The Authority of Christ in Capernaum

[0:00] We'll be turning to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. We're, I believe, in a series of at least three sections here.

[0:18] ! Where Luke is putting things together to make a point. It's about the beginning of Jesus' ministry. Last week was such an interesting.

[0:30] Such an interesting situation. Now, Luke puts the situation we read last week at the beginning of Jesus' ministry. And as we read through this in Luke 4, we saw that it looked like the situation was hopeless.

[0:51] I mean, here's the Messiah. He's come. And here he is coming into his home synagogue. He's given the role of Isaiah. He opens the role to the very spot that speaks of him. And he reads that spot that speaks of him.

[1:06] And he says to his town folk, this day, this is fulfilled in your hearing. And all they could say was, isn't this Joseph's son? And they paid no mind to him.

[1:24] And Jesus went on to speak to them about what they were like. And Luke, writing to Gentiles, I believe, is signaling to the people he's writing, look, as hometown people reject Jesus, so Israel will reject their Messiah mostly, not entirely.

[1:45] And Jesus is still going to minister to people around the world, people that Israel would say weren't worthy of being ministered to. And so he gives hope to these people that Luke is writing to.

[1:57] He's writing to Gentile people. He's given these people hope. But as you think about that and think, well, Jesus, in his hometown, he begins ministry. And it looks like a flop.

[2:11] I mean, he prophesies, and they get mad at him. And they're in rage. And I can just picture now whether it was physically or pushing at him.

[2:23] Come on, get out of here, get out of here. And they push him to the brow of the hill. And they would push him off to kill him. And it is as if, you know, it's the end.

[2:36] And it's just beginning. It looks like the first words are being spoken. And it's the end. And Jesus just walks out through their midst.

[2:49] But he just kind of leaves a cliffhanger there. Sure, it's the amazing power of God. But what about this Messiah who comes declaring he is the answer to what was prophesied concerning the consolation of Israel?

[3:04] He is the one who has come. What goes from Nazareth on? What goes? What happens? Well, I think Luke, in writing, coupled the situation with Nazareth with the situation in Capernaum to show who our Lord was.

[3:22] And Luke repeats. He uses one word three times. He uses a form that would reflect back to that word two other times.

[3:34] Has an illustration of it another time yet. All pointing to who or what this Messiah is like. He's not a dud.

[3:48] He's not a flop. And so he puts in the account of Jesus then going from Nazareth down to Capernaum.

[4:02] A passage is about 20 miles. And you had to go down almost 2,000 feet in sea level. From one of the, that's why it says go down.

[4:14] So let's start reading in verse 31. And I'll read down to verse 44, which is the end of the chapter.

[4:26] And he, that's Jesus. And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath.

[4:38] And they were astonished at his teaching. For his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon.

[4:50] And he cried out with a loud voice. Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

[5:01] But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.

[5:13] And they were all amazed and said to one another, what is this word? For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits.

[5:23] And they come out of him. And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house.

[5:37] That's Simon Peter. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever. And they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever.

[5:48] And it left her. And immediately she rose and began to serve them. And when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

[6:01] And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, you are the Son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak.

[6:13] Because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him and would have kept him from leaving them.

[6:30] But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well. For I was sent for this purpose.

[6:42] And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Let's pray together. Father, I thank you. I thank you that Luke is preaching to us.

[6:55] He's given us the good news. He's telling us about our Savior. And I thank you, Father, that he paints with such beautiful colors. I thank you that he describes our Savior in true ways.

[7:11] And Lord, I pray that as we go through what we look at today, we would see our Savior for who he is. What he's like. And may that cause us to be people who are quick to trust in him.

[7:26] Quick to run to him. Who are quick to give him praise. And I pray that you would draw all people to yourself today.

[7:37] In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So, Jesus goes down to Capernaum. And it says in the beginning of those verses, he was teaching, he went to Capernaum in a city in Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath.

[7:56] What was he doing? I think he was continuing. In fact, we can look later in the passage and know that his purpose in going to all these Sabbaths, synagogues, rather, his purpose in going to all these synagogues was to preach the good news of the kingdom.

[8:13] After all, back in chapter 4, verse 19, 18, we find that that's exactly what he said. He would be going to preach the good news of the kingdom. And this is part of what we read last week, but last week I didn't spend a lot of time going into what was here.

