Our brother Fred, Pastor Fred Evans, there in Salisburg, Indiana, he sends his greetings. I was thinking about what the Apostle writes in Galatians chapter 6, there in verse 6. You don't need to turn there. but just so that I can convey his gratitude, and he was just saying how thankful he was for the way we communicated with him to his needs. He was thankful for that. It says in verse 6 of Galatians 6, Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things." And we certainly heard a lot of good things, did we not, at those meetings? To hear Christ and Him crucified and to be blessed to hear. And I know those verses, some of you know those verses really well, you know, to hear how He's a a Savior who came into the world to save sinners. Not to try to save them, but to save them. And all the other... we're not going to do a review, but I was so blessed to hear the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation at the conference. And I trust you were as well. Now, the Lord has gathered us here this evening and There might be some people tuning in, and you might be wondering, why are we here? I trust the Lord has you here, because for the reason He says in His Word, in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21, it says there, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching that saved them that believe. And the preaching of the gospel for the believer is not foolishness. It's the power of God unto salvation. Now, in that same chapter, we do read the Apostle writing, the preaching of the cross is foolishness to them that perish, but to us who believe it's the power of God unto salvation. And whether you're tuning in now, or listening later, or you who are here this evening, The Lord doesn't do anything by accident. He does everything according to His glorious purpose. And it's my hope and my desire that you're here to hear of Him. I'm begging you to listen to the preaching of Christ and him crucified because I'm something and no wise. I'm just a nobody trying to preach somebody that can save anybody. And I pray he would be pleased to comfort us again with the gospel of his son concerning his blood and righteousness this evening. Now if you would, take your Bibles with me and open to the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew, we'll be looking at chapter 21 this evening. And we'll be looking at that portion beginning in verse 12 through to verse 17. Now tonight, I want us to look at three sharp contrasts. And I'll get to those in a moment. Now, a fallen man thinks of God as some sentimental old fool who wouldn't hurt a flea. A fallen man has the idea that this man, Jesus, is some sort of lovey-dovey hippie, and that anything goes with him. And that all one has to do is just act like you like him, or act like you have some sort of respect for him, and everything will be okay. Because he wouldn't hurt anybody. And that he loves everybody. My friend, I'm here to tell you that's not so. That's not so. Yes, God is merciful. Let's never forget that. God is merciful. But so too, let's not forget this, God's just. And He can only be merciful when His justice is satisfied. And so yes, God is love. But God's also a consuming fire. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is the friend of sinners. I'm so thankful for that, that He is the friend of sinners. But first and foremost, He's Lord. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. In Christ and Him crucified, there's salvation for sinners. So that needs to be made plain and clear. Salvation's not found in a theological position. Salvation's not in some point of view or something to be proud about. No, beloved, salvation's in a person. That's where salvation's to be had, only and ever in the Lord Jesus Christ. And while we rejoice that he's the savior of sinners, but let's also remember, so too, he's the judge with whom we have to do. He's the judge with whom we have to do. And his judgment will always be just. The redeemed are justly judged, not condemned. Not condemned. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." He keeps us, beloved. It's always now. There's never a condemnation for His people. And the reprobate, well, they're justly judged condemned. And so the Lord enabling, I want us to look at three sharp contrasts from our text this evening. And in these three sharp contrasts, we see the true character of the Lord Jesus Christ and the true character of true religion. Now, the first contrast is this. It's the contrast between the merely religious and the truly needy, the merely religious and the truly needy. Matthew chapter 1, chapter 21, excuse me, verse 12. And the Lord Jesus went into the temple of God and cast out all of them that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves. Now we see this so often in the four gospels, how that at the time of our Lord's earthly ministry, the religion of the Jews had degenerated into something that was a mere sham of its former self. I mean, there was no worship of the Lord going on there. Rather, it was just self-righteousness by the deeds of the law. And much like today, religion had become a good money-making scheme. That's what it was for them. And this is how far Israel had fallen. That by this time, the temple that Solomon built, where once God was worshipped through the blood sacrifice offered upon the altar, well, that temple that at one time was where God dwelt, remember, He dwelt above the mercy seat in His glory, and that