We will pick up our reading in verse 13 and we will read down through the verse 20 of. Matthew Chapter 16. Matthew 16 reading again beginning in verse 13 and through verse 20 this morning. People of God, once again you are reminded that this is the word of the living God. So give heed and hear the word of the Lord. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? So they said, Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter. And on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ." Thus far, the reading of God's holy word this morning. I'd be pleased to add his power and his blessing to his word as it is read and as it is preached. Well, as we come to our text this morning, I'm sure all of you have noticed that we have quite a lengthy portion here. We have quite the lengthy portion here because though we're accustomed to sort of atomistically moving our way through the gospel, every once in a while it's good to see that there's an overarching theme that we are making our way through. We are since actually chapter 13 learning who Jesus is as the king. We're learning about the nature of his kingdom. And here, beginning in our text, verse 14 and 13, beginning in chapter 14, verse 13, and all the way to where we've just seen, we've just finished our reading, we will have revealed to us who Jesus Christ is with that confession of Peter that ends our portion of scripture this morning. You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And everything that we see in the portion that we've read there from the first feeding of the 5000 and you'll notice bookended by the feeding of the 4000 and this interaction between the disciples and Jesus Christ are all geared toward teaching the disciples Jesus is and how it is they are to respond to who Jesus is in that final revelation in our text that he is the Christ the son of the Living God. In particular what they need to learn and what all of those who have been under the teaching and the healing ministry of Jesus Christ need to learn is that This is the Son of God, the Son of David, who has come as God's King to usher in the kingdom of heaven, and thus the one to whom all men are to look, to whom the nations ought to look, to whom we as individuals ought to look as well, so that ultimately, through all of these many verses across these three chapters, we learn the central truth being presented to us is that we are to set our eyes upon Jesus, the Son of God, with an unwavering faith. Set our eyes upon Jesus, the Son of God, with an unwavering faith. And we'll learn that lesson along these following lines. First, we'll see the little or the wavering faith of the disciples. Second, we'll see the lack of faith, the unbelief of the scribes and the Pharisees. And thirdly, we will see the unwavering faith of the Canaanite woman. And then finally, the declaration of faith of Peter and the disciples. Turning then to that first element of our text this morning, the little wavering faith of the disciples. Beginning with verse 13, we have what is probably one of the most familiar miracles in all of the Gospels, the feeding of the 5,000. And in the interest of time, I won't take a whole lot of time to put before you what most of you already know. We know the situation. Jesus has been teaching the crowds. He's been healing them. We've come to the end of a very long day, to the point where the disciples, where Christ recognizes, sees that the multitudes there, as well as disciples, have need for something to eat. And while Jesus' provision for the multitudes out of his compassion is a facet of the text, it's not something that is absent, we need to avoid and over-focus on the multitudes and Jesus' compassion on them because Matthew's focus, as we march through these chapters, and it's been since chapter 13 with the introduction of the parables, Matthew's focus is on the disciples. It's on their need to see who Jesus is, to learn who he is, to understand the nature of the kingdom, so that when Jesus, the master of the house, is gone, they, as those little masters of the house, can bring out of the storehouse treasures new and old. The disciples need to learn to set their eyes themselves upon Jesus Christ. And in setting their eyes upon Jesus Christ, then be prepared for the hard truths he'll begin to teach them in chapter 17, and then the transfiguration in chapter 18, and Jesus in actual march towards Jerusalem and his ultimate crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection. And the primary, the chief lesson that these disciples and all those who would be disciples of Jesus Christ needed to learn and need to learn is that we need to set our eyes with an unwavering faith on Jesus Christ. Jesus, in both of these feeding miracles and his interaction with the scribes and the Pharisees, is practically instructing his disciples. Their need to focus their eyes upon him as the source of provision in both of those feeding miracles. And their need to learn that just as Jesus will supply bread, so also they will supply bread as those who will be masters of the house when he is gone. So with that in mind, let's turn our attention then to the feeding of the 5,000 and of the 4,000. And the first thing that we ought to note is this weak, wavering, doubtful faith of the disciples. Again, we know the circumstance. Jesus has been healing the sick and the hour has become late. The multitudes and the disciples need nourishment. But what do the disciples want to do? The disciples, when they see the need of the people of the multitudes before them, they want to send them