Great is your faithfulness. Mercies are new every morning. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. I pray that there would be a new morning mercy for every person in this place this morning. A new morning mercy to draw near God. A new morning mercy to show us the glory, to give us a fresh taste of mercy. We can easily coast on past experiences of grace. We can easily plateau and coast on knowledge that we've gained because we somehow view our knowledge as sufficient. And of course, knowledge, once we go, grow to understand the Bible and understand the Christian life, Our knowledge of the mechanics may be sufficient, but our knowledge of God will never, will never ever exhaust God. Oh, the depths of God. That's what we desire a little more of this morning. The depths of God. Both wisdom and knowledge of God are unsearchable as ways and as judgments past finding out. For who has given to the Lord that it should be given back. There's none here who is ever or could ever put you in our debt, Lord. And I pray that we would see that. We are rather in your debt. We're debtors of mercy. We're debtors of grace. We're debtors of love. And we owe no obligation except to pay a debt of love. return on what we receive from you by virtue of our communion with you. We pray that we would make many happy returns today and this afternoon around the lunch table and all afternoon long as we remember the goodness of God and the new morning mercy that we received today. So help us. Help us not to coast on any past experience or past knowledge, but our soul would long go out with a sense of its need, long for Christ to draw near once again in the freshness. Give us a fresh taste, a fresh sweet taste of Christ, a fresh sight of the glory, a fresh experience of the mercy. a fresh experience of our own happy obedience and happy service to you and to one another. We pray it to be so. In Jesus' name, amen. Luke chapter 8 is the fullest day of Jesus' earthly life and ministry, Luke chapter 8. He teaches multitudes, stills the storm on the Sea of Galilee. On the opposite sea, he casts out demons, opposite side of the Sea of Galilee, returns to this side of the sea and meets a throng of people who are with him as he passes through city after city, teaching a multitude of people. And then a man named Jairus, he's a ruler of the synagogue, a teacher of the Pharisees, a legal, a legal man. He's heard about Jesus. He's heard Jesus' teaching. His 12-year-old daughter is sick. She's about to die. And Jairus comes and bows down before Jesus and asks Him, Lord, come. Restore my daughter. Well, when you know the story when he gets there, she's already died and he raises her from the dead Well, there's a throng of people gathered around Jesus waiting to see what he will do when he reaches Jairus's house and in that throng of people There's a woman A particular woman who has an issue of blood. That's the way the scriptures describe her. A woman with an issue of blood. And this woman overtakes Jesus on his way to go to Jairus' house. There's no physician near or far that this woman had not consulted for help. She had spent all her living, everything she had, all her living on doctors, and they made her condition worse instead of better. And at this point, now, she's beside herself in the agony of despair. But she hears of Jesus too, someone greater than she's ever heard of before, someone who has the ability to heal the body as well as the soul. And she is fully persuaded of what she's heard. There's an inner persuasion, an inner persuasion of the spirit, you would say, we would say that. to go to Jesus because He will heal. Go! Go! The Spirit of God leads her. What you've heard of Jesus is true. It's all true. He's a healer. So she reasons within herself that if she could just touch the hem of His cloak, the hem of His garment, that all she believes about Jesus would come true for her. So she presses. She presses close enough amidst all the people in the crowd, she presses close enough to reach out and touch His clothes. Immediately, she senses a transformation in body and soul. The text, one text says she's made whole, she's aware of it. She senses that her body healed, her body's healed and her soul is saved. Jesus stops. Why does He stop? Does He stop for the woman? No, no. He doesn't stop for the woman. He stops because no one else has come to touch Him. Jesus stops and He turns to draw attention to two things that have happened, two marvelous things that have taken place, two of the greatest treasures in all of life. He draws attention to His virtue to save and the kind of faith that rests in Christ alone, not faith plus something else, not faith in Christ and something else, faith in Christ alone. Who touched me? Jesus says. Everybody of all the people in the crowd, Jesus says, who touched me? Peter and the disciples there closest with him, say, Lord, what on earth are you talking about? A multitude of people are pressing hard all around you, and you want to know who touched you. No, no, no, Jesus says, someone touched me in this crowd differently than anyone