temple is a picture of Christ. Well, that temple was once the center of worship in the whole world, and that was a place of some sort of money-making scheme. just masquerading in a form and a show of religion. That's how far things had degraded to. And our Lord came to town one day to drive these hucksters out of the temple. Now remember, this is the time the Lord's coming to Jerusalem, and he knows what's going to happen when he comes there. He's going to suffer, and he's going to die as a sacrifice for the sins of his people. He's going to fulfill the picture of all those Old Testament sacrifices that have been offered in the temple. And we see him coming to save his people from their sins by his precious blood because of his great and immeasurable love for his people, to offer himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for their sins. That's what he's coming to town to do. And before he goes, he shows he's Lord of all, and he comes to drive them out. He comes to show them that he is the Lord of glory, Now this is the second time that the Lord has come to the temple to drive out these religious hucksters. Look what it says in John's Gospel, John chapter three, beginning in verse, rather, John chapter two. John chapter two, beginning in verse 13. And remember, beloved, the Lord's love is just, but I want you to notice Sotu, his anger is just. His anger is just. Notice how he dealt with these religious hucksters in genuine holy anger. John 2, verse 13. And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and the Lord Jesus went up to Jerusalem. and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting there. And when he had made a scourge, That's a whip. When he had made a whip of small cords that had been holding oxen or sheep, well, he took those cords and he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the money, the changer's money, and overthrew the tables. And he said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. And his disciples remembered that it was written, the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." Now Christ's zeal, his zeal was to save his people from their sins, but it was also his zeal to bring judgment to rebels and to drive them out, and that's what he did. The Lord dealt in anger with these people who were those who just had an outward show of religion, and not for the purpose of worship, but for the purpose of making money. for the purpose of promoting self-righteousness. Now, they're making money off of the religious needs of the people. Now, the people in that day are just like you and me. They have a need. They have a need to be forgiven. They have a need to have a way to come to God. They have a need to worship. And these hucksters were just making money off of the religious needs of the people. And just as it always is, When people get oppressed, it seems that it's always the poor that are the worst by it. Notice it says here specifically in John 2 verse 16, the Lord said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence, make not my father's house a house of merchandise. Remember, doves were the sacrifice for the poor people. The poor people couldn't afford anything else. They couldn't afford an oxen. They couldn't afford a ram or a sheep. And so the doves were the sacrifice that the poorest of the people offered. And these people were here selling these doves to make a profit, just taking advantage of the religious needs of the people. And here they were setting themselves up as leaders in the temple of God. And they weren't doing one blessed thing to point any sinner to Christ. They weren't doing anything to give a poor sinner some hope, some peace, some comfort in Christ. They were just going through the motions of religion to get gain for themselves, and not just financial gain, but so too they would gain the recognition and admiration of the people. And the same thing happens in our day. They were doing what Scripture talks about so blindly. You know, when it's talking about false prophets, it says that they make merchandise of the people, making merchandise of men's souls, just trading on men's souls to make money, just to make a buck. The Apostle Peter writes, through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you. And these false prophets are not giving them a fair trade, if I may say that. They're not even trying to give needy sinners some hope for their souls. They're just trying to make a buck, just trying to make some money. And the Savior came down and drove them all out of His temple in His just fury. Remember, one man, the Holy One of Israel, this man from Nazareth, He drove out all these men. Just one man did that. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if any of these hucksters had ever heard Jesus loves everybody, well, they learned right quick that isn't so. Right quick, they learned that at the business end of a whip. And remember, in our portion, this is the second time the Lord's done this in his temple. Now, in our day, it seems that false religion is more prevalent than ever. But beloved, remember there's a day coming when the Lord's coming back and He's going to do this once and for all. And He's giving us a picture here of how He's going to clear this world of false religion. He's going to clear it of its sin and of its rebellion once and for all. Never to come back. Never to come back. And remember, He's coming again. He's coming to judge the living and the dead, the quick and the dead. He's the judge of all, and I always want everybody that hears me preach to understand this. Tomorrow is the calendar of Satan, but today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of mercy. Today, right now. Right now, my friend, don't wait till tomorrow. You come to Him right now. Come to Christ. Believe on Him today. Behold, the scriptures say, behold now is the accepted time. Behold now is the day of salvation. But don't ever think that that day is going to last forever. For there's a day coming when God's going to come in judgment. Christ the Savior is going to appear to gather his people to himself. But he's also going to appear to judge the world in righteousness. And when that day comes, when Christ comes again, And we certainly worship in that well-known hymn, do we not? What a day that will be. Truly, what a day that will be. Whether the Lord tarries and He comes for us and our time state concludes, or we're going to be on the earth and be taken up to meet Him in the clouds and the air. Either way, what a day that will be. When my Lord Jesus I shall see, And I look upon his face, the one who saved me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promised land, what a day, glorious day that will be. What a day of eternal bliss for God's people. I mean, we can't even imagine it. We can't even bring it to our minds. We just only understand it in part. But so too, it'll also be a day of eternal judgment and condemnation on those who do not believe on Him. And we can't imagine that either. We just can't. We can't imagine the bliss of the one, and we can't imagine the horror of the other. And it's going to be the Lord Jesus Christ that comes to bring it to pass for both people, both the redeemed and the reprobate. Now we saw how the Lord dealt with these religious hucksters. Now that's His true character as judge. Now look at the contrast. The contrast of how He dealt with the needy. Look at verse 14. Matthew 21 verse 14. says there, verse 14, "...and the blind and the lame came to him in the temple," and notice this, "...and he healed them all." He healed them all. And here's the contrast. In the midst of wrath, the Lord always remembers mercy. Remember, the Lord came to drive out these religious hucksters, just trying to make money from their religion. But so too, the Lord immediately healed every blind and every lame person that came to him, and they didn't have to give him any money like they did those hucksters. They'd have the people to meet some sort of qualifications, you know, in order for them to come in to the temple. But to come before the Lord, they just came to Him with their need and He healed them. He had mercy on every one of them there. Was there a case too hard for Him? Was there a person too far gone for Him to heal? in no wise, in no wise. His power, His love, and His pity for needy, desperate sinners like you and me, oh, what a blessed picture of what Christ came to do for His people. Beloved, He came to bring mercy to needy sinners. And he did it in his love and his pity for them. He came to give life to the spiritually dead. He came to heal the spiritually lame and blind, those that can't see. He came to give them light to see. And what do they see when he gives them light to see? Do you know? They see him. They see his blessed person and his finished saving work. When he gives them life, who do they follow? Who do they believe on? They believe on Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood. You see, they're spiritually lame, and He came to heal them, and when they can walk, where do they go? They go to Him, and they follow Him. You see, it's all about Him. Christ came to redeem and to save His people, and it's just as true that He came to establish judgment and justice upon the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners, and he's also the judge of the unbeliever. And he called his house the house of worship. And I hope we never forget this. This place is the house of the Lord. I mean, of course, it's just a building like any other building. I mean, as far as buildings go, it's really no different. But it's because of what goes on here in this place that this is the house of the Lord. My friend, this is not some sort of poor man's social club, you know, where we're trying to climb some sort of social ladder and gain recognition. And, you know, try to get everybody to be impressed with us for how big of a show of religion we can put on. Not at all. This house is the house of the Lord. You see, this is supposed to be the place where the spiritually blind and spiritually lame can come and hear of the Savior. who came to save sinners. And then what's the result? To be healed. To be made whole. To hear, beloved you are complete in him and lack nothing. Because he's the only one who can make us whole. He's the only one who can make us complete. He's the only one who can heal blind, lame, dead sinners like you and me. And when sinners come here, they're supposed to come to hear of Him that shall save His people from their sins. It seems like my whole life somebody has been about bringing me to the house of the Lord. Blind and lame and dead. And somebody did that for me. And somebody did that for you who believe. I pray the Lord enable us to do that for somebody else, don't you? To be a Philip to all the Nathaniels of this and next generation of poor, blind, lame and spiritually dead people. that can come to a place because a Philip came running to