[8:29] I'm going to spend a little time going into verses 18 and 19 of chapter 4, because he does in Capernaum what is contained in those verses.

[8:41] He was not able to do in Nazareth what was contained in those verses. Those verses were true about him, but he wasn't able to carry any of that out. He basically had to just walk away and let them go their own way.

[8:55] And now as he's in Capernaum, he's preaching in the synagogue, and I believe he's done the same thing. I believe he's sharing with them who he is and what he's there for, and so he's preaching the good news of the kingdom of God.

[9:10] In verses 18 and 19, I'll quote those again. We read them last week. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.

[9:23] He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

[9:38] Back in the passage we looked at last week, we saw that he said, today the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. And again, as I mentioned, that message was not received in Nazareth.

[9:56] But in Capernaum, they at least did not say it was impossible. Nazareth, they said, he's Joseph's son. And basically just brushed him aside, said there's no way he could be the Messiah.

[10:09] There's no way that he could be that person that Isaiah is speaking about. But here in Capernaum, apparently they're listening. And so he's preaching this good news.

[10:22] They were willing to listen and they were listening and they were impressed. And Jesus claimed to be the one God was to send and had sent. And so now he's doing these works in Capernaum Capernaum and the synagogues all through the area of Judea.

[10:41] Now, what was he doing? He was doing exactly what he said he was fulfilling. He was proclaiming good news to the poor. Now, that good news would become more and more full as time went on.

[10:56] At some point midway through his ministry, he would begin to talk about how he was going to Jerusalem to die for them. At this point, he hadn't been talking about all that. But he begins by laying the groundwork saying, God is moving amongst you.

[11:11] God has brought his Messiah to you. God is providing salvation. So he's bringing this good news. And then he says, he's proclaiming liberty to the captives.

[11:26] Now, the Jews would have said, ha ha, this is great. It's about time those Romans get what's coming to them. But as we go through these passages, we'll find that Jesus is not talking about Rome.

[11:42] He's not talking about any country who has had or has, at that present time, any kind of control over Israel. He's talking about people. He's talking about people in their lives and how they have things that are holding them captive.

[11:58] And we're going to see just brilliant pictures of that as we go through. We don't see an instance of this here, but we will, and not to distant future.

[12:09] We'll see that he gives sight to the blind. Now, he does it physically. But more importantly, he does it spiritually. Anyone who comes to trust him, he will have given them sight to see who he is and he will have enabled them to trust him.

[12:27] And so he's fulfilling things in this way. He goes on to quote and say that he is to set at liberty those who are oppressed. We're going to see some very good examples of that today.

[12:39] Where he sets at liberty those who are oppressed. But it's not just from the oppression of demons that Jesus sets people free. It will be from sin and its hold over them.

[12:51] And then to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Again, much more of his message will be opened up to them as his ministry goes on.

[13:04] But Jesus is coming to say that there is a way, and of course Israel all would interpret initially in relation to their nation, but he wants them to know that what God is doing is actually working so that they would be free as a people.

[13:24] They would be in God's favor as persons. And of course, we know now that a person without Christ, a person not trusting in Christ, hates God, wants nothing to do with God, works in every way they can against God.

[13:43] It may not be obvious like a serial killer or anything like that, but still, those who don't know Christ would push the word of God away, would push what God wants to show them away.

[13:55] But he's gracious. And he does end up showing them. And he changes their heart. And it becomes a time where instead of being under God's judgment, he's showing how he's providing way that they can be under the Lord's favor.

[14:14] Now, verse 19 is actually a reference to the year of Jubilee. It has that reference. There were years of Sabbath. Remember in the Old Testament, there were years of Sabbath.

[14:26] Every seven years, they were to not plow their land on the seventh year. They were to live on what grew of its own. Every seven years, anyone who had been sold into slavery, not as a result of men's stealers, but as people who were in debt that would sell their services to someone to pay their debt.

[14:47] At the end of those seven years, each seven years, all those debts were to be forgiven. Of course, Israel never did that to our understanding. But every seven years, they were to forgive everyone's debt.

[15:00] And if land had been sold, it would be given back. And so every seven years, it was like, oh, you got a fresh start. But then at the end of seven sevens, at the end of 49 years, there was to be this year of Jubilee.