else touched me. I perceive virtue. Power has gone out in a different way than to anyone else. The woman draws near. She falls down at Jesus' feet and she recounts everything that's happened. Then Jesus says to her, your faith in me has made you whole. Go in peace. Peace with God. Go in peace with your spouse. Go in peace with other people. Go in peace with God and others. Now, 12 years of bleeding is bad, isn't it? Everybody agree with that? I suppose everybody would agree that just besides the nuisance of the thing, 12 years of bleeding would be horrible. hemorrhaging for 12 years? For goodness sake, she must have been a frail nothing of a person. Twelve years of bleeding is bad, but bleeding at its worst is not sin. Do you agree with that? Sin is sin. Sin has no equal. Sin has no match. Sin has no competition for being bad unless, of course, It's separation from God to be without peace, separation with God, or a means of peace to be – to bring peace to other people. Or, of course, you'd say sin certainly does have an equal in terms of how bad it is in terms of hell, the consequences of not being right with God, the consequences of sin not being put right with God. So old Alexander White concludes, pandemic is the sinful world, pandemonium is my own sinful heart. The world is sick. Pandemic. I'm sick. My soul is sick. Pandemonium. Pandemic is the sinful world, pandemonium is my own sinful heart. But you see there's spiritual virtue in Christ, spiritual power, spiritual efficacy in Christ to solve the problems of pandemics in the world and all the pandemoniums, all of it, all the pandemonium and all our sinful hearts. I'd like to invite you to turn with me once again to I Timothy 3, 14 to 16, as we seek to unpack part three of our message, The Grandest Mystery. Ah, virtue. In who lies the virtue? Spiritual virtue. We talked mainly on the difference between spiritual virtue and natural virtue last Lord's Day to help us clarify what it is that Timothy needs in order to lead a church, what it is for any pastor needs in order to lead a church, and how to get it. How does virtue come to us? The virtue, all the virtue we need, all the virtue we need is in Christ, but it needs to be communicated to us, doesn't it? That's the mystery of the gospel, isn't it? God come in the flesh, born of woman, born of the law, born to redeem those who were under the curse of the law. That's the gospel, isn't it? The grandest mystery, the grandest mystery of all, virtue is in God, power is in God, efficacy is in God, not in us by nature. If we are to live with virtue, power, efficacy, fruit, we must receive it from Christ, God incarnate, God come in the flesh. The grandest mystery of the greatest treasure committed to the church's care for the church's progress. This is what I desire to teach on once again. Paul writes, these things I'll write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I'm delayed, I'll write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, without controversy among us all. Lord, may it be so. No contradiction. No contradiction about God. and the gospel. No contradiction about who Christ is or what he came to do. No contradiction this morning. No contradiction. May we all confess that great is the mystery of God and that God was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit or by the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. Now, last Thursday from verse 15, we considered the spiritual virtue of the pastor's life and ministry. What is virtue? What is spiritual virtue? And how do we obtain it for the needs of God's people? What is spiritual virtue and how is it communicated to even the people through the pastor, through the ministry, through the elders in their ministry? the spiritual virtue of the pastor's life and ministry and communion. with God and His people because no virtue comes apart from communion. No virtue comes apart from God giving Himself to us and our receiving and then our making use of it, returns on it. The spiritual virtue of the pastor's life and ministry and communion with his people and the church's efficacy. Now, what is the church's efficacy? The only efficacy that we can have really, the greatest efficacy we can have I should say, is that we live in communion with one another, pastor and people. That's the efficacy that the church in Ephesus maintained for a long period of time. Something happened. We draw attention to that. After 30 years, something happened to the church in Ephesus. We'll draw attention to it a little bit more this morning and give a few more details as to what happened. The church is efficacy. It's fruitfulness. Some churches are very fruitful. Some churches are a little fruitful. Some churches are not very fruitful at all. Some churches don't bear any fruit. So we're interested in our church bearing fruit. We're interested in being a fruit-bearing kind of people. We want to be useful in building the kingdom of God, not building our own kingdoms, right? Every elder in this place has recognized that we were about building our kingdom and, oh, the gospel mystery