Nathanael saying, we have found him, the one who Moses and the prophets give testimony of, Jesus of Nazareth. And just say to those Nathanaels, don't get into a debate with them, just say, come and see. Come and see. Come and see. And they can come to a place where the preaching of the Christ is the most important thing that we do. And everything else pales in comparison to that. You know, the Lord's still merciful, beloved. The Lord's still in the business of saving sinners. Could be that the Lord is going to give life to somebody who's dead this evening. That he's going to heal somebody who's lame and blind this very night. Could be he's going to do that this very evening. That's my constant prayer. And if he does it, I can tell you how he's going to do that. Only one way. And that's through the preaching of Christ. And that's the most important thing we can do, beloved. So let's set our affection in our heart and in our determination upon it that we would endeavor to preach the gospel to every creature wherever we find ourselves. Somebody might say, well, preacher, where'd you get that idea? Where'd you get that idea exactly? Well, our Lord declares, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned. Now here's the second contrast I'd like to talk about this evening. And it's the contrast between false religion and true religion. the contrast between false religion and true religion. Back in our portion, verse 13, Matthew 21, verse 13. And said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves. Notice the Lord calls false religion a den of thieves. And that description applies to all false religion. to everything that's going on in false religion up to the day our Lord returns. False religion, beloved, is a den full of thieves, and they're all thieves, and here's why they're called thieves. They're trying to rob God of his glory, and they do that by preaching a message of fleshly activity and man's free will, teaching that salvation is up to you, that salvation is all up to your free will. up to your decision, up to you to do this or the other thing, or to make yourself, you know, acceptable for salvation. And in all their lives they rob God of His glory. My friend, salvation is in God's sovereign mercy to sinners, a full and free salvation to sinners who do not deserve it. God himself called that his greatest glory. And if we were to make salvation, beloved, something that we can earn or that you could earn, that's not totally depending upon God's mercy. And that's robbing God of his glory. What do we read in Jonah chapter 2 verse 9? Salvation is of the Lord, period. It's not conditioned on what a creature will or will not do. Salvation has been purposed by God's sovereign will. because he's everlastingly loved us, beloved, because his love is eternal. We know the gospel contained in Malachi chapter 3 verse 6. The Lord says, I changeth not. That is to say, my love for you never changes. I've loved you with an everlasting love, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Let's look at that verse there. I want to make sure I read that right. It's Malachi chapter 3, verse 6. I am the Lord. I change not. From before the foundation of the world, I purposed to save you in the covenant of grace. And in time, I'll call you with a holy calling, and I will manifest and reveal to you that I have always loved you. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." Now, not only do they rob these den of thieves, they endeavor to rob God of His glory, but there's another way that they're thieves. They're a den of thieves in that they're trying to rob poor sinners. These poor sinners who have come to just get a turtle dove to offer as a sacrifice. And these thieves are trying to rob the poorest of sinners of any hope, of any life, of any peace, of any salvation, of any grace in Christ. And they're stealing away the sinner's comfort. They're stealing away the sinner's comfort. Because if you don't preach Christ and Him crucified, If you don't preach Christ to sinners, you're robbing them of a hope of eternal life, because Christ is our only hope. He's the only source of grace, and you're robbing them of that, and I'm telling you, they ought to be shunned. They ought to be shunned, because if they shun to declare the whole counsel of God, then they themselves ought to be shunned. Isn't that what our Lord teaches us? He said, let them alone. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. And so they ought to be called out for what they are, blind thieves, blind thieves. And so let them alone so that God's not robbed of his glory. And so sinners are not robbed of grace and life in Christ Jesus. They ought to be called out for what they are and who they are. And remember, that's what the Lord himself calls them, the den of thieves. But now notice the contrast here to true religion. Our Lord calls true religion the house of prayer, the house of prayer. Now this phrase, the house of prayer, means a house of worship. That's calling upon God for mercy, calling upon God for help, calling upon God and praising him for who he is, calling upon him and thanking him for what he's done for us. That's worship. It's begging God for mercy and praising Him for His matchless grace, and thanking Him for who and what He is, and further, for what He's done for us. That's what worship's all about. So this house of prayer is a place of worship. I trust you see the difference between the two groups. of their different