunday of Easter Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 6:12–19 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the gracious calling, equipping, and sending of the apostles. Teach us in our day to imitate their faith, and to make know to all where true healing and virtue alone may be found, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen. Introduction Well, a couple weeks ago we looked at two parables from Jesus. Do you remember those two parables? They are the parable of the garments and the parable of the wineskins. Jesus says in Luke 5:36-39, No man puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better. Do you remember what those parables mean? We said that they are a description of how hard it is for people to change, especially when they have been accustomed to doing things that way for so long. We like our routines, you have your “comfort zone,” your familiar habits. If you drink coffee every day, you probably have a certain way you like it, and other ways you don’t. So this is human nature, especially as we get older. We become more resistant to change, more stuck in our ways, and more hesitant to try out new things. We don’t have the taste for it.And that can be good or bad depending on the habit, but when it comes to following Jesus, the principle is that you must always be willing to go where he goes. You must always be willing to change in the ways that He is calling you to change. You see, Jesus refuses to let you stay the same on this side of the resurrection. There are seasons where he wants to prune you so he can make you more fruitful in the next season. Jesus wants to cut off that dead wood in your life, that diseased growth that might infect others, he wants to root it out while its small. Jesus desires to purify you in various furnaces of affliction, through different difficulties and degrees of heat, not because He enjoys inflicting pain upon you, but because He loves you and wants to make you more glorious than you presently are! And oh, how often we are tempted to say, “No more glory please, Don’t love me that much! Don’t love me like you loved your blameless servant Job!” This is the adventure and struggle, of following Jesus. He just will not leave you alone. God is always calling you further up and further in to Him. You conquer one vice or sin, and discover there are three new ones for you to overcome. You start out knowing basically nothing about Jesus, but then you grow in knowledge, but then knowledge puffs up and so you have to learn humility. You humble yourself, and then God exalts you, and then you have to choose to humble yourself over and over again. Repentance and faith, repentance and faith. This is the Christian life: God takes you from one degree of glory to the next, but always with some sacrifice/death in between. The glorious God wants glorious image bearers. And so He breaks you and remakes you better than before. There is always something new and better that God wants you to grow up into, and so to resist that change is to rebel against maturity, to question the wisdom of the Potter, it is to resist the Holy Spirit. Recall also from two weeks ago we said that the Holy Spirit is the new wine, the new garment that Jesus gives to the disciples at Pentecost. In fact, Luke’s gospel culminates with a prophesy about the giving of this new wine and new garment. Jesus says in Luke 24:49 (his last words in this gospel), And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And then if you turn a few pages to Acts 2, Jesus pours out that promise of The Spirit like new wine into new wineskins. He clothes them with a new garment, a power from on high, and they cast off the old. So Pentecost is when Jesus fulfills this parable of the new garment and new wine. And that means that from Luke chapter 5 all the way to Acts chapter 2, is Jesus preparing the disciples to receive that new wine, to put on that new garment so they can spread the good news. And so we see that God is patient, and God knows that we need time to adjust, time to prepare ourselves for where the Spirit is going to take us next, and so in our text this morning, what we have is really the beginning of that preparation. We could call this passage, The Divine Succession Plan. Jesus is going to ascend to heaven, and so how is the kingdom going to move forward when he is no longer physically present on earth?How does Jesus plan to rule the whole world, from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth? That global dominion starts here. With twelve men, who at present have no idea what following Jesus is going to mean, or where following Jesus is going to take them. Unfortunately, only 11 will complete this course of training, one student will fail out. And so there is much for us to learn here from God’s Succession Plan as it moves from Christ to the Apostles. And so with that in mind, let us divide our text into three sections according to Christ’s actions. Outline of the Text In verse 12, Jesus Ascends the Mountain to Pray In verses 13-16, Jesus Selects Twelve Apostles In verses 17-19, Jesus Models the Gospel Ministry So Jesus ascends to pray, he selects apostles, and he models the gospel ministry. Verse 12 – Jesus Ascends the Mountain to Pray 12And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Why does Jesus pray all the night? First recall that Jesus knows everything according to His divinity. Jesus has two natures, a human nature and a divine nature, and so when Jesus prays, His human mind and will is communing with His divine mind and will, which is also one together with the Father and the Spirit. So this is real prayer, real communion with God from Christ our Mediator, but it is written down to teach us something. So what is Jesus trying to teach us by this example of an all-night prayer vigil? He is teaching us the gravity, necessity, and importance of prayer when it comes to selecting ministers. Paul will say in 1 Timothy 5:22, Lay hands suddenly on no man. Meaning, go slow when it comes to ordaining elders in the church. Go to God first and consult with the Head of the Church at length, before you call a man to this work. Why? Because as the shepherds go, so go the sheep. As the teacher is, so become the students. And we’ll see in the book of Acts that the apostles learned this lesson and made it their practice as well. When they replace Judas, it says in Acts 1:24-26, And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” And they cast their lots, and the lot fell on Matthias. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Notice that the apostles pray because they want to discern God’s choice about who Jesus is calling to be Judas’ replacement. Ministers are called directly by Christ in the first instance, and then that heavenly calling is to be confirmed, ratified, discerned, and acknowledged through prayer by the existing ministers in the church (a presbytery). So Jesus calls, the church confirms, and prayer is the means by which we discover Heaven’s will. We see the same thing in Acts 13 when it comes to sending already ordained ministers on some new missionary assignment. Luke writes in Acts 13:2-4, As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. Notice again the different levels of divine and human causality. The Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul, the church fasts and prays and lays on hands. The church sends them out, and yet it says, they are sent forth by the Holy Ghost. This is how God works in and through the church. We are to be co-operators, co-workers with Christ Jesus (συνεργοί, 1 Cor. 3:9), ever as the members of the body are subject to the Head. So Jesus is establishing here this future habit of the church to pray and pray fervently, at times with fasting, before calling or sending ministers. If Jesus did it, and the apostles did it, then we should do this as well. And indeed, this is the practice in our church and presbytery, and it shall continue to be so as long as we obey Christ’s example. This is one of the reasons that we pray together every single Lord’s Day that God would, raise up new elders and deacons who are qualified and competent for this work. Because God is the one who calls and equips, and we want our prayers to be a means by which His will is done on earth as it is in heaven. And so we need to be praying that God would raise up and send out more laborers into His great harvest. And so to you young men, my prayer is that God will call some of you to this good work. And that you begin now, while you are young, to ready yourself in the event that God does indeed call you to this labor. Practice obedience to your parents, teachers, and superiors. Practice love, patience, diligence, holding your tongue, being slow to speak and quick to listen. Pursue sexual purity, flee folly and vice. God uses means to call and equip His future ministers, so use that time well, especially in your youth. Summary: The decision to select ministers is so important, that Jesus dedicates the entire night to prayer before extending that apostolic invitation. And thus, we read in verse 13… Verses 13 – Apostles From Amongst His Disciples 13And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; First, notice that Jesus has a larger group of disciples from which he selects twelve. In Luke 10:1-2 we are told, After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. So we are not told here exactly how large this initial pool of disciples was, it could have been 70 or more or less, but the thing Luke is highlighting here is this real distinction between discipleship and apostleship. Between following Jesus into His kingdom, and being commissioned by Him with governing authority. Paul makes this explicit in 1 Corinthians 12:29 when he asks rhetorically, Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? So Paul gets that real distinction between apostleship and other callings from Jesus himself. All believers receive some measure of Divine grace, and as it says in 1 Peter 4:10, As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. So there is call to discipleship that is universal, and there is a call to apostleship that is very particular and limited. Moreover, there is a call upon every one of you, to build up Christ’s body with whatever grace or graces He has given you. Some will have more gifts than others, and that is by God’s design. Your job is to discover those gifts, cultivate those gifts, and steward them for the health of the body. Now we see in this naming of the apostles, the diversity and unity that Jesus forges in His church. Consider this list of names in verses 14-16. Verses 14-16 14Simon, (whom he also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, 15Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes, 16And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. 1. First, you have Simon Peter. He is an impulsive, loud-mouthed fisherman. He is bold in his errors but he’s also bold in the truth. Jesus names him rock for good reason. At his worst he stumbles and falls hard (“get behind me Satan”), but at his best he is immoveable in his devotion and preaching of Christ. Peter will be THE preacher who takes centerstage at Pentecost calling the Jews to repent. 2. Then you have Peter’s brother Andrew. The name Andrew means manly/strong. He also is a fisherman, but one we are told little about. 3-4. Third and fourth, we have another set of brothers, who are also fishermen, James and John (Wrestler and Grace). Isn’t it interesting that Jesus calls two sets of natural brothers to a supernatural fraternity of apostleship? There is a kind of mercy here in that Jesus does not separate them, or pick one to the exclusion of the other. There is also a redemption signified here, because in the Old Testament, brothers often did not get along. Cain killed Abel. Ishmael persecuted Isaac. Esau tried to kill Jacob. Jospeh’s brothers sold him into slavery, even Moses and Aaron had their rough patches in the wilderness. The whole history of Israel is a story of brotherly conflict that grows into tribal rivalries and at times into civil war. And so Jesus is forming here, with this New Twelve of New Israel, a new bond of brotherhood, of fellowship, of joint-mission together. And that is what the new covenant church ought to be: a place where the natural family, natural brothers and sisters and siblings, are joined together in a supernatural bond of fellowship, worship, support, and mission. All of these men are going to suffer immensely for the sake of Christ. James will be the first apostle to die (Acts 12:2). And John will be the last. And so you can imagine what kind of friendships were formed between these men as they followed Jesus, as they were sent out two by two. They discovered what Proverbs 17:17 says, A friend loveth at all times, And a brother is born for adversity. Saints, do you have brothers and sisters in the faith? Because we all will face adversity, and we all need a friend who will love us at all times. Where can such faithful friends and brothers be found? They should be found amongst followers of Jesus. Yes, we are going to be let down and let others down, we will stumble in our efforts to be good friends, to love at all times, to form these bonds. There will be Judas’s among us. But still, the effort is worth it. We want to be able to sing Psalm 133 having tasted the truth of it: Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! There are few things sweeter than this! 5-6. Fifth and sixth we have Philip and Bartholomew. We are told in John 1 that Philip was from the same city as Andrew and Peter and was likely a friend of theirs. Philip is the one who says to Nathanael (who some think is the same person as Bartholomew), “Come and see” (John 1:46). So Philip becomes know as one of those people who invites others to meet Jesus. 7-8. Seventh and eighth are Matthew and Thomas. We learned about Matthew’s conversion a few weeks ago, when Jesus called him from his tax-collecting booth to follow him. Thomas is well known from John’s gospel for doubting Christ’s resurrection.He’s the skeptic of the group who always wants to see and understands things before he believes and so must learn to do the opposite. “Believe in order that you may understand.” Thomas had to learn this lesson. 9-10. Ninth and tenth we have James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes. We don’t know for sure who this James is, or whether he is the same person as James the less, or James the just, but we know this is a different James than the brother of John. Perhaps he is the James who presides at the Jerusalem council in Acts 15. Maybe he is the one who wrote the book of James, we don’t know for sure. And then there is Simon called Zelotes, or Simon the Zealot. Some think he was formerly part of a Jewish nationalist group later known as the Zealots (they precipitated the war with Rome that led to Jerusalem’s destruction). But I think more likely it just refers to his zealous character, his personal zeal for God. Some of us are like this. We do everything to the max, to the extreme. We are zealots. Paul was one of these! 11-12. And then finally are the two Judas’s. The good Judas and the bad Judas. Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. Judas the brother of James is most likely the apostle who wrote the book of Jude. And his brother James is probably James the Son of Alphaeus who I mentioned earlier. And if that’s the cast, then there are actually three pairs of brothers who Jesus names apostles. So half of the apostles are related by blood to another apostle. And then there is Judas Iscariot, which Luke (writing after Matthew and Mark) expects his readers to have already heard about. Spoiler Alert, he’s the traitor. Now this prompts us to ask, Why did Jesus choose Judas? Why did the God-man, who knows all things, who can read people’s hearts and minds and discern our secret intentions, call Judas to be one of the twelve? Well as with Jesus praying, this also was done for our example and instruction. To warn us and to console us. And so there are two main lessons we should learn from Jesus choosing Judas: 1. The dignity of apostleship (or any other office in the church) does not guarantee or confer personal holiness. Put another way, a man’s outward gifts and calling are not the same thing as his inward piety and election.And so just being a pastor, or an elder, or a deacon, does not automatically make a man more godly than someone else. He ought to be qualified like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 require, but that does not guarantee he will remain qualified, as Judas, Demas, and many other former ministers fall away. So the office is holy, the work is a good work and to be highly esteemed, but the men serving in those offices are still just men. And there are times when even some of those men, like Judas, are unconverted, thieves, liars, self-deceived, hardened in sin with a seared conscience, predators and wolves. One in twelve was the ratio of success for Jesus’ personal seminary. I wonder what it is amongst pastors today. How precious and I dare sat miraculous when a man starts well, continues well, and finishes his race well. So that’s the first lesson, don’t mistake outward calling and office, with the effectual inward calling of saving grace. They are not the same. So adjust your expectations. 2. The second lesson is that if this happened to Jesus of all people (to have an apostate minister among them), do not be surprised when this happens in the church today. Sometimes yes, the church is at fault. There was a failure of due process, or a failure to vet or uphold the qualifications for ministers, but sometimes it’s not. And so again, adjust your expectations for how messy the church is that Jesus runs. He chose Judas, as a permanent warning and as a consolation for us today. By Judas, all ministers should be warned, that just because Jesus called us to the ministry, does not mean that we are saved, or that we might not later fall from this high calling. If you’ve been around the church for awhile, you probably know of pastors who have disqualified themselves. I know of more than I can count. And those examples are a sorrow and a warning to me. Let every man take heed lest he fall. By Judas, also all members in the church should be warned and consoled, that just because a pastor proves to be false does not make Christianity false. The truth does not depend on men; it depends on God. The Bible itself says all men are liars, all men walk in a vain show, do not put your trust in princes, put your trust in the God-man, in the Lord Jesus Christ and his infallible Word revealed. And this should console you. Just because a pastor falls from grace, does not mean everything he used to say and preach was wrong or untrue. What does Paul say about ministers with sinful motives? He says in Philippians 1:15-18, Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. So we must learn to rejoice whenever the gospel is preached, even if those men later prove to be false. If Jesus chose Judas, and Jesus is perfect, then we can trust God’s wisdom to shepherd us in spite of false men. This bring us to the conclusion of our passage, where Jesus models for the apostles what their ministry shall be. Verses 17-19 – Jesus Models the Gospel Ministry 17And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases; 18And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. 19And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all. What does the gospel ministry consist of? We could summarize it this way: It is being with Jesus on the mountain, so you can give Jesus to the multitudes on the plain. The apostles are first called up the mountain to be with Christ, so they can later come down with Him and stand next to Him as His grace, His power, healing, virtue, and knowledge flows from Him to the crowds below. The very next thing Jesus will do is preach His sermon on the plain. And so this is what the apostles shall one day do. Spend long nights on the mountain of prayer with Jesus. Go down to the crowds and preach Jesus. And while Jesus will no longer be physically present, He gives them His Holy Spirit and says to them, teach the nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. And so this means that wherever the truth of Jesus is preached. His cross, His death, His saving power. There the voice of God is heard. In Revelation 14:6-7 it calls this message the everlasting gospel. John says, And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. May God cause this gospel to go forth and triumph in us, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

A Levitical Feast Sunday, May 3rd, 2026 Fifth Sunday of Easter Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 5:27–39 Prayer O Father, we thank you for the newness that Christ has brought into the world, and that while our outer man wastes away, the inner man is renewed day by day. Renew us again we ask, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction How old is Christ Covenant Church? In just a few weeks we will celebrate our Five-Year Anniversary, because five years ago we first gathered under the oversight of Trinity Church in Kirkland, in the jurisdiction of Anselm Presbytery in the CREC, with ten member households and a written constitution, and we began to worship together. So there is a real sense in which this particular church is only five years old. However, we also confess in the Nicene Creed that the church is “one holy catholic and apostolic.” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:13, For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. And so there is also a sense in which Christ Covenant Church is as ancient as the apostles. Why? Because we have the same faith as the apostles. We have the same baptism as the apostles. We have the same communion in the new covenant together with the apostles. We have been made members of the same body of Christ in the One Spirit, together with the apostles and all the saints in light. Paul speaks of this glorious reality in Ephesians 2:13-22 saying, But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. O the many wonderous truths that God reveals in His church. So you, Christ Covenant Church are simultaneously old and young, ancient and new. You are not far away from God, like strangers and foreigners, you are now God’s very dwelling place, citizens, saints, members of His singular Household. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, All things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come—all are yours. And you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. So while many different churches, traditions and denominations may boast of their respective fathers in the faith, their honored theologians, martyrs, missionaries, and saints, Paul says, if you are in Christ, all of Christendom is yours (past, present, future). Whatever and whoever belongs to Jesus, belongs to you, because you are in Him. This is your heritage, your history, if you are a believer. The church universal is now your people, your roots, your spiritual lineage, regardless of what specific tribe within the church you may find yourself in. Your inheritance in Christ stretches back to the twelve apostles, even back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even farther back to Noah and Abel, the first martyr of our common faith, all who now surround us Paul says, as a great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1). So Christ Covenant Church is both 5 years old and 2,000 years old, and even as old as Abel (6,000 years). We are a new people with an ancient faith in the God who does not change. Paul draws on this truth in Hebrews 13:7-8 when he says, Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Why do I begin by talking about the age of our church? Well because this morning in our text, Luke gives us the origin story (our origin story) for how Levi the tax collector became Matthew the Gospel writer. Here in this passage, Jesus shows us how he forges a new unity, a new people, a new community, from those who used to be far off from God and separated from one another. Jesus brings us together, and he does so in the context of a feast. So our text this morning we’ll divide into two main sections in relation to this feast. Outline of the Text In verses 27-29, Jesus Attends a Feast. In verses 30-39,Jesus Defends the Feast. Jesus attends a feast, then he defends his feasting. Verses 27-28 – The Call of Levi 27And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican [public official, tax collector], named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom [toll booth]: and he said unto him, Follow me. 28And he left all, rose up, and followed him. This scene is also recorded in Matthew 9 and in Mark 2. And here Luke identifies Matthew by the name Levi, which is of course the name of one of the original twelve sons of Jacob, which became the twelve tribes of Israel, and Levi the priestly tribe, from whom Moses and Aaron were descended. It is also significant that the name Levi, means to cleave, or to adhere, or to join together as in marital affection. We find this meaning in Genesis 29:34, in the list of Leah’s sons when Levi is born, She conceived again and bore a son, and said, “Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.” Therefore his name was called Levi. In Hebrew, the verb for attach/join is לוה (Lava), and here Leah hopes that Jacob will attached to her, lava (יִלָּוֶ֤ה) because of this new son, and she calls his name לֵוִי (Levi). So Levi signifies attachment/joining/marital union. And what does Jesus command of this man who is attached? He said unto him, Follow me…and then it says, He left all, rose up, and followed him. What is Luke doing here? He is giving us a living illustration (a metaphor) of what Jesus is going to make explicit a few verses later. And that metaphor is that following Jesus, is like choosing to marry/cleave/attach yourself to God. Just as a man must leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife: and the two shall be one flesh, so also a man must forsake all and follow Jesus, and he shall be become one spirit with God, attached to Him. This is what the call of Levi signifies: de-taching from the world, and attaching to God. If you want to follow Jesus, both of those things must happen. You must de-tach from your old life, your old ways, your old sins, and cleave to the new life that Jesus calls you to. We’ll see in verses 34-35, Jesus will call himself the Bridegroom, which in the Old Testament is one of the names for God. God “marries” Israel at Sinai; He makes a covenant with them. He promises to be a faithful Husband to them. But what happens? Israel commits idolatry, they fornicate with idols and commit adultery with the nations around them, and so God eventually divorces His people, He sends them away, but He promises to one day remarry them under a new covenant arrangement. This is one of the promises the prophets proclaim. The book of Hosea is basically an extended sermon on this topic. Ezekiel 16 is a history of God’s relationship with Israel explained in these marital terms. It says in Isaiah 62:4-5, You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, Nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; But you shall be called Hephzibah [My delight is in her], and your land Beulah [married]; For the Lord delights in you, And your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a virgin, So shall your sons marry you; And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So shall your God rejoice over you. So to forsake all and follow Jesus, is to become a true Levite. It is to cleave to God instead of the world. It is to abandon your sins and your dishonest vocations, and to choose the honest labor of following Jesus instead. This is who Levi is, and by following Jesus his life is utterly transformed. He does not know it yet, but one day he will write the first inspired gospel, The Gospel According to Matthew. And this is how Jesus starts the church. This is who Jesus chooses to be one of the foundation stones in the New Jerusalem. He selects four fishermen, and now one tax collector (little do they know what they shall be). Four men who used to have to pay their taxes to Levi, and now they are all dining together as one new man. This is the new and peculiar unity that Jesus is forming around Him. And that unity will both attract sinners to come to Him, and also repel those who disapprove. Well, what does the new disciple Levi do next? Verse 29 – Levi Throws a Feast 29And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. Notice that to “forsake all and follow Jesus,” does not necessarily mean you have to liquidate everything and give it away. For some people, like the Rich Young Ruler, that may be necessary, but for Levi, Andrew, Peter, James and John, it meant leaving behind their businesses, their vocations and worldly commitments, in order to do God’s business. We know this is true because after Peter follows Jesus, he still has a house, a wife, a mother-in-law, (probably a boat, cause they go fishing later and use a boat to cross the sea of Galilee) and it was likely his house where Jesus stayed during his visits to Capernaum (Mark 2:1). And the same is true for Levi. He leaves his tax collecting business behind, but he makes a great feast for Jesus in his own house. So the call to discipleship is a call to forsake whatever is in the way of you obeying Jesus completely. That includes all your sins, all your compromises, all your worldliness (yes you might have to delete Netflix, and all the music in your Spotify playlist). Jesus is Lord over all of it. And then whatever is left after that purge, you must now surrender and reorder in subordination to Jesus’ kingdom. For example, the tithe is one of the ways we surrender all our finances to Jesus. Going to church every Lord’s Day, is one of the ways we surrender all our time to Jesus. “We give him our first and our best and he blesses the rest.” This is the principle of loyalty to Christ as King. Jesus demands absolute loyalty, and therefore all rival loyalties must be either abandoned altogether or subordinated to Him. This is what it means to follow Jesus. Now this great feast that Levi throws, is probably not what you should think of as a private dinner party in Levi’s dining room. You should think of this scene more like Bilbo’s Birthday Party in the Lord of the Rings. All of Hobbiton knows this is happening. Almost everyone is invited, or at least it’s understood that this is a semi-public festival at Levi’s expense (he’s paying for the wine and the food). This explains why there are Scribes and Pharisees and disciples of John the Baptist all observing what Jesus is doing. This is a great feast in celebration and honor of Jesus, and it is how Levi is casting his net to haul in all his tax collector buddies. Levi has seen the light, and he wants everyone else to see that same light. Levi has a new joy in being forgiven, and he wants that joy to be shared with all. No true Christian wants to go to heaven alone, we want everyone else to join us, and that is what Levi is doing. And that is what we should do as well. Where there is joy and festivity with Jesus, there you can also find critics, complainers, people murmuring that this is unbecoming of a holy man. This brings us to verses 30-32 where Jesus defends his feasting. Verses 30-32 – A Party Complaint 30But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole [healthy] need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Are these words not sweet to you? To know that the only requirement to come to Jesus is that you bring to him all of your sins. The sign over Jesus’ doctor’s office, is “Only those terminally ill need enter.” Only those who are desperately sick and wicked can be healed here. This is the universal gospel call. It begins with the bad news that, All have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God. And the wages for your sins, is death. And the good news is that the one who conquered death, can give you eternal life. So the ministry of Jesus is a ministry of mercy from front to back. Andeven his righteous judgments are founded upon a most merciful patience and toleration of the proud and obstinate. Jesus loves Pharisees too. He says in John 9:39-41, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains. Meaning, the person who confesses their blindness, who knows that their sin runs deep and even deeper than they know, they are the person who is seeing clearly, and they shall be forgiven. But the person who denies their sinfulness, who judges themselves to be righteous in the eyes of God, and therefore not in need of Jesus to heal them, their sins remain. Their blindness remains. Jesus is the light that has come into the world. And as 1 John 1:7 says, If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. This is how Jesus brings us together in the light. So Levi is throwing a feast of forgiveness. A feast for sinners to be called to repentance. And the logic of Jesus’ defense to the Pharisees is this: What sickness is to the body, sin is to the whole person. And the way that Jesus heals sinners, is by calling them to forsake their sins and follow Him just like Levi did. This is what repentance is. This is actually what the Pharisees claimed to want for the Jewish nation, separation from sin so that God would bless them. But instead, what they had become is a self-righteous sect, who had exchanged the defects of ritual/ceremonial impurity (some according to the law, some according to laws they invented), and they traded that ritual impurity, for the sins of pride and contempt. They exchanged lesser sins for greater sins, which is never a good trade. Jesus points this out in Matthew 23:23, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. So you can sin like a tax collector, or you can sin like a Pharisees. But the common denominator that levels all humanity, is that all are dead in trespasses and sins. All are terminally ill and need Jesus to save us. Levi acknowledged this, the Pharisees would not. And that is what kept them from coming into the feast. The only thing that keeps people out of the kingdom, is their own unwillingness to enter. Jesus says in Matthew 21:31, Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. And in Matthew 23:13 he says, But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Pride has prevented innumerable souls from coming to the Great Physician. Just as many people refuse to see their doctor for treatment, so also many people refuse the free medicine of immortality that Jesus gives from the cross. So this is how Jesus defends his feasting. Why is he there? He is there to invite sinners to an eternal feast through faith and repentance. This brings us to our last section in verses 33-39, where a second question is asked about feasting and fasting. Verses 33-35 – On Feasting & Fasting 33And they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? 34And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 35But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Here Jesus identifies himself as the Bridegroom, and his disciples are children of the bridechamber, or what we would call today, the groomsmen, or some translations have wedding guests. John the Baptist understood this distinction in John 3:29-30, He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease. John understood that his role was to be the friend of the bridegroom, pointing people to Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He knew his ministry was to stand in contrast to Jesus’ ministry, so that later Jesus could say to them, For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and ye say, He hath a devil. The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! But wisdom is justified by her children (Luke 7:33-35). So Jesus explains that feasting and fasting is dependent upon the time and occasion. And that His presence as the Bridegroom of Israel, is the occasion for joy, festivity, and gladness. However, when Jesus is no longer present in the body, a time for fasting will come, it’s just not here yet. When he is taken away by death we’ll see the disciples mourn and weep. And we see in the book of Acts, that the disciples will fast when there is a special occasion to do so. Those occasions being: for prayer, for the ordination of officers in the church, and the sending of missionaries, and from necessity in times of persecution. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:27, I am…In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often… And he says in 1 Corinthians 7:5 that an occasion for husband and wife to not come together is that with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer. So fasting has its place in the Christian life, and so does joyful feasting. Wisdom is justified by her children. Now Jesus concludes his answer on feasting and fasting with two parables and an observation. The parable of the garment, the parable of wineskins, and the observation that our tastes take time to change. Verses 36-39 – Parables on Patience 36And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old. 37And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better. What do these parables/proverbs mean? The nice thing about proverbs/parables is also what makes them so difficult: they can apply to so many different things. But if we start here with the most immediate context, the principle becomes clear. The context is feasting and fasting, specifically the customs of Jesus’ disciples compared with John’s and the Pharisees (fasting and prayer). So, customs of discipleship are what Jesus is giving an answer to. And if that is the case, then I think verse 39 is actually the summary principle of the two parables before it. The principle is: No man, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’” Put another way, Jesus is saying, God knows people are resistant and slow to change. But He is patient, and so He does not require right now of his disciples, what later they will themselves desire to do (fast and pray in his absence). Or to use a different metaphor that might be more relatable, if it’s your first day in the gym, you don’t try to bench press twice your body-weight, or you will probably tear a muscle. Or, if it is your first day running track, don’t try to run a marathon, you’ll die! We need time to learn new things. We need time to acquire new affections, new rituals, to develop new habits. As an aside, this is why I sometimes joke with you that “our church is for those who are ten and under.” Because worshipping the way we do, with the Psalms we do, with the depth of content and doctrine that I try to teach you, is new or unfamiliar for many of you. But if you start young, this becomes the air you breathe. Our children are new wineskins, and so we pour in the new wine early when they are most elastic. Now returning to our scene, in Jesus, a new and marvelous thing has come, a new garment, a new wine, a new creation, new sacraments, new customs that different from the Mosaic law, a new day to worship on. And Jesus understands that this will take time, even a whole generation for some of them to adjust to. Later he will teach that the kingdom of God is like a little bit of leaven that eventually leavens the whole loaf. The kingdom of God is like a stone cut without human hands, that eventually grows into a great mountain that fills the whole earth. It’s like a little stream, that eventually becomes a river too deep to cross. God likes to take small and obscure and despised beginnings, and then building castles, cathedrals, majestic mountains out of them. And he would do that for you and in you if you cooperate with Him. In Psalm 102:25-27, David speaks of the future transformation of the whole cosmos saying, Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You will endure; Yes, they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will change them, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will have no end. Well eventually the time will come for the new wine to be poured into new wineskins. For the old garment to be cast off and thrown away, and a new one to be put on altogether. When does this happen for Jesus’ disciples? I think this happens definitively at Pentecost. Recall what is said of the disciples when the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them. It says in Acts 2:12-13, And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. Remember, Luke wrote Acts, it is the continuation of this gospel story. And Acts 2:13 is the only time that this phrase “new wine” is used outside of the gospels. And so the new wine and new garment is the Holy Spirit and all that He gives, it is grace, it is power from on high, it is supernatural love, it is sobriety, self-control, and a sound mind. Paul says in Romans 14:17, For the kingdom of God is not food and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. This is the true feast the Holy Spirt brings. This is the new wine of spiritual joy within our hearts. And how is this new wine given to others? It is given through the preaching of the gospel. The first thing Peter does after He is filled with this new wine of the Holy Spirit, is stand up and preach a sermon. It says in Acts 2:38, Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, you can have this new wine too. Repent and be baptized. It says in Ezekiel 18:30-32, Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye. Conclusion Do you want the new wine of grace, of forgiveness, of fellowship with God? Then cast off the old garment, put to death the old man with his sinful habits, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, receive the Holy Spirit. And He will change you from a sinner into a saint. He will change you from being self-righteous, to being actually righteous, and all through the blood of His cross. May God do this for you, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Encountering The Holy – Pt. 2 Sunday, April 26th, 2026 Fourth Sunday of Easter Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 5:1–26 Prayer O Lord, You have searched us and known us. You know our sitting down and our rising up; You understand our thoughts afar off. You comprehend our path and are acquainted with all our ways. For there is not a word on our tongue, O Lord, but You know it altogether. Such knowledge is too wonderful for us; It is high, we cannot attain unto it. And yet we ask, for You to condescend, to reveal Yourself to us, reveal us to ourselves, so that we may know our true condition, and thus seek from You the healing and grace that we need. We ask for all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen. Introduction Last Sunday we said that Luke chapter 5 is all about encountering the holiness of God. And we saw that when a person encounters The Holy One in faith, that Holiness then extends to you, it reaches out to you, it touches you, it enters your soul and starts to change you. When someone truly encounters the holiness of God, three things typically happen. First, you are struck with a sense of your own sinfulness, you realize that you are not holy and God is way more holy than you thought. You say with Simon Peter, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. You fall on your knees and cry out with the leper, Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean. And then Second, because of that confession of sin and uncleanness, God forgives you. God cleanses you. He says to the leper, I am willing, be thou clean. He says to Simon in essence, I will not depart from you, no, come close and follow me. And then Third, after we are forgiven and healed and made holy, God charges us to bear witness to His Holy Love. For Peter this meant becoming an apostle, a fisher of men. For the leper, it meant going to the temple and testifying to the priest. And this morning we will see that same pattern again in how Jesus forgives, heals, and charges the lame man to Rise up and walk. And so with that pattern in mind, let give you a fresh outline of our text. We are picking up in verse 15 in the aftermath of healing the leper. And so we’ll divine our text into three sections. Outline of the Text In verses 15-16, we have The Importance of Private Prayer. In verses 17-20, we have The Love of Faithful Friends. And then in verses 21-26, we have The Power of Christ to Forgive. The Importance of Prayer, The Love of Friends, and the Power of Christ to Forgive. Verses 15-16 – The Important of Private Prayer 15But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. 