grasped us. And we stopped building our kingdom and started building Christ. I believe that's true of every one of the three of us. Don't you think? Yep. Don't you think? And your wives would say, it's true. Would you say? Of course, and would you say? I was building my kingdom, something happened. I stopped building, I laid it down, and I started building Christ's kingdom, the church. So when elders live in communion with God and in communion with their people, the church is, the church, now we frame, let's frame it in terms of our opening illustration. The church touches Christ. There are a lot of people gathered on that day when the woman with the issue of blood touched Christ. How many others touch Christ who don't know how light is placed upon the woman herself? So when elders live and commune with God and their people, the church touches Christ together to obtain the virtue, the power, the efficacy, and the fruit that God designs. We come to church every Sunday like the multitudes that gathered around Jesus, don't we? What is our life like? along for the ride to see what Jesus will do at Jairus' house? We're here for the entertainment. We're here for the show. We're here for the music. We're here to entertain ourselves. Is our life and our marriage and our family and our friendships and our church and our community being transformed, changed? We gather around Christ. But are we touching Christ? Do we have the kind of faith that rests in Christ alone and obtains the virtue? When we have word without the Spirit, we touch doctrine, but do we touch Christ? We may not touch Christ if we have right doctrine. If we have word without spirit, like the Pharisees, our ministry will rise no higher than critique and condemnation of other people. You ever been there? I've been there. I was the winner of all the debates in my own mind. Nobody could win the debate against Murray Brett. I could beat anybody in debate. I could correct anybody's Arminianism. I could correct You see, I live that way, word without spirit, I understand it. When we have spirit without word, we touch personal satisfaction, but do we touch Christ? We touch self-interest, but do we touch Christ if we have spirit without word? And when we consciously keep Word and Spirit together, we're personally arrested by Christ Himself. Now we're arrested by the grand mystery of the gospel of the glorious God, the happy God, the mercurious God, the blessed God. When we consciously keep Word and Spirit, we're stopped. And we draw attention to the same two great treasures that Jesus did, don't we? Jesus arrests us to show us the virtue that He has in Himself and the kind of faith that obtains the virtue needed. And then we go and do the same thing, don't we? when we're arrested, when we're stopped in our tracks by Jesus, when we reach out to obtain from Jesus what we've not obtained from anybody else. I searched, I searched, I searched, I searched, and what did I find? I was trying to squeeze God out of everything that I could see. I even tried to squeeze God out of the pastoral ministry. I tried to squeeze God out of the reformed doctrine. And then I learned to live upon Christ. I started squeezing God out of God Himself. I started experiencing the mercy every morning. Transcendent mercy. What a sweet taste is transcendent mercy. What a difference it is to live by mercy than it is to live by anything but mercy. When we consciously keep word and spirit together, we stop, we draw attention to the same two treasures Jesus did. Jesus' virtue to save and sanctify, and the kind of faith that rests in Christ alone to bring Christ and the soul together for God's glory and to other people's good. Everyone's good. We'll have wisdom. We'll have power to do everyone good when faith rests in Christ alone. Jesus knew everyone in the multitude who gathered around. He knows everyone here. He has His eye on everyone following Him to Jairus' house, didn't He? You suppose anybody escaped His notice? Did anybody escape the sovereign, omniscient eye of Jesus' notice? He has His eye on everyone, doesn't He? No one escapes His notice. His eye is upon us here, isn't it? He's taking notice of us, isn't He? What kind of faith do we have? Do we have regard for what the Word says about go to Jesus only? The Spirit convinced us, persuaded us to go to Christ alone. Jesus looks into the crowd for those who know they've exhausted their own resources, just like this woman. For those who know they've exhausted all their natural abilities, like Jairus, like the woman with the issue of blood. People who have exhausted all their natural abilities, all their natural virtue, all their natural wisdom, all their natural goodness. That's who Jesus is looking for this morning. Is that you? Faith must rest in Christ alone. I'll only obtain virtue if my faith rests in Christ alone. Is that you? Jesus sees men and women and boys and girls who know they have issues just like Jairus and just like this woman. Issues that cannot be solved by anyone else but Jesus. And so they go to Jesus. And these God has worked by His Word and