motives being found in the heart of why they're doing what they're doing. False, stone-cold religion is seeking fleshly things, are they not? You see, they see religion as a money-making scheme and they're seeking recognition. They're seeking earthly things, you know, like health, worldly prosperity, popularity and happiness. What a scam! Your best life now? But true religion is from the heart of the flesh, the heart that the Lord opens, that seeks Christ, and seeking Him for spiritual blessings in heavenly places that are found only and ever in Him. Seeking the blessed God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. That's where the blessings are to be found. It's in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You see, we're not merely seeking blessings, but rather, true religion seeks Christ himself for all spiritual blessings. And when we're sick, we ask for healing, do we not? I mean, I trust we do that when we're sick, physically sick. We do ask for healing. But true religion is seeking Christ for something much more important than physical healing. True religion seeks after forgiveness of sin, mercy, and grace, that I must have to have peace with God, and that righteousness that somebody's got to establish for me. True religion seeks to glorify Christ, seeks to exalt Christ, and puts ourselves down into the dust where we belong. True religion seeks the glory of God, not seeking my own glory, but seeking the glory of God and these money changers, these hucksters who are selling all this stuff for profit, well, our Lord came and he drove them out of his temple. And when he did, he said, I'm driving you out because this is my house. My house. Now when he called the temple my house, he's saying, in effect, that he's God. You see, the temple is the house of God. And when that temple was built, God said, this is my house. This is where I dwell. And when the Savior came, just a man, as far as the unbeliever was concerned, just a man from Nazareth, I mean, he looked just like everybody else, and yet he called the temple my house. And why was that? because, beloved, he's declaring in no uncertain terms that he himself is God. And you'll notice not one person argued with him, for he showed that he had the power to drive out all those people that he didn't want there. He showed he had the power to heal the poor and needy. Right there where he said, my house, plainly and clearly, by saying those two words, my house, he's saying, I am God. And nobody dared to argue with him. Nobody challenged him. And when the Lord calls himself God, that is what he tells you and me here through this text, that he's to be worshipped. And God is worshipped through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Beloved, this is the house of the Lord. It's a place of worship and nothing else matters. Truly, nothing else matters but the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Now, this is so vitally important. I mean, nothing else matters but worshiping the Lord. And we do that by reading the gospel of his word. We do that by hearing and receiving God's word preached, by coming before him in prayer. And you know, when the men of this church lead us in prayer, you know, they're leading this congregation to the very throne of God in public prayer. What an awesome responsibility. But that's part of worship. It's prayer. And we worship singing His praise from the heart, and especially the preaching of the gospel. It's all that matters, beloved. Exalting Christ is all that matters. So let's never let anything but Christ and His glory have the preeminence. We can disagree on pretty much every other thing, but not Christ. Not Christ. Let all those other things go, and so just don't worry about them. Because comparatively speaking, nothing is as important as knowing Christ and the glory of Christ. God help us to provide that for ourselves, our children, and our respective communities. All right, here's the third contrast, and it's between the religious scholars and simple children. Between religious scholars and simple children. Matthew 21, verse 15. And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that our Lord did, and the children crying in the temple and saying, Hosanna to the son of David, they were sore displeased. And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And the Lord Jesus saith unto them, Yea, have ye never read out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Now the people who saw themselves as religious scholars, they were angry when they saw this, when they saw that the Lord came to drive out these money changers. And when he did that, he revealed himself for who he is. And what broke out was true worship. And these religious scholars were displeased to see the true worship of Christ break out. And they were sore displeased when they saw that, that true worship break out amongst the simple ones. And I believe I know why, because now they weren't getting what they were after. You see, they wanted the glory, they wanted the recognition, and now Christ is getting it. Now this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is getting all the glory, and they were sore displeased about that. Suddenly, simple religion, simple preaching, the simple revelation of Christ broke out, and they were displeased. Because you see, they worship in a way that was so complicated that they were the only ones, at least in their own minds, who knew how to do it. And everybody else needed them