16And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed. Note this. From the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to his final words from the cross, Jesus is a man of prayer. Recall that at his baptism in Luke 3:21, we are told that it was while Jesus was praying, that the heaven was opened. We were just told in Luke 4:42 that, he departed and went into a deserted place. And here now Jesus withdraws himself again into the wilderness to commune with His Father. This habit of seeking solitude for prayer, is something that Luke highlights all throughout his gospel, these verses are scattered throughout. We will see in the next chapter, Luke 6:12 it says, And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. In Luke 9:18 it says, Jesus was alone praying. In Luke 11:1 it says, As he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray… In Luke 18:1 it says,Then He spoke a parable to them, that men ought always to pray and not to lose heart. And the last words from Jesus to his disciples before he is arrested are, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation (Luke 22:46). So from beginning to end, Jesus is a man of prayer. And if Jesus is a perfect man and we are not, how much more do we need to pray, so that we may overcome our own weaknesses and temptations by God’s power? For Jesus, his prayers are borne from love. It is not hard or wearisome for lovers to talk to one another, in fact, few things delight us more. It’s hard to stop two people who are madly in love from communicating. Even when they are separated by distance, their thoughts are constantly upon each other, they text and call one another, they express their love by all means possible. And so it is for Christ in relation to His Father. And so it ought to be for us who love Christ and His Father. So do you make it a habit to withdraw yourself at times, for private prayer? Do you have a routine to seek out solitude and silence with Your Creator, Redeemer, and Lover of your soul? If not, you are missing out. Do you ever withdraw yourself from the myriad screens and sounds and distractions of this world, and not merely because you are introverted and need to recharge, or because you are anti-social, but because your soul thirsts for God. You know from experience what we sing in Psalm 63, O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsts for thee, My flesh longs for thee In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is. Or as Psalm 42 expresses, As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Do you know the goodness that awaits you in prayer, where you may unburden yourself, and pour out your complaints, and give vent before the Lord to your frustrations and needs? Do you know the hidden treasures that God retains for those seek Him and seek Him earnestly? God says in Jeremiah 29:12-13, Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. God wants to be found by you. He wants you to seek for him with all your being. One of the reasons God gave us the Psalms is to teach us how to want. Paul says in Romans 8:26 that so often, we do not know what we should pray for as we ought. And so the Spirit has given us His Word to shape and form our longings. To teach us what we should want, and in what order and proportion, and that we should desire to have God most of all. When a child tastes of something sweet, a piece of candy, he naturally asks for more. We see this every week in the fellowship hall around the snack table. We have to help them stop wanting more. Well, such should be our appetite for God, except with God you cannot ever have too much of Him. It says in Psalm 104:34, My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. It says in Psalm 119:103, How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Jesus knew this sweetness, and so was constantly in prayer. And so have you tasted and seen that the Lord He is Good? Perhaps you say “But I am so busy. I’ve got a full schedule.” And I say to you, Jesus was busy too. Jesus knows the difficulty of getting away from other people. It says in verse 15, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities. Jesus was more famous than you. More sought after than you. People were hunting him down because they needed him. And yet Jesus still made it a point to withdraw himself into the wilderness, and pray. He did not ever say that prayer would be easy, or that finding time to pray would be easy. But he did reveal that it was essential, vital, and a wellspring of joy for those who find it. So there is a time to withdraw, and a time to be present with others. And Christ shows us that both are essential to doing the will of God. And this brings us to verses 17-20 where we have a great example of love in community, love in action. Verses 17-20 –The Love of Faithful Friends 17And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy [a paralytic]: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 20And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. This is a famous scene in Christ’s ministry. Both Matthew and Mark also record this miracle. And for Luke this is a pivotal moment in the story. For example, here, for the first time we are introduced to the Pharisees. And they will become Jesus’ adversaries for the rest of this book. This is also the first time that Luke uses the word faith (πίστις). Of course, the reality of faith/believing is been present all along, in Mary and Elizabeth, in the shepherds, and John and others. But this is the very first time that Luke uses the word faith, and it is also the first time he uses the word forgiveness. And that is not an accident for so careful a writer as Luke (not to mention The Holy Spirit!). So this is a key moment in Christ’s ministry and a miracle with profound implications. And what is curious is that the faith that Jesus sees here, and the faith that Luke emphasizes, is not the individual faith of the paralytic, but rather the shared faith of the paralytic’s friends. Now don’t draw any errant conclusions from this. This is in no way intended to demean or exclude the necessity for personal faith in Christ. Jesus teaches that necessity elsewhere. But here, Jesus sees, and Luke records that it is the faith of the man’s friends that occasions forgiveness. Without their faith to bring him to Jesus, this man would not be there to be forgiven and healed. The communal faith of these four friends is the essential occasion for the man to exercise his faith in Christ. And this is what Luke is highlighting for us, the love and actions of faith-filled friends. How did Jesus see their faith? Well of course according to His divinity, Jesus can see everything. In the very next verses Jesus will read the thoughts of the Pharisees as sign to them that He is God. But here, I think what Luke is drawing our attention to, is that Jesus sees what everyone else sees: A hole in the roof. An room past capacity. And the audacity and resolve of these men, to bring their friend to Jesus. Jesus can see the faith in their souls, but he can also see the outer works of faith. For as Paul says in Galatians 5:6, the only thing that avails for anything is faith working by love. And James 2:18 says, I will shew thee my faith by my works. So the love that these four men have for their friend motivates them to get together, to pick up the stretcher and carry him all the way to Jesus. And then to be un-repelled by any obstacles on the way, including the very physical structure of the house he is in. This is an audacious faith that manifests authentic love. And Jesus sees it, and he sees the man and says, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. Do you have friends like this who would bring you to Jesus if you were impaired? Are you this kind of friend to someone else? It says in Proverbs 17:17, A friend loveth at all times, And a brother is born for adversity. And O, what adversity it must have been to be this man, paralyzed, lame, unable to move, unable to get yourself to Jesus even if you wanted to. But God had already blessed this man, by giving him four faithful friends, who could do for him what he could not do for himself: get to Jesus. Do you have friends who would do this for you? Are you that kind of friend for others? Because this is what God wants us to grow up to be for one another in the body of Christ. Paul says in Galatians 6:2, Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:18, 26-27 he says, But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased…And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. So you have some role to play as a friend of God and as a member of Christ’s body. And one of the ways you can develop these friendships is, (well first by being friendly), but by seeking to carry the burdens of others. Where there is a need, there is an opportunity to bless. And it says in Proverbs 22:9, He who has a generous eye will be blessed. And in Proverbs 11:25 it says, The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters others will be watered himself. To connect this to our previous section on private prayer. One of the ways we can bring people to Jesus is in our prayers before the Lord. It is a mark of faith, hope, and love to intercede for our friends and family, and neighbors who need salvation. So many people are unwilling to come to Jesus. They don’t want to come to church because they are ignorant of their own lameness. They don’t want to get up, they want to sit on their couch and scroll their phones and stare at the television. They think they are fine, but they are headed for destruction. And so from love for these people, we bring them to Jesus in prayer. We do this privately; we do this publicly in our liturgy each week. We persist in our prayers for them, tearing the roof off as it were so that God might convert them. Do we have this burden for the lost? Or are we more like the Pharisees, taking up room in the church, while our own hardness of heart is keeping other people out. Well, what do we all most need from Jesus? In verses 21-26, Jesus shows us what we need. Verses 21-26 – The Power of Christ to Forgive. 21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? 23Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange (παράδοξα) things to day. It is a strange thing to the natural man, to prefer forgiveness of sins over the ability to walk. If you had the choice, which would you choose, physical paralysis with spiritual freedom, or physical freedom with spiritual paralysis? Which is the greater gift? Forgiveness and freedom from the bondage of sin, or the ability to move your body as God intended? Both are great gifts that we can easily overlook, and yet one is far superior to the other. It is not until we break a bone, or injure ourselves, that we come to appreciate a fully functional body. But here Jesus is showing us that what is more essential, more fundamental to restoring our nature, is not the healing of the body, but the cleansing of the soul. Before Jesus says, arise up and walk, what does He say? Thy sins be forgiven thee. But because forgiveness is invisible, and unverifiable to the people around, Jesus also restores his power to walk. The conclusion that Jesus wants everyone to go home with is that He is God, He can forgive sins, and He can repair anything and everything that sin has broken. That is why He came. And so to encounter the Holiness of Jesus, is to see that your sins must be eradicated in order to permanently heal your body.The wages of sin is death. Our bodies decay and suffer because of our first parents’ sin. The serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.” (Genesis 3:4). But death is all we have known after rejecting God’s Word. In Adam all die, it says in 1 Corinthians 15:22. And in Romans 5:12 it says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And so it is significant that Jesus says to the paralytic in verse 20, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. No name is ever given to the paralytic in any of the gospels, it’s why we call him The Paralytic. But when Jesus forgives his sins, he chooses to call him Man, Adam, Ἄνθρωπε. Signifying that Jesus came to heal our humanity, to deal with the universal problem that afflicts our nature. Sin is the source of every disease, disorder, disability, and death. And Jesus came to conquer them all. In verse 24 he calls himself,The Son of Man, the Son of Adam, the new High Priest who shall restore us to God’s Garden Paradise. For here in Jesus are the same divine hands that formed Adam from the dust and breathed life into his nostrils, and those holy hands are touching lepers, forgiving sins, and saying to Mankind, Arise and walk. Conclusion Do you know your lameness? Do you know that your personal sins are the greatest problem and threat to your wellbeing? Do you believe that Jesus has the power to forgive sins, and He promises to do so for all who look to Him in faith? Every Lord’s Day, we reenact the gospel pattern of encountering God’s holiness. We begin our service by coming boldly before His throne, with Psalms and thanksgiving upon our lips. And then we fall down on our knees before His holiness and confess our sins. We confess individually, we confess corporately. And then what we say to one another every week, after we confess our sins? I say, The enemies of God are brough down and fallen, and you say, but we are risen and stand upright (Psalm 20:8). You see God is still working this miracle, every time we confess our sins honestly to Him. He says to us then, Arise and walk. Walk by faith, not by sight. Walk with Jesus, wherever He goes. Go to your house, glorifying God. For he has done great things for us. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Encountering The Holy – Pt. 1 Sunday, April 19th, 2026 Third Sunday of Easter Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 5:1–26 Prayer Marvelous are Thy works O Lord, and that our soul knoweth right well, that You Dear Father, should send Your Son into this world, and that the Holy Spirit also should be sent from the Father and the Son, and that in the presence of Your Holiness, we are made holy, our sins are forgiven, our leprosy removed, our vocations changed from the catching of fish, to the catching of human beings for the kingdom of God. Grant that we may now encounter Your Holiness again, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction This morning we begin chapter 5 of Luke’s Gospel. And if you were to look back at chapter 4, I think it would be accurate to say that God gave us a lot of warnings in those sermons. Warnings about the dangers of the devil, the dangers of familiarity with Jesus without love for Jesus, the dangers of living in ignorance and unbelief. Recall that Luke 4 began with God warning us about how the devil tempts Christ. And if the devil tempted Christ, he will also tempt those who want to follow Christ. And so we learned from Jesus that the way you overcome temptation is by holding fast to the Word of God. After that we were given two cautionary tales of people who do not hold fast to the Word of God. First in Nazareth, then in Capernaum. In Nazareth, Jesus preached one sermon, and then they tried to kill him. In Capernaum, Jesus preaches many sermons for many weeks, and does many miracles, and yet for all that demonstration of divine power, Capernaum also is condemned for unbelief. Jesus will say in Luke 10:14-15, But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. So God has given you many solemn warnings in this gospel. Warnings about how easy it is to slide down to hell. Just keep doing your own thing. Just keep pretending. Keep on following that deceitful heart of yours. Jesus says of such people in Matthew 7:13, 21 for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it…Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. What it is the will of Jesus’ Father in Heaven? It is to believe on the One whom the Father has sent. It says in John 3:36, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3 Paul says, For this is the will of God, even your sanctification. So putting this all together we learn that by believing in Jesus, God sanctifies us. Faith is beginning and the ongoing means by which God makes you holy as He is Holy. Indeed, that is what Luke highlights for us here in chapter 5. After giving you all those warnings and cautions about unbelief, we finally get to see some real living faith. And so I pray that you have heeded those previous warnings from the Lord, and are now ready to imitate the faithful. The theme of Luke 5 (and on into Luke 6) is really: The Holiness of Christ. And here in verses 1-26, Luke gives us three human encounters with The Holy One, and he shows us how Christ’s Holiness transforms and sanctifies those who believe. So with that, let me give you the division of our text, although we’ll only look at verses 1-16 this morning, and the rest next week. Outline of the Text In verses 1-11, we have Fishermen Called to Minister In verses 12-16, A Leper is Cleansed to Testify In verses 17-26, A Lame Man is Forgiven to Glorify God Fishermen Called, A Leper Cleansed, A Lame Man Forgiven, all from encountering the Holy One with faith. Verse 1 – Fisherman Are Called to Minister 1And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, Recall Jesus has been preaching on the sabbath in the synagogues of Galilee (Luke 4:44), and now we see that His preaching continues throughout the week in the public square and in the open air. Here he is preaching by the Lake of Gennesaret which is the same body of water that is also called the Sea of Galilee (Matt 4:18, Mark 1:16), and the Sea of Tiberius (John 6:1, 21:1). So that’s where we are, about 100 miles north of Jerusalem, on the shores of Galilee, and it is here that people are clamoring, pressing upon Jesus to hear the word of God from Him. Well, what does Jesus do? We see in verses 2-3 that he finds for himself a pulpit, a place to preach from. Verses 2-3 2And [he] saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. 3And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Observe here the Simon is working, washing his net. He has toiled all night with his brother Andrew, and his fishing partners James and John, and despite all their work we are told in verse 5 that they have caught nothing. So here we have empty nets, empty ships, tired fishermen, and Christ the Holy One. Jesus asks this tired fisherman to do him a favor, “thrust out a little from the land.” And Simon complies. And then for some time, we are not told how long, Jesus sits in that boat and teaches the people. Once he is done, he then turns to Simon and says in effect, “it’s time to go fishing again.” Verses 4-5 4Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. 5And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. Observe now the faith of Simon Peter. Simon is tired, he is an experienced fisherman who knows what he’s doing, he’s been following best practices, toiling hard all the night. And yet he is willing to do what Jesus says, why? Simply because Jesus said it. This is really the essence of faith, to believe that God is trustworthy, even when what He says might not initially make much sense. You look at what you have, you look at what you’ve done, and then you say to God, “Nevertheless Lord, because you told me to do this, I will do it.” This is the faith of Simon Peter, and it is a faith that all of you should imitate. Well, what happens next? Verses 6-11 6And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. [more accurately, “began to break”] 7And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. 8When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. 9For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken: 10And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. 11And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him. Notice, Simon trusts Jesus, and the result of that little act of faith is the greatest catch Galilee has ever seen. The catch is so great, the nets are breaking, they need a second ship to haul them all in, and when they do, even the boats begin to flounder. And this is the moment, this is the miracle, that Jesus wants the disciples to remember. Whenever they think about how Jesus called them to the ministry, this is the miracle he wants to impress upon their minds. Why? Because three and half years from now (although they do not know it yet), they will be the ones thrust out into the deep, casting their nets by preaching the Word, seeking to catch souls. So many souls that they will need fellow apostles, elders and deacons, multiple churches (more boats), to help haul in this draught to heaven’s shores. We read in Acts 2:41 that after Peter’s first sermon on Pentecost, his first casting of the net, Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Talk about a great catch. Imagine trying to organize, shepherd, and disciple 3,000 newly baptized souls! The church in Jerusalem grew from 120 disciples (Acts 1:15) into a mega church overnight. And that’s just the beginning! We are told two chapters later in Acts 4:4, Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand. So God is going to give these fishermen-turned-Apostles, many thousands of souls to haul in, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. You and I are part of that catch of souls, founded on the Apostles teaching. And so this miracle on the Lake of Gennesaret, is how Jesus is preparing the disciples for the future. He gives them this living analogy between the work of catching fish, and the work of catching souls. There are many profound and important lessons in this miracle, let me just give you a few of them. 1. For starters, we learn that evangelism is a lot like fishing. You cast a clean net, you preach the pure Word, you go where Christ tells you to go, and then you leave the outcome to Him. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 using a different analogy he says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So we might say, “Simon cast the net, James and John helped haul it in, but God gave the catch.” Evangelism is a lot like fishing. 2. We learn here also the importance of the boat, the visible church, the place from which Christ chose to preach from. Because when there is a catch, when a soul is converted, it needs to be gathered into that boat which is the body of Christ. Otherwise, that fish might try to swim away. There is a reason we say in WCF 25.2, that outside the church “there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.” That is because the church is the place where Christ is present, where Christ is preached, where Christ Himself baptizes and feeds His people. When you are baptized, Paul says, you are baptized into Christ, you are made a member by baptism of His mystical body. And so the church is like a boat, with Christ at the helm, headed for heaven, and he wants the fish to be gathered in. 3. A third lesson we learn is the importance of having co-laborers in the ministry. Evangelism should ideally be a group effort. Simon has Andrew in his boat, and James and John are together in their boat. Later, Jesus will send out the apostles to preach two by two. There are of course exceptions to this rule, we might think of John the Baptist, and some of the prophets, but the normal way that Jesus calls and commissions people to evangelize/fish is in pairs or teams working together. So we need friendship and companionship with one another in the gospel. We need one another when we launch out into the deep, it is dangerous out there. We need this corporately as a church together with other churches. This is one of the many reasons we are Presbyterians, and not Independent. We also need this on a personal level, when we engage in different ministries. God wants us to labor in love together, and indeed it is by laboring together that deep friendships are often formed. So who you are laboring with? Whose burden are you helping to carry? Not all are called to a formal public ministry like the apostles were, or elders and deacons are, but all are called to serve Christ and to build up His body in the ways that you can, with the gifts God has given you. So who are you laboring with? Who are you encouraging and seeking to bring along with you in your service of Christ? Or, who is already doing a good work, and so you want to learn from them and join them in their labors? Are you seeking them out? Fishing alone might be peaceful, but God wants His people to fish together. If you are a Christian, if you are a disciple of Jesus, then God has given you some lake to fish in. So are you casting the net? Do you trust Jesus when he nudges on your heart to share the gospel, or a Word of encouragement, with that family member, or friend, or co-worker, or stranger. For many of us (myself included), those conversations can be intimidating at times. We don’t want to offend people. We don’t want to get into heated arguments. We worry, what if they ask me something I don’t know the answer to. We all have different fears we must overcome. But you do trust Jesus with those fears? Are you willing to say to him, “Nevertheless (I will set my excuses aside), and I will cast the net.” I will make that phone call. I will invite them to church. I will send that message. I will pray for them. God blesses those small acts of faith. God blesses us when we say to Him, “nevertheless.” And one of the blessings is that God changes you in the process. You become more bold, more unashamed of the gospel. Or you discover that you need to learn the gospel better so that you can share the good news with others. You start to get excited about what God is excited about, the kingdom, eternity, the contemplation of divine things. Are you casting the net? Are you washing your nets? Are you asking God, where in this lake do you want me to fish? Some of you are not afraid to share the gospel, you are just worn out and tired. You feel like you have been praying for years for that person’s conversion, you are like Simon, you have toiled all night with nothing to show, you’ve shared the gospel multiple times with them, but still their heart is dead to the truth. That can be a discouraging burden to carry, but you are not alone in that experience. In fact, prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel were given that exact burden to carry. To go and preach to a people who, on the whole, would not listen. And so if that’s you, take comfort from this miracle of Jesus. Be encouraged to try again, to know your labors are not in vain. If it feels like you are launching out into the deep, maybe this will be the time God grants a miraculous catch. You cast the net, and leave the outcome to Him. 4. A fourth lesson from this scene, is how you should respond to the presence of Christ. How does Simon respond to this miraculous catch? It says, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. And does Jesus leave? Does Jesus depart from Simon? No. Jesus draws near and says to him, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Do you see the grace and love in Jesus eyes? Those who know they are great sinners, unworthy to stand in God’s presence, are the very people who God welcomes in and makes worthy to stand. Peter says “Depart,” Jesus says, “Follow me.” You say, “I am unworthy,” God says, “I will come close and make you worth.” And this is how Peter is called to the ministry. So have you encountered the holiness of Christ, and found His holiness transformative? Have you ever fell down at Jesus knees, in tears, marveling at His mercy and power and love? Because the thrice Holy God loves to cleanse and purify and purge away your sins, if you will confess your sinfulness. What does the prophet Isaiah say, when he sees the holiness of God? Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts. And what does God do for unclean Isaiah? It says in Isaiah 6:6-7, Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged.” This is same reality and truth that John teaches us in 1 John 1:9-10, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. So have you encountered the holiness of Christ, and confessed to him your sinfulness? Because Jesus loves to forgive your sins. Well Simon is the first great example of faith in Christ, and Luke gives us two more examples in the Leper and the Paralytic. And notice what is common in all of these scenes. They fall down before Jesus, or in the Paralytic’s case, he is laid down before Jesus because he cannot get up. When a person with faith encounters the Holy God, the proper response is reverence, fear, humility and worship, you fall down before Him and glorify Him. This is how you must learn to approach the Lord. Well, let us now consider the faith of the Leper. Verses 12-13 – A Leper is Cleansed to Testify 12And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. 13And he put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will: be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. Notice again, the faith of this leper. He seeks out Jesus, he falls on his face before Jesus, he calls Jesus “Lord,” and he beseeches the Lord for mercy. This is what repentance and faith looks like. And what does Jesus do? He reaches out and touches the untouchable. And rather than contracting any uncleanness from this leper, the leper contracts holiness from Christ. Jesus says, “I am willing, be thou clean.” And the leper is cleansed with a word. Recall that to be a leper under the Mosaic law, was to be separated from the people of God and the presence of God. Leprosy was the ultimate sign of ritual impurity. A leper was essentially a walking corpse, the living dead, anyone who touched a leper was as one who touches a dead body (Numbers 5:2). It says in Leviticus 13:45-46, And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; outside the camp shall his habitation be. Not even the prophet Elisha touched a leper to heal him. Instead, he said to Naaman the Syrian, go wash in the Jordan river seven times. Moses did not touch Miriam his sister when she contracted leprosy. She had to wait outside the camp for a week until God removed it. But Jesus is greater than all the prophets, and Jesus touches those who no man ever dared touch, because Jesus has a touch that makes people holy. Recall that leprosy is the Old Testamentsign of what the New Testament calls, being dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1),or living according to, or in the flesh (Rom. 7-8).Just as a leper is dead while living, so also is every person spiritually speaking. Just as a leper cannot cleanse himself or make himself holy, so also you cannot cleanse yourself, or make yourself holy. You need someone or something from outside of you to change you. You need the Holy One, the Holy Spirit to touch you and cleanse you, and make You into His temple. And this is exactly what Jesus came to do. He did it for this leper, and will do it for all who look to him for mercy. Jesus says, “I am willing.” Paul describes this reality in Ephesians 2:4-5, But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, [spiritual lepers] hath made us alive together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) He says the same in Colossians 2:13, And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. Paul says in Romans 7:24-25, O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Conclusion Do you believe, that apart from Christ, apart from grace, you are a dead man walking? That before you met Jesus, you were full of leprosy. It wasn’t just a little bit here, it was everywhere and it was killing you. Your sin had created barriers between you and God, between you and God’s people. When Genesis 6:5 says, Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Your heart says, “That is me, apart from Christ. That was me, before Jesus cleansed me.” Simon said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” and Jesus says “Fear not. From now on you will catch men.” The leper said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” And Jesus says, “I am willing, be cleansed.” Jesus is willing to cleanse you, forgive you, to call you His own, but you will fall down before Him, confess his Lordship, seek His mercy. And He will change you from the inside out. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Reception Without Repentance Sunday, March 29th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 4:31–44 Prayer O Father, we thank you for the power of Christ’s Word, to teach us the kingdom of heaven, to heal us from all our diseases, and to cast out from us the demons of uncleanness. Fill us now with Your Holy Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction This morning we are picking back up in Luke’s gospel, and since it’s been a few weeks since our last sermon in Luke, let me briefly remind you of where we are in the story. The Lord Jesus has just begun his public ministry. And the first scene that Luke gave us was of his homecoming and return to Nazareth. And so just before our text, in Luke 4:14-30, we considered the dangers of being familiar with Jesus, without loving Jesus. We said that the people of Nazareth, Jesus former neighbors, committed a sin called “fatal familiarity.” They knew a lot about Jesus, they had watched Jesus grow up living a perfect life among them, but when Jesus comes to preach to them, to confront them about their sins, they are moved from amazement, to indignation, to attempted murder. All in one sabbath sermon. The people of Nazareth rejected the true diagnosis that the Great Physician was giving them. And because they rejected that bad news about their sinful terminal condition, that they are the problem, and not someone else or something outside of them, they also closed their ears to the good news that would save them. Jesus read to his former neighbors the words of Isaiah 61, which goes on to say, that he came, To comfort all that mourn…To give unto them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they might be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. This is the good that God would do for them if they would receive Him. This is the great exchange that is offered to all who will repent and believe on Christ. It says in 1 Timothy 2:4, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. But the people of Nazareth, like the Pharisees and lawyers, rejected the will of God for themselves(Luke 7:30). They denied and cast out and even tried to murder the very God who gives them life. It says of Christ in John 1:10-11, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. So Nazareth becomes for Luke, the first cautionary tale in how not to respond to the preaching of the Word. Don’t kill the preacher who is telling you the truth. That is the lesson of Luke 4:14-30, Fatal Familiarity. And now here, in verses 31-44, Luke gives us a contrast to Nazareth,a counterexample of how Jesus is received by the people of Capernaum. So while Jesus was disowned by his own countrymen, he does find a welcome reception in the city of Capernaum. And it is here in Capernaum where the power of Christ goes on display, and as it says in verse 37 one of the results is that, the fame of [Jesus] went out into every place of the country round about. Capernaum becomes the central ministry hub for Christ, and from that epicenter, the shockwaves are felt all around. Outline of the Text And so this morning I want us to the consider the power of Christ and how we as disciples of Jesus should respond to such power. Luke highlights for us here three aspects of Christ’s power, and this is how we’ll divide our text: In verses 31-32, we see The Power of Christ to Teach. In verses 33-37, we see The Power of Christ to Conquer Demons. In verses 38-44, we see The Power of Christ to Heal. Christ has the power to teach, to conquer demons, and to heal all who will come to him. Verses 31-32 – The Power of Christ to Teach 31And [Jesus] came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. 32And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. First observe that Jesus teaches on multiple sabbaths, sabbath days in the plural. Whereas in Nazareth he preached only once and was never invited back, in Capernaum they welcome him week after week after week after week to hear him expound his doctrine. And what is the effect of Jesus’ regular preaching to them? It is that they are astonished. And what astonishes them most is that he speaks to them with power, with real authority. Whereas the priests and prophets of old would say, “Thus saith the Lord,” Jesus says, “Truly Truly I say to you.” This is the difference between Jesus and every other preacher. We speak in the name of the Lord, Jesus is the Lord who speaks. We say, “this is what God says in His Word, so do it,” Jesus says, “I am the Word. Whoever loves me keeps my commandments.” So Jesus is the source of all power because He is divine, whereas every other prophet, preacher, apostle, evangelist, derives their authority from God. Jesus is the source, because Jesus is God. Jesus is the Word made flesh, Jesus is the Eternal Word from the Father, He is the Word that created all things and continues to uphold them by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3). And so as the officers say in John 7:46, No man ever spake like this man.And in Matthew 7:29 it says of Him, For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. So Jesus speaks with power, and his power astonishes. Perhaps you have had a similar experience reading and hearing the Word of God. There is special power here unlike anywhere else. Well, that is good to be astonished at Christ’s power, but BEWARE, lest you confuse astonishment with repentance and faith. We learn from Luke’s gospel that many people were amazed by Jesus’ teaching and authority, but the vast majority of them in Capernaum did not repent as a result. We know this because Jesus will later condemn Capernaum for their unbelief. He says in Luke 10:13-16, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes…And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. And in Matthew 11:23-24 Jesus expounds on this saying, for if the mighty works which were done in [Capernaum] had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. So as you hear of Capernaum being astonished at Christ, be warned, they are also a cautionary tale of unbelief. Unbelief can come in many forms. Capernaum is proof that Jesus can do mighty works amongst you, preach and heal and cast out demons, and yet all that demonstration of divine power is for nothing but your judgment. Unless you repent in sackcloth and ashes, unless you like Simon Peter fall down at Jesus’ knees and say, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5:8), all that power is for nothing if you do not repent. The disciples are the few in Capernaum who believe and follow Jesus, while the rest just enjoyed the show, but never changed. So does your astonishment at Christ lead to real repentance and confessing of your sins to Christ? If not, then it doesn’t matter who the preacher is. Capernaum is proof that God himself could preach in your church, stand in this pulpit, and still you would not believe. And Jesus says, it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for many people sitting in churches today. Be warned Christ Covenant Church. You are blessed to hear the Word of God week by week. At home, you have full access to full Bibles. You have a complete New Testament with four gospel accounts, and 23 other new covenant books to instruct you in The Way. Moreover, you have the whole Old Testament law, the prophets, the Psalms, wisdom and history and proverbs to meditate upon. You have far more access to Christ’s doctrine and power than even Capernaum had, for you are living on this side of his resurrection and ascension on high. And so what will be the judgment for us if we do not repent at so great a light, at so many a testimony to the truth of Jesus? Astonishment is useless, even damning, if it does not produce in you repentance and faith. There is the sin of Nazareth to hear and get angry and drive Jesus away. And then there is the more “respectable” sin of Capernaum, to give Jesus a warm welcome, to receive him as a preacher week after week, but still to go unchanged. So what kind of hearer of Jesus are you? What kind of church are we? This brings us a second demonstration of Christ’s power. Verses 33-37 – The Power of Christ to Conquer Demons 33And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 34Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. 35And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. 36And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. 