His Spirit, by the external principle of His Word, The external statutes, the external precepts revealed in the Word of God were also by the internal work of the Spirit, the internal principle of the Spirit to draw us to Christ. The external principle says, go to Jesus, He will save you. The internal principle says, if you don't go to Christ, you won't be saved, and you know it, so go. Go to Jesus. He will save you. He will heal you. He will cure you of the diseases that your sin has caused you. Be careful. I'll get there, but not this morning. I have one for you. I have one for all of us with regard to the parallel thought in the passage that Danny read about healing your iniquities and curing your diseases. There's a parallel thought there. One is amplifying the other. These people in whom the Word has worked to guide to Christ, the Spirit has worked to draw to Christ, these Jesus bids to come and receive all the virtue we need in order to make us whole and give us peace with God and one another. Will you come to Him? Did you come to Him? Knowing that Jesus is the only one who gives peace, Jesus is the only one who can make you whole, will you come to Him? The woman had issues in her body as well as her soul. That's the reason that Jesus, the Luke text and the Mark text both says Jesus makes her whole. And then he tells her a little bit more about what he's done and says, go and live in peace now. You have peace with God, go and live in peace. The woman has issues. Paul has issues. Do you know Paul? He has issues. He was a murderer. That's a pretty big issue, isn't it? Throws Christians in jail. That's an issue, isn't it? Responsible for killing probably a lot of believers. Probably Stephen. He has issues. Timothy has issues. The church in Ephesus, it has issues. Unless Paul raises up a faithful successor who understands how to live upon Christ and draw all the virtue, all the spiritual virtue needed for life and communion with the triune God, the church in Ephesus won't live in communion with their elders and one another, and they won't obtain the efficacy for the world around them. They won't bear fruit. the very church under Paul's pastoral care that had learned to live out of the rich of God's glory, recount. All I'm doing now is preaching to you once again Ephesians 3.14 in the prayer. The church, the church at Ephesus that Paul had taught out of His own pastoral care, to live out of the riches of God's glory, to be strengthened in the inner man, in the inner being by the Spirit, for Christ to dwell in our hearts through faith, to be rooted and grounded in the love of the triune God, to comprehend and be apprehended by this love. That's why He stops, isn't it? To comprehend what is the love of God in Christ. the depth and height and width and breadth, and he stops. Christ stops Paul in his tracks, and he stops the church in Ephesus in their tracks. They pay attention. Their faith goes to Christ alone. They live together with the sense of being loved by God with a love that's incomprehensible. They obtain all the fullness, don't they? And in obtaining all the fullness, they pass the church, God on to the church for generation to generation. That's what it takes, isn't it? For the longevity of the church, for the church to last, what does it take but to live with the fullness of God for the glory of God? for the good of one another and the good of those outside the church. For all generations, the great concern Paul has for the churches when he's writing Timothy in terms of their conduct in Timothy's and their conduct together, the great concern Paul has for all the churches and especially for the church in Ephesus. Will you be in communion with Timothy? I taught Timothy how to live upon Christ. I taught Timothy how to hold communion with God. Will you live in communion with Timothy? Paul's great concern that he has for Ephesus, his concern is realized, isn't it? After 30 years, Paul's concern for the church in Ephesus is realized. Something happens. It defaults. It falls away. That's the words that's used in Revelation 2.2. Was it Timothy's fault? I don't think so. Not according to Revelation. Did Timothy fail to raise up a successor? Did Timothy fail to do what he's commended to do? The things that you've learned from me, these entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Was that the problem? He failed to entrust what he had been given, what he had been taught to faithful men who would teach others also. Was that the problem? Did Timothy fail to raise up a successor? No, I don't think so. In less than 30 years, the church at Ephesus leaves her first love. It's the church's problem. It's not Timothy's problem. Revelation 2.2 says that they know doctrine well enough that they can test those who claim to be apostles and find out whether or not they're true or false. That's pretty good, isn't it? They know the Word of God. They know the truth. They know doctrine. Perhaps we'd say they know Reformed doctrine inside and out. The same sweet King Jesus who stops Jairus in his fair Seacole's tracks and stops a woman in her