[15:15] And that was a year where you didn't sow or plant or plow or plant or harvest for two years. And all kinds of blessings.

[15:26] And it was like, it was always pointing as a picture of heaven. There's coming a day when everything will be made right. And we will rest in the Lord and he will totally provide for us.

[15:39] And that's what Jesus is pointing towards as he's making reference to that. But in our minds, it's the idea of our sins being totally paid for. And then beyond that, where we will be with him for all eternity.

[15:55] So he's proclaiming a lot. They're not seeing a lot of it. But as he begins to share his message, he's beginning to show them that he's here to fulfill the work God has given to him.

[16:11] And he'll begin showing that by doing some of the things that are mentioned when he's read. He'll not only proclaim good news, but he'll start giving liberty to captives. And he'll give light to the blind and give liberty to those who are oppressed.

[16:25] And so he'll begin showing what he's doing as he's doing those kinds of things. So, he's come and he's preached.

[16:39] And I believe that he preached what he preached in Nazareth. And they were astonished. Although they hadn't seen anything yet. They were just astonished by the way he spoke.

[16:52] They said he spoke with authority. He was teaching them on the Sabbath and they were astonished at his teaching for his word possessed authority.

[17:04] What does it mean that his word possessed authority? Well, he authoritatively claimed to be the Son of God. He authoritatively claimed to be the fulfillment.

[17:17] Now, this was a huge switch from what the religious leaders of the day would claim. and the way that they would preach. They would borrow each other's words and end up saying nothing.

[17:30] But Jesus reads Isaiah and says, this is me. I'm here to do this. And so, he claims to be the Son one God sent.

[17:42] And then, of course, if you look at it as a whole, he not only claimed to be the one God sent, he backs his claims up with actions. And we'll get into those in just a second.

[17:54] But they're just astonished the way he talks. When he commanded, what was commanded was done. And so, they were astonished as one whose word possessed authority.

[18:12] the first thing I think that Luke does is to show us how Jesus has, in setting captives free, he does that with authority.

[18:25] He does that with authority. And so, we pick up in verse 33 with an interesting situation. Jesus is preaching in the synagogue. We don't know if this is the initial message. We don't know.

[18:36] It seems that it would be because it seems all that we look at today takes place on one day. And so, during his message, a man pipes up.

[18:47] You ever been in a service where when someone was preaching or someone was leading, someone takes over? I mean, stands up? We had a situation many years ago.

[18:59] I remember a man, I was leading worship, and a man stood up and tried to take over the service. And I was like, we had to say some words to him.

[19:15] Well, that's sort of what happened with Jesus. Jesus is preaching along. And there's a man there. And I picture that people knew about this man, and I picture he had a reputation as a rabble rouser, as a thorn in everyone's side.

[19:32] But he's, there's a man there, in the midst of Jesus' preaching, he all of a sudden says, ha! He gets everyone's attention. And he says, go away!

[19:47] What do we have to do with you? Or let me read it better the way it says here. He says, he cried out with a loud voice, ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

[19:58] Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Can you imagine if somebody stood up in the midst of our service and said that? You'd be like, oh, I hope the pastor's ready today.

[20:13] I hope the elders are ready today. And maybe the deacons will have to jump on him. No. Jesus stands up with authority.

[20:29] This man is mocking Jesus, calls him Jesus of Nazareth. I think he was making reference to the situation that went, that looked like it went like a flop.

[20:45] I know who you are. Well, as he makes this comment, do people think Jesus knows this man? Do people think this, that Jesus sanctions this man?

[21:02] And then the man goes on. are you come to destroy us? He's talking about demons, although I don't know if the people recognize that to begin with.

[21:15] Are you come to destroy us? Maybe the people in the synagogue are thinking, what, is Jesus going to spew fire and kill all of us here? But that's not the case.

[21:25] Jesus came to set the captives free. And this man goes on to announce who Jesus is, but he does it, I think, with prejudice.

[21:39] He says, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. You don't find this man saying, guys, guys, guys, we got to pay attention. This is the Son of God.

[21:51] No, he's trying to take over. He's trying to announce who Jesus is with prejudice. He's trying to make Jesus look bad. Announcing who he is in a way that makes it look like it's a bad thing.

[22:06] Like Jesus is the one in the place he shouldn't be. That Jesus is trying to usurp some authority that he shouldn't have. And so Jesus, well, let me be, the demon is doing this.