37And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about. First observe that there is a devil in this synagogue. An unclean devil, in the place that is supposed to be pure, holy, and set apart for the worship of God. We see this pattern throughout the gospels and on into the book of Acts, that demonic activity is frequent in the places where the saints are supposed to gather. So don’t think, that just because you are in a church, that this is somehow a safe space cordoned off from demonic activity. No, this is the place that demons target. This is the place where demons would love to divide, conquer, and rule. Recall it was from heaven that Satan was cast down. And this is why the Apostles are constantly warning the church about Satan and demonic attacks. For example, James 4:7-8 says to Christians, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you…Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Peter says likewise to Christians in 1 Peter 5:8, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Where there are sheep, wolves, cayotes, lions prowl. If devils did not attack Christians, then Paul would not have said in Ephesians 4:25-27, Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Think about this. How do demons enter the church? They enter through people, through us. We are the ones who track them in. We give them space in our life to do mischief by letting the sun go down on our anger. By not resolving grudges in our marriages and families and friendships. We give the devil a foothold by complaining and murmuring. We don’t forgive people or seek forgiveness from those we sinned against. And this how churches can become what Jesus calls in Revelation 2:9, and Revelation 3:9, synagogues of Satan. Entire churches, entire denominations, can become so corrupt, divisive, bitter and devilish, that God removes their lampstand altogether. They are no longer places where God is worshipped, they are places where the idols of man’s heart are enthroned. And this is many a church in our day, and we as a church must guard against this! Recall this is a major theme of the prophets, especially Ezekiel. In Ezekiel, God shows him in a vision the true spiritual state of the temple in Jerusalem and why it will be destroyed, why the glory will depart. It says in Ezekiel 8:9-10, 12, And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” So I went in and saw, and there—every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls…“Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, ‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.” This is how the synagogues in Jesus’ day, and many churches in our day, became haunting places for demonic activity. Men and women worship the god they imagine in their hearts, not the God who calls them in righteousness, and then that idolatry and uncleanness provides a space for the devil to gain a foothold. And so we need in our day, what Capernaum needed in Jesus’ day.We need the power of Christ to expel our wickedness, to topple our idols, to overthrow the power of the devil. And this is what Jesus comes to do, to liberate those who are in bondage to the evil spirits of this age. Notice in verse 34, the fear this demon has in the presence of Christ. He cries out in a loud voice, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God. Here we see what James 2:19 also tells us, You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! How powerful is Jesus? He makes the demons to quake with fear. And they fear him because they know he can destroy them. As we sing in that great hymn, I Know That My Redeemer lives, “He lives to the crush the fiends of hell, Glory Hallelujah! He lives and doth within me dwell, Glory Hallelujah!” Can you sing that song in truth? Does Jesus dwell within you, because he has cast the devil from you? It says in 1 John 3:8, For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. And how does Jesus destroy the devil’s works? It says in verse 35, And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. Jesus silences and casts out this devil with a word. And the devil has no choice but to obey. So fear not demons, fear the one who can destroy demons. Fear the one whom the demons fear! This also means that no matter how enslaved you may feel to sin and uncleanness, defiled by your past, abused and ashamed, Jesus has the power to save you, to purify you, to make you His prized possession. He is the one who gives beauty for ashes, if you will give your ashes to him. Christ is more powerful than the devil’s lies. And if you doubt this, consider, Who was the first witness to Jesus’ resurrection? It was Mary Magdalene. It says in Mark 16:9, Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. Luke will tell us in chapter 8 of his gospel that this Mary also followed Jesus, and ministered to him from her own substance. She supported the ministry of Christ early on. And so if there’s hope for Mary Magdalene there is hope for you, if you trust in Jesus, and follow Jesus, and cling to Jesus, if you hope in his power and love him like Mary did. Jesus lives to crush the fiends of hell, Glory Hallelujah. This bring us to the third revelation of Jesus’ power, and that is his power to heal our bodies. Verses 38-40 – The Power of Christ To Heal 38And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. 39And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. 40Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. First observe how Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law. He heals her with a word. Earlier he rebuked the unclean devil, now he rebukes this great fever. And just like the devil had to depart, so also this sickness must depart. Jesus has power and dominion over spiritual things and physical things alike. Jesus can cast out, bind, and destroy spirits. And Jesus can cast out sickness, and bind up our bodies with a word. And then we see in verse 40 that as night approaches, all the sick are brought to Christ, and he lays his hands on every one of them and heals them. This is real personal care, physical touch, from the Great Physician of body and soul. And then in verse 41 he does the same for all who are demon possessed. Verse 41 41And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ. We may wonder, Why does Jesus silence these devils? Because he knows they are liars at heart. The devil was a liar from the beginning and the father of lies. And as it says in Psalm 31:18, Let the lying lips be put to silence. And so because these demons would only use the truth to deceive men and mingle with it their errors, Jesus does not permit them to announce who he is. Truth should come from those who love the truth, whereas the devils hate the truth that they know and rage against it. So do you love the truth? When other people are walking away from the truth because they find it offensive, and Jesus says to you, Will ye also go away? Do you say in return with Simon Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? (John 6:67-70). Jesus calls Judas Iscariot a devil, because he dwelt with Jesus, heard the truth from Jesus, but loved the darkness more. That is the sin of the devil. To prefer darkness to light. To prefer one’s own opinion to the Word of God. So be not deceived, physical proximity to Jesus is insufficient to save you. Membership among the people of God is insufficient to save you. Many people heard and saw and marveled at Christ’s power, and some like Judas were intimate with him, but unless you repent and believe it is all for nought. Conclusion The sign of love is that you desire to be and remain with your beloved. And we learn from the crowds in Capernaum that there are many other reasons besides love, that people seek for Jesus and want him to remain. And so what separates the elect soul from the reprobate? What separates the Simon Peters from the Judas Iscariots? It is that the elect soul clings to Christ in love, and although we may wander at times, stumble and fall like Peter, we always return to the One our soul is married to. We return to the One whose grace abounds wherever our sins have abounded. We return to the One whose mercies are new every morning, and who has loved us with an everlasting love. And so are you resolved to follow the Lamb wherever he goes, even to the slaughter? It says of the 144,000 virgin souls in Revelation 14:4-5, These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. How can a man stand faultless before the throne of God? Only by the blood of the lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Only by real repentance and faith in the blameless one, in whom no deceit or guile was ever found. It says earlier in Revelation 5:12-13 that all creation worship this Lamb was slain and now lives evermore saying, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. May God grant you to follow this Lamb wherever he goes, that you be found faultless on the day of Judgment, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Resurrection Body Easter Sunday, April 5th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA 1 Corinthians 15:31–58 Prayer O Father, we thank you for the loving labors of Your Son, through which we may enjoy victory over death. Make us in this life to be more steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in good works for You, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction How do you know if you are a born-again Christian? How do you know if the risen Lord Jesus is alive within you? The Bible says that one of the surest signs that a person is born again, is that their life is characterized by a living hope, and specifically a hope in the resurrection of the dead. The Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. We are born again by an act of divine mercy, and the resurrection of Jesus is God’s instrument to make us alive. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:22-25,For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance. So when a person is born again as Jesus says, by water and the Spirit and enters the church, his life then becomes a life of groaning, of yearning, of waiting in hope for the resurrection of the dead. Paul says, it is in this hope that we are saved. So do you have this resurrection hope alive within you? Does this hope occupy and animate your thoughts and prayers and desires? Do you ever pray to God, “Lord, grant me a holy death.Lord, give me a death that will honor You and magnify Christ. Lord, prepare me now to persevere in the faith, to hope in You, to trust in Your mercy, so that when death visits me I am not found unprepared. Lord, give me a name that is great with You, grant that I may be numbered amongst those in Hebrews 11 of whom this world was not worthy.” That is the prayer, the desire, of a mature born-again Christian, whose whole life has become a kind of hope-filled preparation for death. It is hope-filled because we know that death is the beginning of a perfect forever. Death is the door to joy inexpressible, life everlasting, and the beholding of our Creator face to face. Hope is what makes that glorious future present to our minds. Hope is what brings that future good into the present, so that our heart is flooded with divine love. Paul describes this experience in Romans 5:2-5, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And so I ask again, do you have this Spirit-filled hope alive within you? Because whether you do, or whether you don’t, God offers it to you today, even now, as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The good news of the empty tomb is the grounds of Christian hope. And indeed, that is what our text here in 1 Corinthians 15 is all about: Telling you the truth about Jesus, who died and rose again, and that because Jesus is risen, you too shall one day rise. The righteous shall rise to the reward of eternal glory, and the evil shall rise to eternal damnation and punishment. And so in order that you may rise to glory, I want you to hear from the Word of God, three effects of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Three blessed realities that Christ causes us in those who believe and confess that “He is risen.” And so with that as my hope, let me give you the outline of our text. Outline of the Text In verses 31-34 we see that Christ’s resurrection Removes Our Fear of Death. In verses 35-56, we see that Christ’s resurrection Reveals What We Shall Become. In verses 57-58, we see that Christ’s resurrection Gives Purpose to Our Lives Here and Now. Three effects of Christ’s resurrection: the removal of fear, the revelation of what we will become, and purpose now, as we live in the present. Verses 31-34 – How Does Christ Remove Our Fear of Death? 31I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is there to me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. 33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. 34Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. Here, Paul is in the middle of arguing with someone who denies the resurrection, and he is giving his own life as evidence, that because Jesus rose from the dead, Paul is now willing to put his own life in jeopardy every hour (vs. 30) so much so that he can say, I die daily. Paul is willing to risk his life, to suffer dangers, to endure stonings, and shipwrecks, plots and imprisonment, all because Jesus has the power over when and how Paul dies. One example he gives is of fighting with beasts at Ephesus. And this most likely refers to the riots that would erupt as result of his preaching. You can see an example of this in Acts 19. And because the crowds in Ephesus were so deranged and irrational like wild animals, it was as fighting with beasts for Paul to preach the gospel to them. But he did it nonetheless. And so the point is, who would choose to live this way, unless Jesus really rose from the dead, otherwise, eat and drink and get pleasures while you can. Paul would not choose to live like he does, to suffer as he does, to preach as he does, unless Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Unless he believed what the risen Lord Jesus says in Revelation 1:17-18,Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore…and I have the keys of hell and of death. Paul knows that Jesus has the keys. And because Jesus has the keys to death, he is willing to die every single day, for the sake of the one who died for Him. This is what the resurrection does for Paul, and it is what the resurrection should do for you. It should make us know that we are invincible until God is done with us. That the Father will not let one hair of our head perish apart from His will. Jesus has the keys. Jesus holds your life in his hand. And if Jesus laid down his life for you, how can you not lay down your life for him? From Paul’s perspective, it is an honor to die daily, to risk his life for the gospel of Jesus, Nay it is a debt he owes to Christ, because formerly he was the one persecuting Christ (he was like a beast towards God consenting to the murder of Stephen), and yet Christ saved him in act of divine mercy. Paul says earlier in 1 Corinthians 9:16, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! In Romans 1:14-16 he says, I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Paul knows in the depths of his being how great God’s mercy has been towards him. He says in 1 Timothy 1:15, This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So listen dear sinner, listen dear Christian, would you like the courage to overcome the fear of death? And not merely the dying part or the possible pain that you may feel, but the fearful judgment that follows death for all your sins, when you will have to give an account for every careless word. Do you want judgment day to go well for you? Well if so, you must say Yes to the mercy of God. Listen to how Paul preaches this news of mercy and judgment in Athens in Acts 17, he says, Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” [And] some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them (Acts 17:30-34). So how will you respond to this news of both a future judgment and a future resurrection? Will you mock these things to the damnation of your soul? Will you ask to hear more and stick around? Or will today be the day you choose to believe and surrender your whole life to Christ? Well for those who believe, and for those who want to hear more, Paul has more to tell. And in verses 35-56, this long section in the middle, is all about answering the question, What is the resurrection going to be like? And he answers this question in two parts. In verses 35-41 he gives some illustrations from the natural world. And then in verses 42-56 he describes five qualities of the resurrection bodies of the righteous. Verses 35-38 – How will the dead be raised? 35But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. First Paul thinks this is kind of a foolish question, because the answer is all around us. And he starts by pointing our noses to the dirt and saying, have you ever gardened before? Have you ever planted anything? And have you ever noticed how what you put in the ground does not look the same as what comes out of the ground later? And so just as a tiny seed can become a great tree, or a beautiful flower, or a delicious fruit, so also with the resurrection of the dead. Jesus says in John 12:24-25, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. [And then he explains that parable saying] He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. In other words, you are a seed that must be planted. And just like oranges do not grow from apple seeds, and figs do not grow from olive seeds, so also with us. If you die in Jesus, you will rise in Jesus. But if you die apart from Jesus, you will also rise to be eternally apart from Jesus. As you are planted, so you shall rise. If you are planted in grace, you will rise in glory. But if you are planted and die apart from grace, there is only rising unto judgment. So what kind of seed are you? Because God says, there is a real continuity between this life and the next, how you live and how you die, determines how you shall rise again. Paul then goes on to give two more examples. One from the diversity of animals, and one from the diversity of elemental bodies. Verses 39-41 – Celestial Bodies and Terrestrial Bodies 39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. Here Paul starts to illustrate how among the saints who die in grace, the kind of glory we shall have will be different. All the saints shall be glorious, all the saints shall be happy in God, but that resurrection glory will differ kind of like stars differ in the sky. The Prophet Daniel describes this diversity in Daniel 12:2-3, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. And Jesus says in Matthew 13:41-43, The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. So star differs from star in glory, and all who love Jesus, shall reflect the light of Jesus. If Jesus is the sun, we will reflect the sun, because we are his body and bride. And then after giving us these illustrations from the natural world, Paul gives some specifics what about what exactly our bodies will be like in the resurrection. So our glory will differ although all be glorious if they are planted in grace, but what qualities will our bodies possess if we are raised like Jesus was raised? In verses 42-56, we have give qualities of the resurrection body. Verse 42 – The First Quality is that we will be Incorruptible 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: Whereas in this body we get hungry, thirsty, cold, tired, and sick. In the resurrection we shall not need food or drink or sleep to restore us. Our bodies will be perfectly healthy and unable to get sick or weary. It says in Revelation 7:16, They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now lest you who are foodies are disappointed, we learn from the gospels that although we will not need food, we can still eat food in our resurrected bodies, if indeed we want to. It says of Jesus in Luke 24:42-43, And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. And in John 21, Jesus cooks up some fish for the disciples on the beach. And so whether we will want to eat physical food and drink in the resurrection, I don’t know, but at least we won’t need to to sustain our bodies, because they will no longer be corruptible. We won’t nutrition to counteract our corruption. So that’s the first quality, our bodies shall be raised incorruptible. Verse 43 – The Second Quality of our resurrection bodies is that they will be Glorious 43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory… Here, glory is contrasted with shame/dishonor, which all of us experience to some degree, because of original sin (like Adam and Eve felt naked after disobeying), and sometimes also because of our own personal sins. Sins that we have done against our body, or sins we that have suffered because of how others have treated us, abused us, used us against our will. Sexual sins especially can bring a deep sense of shame and dirtiness, and unworthiness, feelings that can linger for years and years. There are scars we feel, physical and emotional, that seem impossible to remove. Well, the hope of the resurrection, is that although we are sown in dishonor, we are raised in glory. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:2-4 saying, For in this [body] we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. So the Bible describes our resurrection glory, not as a return to nakedness in the garden, but as being further clothed in glorious garments living in a garde-city. What exactly the kind of clothes we shall wear, we know not. But the image we are given is of white robes, pure, spotless, washed in the blood of the Lamb. So if you feel dishonorable, if you feel ashamed. Hope in God. He is the One who gives beauty for ashes, and glory for shame. This is the great hope of the resurrection. We may die in the stench and filth of our own refuse, but Jesus raises us up in glory. The first quality is incorruption, the second is glory… Verse 43 – The Third quality is Power It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: In this body we can get hurt. In this body our bones can break, our joints wear out, our muscles atrophy, our minds become feeble and forgetful, we feel our frailty. But in the resurrection, our bodies become powerful, agile, strong with an eternal youth. Imagine the most vigor and strength you’ve ever felt, when you were at your peak, lifting your max. That is nothing compared to the power you shall one day possess, man and woman alike. In the resurrection the woman is no longer the weaker vessel. She is made strong by the power of God. By way of an aside, Jesus says, there is no giving in marriage in the resurrection. Instead, we are distinguished according to merit, according to what we did for God in this valley of tears. Whether this means we are all equally strong or not, we do not know, but we do know that our reward differ according to our actions. This is what Jesus teaches in the parable of the minas/pounds. He says in Luke 19:15-19, And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’ Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’ So what you do with whatever talents God has given, God shall reward accordingly. So are you being faithful in the little, that you may be made ruler over much? For it says in Revelation 14:13, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them. Now is the time for work, and your good works God shall reward. So our bodies shall be raised incorruptible, glorious, and strong. Verse 44 – The Fourth Quality is that our spirit will govern our body 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. Here spiritual body does not mean that your body becomes immaterial, or airy, or ghostly like the wind, but rather that our glorified spirit will so rule our body, that whatever our spirit tells the body to do, it will do with perfect harmony. This is hard for us to imagine because in this life, our body so often rebels against our spirit. Our mind tells us we should get out of bed, but our body says, I want to sleep more. Our mind tells us, stop eating after the first donut, but our body says, give me all the donuts. This is what it means to have a natural body, we are subject to bodily desires. The body says one thing, our spirit another, and too often the body wins. Elsewhere Paud describes this reality in the Christian as a war between the spirit and the flesh. He says in Galatians 5:16-18, I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust/desires of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. He says something similar in Romans 7. Well in the resurrection that war between flesh and spirit, body and mind, goes away. This is because your spirit will see God, your mind will know God and want nothing else but God, because there is nothing greater than God that a person could desire. And because your mind and spirit will be so perfectly satisfied, you will enjoy perfect rest, you will never ever sin again because you will never want to. That is what it means to have a spiritual body. For your spirit to see God, and for your body to do exactly what your spirit tells it to, which is to glorify God in your body. Verses 47-49, 53 – The Fifth quality is that our resurrection bodies will be heavenly or immortal. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 53and this mortal must put on immortality. Here Paul contrasts the first man Adam, with the second man, Christ. And whereas from Adam we received these bodies made of dust (and to dust we shall return), from Jesus we receive a new body like the Lord from heaven, that is, an immortal body, a body that cannot die. When Paul calls Jesus, the Lord from heaven, he is referring to how although Jesus was born of a woman, and assumed our earthy human flesh, it was always united to Jesus’ divinity. And because Jesus is heavenly and divine, when he lays down his voluntarily life for us, he also has the power to take it up again at will. And so now we who love and believe in Jesus, discover that God has destined us for immortality from the foundation of the earth. As Paul says in Romans 8:29-30, For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The resurrection of the dead is our glorification, and that is when we shall receive immortal bodies, even as Jesus is immortal and divine. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Finally, in verses 57-58, Paul extols the purpose that this future hope instills. Verses 57-58 – The Purpose of Our Lives Here and Now 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Three ways the resurrection gives us purpose: 1. When you believe in the resurrection, you cannot help but give thanks to God. And where there is thanksgiving, there also is joy. And where there is a future victory guaranteed, there is firm ground for living hope. And so the life of the born-again Christian is well described in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. If you are lacking purpose, if you are unsure of God’s will for your life, start here. This is God’s will for all Christians. Constant joy, constant prayer, constant thanksgiving. That is pleasing to God. 2. Because there is a future resurrection, we must be stedfast, unmoveable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord. This means, whatever you set your hands to do, you should be doing it for the glory of God. Whatever your work is, you should be offering that work to the Lord. Moreover, we should be abounding in the work of the Lord. There are millions of people who do not know Jesus, who do not believe in the resurrection of the dead, and we have the honor of making that truth known in whatever sphere of influence the Lord has given. 3. Third and finally, the resurrection assures us that our labors are not in vain. So often we tell people about Jesus, we invite them to church, we give them biblical advice, we pray for their conversion, but it seems to bear no fruit. Well, here we have God’s promise, that if our labors are in the Lord (done from faith formed by love), our labors are not in vain. It is true we may not ever see or know in this life, what impact our work has had, but in the resurrection, Jesus assures us, that there is reward for all our good works. Conclusion And so I close where we began: How do you know if you are a born-again Christian? Do you have this living hope within you? Because Paul says in Romans 10:9, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. And so may you believe that He is risen, He is risen indeed, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Glory of the Cross Good Friday, April 3rd, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Galatians 6:14–18 Prayer Father, we thank you for the cross of Christ, through which we may die to this world, and the world may die to us, grant us to walk more faithfully according to this rule, that we may enjoy the peace and mercy of Thy Holy Spirit, we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction That text that you just heard is how the Apostle Paul ends his letter to the Galatians. And if you’ve ever read Galatians, you know that the churches in Galatia are in danger of sliding into heresy. Paul begins his letter by saying to them in chapter 1, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not [actually] another [gospel]; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9). So Galatians is that letter where Paul comes out swinging, he pronounces anathemas on anyone who preaches a different gospel than what he had already preached to them. And so the main message of Galatians is: Don’t forget the gospel of grace. Don’t forget how you were justified. Don’t forget that you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. [Heirs of the whole world!] (Galatians 3:26-29). Your salvation depends upon you not abandoning this truth. You must cling to God’s grace. And thus, Paul dedicates six whole chapters in this letter to comparing, contrasting, and defending the true gospel, over against the heresy of the Judaizers. Who were the Judaizers? We are told in Acts 15:1 that, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren [saying], “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” So the Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians, who taught that the ceremonial law of Moses, especially circumcision, was necessary for salvation. And therefore, if a Gentile was converted and baptized and believed in Jesus, he also needed to be circumcised. He needed to become a Jew according to the flesh, if he would be saved. For the Judaizers, circumcision was just as necessary as faith for salvation. Faith is good, faith is important, but you also need to observe the Jewish rites and ceremonies as well. We see in Galatians 2 that even the Apostle Peter stumbled on this point, not by teaching that circumcision was necessary for salvation, but by living as if Jews and Gentiles were not equally one and holy through faith in Christ, apart from the law. How did he do this? Paul writes in Galatians 2:11-14, Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? And so Paul teaches that it is not only heretical to make circumcision and Jewish observances necessary for salvation, it is also hypocritical to try to make Gentiles live like Jews, especially given that the Jews themselves cannot keep their own law. As Paul says in Galatians 6:13, For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. And in Galatians 2:21 he says, I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And so assuming that Galatians was written prior to Acts 15 and the Jerusalem Council (which is the chronology I take), The Apostle Peter stood corrected by Paul. And we are told that at the Jerusalem council, which was called to settle this question about circumcision, And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe [think of Cornelius in Acts 10]. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.” (Acts 15:7-11) If laws and ceremonies and circumcision could make us righteous, then Christ died in vain. But we believe that God is no respecter of persons, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that God in his mercy, purifies Jew and Gentile alike through the grace of living faith. Well, this brings us to our text, and how Paul ends Galatians with a contrast between two kinds of glory. The Judaizers are those who glory in the flesh. They boast in their fleshly descendance from Abraham. They boast in keeping the law of circumcision which Moses gave them. They boast in keeping the Jewish festivals and laws for what you can and cannot eat. They boast in observing days, and months, and times, and years (Galatians 4:10), as if those observances are what make them righteous. Whereas Paul says in verse 14, But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. And so tonight, on this Good Friday, I want us to consider what makes the cross glorious. Why should you, like Paul, glory in the cross to the exclusion of all the other things you could glory in? What makes the cross of Jesus Christ so glorious? To answer that question let us consider verses 14 and 15 of our text. Verse 14a 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… First we should ask, What does it mean to glory in something? Some translations have boast. To glory in something means to esteem or regard something as making us great. We glory in that which gives us greatness (or at least in what we think will give us greatness). Boasting then (in its most proper sense) is when we use our words to exalt what makes us great. In its sinful form, boasting is to lift oneself above oneself. But in its righteous form, as Paul is doing here, to boast in the cross, this is to lift up God who lifts us up. And so we learn from this passage and many other places of Scripture that glorying can be good, boasting can be good, but only if the object of your glorying is God and His grace. It says in Jeremiah 9:24, But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord. This is favorite verse of Paul because he quotes it in both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and repeats this theme in many letters. In 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 he says, But “he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” For [it is] not he who commends himself [that] is approved, but whom the Lord commends. And then he goes on for two more chapters boasting/glorying in his sufferings and weaknesses and persecutions to show the Corinthians that Christ is more glorified in our weakness than in our strength. For Jesus said to Paul about his thorn in the flesh which God would not remove, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. So this is the logic of Christian boasting: We boast in what God’s grace has wrought in us, for us, and through us. In ourselves we are nothing but dusty broken images of God, but by grace we are remade. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. And so the cross becomes for Paul and the church the supreme symbol of Christian glory. It is the banner of our triumph. Because by the cross, we confess to the world that any good or greatness we have is ALL OF GRACE. Righteousness comes by grace. Faith comes by grace. Election is by grace. Predestination is by grace. Effectual calling is by grace. Sanctification is by grace. Even our perseverance to the end and our good works on the way are all a work of grace. This is what it means to glory in the cross. While the Judaizers boast that keeping the law makes them great. The Christian boasts in Christ and him crucified. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:23-24, But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God…And then he goes on to say in verses 29-30 that God has done all of this so, That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: [so] That, according as it is written (again in Jeremiah 9), He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. God hates boasting in the flesh. And God loves boasting in the Lord, in the cross, in the grace of Christ. Well if we boast in what makes us great, what greatness does the cross secure for us? Many things. First, we see in verses 14-15 that by the cross we are able to die to the old world and become a new creation. Verse 14-15 14But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 15For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Paul glories in that our faith unites us to Jesus. And because Jesus is great, even the Greatest, those connected to Jesus now share and participate in His greatness. The glory of our head redounds to the whole body, and we are the body of Christ. Paul puts it this way in Romans 8:17-18, he says we are joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. The sufferings of this present time are all the ways that the world, the flesh, and the devil tries to seduce you, persecute you, shame you, and harm you. That old world does not like to be crucified, it wants to go on living and boasting in the flesh. The sin of the devil was to exalt himself above himself, to dethrone God and take his place, and that is the sin that our world incites humanity to commit. It is the sin our first parents committed. It says in 1 John 2:16-17, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. Why do we glory in the cross? Because by the cross our flesh is crucified, our heart becomes dead to the things that are temporary, and alive to love the things that are eternal. This is what it means to walk by faith and not by sight. The cross gives us new eyes to see beyond the grave. To see that Jesus died to this world, and then received the world as his inheritance. The cross makes us to see through the bait of sin so that we can shun the Devil’s hooks. We can see through the fear of pain, and the intimidation of death, and we believe that after the cross, we shall rise again. The cross is our glory, because Jesus was glorified on the cross. He says in John 12:32, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. Jesus turned the cross, an instrument of death, into His instrument for destroying death. What men used to kill the Son of God, the Son of God now uses to save mankind. What men esteemed as the most shameful way to die, Christ selected/chose to be His monument of love. From the cross Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We glory in the cross, because we glory in being forgiven. So what do you consider glorious? What are you tempted to boast in? Most of us here are not Judaizers, but we are all tempted to glory in things other than the cross. Or, like the Judaizers, we are all tempted to add things to the cross to boast in, and to try to distinguish ourselves from others so that we can stand out, or look better than him or her. Where are you tempted to, what the Bible calls, vainglory? As we close, I want to highlight a few commonplaces where men and women are tempted to glory, and then I want you to show you how Christ offers you something better. First, it is common for people to glory in riches, in wealth, in status, in what their hard work has produced. But God says in 1 Timothy 6:6, We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And so why would you glory in what you cannot take with you, especially when the true riches, everlasting riches are offered freely upon the cross of Christ. Jesus not only forgives our sins, he also makes us citizens and heirs of an everlasting kingdom, a new heavens and a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, where the gates are made of pearls and the streets are made of gold. What men treasure down here, we walk on up there. To glory in the cross is to glory in the true riches. Second, some people glory in their appearance, in their health, or in their diet and exercise routine, in how they avoid seed oils or processed food, or in how they don’t avoid anything. The Bible says, Men glory in their strength, and women glory in their beauty. But as we all find out, if you haven’t already, Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall (Isaiah 40:30).And Proverbs 31:30 says, Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain: But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. And so again, why glory in what is temporary and fleeting, beauty, strength, vitamins, a diet? When the cross is the Christian’s wellness program. Death is our end regardless of how long we live. Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:8, For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.  It is good for young men to be strong. It is good for women to be beautiful. But it is infinitely better to be godly. So exercise yourself accordingly. Moreover, because the cross is not the end of the story. Good Friday is not the end of the story. We await a glorious resurrection of this body, where every sickness is healed, every allergy and inflammation and gut problem removed, every blemish and scar made beautiful, every disability reversed. Whatever you don’t like about your present self, when you die in Christ, he promises to raise you up far more radiant, strong, and beautiful than your heart dare imagine.Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man. The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. (1 Cor. 2:9). If only you could see now by faith, what one day you will become, then you could say with Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:17, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This is the glory the cross works for us. Third, some people glory in having great power and influence, in being a leader and not a follower. But what is all that power and influence compared to sitting with Christ in heavenly places, ruling the world by having our wills united to God’s will? This is what the cross offers us, not only in the future, but here and now. Jesus says, the kingdom of God is within you. Our prayers are heard and Christ shall answer. It says in Revelation 1:5-6, Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. And in Revelation 5:9-10 it says, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. Whose power do you glory in? Fourth and finally, some people glory in their connections, in their friendships with famous people, geniuses, billionaires, they glory in who they know. But what does the cross of Christ offer? It offers the most intimate friendship with God, communion with all the saints, and myriads of angels as ministers for your salvation. By the cross of Christ you are welcomed into the fellowship of the Holy Trinity. And there is no glory or fellowship greater than that. And so I close with the words of Jesus and his high-priestly prayer before his arrest. He says in John 17:20-26, “I do not pray for these [my disciples] alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Let us pray.