to tell them how to do it. That's what these religious scholars were thinking. that they would explain to everyone else how to do worship, and that their worship was wrong, and that God wouldn't accept them, except they straightened out and told them, if you do this and you do that, then it'll be okay. And so these religious, for lack of a better word, these religious professionals wanted worship to be so complicated and convoluted that everybody depended on them. But true simple religion is this, We want everybody to be dependent on Christ. You see the difference? And to this very day, these religious marketing hucksters hate the simple worship of Christ. Just make it simple, and they hate it. But I tell you, who loves it that way? Who loves it very simple? It's the simple, needy one. The simple, needy sinner loves when the gospel is made plain and simple. The simple sinner loves it because this is what I need. That of seeing Christ, hearing Christ, praising Christ as the Spirit of God opens up his word. Oh, what love we have for just hearing him plainly preached, of hearing of him who loved us and washed us of our sins in his own precious blood. And that makes simple sinners to rejoice, does it not? Just make it simple so I can't help but see this is Christ speaking. Beloved, take God's word and expound upon it, and make it so plain that the foolish, the weak, and the base of this world can understand it. I mean, none of us will understand it unless it's blessed of the Lord, but we should enable to speak as plainly as we can. It's those little small details that bless us, is it not? I was reading something today to Sandra, and it was just somebody repeating what our Lord said. The Lord says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. And the minister just parked there for a bit and reminded this sinner behind the pulpit that he knows me. And oh, what joy fills my heart to hear that. It just lifts up my heart in worship and adoration that he would reveal to me that he knows me. That's our only hope, is it not? He said, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. And I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. Isn't it wonderful to hear that he gives eternal life to his people? He's not conditioning it. He's not offering it. He gloriously, powerfully, mercifully gives life to damned, dirty sinners like you and me. And that without their permission. He just does. And the only reason why we keep believing what we believe is because we're kept. kept by the power of God through faith, through Christ, that salvation ready to be revealed in the last day. So good. So we should all endeavor, whether it's me behind the pulpit, or you as you minister to your grandchildren, or you as you minister to your daughters or your children, your son and our families and our communities, we should take great care to be as simple and plain as we can. The word condescend is a word we don't use anymore. And if I say to you, the Lord condescends to speak to us, most of us wouldn't understand that word. But if I say to you that He stooped so low, He humbled Himself to be made flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone, that He might come into this world to save sinners. We never want to say anything that will distract, is what I'm saying. We always want to be plain and simple. And I pray for you, you pray for me, that we would never be Complicated in this building, ever. But simple. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? He is God, manifest in the flesh. Isaiah writes in chapter 9 there, of the gospel of Isaiah, verse 6 there, unto us a child is born. Speaking of his humanity. Unto us a son is given. As the eternal son of God, he must be given. And the government is upon his shoulders. Everything is on his shoulders. He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and he's sovereign over every detail of our life. Going through a trial right now, he sent it to you. How come? I know you won't believe it, to bless you. And doesn't he show us that over and over again? That all those sheepdogs of life, if I can put it that way, mercy and goodness, it all works for mercy and goodness. But to hear the simpleness of who he is, we call his name Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's who he is. He's God in the flesh. What did he do? Well, he tells us plainly, does he not? He tells us, I did not come into the world to be ministered to, but to minister and give my life a ransom for, do you know the blessed answer? Many. Not a few, he didn't die for a few, and he did not die for everyone, but he died for many, a number that no man can number. You want to know what else he did? The scriptures make it so plain. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul, our brother, said, of whom I'm chief. And where is he right now? He's seated at the right hand of God on the majesty on high. How come? Because he's accomplished our salvation, beloved. The prophet in Isaiah, again he writes in Isaiah chapter 40, and this is what all God's ministers are sent to do. They're sent to comfort Jerusalem. They're sent to comfort the Church of Christ. They're sent to comfort the sinners he came to save. It says there, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. How do I know our warfare is accomplished. How do you know that? Because by God's grace we hear him from the cross of Calvary saying, it is finished. And he knows how weak and how small and how fragile our faith is. And so he tells us again in Revelation 21 verse 6, he says, it is done. Everything you need to be saved has been gloriously accomplished. A full and complete pardon of all your sins, past sins, present sins. If we could, we wouldn't sin again, but we're still carrying around this body of death, but future sins as well. It's a full and complete pardon of all our sins, and that's half a gospel. The other half is this. He performs all our holiness. He's all our justification and He's all our sanctification. This is the gospel. How that we remember around the Lord's table the propitious sin atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We remember how effectual His blood cleanses us. But also when He was living on the earth He established a perfect righteousness. And that is the righteousness we find ourselves in, beloved. It says in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21, I'll amplify it a little bit. I mean, no harm to the text, but it says there plainly and clearly, our heavenly Father made his darling, sinless Son, he who knew no sin, to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Christ. And so, beloved, we're to make it so plain, so clear, so simple, that needy sinners, blind sinners, can see Him, and they'll rejoice. You see, they'll rejoice hearing Christ preached plainly. And, you know, that'll make their heart break out in worship. because it's that kind of preaching, the simple preaching of Christ that gives them what their souls need, and that's Christ and Him crucified. It makes us glad, doesn't it? It doesn't make us mad. It makes us glad. What drew them to come to Christ here in our portion? What drew these simple ones? Just the revelation of who He is and what He's done. They saw that that, very plainly, And they came to him for healing. And this shows us that it's the simple people that he draws to himself. They're not impressed with the flesh. They need Christ. And they're impressed with him. They're not impressed with his messengers. They're impressed with Christ, with him. And they come to him. And when they do, what did these simple poor sinners do when they came to Christ? They believed on him. Indeed, they are believing on him. He revealed to them who He is, of who it was that drove out the money changers, and He healed everybody that needed healing. Hear that. He healed everybody that had need of healing. And they came and they praised the Lord Jesus, this man of Nazareth, and they praised Him as God. And He declared that when He said, This is My house. And they came and praised Him as God when they shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David, And that phrase means, if you were a Jew living at that time and you heard Hosanna to the Son of David, you heard the Messiah. You heard the Christ of God. And every Jew knew what that phrase meant, the Messiah, the promised one of God. And the self-righteous religious scholars saw that and they couldn't stand it. They could not stand to see Christ get all the glory because that meant they couldn't get any of it for themselves. And that's all they were after. And now these simple people, many of them illiterate, they came and they worshiped Christ for who He is and they called Him the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior. How did they know that? How did these simple ones know that He is the Christ? Now I ask that because I want to know this simple answer to my question, how it is that a simple, needy sinner like you and a simple, needy sinner like me can come and worship Christ as my Lord and God. How do they know that this is the Christ? How can the Lord accept their worship? Because He accepted their worship, right? I mean, He didn't dissuade them. He didn't say, don't worship me. He accepted their worship. I mean, He didn't tell them to be quiet. He didn't tell them, don't call me Messiah. He didn't say to them, let no man know it. Oh no, he let them publicly and loudly call out to him, Hosanna to the son of David. You see, the Lord accepted their worship and by this we see here that by God's grace we may do the same. You see, beloved, the Lord accepts our worship and doesn't reject us because we're just going It's been made known to us, if I could put it that way. So often, an atheist will accuse a believer in saying, you got that book there, you believe that book, that's circular reasoning, that's foolishness to him. But what he does not know, this atheist, is that the Lord has taken the clean water of the gospel of His Son and He's blessed it mightily with His Spirit. And yes, I do believe what's written in that book, but that's because it's been revealed to me from above. I've been born from above, and now I know that to be so." What is it we say with our brother Paul? We don't disbelieve. We just don't think so. But ever so blessedly, we know all things work together for good for those who love God. Why do we love God? Because he first loved us. He called according to his purpose. Maybe we should ask the question, Preacher, how can I know for sure that I'm not going through the motions, that I truly know these things, that they've been revealed to me? Well, the only answer I can find in Scripture is in Romans 8 verse 16. It says there, the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are, right now, the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we suffer with him, that we may also... that we may be also glorified together." How can I know that Christ died