[22:25] And I think in one respect he's trying to shortcut the work of Christ. Yeah, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. You'll notice we're going to deal with this and another section of demons here.

[22:39] And Jesus never lets them get to the point where they can say he's the Messiah. He's already been announced as the Son of God. That is allowed. Those words are allowed.

[22:51] But he's never allowed, the demons are never allowed to say, Jesus, you're the Messiah. And why would that be a bad thing? Wouldn't Jesus want everyone to know he was the Messiah?

[23:05] It would be a bad thing if everybody was looking for a Messiah that they could grab and run to Jerusalem with and throw on a throne and make him their king by means of force.

[23:18] That would be a bad thing. And so I think this demon possessed man is just stirring up all kinds of trouble. Things that would be, if they were allowed to get out of hand, would cause the work of Jesus in that area to be very difficult.

[23:35] Even maybe to the point where he would have to walk away because everybody would have the wrong thinking about him. But no, Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus doesn't let the man just run his mouth and go off.

[23:50] Jesus commands the demon to be silent before he could mess up Christ's situation. He demands the demon to come out of the man.

[24:05] He sets the captive free. And so at the rebuke of Jesus, the demon comes out of the man and Luke says he's unharmed.

[24:21] Remember, Luke is a physician. We're going to see in a minute another word that he uses because he's a physician. But he's unharmed. The doctor says he's okay. Because Jesus didn't just deliver this person.

[24:37] Jesus didn't say to the demon, come out of the man. And as the demon was being forced out, the demon cut the man's right. No. Jesus had absolute authority over this demon.

[24:52] When he commands the demon to come out, the demon comes out and the man is all right. He's delivered from his oppressor. Notice their reaction.

[25:06] What is this word? It's an odd thing. pointing to that four letter word, word.

[25:27] What is this word? It's pointing to the fact that Jesus had the authority to speak and things were done.

[25:38] Jesus had the authority and power to simply speak a word and unclean. Now by unclean demon, we're talking about an obnoxious or rebellious demon or spirit.

[25:53] Jesus speaks a single word or a single command and this unclean spirit comes out of this person. Jesus has that kind of authority.

[26:08] I want you to feel their reaction. Again, I mentioned picturing someone in our service standing up and trying to take over.

[26:21] How weird we would feel. How uncomfortable we would feel. And yet in that situation, Jesus taking control, speaking a word, the demon is silent, the demon is cast out, the man is alright.

[26:40] And I can picture Jesus saying, and the next verse says, just such authority, just such power. They were in a situation where they knew this demon possessed man wasn't just a man, being obstinate.

[27:01] This was a person controlled by an obnoxious and rebellious demon. This was a situation that no one in the synagogue would have been able to control because demons are stronger than them.

[27:19] And they were absolutely blown away by what Jesus had done. done. No one walked in there that day and walked out and said, yeah, I know Jesus would have done that.

[27:33] Sure, Jesus is just like that. They were blown away. Jesus was a man with words that had authority, words that had power.

[27:45] more. It was good. It was good. It was good to see what Jesus had done. Now, Jesus had faced the devil's temptations in the wilderness.

[27:59] us. We saw that a few weeks ago. Three major temptations at the end of his 40 days. Jesus resisted 40 days of temptation and those three large temptations at the end.

[28:16] And he had overcome. Now, he submitted to being tempted by the devil so that he could earn a righteousness for us that would stand before God.

[28:31] As one who would never ever give into temptation even though in the worst of circumstances and having the worst tempter in the world, he was the one who succeeded and earned for us a perfect righteousness.

[28:45] But he also earned all authority. Luke 11, 21, and 22 says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe.

[29:00] But when a stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. What is happening here? Jesus has won the victory and now all demons, now as the son of God, but he's the God man.

[29:20] All demons submit to his authority. He's gained the victory. though Satan may attempt at many points to oppose the work of Jesus, his word possesses authority.

[29:34] The demons must obey. He has spoiled the strong man and bound him. Well, church is over. Synagogue service is over.

[29:46] I shouldn't have said that that way. It's good you didn't turn up, stand up and go home. The synagogue service is over. And Peter says, come to my house.

[30:00] So in verses 38 and 39, Jesus goes to Peter's house. Now there's a lot of questions we can ask.