Fatal Familiarity Sunday, March 22nd, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 4:14–30 Prayer O Father we thank You for the meekness of Your Son, who although rejected by his own countrymen, and cast out of his own city, passed through their midst unscathed, all so that in due time, he might lay down his life for us, dying for our sins, rising for our justification, that we may ever share in Your joy and blessedness. Grant us to hear Your voice now anew, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction The title of my sermon this morning is Fatal Familiarity. Fatal Familiarity. It is dangerous, even fatal, to know about Jesus without loving Jesus. It is dangerous to be familiar with the life and teaching of Jesus, his cross and his resurrection, but then to go on living just like you were living before. Here in our text, Luke shows us how Jesus was received (or rather rejected) by the people who were most familiar with him, people who had watched Jesus grow up, people who knew Jesus’ as a boy, as a teenager, as a young carpenter in his 20’s. The people of Nazareth had more information about Jesus than anyone else, they were most familiar with him, and yet that familiarity did not help them. Think about this scene. In just one sermon from their own hometown prophet, the people are moved from amazement, to indignation, to attempted murder. Truth and love incarnate is standing there in front of them, proclaiming God’s Word, and their response becomes, “let’s kill him.” Now that may seem like an extreme response, but are we not also guilty of similar sins, of similar violence in our hearts against the will of God for us? Are we not also guilty of casting out Christ from the city of our soul by a stony heart, by how we treat one another, by our enmity and greed and lies, by how we make ourselves judges over the law rather than faithful servants under God’s authority? The great preacher J.C. Ryle, said of the church in England in the 1800’s, “It is vain to conceal from ourselves there are thousands of persons in Christian churches, in little better state of mind than our Lord’s hearers at Nazareth. There are thousands who listen regularly to the preaching of the Gospel, and admire it while they listen. They do not dispute the truth of what they hear. They even feel a kind of intellectual pleasure in hearing a good and powerful sermon. But their religion never goes beyond this point. Their sermon-hearing does not prevent them living a life of thoughtlessness, worldliness, and sin. [So then], let us often examine ourselves on this important point. Let us see what practical effect is produced on our hearts and lives by the preaching we profess to like. Does it lead us to true repentance towards God, and lively faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ? Does it excite us to weekly efforts to cease from sin, and to resist the devil? These are the fruits which sermons ought to produce, if they are really doing us good. Without such fruit, a mere barren admiration is utterly worthless. It is no proof of grace. It will save no soul.” So how do you hear the Word of God preached? What change has all your church attendance and worship bought about?Do you listen and obey like Jesus is the one talking directly to you? Or do you brush Him off and esteem Him lightly? Do you think to yourself that the sermon must be for my neighbor, to help them stop sinning, to help my wife or my husband get it together? Or do you receive every sermon as if it is God speaking directly to you? Perhaps you wonder sometimes when I get to a specific point of application, “Was pastor thinking of me when he said that?” Maybe. But does it matter? A better question to ask yourself is, “Was God thinking of me when God said that?” And the answer will usually be, “Yes.” The whole Bible is for the whole people of God and there is application for all of us on every page. All of us can stand to learn something, even if we are not the immediate class or group of people being spoken to. What does God tell us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17? All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. The wise man listens and learns from everything he hears even if he is not the one being directly addressed, whereas the fool thinks nothing is directed at him, and he can hardly be taught by anything but the rod. And so lest we sit in judgment on this murderous crowd at the church in Nazareth, first we must sit in judgment upon ourselves and examine how we hear the Word of God, and what we do with it Monday-Saturday. Is preaching having the effect in your soul that God commands? Or does the devil like the birds snatch up the seed as soon as I say to you, “Go in peace.” Familiarity with Jesus without love for Jesus is fatal, eternally fatal. And so let us hear this cautionary tale from Luke, lest we commit the same sins as Jesus’ own countrymen. Outline of the Text Now we see in our text that Luke highlights three aspects of Jesus’ public ministry. In verses 14-22, we have The Centrality of Preaching. In verses 23-27 we have The Boldness of Jesus’ Preaching. And in verses 28-30,The Demonstration of Jesus’ Power. The centrality of preaching, the boldness of preaching, and the demonstration of divine power. So starting in verse 14, notice how central preaching of the Word is to Jesus’ mission. Verses 14-15 14And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. Here Luke summarizes Jesus’ ministry around the Sea of Galilee. After his combat with the devil in the wilderness, the next thing Jesus does is teach in the synagogues, being glorified of all. Jesus is quickly gaining in popularity, word is getting around, and his star is rising. Now what exactly is a synagogue? The synagogues were the places where the local community gathered to worship, to hear the Word of God, and to receive instruction. They are not unlike our local churches today. And this is where Jesus goes every sabbath. We are told in verse 16… Verse 16 16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Here we see that Jesus was not only a attender but a participant in the local synagogue service. This was his home church for almost 30 years, and he was likely invited by the ruler of the synagogue to read and on this occasion to preach to them. Elsewhere in Acts we see that this is how the gospel initially went forth, to the Jew first by preaching in the synagogues, and then to others in the public square or private homes. It says in Acts 13:42, after Paul’s sermon in Antioch, And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. And in Acts 19:8 it says, And Paul went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. And so Jesus is modeling here how the apostles will later evangelize. He stands up and reads the text, and then he preaches how it is fulfilled in Him. This is what we find in verses 17-21. Here he reads the text for his sermon. Verses 17-21 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias (Isaiah). And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. The passage that Jesus reads to them is a composite of Isaiah 61:1-2 and Isaiah 58:6. And if you have ever read Isaiah, you know that the first 39 chapters are pretty grim and very confusing. There is a lot of sin and judgment and punishment for idolatry. Chapters 40-55 are when the book takes a turn and begins to extol the glory of God despite the exile to come. Isaiah 40 begins with that famous line, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. And then in chapters 56-66, Isaiah prophesies a glorious future that God has in store for those who love Him. He foretells a time of blessing, and prosperity after they return from exile and return to God. God will come and vindicate His name, He usher in a new heavens and new earth, He will punish the wicked, reward the righteous, He will set to rights the many things that are wrong. This is what Isaiah prophesies 700 years before the birth of Christ. And so when Jesus reads from that last section of Isaiah, chapters 61 and 58, he is saying that the future glory, that eschatological age that Isaiah spoke of is fulfilled in Him.All the hopes of Israel, all their hopes for salvation, redemption, deliverance, healing, freedom, are come to pass in this Jesus of Nazareth who they are familiar with, and now standing in their synagogue. This message is a message of good news and great joy. However, it requires them to believe that Jesus is indeed how those promises are fulfilled. It requires them to believe that Jesus is The anointed one, full of the spirit, full of grace and truth, The Prophet, The Priest, The King. Notice also how Isaiah 61 describes his ministry. What is Jesus anointed to do? He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted (which is done by preaching the truth that consoles) to preach deliverance to the captives, to preach recovering of sight to the blind, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be a Preacher in the first instance. And all his miracles and healings and casting out of demons are ordered towards confirming the Word preached. This is the main purpose of signs and wonders in the Bible. They are given to confirm the Word that God has spoken. And if you think about it, what is more miraculous? A person’s soul being saved for eternity, or a person’s body being healed temporarily until it dies. A person’s eyes being opened to see physical things that are passing away, or the eyes of the heart being enlightened to see God and embrace Him. So the primary work of Jesus is preaching. To use the words of His mouth to reshape, to reform and to refashion us into images of God. This is what the gospel call is: an invitation to become a new creation. Repent and believe because the kingdom of God has arrived in Christ. And as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Well, how do the people of Nazareth respond? Luke tells us in verse 22 that at this point they are amazed. Verse 22 22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son? Wonderment, or amazement (marveling) happens when we see an effect without seeing its cause. We see or hear or notice something, and then our mind starts to wonder: What is this? How can this be? How can he say that? What is the explanation for what I am perceiving? Wonder is where inquiry begins. But it is the kind of questions we then ask that reveals what kind of person we are. Our questions reveal our character. Our words reveal our heart. And for the people of Nazareth, their question reveals that their hearts are far from God, even though physically he is standing there in front of them. In Acts 17:10-11, Luke gives us a good illustration of how different people receive the word differently. He writes, And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. So compare the noble-minded Bereans with the people of Nazareth. The Bereans received the word preached with readiness of mind, and so their questions are: Does the Bible teach this? Is this consistent with what God has said elsewhere? And then they search the Scriptures daily to see if what Paul and Silas are teaching is true. This is the mark of noble mind, to trust God’s authority and seek out the truth from Him. Whereas what do the people of Nazareth ask? “Is this Joseph’s son?” Notice, they pass over the content of what Jesus is preaching, and start questioning his family origin. This is the mark of an evil mind. A noble mind delights in truth wherever it may be found, whereas the carnal mind, Paul says in Romans 8:7, is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So rather than studying the law of God or Isaiah more closely, or asking Jesus to further explain these glorious truths, they decide to question him on account of his heritage. When people cannot refute the content of what Jesus preaches, they resort to personal attacks, they try to discredit him by making up stories, spreading lies about him, this is the habit of the carnal mind, and if they did this to Jesus, they will do it to those who preach Jesus. The carnal mind cannot hear spiritual things, and the book of Acts and church history bears this out. So preaching is central to Jesus’ ministry, and yet despite living a perfect life for 30 years among the people of Nazareth, their hearts are hardened to hearing the truth from His mouth. Sometimes it does not matter how loving, honest, and blameless you live, evil people will still question you, look for ways to discredit you, and despise you. This brings us to verses 23-27 where Jesus boldly confronts their unbelief. Verses 23-27 23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias (Elijah), when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus (Elisha) the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. Here Jesus reads their minds and tells them their thoughts. If you were sitting in that synagogue hearing him preach, you would feel naked and exposed, this man sees into your soul. However, when people are exposed for what they actually are by the word of God (sinners), they either confess and come clean and seek God’s forgiveness, OR, they get angry, they deny it, they start to rationalize and explain to themselves why they are actually innocent, and it’s their fault, and who is this guy to judge me anyways. How dare he! Is he God or something? In this case, yes. God is speaking directly to them, reading their evil thoughts, and putting them under conviction. And this is an act of love; Jesus is loving them by rebuking them and giving them the opportunity to repent. And he does this is by giving them two examples from their own inspired history, their own scrolls that they claimed to regard as authoritative. Those two examples are that of Elijah and Elisha, and you can find these stories in 1 Kings and 2 Kings. And what Jesus is doing by selecting these two examples, is helping them recognize who they are in this story. They are not the godly seed of Abraham showing hospitality. They are not the righteous remnant keeping the faith. They are not among the 7,000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in Elijah’s day. Who are they? They are Ahab and Jezebel hunting down Elijah. They are apostate idolaters who refuse to be healed. They have murder in their heart because they do not actually love God. They are so sick with sin, that they don’t even know how sick they are. Think back to what Jesus just read them from Isaiah 61. If Jesus is preaching the gospel to them, then that means they are spiritually poor. If Jesus is preaching healing to them, then they are desperately sick. If Jesus is preaching liberty to them, then they are the ones enslaved. If Jesus is preaching the acceptable year of the Lord to them, then the day of vengeance draws nigh, and they need to repent before it’s too late. The gospel is only good news to people who first accept the bad news. If you refuse to believe the diagnosis that you were born in sin, and that your sins deserve eternal punishment, and there is no remedy except to cast yourself upon the mercy of Jesus Christ, then there is no salvation for you. You must accept the diagnosis in order to receive the healing. This is the fatal danger of a faithless loveless familiarity with Jesus. You can deceive yourself into thinking you don’t need him as much as you actually do. And this is all of us to some degree. We are all tempted to trust in the Lord with some of our heart, and to lean too much on our own understanding. We are all tempted to be selective in allowing God to direct some of our paths, but not all of them. We say to God, “you can have this part of my life, but I’m keeping this part to myself. You can have my Sundays for a couple hours, but not much more. You definitely can’t have my bank account, or my sex life, or how I parent, or what I say to my friends in that group chat.” We are all tempted to not give Jesus full access, because we are afraid of what it might cost us. Well Jesus has come to demand everything. But it’s not because He doesn’t love you, it’s precisely because He loves that He says forsake all and follow me. Because your whole life needs transformation. Everywhere that sin has touched, grace must go as well. Everything that sin has broken, God wants to repair. But you have to be willing to surrender completely to Him. The people of Nazareth had that opportunity, but chose not to use it. And this leads us our third and final section, where Jesus demonstrates His divine power. Since they will not hear his preaching, since they will not repent at His bold application to them, He chooses to do one act of miraculous power, which is also an act of mercy. He prevents them from following through on their murderous intent. Verses 28-30 28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30But he passing through the midst of them went his way. Recall that earlier in this chapter Satan attempted to get Jesus to cast himself down from the Temple, and here now his own countrymen are seeking to do the devil’s will by force. They are like Cain, Jesus is like Abel. They are like Ahab and Jezebel, Jesus is like Elijah. So Jesus manifests His divine power by passing through their midst. And he goes his way, leaving them to ponder what He just prevented them from doing, murdering God. Think of how many evil desires God has prevented you from doing. How many times has God mercifully kept you from following through on your sinful intentions? So behold how merciful Jesus is, even amongst people who want to kill him. Behold how patient God is, to not immediately destroy us, but to give us time to repent. Of course, the bigger purpose in Jesus avoiding death at this early stage, is because Jesus wants to die in a specific way, in a specific place, to make known to all the world, the great love God has for sinners. Jesus still has more preaching to do. Jesus still has disciples to call and train, people to heal and feed, dead people to raise, demons to cast out, spiritual powers to bind, more miracles to work on His way to Jerusalem. And until that work of the Father is completed, no one can take Jesus’ life from him. For as he says in John 10:18, No one takes my life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. So do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Do you love this Jesus, and desire to become familiar with Him, not like the people of Nazareth, but as a most intimate friend? Because this is the friendship Jesus offers to all who will accept the diagnosis and accept the treatment. Who will acknowledge their sins and how they deserve eternal punishment, and who trust in Jesus to give them eternal life. This is the gospel call, the invitation to a new creation, may God move you to accept that invitation, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

How To Overcome Temptation Sunday, March 8th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 4:1–13 Prayer O Father Your Word tells us that if we resist the devil, he will flee from us. And  so we ask now that You would teach us from the life and example of Your Son, how we may become more than conquerors through You who love us. Fortify our faith, our hope, and our love, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.  Introduction How would you tell the complete story of your life? Your birth, your youth, your maturation, your death? If you had the opportunity and ability to write your autobiography, what metaphors would you use to describe your life story? What genre would the movie version of your life fall into? Tragedy? Comedy? Adventure? Romance? Some mix of all the above? Well in the Bible, God gives us many different metaphors to describe the history of the world, and the story arc of individual people and families. Perhaps the most common metaphor the Bible uses is the metaphor of life as a Journey, as a long walk from one place to another. From the garden to the wilderness, and back again. From Egypt to the wilderness to the promised land. We see this in the book of Proverbs that there is a way/path of wisdom, and the fear of the Lord that leads to life, and then there is the way/path of folly, which leads to death. Jesus uses this Journeying/Walking metaphor in his Sermon on the Mount when he says, Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:13-14).So according to God’s Word, you are on a journey in some direction. You have a choice between good and evil, right and wrong, the easy way to death, or the difficult way to life. Life is a journey, a coming of age story, towards either heaven or hell. Do you believe this? Now another metaphor the Bible gives us, is the metaphor of life as a Battle. Life as Warfare. Life is a competition, a showdown, a duel to the death between sin and righteousness, between good and evil. And under this metaphor, every Christian is a kind of soldier in the Lord’s army. Yes, there are people who switch sides, there are people who betray the cause, there are deserters, there are cowards who shrink back in fear. But the Christian life is a warfare, against the evil inside of us, and the evil outside of us. Paul in 2 Timothy 2:3, Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 6 Paul tells us to, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. In Colossians 3:4 he says, Put to death your [own] members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. These must die! What is the life of a Christian? It is a journey, it is a voyage, it is a competition, it is a coming-of-age story, it is the romance of heaven and earth, and it is a war to the death to win your soul. Do you think about your own life in these terms? In Biblical terms? Do you see yourself the way God wants you to see yourself? Where there are real enemies who hate you and want you dead, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and so you must put on the armor of God every single day until God gives you permanent victory and peace. Well in our text this morning, we see that the life of Jesus, was a life of warfare. It was a battle of wits and wills for the salvation of the world. Jesus and everyone who wants to follow Jesus is like a warrior signing up to enter the Colosseum. This life is a gladiator match. Your opponents are the devil, and your own sinful flesh, and heaven is the great cloud of witnesses cheering in the stands. The great puritan John Owen once said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” And that really summarizes what is at stake every day that you wake up and get out of bed. You are entering the Colosseum again. You must put on your armor again. You must pick up your Bible and read it again. You must get on your knees and pray again. You must forgive your debtors again. You must seek forgiveness again. And this is because, the devil is an experienced tempter, your flesh is weak, and Satan loves to exert all his force on the weakest part of your soul. And so how can you withstand such temptations? How can you fortify your heart and mind against the many schemes of the devil? This Jesus shows us how to do in his own showdown with Satan. And so this morning I want us to walk through this text to answer one big question, and that is: How do you overcome temptation? How do you win in this battle for your soul? Let us see how the Lord Jesus teaches us. Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 1-2 we have The Occasion of Temptation. In verses 3-13 we have Jesus Resisting Temptation. The Occasion, and the Resistance. Verses 1-2 – What was the occasion for Jesus being tempted? 1And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. First recall that Jesus has just been baptized by John the Baptist. Heaven opened, a dove descended, and the Father announced, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased (Luke 3:22). And then we see that Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Jesus chooses to go to the place of testing. Why does he do this? Jesus is reenacting the history of Israel. Israel was chosen by God to be His priestly nation. God says to Moses in Exodus 4:22-23,Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” And then because Pharaoh refused to comply, hardened his heart, and would not let them go, God fulfilled His Word.Pharoah and all of those without the Passover lamb, suffered the loss of their firstborn son. So just as Israel was led out of Egypt and baptized in the Red Sea, so also Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river. And just as Israel was tempted for 40 years in the wilderness, Jesus is tempted for 40 days. Recall that the journey from the wilderness to the promised land was only an 11-day journey. But because they complained, rebelled, and broke God’s covenant, gave in to temptation, that 11-day journey turned into a 40-year punishment. As the saying goes, “You can take Israel out of Egypt in a day, but you need 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel.” This was true for them. And it is often too true for us as well. God redeems us from this sinful world in a moment of Divine grace, but the rest of our lives is then God continuing to get that sinful world out of our hearts. So Jesus goes into the wilderness to succeed where Israel failed. Jesus is the natural firstborn Son of God, He is the new Israel, and He has come to re-write all our failures by His own perfect obedience. Jesus goes to be tempted in the wilderness as an act of divine grace for you and me. A second reason Jesus goes into the wilderness is to teach us that after our baptism, tests will come. We thought becoming a Christian would make our lives better and easier, and in many ways it does. It says in Proverbs 4:18-19, The path of the just is like the shining sun, That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know what makes them stumble. But there is this important caveat: Now that you are on the side of the angels, a child of God, Satan hates you far more than he hated you before. The more full of the Holy Spirit you are, the more Satan would love to take you down. We see in this in the Old Testament with the story of Job. Who does Satan attack with every weapon he’s got? The most righteous man on earth. And then after Job suffers the loss of his children and his possessions, and still blesses God, God says to Satan in Job 2:3, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, to destroy him without cause. So learn this lesson well: Satan hates you when you are sinning, but he hates you even more when you are not. Satan hates those he rules over, but he hates those he does not rule over even more. This was true of Job, it was true of Christ, and it will be true of all those who desire to follow Christ. And this is an important lesson in how to overcome temptation: Be aware that after spiritual highs, after great successes, after your baptism and your filling with the Spirit, after fasting and prayer, Satan often comes to tempt. When we are weak and we know we are weak, we rely upon God and are protected. But sometimes we start to think our strength is from ourselves, and that becomes a new weakness. And so what this means is that you must always be on guard and constantly casting yourself upon Divine mercy. There is a reason Jesus taught us to pray daily, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Because every day temptations come. Whether from the devil himself, or other people, or hard circumstances, or from our own sinful desires. Remember you are in a battle on at least three fronts: the world outside will assault you, the devil will shoot his fiery darts, and your own flesh wars against the spirit. Do not underestimate your foe, or forget the foe within. If you do, you will easily fall into the Devil’s snare. So that’s the first thing we need to learn from Jesus. Note the occasions when the devil likes to tempt. And don’t think that just because you are full of the Spirit or baptized, that temptations will not come, assuredly they will. And this brings us to verses 3-12 where we see the kinds of temptations that devil uses against Christ, and there are three principal temptations here. The first is an appeal to the human appetite. (vs 3-4) The second is an appeal to human ambition. (vs 5-8) And the third an appeal to human presumption. (vs 9-12) So let us see how the devil tempts and how Christ responds. Verses 3-4 – An Appeal to Human Appetite 3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Notice that the devil begins by questioning Jesus’ identity. Most likely at this stage in Christ’s ministry, because he has not yet performed any miracles, the devil is unsure whether Jesus is a mere man or something more. And so he tempts to find out, and he also tempts to make him fall. And this is also how the devil often assaults us. He questions whether we are really the children of God. He sows seeds of doubt in our heart: “If God really loved you, would He let you suffer as you do?” “If you are really a child of God, wouldn’t God want you to be happy? Wouldn’t He want you to satisfy your appetite?” How many Christians have been seduced by this lie. That God is not actually as good as He says He is, and because God must want me to be happy, He must want me to take and do what I think will make me happy. This is America’s sin. God blessed us in many ways, we forgot God in our prosperity, and now we are paying the consequences for elevating our own appetites above the will of God. This we must repent of and resist with all our might. This first temptation is very similar to the first temptation in the Garden. Remember the serpent comes to Eve and questions God’s goodness saying, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”… “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:1, 4-5) The devil appeals to Eve’s appetite for knowledge, for god-likeness, for the forbidden fruit. And now Jesus is being tempted like our first parents were tempted. The first Adam gave in to his appetite for what God had prohibited, and now the Last Adam, Christ Jesus fights how Adam should have fought, using the word of God. How does Jesus respond? He responds by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the context of that quotation is Moses reminding Israel, before they enter the promised land, how God has provided them with manna for 40 years. Deuteronomy 8 goes on to recall God’s faithfulness in the past and His promise for the future saying: Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. So while Satan tempts us to take right now what God has promised to give us later, Jesus fights back with those promises, and the remembrance of God’s faithfulness. And this is how you and I must fight. We must keep heaven before our eyes, a world in which there is no sorrow, no tears, no death, no pain. Because that is what awaits us if we persevere in the faith: joy inexpressible and full of glory. When Satan tempts you with a good, look to the greater good that God has in store for those who love Him. Moreover, you should also fear the consequences of giving in to temptation. Because every time you sin, you weaken your will to resist the next time. And if you give in now, and don’t repent immediately and go in the opposite direction, you are running the risk of self-deception unto destruction. And then once you die, there is no more opportunity to repent, and even if there was, you would not choose it. A will that turns away from God in this life, will remain that way forever. And that should make you fear and tremble and beg for God’s mercy to sustain you. As it says in 2 Peter 2:19-21, For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. This brings us to the second temptation. Verses 5-8 – An Appeal to Human Ambition/Vainglory 5And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. [this likely some kind of vision] 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 7If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. 8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. First observe the lies, the sinking sand, that Satan builds his temptations on.Satan offers to Jesus what he does not actually have the power to give. He says to Jesus, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. But who is the one delegates authority? Who is the one who owns the world? It is God, not Satan. Satan is a usurper. He claims what does not belong to him and then tries to trick as many as he can to enthrone him above God. This is why Jesus calls Satan a thief, a liar, and a murderer from the beginning. He says in John 10:10, The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. When King Nebuchadnezzar committed this sin of Satan, attributing to himself a power and glory that belong to God, God rebuked him saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses. Satan cannot give what he does not possess. And while Jesus could have refuted Satan with many other possible passages and truths, like “I am the God who has all authority,” instead he chooses to quote from Deuteronomy. And this is because Jesus wants to help us overcome our temptations.Jesus alone can say I AM GOD, whereas you and I cannot. And so Jesus uses a weapon that we also can use. And that is appealing to the written Word, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. This is first commandment stuff, “No other gods before me.” And with this weapon of loyalty to the one true God, Jesus rebukes the devil. Third and finally, the devil appeals to the vice of presuming upon God to intervene. Verses 9-13 – An Appeal to Human Presumption 9And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: 11And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Now the devil is using Scripture to try to force Jesus’ hand. It says in Psalm 91:11-12, For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone. And so Satan is weaponizing the promises of God to protect His people, to get Jesus to kill himself. Make no mistake. This is the devil inciting self-harm, suicide, death, and he is willing to use Scripture to convince Jesus that, “If God really loves you He will stop you, so give it a try.” Do you see how cruel the devil is in his temptations? He cannot help himself. He wants Jesus to eat rocks, not bread. He wants Jesus to bow down to him, not God. He wants Jesus to kill himself, and he baits the hooks with the Word of God. Satan will take what God intends for your salvation (Holy Scripture), and he will twist it for your damnation. Are you aware of the ways that you are tempted to be presumptuous, to be passive when God tells you to be active, to blame God when you are the one responsible for your actions? As my former pastor Doug Wilson likes to say, “God does not steer parked cars.” So are you moving in faith? Walking by faith? Working out what God is working within? If not, then you are tempting God, you are being presumptuous. Well how does Jesus overcome this temptation? He could have refuted Satan’s exegesis of Psalm 91. For the Psalm begins by saying, He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. In other words, God’s promise of rescue is contingent upon remaining in God’s house, dwelling with Him, not casting yourself away from His presence. Moreover, the kind of deliverance that God promises is eternal and spiritual, not merely temporal and physical. For the Psalm concludes saying, With long life will I satisfy him, And shew him my salvation. But Jesus does not choose to engage with Satan on Psalm 91. Instead he goes back to Deuteronomy for the third time, and selects a verse that clearly condemns what the devil is suggesting, it says in Deuteronomy 6:16, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And this itself is instructive for us. There are times when we are outmatched by our opponents, by heretics, by wicked smart false teachers. Their knowledge of Scripture and history surpasses our own. And yet if you Christian, know the Ten Commandments, if you know the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, the basics of loving God and loving your neighbor, and are whole-heartedly seeking to honor God, then you have more weapons than you might think. And if Jesus, who knows everything, fought the devil with the same Scripture that you and I have, then that Scripture is also sufficient for us to overcome temptation as well. Moreover, we have this promise from God in 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Conclusion Learn to fight like Jesus fights. Review the armory of truths you already know, and then add to that armory when you meditate on God’s Word. When you hear these sermons. When you pray and sing the Psalms. Paul says to Timothy, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Tim. 6:12). The same can be said to you who confess the Creed every week. Who confess your sins every Lord’s Day. Who confess that Jesus is LORD to the glory of God the Father. Hold fast to that confession of faith steadfast till the end. If you make gaining Christ your highest ambition, one day you will be able to say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7,I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. May God grant you to gain the victory and triumph, through the power of Christ’s love working within you, to the glory of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Son of Adam, Son of God Sunday, February 15th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 3:21–38 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the revelation of Your Son Jesus Christ, in whom the human race may now find salvation. Grant us now to behold the wonders of Your law, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction When do you most feel the good pleasure of God? Have you ever felt as if God is in heaven, looking down upon you with a big smile, loving who you are, loving what you are doing, delighting in your thoughts and actions because they bring glory to Him? Have you experienced the Father’s good pleasure before? Well, here in our text, Jesus shows us both what God takes pleasure in, and how we also may share in his Father’s delight. Moreover, Luke shows us by this long genealogy that God has been planning this revelation of His love from the foundation of the world. The revelation of the love of God in Son of God is the centerpiece of human history. The patriarchs looked forward to it, we now look backward to it, and as it says in John 1:12, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. In other words, by believing in Jesus, you are now included in that long genealogy of Jesus, not according to the flesh, but as a descendant of His according to the Spirit, and indeed that is what your baptism signifies: Your rebirth into the family of God. Your connection to the royal line of God’s Son. Your adoption by the grace of the Heavenly Father. Innumerable blessings flow from this union with Christ, and yet far too many Christians neglect these blessings, or live in ignorance of them. We forget to make use of the many diverse graces God offers us in His beloved Son. It says in Psalm 103:2-5, Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. And on and on it goes! And so if you are weary, if your strength is waning, if it has been a long time since you’ve felt the Father’s good pleasure, here in our text Jesus will show you the way to enjoy that good pleasure again. Or if you have never known the love of the Father before, perhaps today can be that day for you. Outline of the Text Our text divides into two basic sections. In verses 21-22, we have The Baptism of Christ. In verses 23-38, we have The Genealogy of Christ. And as an aside, we won’t spend much time on the actual contents of the genealogy, but if you want to how this harmonizes with Matthew, or why it has 77 names in it, there are plenty of books I can recommend to you ifthat’s a puzzle you want to explore. The big question we should ask though is, Why does Luke wait until the 3rd chapter of his gospel to give us this long list of names? Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy, but Luke reserves this information so he can link it up with Jesus’ baptism? Why is this? The main reason is because: who Jesus is, is the explanatory key to unlocking the rest of the book. If you do not know and believe that Jesus is both perfect God and perfect man, that He is both human and divine, you will not understand what Jesus is doing and why he is doing what he does. And so in this baptism, and in this genealogy, Luke points us to the twofold sonship of Christ. He is the earthly son of Adam, and the eternal Son of God. He is the most beloved Son of the Father, in whom the Holy Spirit abides, and He is the adopted son of Joseph. And it is this twofold sonship that mirrors and reflects the way that God saves us. Jesus is by nature divine, the natural son of God, but he has a legally adopted human father according to the flesh, Joseph. Whereas we are all natural sons of Adam, children of wrath, dead in sin, but God legally adopts us as His own. So what Jesus is by nature, we are by adoption, and what we are by nature, Jesus is by adoption. This is the beautiful harmony and touchpoint of how God saves the human race. The son of God became the son of man so the sons of men could become sons of God. That is the main point of this genealogy. So already Luke is priming us with the truths that we need to understand Christ. Because Jesus is going to do and say things later that are hard to understand, but if we remember that He is perfect God and perfect man, we will see the purpose for his actions: 1) They are to save us, and 2) they are to teach us. They are to reveal to us the true nature of God, and they are to show us how we may become partakers of God, conformed in our sufferings to Christ. And this is especially evident in Jesus’ baptism. Verses 21-22 – The Baptism of Jesus 21Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, 22And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. There are three amazing mysteries here: The mystery of the Holy Trinity, the mystery of the Incarnation, and the mystery of our Salvation. And in order to understand a little bit of these mysteries, we can ask some Why questions that this scene provokes. First of all, Why was Jesus baptized? We know that John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance, but if Jesus is God and he is perfect, he has no sins to repent of. So what then is the purpose for Jesus undergoing this ritual? There are at least five reasons for the baptism of Christ. 1. The first reason comes from the mouth of Christ, who says to John, when John is insisting that he needs to be baptized by Jesus, Jesus says to him in Matthew 3:15, Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus is baptized to fulfill all righteousness. That means, Jesus came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law, and it was the righteous thing to do at that time to be baptized by John. Jesus is a new Israel, doing what the law of God required. 2. The second reason for undergoing baptism is to teach us humility. Jesus, who is John’s superior, and who has a superior baptism to John (with fire and the Holy Ghost), voluntarily makes himself inferior to John. And by this action Jesus shows us what his whole ministry is about, serving those inferior to Him. And thereby, teaching us how we may fulfill all righteousness, by serving even those who are inferior to us. In Philippians 2:5-8, Paul calls this “the mind of Christ.” Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So Jesus begins his public ministry the way he will end it. By voluntarily subjecting himself to his inferiors. By doing what is not personally necessary for himself, but which is most necessary for us sinners. Jesus is the God and King and Lord who stoops low to serve us, and is exalted on high because of his humiliation. So do you follow in his train? Does this kind of humility and service characterize your life? Do you submit to those who are superior to you? Do you honor those who are equals with you? And do you humble yourself to serve even your inferiors for their good? For this reason, Jesus was baptized by John. 3. The third reason Jesus undergoes baptism, is to bury the Old Adam. This is another reason Luke links the genealogy to his baptism, because in Christ, the old man dies, and the new man is reborn. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. How does a person get into Christ? Paul says in Romans 6 that it is by baptism. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Jesus was baptized to teach us how the old man dies. He dies through union with Jesus’ death, and he rises again in union with Jesus’ life. Elsewhere Paul tells us to reenact our baptism on a daily basis.He says in Colossians 3:9-10, Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. And he says in Ephesians 4:22,that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. 4. The fourth reasons Jesus was baptized, was to remove any excuse for us not being baptized. If you believe in Jesus but refuse baptism, you are failing in your very first step as a disciple. Are you more holy than Jesus? Are you wiser than God as to the necessity for baptism? Are you not actually a sinner in need of cleansing? If Jesus was baptized and had no need for repentance, how can you refuse what you do need, and what the Lord commands? In the very first sermon of the Apostle Peter, what does he say? It says in Acts 2:38, Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. This brings us to our fifth reason for Jesus’ baptism. 5. Jesus was baptized to show us that through Him heaven is made open to us. No man can enter heaven’s door unless he is perfect. Unless his sins have been blotted out, washed away by the blood of Christ. And in baptism, this is what God does for us, He forgives our sins. Jesus says in John 3:5, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And Paul says in Galatians 3:27, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And that means that wherever Christ goes, you may go also. If Jesus has access to heaven, so may you through Him. This is how Paul can say in Ephesians 2:6, that we are seated with Christ in heavenly places. And in Hebrews 9:24 it says, For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. So Jesus is baptized to signify that he is the anointed high priest in the order of Melchizedek, He is the one mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2:5). This is why Paul tells us in Hebrews to keep our hope and our heart anchored in heaven, because that is where Christ is right now interceding for us. He says in Hebrews 4:14-16, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So do you see what your baptism into Christ gives you access to? You now have a direct line to heaven! You have high-priest who can sympathize with your weakness. And so do you make use of that direct line? Are you constantly on the horn with God, making your requests known to Him? Because God wants to hear from you far more than you want to be heard, and so go to Him “in Jesus’ name.” Baptism gives you access to heaven, but you still have to make use of that access through prayer. And in fact we discover that this is also something Jesus does when he is baptized. It says, in verse 21, Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened. This bring us to a second Why question: If Jesus is God, if Jesus is perfect man, why does He pray? Is He just talking to Himself? Yes and No. This is where we dip into the mystery of the Trinity and the mystery of the Incarnation. As God, according to His divine nature, Jesus is one with the Father and the same One God who hears and answers prayer. But as man, according to His human nature, Jesus prays to be heard and to teach us how to pray. It says in Hebrews 5:7-9, who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death [God the Father], and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. As God, Jesus answers prayers together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, they are the One God who answers prayer. But as man, Jesus prays, he cries out, he cries tears, in order to be heard, in order to teach us how just how essential and necessary prayerful obedience to God is. This is why Jesus prays, because according to His divinity He answers. We may also ask the question: In what sense did Jesus praying and obeying make Him “more perfect?” How do you perfect perfection? The greater perfection that Jesus achieved, was not a moral perfection (which he always had), but the perfection of his body and ministry. The perfection of glorification. The perfection of completing his mission to the cross. Prior to his death, Jesus’ body could suffer. He hungered, he was thirsty, he felt sorrow, pain, and deprivation. His body could be cut and it could bleed. But after his obedience unto death Jesus is perfected by his resurrection, never to die or suffer again. And so Jesus is perfected as the author of our salvation, as the immortal man, the immortal king, who begets immortal sons and daughters who by dying shall never die again. This is the hope of the Christian faith. As it says in 1 Peter 1:3-4, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. So Jesus was perfected in glory to perfect you for glory. And he did this by a prayerful and constant obedience to God. And so if Jesus was devoted to prayer and he was sinless, how much more should we be devoted to prayer who still struggle with sin? St Augustine says, “once we are washed in baptism, daily we are washed in prayer.” Prayer is how we renew our minds. Prayer is how we renew our love for God. Prayer is what keeps us in heaven with Christ,which is why we are told to pray without ceasing. Prayer is what gives us the peace of God, as it says in Isaiah 26:3, You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. And so see what results from baptism and prayer. See what God reveals at the baptism and praying of Christ? It says in verse 22, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. A third and final Why question we may ask is, Why the Holy Spirit descends likes a dove? 1. First because a dove signifies innocence. And Jesus is the innocent one. 2. Second is because a dove signifies peace. And the Holy Spirit is the peace of God, and Christ the one who will make peace by his death. 