agony of despair as she's to stop the fallen church at Ephesus in her tracks. She's fallen away from Christ. Why? Jesus Himself, I have this against you. You've left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you've fallen. The church has fallen. It's fallen away from sanctifying grace. It's fallen away from the Spirit of God to sanctify her. Not fallen away from the Word, fallen away from the efficacy, the power, the virtue that's in Christ. Therefore, remember from where you've fallen, repent and do the first work." What first work? Learn to live upon Christ again for the power, for the virtue. Learn to live upon His merits. Learn what you've been taught from the very beginning. Learn how to live upon the merits of Christ to hold communion with the triune God. Repent and do the first works, or I will… or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place." They removed their faithful pastor. That's the lampstand. The lampstand is the faithful eldership of the church. Timothy and his younger elders were living upon Christ, but the church at Ephesus was no longer following their elders' lead. They were no longer living in communion together. They were no longer the church of the living God, nor the pillar and support of the truth. Murray and Gary and Danny have issues, don't we? They have issues. We still have issues. But we've each been arrested by the righteous love of God incarnate, haven't we? We've been stopped in our tracks. And among all those following Jesus to Jairus' house, we've reached out, we've touched Christ, and we're encouraging one another to touch Christ together. We're saying, don't go back. Don't go back and live like the multitude who gather around Jesus. Are you living like the multitude? Are you living like Jairus? Are you living like the woman who has issues? You have issues. I have issues. We have issues. As your lamp stands, we're holding out our little candles, our little lights for you to reach out and touch infinite, eternal, uncreated, boundless, bottomless, fathomless, righteous love in God. Righteous love put on display in Christ. We're freely returning the Christ to you whom the Father has given to us by word and spirit. Will you live upon the righteous love of God incarnate with us? That's a question for the church's fruitfulness, isn't it? We're teaching you. We're leading you to live upon Christ, His merits alone. Will you live upon Christ's merits with us? Well, you live in communion with God and us, and with one another, that we might be the pillar and support of the truth. Jairus has issues, and he knows it, doesn't he? He can't solve his problem. The woman has issues. She knows it, doesn't she? She can't solve her problem. There's no virtue in her to draw from herself. taken outside of herself to live by faith upon Christ, doesn't she? Paul and Timothy have issues. They know it. They've learned to live upon Christ. The church at Ephesus had issues. And for 30 years, they knew it. And they lived together upon Christ to make them whole, to give them peace, to solve their issues. Murray, Gary, Danny have issues, and we know it. Grace-established church is issues. Do we know it? Do we know where to go to have all our issues solved? Are we going to Him? Not just do you know. Do you know the way? Are you moving along the way towards Christ who has virtue to solve all your issues? That's the question, isn't it? Will we live together upon righteous love incarnate? Will we keep Word and Spirit together? Will we be outly guided by the Word of God and inwardly persuaded by the Spirit of God, the One who communicates virtue to us through Christ alone, that One? Only in Christ will all my issues be solved. When we live together as shepherds and sheep upon Christ and Christ alone for the efficacy and power we need to be the pillar and support of the truth. That, beloved, is a central issue in verse 15. pastors and people living together in communion with God to show the boundless, bottomless, fathomless love to one another, to put it on display to one another. You put mercy on display every day, transcendent mercy, sweet taste of transcendent mercy, so that we go to Jesus without reserve. We go to Jesus knowing, inwardly persuading. You heal me. You set me free. You cure my ills. You set me free from my fears, my bondage, my pride, my lust. You heal me. We have issues, don't we? Jesus has virtue. Now, together, we must live upon Christ that we may all confess verse 16. And now I'm going to spend just a little bit of time working out one phrase in verse 16. It's the phrase, vindicated by the Spirit. So let's look now and consider verse 16, and the communion and efficacy of the church in the Spirit's vindication of the incarnate Christ. Unless he vindicates the incarnate Christ to you, you won't live with efficacy. You must vindicate Christ as the God-man to you. You must vindicate Christ as the one whom God sent to be the Savior of the world. Paul writes, Paul says, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth. And by the confession of all, great is the mystery of God in us. God was