[30:10] How long did his mother-in-law have a fever? All kinds of things. Did he ask Jesus there on purpose because of her? We are given no inclination.

[30:22] And to speculate really doesn't, it's not worth our time. But Jesus came from the synagogue to Peter's house where his mother-in-law was sick.

[30:34] And Luke says, different than the other gospels, he says, not just that she has a fever, she has a high fever. It's a desperate fever. It's not a normal fever. It's a dangerous fever.

[30:47] And when Jesus got there, those in the family, whether Peter was part of that or not, I don't know. But when Jesus got there, those there appealed to Jesus on her behalf.

[31:01] Peter's mother-in-law is sick. And it's interesting because later Jesus heals by laying on hands. But I think Luke, it doesn't mean that Peter, the Lord heals Peter's mother-in-law by rebuking the fever.

[31:24] It may or may not have been induced by evil spirit. It doesn't matter. What Luke is emphasizing as he's going through this is the wording. It's the word power that Jesus possessed.

[31:40] When Jesus spoke, things happened. And that's what Luke's trying to get across. this was a dangerous fever. And Jesus had the authority to dismiss it, to send it away, or to just heal it, however you want to say.

[32:02] The authority of Jesus was so strong and so complete, that when he rebuked the fever, not only was the fever gone, but Peter's mother-in-law was able with complete recovery to get up and serve them as if she had never been sick.

[32:29] A lot of times people are healed of something. You know, if you have a fever, you have a high fever, and the fever breaks, do you want to stand up and cook dinner? You're in bed for a couple more days.

[32:41] But Jesus, Jesus has authority, and when he speaks, his healing is complete. But that's not the only place where it's illustrated.

[32:57] He goes on. The day goes on. So, synagogue service, the end of the synagogue service, they go to Peter's. It appears that they did eat a meal, but Peter's mother-in-law is healed.

[33:11] And the afternoon goes on. We don't know all the things that took place there, but it was the Sabbath day. That means that people did not move about only a certain distance, according to the tradition of the elders.

[33:29] And so, in verse 40, as the sun was going down, that means the Sabbath was ending because their Sabbath went from 6 p.m. through the night, through the day, to 6 p.m.

[33:41] the next night. So, as the sun was going down at 6 p.m., then the Sabbath was done. And people in Capernaum had heard something amazing went on in the synagogue.

[33:55] And maybe they'd even heard of Peter's mother-in-law, you know, through the grapevine. And so, when the Sabbath was ending, and they could travel, all the sick were coming for healing.

[34:12] People were bringing all kinds of people for healing. And I want you to note the tender compassion of Christ. I'm trying to point these, that's the attitude of the prophecy about Christ, the tender compassion.

[34:30] He wanted to set captives free. heal the blind. He had this compassion for people. And so, he didn't turn any of these people away.

[34:41] We don't know how many were there. We don't know if it was hundreds or what it was. But he didn't turn any away. He laid hands on the sick and healed them.

[34:54] And some of those who came for healing, it says, also had demons. And what did he do? He cast them out with a word. That same word, we're getting to that same thought, that word, that authority Jesus had in just speaking.

[35:14] So he cast them out with a word. But some of those demons, knowing that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, again tried to spoil God's plan by trying to reveal the whole of God's plan too early.

[35:27] and Jesus would say, quiet. He had the authority not only to heal, to cast out, but to make sure God's plan went according to God's plan.

[35:46] And so again he reveals that his word possessed authority. The healing wasn't limited to just one, but all who needed it.

[35:58] His authority over demons was not limited to just one, but over all demons. He had authority to keep demons from ruining the work of God in providing redemption.

[36:11] And the last three verses, 42, 43, and 44, it says that Jesus goes out into a desolate place. Now we know from the other gospels that he went out to pray.

[36:22] Luke doesn't talk about that. He just went out to a desolate place. I think, well, I'm speculating here so I won't go there. But he went out into this desolate place.

[36:38] And he was going to go on. He was going to other cities. He had a job to do. When the people of Capernaum found out that he was not in Peter's house house anymore, that he was gone, they went out and looked for him and found him.

[37:02] And they wanted to keep him there. Now, I don't know if it was love for him or selfishness. Was it just their desire, oh, please, Jesus, stay?