3. Third is because in Noah’s day, the dove was sent out after the flood to find a place to rest. And Jesus is the final resting place for those who desire eternal rest. Jesus is the new creation, who ascends from the flood waters of death. And by hiding yourself in the Ark that is Jesus, you may find refuge from the flood of final judgment. He will carry you safely to the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. Conclusion And so I ask again as we close: Have you felt the good pleasure of God? Have you experienced the peace that comes from prayer and baptism, and taking refuge in Jesus? Have you experienced what we sing about in Psalm 149? For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation. It says in Hebrews 11:6-7, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. So if you would please God, if you want to feel the Father’s good pleasure, then diligently seek Him. Trust in Jesus as your reward. Condemn this world like Noah did, by living a life of faith, and you shall enjoy for all eternity the good pleasure of God. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Fruits Worthy of Repentance Sunday, February 1st, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 3:1–20 Prayer O Father, we thank You that while evil rulers may try to imprison and behead your messengers, Your message of truth conquers nonetheless. We thank You for the bold preaching of John. We thank You for Christ’s greater baptism, with the Holy Spirit and fire. We thank you for converting us, for setting our hearts ablaze with divine charity. And we ask that our love would increase and bear fruits worthy of repentance. For we ask all of this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction After two long chapters looking at the birth and youth of Christ, Luke now jumps ahead in time to when John and Jesus are grown men. John and Jesus are now around 30 years of age, and it is John’s preaching that will go before Jesus’ preaching. John’s baptism will go before Jesus’ baptism. And so already God is fulfilling what He promised earlier in Luke 1:16-17 when He said to Zacharias (John’s father), And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And so how does a person prepare to prepare to meet Jesus? How should you prepare to meet your Creator one day before Whom you shall give an account? Well, that is what this passage is all about answering. It is John’s job, his special calling, to prepare people, not only for Jesus’ earthly ministry, but for final judgment. And in that respect, you are not very different from John’s 1st century audience. You too are either wheat or chaff, a dead tree or a living tree, and depending on your state, you are headed in one of two directions: Either for God’s heavenly kingdom in glory, or for the flames of eternal punishment. This is the gospel John comes preaching, “repent and believe, or else.” This is the same gospel Jesus comes preaching. He says later in Luke 13:3, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Jesus says in John 8:24, If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Jesus says in Mark 11:26, But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you. And so your salvation is dependent upon repentance, faith, forgiveness, bearing fruits for God. All of those actions are effects of divine grace, but they are effects that you must choose to manifest. God does not merely ordain the final destination of His elect; He also ordains all the intermediate steps between. God does not merely predestine us for heaven; He predestines all the means for us to get to there. And those means include your free choice to repent of your sins and to follow Jesus, not just once, but every single day. God is so powerful that He can move us to freely will what He wills. This is the meaning of what Paul says in Philippians 2:12-13, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Jude says likewise in Jude 20-21, But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. So are you keeping yourself in the love of God? Are you working out what God is working within? Because this is what John charges his hearers to do if they would be ready for Christ and Christ’s judgment. Outline of the Text Now our text here divides into three sections: In verses 1-6 we have The Prophet’s Mission In verses 7-17 we have The Prophet’s Preaching In verses 18-20 we have The Prophet’s Imprisonment Who is John? John is a man on a mission, that mission is to preach, and because of his preaching he will end up in prison. That’s the basic flow of the text. Verses 1-2 – The When & Where of John’s Ministry 1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 2Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. Observe the state of Israel when God’s kingdom comes. A Gentile Roman Caesar Tiberius is the most powerful man militarily speaking, and he has governors beneath him called tetrarchs. A tetrarch just means a ruler of 1/4th. And so Israel is divided into four different provinces/jurisdictions, Herod’s sons govern three areas, and the Roman Pontius Pilate governs the fourth. We see also the Jewish high priesthood is divided between two different men, Annas and Caiaphas. We know from Josephus that Annas was basically a mafia Don. He would put out hits on people, he would pay people off. He was like the godfather of a Sadducean crime family. And although Annas had been deposed by the Romans, his son-in-law Caiaphas had been appointed in his stead. Nevertheless, Annas still had so much sway in Jerusalem, that when Jesus is brought for his trial, we are told in John 18:13, they led him away to Annas first; for he was father in law to Caiaphas, which was the high priest that same year. So Caiaphas may be high priest, but Annas is the real power behind him. So the world of John the Baptist is a world governed by corrupt and evil men, both in the civil realm and in the religious realm. Luke is giving us the names here of men who will later conspire to kill Jesus. So church and state have become offices/institutions of oppression, injustice, and heresy. The Sadducees were essentially Jewish heretics (they denied the resurrection, they denied the immortality of the soul, Acts 23:8), and compared to the Sadducees, the Pharisees almost look like the good guys. The Pharisees have the distinct honor of being that class of people Jesus most frequently argues with. So Jesus at least thinks the Pharisees are worthy of debate, and indeed a number of prominent Pharisees will convert to Christianity. Nicodemus being one of them, and others later in the book of Acts (Acts 6:7), most importantly The Apostle Paul. Now all of this corruption at the top is what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt about some 600 years earlier. When Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great statue of four kingdoms, he tells him in Daniel 2:43-44, As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. So the Romans are the iron kingdom, and the Herodian/Jewish alliance is the clay, and while they rule together, they will never be able to adhere and achieve a unity, and Daniel says this is when the kingdom of Christ shall begin. So Luke gives us these seven different names of priests and kings because Jesus is coming as the final priest-king Melchizedek. The dominion belongs to Jesus both in the church and outside the church, and none can escape His everlasting rule. This is what Daniel prophesies, it is what John comes to prepare people for, and it is what Jesus Himself will come proclaiming, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15). Verses 3-6 – John’s Mission 3And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; 4As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; 6And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Here Luke quotes from Isaiah 40, and he identifies John as the voice who comes before the Word. Jesus is the eternal Word made flesh (he is the salvation of God), and John is the voice who shall speak of Him. We observe also that John is baptizing in the Jordan river, and he is a voice crying out in the wilderness. Why the wilderness? The wilderness is where God first formed Israel into a nation. The wilderness is where God tests people, it is a place of purgation, of cleansing, of learning to trust God and forsaking the vices of Egypt. The wilderness is where God makes for Himself a holy people, and enters into a marriage covenant with them. The wilderness is also where the holy prophets take refuge and gather when tyrants are on the throne. So John is a man of the wilderness. And he is showing by his location what Israel most needs, where Israel needs to go. They need to be re-constituted as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. They need to be re-sanctified, re-born, and the way they do this is by repentance unto life. John comes preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. This is what the wilderness is for: purging us of evil. It is also significant that John baptizes in the Jordan river. The Jordan river was where Israel crossed and followed Joshua to enter the promised land. The Jordan River is where Elijah crossed and gave a double portion of his spirit to Elisha. The Jordan river was where Elisha told Naaman the Syrian to be baptized and cleansed of his leprosy (2 Kings 5). And so by baptizing in the Jordan, John is coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, and he is saying to Israel that they are unclean like Naaman the Syrian. They are lepers in need of a miraculous cleansing, and only God can heal them. We see also that John is a voice that cries out in the wilderness. John does not speak softly, he preaches loudly, he shouts at people. Why? There are three basic reasons we shout at someone. 1. Because they are deaf or hard of hearing. 2. Because they are far away from us. 3. Because we are angry. And all three of these conditions apply in John’s case. Israel is deaf to God’s voice, and so John cries out. Israel is far away from God and so John cries out. Israel is suffering under God’s anger, and so John cries out. And what does God do with those loud cries of John? He uses his voice to pave a straight path into people’s hearts, to turn them and prepare them to receive and embrace Christ. John’s preaching is like a bulldozer, an excavator, the concrete trucks and rollers to make Christ’s entrance smooth. The proud must be humbled. The humbled must be encouraged. The perverse must be made pure, the crooked man made straight. John preaches with hard words because our hearts need the pounding. We all need to be softened to receive the Word that is Jesus. Jesus will say the same thing in his parable of the soils. And James 1:21 says likewise, Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness (softness) the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. John cries out to awaken our deaf hears, to call us nearer to God, and to warn us of the wrath of God, the final judgment. John is the first trumpet blast to warn us of God’s kingdom. Only the righteous may enter, and the righteous enter by faith. This brings us to verses 7-17 where we hear The Prophet’s Preaching. How does John begin his sermon to Israel? Well, he begins by insulting them. Verses 7-9 – A Loving Rebuke 7Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Now one of the first rules of rhetoric, or public speaking, is that in your introduction you want to endear people to what you have to say. And usually insulting your audience is not the best way to do that. However here a strong rebuke is a most kind introduction. And that is because John loves these people, he loves this brood of vipers and wants them to be converted from snakes to saints. John wants everyone to know up front, “I know what you are. And I have not come here to tell you stories or to entertain you, I am not here to gain a following for myself or to build some platform, I don’t really care about your esteem or admiration. I am simply here because the way you are living right now will destroy you.” Moreover, John says to them, “You think you can escape the wrath of God just by going through the motions of getting baptized and professing repentance (cause everyone else is doing it). Or maybe you think you are too good for that, you aren’t unclean, because you can trace your lineage back to Abraham. Abraham was holy, so you must be holy to.” John says, “No. None of that.None of that matters unless you personally live differently than you are living right now. There’s a time for talk, but the time for talk is over. The time for action is now. Bear fruits keeping with your baptism, keeping with your profession, otherwise you are a hypocrite or self-deceived.” John rebukes them, he shouts at them, because he loves them. These crowds coming out to him are the seed of the serpent, the offspring of Satan, the devil is their daddy, and they are in denial about it. And so John is trying to wake them up to what they really are, to their true serpentine nature, and to that poison within that will kill them. Remember what God says will happen to serpents? They get their head crushed. And John would spare them that, if only they will repent. And so he begins by calling them what they are: A generation of vipers. How do those vipers respond to this? Those who hear and fear for their lives ask him, “What shall we do then?” And in verses 10-14, there are three classes of people who ask this question, wanting to be baptized, and receive an answer. Those three classes are the 1) the common people, 2) the tax collectors, and 3) the soldiers. Verses 10-14 – What shall we do then? 10And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 11He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. 12Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 13And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. 14And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. To the common people John says,He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise. This is a call to love your neighbor as yourself, to clothe the naked and feed the starving. And this is not actually a work of mercy, it is actually a work of justice. It is due to man as man, as made in God’s image, to not be naked, and to not starve to death. And if a society is unwilling to feed and clothe those who are destitute, that is a society that has lost touch with its own humanity. It says in Proverbs 12:10, The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Right now, America is a place where food is abundant and clothes are cheap. It might not be healthy, but you will not starve. Our bigger problem is obesity, cancer, heart disease. Even many of the homeless have more than two tunics, some of them have smartphones. But that was not always the case, and it will not always be the case if we persist in our rage against God and His law. We are still living off some of the Christian capital (moral and financial) of the past. But those accounts are dwindling, we could drain that in an instant. For example, it is not just or humane to let drugs and immigrants cross our borders unchecked, or to give people clean needles so they can do their drugs more safely. It is evil to legalize things that turn people into zombies, that deface the very image of God within them. And yet this is what we do. It is a scourge on our nation and our laws, that we tax our citizens to pay for people’s vices, and then people profit off those vices and so now there is a financial incentive to keep those vices going, and to expand them. This is casinos. This is marijuana shops. This is online gambling. This is all kinds of government programs and regulations that actually hurt the poor in the name of helping the poor, that actually oppress people in the name of liberating them. And so to quote Psalm 11:3, If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do? John’s answer is the same as the Psalmist: You do what is just in the eyes of God. Psalm 11 goes on to say, The Lord is in his holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, And an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness; His countenance doth behold the upright. This is the justice God wants from the repentant: Feed the starving, clothe the naked, and seek what is truly good for the poor in the eyes of God. The second class of people are the tax collectors, what should they do? To them John’s answer might be surprising. John does not tell them to quit their job. John does not tell them to stop collecting taxes. Instead he says, Exact no more than that which is appointed you. In other words, keep the law. Collect for Caesar what belongs to Caesar, but don’t use Caesar as pretext for your own greed and envy. Later in Luke’s gospel, the tax collector Zacchaeus will be a shining example of what bearing the fruits of righteousness looks like in this vocation. It says in Luke 19:8-10, Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Zacchaeus was someone ready for Jesus. And so when Jesus says to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house,” Zacchaeus obeys. It says, So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. We could think also of Matthew the tax collector, who becomes a disciple of Jesus, and the author of the first gospel. John’s ministry was not in vain. The third and final class of people who ask John, “What shall we do?” are soldiers. If the common people are like the valleys and the hills made level by caring for one another, and the tax collectors are like the crooked made straight, then the soldiers are the rough ways made smooth. How does a rough military man make ready for Jesus? John says,Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. That phrase “do violence to no man” likely refers to extortion, or taking money by threats and intimidation. John just gives the soldiers the 6th commandment, the 9th commandment, and the 10th commandment. No murder, no bearing false witness, no coveting. This is basic stuff. But we are bad at doing the basics. And so John is calling them back to basics. Use your strength and sword to defend the innocent and punish the wicked (Romans 13). Use your authority and power to seek out the truth, don’t lie and intimidate to get your way. And be content with what you have. These are the fruits of righteousness. These qualities and actions reveal whether you are truly alive or dead inside. And lest you think these fruits are optional, John seals his sermon with a warning, a warning that points us to Jesus. Verses 15-17 – A Warning  15And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not; 16John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: 17Whose fan (winnowing fork) is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner (storehouse); but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. John is saying in effect, “However great or holy you think I am, I am nothing compared to Jesus. Jesus is the Judge with whom you have to do. If you think water baptism and my preaching is powerful, the one who comes after me is All Powerful, He baptizes with fire and the Holy Spirit. I can see your outward actions, but He can see your secret thoughts, He can see into your very soul, and most importantly, He can transform your soul by His grace.” This is the hope of John’s gospel: that those who are ready to receive Jesus, receive from Jesus a greater baptism, a baptism by fire and the Holy Ghost. And this is how God prepares us for judgment day. He gives His Holy Spirit, so that we can bear the fruit of the Spirit. He tries us and tests us by fire, to remove what is dross, chaff, and evil within us. It says in 1 Peter 4:12-13, Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. And Paul says likewise in 1 Corinthians 3:12-17, Now if anyone builds on this foundation [that is Christ] with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. So the baptism of Jesus in fire and the Holy Spirit, makes us into temples. And then our job is to adorn that temple with good works. Works done poorly or half-heartedly are like wood, hay and straw, they will get burned up. But works done from genuine love, justice, mercy, charity, these are the gold, silver, and precious stones that glorify God and make us glorious. And this is what John is calling people to do when he says, bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do good works worthy of the God who saved you. Or as Paul says in Ephesians 4:1-3, walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. These are the fruits that glorify God, and God rewards those who bear such fruits. And how does God reward John for his ministry? We see in verses 18-20, that John’s preaching was rewarded with imprisonment, and imprisonment that ended in martyrdom. John was rewarded by sealing his testimony to Christ in blood. Verses 18-20 – The Prophet’s Imprisonment 18And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. 19But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, 20Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison. John reproved Herod for his adulterous marriage to his half-brother’s wife. And because of that stand for justice, for his defense of marriage, John was rewarded with imprisonment and martyrdom.  We call this a reward because Jesus says in Luke 6:22-23, Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. So John received and is now enjoying a great reward in heaven. He was faithful unto death, and so received the crown of life. And so imitate John’s faithfulness. Heed John’s warning. Repent of your sins and believe in Jesus. Kill the snake within you, and bear fruits worthy of a saint. And if you are godly, God might reward you with imprisonment, with false accusations, with hatred, martyrdom, and a name written in heaven’s book. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Boy Jesus Sunday, January 25th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 2:41–52 Prayer O Father we acknowledge that while one person plants, and another person waters, it is You who give the growth. And so as we hear now Your Word preached, and we desire to make progress in grace, we ask that you would give the increase, make us to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, even fruit that remains, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Children, Teenagers, I have a question for you: What would you do if you had three whole days to do whatever you wanted? No parents. No grandparents. No babysitter. No restrictions. No school. Let’s say you had the whole weekend all to yourself, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. What would you do with three full days of freedom? While you think about that, I’m going to ask your parents a question. Parents, how would you feel, if your children, your teenagers, were left all alone for three days without your supervision? Would you be stressed out, or relieved? Would you be anxious and worried about them, waiting for the police to call, or would you not sweat it? Granted, a lot depend on the ages of your children. I know I would be stressed out, I don’t think my children could survive three hours without supervision! So how would you feel? Alright, thought experiment over. Everyone come back from that dream (or nightmare). Children, what you want to do when nobody else is watching, reveals if you are good or bad, whether you are good and deserve more freedom, or whether you are bad and need more discipline. Teenagers, What you do when nobody is telling you what is right or wrong, reveals whether you deserve more freedom or less. Whether you are mature enough to drive a car, or have a smartphone, or hang out with those friends, or play that sport, or be in a relationship, or be left alone at all. What you do with the small measure of freedom you have, reveals whether you deserve more freedom or less. And this is because, age and maturity are not the same thing. God intends for your age and maturity to grow together, but because of our sin and our stubbornness, it often does not happen that way. In fact, some people never mature into who God created them to be. There are people in their 50s and 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, who are still like toddlers and teenagers in their heart, petty, bitter, entitled, resentful, and there is nothing more tragic than that. It says in Proverbs 19:29, Judgments are prepared for scoffers, And beatings for the backs of fools. It says in Proverbs 1:32, For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. Too much freedom given too early will destroy you. Adam and Eve plunged our whole world into sin because they were impatient with God. Because they thought they were smarter than God, that they could handle right now what God had reserved for them later. And because of that disobedience, that failure of the test, God kicked them out of His house. They could not be trusted to tend and keep God’s garden sanctuary, because they could not tend and keep their own heart. It says in Proverbs 4:23, Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it flow the issues of life. It says in Proverbs 16:32, Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit [is stronger] than he who takes a city. It says in Proverbs 14:12, There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. And this our first parents learned the hard way. So what about you? Are you impatient? Are you quick to get angry? Have you learned yet that shortcuts are actually the long way around? Does your maturity match your age? Does the wisdom of your soul fit with the stature of your body? You see none of us can stop growing older even if we wanted to. But to grow in maturity requires a deliberate choice. A choice that you must make each day to follow Jesus or not. To obey your parents, or not. To obey God, or not. God says to His people (after 40 years in the wilderness taking the long way to the promised land) in Deuteronomy 30:19-20, I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days. Paul says likewise in Ephesians 6:1-2, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” God wants you to grow in maturity, because maturity means life. Maturity means eternal life. And isn’t that what you want? If so, the boy Jesus will teach you. Here in our passage, we have Jesus at twelve years of age, with his parents, and without them. With supervision, and then without supervision for three whole days. And at the end of this scene, what does Luke tell us? And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. So what we can learn about maturity from the boy Jesus? Outline of the Text There are three principal actions that contribute to our advance in grace, and we’ll use these three actions as the basic outline for our text, and then note some lessons connected to these actions. In verses 41-45, we have the Public Worship of God. In verses 46-47, we have Personal Study of God. And then in verses 48-51, Obedience to God-Given Authorities. Three actions: Public Worship, Personal Study, and Obeying God’s Authority, these are the three principal actions that Jesus models as the path to maturity. Verses 41-42 – Jesus Worships with God’s People 41Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. 42And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. So first observe that Jesus has godly parents with godly customs, and therefore Jesus follows them in those customs. Joseph and Mary have made it a habit every year to attend the Passover in Jerusalem. How much time did that take? It’s about 90 miles from Nazareth to Jerusalem. And so to walk that distance would take at least 3-4 days or more depending on the pace and the roads. And altogether this would have been 2-3 weeks away from home, 2-3 weeks of not working, of living on the road, of lodging with strangers, or just sleeping in tents outside, and yet that journey was formative for God’s people, and something Joseph and Mary wanted to do together as a family. We know from Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 that grown men were required to appear before God three times a year (for Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles). And yet Mary and Jesus accompany Joseph on his journey, because they too want to appear before the Lord. They want to partake of the Passover and remember God’s great deliverance of Israel from Egypt. So this was the custom of Jesus’ parents, and Jesus embraces these customs as his own.  Of course, according to His divine nature Jesus is the one who gave these customs, and now according to His human nature he gets to observe them. So parents, do you have godly customs? Do you prioritize the public worship of God over everything else? Do you “remember the sabbath day to keep it holy?” Do you honor God with the first fruits of your increase? Are you showing by your actions where you heart is. Are you teaching your children what is actually important to you? If not, you are putting a stumbling block in the way of your children following Jesus. How can you say to them, “follow me as I follow Christ,” if you are not following Christ? Children, do you walk in the same godly customs as your parents? Do you choose not only to walk in them, but also to enjoy them and make them your own? You have a choice about whether you will conform or not to the ways of God. And this is one of those places where you should not try to stand out, you should not try to distinguish yourself, you should not pretend or think you are too cool for church. Too cool to raise your hands and sing, or get on your knees and confess your sins. Corporate worship is not the place for individual personal self-expression, it is the place to conform yourself to the Word of God, and to the customs of the people of God, not to invent your own. These are the old paths, and God wants you walk in them. It says in Proverbs 4:10-15,Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, And when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, And do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it, do not travel on it; Turn away from it and pass on. This Jesus models for us by conforming to the customs of His parents, customs that He had no need to observe being God-in-the-flesh and yet observed for our example. If ever there was someone who did not need to go to church, it was Jesus. And yet Jesus travels to Jerusalem, he observes the Passover, to teach us what we need. To teach us that we need to go spiritually up to Jerusalem, we need to ascend in our affections to the city of peace, to heavenly Zion, and by keeping that custom of seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God (Col 3:1), we shall attain to that peace. So this is Lesson #1 from the boy Jesus: When your parents go to church, go with them joyfully. Go with them willingly. If they are sick and you can drive, ask if you go without them. Make corporate worship the thing around which everything else revolves, sanctify this day like God commands. Can you say with the words of Psalm 84:10,For a day in God’s courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. Because that is the desire of a mature soul. And if you are old enough to sin, you are old to enough to be godly, but godliness will not happen on its own, you must choose to walk in the ways of the godly, and dwell where the righteous dwell. This brings us to a second lesson which we find in verses 43-45, and that is: Love God’s house even more than your parents do. Verses 43-45 – “I Thought He Was with You!?” 43And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. 44But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 45And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. So observe first that Jesus is twelve when he stays behind in Jerusalem, he’s not 5. Joseph and Mary have made this trip many times before, for 11 years straight they have done so without losing the Messiah. Second observe, that Joseph and Mary traveled with friends and family, kinsfolk and acquaintance. There was a large caravan of people making this journey, and it would be very easy for Jospeh to think Jesus was with Mary, and for Mary to think Jesus was with Joseph. I am sure that this has happened to some parents in this room (I thought he was with you). Meanwhile little Johnny’s hanging out with the deacons cleaning up. Now it is one thing to get left behind, another to choose to stay behind. And one of the things Jesus is illustrating for us here is what he will say later in Luke 14:26, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. In other words, your loyalty and love for God must take precedence over your loyalty and love for anyone else (even yourself). As much as Joseph and Mary are godly parents and indeed far more godly than any of us, Jesus is more loyal to His Father in heaven and desires to linger with Him for as long as he can. So Children, praise the Lord if you have Christian parents who bring you to church. But do your parents proud and surpass them in your own love for God, in your own obedience to Christ, in your own humility and holiness and pursuit of God. Nothing makes godly parents happier than seeing their children outdo them in godly and holy living, to turn out far better than we taught them. And so children, you have that choice. You have that responsibility. To whom much is given, much is required, and you cannot love God too much. This Jesus shows us, by staying behind in Jerusalem. This brings us to verses 46-47, where we see what Jesus did with his three days apart from His parents. Verses 46-47 – Personal Study of God 46And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. 47And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. First note that doctors here refers not to medical doctors but to the professional theologians or teachers of the law. These would be the most respected authorities when it comes to interpreting Scripture, and it is there, sitting in their midst, that Jesus hears, asks, answers and astonishes. When Jesus has three days apart from His parents, what does he want to do? He wants to have a three-day Bible conference. He wants to be about His heavenly Father’s business, and that business revolves around discussing the Word of God with the wise. Now again remember, Jesus was already full of grace and truth, wisdom and knowledge from infancy. He was already the God-man. Luke told us earlier in verse 40 right before this scene, And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him [that at 40 days old]. So Jesus did not acquire divinity at some later stage of development, he was born Christ the LORD. He was born worthy of worship, and as the one In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). And so when Jesus is said to increase in wisdom in verse 52, this either refers to the increase of human experience, or the increase of revealing to other the wisdom he already has. And so here’s the lesson: If Jesus knows everything, and yet chooses to sit with fallible human teachers, to hear them, and question them, and answer them with understanding, then how much more do we who were born in ignorance and sin? Jesus is already perfect, and so he is modeling for us how we can become perfect/complete/mature, even in our youth. Paul says in Colossians 1:28 that the goal of his ministry is to “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” And how does Paul intend to accomplish that? He says, Christ is in you, the hope of glory Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So perfection comes from hearing good preaching, receiving stern warnings, and being taught in wisdom. And this is exactly what Jesus’ ministry will consist of as well. And so Children, are you making use of the preaching, teaching, and warnings you hear from this pulpit? Do you like the boy Jesus, seek out the wise and listen to them, and ask them questions? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4, there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit. And it says in Proverbs 24:6, For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, And in a multitude of counselors there is safety. It says in Proverbs 13:20, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: But a companion of fools shall be destroyed. So young people, do you surround yourself with older wiser counsellors? Do you learn from and imitate the strengths and graces that are diversely shown in God’s people. We are not all equally expert in the same field, we are not all equally wise and mature in the same areas, we need one another to see what we can’t see, and we should imitate the best qualities in every Christian we know. The fool is the one who does not ask advice, who refuses to be taught what he does not know. It says in Proverbs 18:1-2 of such people, Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment. A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. It says in Ecclesiastes 9:17-18, The words of wise men are heard in silence more than the cry of him that ruleth among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good. So where can wisdom be found? Chiefly in Christ and keeping His Word. It says in Psalm 119:24, Thy testimonies also are my delight And my counsellers. And in Psalm 119:9 it says, How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. The purity of your life will only be as great as your taking heed to God’s Word. If you fill your mind with TV shows, video games, social media, and vanity, it will hollow out your soul. Whatever stokes your desire for carnal things you must forsake. You must avoid. You must hate. This is the love of God, to hate evil. It says in Psalm 97:10-12, Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: He preserveth the souls of his saints; He delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; And give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. Finally we come to where Jesus is found by his searching parents. Verses 48-51 – Obedience to God-Given Authorities 48And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. 49And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist [know] ye not that I must be about my Father’s business? 50And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. 51And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Here we see that Jesus is subject/submissive to God in the first instance, and to his parents in the second instance. This is the biblical order of authority for children. God first, parents second. No human authority is absolute, no king, no pope, no pastor, no parent, no husband or master. All authority is derived from God and is therefore limited by the Word of God. If ever we are commanded by our superior to sin, we say with the Apostles, we must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). And so see how Jesus, the absolute sovereign of all and source of all authority, voluntarily submits himself to many imperfect and sinful authorities throughout his life. And he does this without ever sinning himself. This is the mindset of Christ. It says of him in Philippians 2:6-8, Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Jesus submitted to his parents. He submitted to Caesar. He submitted to Pontius Pilate and suffered for His righteousness. And because of this, it says in verses 9-11, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Conclusion The test of youth is, Will you be patient? Will you wait on God to give you the desires of your heart? Will you cheerfully obey the authorities He has placed over you, even if or when they are unjust, even when they hurt you, or sin against you? Will you forgive them? Will you love them? Will you refuse to revile them in return? Parents are not perfect. No human authority is perfect. But if the perfect boy Jesus submitted himself to God, and obeyed the authorities over him in the flesh (both godly and ungodly), then how much more should we who are not divine? Jesus so loved you that he suffered crucifixion to save you. He spent three days in death, to save you from death. And that is maturity in the fullest sense: To love deeply, and to suffer for those you love. Jesus says in John 15:13,Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. If you want to be mature then you must love unto death. For this is what Christ did for us, and what we must grow up to do for one another. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Song of Simeon Sunday, January 18th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 2:21–40 Prayer O Father grant that we like Simeon, may now take up Christ into our arms by faith. That we may behold the light of his perfect humanity, the radiance of His divinity, and receive in ourselves the consolation of Israel, and having received this consolation, to then depart in peace, entering that blessed rest of the undivided Trinity, One God forever, Amen. Introduction This morning, we come to the fourth and final song that surrounds the birth of Jesus. Thus far Luke has given us Mary’s Magnificat (My soul magnifies the Lord), then he gave us Zacharias’ Benedictus (Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people), last week we heard the angelic Gloria, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men! And now here at Christ’s presentation in the temple, we have one more hymn of prophetic praise. A hymn that helps us ponder the implications of the gospel, and why God became man in Christ. Now the way that Luke has arranged this final prophesy from Simeon, is by bookending it between two other important sections, so let me give you the outline of our text, and then we’ll walk through it together. Outline of the Text Our text divides into three parts. In verses 21-24 we have Christ observing the ceremonial law. Jesus is circumcised the 8th day, consecrated the 40th day, and this consecration becomes the occasion for adding two more witnesses to Christ. In verses 25-35, Simeon bears witness and we have his song and blessing. And then in verses 36-38, Anna bears witness and spreads the good news. So recall again Luke’s purpose in writing this gospel, he said back in Luke 1:4 it is so that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. So just in case there was any doubt, he gives us an abundance of credible eyewitnesses in his gospel. We have Mary and Joseph; we have Zacharias and Elizabeth. We have angels and shepherds. And now we have Simeon and Anna. And the question God continues to confront us with in these opening chapters is, How will you respond to this news about Jesus? Will you stumble at the stumbling stone and fall, or will you rise again and build your life upon Him? Luke has been marshalling witnesses from every age, sex, station, and social class. We have an urban priest and country shepherds. We have angelic armies, and a virgin girl. We have a married man and a widowed woman. We have young and old, male and female, and all are welcome in the kingdom of God. However, as we will see, not everyone will accept the Divine invitation, not everyone will receive the gospel as good news. Indeed, the rest of Luke’s Gospel and on into the Book of Acts shall illustrate this point: that wherever and whenever Christ is proclaimed, people are divided in their responses to Him. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:15-16, For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things? So some people hear and become more hardened in their sins, some will even try to kill Jesus or whoever is preaching Jesus. But this is exactly how God’s kingdom advances and grows. This is what Simeon prophesies will happen when he says to Mary: Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against. People will speak against Jesus, they will mock at his cross, but the kingdom of Jesus shall conquer nonetheless. And so as joy-filled and wonderful as the birth of Christ is, there is also a specter of judgment here, there is a shadow of doom that hangs over those who reject Jesus. As the Puritans liked to put it, “the same sun and heat that melts the ice, also hardens the clay.” So what kind of material are you? Into what kind of heart and mind do you receive Jesus? Is your heart a place of love and affection, gratitude and hospitality, or are you hostile to Christ, do you chafe at His words, are you fearful to let Him see what is inside of you? Simeon says to Mary in verse 35, (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the light that exposes things hidden. It says in Hebrews 4:12 that He is a twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Nothing can hide from Jesus. Jesus is the light who shows you who you really are, and how hideous our sinful state is. This is in part what Christ comes to reveal, but he comes to reveal in order to heal. Jesus reveals our true condition (which is way worse than you think it is), in order to heal you from that terminal disease that is sin. And we see this manifest even from his earliest days, starting right here in verse 21 with his circumcision. Verse 21 – The Circumcision of Christ 21And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Why was Jesus circumcised? Why did the one who is most perfect as a lamb without blemish, have a part of his perfect flesh cut off? Well for many reasons but I will give just four. Reason 1. Because Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, that from Abraham’s seed a son of promise would be born in whom all the world would be blessed. And so just as Abraham was circumcised as a sign and seal of the righteousness of the faith (Rom. 4:11), so now Jesus is circumcised as the righteous son (the true Isaac) to whom Abraham looked in faith. Jesus fulfills and brings to completion what circumcision always pointed to, the cutting off of the old Adam and the putting on of the new. The end of the old creation ruled by sin, and the beginning of a new creation in which righteousness reigns. This is why God commanded that circumcision be done on the 8th day, (which is also the first day of the week) to signify a new heavens and new earth, and a new resurrected heart. Reason 2. Because as Galatians 4:4-5 says, Jesus was born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And so because circumcision bound a person to keep the Mosaic law, and yet none could keep that law perfectly, Christ comes as both lawgiver and law keeper and fulfills all righteousness for us. As Paul says in Romans 8:3-4, For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So while the law was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12) our flesh prevented us from keeping it in its entirety. And so by Christ carrying out all the law’s commands, he shows both the sinfulness of sin, and the righteousness of God’s law. Flesh cannot keep what the spirit of God commands, but Christ can keep it, for He is a man full of the Spirit. Reason 3. Jesus was circumcised to prove the reality of his human nature. Jesus has a real body that can really bleed, that can really be cut, and cut off for us. And so against those who said that Christ had only an imaginary body (Manichee’s, Docetists) or that His body was heavenly material and not from the virgin Mary, Jesus is circumcised the 8th day to show his solidarity with the human race. Jesus is fully God, and fully man. Of the same exact nature with us, except without sin. Reason 4. To remove any excuse the Jews might have for not receiving Him. They cannot claim he is a foreigner, or a Gentile, or an uncircumcised Philistine.Jesus is a true Israelite, a true Jew, a fleshly descendent of David, who can trace his lineage back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it says in John 1:11-12, He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. So Jesus was sent first to the lost sheep of Israel, but all who believe in Jesus are joined to Him as one flock under one Shepherd. Verses 22-24 – Mary is Purified and Jesus is Consecrated 22And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; 23(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 24And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. So again, we see that Jesus’ parents are faithful law-abiding Jews. They submitted to Ceasar’s census, they paid their taxes in Bethlehem, and now they keep the law of Moses, first for circumcision, and now Mary’s purification and Jesus’ consecration. According to the Levitical laws for cleanliness (Leviticus 12), a woman was ritually impure for 40 days after the birth of a son, and then when those days are accomplished, she is to bring a sacrifice to God according to what she can afford. It says in Leviticus 12:8, And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean. The reason a woman was ritually impure after childbirth was not because giving birth is a sinful act, but because every birth brings another sinner into the world. God was teaching Israel through the ceremonial law the doctrine of original sin, and that all sin, both original and actual, needs to be dealt with by sacrifice. It says in Romans 5, As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)…For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. (Rom, 5:12, 17, 19) So although there was no sin or uncleanness in Jesus’ birth, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, still they carry out this ritual in accord with the law because this is what Jesus whole life shall be about: Exposing our sins and then atoning for our sins. Identifying with our guilt, while Himself being innocent. Offering to God what we ourselves cannot offer, a sacrifice more perfect than turtledoves and pigeons. All this Jesus does for us. Now there are two witnesses to Jesus’ consecration, Simeon and Anna. And we can learn from both of them what true devotion to God looks like, especially as we reach the latter years of our life. So starting with Simeon, what kind of man was he? Verses 25-26 – Simeon 25And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Simeon’s name means God has heard. He is just. He is devout. And he is patient. Patiently waiting for God to comfort His people. What does this comfort consist of? It says in Isaiah 40:1-2, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, That her warfare is accomplished, That her iniquity is pardoned: For she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. Simeon knows that comfort means pardon, comfort means forgiveness, comfort means the end of this warfare and the beginning of everlasting peace. Simeon yearns for this consolation of Israel, and God has rewarded his yearning with a promise: Simeon will not die until he sees the Lord’s Christ, until he holds in hands the consolation of Israel. Can you imagine waiting for the day when you shall see what you have hoped for? When all your longings and hope deferred become a dream fulfilled and a tree of life? Well, this is that day for Simeon. It says in Proverbs 11:3, 5, the integrity of the upright will guide them, and the justice of the upright will deliver them, and here now the just and upright Simeon is guided by the Spirit into the presence of the Divine. Verses 27-28 27And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God. Simeon holds in his hands the one who holds up the world. Simeon takes into his arms, the God whose everlasting arms are holding Simeon in his very being. This is the marvel of the Incarnation. That He whom heaven and earth cannot contain, chooses to be contained in mortal flesh. Chooses to be held by an old man who has been waiting for Him. And so for good reason Simeon blesses God and prophesies saying… Verses 29-32 – The Song of Simeon 29Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart In peace, according to thy word: 30For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Simeon can say these words as he looks into the infant Jesus’ eyes. Simeon is saying these words to Jesus directly. Because Jesus is the Lord/Master in whose service Simeon has long been in. Jesus is the Lord who Simeon has been devoted to and waiting to see in the flesh. And now what Simeon desires is to depart in peace, to die, so that he can see that child’s divinity in full, so he can see in the next life what in this life he can only apprehend by faith, the beatific vision, to see the Divine essence through the Divine essence, face to face without a mirror or veil. Do you like Simeon desire to go and be with Jesus? To be done with the warfare of this life and all its sorrows, and to be joined more perfectly to Your heavenly Savior? Can you say with Simeon and the Apostle Paul, For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain?Are you, hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better,[but knowing that] Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you [for those under our care]? Are you homesick for heaven? Because that is the sign of true faith and a mark of true love. To want to go and be with Jesus. Simeon is a model of Christian justice, devotion, and patience. Do you hate the injustice all around you, and do you long for the justice of God’s kingdom? Do you despise the vanity of this lying world with its allurements, and do you long for the solid joys, the pure pleasures of the world to come? Do we wait patiently for God’s heavenly consolation? For the peace that comes to those who wait in hope? Jesus says in John 14:27, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Simeon teaches us that our patience in waiting is not in vain, our hope shall be rewarded. Here in part, and in heaven in full. It says in Isaiah 64:4, Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him. And in Psalm 50:3-6 it says, Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; A fire shall devour before Him, And it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people: “Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” Let the heavens declare His righteousness, For God Himself is Judge. Judgment is coming, but that same judgement is salvation and vindication for those who love the Lord. So do you look for Him in hope? How does Mary and Joseph respond to all this? Simeon’s holding their child in his arms? Verses 33-35 33And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Now observe that these ominous words to Mary are called a blessing. Simeon blesses Mary with this prophesy of people falling and rising because of Jesus, and a sword piercing her own heart. This piercing refers to the pain she will suffer at how her son is treated. He will be rejected, condemned as a blasphemer, arrested and falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and murdered in the most humiliating way possible, a crucifixion. Mary will be there when Jesus dies. She will suffer the agony of having to watch the person she loves most, her own son suffer, and that unjustly. Yes, a sword will pierce Mary’s own soul, but it will be the piercing sword in the hand of the Divine healer. The cross will be a sign spoken against, but that same cross shall become the instrument of our redemption. As Jesus says in John 3:14-15, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The cross reveals the thoughts of many hearts. Do you believe that you deserve to be up there? That your sins are worthy of a most painful death and eternal damnation? Do you believe that this is what your sins deserve? Many people do not believe that the wages of sin is death. Many people deny they are sinners, they deny the guilt of original sin. They deny that God is the Creator, that Jesus is a Savior, that he died and rose again, they deny that there is a future judgment, or a heaven and a hell. Many people live in denial. The cross of Christ confronts people with what they actually think about God. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. So what is the cross to you? Is it folly, or is it your salvation? Do you believe what God has revealed, or are you living in denial? This brings us our final witness of Jesus birth, and to a woman who truly lived for the world to come. Verses 36-38 – Anna 36And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; 37And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. What do we know about Anna? Anna’s name means Grace. And she has been given the grace of prophecy. She proclaims the word of God to those looking for redemption in Jerusalem. She is also a daughter of Phanuel, which means “the face of God.” Phanuel/Peniel was the place where Jacob wrestled with the angel and then said: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved (Gen. 32:30). Anna is also from the tribe of Asher, which means Blessed. We are told that Anna was of a great age. Depending on how you read the text here, she is either 84, or she has been a widow for 84 years, and then depending on when she was married, she could be as old as 105. So 84 on the younger side, 105 on the older side, but whatever the case, look at what she has done with all those years of widowhood. It says in verse 37, she departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Anna lived to worship and serve God. Conclusion And so let us close by considering some of the qualities of Anna’s life. 1. Anna loved the house of God. Anna was a woman who could say in truth the words of Psalm 27:4, One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. Anna was a woman of singular desire for God, and so when Jesus comes in, she gives thanks to God, for her eyes behold the very beauty of the Lord in the face of the infant Jesus. Anna loved the house of God, lived in the House of God, and so enjoyed the blessing of seeing God face to face. 2. Anna was a woman of self-denial. When she was young and unmarried, she was chaste virgin. And after her husband died, 7 years into their marriage, she devotes herself to religious service. Like Jacob who wrestled with God at Peniel, Anna a true daughter of Peniel wrestles with God in fasting and prayer. Anna denies her flesh that she may grow strong in the spirit. She gives herself to the hard work of constant prayer, because she knows, The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous woman availeth much (James 5:16). In 1 Timothy 5 Paul describes two kinds of widows, faithful and unfaithful. And he condemns those widowswho cast off their first faith…and learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. Anna is not one of these foolish women. She remains in God’s house, she speaks God’s Word, and she keeps her first faith holding fast to the end. Anna is a woman of whom this world is not worthy, and there is much we can learn from her example. 3. Third and finally, Anna told people about Jesus. She, spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Do we do the same? The life of a widow who fasts and prays and lives at church, is not the life that most young people aspire for. It’s certainly not the American dream. But in God’s kingdom, the first shall be last. Jesus will say later in Luke 6:24-26, But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. Anna is a true prophetess; she is unashamed to tell the world about Jesus. She fasted and prayed and God fed her. God gave to this poor widow His heavenly consolation.May He do the same for you, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Newborn King Sunday, January 11th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 2:1–20 Prayer O Father our soul blesses You for the birth of Your only-begotten Son. Grant that we like Mary may keep and ponder these things within our heart, and that we like the shepherds may return to our labors tomorrow, glorifying and praising You for all we have seen and heard. Bless now the preaching of these good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people, to the glory of the undivided Trinity, One God forever, Amen. Introduction Well, this morning we celebrate Christmas in January. After five sermons in Luke chapter 1 to prepare us for Christ’s birth, we come now to that moment in which God Himself enters our world. Now unlike you and I who did not choose where we would be born, or when we would be born, or who our parents would be, or what circumstances might attend our birth, God selected every single detail of how He would personally enter His own creation. Here in these verses we have the Author of all entering His own story. Now for those of you familiar with the Christmas story, it can be easy to overlook just how odd this whole scene is. Of all the possible details that we might like to know about the birth of God, what does God draw our attention to? Notice that Mary and Joseph have zero words of dialog here. Jesus himself says and does nothing, except lay swaddled in a manger. Luke under the inspiration of the Spirit chooses instead to tell us about taxes, Caesar, angels, and shepherds. In fact, the only words of dialog in this scene are from angels to shepherds, and from shepherds to one another. Why is this? Why did God choose to enter our world this way and not another? This is the question we shall ponder together as we consider the mystery of Christ’s birth. Outline of the Text Our text divides into four basic sections. In verses 1-5 we have The Occasion for Christ’s birth. In verses 6-7 we have The Birth. In verses 8-17 we have The Celebration. And then in verses 18-20 we have The Contemplation of all these things. The Occasion, The Birth, The Celebration, and The Contemplation. Verses 1-5 – What was the occasion of Christ’s birth? 1And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world (οἰκουμένην) should be taxed. Recall that Caesar Augustus (aka Octavian) was the first Emperor of Rome. And it was under his rule (27 BC – 14 AD) that the empire enjoyed a good measure of military peace, what would become known as the Pax Romana. As a sign of this “worldwide” dominion, all of Caesar’s subjects were required to register. This refers to some kind of universal census in order to be taxed. Verse 2 goes on to say… 2(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) 3And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Beth-lehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) 5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. So what is the political occasion of Christ’s birth? An empire-wide census, where the people of God, and the land that God had promised to His people is now under Roman dominion, they must pay tribute to Caesar. This is exactly what God promised would be happen if Israel broke covenant with Him: Foreign powers would rule over them. And it is under this foreign power’s decree that Jospeh and Mary must travel to Bethlehem, which also happens to be the birthplace of King David. So we have here a contrast being setup between two kings: the greatest of all earthly rulers, Ceasar Augustus, and the ruler of all creation, the Lord Jesus. Whereas Caesar is taxing the whole world, and requiring them to travel to their hometowns to be registered. Christ, the Son of God leaves his home in heaven and comes down to earth. The one who created and owns everything (the cattle on a thousand hills, the breath of Caesar), subjects himself to Caesar’s taxation. And he chooses Bethlehem (which means House of Bread), as his birthplace. Why? Because Jesus is the bread from heaven, the bread of life, the one who gives to the world his own body and blood to redeem us from our sins. As Jesus will say later in John 6:55-57, For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. No man ever spoke this way, and no Caesar ever ruled this way. But Jesus is no mere man, Jesus is the God-man, and the God-man is a giver of life. God says in Isaiah 55:8-9, My thoughts are not your thoughts, Neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are my ways higher than your ways, And my thoughts than your thoughts. Summary: So whereas our thoughts take us to our own imagined ideal conditions in which we might like to be born, God chooses by different criteria. God chooses according to what will be most expedient for our salvation. God chose this moment in time, to show us the difference between man’s ways and God’s ways, between man’s kingdom and God’s kingdom. Who is Caesar? Caesar is a taker. But who is God? God is a giver, whatever you give to God He gives back more. Caesar makes peace through force of arms; God makes peace through sacrificial love. Caesar exalts himself with worldly pomp. God humbles himself unto death on a cross. Already the words of Mary’s Magnificat are being fulfilled.  Recall she says in Luke 1:51-53, God has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty. Even in the way God enters this world He preaches the gospel to us. He shows us that the way of salvation is by humility, meekness, and the trampling of human pride. It says in Psalm 25:9, The meek will he guide in judgment: And the meek will he teach his way. And Jesus will say later to the Pharisees in Luke 16:15, For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. And this is true even in Christ’s birth. So yes, Caesar has his kingdom and Caesar has his peace. But it is not the everlasting peace that only God can give. It is not the peace of a good conscience, of forgiveness and assurance, of a sincere faith, and love that proceeds from a pure heart. That is the true peace and true life that Jesus gives to the meek. This brings us to verses 6-7, where the birth of Christ is recorded. And notice how humble this scene is. Verses 6-7 – The Birth of Christ 6And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 7And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. These are all the details God wants us to know. Mary gives birth, Jesus is her firstborn son. Mary herself wraps him in swaddling clothes; indicating there is not a nurse there assisting her and/or the birth was rather painless. Mary herself also lays him in a manger (a feeding trough for animals). And why? Because there was no room for them in the inn, (the house). They are outside (in a barn or in a cave) where the animals are. This is God’s chosen way of entering His world. And He chose this as His nativity scene (His icon for our remembrance) to teach us about the higher ways of His kingdom, to reveal from the beginning of His earthly life, the meekness and lowliness of his own heart (Matt. 11:29). Let us attend to a couple details here. Why is God laid in a manger? What is signified by Christ laying in the place where animals eat grass and hay? It says in Isaiah 40:6, All flesh is grass. And what has God chosen to assume and redeem though Christ? Our flesh. Our nature. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: But the word of our God shall stand for ever (Is. 40:8).And here in this manger what do you have? The Word made flesh. God made grass. And so if Jesus is the food in the manger, then what are we? Animals. Beasts. Sheep and Oxen. Goats and Rams. We are those creatures who listened to the Serpent, and who need the image of God restored in us so that we may share in God’s dominion. It says in Isaiah 53:6, All we like sheep have gone astray. It says in Isaiah 1:3 of our ignorance, The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib (manger); But Israel does not know, My people do not consider. In other words, the animals are smarter than us when we sin. And likewise in Psalm 73 it says, So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee…Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion [my food] for ever. So God has chosen to cure us of our beast-like ignorance. To heal us of our animal passions and the irrational cravings of a carnal mind. And he does this by making Himself food for us. By assuming our flesh, and that without sin, and by making his pure and spotless body food for the lowly. God chooses to lay where simple creatures may go to eat. The gospel is not that complicated, it is as simple as repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus. Come and eat. And we see in the book of Acts that when simple people, like Peter and John feast and feed upon Christ, they become bold and wise unto salvation. For Luke says of them in Acts 4:13, Now when the [Jewish leaders] saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. So have you been with Jesus? Have you repented of your own willful ignorance of the grace of God? Have you forgotten who your Master is, and what will actually nourish your soul? Have you wandered like a sheep from the fold of God? If so, return. Those who come earnestly and honestly He will by no means cast out. So already at Christ’s birth, our future salvation is foreshadowed. Do you remember what will Jesus later sing from the cross? The words of Psalm 22 which recalls his birth. He prays, But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb You have been My God. Be not far from Me, For trouble is near; For there is none to help. Many bulls have surrounded Me; Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. They gape at Me with their mouths, Like a raging and roaring lion…Save Me from the lion’s mouth And from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me…The poor shall eat and be satisfied; Those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! Notice that Jesus is surrounded by animals (literal and metaphorical) at his birth and at his death. Some surround him because of malice and envy like lions to devour. And others because they love Him and worship Him and want their soul to be satisfied. Moreover, we notice another detail that foreshadows the death of Christ. Where was Jesus born? Outside the house, because there was no room inside the house.And so also Hebrews 13:12 says, Jesus suffered outside the gate, outside the walls that should have welcomed him in. And so while in David’s hometown no room was found for David’s Lord, David’s Lord will later say, In my Father’s house are many rooms (mansions)…I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:2). The God who is left outside in the dark of winter, is the God who shall die to turn every winter into a Christmas celebration, and to turn every season into a season of light and harvest, joy and gladness. And this brings us to verses 8-17, where the first celebration of Christmas takes place. And notice who does God choose to share the news of His birth with? Verses 8-17 – The Celebration 8And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Why does God choose shepherds to be the first recipients of this news, this gospel? For a few reasons: 1. Because as Psalm 23 says, The Lord is my shepherd. God is the great shepherd of His people, and so he shares with his fellow shepherds (pastors) the news that they also shall teach. 2.Because shepherds signify the Old Testament patriarchs to whom the promise of God’s kingdom was told. What was David before he was king? He was a shepherd in the country of Bethlehem (just like these shepherds). What was Moses before God spoke to Him from the burning bush? A shepherd, tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, priest of Midian (Ex. 3:1). What was the vocation of Jacob and the original twelve sons of Israel? Joseph says to Pharoah in Genesis 46:32, the men are shepherds. And then two verses later we are told, they may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians. What was Abel, the first martyr and prophet according to Jesus? It says in Genesis 4:2, Abel was a keeper of sheep. So God chooses shepherds and faithful shepherds at that (those who are keeping watch over their flock by night) to be the first witnesses and human messengers of Christ’s birth. This is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David, Moses, and the shepherds of Israel. 3. Because the job of a shepherd is to feed the sheep, and where is the best food, the greenest pastures and the stillest waters to be found? They are in wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And so it is most fitting that God sends the angels to tell them where this food is found. We read in verses 9-17… 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men. 15And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. There is much here but let us just highlight a few words these angels proclaim. In verse 10 we see this is good news of great joy. The Triune God is eternally joyful in Himself and through Christ that joy is extended to others. How many others? The angel says, this is good news of great joy, which shall be to all people. God’s gospel is a universal invitation to rejoice, all are invited to come to the King’s feast. While Caesar Augustus sent forth a universal decree to be taxed, God sends forth a universal invitation to receive the greatest gift. What is that gift? Why should we rejoice? The angel says in verse 11, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Three titles are assigned to Jesus: Savior, Christ, and Lord. 1. Savior signifies the action of Jesus; He will save us from our sins. He will save us from the devil’s clutches. He will save us from eternal punishment. He will save us from our own fleshly desires. He will save us from ourselves. Jesus is the savior and His salvation brings us joy. 2. Jesus is the Christ. Christ means anointed one. Jesus is the anointed king, the anointed high priest, the anointed prophet of God. He is the very word of God full of the Holy Spirit, full of grace and truth, He is the sender of the Holy Spirit together with His Father. Jesus is the Christ and those baptized into Christ are called Christians, little anointed ones. 3. Jesus is Lord. That is, He is God. There is one God, eternally subsisting in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Son who alone assumes our human nature. Fully human, fully divine, One Lord Jesus Christ. To know Him and to understand Him, is the greatest of all gifts. And this is why the angels of heaven sing Glory unto him. It says in verses 13-14, And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, Good will toward men. First observe that that word host means army. This is God’s angelic army come to announce the reason for the heavenly king’s birth. It is to make peace. It is show forth God’s favor (His good will). It is to invite the whole world to join them in singing, “Glory to God in the highest!” Usually when an army shows up, that means war. That means battle. That means prepare yourself to fight. But when God’s army appears on earth, they come announcing peace. And so from this moment onwards, the question becomes: How shall peace be made? How shall Jesus bring peace to a world living under Roman peace? What kind of peace does Jesus come to bring? How is the kingdom of God different from the kingdoms of this world? These questions the gospel of Luke shall go on to answer. And as Colossians 1:20 says, He made peace through the blood of his cross. But at this moment in the story, there is only the promise of peace made, but no explanation how. And this leads us to our fourth and final section of this passage, and where we shall close. Verses 18-20 – The Contemplation 18And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. 20And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. First notice the response of all who hear this news. They wonder. They marvel. Do you wonder and marvel at birth of Christ? At the word of the angels, and the preaching of the shepherds? Second observe Mary’s response. God could have sent an angel directly to Mary (He had done it before), and He could have surrounded that stable in Bethlehem with angelic choirs. But instead, God sends the angel to the shepherds, his angelic choir appears to those out in the countryside. And it is the shepherds who come and tell Mary what the angels told them. These are the ways of God. He wants us to share in the sharing of good news, because in the sharing our own joy is increased. And now here in Mary we see the joy of contemplation. The joy of gazing at the truth in our heart with delight. Mary treasures these things, she ponders them in our heart, she marvels at the mystery that she just gave birth to the Savior, Jesus Christ, the Lord. And so do you like Mary treasure what you hear? Do you meditate upon the Word, wondering and marveling at the mysteries revealed. Do you apply these truths to your own life and struggles, temptations and fears, looking to Christ as the source of your strength? What is the very first action of the blessed man in Psalm 1? His delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night. It says in Psalm 119:97, O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: For thy testimonies are my meditation. It says in Psalm 63, My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, And meditate on thee in the night watches. Saints of God, do you meditate day and night? Do you ponder and treasure the things of God? Because this is the way to blessedness. This is the way to joy. May God grant you such holy and constant meditation of Him, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Benedictus Sunday, January 4th, 2026 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 1:68–80 Prayer O Father, we thank You that in this world that is full of broken promises, You are the God who cannot lie. You are the God who always keeps His Word, who always keeps covenant, and who loves to show mercy to those who desire peace. Grant us Your peace now and forever, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction In the year 110 AD, about 80 years after Christ’s ascension on high, a Roman governor named Pliny the Younger wrote a letter to the Emperor Trajan. And in this letter Pliny asks the emperor what the policy should be for prosecuting alleged Christians. Already Pliny had executed some Christians for their refusal to burn incense to Caesar and curse Christ, but he says that if he were to keep prosecuting them in this way, “Many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms.” Just two generations after Jesus died and rose again, and the Roman empire is full of Christians, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, country folk and city folk, all spreading their religion according to Pliny, like a contagion. In this same letter we also have one of the earliest descriptions (outside of the New Testament) of what a Christian gathering looked like. Pliny says, “They were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not to falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food–but ordinary and innocent food.” And so here you have an unbelieving Roman official attesting that Christians would gather together for a potluck. They would meet early in the morning before the sun rose, and swear oaths to keep God’s law, and during their gathering they would sing to one another, “a hymn to Christ as to God.” Of course, this should not surprise us since Paul commands the church to do this in Ephesians and Colossians, he says, teach and admonish one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Col 3:18, Eph. 5:19). From the beginning Christianity has been a religion of singing. Singing to one another. Singing unto Christ as God. Now as far as we know, the 150 Psalms of David were the original hymnbook of the Christian church. But as time went on and the gospels were published and circulated, the church also started to put to music the inspired words of the New Testament as well, especially some of the first “hymns to Christ as God.” So by the time of the 6th century, Mary’s Magnificat was being sung in the liturgy, and also the text we have before us this morning, which is Zacharias’ song, now known as the Benedictus. That word Benedictus is just the Latin word for Blessed, and it is taken from the first line of Zacharias’ prophesy, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel (Benedictus Dominus Deus Israël). And so my hope for you this morning is that by understanding a little more the meaning of these words, these lyrics, you may be moved like Zacharias, moved by the Holy Spirit, to bless the God of Israel. For what we have before us in our text is an inspired New Covenant example, of what Psalm 103:2 tells us to do, Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits. The Benedictus is all about blessing God for His many saving benefits. And it is those benefits we shall call to mind again this morning. Outline of the Text We are focusing in on verses 68-79, which is prophetic poetry. And this poem divides into two basic sections: In verses 68-75, Zacharias extols The Mystery of the Incarnate Lord. In verses 76-79, He extols the The Mission of John to Prepare People for that Lord. So we have 1) The Mystery of the Incarnation, followed by 2) The Mission of John the Baptist, so let us walk through this text together. Verses 68-69 – The Blessed God Blesses Us 68Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; For he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; What does it mean to bless God? To bless God is to confess with your mouth praise. And more specifically to praise God because He is most blessed (He is most happy). Blessedness is God’s very nature. What makes a person perfectly happy is the perfect possession of a perfect good. And this God alone possesses in Himself, and He has created us to share in the happiness that He is. So whereas you and I have a happiness that fluctuates according to the goods we have or do not have, and how permanent they are or are not, God is the only permanent and perfect good, and in this life we can only possess Him by faith, but in the next life we shall enjoy Him by sight. And this is what Jesus calls in John 17:3, eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. And so because God wants you to share in His own abundant happiness, He chooses to come down to us in the most personal way, not as an angel, not as a voice in a cloud, or a fiery mountain or a burning bush, or an invisible force, but rather in the man Christ Jesus, to visit and redeem us from our sins. This is the reason why Zacharias blesses the God of Israel: For he hath visited and redeemed his people And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Here in these opening verses are contained three momentous actions of God. 1. First, He has come down to visit us. This refers to the mystery of the incarnation, that the unborn child growing within Mary’s womb, is none other than the God of Israel in human flesh. 2. Second we are told that the purpose for this divine visitation is, to redeem His people. Just as the nation of Israel was in bondage in Egypt, slaves to Pharoah, treated as Pharoah’s property, just so the whole world was in bondage to Satan and sin, subject to death and in need of someone to pay our debt and purchase us out of slavery. This is the new and greater Exodus Jesus comes to bring. Jesus is the Passover lamb, the New Moses. Baptism becomes our Red Sea crossing. Jesus is our new High Priest, of whom Hebrews 9:12 says, by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And it says likewise in Colossians 1:13-15, that God the Father, hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. So already before Jesus is born, Zacharias is prophesying the purpose for his birth, He was born to die, born to redeem us from our sins. 3. Third, he extols the victory of Christ’s kingdom saying, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. This raising up of the horn refers to Christ’s resurrection and enthronement as king. It says in Psalm 132:17-18, There [in Zion] I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.” What is a horn but an animal’s crown. A vessel for pouring out oil (1 Sam. 16:1), an instrument to make the walls of Jericho crumble (Josh 6:5). The horn signifies power and beauty, strength and glory. In the book of Daniel, a horn signifies a king and the extent of his kingdom. And so who is Christ but the king of kings, who says after his resurrection in Matthew 28:18, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. And as we heard earlier from Psalm 72, his dominion shall be from sea to sea. In Revelation 19 it says of Christ, And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. So who is Jesus? He is The Triumphant Horn of salvation. The reason we bless the God of Israel is because He joined to Himself our humanity to save us from the wrath to come. Jesus was born to die, He died to redeem, and He did not stay dead but rose victorious as king. All of this so that you may share in His blessedness, so that you can share in the eternal happiness that God delights to give. So dear Christian, Does your soul bless the Lord? Can you say with Psalm 104:33-34, My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord. I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. Or have you forgotten His many benefits? God gives you His word, and gives you these songs to help you remember what we are so prone to forget. This brings us to verses 70-73 where we are told that all of these benefits were promised by God in times past. Verses 70-73 – Prophets Since The World Began 70As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, Which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, And from the hand of all that hate us; 72To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, So here Zacharias takes us back to the beginning of the world and the patriarchs of Genesis. Who was the very first prophet and martyr for the faith? According to Jesus it was Adam and Eve’s son, Abel. Jesus will say later to the scribes and Pharisees in Luke 11:49-52, Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. It is interesting that this name Zacharias which means “God remembers,” is also the name of the last prophet who was martyred in the Old Testament canon (2 Chronicles 24:20-22), and now the son of Zacharias, John the Baptist will become the last prophet to be martyred before the death of Christ. And so what exactly has God remembered that martyrs like Abel and Zacharias foretold and which John the Baptist will also proclaim. It is nothing other than God’s coming judgment. The day of the Lord. God’s punishment of sin both temporal and eternal. John says in Luke 3:17, His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. According to Genesis 4, the blood of Abel cried out to God for vengeance, for the making right of Cain’s murderous wrong. Likewise in 2 Chronicles 24:22 it says, And when [Zacharias] died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it. Require what? Require justice. And so for those who refuse to plead the blood of Jesus, all that is left for them is Divine judgment, the receiving of what they deserve, God’s vengeance for every sin. It says Hebrews 12:24 that Christ’s blood, speaks a better word than the blood of Abel, namely forgiveness. So for those who refuse the price of redemption Christ offers upon the cross, they are choosing instead to receive the wages of sin, namely eternal death. If you do not repent of every sin and plead the blood of Jesus, you are as those who condemned Christ to death, calling God a liar and saying, His blood be upon us, and on our children (Matt 27:25). The message of the prophets from the very beginning is that God is just and God is merciful, and if you do not fall upon His mercy seat, only justice remains. Well Jesus is that mercy seat, the only safe place to hide from the wrath to come. So who is your shelter? Who are you trusting in? Zacharias goes on in verse 71 to say that one of the results of Christ’s judgment is, That we should be saved from our enemies, And from the hand of all that hate us. Who are those who hate the church? Who are those enemies from which we shall be saved? They are all those people and powers, spiritual and physical, human and angelic, political and ecclesiastical, who would oppose Christ and his people. This includes men like Cain, who envy, hate, and murder their own brother. This includes women like Potiphar’s wife, who would try to seduce the righteous and then falsely accuse them. It includes evil rulers like Ahaz and Jezebel, who persecuted Elijah and enticed the people into idolatry. It includes Satan and his demonic hordes. It includes our own sinful flesh and perverse desires. Anyone or anything that does not love and serve Jesus is counted an enemy of God, and all such enemies shall be defeated. Some of those enemies were defeated 2,000 years ago. Some of those enemies God permits to remain for a time to test us, try us, and increase our faith. All of us who now love Jesus used to be His enemies, and so aren’t you thankful that Christ conquered you? The gospel promise is a promise of deliverance from everything that hinders our happiness in God.Some of those enemies Christ destroys immediately, some he deals a death blow but allows to live on for a time, some of them await the final judgment and the lake of fire. So while Jesus Christ the God-man is presently reigning over heaven and earth right now, that same Jesus is very patient, very kind, and as it says in 1 Timothy 2:4, God desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, and that is why He tarries, that is why He permits so many enemies to continue for a season, that we may be converted to Him and bow the knee willingly before judgment day. So God has performed in Christ the mercy He promised to Abraham and our fathers. And when God’s mercy encompasses a person, it changes them from the inside out. It transforms us to desire what is truly good for us. In verses 74-75 we see what that truly good life looks like. Verses 74-75 – The Good Life 74That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Might serve him without fear, 75In holiness and righteousness before him, All the days of our life. Recall this was our fifth diagnostic question last week. Do you desire from God nothing more and nothing less, than to serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness forever? Because that is the desire of someone who has received God’s mercy. Why did God save us from Satan, sin, and death? To bring us to a loving service of Him, in holiness and righteousness all our days. Does not your heart yearn for this rest? This perfect peace? This freedom from all fears and doubts, liars and deceivers? Where there is secure tranquility and tranquil unity amongst the joy of myriads upon myriads of angels and saints more numerous than we can count? This is the rest God promises to those who will not rest until they rest in Him. Is this the desire of your heart? It says in 1 John 4:18, There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear. And so while in this life our love for God is very small and imperfect, and our capacity to receive His love is constantly assaulted by sins and fears, a day will come when we may cast aside this body of death and embrace in full the glorious love of our Redeemer. But in the meantime, He gives us a taste of these gifts in varying degrees. At present the church in our region is not suffering overt persecution, we may gather freely and worship God according to His Word. This is a great freedom, a hard-won freedom, that many Christians have never enjoyed. But how have we used this freedom? Have we used it to grow in holiness and righteousness? Have we made every effort to become holy as He is holy, keeping ourselves unstained from the world, hating even the garment that is stained by the flesh? When God gives His church a measure of liberty and then we abuse that liberty, He often removes it to teach us what that liberty was for. Do we want to be free so you can worship God? Or do you want to be free so you can just do what is right in your own eyes? The freedom God gives is a freedom to become conformed into the image of His Son.Is this what you are doing with the freedom you have? If not, you are not alone, you are like many of the Jews in Jesus’ day. And God knows how slow we are to hear, and how dull our understanding is, how forgetful we are. And so from His mercy he sends a messenger to prepare people for what He intends to do. And this is what Zacharias extols at the end of this song. Verses 76-79 – The Mission of John the Baptist 76And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord To prepare his ways; 77To give knowledge of salvation unto his people By the remission of their sins, 78Through the tender mercy of our God; Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace. Notice that we are not born walking in the way of peace. Someone needs to guide us there. And here we see how God guides His people, first through John, then through Jesus. What does John do? It says in verse 77 he gives knowledge of salvation unto God’s people, and that that knowledge consists in the remission of sins. The knowledge that you are a sinner and need to repent. Remember that John is the son of a priest.  And it says in Malachi 2:7, For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, And they should seek the law at his mouth: For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. And so John prepares people by preaching the truth. In Luke 3:3 we are told, And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And then Jesus comes, and what does Jesus do? Jesus comes and forgives sins. How? It says in verse 78, Through the tender mercy of our God. Jesus is the fullest expression of God’s mercy. He is mercy in the flesh. To show mercy is remove a person’s misery (their defects) insofar as you are able. But how able are we to heal ourselves? How able are we to change a person’s heart and all our own personal defects? How able are we to pay the debt for our own sins, nevertheless another person’s sins? We are totally unable. We are those who are sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. But who is Jesus? Jesus is God. Jesus is God’s mercy. Jesus is the one says, I came to seek and save the lost. Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance (Mark 2:17). Jesus is God’s mercy come to heal you of your misery by His infinite power. Paul says in Romans 8:3-4, For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Jesus gives what no mere man can give. Jesus gives the Spirit of God. Jesus gives a transformed heart. Jesus gives a complete forgiveness, so that Romans 8:1 may become true of us which says, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So what are you walking in? Jesus is the light of the world, the dayspring from on high, who guides our feet into the way of peace. That way of a peace is what Paul calls, “walking in the Spirit, minding the things of the Spirit and not the things of the flesh.” So do you have this Holy Spirit? Do you have God’s peace? Conclusion What will make Christianity spread like a contagion again? What kind of people will convert the Empires of our day, even as the Roman Empire was eventually conquered by Christ? It will be those who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. It will be those who want to serve God without fear, in righteousness and holiness all their days. It will be those who refuse to bow down and burn incense to all our American idols, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” Mammon, Pornography, Feminism, Technology. These are all idols to help us idolize ourselves. We want people to serve and worship us. We are our own gods. We want God to serve and worship us. This is what Satan wanted, and it is what he seduced Eve into grasping for, the fruit that will make us like God. What Satan offered with a lying tongue, God now gives freely and truly to all who believe on His Son. For Jesus Christ was hung like fruit upon the tree. And by grasping for Him you may take hold of eternal life. Your eyes will be opened to know true right and true wrong, and you may become like God sharing in His blessedness. For what does Paul say in Romans 8:29? He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son. And in 2 Peter 1:4 it says that by trusting in God’s promises, we may become partakers of the divine nature. So while the world is busy exalting itself, worshiping itself trying to play god and rule others, the true God came down and humbled Himself, died for our idolatry, to make us partakers of His blessedness. To make us share in His divine life. If you know these saving benefits, then may you bless the God of Israel, now and forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The State of the Church 2026 Sunday, December 28th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 1:57–80 Prayer O Father we thank for Your Son, and we thank You for all those people who like John the Baptist, pointed us to Christ in whom alone is salvation and the remission of our sins. Grant that we also might grow and wax strong in the spirit, by the hearing of Your Word preached, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction It has been our custom that around the New Year, I preach a sermon on The State of the Church. And just as a you might go see the doctor for a routine examination, this sermon is that kind of annual check up on our health as a corporate body of believers. How are we doing as Christ Covenant Church? How is the broader body of Christ doing in our region and beyond? These are good questions to ask, perhaps not every week, but on occasion, and the turn of the year is a fitting time for this kind of big picture assessment and personal reflection. Now some people avoid going to the doctor simply because they don’t want to know whether they are actually healthy or not (“I feel fine!”). We don’t want them to run those tests, or draw our blood, or go poking around in our private places. Or maybe you are one of those people who hates taking your car to the mechanic, because you know there’s always going to be something to fix or replace, belts and tires get worn out, and usually it all costs a lot more than we want to spend. And so we think, If it’s still running, why pop the hood. Well, this should not be the case when it comes to your soul. When it comes to the health of the body of Christ. Paul says very plainly to the Corinthian church, Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves (2 Cor 13:5). And so with God’s help, we need to submit ourselves to His loving scrutiny. We must go and go often to the Great Physician and Healer of our souls and ask for His honest assessment of our true condition and state. That is what these State of the Church sermons are intended to help us discover about ourselves, and that means asking ourselves the (sometimes uncomfortable) questions that God’s Word places before us. So with that in mind let me give you the outline of our text, and then as we work through the first half of this passage, I am going to highlight five diagnostic questions that arise from this text, and which we should ask ourselves as a church. Outline of the Text Our text divides into three sections In verses 57-58, A Son is Born. In verses 59-66, that Son is named John. In verses 67-80, God is praised for what He will accomplish through John and through Christ. Verses 57-58 – A Son is Born Recall the context. An angel appeared to Zacharias the priest 9 months ago. And while Zacharias was offering incense and prayers in the temple the angel Gabriel appeared and said to him, thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. (Luke 1:13-14). And here now that promise is fulfilled, even in spite of Zacharias’ unbelief. For 9 months he has been deaf and dumb, unable to hear or speak. And for the last 3 months, Mary the mother of God has been living under their roof. The unborn Jesus has been dwelling in their house. And now finally the time has come for the elderly Elizabeth to be delivered. And so as it happens when a child is born, news gets out. And it says in verse 58, her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And this brings us to our first diagnostic question we should ask: Do we as a church rejoice in the mercy God has shown? Are we a church that has a reputation, that is known for our joy? When people visit us is it undeniable that we are a people who love the mercy of God and rejoice in His mercy? Recall from last week that we said that all joy is contingent upon the intensity of our love. And so, where joy is lacking, love is lacking. And so what are your joy levels like? Are you resolved in the year ahead to love God more intensely because you want to experience joy more intensely? You want for yourself and for others what the Apostle Peter describes who says, In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Peter 1:6-8). The Christian life is a life of joy because even our trials are God’s mercies: to strengthen our faith, to purify us, to rid us of sin and all those desires that hinder our love for God in Whom is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11). And so, are we a church that is known for our joy and known for our love? Jesus says in John 13:35, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. And Paul says in Philippians 2:2, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. It is by this love and joyful unity that the church becomes as a pillar of smoke by day, and a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:21-22) to show the world around us where the glory and presence of God is. We are God’s tabernacle in the wilderness of this world. What is that pillar of smoke but the prayers and the lives of the holy saints? It says in Hebrews 12:1 that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. And in Revelation 8:4 it says, And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And so this smoke and fire, this glory and light is given to signify the church’s love and joy in God. And where this love and joy is manifest, people will see it and wonder at it, and be drawn to Christ. For Jesus is our glory and we are His. And so how can we not rejoice in the mercy He has shown? So grade yourself. How are we doing in keeping the fires of charity roaring upon the altar? Does the smoke of our prayers ascend daily as a pleasing aroma to God because they are offered from a humble heart? Because this is the love offering God desires from His people, and Jesus says that it is by our love that people will know to whom be belong. We belong to the God who is love. This brings us to verses 59-66 where this son of Zacharias and Elizabeth is named. Verse 59-66 – A Son Is Named First observe that there are two circumcisions happening here: The first is in accord with Genesis 17:10-12 where God says to Abraham, This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male child in your generations. And so John as a son of the covenant promise, and Zacharias as one who has walked blamelessly before Lord, has John circumcised. And just as Abram’s name was changed to Abraham by this covenant of circumcision, here now the one they presumed to name Zacharias is named by God as John, which means, “Jehovah has graciously given,” or “YHWH has been gracious.” This is the first circumcision, the cutting away of the flesh and the naming of a son in grace. And just as John precedes Jesus and the new covenant Jesus brings, so also John’s circumcision precedes a new covenant circumcision which will be of the heart, and the ears, and the lips of God’s people. And Zacharias is a foreshadowing of this spiritual circumcision. Notice that John has been alive for 8 days already, but still Zacharias is deaf and dumb, they have to make signs to him to communicate. And it is not until Zacharias himself names John (according to the word of the angel in Luke 1:13) that it says, his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. This is the spiritual circumcision of the spirit, and what fleshly circumcision always pointed to. God says way back in Deuteronomy 10:16, Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. And Jeremiah preaches to those who were circumcised in the flesh saying, Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings (Jer 4:4). And so recall what John’s ministry will be. Calling the Israelites, calling the Jews, to live out what their fleshly circumcision signified, namely to love God with a whole heart and to mortify fleshly desires. This is why Paul can say to the Philippians in Philippians 3:3, For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. And likewise in Colossians 2:11-12 he says, In Christ you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And so just as John’s baptism will anticipate Christ’s baptism, so also John’s circumcision anticipates the spiritual circumcision of Christ’s death. And when the spirit opens our ears to hear, and opens our mouths to speak, and has cut away the deadness of our heart’s unbelief, what comes forth but praise? As David says in Psalm 51:15, O Lord, open thou my lips; And my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. And in Isaiah 50:4-5 it says, The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, And I was not rebellious, Neither turned away back. So notice, Zacharias is the first fruits of his own son’s ministry. Already God is turning the hearts of the fathers to the children. And the amazing thing about Zacharias, Elizabeth and John, is that together they are the original spirit-filled family. All of them receive the spirit of prophesy and become God’s instruments to testify of Christ. And this brings us to our second diagnostic question which is: Are our families, spirit-filled families? Do we all have the Word of God constantly on our lips? Do mothers and fathers and children alike hear the word, speak the word, pray the word, and sing the word? Because this is what God promised would take place in the New Covenant. It says in Acts 2:17 quoting Joel 2:28, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. What is prophecy but speaking the Word of God, testifying to Christ, praising Him for His mercies which are new every morning. A spirit-filled church needs spirit-filled families, and the way we receive the spirit is by having our ears opened to the word, our hearts softened to receive it, and our mouths opened to proclaim it. And this leads to a third diagnostic question we could ask. It says in verse 65 that after Zacharias praised God, fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. And so we could ask ourselves: Do we “noise abroad,” do we make known to our little hill country of Centralia and Chehalis and roundabout, the mercy God has shown in Christ? Are we as it says in 1 Peter 3:15-16, ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. Notice that when we are a people who live in hope, that hope becomes evident to outsiders, and then outsiders begin to ask, Why are you so hopeful? Why are you not stressed, fearful, and anxious about the future? And to them we can say, I already died in Christ. I have already counted this world as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus. And so however bad things may get, or however good things may be, I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:11-13). Moreover my Lord Jesus told me, Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from [my] Father’s will. But the very hairs of [my] head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows (Matt 10:28-31). When we are living out the hope of the gospel, doing as Abraham did, we become as those of whom this world is not worthy. For it says in Hebrews 11, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland…But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them… For here have we no lasting city, but we seek one to come (Hebrews 11:13-16, 13:14). When the church lives in hope of this heavenly country, and orders all of its earthly affairs towards that end, the blessing of God rests upon His people. The gospel goes forth and triumphs, and true prosperity abounds. It says in Proverbs 10:22, The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, And he addeth no sorrow with it. Whereas those who love money and trust in uncertain riches, err from the faith, and pierce themselves through with many sorrows. (1 Tim 6:10, 17). As Americans we are abounding with more material wealth than kings of old could have imagined. And yet we have been deceived by our wealth, we have trusted in riches, and lost our soul as result. That is what happens when you serve Mammon instead of God, or worse, serve Mammon in the name of God. And so if the American church would recover a more potent witness to Christ, we must check our hearts and check where our treasure is. We all love and trust money more than we should. And we must declare war on this idol if our hope will become heavenly and not earthly. This leads us to our fourth diagnostic question which is: Do we treasure God’s Word within our hearts? Is our attention, memory, and comprehension of God’s Word a high priority for us? It says in verse 66, And all they that heard them [referring to the news of God’s mercy and the birth of John] laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. It is not enough to just hear the Word, we must also retain it and treasure it in our memory.How else will you be ready to give an answer for the hope within you? How else will you have hope unless God’s Word is constantly within your mind? David says in Psalm 119:11, Thy word have I hid in mine heart, That I might not sin against thee. And in Psalm 119:16, I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. And so are we a church that memorizes Scripture because we value Scripture? And do we value it at the price that God values it? It says in Psalm 119:72, The law of thy mouth is better unto me Than thousands of gold and silver. And of gaining wisdom and understanding it says in Proverbs 3:14-15, For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, And the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: And all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. And so if you struggle with discontent, with covetousness which is idolatry, with love of money, then turn your attention to memorizing and understanding God’s Word. Because as Proverbs 3:17-18 goes on to say, Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. Fifth and finally, observe what is at the center of Zacharias’ song of praise. In verses 67-73 (the first half), he blesses God for visiting His people, for redeeming them, and keeping His covenant promises. In verses 76-80 (the second half) he prophesies of John’s ministry to prepare people for Jesus. But in the middle, in verses 74-75, he extols the whole purpose for God saving us, and what is that? That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, All the days of our life. Conclusion And so as we close, I want to ask this final diagnostic question: Is this our highest aim, and our greatest desire, and our burning ambition as a church? Do we want what God wants from Christ’s saving work? Do we want to simply serve him without fear? Worship Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life? Does all our planning, and budgeting, and programs and ministries aim at this goal? Is this what Christ Covenant Church is all about? Serving God without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him, All the days of our life. This is what the chief end of man is: to glory God, and enjoy Him forever. And so do this goal govern us. Does this goal order all our lesser goals and set them in right proportion? Is this your personal goal if God were to come to you and ask, “What do you want? I’ll give you whatever you ask up to half of the kingdom?” Is this your knee-jerk response, to say, “I just want to serve you God. I just want to be holy and to live righteously before you all my days.” Or as the Psalmist says in Psalm 73:25, Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. May that become our true answer and desire more and more in the year ahead, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Magnificat Sunday, December 21st, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 1:39–56 Prayer O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, teach our soul to magnify You, teach our spirit to rejoice in God our savior. For you have done for us great things, and holy is Your name, and so teach us to hallow that name, both now and forever, and Amen. Introduction In Luke 1:4, we are told that the purpose of Luke’s gospel is, so that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. Thus far in Luke’s gospel you have been instructed about the miraculous conception of John the Baptist, and then you were instructed about the even more miraculous conception of our Lord Jesus who was conceived by the Holy Ghost and to be born of the virgin Mary. And now in our text this morning, Luke brings together these two pregnant women, the elderly Elizabeth and the young virgin Mary. And he brings these two women together under one roof, so that three people can bear witness to the Incarnation of God. Who are those three witnesses? They are: Mary, Elizabeth, and a 28-week John the Baptist, still in utero, all testifying to the Lordship of Christ. It says in Revelation 19:10,for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And in 1 John 4:2 it says, Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And so here in our text we have the Holy Spirit moving two women and an unborn baby to testify, and not only to testify but to rejoice at God’s entrance into this broken world. This is the pattern of Luke chapters 1-2. Those who believe the gospel rejoice. The one person who does not believe (Zacharias) is silenced. Praise and prophecy follows from faith. True believing leads to true and lasting joy. And so the question Luke confronts us with in this scene is: Does your faith give birth to real joy? Does what you believe about Jesus move you to say with Mary, my soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour? This is what the Christmas season is all about. The inbreaking of God’s Son into our world of sin and misery. The inbreaking of real joy and certain hope into all of your present sorrows, pains, and fears. And so as we consider this passage before us, I want you to take these three witnesses (John, Elizabeth, and Mary) as a guide to recovering your joy. And if you are someone who has yet to believe on the Lord Jesus as your Savior, may God grant you to taste and see this joy for the very first time. So with that in mind, let me give you the outline of our text. Outline of the Text This passage is bookended by Mary’s travel plans. In verse 39, Mary arises, leaves Nazareth, and goes to the house of Zacharias in Judah. And then in verse 56, Mary abides there with Zacharias and Elizabeth for 3 months and then returns to her own house. And then in between those two details, Luke gives us a threefold witness to Christ. In verses 39-41, John bears witness. In verses 42-45, Elizabeth bears witness. And then in verses 46-56, Mary bears witness. And as we shall see, all three witnesses are marked by rejoicing. Verses 39-40 Recall from last week that Mary has just been told that she shall bear the Son of God through a virginal conception. And because a virgin child has never happened before, and because it would be both scandalous and hard to believe that such a miracle has occurred, Luke tells us that Mary arises in haste to abide with Zacharias and Elizabeth for three months. And what this three month stay does for Mary, and for us, is protect against the false accusations that maybe Mary and Joseph had been fooling around, or that this wasn’t a virginal conception at all and Mary committed adultery. So Luke illustrates and fills out what Matthew 1:25 tells us plainly, that Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son. So after that first trimester when Mary returns to Nazareth, and her belly is starting to show, and people are starting to wonder and whisper, there are at least two respectable people who can testify that Mary has been with them this whole time. She has not known a man, the power of God has caused this child to be conceived. And later Joseph himself will add his own testimony that this child is virgin born. So Luke is supplying us with witnesses, both angelic and human, that some of the other gospel accounts do not include. And again this is all part of his project to give us certitude in the faith. And by giving us certitude, to also give us more sure grounds for joy and hope. Verse 41 – John Bears Witness Recall the prophesy and purpose of John’s life and ministry. The angel Gabriel said earlier in Luke 1:15-16, he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. [so already this is coming to pass] And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And so long before John can preach or speak or say “behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,” he is already testifying to Christ. John is bearing witness to that newly conceived 1-week old baby living in Mary’s womb. That baby is God and because He is God that is cause to leap and rejoice. And here John exemplifies a model of Christian faith. John believes without seeing. He rejoices at what he hears. Elizabeth will say in verse 44, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And so notice that John’s leaping for joy then leads to Elizabeth being filled with that same Holy Spirit. Joy in John begets joy in John’s mother. This is how joy is shared. God loves to use spirit-filled people to bring the Holy Spirit to others. And while John cannot yet testify with words, he can testify with his body, and his joyful leaping causes Elizabeth to be the very first person in the gospel of Luke to make the fundamental Christian confess, Jesus is Lord. We hear this testimony in verses 42-46. Verses 42-45 – Elizabeth Bears Witness First observe what is completely absent from this scene. There is absolutely zero envy, jealousy, or rivalry between Elizabeth and Mary, or between Jesus and John. And this is unique in a world of self-important sinners. In a world of vain women who think too highly of themselves and are constantly comparing themselves with others. To such women the words of 2 Corinthians 10:12 are apt, it says, but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. What is 90% of social media but vanity and lies? Now if you think back to the Old Testament (before they had the internet), you’ll notice this problem of rival women with rival sons is as old as Genesis. And this strife between brothers and strife between mothers, dominates the storyline of Israel’s history. There is the rivalry between Sarah and Hagar, between Rachel and Leah, between Hannah and Peninnah, between Isaac and Ishamel, Jacob and Esau, between Joseph and His brothers, between David and his brothers, between Solomon and Adonijah. And many more examples could be given. But when the Holy Spirit comes and fills a person with divine charity, this evil spirit of envy and strife, of vainglory and pride, is crucified and vanquished. This is the change Christ came to bring about, and Luke makes it evident from the very start. It says in Romans 14:17, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And in 1 Corinthians 13:4-6 it says, Love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. So observe what spirit Elizabeth is of. Truth itself is living within Mary, and Elizabeth rejoices in that Truth. Divine love is growing in Mary’s womb, and Elizabeth rejoices in that love. Remember Elizabeth is the older woman and a blameless woman at that, and she has had her own miracle. And therefore, to Elizabeth a certain honor and praise is due. But Elizabeth is virtuous, and she recognizes the genuine superiority of Mary’s blessedness and Mary’s child and she counts it no slight against herself, but rather rejoices in Mary’s good. While some women mighty feel like “Mary is stealing my thunder, upstaging me with her more miraculous child,” nothing of that attitude is found in Elizabeth. Instead, she rejoices at Mary’s greeting and announces, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And what is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Notice, Elizabeth counts it an honor, a privilege, an underserved blessing that the mother of her Lord should come and visit her. And so here Elizabeth (and later John) embody that ancient prophesy that “the older shall serve the younger,” and yet they do it with all joy, desiring to decrease that God may increase. And this really is the mark of a Spirit-filled woman, over against the envious woman. The spirit-filled woman is glad to decrease that God may increase. A spirit-filled woman is content with what she has. But the envious woman is focused on what she lacks, and then she murmurs and complains because life is unfair. No one likes me. No one is attentive to me. Envious people are me-centered people, and me-centered people are unhappy people. And so while envy is sorrow at another’s good, love enables us to rejoice at the goods that others possess. And the more we love the blessedness of others, the more we share in that blessedness, their joys become our joys. This is one of the great secrets to becoming more joyful: You must love those people that God loves and love when God blesses them. It is for good reason that the order of the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 is, love, then joy, then peace. Love is the fountainhead of every spiritual good because love unites you to God who is the greatest good. And so learn from Elizabeth how true joy is born in the soul. First you must cease from envy, you must repent of your self-seeking and entitlement. You must not covet. You must not love money. Second you must give thanks to God for His goodness towards you. You must acknowledge that however imperfect or unpleasant your current state may be, it is still far better than what your sins deserve. Third, you must love the Lord thy God with everything you are. Because all joy is contingent upon the intensity of your love. If you love God a lot, your joy will overflow. But if you only love God a little, or worse, love this world more than God, your joy will be easily taken from you. Jesus says to his disciples in John 16:22, Therefore you now have sorrow [because he is about to die]; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. That is the promise to those who keep Christ within their heart. You keep Christ there by trusting Him, hoping in Him, and loving Him. And so if you are a person who lacks joy, if you struggle tocount it all joy when you fall into various trials (James 1:2), or to Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! (Phil 4:4), thenstart by asking yourself, What do I really love? What do I truly value? And what is the intensity of the love that I have for God compared with all these other created goods? The key to constant and stable joy is to treasure God more highly, and to love Him more intensely. Because that is treasure no one can take from you. So learn from John to rejoice in pointing to Christ. Learn from Elizabeth to love without envy, without comparing your blessings with someone else’s blessings. And third learn from Mary to rejoice in God’s promises even before they are fulfilled. For this is what Mary does in her Magnificat of verses 46-55. Verses 46-55 – Mary Bears Witness Here in these verses, Mary shows herself to be a woman of the Word. Depending on how you count, there are at least 25 different allusions, references, or interpolations of the Old Testament in this song of hers. Far more than we have the time to show. But to give you just a sample of how she brings together the entire Old Testament in this song, there are references here to Psalm 34, Psalm 35, Habakkuk 3, 1 Samuel 1-2, Genesis 30, Deuteronomy 10, Psalm 106, Psalm 111, Psalm 100, Psalm 103, Psalm 89, Psalm 75, Ezekiel 21, Job 40, Isaiah 41, 2 Chronicles 6, Micah 7, and that’s just a partial list. And so if you would desire to rejoice like Mary, your soul must first drink and drink deeply of the promises in God’s Word. What is perhaps even more remarkable about Mary’s joy is that she did not have the New Testament Scriptures. Mary did not have Romans or Ephesians, The Gospels or 1 John. And so how much more joy should we have who live on this side of God making good on His promises? When so many more have been fulfilled now that Christ has died and risen and ascended and sent forth His Spirit to fill the church. You and I have even more cause for joy than Mary the mother of God did. Because we live in the days of her Son’s reign. We live in a world where the gospel has conquered and shall continue to conquer till Christ returns. And so do you know the promises of God in His Word? Do you know just how gracious He has been to you, by causing your ears to here, even now, the greatest news this world has ever known. That in Christ Jesus, God became man, and now through Christ Jesus, you can be reconciled to God. Conclusion Every Christian has their own “Magnificat” that they could pen. And that is because every Christian can honestly say with Mary, “He that is mighty hath done to me great things.” Every Christian can say they are recipients of Divine Mercy. Remember that line from St. Augustine who said, “Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ, than in conceiving the flesh of Christ.” And so if you believe on the Lord Jesus, the same Son that Mary bore in her womb, is the same Son who takes up residence in your heart. And when God dwells within you, making you into His holy temple, joy is the supernatural effect, even a joy that cannot be taken from you anymore than God can be taken from you. And so do you receive this truth today? Do you believe what John, Elizabeth, and Mary believed? Because they had joy, and God wants you to have the same joy, so believe on the same Lord they believed in. IN the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

The Handmaid of the Lord Sunday, December 14th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 1:26–38 Prayer O God Our Father, nothing is impossible with You. And so grant that new life may spring forth in our hearts even now, a life of faith formed by love, which alone is pleasing to You and profitable for our salvation. Grant Thy Holy Spirit to overshadow us, even as it overshadowed the virgin, so that Christ may be perfectly formed in us, to the glory of the undivided Trinity, One God Forever, Amen. Introduction From the earliest days of the Christian church, it has been necessary to believe and confess that the Lord Jesus was, “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.” And this morning we come to a passage in Luke’s Gospel that is a foundational proof text for this article of faith. Our belief in the virgin birth of Christ is a truth we confess in the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Definition of Chalcedon, and it is a truth that unites all of Christendom (Protestants, Roman Catholics, and Orthodox alike). However, it might not be obvious at first why this truth matters. Of course, it matters because the Word of God teaches it, and therefore we must believe it, but how does the virgin birth relate to who Jesus is and what He came to do? Why did God choose to enter our world in this way, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary? Wel this morning, I want to begin to answer that question as we study this passage before us. And so let me give you the outline of our text, and then we’ll consider some of the implications of it. Outline of the Text Here in verses 26-38 we have a conversation between the angel Gabriel, and the virgin Mary. And this conversation unfolds in three parts: In verses 26-29, the angel greets Mary, and Mary responds with silent wonder. In verses 30-34, the angel prophesies that she will bear the Son of God, and Mary responds with faith seeking understanding. And then in verses 35-38, the angel explains how God will work this miracle, and Mary responds with Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And what Luke is doing in this section is setting up a contrast between Mary and Zacharias (who we learned about last week). He is giving us a contrast between an old man and a young woman, between a priest in the Temple and a girl from the countryside. An angel appears to both of them with good news of great joy, a miraculous son shall be born, but the responses of Mary and Zacharias differ. And so as we walk through this text together try to note those differences, because Luke is teaching us, his readers, how we should respond when the most certain word of God is preached to us. So with that in mind, let us walk through our text. In verse 26 we have the setup. 26And in the sixth month [referring to the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth. Where is Nazareth? It is about 75 miles north of Jerusalem (about week’s journey walking), and about 15 miles west of the Sea of Galilee, which is where Jesus will later call his disciples. Now we know from Nathanael’s comment in John 1:46, that Nazareth did not exactly have the greatest reputation. In modern day terms we would say it was “flyover county,” perhaps a place to pass thru but not a vacation destination. Nathanael says to Philip, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see. And so already God is teaching us a lesson here that will recur again and again in Luke’s gospel, and that is: God loves to take foolish things and shame the wise. God loves to use weak things to humiliate the strong. It says in 1 Corinthians 1:28-29, God uses the base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. It is not good for us to be proud and mighty and to boast in our beauty or strength, for all flesh is as grass and our beauty as the flower, but the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, is forever, unfading in its glory. And so mark this theme of Luke’s gospel: God’s kingdom turns the kingdoms of men, and Satan’s kingdom upside down. God’s kingdom brings justice and equity where corruption and oppression has been institutionalized. When Jesus shows up on the scene pronouncing “Woes” and “Blessings,” he separates by His words those who love the evil status quo from those who love the ways of God. And the question then becomes for everyone: Which kingdom do you belong to? Are you with Christ or against him? Are you seeking first the kingdom of heaven, or seeking first your own? So Luke sets this truth before us up front by this act of God sending the angel to Nazareth of all places. Mary is living in that town from which nobody expects anything good to come, and it is from there that the only Good thing shall come. And so to those who may doubt the goodness of Jesus of Nazareth, we say to them with Phillip, “Come and see.” So the angel Gabriel is sent to Nazareth, and in verse 27 it says he was sent… Verse 27 27To a virgin espoused [betrothed] to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. Here Luke is connecting Mary and Joseph to the royal lineage of King David, and by doing so he is also connecting them to God’s promises to David which have yet to be fulfilled. God says in 2 Samuel 7:16, And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. And David himself wrote in Psalm 110, The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek. And in Psalm 132:11 it says, The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. These promises the Jews had held onto for centuries waiting, Mary and Joseph among them. And Luke tells us they are of the house of David, which makes them candidates for begetting the promised messiah. However, there is a natural barrier to that begetting, namely the wedding hasn’t happened yet. Mary is still a virgin. This is the setup for the angel’s message in verse 28. Verse 28 28And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Here the angel proclaims three things to Mary: She is 1) highly favored with God, 2) the Lord is with her, and 3) she is blessed among women. However, at this stage in the conversation, Mary has no idea what or why this angel has suddenly appeared to her, a virgin girl living in Nazareth. Moreover, such a greeting has never been given to any other woman in Isarel’s history. This is unprecedented for someone like Mary, who knows the Hebrew Scriptures. And therefore, in verse 29 it says. Verse 29 29And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. Mary’s mind is racing, wondering, she is vexed at what she is seeing and hearing. Like Zacharias she is afraid, but unlike Zacharias she is ready to believe whatever the angel says. And so what does the angel say? Verses 30-33 30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. So after quieting Mary’s fears, and assuring her of God’s favor, the angel describes who she will conceive in her womb, and what his divine mission shall be. 1. His name will be called Jesus, which means Salvation. 2. He shall be great, which is always an understatement when you ascribe it to God. It says in Psalm 145:3, For His greatness is unsearchable, His ways past finding out (Rom 11:33). 3. He shall be called the Son of the Highest. That is, divine in His sonship, from God in His eternal origin. 4. We have this Divine Son’s mission described. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. This fulfills many prophesies in Isaiah, to give you just one it says in Isaiah 11:1, And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. Meaning, what David lost because of his sins, and what Israel had squandered because of their idolatry, the throne that sat in ruins shall be raised up by Mary’s Son. Moreover, how long shall her Son reign? 5. The angel says in verse 33,And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.It was this same angel Gabriel who explained to Daniel 500 years earlier this coming of the Messiah (Daniel 9:21-27). It was also Daniel who saw in a vision this everlasting reign of Christ. It says in Daniel 7:13-14, I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. For Mary as a pious Jew, and as one related to Elizabeth and Zacharias the priest, she would have most certainly known this prophetic hope. She would have been constant in praying for God’s promises to be fulfilled. And therefore, unlike Zacharias who should have known better than to doubt the word of the angel, Mary believes and has only one question. Verse 34 How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? We call this kind of question, “faith seeking understanding.” And this principle is the basis of all good Bible questions, and all good theological endeavors. If faith is not your starting point, you are destined to go astray, you are destined to entangle yourself in foolish questions, vain speculation, and empty controversies. And so while Zacharias asked the epistemological question, “How shall I know?” Mary proceeds from faith in God as her first principle and then asks the ontological question, “How shall this be?” And there is a world of difference between these two intellectual states. It is the difference between faith that makes you strong, and doubt that makes you weak. Zacharias doubts what his own eyes and ears are perceiving, and for such doubt he is silenced. But Mary hears and believes what she cannot see, and for such faith is lead to understand it. It says in Isaiah 7:9, If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established. Or as the Greek translation has it, If you do not believe, you will not understand. And so Mary exemplifies this intellectual posture and attitude of trust that every Christian should imitate. Mary believes not only to understand, but in order to obey and cooperate. She believes the Word of God and then asks the question of application, How does this Word relate to me personally? And because she asks this question from faith, and because it is a question worthy of her knowing, God gives her an answer. Verses 35-37 35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37For with God nothing shall be impossible. This is the miraculous means by which Mary shall conceive the Son of God. Not through marital intercourse, not through any sexual act at all. Not by the will of man, but by the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing her. This word for overshadowing (ἐπισκιάσει) is the same word that is used in the Greek version of Exodus 40 to describe the glory of God filling the tabernacle. It says in Exodus 40:34-35, Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud overshadowed/rested (ἐπεσκίαζεν) above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Mary has become the literal physical dwelling place for God, and the place in which God’s glory shall be hidden for 9 months. And in this respect her husband Joseph is akin to Moses, who for the glory dwelling within her, does not enter. We learn from Matthew’s gospel that God also sends an angel to Joseph to inform him of this miraculous conception and virgin birth. It says in Matthew 1:18-20, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And then in verse 25 it says, And [Joseph] knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS. So just as the first woman was created without intercourse, formed miraculously from Adam’s side, so now the Last Adam is conceived without intercourse, formed miraculously in the womb of the virgin. Mary is The Woman whose seed shall crush the serpent’s head. Mary is a New Eve, a New Mother of all the living, for the Son of God who is eternal life has chosen her to be His mother. And lest the wonder of such a gracious promise give Mary any occasion for doubt, the angel adds to these words a sign of confirmation, the sign of Elizabeth’s miraculous conception. And then he seals that sign to her saying, For with God nothing shall be impossible. How then does Mary respond to this answer? Because there is still a lot of things she does not understand. She does not yet know how Joseph will respond, or how they will need to travel to Bethlehem in 9 months. She is not told up front about the circumstances that will surround the child’s birth, and how Herod will try to kill him, and so they will need to escape to Egypt to protect their child. And rather than asking all those follow-up questions now with the angel in front o her, questions that you and I might be tempted to ask, instead she contents herself with what God has seen fit to reveal, and she says in verse 38. Verse 38 Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. These are most beautiful and lovely words. You can hear the meekness in her voice as she gives her consent. She declares that she is the handmaid of the Lord. In Greek this is δούλη, translated elsewhere as slave or bondservant. So far from exalting herself as being worthy of such high favor, Mary regards herself as the lowly maidservant of the Lord. Later she will say to Elizabeth, My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His handmaiden; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. Jesus is Mary’s Savior, even though she is the Savior’s mother. Notice that Mary does not cease toacknowledge the gratuitous nature of this gift. It is not because she is so awesome that all will call her blessed, it is because He who is mighty has done great things for me. This is in part why we as Protestant don’t pray to Mary, she would not want us to. She would say “take you prayers directly to my Son, the one Mediator between God and man, for my Son is my savior just as He is yours.” Mary exemplifies the attitude of Psalm 115:1 which says, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But unto thy name give glory, For thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Conclusion I want to close by returning to the question we asked at the beginning: Why did God choose to enter our world this way, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary? Let me give you just three of the many reasons for God doing this: 1. It was to demonstrate Christ’s real humanity. If the Son of God had just descended from the sky looking like a healthy 30-year-old man with a halo on his head, it would be hard to believe that he was fully man, of the same nature as you and I. As Hebrews 4:15 says of Him, He can sympathize with our weaknesses, and was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. And so to make us know just how close God wants to get to us, He assumes our very nature starting at conception, and joins that nature to Himself in a Personal Union, eternal God with time-bound man, unchangeable divinity with a growing humanity. And all so that we might be joined to Him. He partakes of our nature that we might partake of His (Hebrews 2:14, 2 Peter 1:4). 2. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary to demonstrate his full divinity. Only God can beget God, no virgin could do this however holy, with a man or without one. And therefore, the only explanation for the existence of Jesus is that He is God from God, light from light, the only begotten Son of the eternal Father. And because the Father begets the Son in a spiritual conception, so also it was most fitting that Mary conceive that same Son without carnal intercourse, but by the Spirit’s power. As Isaiah 7:14 foretold, A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel. God with us. 3. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the virgin Mary to teach us how the miracle of salvation is effected in us. As miraculous as the virgin birth is, the justification of the ungodly is an even greater miracle than this! For consider the virgin Mary, she possessed God in her very womb, and yet without faith, that virginal conception would be no profit to her. Mary still had to believe in the Son of God dwelling within her. St. Augustine writes that, “Mary is more blessed in receiving the faith of Christ, than in conceiving the flesh of Christ…Her nearness as a Mother would have been of no profit to Mary, had she not borne Christ in her heart after a more blessed manner than in her flesh.” So do you like Mary tremble and fear before the announcement of God’s high favor towards you? You are favored to hear the gospel of Christ. As Philippians 2:12 says, do you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? Do you like Mary, believe in order to understand? Do you believe in order to conceive the same Word and Christ that Mary conceived and nourished in her womb? As Paul says in Ephesians 3:17, That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. And in Colossians 1:27 it says, To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. And finally, do you like Mary consent to the will of God? Does your heart say to Him, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. Salvation is God’s gracious giving of His very self to you. And so purify your heart for Him. Keep your soul chaste from idols and demons, lies and falsehood, so that as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11:1, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. May God’s Holy Spirit overshadow you, and dwell within you forever, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Blameless & Barren Sunday, December 7th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Luke 1:1–25 Prayer O Father, we thank You for the miracle of grace, that takes away the reproach of our sins. Teach us now to believe more firmly the testimony of Your Word, for we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction Well, if you have ever wondered what the longest book in the New Testament is, you just heard the first 25 verses of it. Yes, the Gospel of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament by word count (and the second longest is Luke’s sequel, the book of Acts). And so this morning we shall begin our journey through this gospel, although because of its length, we may take some breaks along the way, we shall see. Now what is unique about Luke is that it gives us many stories and details that no other gospel records. For example, Luke alone tells us about the angel Gabriel appearing to Zacharias. Luke alone tells us about the angel appearing to Mary, and how she responds with her now famous Magnificat (“My soul magnifies the Lord!”). Luke alone gives us the “Song of Simeon,” which we sing as our benediction during Advent. Luke alone gives us the one story about Jesus as a boy, which all the other gospels remain silent about. Luke alone also contains some of the most famous parables like the Prodigal Son, and the Good Samaritan. So there is a real sense in which Luke is the most detailed and comprehensive account of Jesus’ earthly life. An account that begins even before his birth, with the miraculous conception and naming of John, who according to the angel shall make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So this morning on this Second Sunday of Advent, in this season of preparing ourselves for the coming of Christ, I want to consider the question: How does God prepare His people for His own Son’s arrival? How does God make ready those faithfully awaiting the Messiah, and what we can learn from this inspired history that Luke records for us? There are three answers to this question we find here in Luke 1:1-25. And they are 1. By Sending His Most Certain Word 2. By Answering Our Former Prayers 3. By Reconciling Us to Himself and One Another So let’s walk through this text together just focusing on those three answers. How does God prepare us for His only begotten Son’s arrival? The first way is…. #1 – By Sending His Most Certain Word God does through the Luke as the author of this gospel, and then also through many figures within the gospel story. First observe how Luke describes the reason for him writing this gospel. He says in verse 1 that others have attempted this work (like Matthew and Mark), and yet there is still so much more to say about Jesus. And because Luke has access to reliable eyewitnesses, referring to the apostles (ministers of the word), He says in verses 3-4, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed. So notice that Luke’s intention is to give certainty/assurance to those who already believe and have been instructed (κατηχήθης, catechized). This name Theophilus means “lover of God” or “friend of God” and he was most likely the patron who funded the writing and distribution of this work and the book of Acts. Luke says in Acts 1:1, The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach. So who is Theophilus? He is the “most excellent friend of God” and patron of these two important treatises, Luke & Acts, which together make up almost a third of the whole New Testament. So whatever it cost Theophilus to fund Luke’s work, I think we can safely say it was money well spent! By way of application, we could ask ourselves: In what ways are we being friends and lovers of God like Theophilus? In what ways can we support and assist those laboring to make the truth known in our day? The ordinary way is by our tithes and offerings, but there also many other ways that we can be using what God has given us to further His kingdom. It says in Proverbs 22:9, He that hath a generous eye shall be blessed. And so are you aspiring to be generous like Theophilus? So God prepares people for Christ by inspiring individuals like Luke and Theophilus to get in writing what the apostles and other people saw from the beginning. Written records matter! And back then writing was not cheap. Given the contents of this gospel, Luke must have had to interview Mary, Elizabeth, Zacharias, and others. How else would he know what they saw, said, and thought within themselves? So Luke has his work cut out for him (he will need to travel and schedule meetings with these people), and then gather up all this eyewitness testimony in his library so he can them put into an orderly account. And so notice that while “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim 3:16), the Holy Spirit uses many earthly means to write the Scriptures. He does not merely dictate to Luke the words to write, He uses Luke’s human efforts, education, and acquired skills of writing and composition to author this masterful and coherent narrative. And so while human beings are involved in the process of writing Scripture, the result of Luke’s work is still the very Word of God, authored ultimately by the Holy Spirit with Luke as God’s instrument. In a similar way, whenever you preach the gospel to others, whenever you tell someone the truth about Jesus, you are functioning as God’s prophet, you are God’s instrument to bring people into the kingdom. It says in Revelation 19:10, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. And it is by testifying of Jesus that God fulfills the promise Joel 2:28, I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. So this is one of the ways God prepares people for Christ. By using fallible and mortal creatures to bear witness to the infallible and immortal truth of what God has accomplished in Jesus. God does this by sending His most sure and certain Word, through human messengers. Second observe, that God also uses angelic messengers to prepare His people. And in verses 5-20 we have the angel Gabriel bringing good news to Zacharias the priest. And the message of Gabriel illustrates this second way in which God prepares us, and that is…. #2 – By Answering Our Former Prayers It says in verses 5-7, 5There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years. Here we are introduced to the parents of John the Baptist. The name Zacharias means, “God has remembered.” And the name Elizabeth, means “My God is abundant,” or “My God has sworn an oath.” And so in the very names of this godly older couple are contained a message of hope and expectation that God will remember His Word. My God has sworn and made promises and He shall keep them. And yet despite Zacharias and Elizabeth being righteous before God and blameless, they are also barren. This should call to mind for us the first promise of the gospel in Genesis 3:15 where God says to the Serpent, And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel. And so from Genesis onward there is this expectation that through the bearing of godly seed, salvation shall come, the Serpent shall be defeated and the curse undone. And then starting in Genesis this pattern of barrenness that precedes a miraculous conception becomes a theme of the Old Testament. We might think of Abram and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Manoah and his wife (who gives birth to Samson), and perhaps most similar to our scene here in Luke 1 is the scene in 1 Samuel 1, where Hannah miraculously conceives and gives birth to the priest Samuel. So according to God’s Word, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth (Psalm 127:3-4) And in Exodus 23 and Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 7 God tells Israel that if they keep covenant with Him, none shall be barren, they will be fruitful, multiply, and prosper. And so the fact that Zacharias and Elizabeth are now old and still without this blessing, made them “a reproach among men,” as Elizabeth says in verse 25. There was a kind of social shame and suspicion that maybe they had done something wrong to deserve this barrenness. We might think of the disciples in John 9:2-3 who ask Jesus, “Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. And so like the man born blind, Luke tells us that for Zacharias and Elizabeth, it was not for any personal individual sins that they lacked children. Instead, it was the consequence of living in a sin-cursed world, amongst a covenant breaking people. They are collateral damage of decades of Israel’s apostasy and in a most personal and painful way, unable to have children. So the Bible has a category for people (like Job, or like Joshua) who are personally righteous and blameless, but who suffer various pains and evils of God’s curse. This could be 1) Because of original sin in Adam such that we all die, or 2) Because of national sins of idolatry and the corporate stain of bloodguilt, or 3) Simply because God is going to glorify Himself and strengthen our faith through the suffering He permits. Whatever the case, Zacharias and Elizabeth are innocent and faithful covenant keepers, but who are members and part of a corporately/nationally guilty people. They represent the righteous remnant who dwell among an unrighteous people. Luke frontloads this reality by telling us when this angelic appearance took place, it was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea. In other words, if Herod is the king, something has gone tragically wrong for the nation. If a blameless priest and a blameless daughter of Aaron are without the blessing of children, the nation must be under the curse of God’s covenant. So this is an important distinction we need to remember as Christians. Some of our misfortunes and trials are direct consequences of our own sin and folly (we can draw a direct line between the two). But there are other times when we cannot. And so we need to remember this biblical category of the righteous individual who suffers the consequences of their nation’s corporate sins. Christ is of course the perfect example of someone who is perfectly righteous and innocent, and yet who suffers the consequences of other people’s sins (even the whole world). As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, 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. So we don’t always know the why for our lack of blessings, sometimes it’s us directly, sometimes it’s the result of Adam’s sin and living in a fallen world, sometimes it’s the consequence of corporate sins of our nation or family, but in either case, we always ought to be praying for and seeking after God’s blessing, trusting what the names of Zacharias and Elizabeth signify, God shall remember and My God has sworn, and He will make us abundant according to His promise. And so with this burden of barrenness weighing heavy on this blameless couple, God visits them in a momentous way: By an angel with a most certain word, and by answering the prayers Zacharias had prayed from long ago. It says in verses 11-13 that while everyone was praying outside,And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. 