manifest in the flesh, vindicated. by the Spirit. Verse 15 sums up the work of the Word and the external principle of faith in Christ. Our phrase in verse 16 sums up the work of the Spirit, the internal principle of faith. There are two. There are two necessary principles. Reformed theology has taught us the history of Reformed truth. Two principles. the internal principle of the Spirit's work, the external principle of the work of the Word. And to possess the virtue of the mystery of godliness, we must confess the work of the Word and the Spirit, that we may live together upon the incarnate Christ. The vindication is related to Christ's claim to be the Son of God. or our promised Messiah, Jesus the God-man. He came in the flesh. Well, what does that mean to me? Does it mean anything to me? Is that an empty idea? Is it an empty truth? Is it an empty, oh, it may be true or real for you, but it's not true or real for me. What's the difference? This vindication takes place in the spirit or by means of the spirit. The six lines of the confession is stated in almost identical form, not similar to communicate truth to us. but to give a sense of the virtue that's in Christ, the spiritual virtue, the spiritual sense of the impact of God incarnate, God come in the flesh, the infinite eternal God, the triune God is coming to the world, my world, your world, our world. That God, the Spirit vindicates that God coming to our world. Romans 1-4 serves as the best commentary on these two verses, these two thoughts in verse 16, that God was manifest in the flesh and vindicated by the Spirit. You may know it well enough by now, but I want to pick up the thought in verse 2. The Gospel, which God promised beforehand through His prophets in Sacred Scripture concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The Gospel concerns Jesus Christ our Lord, the Son of David, the Son of God. He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the Spirit of God raising Him from the dead. Now I'll ask you a question. Is it mere naked truth of Christ's resurrection that the Spirit validates? Is that it? Is that all? Just the truth of the thing? Or is it for another reason? Is it for the power of the thing? Is it for the virtue of the thing? Is it for the naked truth? Are we left with mere facts? Do we live as if there's nothing more at stake than merely assenting to the facts? Oh no. Is it enough to be saved if we just acknowledge that Jesus was a man and he came to represent God and he came to die for sins and he was raised again? Is that enough? Is that adequate? Just merely assenting to the facts, just agreeing with the truth of the thing, the facts of the thing. Do you live as if nothing more is at stake than assenting to the facts? Do you? Do I? Is it so inconsequential to us that the Spirit validates Jesus as the Son of God by raising Him from the dead, that the facts to us are enough, mere, cold, hard, dead, lifeless facts that don't produce any virtue for any relationship we have. Does the resurrection of God incarnate mean so little to us that we're so unmoved, so unfeeling, so uncaring about the grandest mystery of the greatest treasure in the world? Do you care to talk about it? You tell people about the grandest mystery in the world. God come in the flesh to save me. I reached out and touched Him. I know He saves. He saves and He's sanctifying me. He's transforming my life. He transformed my marriage. He transformed my family. He's transforming our church. I'm telling you, there's virtue in Christ for every need. Is the mere naked truth of Christ's resurrection enough? What if the Spirit had not raised Jesus from the dead? A little bit different question. We need to think about both questions. If I'm simply assenting to the facts or if now I'm denying the facts also. or denying the reality of Jesus' resurrection from the dead? Would it make any difference? Does it make any difference to you that Jesus was raised from the dead by the Spirit of God? Does it make any difference? 1 Corinthians 15, 17 says, if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile and you're still in your sins. That's what's at stake. Do you believe it? Did you receive that truth just now? Did it warm your heart? Ah, my faith is not empty. It's not futile. I'm not dead in my sins. Jesus saved me. Do you know it? Or are you persuaded of it internally? Verse 19 of 1 Corinthians 15 adds that if Christ is not risen, all people most to be pitied in the world, all those poor stupid Christians down there, they believe that God came in the flesh. And they actually believe that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead, those stupid people. There's so much to be pitied for believing such hogwash as that. You're most to be pitied? You believe I'm most to be pitied? Stupid pastor. Believes in necessity of word and spirit. Stupid pastor. Believes that the virtue in Christ alone to save and sanctify. Am I most to be pitied? Or are you most to be pitied? because your faith doesn't rest in Christ alone to obtain the virtue you need, the help, the power you need for all