for me? There's other places we could look to that give us comfort. Can you enter into what Paul wrote to Timothy, beloved Timothy? He said, a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now, the whole world ought to accept it. Now, they won't unless God does a work in them. But this is what Paul wrote. First Timothy 1, verse 15. Faithful saying worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And if you're a sinner, as Joseph Hart wrote in his stanza, a sinner is a holy thing, a sanctified thing, a justified thing, because the Holy Spirit has made him so. We're not talking about people who pretend at being sinners. We're talking about people who've been loved of the Father in the light and countenance of His well-pleasing Son. I mean, this is what our Lord taught us. He said in two places, this is John chapter 6 verse 45, He says, as it's written in the prophets, they shall all be taught of God. And all who hear the father and learn of him come to me. In another place, he tells us, when I send the spirit of truth, he'll proceed from the father and he'll testify of me. I was talking to a man today, and I was trying to ascertain if he knew our Lord. He was a professed believer. In fact, the fellow that came to check on the property today. And I asked him just some questions, if he knew about the word, shall. And he didn't think of anything, but that gave me an excuse to quote Matthew 1.21 to him. how that Joseph, that young man who was concerned about his fiancée being pregnant, and he did not even touch her, she was a virgin as far as he was concerned, and he was troubled about this. And the angel of the Lord came to him in the night time in a vision and told Joseph, Don't be afraid to take Mary for your wife, for what's conceived in her womb is conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and you shall call his name Jesus. Joshua, Savior. How come? For he shall save his people from their sins. And then, talking to the fellow today on the property, I just repeated to him what Paul wrote to Timothy, what I just repeated to you. It never gets... What's the word that Paul used? It's never a grievous thing to repeat these things. It's never grievous. It's wonderful to know that there's no adjective parked beside the word sinner. It doesn't say repent of sinner. It doesn't say reform sinner. It doesn't say a sinner who turned over a new leaf. He just writes ever so blessedly there in 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 15, a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." And our brother said, of whom I'm chief. What a glorious gospel. You are a miracle of the rebirth if you know that not merely do you need to be saved from your sins, not merely do you need to be saved from your righteousnesses, you need to be saved from what you are, what I am. Isn't that what the writer of that well-known hymn, Amazing Grace, said towards the end of his time stayed. This is the man who wrote that stanza, When we've been there ten thousand years bright shining as the sun, we'll have no less days to sing God's praise than when we first began. And towards his departure, if we could put it that way. He didn't remember many things. His faculties were failing, his mental capacity was failing, and he just said this, I know two things. I'm a great sinner, and the Lord Jesus Christ is a greater Savior. That might even be too smart for us. Because great sinner? Does that? We take it for granted. We know what that means, right? I'm a guilty, vile, sinner, worm. And the only thing I deserve is hell. And the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save guilty, vile, sinner worms like you and me. He didn't try. No, no, he shall, and he has. This is the gospel that teaches us that God has purpose to save his people. It's the Holy Spirit, beloved, that has to reveal this to us. The Holy Spirit has to reveal it to us, revealing to us of who this man is, of who Jesus Christ is, or else if the Spirit doesn't reveal who the Lord Jesus Christ is to you, you'll never worship Him. You'll never worship Him as God. And the only way the Holy Spirit is going to reveal Christ to us, that we worship Him as our Lord and God, the only way, The only means that revelation occurs is through the preaching of the gospel, through the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. I have a few more notes here, but I'll just conclude with these glorious passages here. A couple of portions from 1 Corinthians 1, and then we'll conclude. It says here, in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. I'll begin reading there in verse 17. Paul's writing here to the believers in Corinth, and he writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross, the preaching of his blood, the preaching of his righteousness, the preaching of his being the substitute for sinners, it says there, is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. And then verse 21, the latter part, it says there, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching that saved them that believe. And then in verse 26, where you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men out of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And base things of the world and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to naught the things that are. For what purpose? To what end? That no flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him, of God, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Amen.