13But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. John’s name means “The Lord is Gracious.” And by this angelic announcement we have the answer to the constant cries of the Psalms and Prophets who say to God, Be gracious unto me, O Lord. Have mercy upon your servant. Do not forget thy covenant which You have sworn of old. In answer to that hope and longing, God gives a son named, “The Lord is gracious.” However, observe that Zacharias does not respond with joy and thanksgiving. This otherwise blameless priest suddenly has a crisis of faith. Perhaps his heart had grown weary from hoping against hope. It says in Proverbs 13:12, Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. Perhaps Zacharias was so sick with sorrow that even an angel appearing to Him does not rouse him to believe. What a state of despair to be in that even an angel from heaven does not awaken your faith. In verse 18 he says to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.” It’s as if Zacharias has forgotten his own history, his own priestly lineage, he has forgotten that his God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who has done this thing before! Zacharias has forgotten God’s Word, forgotten his own prayers, and so God answers him with a sign that matches his unbelief. It says in verses 19-21,And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings. And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season. The angel’s answer to Zacharias is (I think very humorously), “I am Gabriel (my name means Man of God or God my strength), I stand in God’s presence. I visited Daniel 400 years ago. And God sent me to tell you these things. Are you so dumb as to not believe me? Oh yes, you are, and so silent you shall be for 9 months, until God’s word is fulfilled.” Summary: So how does God prepare His people for Christ? First, He sends His most certain word, through human messengers, through angelic messengers, and Second, He is so gracious that He answers the prayers of someone who is experiencing a crisis of faith. And this should be a great comfort to us. Maybe it was ten years ago that you prayed with great faith and fervency for the conversion of a family member, or for healing, or for a spouse, or to conceive children.But because nothing seemed to happen, heaven appeared silent, you stopped praying, you lost heart. And so the question I ask you today is: Would you believe it if God answered that prayer from ten years ago, today? Would you believe that your former prayers of faith are still heard by the eternal God, even if you are presently struggling with doubt in the now? It says in Isaiah 49:14-16, But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.”[And God says in response] “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Although a mother may forget her own child, God shall never forget you. And it is this truth that God uses to stir up and renew our faith and our hope, to renew our prayers and zeal to ask for great things that only He can give. How many of need to repent for our unbelief? Even as we are praying Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It says in Numbers 23:19, God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? God never forgets His promises or His people, and He loves to prepare us for new blessings by answering even our former prayers. Third and finally, we see from Gabriel’s message to Zacharias that John’s ministry will be to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And if we look at Gabriel’s prophecy about John, we see that God also prepares us…. #3 – By Reconciling Us To Himself & One Another Gabriel says in verses 13-17, And thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. First notice that God thinks you need time to prepare yourself, to prepare your heart, so that when Christ comes (whether for salvation or judgment!), you are ready to receive Him with joy and faith. It says in Isaiah 59:2-4, But your sins have built barriers between and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: They trust in vanity, and speak lies; They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. And so because your sins and lies imprison you, they shut your eyes to God’s goodness, He sends messengers on ahead of Christ, to call you to repentance. To give you a heads up that judgment day is coming, and you need to get right with the Lord and those you have sinned against before you die. And so John’s ministry is to be the “Turning Point” for Israel. It is a ministry of repentance and reconciliation, between God and between men. Repentance has a vertical dimension that reconciles us to God, and it has a horizontal dimension that reconciles us to one another. True repentance includes both of these dimensions. Now there are three turnings that Gabriel prophesies shall result from John’s ministry. 1. In verse 16 it says, many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. This is the first and foundational repentance for judgment day. Turn your attention to the LORD God. Worship God. Fear God. Obey God. Do everything for the glory of God. Without this turning to God you will die in your sins. 2. In verse 17 it says, he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. This is the healing of generational strife between fathers and their children. However disobedient the children may have been, however prodigal and foolish a son or daughter may be, the sign of a repentant father is that his heart yearns with compassion for his children. His heart reflects the heart of God the Father, as it says in Psalm 103:13-14, As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. And so fathers, what is your heart’s disposition towards your children? It is easy to love an obedient son, a respectful daughter, but what about when they are disobedient and disrespectful? Do you still love them the way God loves you? Is your discipline of them just and equitable and intended for their good, or is it just venting your anger, or avenging your own wounded pride? God knows our frame as imperfect fathers, and so He gives us clear instructions like, Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged (Col 3:21). And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph 6:4). And in 1 Thessalonian 2:11-12, Paul says You know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory. The sign of a man who is at peace with God, is that he is tender-hearted towards his children, and seeking to be at peace with them insofar as it is possible. So fathers, is your heart turned towards your children? 3. Also, in verse 17 it says that John will turn the disobedient to the wisdom of the just. This refers to the turning away from folly and the pursuit of earthly gain at the expense of heavenly treasure. We are given a few examples of such turning a few chapters later when John begins preaching. It says in Luke 3:10-14, So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” So these are the fruits worthy of repentance. For soldiers and tax collectors it did not mean quitting their jobs, it meant doing what is just and fair without taking advantage of other people. And for those not in positions of authority it meant looking out for those in need. As Paul says in Galatians 6:10, As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Conclusion This is how you make ready for Christ’s coming. 1. When God sends His Word, choose to believe it. This Gospel contains eyewitness testimonies to real historical events, that God orchestrated and authored for your salvation. Do you believe this? 2. Renew your prayers. Repent of your unbelief. Don’t be like Zacharias who was struck dumb for doubting the word from the angel, a word that was intended to bring him joy. Don’t miss out on the joy God wants to give you by praying fervently and hoping in His Word. 3. If there are people you are out of fellowship with, who you have wronged or sinned against. Seek out their forgiveness. Jesus says in Matthew 5:23-24, Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. What does God want more than your tithes and offerings and sacrifices? Reconciliation between estranged brothers. This is how you prepare yourself for God. And so may we, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Foolish Questions, Heretics, and Winter Plans Sunday, November 30th, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 3:8–15 Prayer O Father, we thank You for this precious letter, that you inspired the Apostle Paul to write to Titus, and which You have preserved for the church’s benefit, so that we hearing it today, 2,000 years later, might learn from the church in Crete, that we might discern what Your unchangeable will is for your holy people. So please bless now the preaching, the hearing, and the keeping of this Word of faith, for we ask this all in Jesus’ name, Amen. Introduction This morning, we come to the happy conclusion of Paul’s letter to Titus. And whenever you get to the end of a book in the Bible, it is often worthwhile to go back and reflect on how that book began and why it was written in the first place. Recall that Paul is writing a personal letter to his spiritual son Titus, and this letter is all about how to govern and care for the church. And because this question of church government and discipline is important for the whole church to know about, Paul intends this letter to be read publicly within the many cities and congregations on the Island of Crete. And so while this letter is addressed to Titus as a spiritual ruler, we see in the final verse of this letter (Titus 3:15), Paul proclaims “Grace be with you all (plural),” referring to all the saints in Crete. So just in case the Christians in Crete are uncertain about Titus’ authority, preaching, and doctrine, they have this letter from the Apostle’s pen to confirm his ministry among them. Recall also the reason why Titus was left in Crete in the first place. Paul says in Titus 1:5, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee. So now that we have studied this letter in its entirety, we can more fully appreciate everything that was wanting and lacking in Crete. 1. First and foremost, they were lacking a qualified eldership, and so chapter 1 was spent detailing Presbyterian government and what a bishop/pastor must be. 2. Second, was this problem of false teachers, of whom Paul says in Titus 1:11, their mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake. 3. And then after addressing this lack of leadership in the church, he spends the rest of the letter addressing what is wanting amongst the saints. And so in chapters 2-3 he addresses every class of people within the church: older men, older women, younger women, younger men, servants, and then all Christians in their relation to the civil government and the outside world. And this brings us to Paul’s concluding words and salutations here in verses 8-15, which contains specific instructions for Titus more personally but also has principles that the whole church ought to know and embrace. So while this section is directed primarily at the pastors and elders in the church, it’s still important for all the saints to know these things and to be aware of them. Outline of the Text In verses 8-9, Paul contrasts what is good and profitable with what is unprofitable and vain, and therefore to be avoided. In verses 10-11, He tells Titus how to deal with heretics who persist in what is unprofitable and vain. In verses 12-15, He directs Titus to fulfill some of his presbytery duties to assist other ministers. So we have here: 1) What to avoid, 2) How to deal with heretics, and 3) How to help other ministers. Verses 8-9 – What should Titus avoid? 8This is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 9But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. So looking at verse 8, what is this faithful saying that Titus is to affirm constantly? It is nothing less than the doctrine of God’s grace that leads to good works which is what he just explained in the verses prior, and which has been then theme of this whole letter, the marriage between wholesome doctrine and wholesome living, God’s grace that leads to gracious action. So unlike the Cretans who are “always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons,” Christians are to be submissive to the civil government, hardworking and peaceful citizens, and they are To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men (Titus 3:2). So Christian conduct should look radically different from the unbelieving world around them. There should be an obvious difference between the light and the dark. However, lest we get too high on our horse as children of the light, Paul also wants us to constantly remember our former state, our former sins and ignorance, and the grace of God shown to us in spite of that ignorance and sin and the eternal damnation we all justly deserve. And so the faithful saying that Titus must affirm constantly is that salvation is Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; [so] That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying…(Titus 3:5-8). So that’s the content of what Titus and every Christian needs to keep front and center. Last week we said that this is the truth that makes us gentle and meek, patient and kind. And then in sharp contrast to this truth, which is most good and most profitable, there are all kings of falsity, diversions, and distractions that we must learn to avoid. Here in verse 9 Paul lists 4 things for Titus (and every pastor and parishioner) to avoid: 1. Avoid foolish questions. So yes, this means that not all questions are good questions. Some questions are bad. In 2 Timothy 2:23 Paul says likewise, But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. How do you determine if a question is good or foolish, wise or unlearned? Well first ask yourself, “Will knowing the answer to this question increase my faith in God, my love for God and my neighbor, and my ability to be a blessing to others?” If the question and answer does not have any relevance to the duties God has assigned to you, then there’s a pretty good chance it is either a foolish question, or just a question for another time, or for someone else to ask and answer because it is relevant to them. Knowledge is not equally profitable to every mind, a child often needs a very different answer than a grown adult. And so we must be on guard that our quest for knowledge or new understanding, is not a distraction from the actual duties and clear commands we already know and understand. A husband can spend his entire life learning to obey and do better at Ephesians 5:25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it. And yet many husbands overlook what is most plain and clear and relevant to their own duties before God, and become fixated on doctrinal minutiae and debates, when what would really please God is turning off the TV, putting down the phone or the book, and holding their wife’s hand for a change, looking her in the eyes, and asking how is your soul? There is a proper order to acquiring real knowledge. Wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, with obeying the clear commands of God, and only after that do we proceed to other matters. As David says in Psalm 131, Lord, My heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: Neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. So we must be careful to avoid foolish questions, or searching out things too high for us. 2. The second thing Paul says to avoid is genealogies. Again notice, this is a fixation upon what is less relevant in Scripture at the expense of what is most important. The Jews were known for memorizing lists of names from Abel to Zerubbabel, and yet they neglected and lacked knowledge of why those names mattered. Jesus points out this same problem in Matthew 23:23, Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. And so because Christ has come as the fulfillment, culmination, and end of the genealogies in Scripture, and because Christ is himself the Last Adam, and the head of a new humanity, debates about “who begat who,” and tracing your own bloodline to this tribe or that one is now irrelevant as far as the kingdom is concerned. And so while there is a place for honoring and remembering our earthly fathers and mothers, baptism gives us a new identity and a new community in Christ, and that takes precedence and priority over everything else that we may ever discover about ourselves. It does not matter at all whether you have Abraham’s blood running through your veins, what matters is whether you have Abraham’s faith living in your heart. As Paul says in Galatians 3:26-29, For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. So while carnal men and carnal women entangle themselves with things of the flesh, genealogies, blood and soil, the Christian is to avoid such fixations that distract from faith, that distract from Christ, and which only stir up identity politics, bitterness, and war. If the result of such “study” and “research” is you boasting in the flesh, or vilifying some people group, then it is by definition not of the Spirit. And such things Titus and everyone else should avoid. 3. & 4. The third and fourth thing to avoid are contentions, and strivings about the law. This especially refers to squabbles over what you can eat and drink, touch or not touch, and which of the Jewish ceremonies were still binding on believers. We learn from the church council in Acts 15 that this question was already debated and settled, and therefore it would be unprofitable and vain to rehash that same debate over and over again, rather than just obeying the decision that was determined. Again, remember that the devil loves to distract you from obeying, by calling into question the Word of God. How did the serpent seduce Eve? By sowing doubt in her heart, “Did God really say?” There is a time and a place to argue, debate, and defend the truth, but only if and when God has called you and equipped you to do that. Titus was a minister, and yet Paul says, avoid these kinds of strivings and contentions about the law, because they are a waste of time and will not profit anyone. Moreover, the kinds of people who want to argue these things are warped in their mind. And the most loving thing to do for them is not argue, not engage them. We need wisdom to know how to apply Proverbs 26:4-5, Answer not a fool according to his folly, Lest thou also be like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own conceit. Debates with fools can easily consume hours of people’s time and attention and that without profit. Especially when what they should be doing is their God-given vocation, exercising dominion, raising their children, and serving others. So if pastors and elders are to avoid these four things: foolish questions, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, then how much more the rest of the congregation? If it is not profitable for Titus, it is definitely not profitable for you or me. This bring us to our second question which is, How should Titus deal with the people who don’t listen, and who persist in what is unprofitable and vain. Verses 10-11 – How should Titus deal with heretics? 10A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; 11Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself. So notice that Paul is aiming at a kind of pastoral efficiency for Titus and the elders in Crete. He is insistent that they do not waste time debating with heretics, but rather warn them twice, and after that reject them. Now here we might ask, what exactly is a heretic in this context? This word for heretic could also be translated as a divisive man, or a schismatic, they are someone who causes division and usually is trying to gain followers for his own novel views. Paul gives a similar warning about such people in Romans 16:17-18 he says there, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. So a heretic is someone who seeks to divide the church and gain for themselves a following. They are often fixated on some secondary or tertiary doctrine, or have invented some new doctrine contrary to the faith once received (often it’s some weird view of marriage, sex, or eschatology), but of course they do it all in the name of “true Christianity,” or being “more biblical” than the apostles were. Beware of such people. On the outside, these men are often likeable and persuasive, Paul says it is with good words and fair speeches that they deceive the hearts of the simple. They use Bible verses just like the Devil did. They are smooth talkers, confidence men. And so the way you find out if someone is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or just a sheep who has been led astray by a wolf, is by confronting those errors and admonishing that person. If they are obstinate and not teachable, you give them a second warning. And if they still refuse after that, Paul says mark and avoid them. This might be a public censure from the elders or presbytery, or it might be excommunication, but usually these people end up separating themselves from the body by their own choice, they avoid accountability, and then wander (like a wolf) around the fringes of the church. So this is the biblical process for church discipline when someone is being divisive. We do not instantly kick them out, but after two warnings, they must be rejected. Paul adds in verse 11 three common qualities of such divisive people. 1) They are subverted/perverted, meaning they have ruined themselves, they have abandoned the straight and narrow path of Christ. 2) They sinneth, not just any sin, but willfully and knowingly so because they’ve been admonished twice but have refused to repent. And then 3) he says such heretics are self-condemned. By dividing themselves from the “one holy catholic and apostolic church,” they witness to their own destruction. And it says in the WCF, they are now outside the church where “there is no ordinary possibility of salvation” (WCF 25.2) Now one of the things I really appreciate about you as a congregation, is that you often ask us, me or one of the other elders about whether so and so is a sound teacher or not. And in these days of internet pastors, podcasts, platform builders, and the buffet of heresies that are just one click away (you thought pornography was bad, their soul destroying heretics all over YouTube) you need to be very careful who you follow and listen to. As a general rule, if a person is not accountable to a real church with a real elder session that actually exercises real church discipline, that is at the very least a red flag. Secondarily, if that person has a financial motive to generate traffic to their channel, there are now all kinds of perverse incentives to stir up controversy, to be provocative and edgy, just to game the algorithm. Again, that doesn’t automatically make someone a heretic, but it is something to factor in as to what someone’s real motives might be. And then third, if that person does not meet those 16 qualifications to be a teacher in the church, in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, living above reproach, meek and gentle with all, then there’s a good chance something is off, and they may not be worth subjecting your soul to their instruction. Summary: Titus and all of us are to avoid foolish questions that are vain and unprofitable. We are also to avoid divisive people (people who murmur and complain like Korah and his company did against Moses, and then were destroyed). Don’t become a divisive person, and don’t follow those who are contentious, or soon you will be divisive and contentious too. As it says in Proverbs 22:24-25, Make no friendship with an angry man; And with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, And get a snare to thy soul. This brings us to our third and final section of this chapter, and the end of this letter. Verses 12-15 – How should Titus help other ministers? 12When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter. 13Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them. 14And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. 15All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. Here we have an assortment of presbytery duties that are assigned to Titus. In verse 12 we see that Paul is planning to send Artemas or Tychicus (he’s not sure yet which one) to replace Titus on Crete, so that Titus can then join Paul in Nicopolis for the winter. This means that Titus’s days are numbered in Crete, and this would be another reason to not waste time on heretics and foolish questions. He has a bunch of elders he has to examine and ordain, false teachers to kick out, and whole lot of work to get done before winter. In verse 13, Titus is told to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, meaning pay for their expenses, give them lodging while they visit, replenish any needs they have so they can keep on going as ministers of the gospel. This is something we try to do as a church when we have guest preachers visit us, or traveling evangelists like Keith Darrell. We want to show them hospitality, assist as we are able, and then send them on their way to keep preaching the truth. In verse 14, Paul says that the church needs to have a kind of budget for these ministers, especially in a day without phones or email or knowledge of when exactly someone might arrive. In the ancient world there was no Air BnB, no cars or airplanes, and so traveling a was very dangerous and risky venture, especially by ship to an Island like Crete (as Acts 27 records for us). And so Paul wants the church to maintain good works for necessary uses. Other translations have, And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need. So are we prepared and budgeted for what God might send our way? Have we made plans and created margin for assisting those doing gospel work? It says in Proverbs 10:4-5, A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame. So what kind of son or daughter are you? Are you devoted to good works so that you have something to share with others? We are likewise encouraged to be generous in Ecclesiastes 11:1-2 which says, Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth. And then finally in verse 15, Paul gives salutations and the blessing of grace to all those that love us in the faith. And then he seals that blessing with the holy kiss of Amen. Let it be so. Conclusion And so as we close this sermon and this series in Titus, I want to ask you some questions that God has confronted us with throughout this small but punchy letter. 1. Does your life adorn your doctrine? Does the way you live harmonize with the truth you profess? Does your conduct make people want to believe the things you believe, Or does it turn them off to Christ and the church by how you present the truth? Recall that Titus 2:10 told us to, adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. 2. Do you know and are you aware of, what your particular sins and temptations are, and have you declared war on them? Remember how Paul addressed every man, every woman, old and young, servants and pastors, to acquire virtues and avoid vices that are common to our sex, age, and stage in life. 3. Are you being careful to maintain good works? Are you bearing fruit so that if an urgent need arises, you are ready and prepared to meet it? Recall that Titus 2:14 says, that Christ gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. All of us have many areas in which to grow, in our doctrine, in our zeal, in becoming more gentle and meek to all. And what Paul wants you to remember and affirm constantly, wherever you are at in this journey, is that this is a journey of grace. As it says in Psalm 32:10, Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. The gospel is not that “we are so good and look at how awesome we are,” it is that God is so good, God is so kind, and look at how awesome God is. Our testimony to the world is that we ourselves were once very lost, we ourselves were not long ago miserable creatures, hating God and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. God’s mercy is the only grounds of our boasting. And so may you say with the Apostle, and may you say with Jeremiah, let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord (Jer 9:24). In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

A Complete Salvation Sunday, November 23rd, 2025 Christ Covenant Church – Centralia, WA Titus 3:1–8 Prayer Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and lovingkindesses, for they have been ever of old. Lead us now in thy truth, and teach us, for You are the God of our strength, and for You we have waited all the day. We ask now for Your Holy Spirit, through Christ Jesus our Lord, One God forever, Amen. Introduction In Matthew 5:5, the Lord Jesus proclaims to the world, Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. And in Psalm 25:9-10 it says, The meek will he guide in judgment: And the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. Last week we said that here in Titus 3, the Apostle is teaching us how to become meek and gentle even as Jesus was meek and gentle. What is gentleness? Gentleness is that virtue of moderation that seasons us, tempers us, makes us courteous and kind. Gentleness transforms the inner spirit and attitude from which all our words and actions come forth. And thus, it says in Proverbs 15:4, A gentle tongue is a tree of life. And in Proverbs 15:1, A soft answer turneth away wrath. So gentleness is like a filter that purifies the streams of our heart. Without it, we end up polluting ourselves and defiling the people around us. And then connected with gentleness is this special virtue of meekness, which has as its goal and object the moderation of anger. Meekness curbs our natural desire for vengeance and keeps it within the bounds of God’s law. Meekness causes us to slow down and listen before making a snap judgment. As we just heard from Psalm 25:9, Who is it that God guides in judgment and teaches his way? The meek. Likewise in Proverbs 19:11 it says, The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, And his glory is to overlook a transgression. Without meekness we can easily become tyrants, bullies, passive aggressive or just active-aggressive. Without meekness we punish people from unjust anger rather than sincere love. And if you are uncertain about which spirit you are of, James 3:14-17 gives us a picture of this difference between a meek person and a self-willed person. He says,But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Do you see the difference that meekness makes? And so against the pettiness of our own flesh and the world outside, Paul says here in Titus 3:2 that Christians are, To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. And so the question before us is this morning is: How do you acquire these virtues of gentleness and meekness, when you live in Crete (or America), with liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons as your neighbors and rulers? How can you not be angry all the time when people are promoting such evils in the public square, promoting abortion and the murder of the innocent, lauding sexual perversion and the corruption of children, and blaspheming our thrice Holy God who holds their life in His hands? Is this really the time for meekness and gentleness? Are such virtues even worth having in our day? Well Paul has already anticipated our objections (our whattabouts and what ifs). Paul knows firsthand the evil and obstinance of the unbelieving world, of corrupt government officials, of false friends and deceivers inside the church and outside it. He has fought with beasts at Ephesus. He’s been stoned and imprisoned multiple times. He has been unjustly arrested and falsely accused as a “disturber of the peace.”And yet Paul has somehow not become jaded. He has not become insensitive or unfeeling; he has not lost his love or compassion for others. Instead, he is able to say in 2 Timothy 2:10 with chains on his wrists, I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. Paul did not know who the elect were, but he knew the means by which God calls the elect to Himself, namely though the preaching of the Word. And so this he does. He says likewise to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:23-24, 31, the Holy Spirit testifies [to me] in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God…Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears. O to be like Paul, to be unmoved by trials and difficulty, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. O to be like Paul, and to have counted all things as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ. Don’t you want that for yourself? Because God wants it for you. God wants you to be conformed to the pattern of Jesus so that your gentleness and meekness and joy can go undefeated. So if you desire that (as you should), Paul explains how you can become that kind of person here in verses 3-8. And here he gives us four reminders that if you take to heart, will make you gentle and meek towards all. Now the first reminder we considered last week is to remember your own weakness/fragility. Remember your life before you met Jesus. And if you’ve always known Jesus then just imagine what life would be like without Him. Paul says in verse 3, For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. And therefore, however evil and perverse that other person may be, or the world outside may be, that is the world of which you yourself were once a part. That is the world which you would still be living like, but for the grace of God. Moreover, that is the world that God so loved, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So how do you conquer your anger issues? How do you overcome your bitterness towards your parents, your sibling, your spouse, your co-worker, or whoever? The Bible says, the first step is to acknowledge who you were without Jesus, who you are now with Jesus, and who you would be today apart from Jesus. Because if you can start to really see that other person you don’t like the way God sees them and God sees you, as a great sinner in need of greater mercy, then there is a place for meekness and gentleness to grow. Now that’s just the first step towards meekness and probably the hardest one, “to know thyself truly and know thy sins really.” But we don’t stop there, because God does not stop there or leave us in our sins. What does He do? This brings us to the outline of our text wherein Paul reminds us of the total salvation that God has wrought for us in Christ. And there are three glorious aspects to this salvation which He extols for us here in this text. Outline of the Text In verses 4-5a, Paul reminds us of the reason why God saved us. In verses 5b-6, he reminds us of the instruments God uses to save us. In verses 7-8, Paul reminds us of the evidence or results of God’s saving work. Why does God save us, How does God save us, and What results from that salvation. These truths we need to be reminded of. Verses 4-5a – Why did God save you? 4But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. First observe the source of your salvation, it is nothing less than the kindness and love of God. And because God is unchangeable (He says in Malachi 3:6, I am the Lord, I change not), therefore God’s essential love for you does not wax or wane, increase or decrease depending on the day of the week, or the hour. Just as the clouds do not actually change or affects the sun’s heat or stop the sun’s shining from itself, just so your sins cannot stop God from loving you. What sin does is blind your eyes, obscures your vision, sin deceives you into thinking that God is something other than a God of pure love. This was the devil’s deception in the garden, and he never stops telling this lie: “God is not actually good.” But against such demonic lies it says in 1 John 4:8, God is love. And in Numbers 23:19 lest we imagine God to be just like us it says, God is not a man, that he should lie; Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? And so to scatter those clouds of sin and deception that were obscuring our vision of Who God truly is, the Son of God came down from heaven to be the light of the world. As it says in John 1:4-5, In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. This is what Paul means when he says,the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. What God always is, was, and shall be, appeared in a new and more powerful way by the incarnation of that God in the man Christ Jesus, in his life, his death, in his triumph over the grave. And so now wherever and whenever this gospel is preached and believed, there is a new appearance/epiphany of truth, of God’s love and kindness being made known. This is the gospel of God, and it is the immoveable ground that made Paul unmoved in adversity. By believing this truth we cast our anchor in the most secure harbor: in Christ, in the love of God, in heaven where our hope and treasure remain. And then lest we forget this holy ground and source of our salvation, Paul then refutes a common error. An error we too often mutter to ourselves, although we are usually too pious to ever say it out loud. And that error is to think something like, “Yah know, I’m a Christian, and I’m not really that bad, or at least I’m not as bad as him, or her. And God, He’s pretty blessed to have me as one of His people. I guess I kind of actually deserve this grace.” Isn’t it amazing how quickly we can forget the absolute gratuitous nature of grace, that we did nothing to deserve it, quite the contrary, we did everything to not deserve it. What are the wages of sin? Death. Did you sin? Yes. What did God give you? Eternal life, forgiveness, the promise of resurrection glory. Does that follow given your sins? No, not unless grace has intervened. It says in Romans 11:6, And if election is by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. And so lest we ever forget the graciousness of grace, Paul says in verse 5, [salvation is], Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. So to connect this back to becoming meek and gentle with others. How does this help us? If it was according to God’s mercy that He saved you, and not because of any inherent goodness or loveliness or actions on your part, then the only thing that separates you from an unbeliever is the mercy of God. And therefore, it would actually be unjust for you to not be merciful to them, when God has been abundantly merciful to you. Bceause to whom much has been given, much is required, and look at all that God has graciously given you? Jesus says in Matthew 5:45, God makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust alike. And so, be merciful, just as your Father in Heaven is merciful, then you will called a child of God. Summary: This is the second step in becoming meek and gentle. First you remember your own sins, and second you remember the mercy God showed to you in spite of your sins. This brings us then to verses 5b-6 where he answers the question… Verses 5b-6 – How Does God Save Us? Or, What instruments does He use to bring our salvation about? 5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; Observe the three instruments of God’s mercy: 1. The washing of regeneration 2. The renewing of the Holy Spirit 3. That Spirit is given through Jesus Christ our Savior What is this washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost? This refers to baptism and all the spiritual realities God gives us in baptism. Here Paul is describing the fulfillment of what was promised in Ezekiel 36:25-26 where God says, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. What does God do for us and to us in baptism? He washes away our sins, He removes our iniquities, He gives us a new name, a new nature, so that we are as re-born, re-generated into spiritual children of God. Recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God…Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:3, 5) So when the Apostle Paul was converted, what did Ananias tell him? Arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord (Acts 22:16). And at Pentecost, what did the Apostle Peter proclaim to the Jews, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 2:38). So baptism is not merely an external ritual of washing with water, it is also the interior washing away of your sins. And when your sins are washed away, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart, God makes His home within you, and as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:19, God makes your body to be a temple of the Holy Ghost. If you are baptized, what are you now? You are a sanctuary for God’s presence. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:11, But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. So consider then how unfitting it would be, to have God dwelling within you, the whole Trinity of persons sealed upon your forehead, and then as God’s holy sanctuary, to then go out and sin against someone else. And so if you would become meek and gentle as Christ is, Paul says, first remember your fragility, second remember God’s mercy, and then third remember your baptism. Remember your regeneration and rebirth in the Spirit. In Romans 6:2-4 it says says, How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So if you still struggle with anger and impatience and other works of the flesh, then return to the truth of your baptism. Have you forgotten that your identity is Jesus, and that Jesus and sin are mortally opposed to one another? How long will you go on quenching the Holy Spirit, ignoring his inner promptings to stop compromising, to stop flirting with sin and to surrender to Jesus completely? It says in Galatians 5, that gentleness and meekness are the fruit of the Holy Spirit, whereas the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. So what spirit are you of? The world, the flesh and the devil, or the Holy Spirit which was given you in baptism? Finally, in verses 7-8, Paul tells us what results from our baptism. Verses 7-8 – What are the results of our baptism? 7That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Observe there are three results/effects of Christ baptizing us in the Holy Spirit. 1. First, we are made just by His grace. 2. Second, we are made heirs of eternal life. 3. Third, we are made careful to maintain good works. You can see also the pattern here of faith, hope, and love. By faith we are justified and enabled to live a life of justice, rendering to God the worship and honor due to him, and to our neighbor the debt of love. And then what grows from that gift of faith is hope: That we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. As it says in 1 Peter 1:4, He hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. And then because our hope is secure in heaven, love compels us to be careful to maintain good works. Because by them we do what is good and profitable for everyone. This is the divine logic of why we, speak evil of no man, are no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. Conclusion So as we close I want you to think about that person (or persons) you struggle to be patient with. Who do you need supernatural strength to love, with meekness and gentleness? And then go through these four reminders: 1. Remember the old you, and all your sins. 2. Remember God’s mercy to you in spite of your sins. 3. Remember your baptism, and all that it signifies. 4. Remember the promise and future hope that awaits you, eternal life. God says these things I will that you remember and affirm constantly. And so may we, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.