of life. Who's most to be pitied? Do you see the resurrection of Christ is a grand evidence of the perfection of Christ's of God's acceptance of His sacrifice on our behalf. That's what the resurrection attested. Perfect and complete was the atoning work of Christ. It was all that God the Father demanded. It's all that sinners needed. Do you believe that? Does it ring true for you? Does it warm your heart? Does it cause you to want to tell others about this Jesus? It's all sinners required. It's all that God's law and justice asks for. Yet one proof was needed that God the Father accept Christ's work on behalf of sinners like me and you. One proof. That one proof was Jesus being raised from the dead. Raised from the dead to do what? The Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead as proof that Christ hushed the law's loud thunder the way we sing. The proof that all God's perfections harmonize in the incarnate Son to bring us to God and to bring God to us. The proof that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's what's at stake. Do you believe it? Is that what's at stake for you? To go to Jesus to obtain what you cannot obtain from anyone else. He alone can save me. He alone can heal me. He alone can save my marriage. He alone can save my friendships. He alone. He alone. Jesus alone. The Spirit of God raising Jesus from the dead was all the proof God needed. It was all the proof Jairus needed and his daughter needed. It was all the proof that the woman with issues needed. What about you? Is it all the proof you need? With all the many issues we have, the proof of Jesus being vindicated for who He really is. God come in the flesh with the virtue, the power, the efficacy to heal broken relationships, broken lives, broken churches, broken families. One of the greatest pastoral theologians in the history of the church summarized what our weak soul seeks and needs and finds just the way in which the woman with issues fails. Our soul hears of Jesus from His Word. Our soul is persuaded by this Spirit to go, bow down before Him, go, fall down before Him and confess that Jesus alone is what you need. This great pastoral theologian titled his summary, Christ Alone and All the Clauses of the Creed, a marvelous statement. It's been translated into hundreds of languages. It's been put into poetry. It's been sung. It's been distilled in the essence like sweet perfumes. And here's my attempt to summarize this little paragraph. When we see salvation whole, when we see salvation whole, all its parts are found in Christ then for us. We seek Christ for who He really is, salvation in the whole. Then you will seek all the parts and Christ alone. So we must take care not to seek the smallest drop somewhere else. If we seek salvation, the very name of Jesus teaches us that He alone possesses it. If we seek any other spirit-given gifts, they're found in Christ anointing, if strength in His reign, if purity in His conception, if tenderness in His birth, if redemption in His passion, if acquittal in His condemnation, if freedom from the curse in His cross, if satisfaction for our sins in His sacrifice, if cleansing in His blood, if reconciliation in His death and descending into hell. If newness of life in His resurrection, if heaven in His ascension, if protection, if security, if safety, if abundant supply of all blessings in the royal reign of Christ and the kingdom of grace. In His authority, if untroubled expectation of judgment, if we seek that, then it is in His authority as the just judge. who always does what is right. The sum of all is this, since the richest store of the treasures of grace and every other goodness abounds in Christ alone, let us drink our fill from this fountain and no other. Did you go to him? Surely you had some need, as I listed all those ifs. Surely you recognized some need. Surely to recognize the only one to supply those needs, did you go to him? Just surround Jesus and stay away like the crowd walking to Jairus' house to see what good thing he's going to do next, to be entertained by it. Or were you like the woman with issues? He has all that I need. I must have Him. I must touch Him. I'm His. He's mine. All I need is in Him alone. The Spirit of Christ, vindicate Christ in your soul just now, just now. the Spirit of God work. The Word has been preached. Did the Spirit of God work? Still like the crowds, or are you like the woman with issues? Did the Spirit of God stop you in your tracks as I summarize the Christ of all that we confess in the Did you go to Jesus? Did you touch Jesus by faith? Did the virtue and the power and the efficacy go out from Jesus just now? Did you say, yes, in your soul, He's mine, He's all mine, and He's all I need? Some way or another, was that your confession? Did you go to Him? Did virtue come and meet you in the deepest need? You have issues. I know. I've been with you for 25 years now. I have issues. You know you've been with me for a while, haven't you? But Jesus has the answer for all our issues, doesn't He? He has the answer. Did you confess Him just now? Yes. Yes, in