[37:16] Or were they willing to use force to keep him there? Don't know any of that. And it doesn't matter. In whatever way they resisted, and for whatever reason they resisted, him going to another place, Jesus still exercised authority.

[37:38] He simply said, I have other places to preach the gospel. So he leaves and goes and preaches throughout Judea. Israel.

[37:49] It's probably a term for a big part of Israel, not the tribe's land that we might think of. So here's Jesus. At the end of this long day, actually the beginning, what we would say the beginning of another day, Jesus being resisted from leaving says, I've got to go.

[38:09] Now that speaks of his authority, but it also speaks of his compassion. because it wasn't just the people in Capernaum that he wanted to hear the message from God.

[38:23] He wanted all of Israel, and eventually all the world to know. Now the thing that Luke wants us to see here is the word of Jesus' possessed authority, and I think that's been pretty evident.

[38:38] Jesus would let nothing keep him from fulfilling the responsibility he'd been sent to carry out. Nothing would stop him. No unclean demon, no legion of demons, not even the devil himself could keep our Savior from preaching the good news of the kingdom and serving the people of that kingdom.

[39:01] No desire or resistance of man could keep our Savior from preaching the good news of the kingdom and serving his people. No demon could thwart the plan of God by announcing something too early and allowing Israel to try to force Jesus to the throne.

[39:20] Jesus spoke with authority. Another thing that is evident in the passage is the gentleness of our Savior. We've spoken of it throughout. He has all the authority of God, commands the demons to do his will, and yet tenderly, gently, with his people who are in need, he's preaching the good news of the kingdom of God and healing sickness.

[39:44] His heart is towards them. His heart is towards his people. I was listening to something this week, I can't remember what it was, but it was talking about us and our sin.

[39:57] You know, we get in our sin and we get the thought of, oh, God wouldn't want us, God wouldn't want us. It was in Dane Ortlund's book, that's what it was, last week, the gentle and lowly. We get all in our sin thinking, God wouldn't want me.

[40:12] And Dane Ortlund in his book said, that's the time Jesus most wants you. He most wants to minister to you. So, brother or sister, are you stuck in sin?

[40:25] Are you struggling with thinking, will God accept me? I want you to know that that is indeed true. Jesus wants you to be close to him.

[40:37] Even if you think you deserve to be far away, because Jesus came to be the savior who would release people from their captivity, who would heal and meet their needs.

[40:48] He is not a savior who is pushing people away. He is a savior who is pulling people to himself. And he has every authority to do what he wants to do.

[41:02] And no demon nor anyone else will keep him from doing what he wants to do in your life. I'm not talking about an easy believism, but if you're trusting Christ his savior, his heart is for you, not against you.

[41:21] And he has the power to do what he wants in bringing you to himself. Brothers and sisters, we need to take heart in our savior. savior. His word still possesses authority.

[41:35] He is no less active and no less powerful now as when he walked this earth. He is just as active, just as powerful, just as desirous of meeting your needs, just as desirous of being tender and sensitive to you in the ways that you need him to be sensitive and tender.

[41:58] he is just that way with you as when he walked on this earth. He is no different. His body has been glorified, but he is still the God man and will be for all eternity and his love for you has not lessened.

[42:15] Rest in him. Rest in the word of his authority. Friend, what Jesus faced in what we're reading today is because all of us were sinners.

[42:30] Sin condemned us. It condemned us to hell, but Jesus came to live a perfect life. Take all of the sin that you and I who would trust him commit upon himself and then offer himself on the cross and the wrath of God actually be satisfied.

[42:53] In him, your sin in him, God's wrath satisfied against that sin in him. His word didn't possess some authority because he was on some ego trip.

[43:12] His word possessed authority that he might be what we needed as a savior. Just as he welcomed all the needy, needing healing, during his earthly ministry.

[43:26] If you have sin that's never been paid for, I'm talking about you have never trusted Christ to pay for your sin. He is just as willing to pay for your sin.

[43:39] Go to him now. Trust in him. His is the only work that will make you right before God. Let's pray. Thank you father for your word.

[43:51] I pray that you would be with us. help us to see you for who you are. Lord, help us to rest in that power. Help us to rest in the character of Christ.

[44:03] Thank you for the work that Christ has done. I pray that you would draw folks to yourself. In Jesus' name.