some way. Yes, He has virtue. He has power to meet all the needs I have. He is a great Savior. He's a wonderful Lord. I will bow to Him. I will fall on my face at His feet. Yes, that's me. Look at me. There I am down there at the feet of Jesus and happy, the happiest I've ever been at the feet of Jesus. Happiest I've ever been when I rise with my issues dealt with, all my issues. We have issues, don't we? Are you whole? It's just a simple question. Yes. No. I don't know. Do you want to be whole? Do you want to be whole, a whole person? Not just a mind, not just a will, not just a heart, not just a body. A whole person in a right relationship with God so that you can be a whole person in right relationships with others. A whole person. Are you at peace with God? Are you at peace with every person in this church? Peace. I have nothing against anyone. There's no conflict in my soul when I think of that person. There's no unresolved tension. No sin to be put right. Christ has put the sin right for me. I'm reconciled to God. I'm at peace with God because of what Christ has done. I'm at peace with others. I'm certainly at peace, or do you doubt it? I mean, that's it, isn't it? There's virtue in Christ to give us peace. of Christ, my peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. Do you have that peace which Jesus only gives? Peace that passes all understanding to guard your heart and mind. Peace. Peace with God. Peace with fellow believers. no tension, not at odds, no conflict. I'm in communion or I'm not. I'm growing in communion that I possess. I'm living upon Christ and His marriage to grow in communion with God. Elders and people, family members, certainly is the direction of my life. Are you in communion with God and your elders and your fellow church members? That's the guts, that's the meat, that's the bones, there's the sinews of First Timothy. pastor, church, and successors, all in communion with God and communion with one another so that the church doesn't fail, so that life doesn't fail, so that families don't fail, so that marriage doesn't fail. so that friendships don't fail, efficacy, virtue, power. I'm reaching out to Jesus to receive the very thing I need. That's what my soul is doing just now. My soul is going out from me with a need because I have issues. Is your soul going out from you? Is it going out to Jesus? Or are you just happy to be a bumper ball? I'll bump up against Jesus when I can, maybe. No, no, no. Let's not play bumper ball and go to Jairus' house. Let's bow down now. Let's give a confession now. It's a mystery of Christ coming to flesh. It's God. He's all that God is. A triune God of infinite love. Oh my. Oh my. There's a taste of it right there. Did you taste it? Did you taste love? Infinite love? It tastes like mercy because I've got issues and I need mercy. How great the taste of mercy is, isn't it? We live with that taste of mercy. We savor that taste of mercy and then we give mercy away. We stop condemning sinners. We show sinners a way of mercy. We stop criticizing everybody. We stop stopping short with critique only. Put a taste of mercy on one another's life, not word only. Surely word only, law only will result in criticism, condemnation, discontent. Word and spirit, communion with pastors and people will give us a prolonged taste of mercy that we need so that we go out of here as vessels of mercy, with ministries of mercy to draw Christ and His soul together. Isn't that it? It is, isn't it? Let's pray. Lord, we give you thanks for bringing us to a place, really a place of decision, a place to show us whether or not we're apathetic about Christ, whether or not we're passive. And we will give ascent, or we will bow down and give our lives. of our minds and our hearts and our wills and our bodies and all our relationships to bring souls and Christ together. Lord, grant us fresh taste of Christ as God, God come in the flesh. The infinite God of grace who satisfies justice in every experience of mercy we have, instead of punishes for our sins, instead of judges, instead of judging us, instead of separating Himself from us for all eternity, draws near in the person and work of Christ. God draws near. May the Spirit give rise to the same power in our lives that rose Jesus, that caused Jesus to be raised from the dead. Same power. God, let us live with full meaning, fullness of life, fullness of joy in serving Christ and one another. giving us both the blessing, responsibility, and all the benefits of being the pillar and ground of the truth. Let us not be like the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. Leave our first love. We've got all the doctrine wired. We can correct the grandest of apostles if they were to need correction. But we've left our first love. Oh, God. May we pass on successors from generation to generation who will lead us to live upon Christ. For communion with God, and for communion with the people of God, to have all the virtue and all the power, all the efficacy, all the fruit you've designed for us as your people. We pray it to be so. In Jesus' name, amen.