away, to send them to the villages surrounding where they are out there in the desert in order that the multitudes might go and find for themselves and procure for themselves the bread that they need for the sustenance that they need. And in that desire, and in the subsequent events that will follow, we learn that the disciples have a two-fold lesson to learn here. The first one being that they need to share the compassion of Jesus. They want to send the multitudes away, whereas Jesus wants to provide in both the feeding of the 5000 and the feeding of the 4000. Jesus heart of compassion is towards those who have been sitting under his teaching ministry and who have been coming to him, bringing their sick and healing them. And he desires to provide the need that is present there, whereas the disciples, well, not really so much. Secondly, the disciples need to, in faith, take their eyes off the circumstance and look to Jesus to enable them to provide. You ask why I say enable them to provide? Because it's interesting to note exactly how Jesus deals with that first instance of feeding. disciples come to Jesus and they say let the multitudes be dispersed let them go into the villages and let them find for themselves food to eat notice how Jesus responds to them but Jesus said to them they do not need to go away I will give them something to eat right that's what the text says No, you give them something to eat. I mean, you think about that as far as the as far as the disciples are concerned, and they relay their concern in verse 17. And they said to him, we have only here five loaves and two fishes. And if we're honest with ourselves, we can understand exactly why their eyes are on their circumstances and exactly why their faith is wavering, why their Like, how can you ask us to do something like this? We've got five loaves and two fishes and 5,000 men, let alone women and children that may have happened to be there. But Jesus says to them, you give them something to eat. Why? Because he's teaching them that twofold lesson. One, their need to have compassion so that they might meet needs. But second, that their answer to that should have been to turn to Jesus and to ask that he would provide, which he does. The means by which they would give is through his power. and through his strength. But where are they looking? In both this account of the feeding of the 5000, but also if we would go to Chapter 15 in verse 33 in the in the feeding of the 4000. Even more remarkable, given that Jesus is just multiplied bread from five loaves and two fishes for 5000 plus people, we still find them saying when it comes to the 4000 in verse 33, of chapter 15, then his disciples said to him, where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude? Shades of Exodus. Saints, where can we get enough bread? does the disciples have here and they'll have in the in the next narrative section with jesus walking on the water and when talking to jesus about eleven of the scribes in the pharisees they have this distinct inability at this juncture in this point to get their eyes off of the circumstance off the raw data in front of them and to put them firmly on jesus christ and to trust that indeed he will be the source by which these things are provided. Where are they looking? Well, at the impossibility of the circumstance. How can we provide them with bread with this limited supply? The answer is, well, Jesus will supply it. Abundantly even beyond the need and the heart of this issue is revealed in Jesus rebuke of the disciples in verse or in chapter 16 itself in verse 7 When it tells us that and they reason among themselves saying it is because we have taken no bread. I So here we are, the disciples are being told, be wary of the leaven of the Pharisees. They've forgotten to bring bread, and their minds are like, he's telling us that we forgot to bring bread. And Jesus says to them, oh you little faith, of you of wavering faith, of doubtful faith, why do you reason among yourselves that you have brought no bread? Why does he say that? Because he's just supplied bread for the 5,000 and the 4,000. Why would he rebuke them for having no bread when he can supply everything that they could possibly need? They're missing this point once again because their eyes are set on the circumstance, on the external reality before them instead upon Jesus Christ, who he is, what he's saying. And what that means for them, the disciples could not see beyond the circumstances, both in the physical aspect, nor could they discern yet the spiritual aspect as well. That's why they misunderstand what Jesus says when he says, beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. The provision of physical bread is to demonstrate a spiritual reality, the need to be fed not by the leaven of the Pharisees, but by Christ himself. And so we find in both of these feeding miracles, the need for the disciples in their unwavering faith to take their eyes off of everything else and put them on Jesus himself. And that theme continues to run through our text this morning, because after we're treated to that multitude being fed by the abundant power and supply of Jesus Christ to give them bread, and the wavering faith of the disciples, we are treated with the all-too-familiar tale of Peter walking on water, or rather, Peter trying and failing to walk on water. We find that after Jesus has fed the 500, he wants to take some time and to pray by himself, verse 23. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening came, he was alone there. So Jesus taking time to go and to pray by himself is there on the mountain praying. His disciples are following after him in the boat and they find themselves in the middle of one of those storms where the waves are crashing down over the boat and the wind is kicking up those waves. So we're in another familiar situation where they're out there, and that seeming threat to life is before them. They look out across the Sea of Galilee, and there they see a figure walking towards them, and they're afraid of that. And I think that we all can understand why. I imagine if we were in their shoes and we see someone that we haven't quite made out yet walking on water towards us, we might be a little freaked out by that. And so the disciples are afraid. They're afraid. But immediately Jesus in verse 27 of chapter 14 spoke to them saying, be of good cheer. It is I do not be afraid. And so then Peter answered and says, Lord, if it is you come command me to come to you on the water. So he said, come. And when Peter come down, I had come down out of the boat. He walked on the water to go to Jesus. Peter, knowing who it was, knowing his master by virtue of that command without fear, steps out of the boat onto the water and begins walking towards Jesus. He's got his eyes focused on his master. Right in his faith at that moment in time is is single focused, but then we find in verse 30. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried out saying Lord save me. So is faith waivers. He's told in verse 31 by Jesus. So you have little faith of wavering faith. Why did you, why did you doubt? And it teaches the same lesson that the feeding of the five and the 4,000 teaches. What is Peter's issue? Why does he fail? Why does he walk the few short steps but then begin to sink? And it's because he takes his eyes off of Jesus Christ and places them on his circumstance. The boisterous wind, the crashing waves. And as soon as he does that, as soon as his eyes are taken off Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and put on anything and something else, immediately he begins to sink. Jesus reveals the issue. Oh you of little faith. Why did you doubt? Peter's faith wavered. His eyes wavered. He turned them from Christ to the waves. Nevertheless, Jesus saves him. And the disciples exclaimed, truly you are the Son of God, that first inkling of exactly what this is all about. Peter puts his eyes back on Christ, cries out, Lord, save me. And Jesus reaches down and pulls him up. When they get into the boat, the wind ceases, and they're filled with that awe and that wonder. And they cry out, worshiping God, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. And that's the point. And never should they have doubted the provision for those 5,000 because the Son of God is here. And never should Peter have doubted that he would be able to walk across the waves to Jesus because the Son of God is here. The disciples need to learn to put their wholehearted faith and trust in the Son of God to take their eyes off of anything that would distract them from that focus upon Jesus. The Son of God. And that's really the heart of the lesson for the disciples, one that they'll continue to learn even all the way through the end of this gospel until we come to the book of Acts. And we finally, finally see the disciples becoming what Jesus had been instructing them to be, even to the point where so many of them will go to the death, proclaiming this son of God. Disciples in their wavering faith needed to have that faith strengthened to recognize and to see Jesus Christ for who he was Contrasted to the disciples the disciples their faith may have been wavering They may have had doubted it may have been weak at this time. It may have been little but nonetheless they still had faith and Jesus saves even the weak faith But then we come, beginning in verse chapter 15, to another set of people entirely, people who don't have weak or wavering faith, but who have no faith at all, who refuse to see Jesus for who he is, who actively reject Jesus for who he is claiming to be, the blind leading the blind, as Jesus says here in the narrative before us, and that is the scribes and the Pharisees. In verse 1, we're told that once again the scribes and Pharisees come to Jerusalem with yet another complaint. This time their complaint isn't so much about Jesus, though indirectly it is, but it's about his disciples. And they ask him, why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For when they wash their hands, they don't eat bread. And it's the very complaint itself that reveals the hard-hearted missing the point. that the scribes and the Pharisees have been so resolutely engaged in all Gospel of Matthew long. Because they are, like the disciples and Peter, focused on the wrong thing. They're focused on the external. But unlike the disciples, they have no faith in the Son of God, right? Rather, their trust is in the physical, external, ritual purity as the source of purity and cleanness and, thus, right relationship with God, as opposed to the internal purity that God requires and that, as we learn as Jesus walks towards Golgotha, can only be found in his cleansing blood. And Jesus demonstrates this error in his response. The first thing that he does is he exposes their hypocrisy. Who are the scribes and the Pharisees? And they claim to be rigorous followers of the law in all of its externalities. But even here they fail, creating their hedge about the law of God, their own traditions that ultimately will supersede even the law of God. And we're treated to one of them here in verse 3 when he says, He answered and said to them, why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? You notice the juxtaposition there. Your disciples are transgressing our tradition. Jesus answered, your tradition is transgressing God's command. Right? For God commanded, saying, honor your father and mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, whoever says to his father or mother, whatever profit you may have received from me is a gift to God, then he need not honor his father or mother. Thus, you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites. Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying these people draw near to me with their mouth and they honor me with their lips but their heart is far from me and in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Corbin would be the idea that you could say that all of your things were devoted to God and since they were devoted to God's service then you don't have to honor your father and mother and the idea there being by providing for your father and mother's needs out of your increase out of your profit as it says in verse five whatever profit you might have received from me whatever way I may have been able to help you with whatever way I may have been able to honor you by providing for your needs out of the good that God has given me I don't have to do that because it's devoted to God's service and so by that tradition they invalidate the actual command of God which is to honor your father and mother and to care for them, to see to their needs in their old age. And you get around that by your own tradition that says, well, as long as I say this is devoted to God for his service, I can actually get around devoting it to God for his service by caring for my mother and father. So by their externality. To their own tradition, their religious adherence to their own external tradition, they missed the heart of the law itself. That somehow God would be pleased if they devoted things to his service, but ignored his command. In the process. And thus they exchanged God's law for their tradition. Jesus continues to drive the point home as he instructs the crowds about the heart of the matter. Verse 10, when he had called the multitude to himself, he said to them, hear and understand not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. In other words, the Pharisees have been missing the point. What's the whole point of all of the purity laws and the ritual cleansing in the Old Testament? Which by the way, the washing of hands is not actually a ritual cleansing except for in one instance. So the Pharisees have kind of made that up. But the whole point is what? That these external symbols of impurity are pointing to an inner reality, that the heart of man is corrupt, that the heart of man needs to be cleansed. But where are the Pharisees looking? Not at the heart of man, not at the need for an internal cleansing, but on the power of external ritual to somehow purify them. And Jesus is saying, it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles the man. Rather, it's what comes out of the mouth that defiles the man or rather reveals that the man is already defiled. Verse 17, do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." Jesus' point to the Pharisees is you're missing the point. You think you're clean. You think you're pure because you washed your hands before you ate. And Jesus says it's what's inside that comes out that demonstrates what defiles a man. The focus of the Pharisees is on that external purity. And thus they are blind guides leading the blind in verse 14. Contrasted to this utter faithlessness, this total blindness of the scribes and Pharisees, their improper focus on that external purity instead of seeing the son of god for who he met who he is for who he's already demonstrated himself to be the one who's common forgiven sin and eight with sinners excuse me they've missed all of that not seen him as a son of god he is but then But then we are treated to one of the most illustrious displays of faith in all of scripture, and it comes from what should be a very unexpected source. Scribes and the Pharisees, the multitudes, these are the people of God. They are the ones who have the law of God before them. Then we find in verse 21, these words of chapter 15, then Jesus went out from there and departed to the region of Tyre and Sidon and behold, a woman of Canaan and immediately your ears ought to perk up or your eyes ought to brighten a woman from Canaan, right? The very land promised to the people of God. The land of promise. The very land in which those who lived in it were to be driven out and excluded from that covenant community. From the people of God. And here comes a woman from that exiled people group, as it were, to Jesus. And so we ought to be paying attention. What does this woman from the outside have to do with Jesus? And what does she have to do with this whole principle of looking to Jesus, the Son of God in faith? Find out that this particular woman of Canaan has a need she says in verse 22 Have mercy on me. Oh Lord son of David and already she knows who Jesus is more than the scribes and Pharisees teachers of the law Recognizes for who he is. Oh Lord son of David God's King She's there because she knows he has the power and the authority. He's already demonstrated this in his miracles. Oh Lord, son of David, my daughter is severely demon possessed. She's there that her daughter might be relieved from her affliction. And at this point in time, we might be expected that we'll immediately see that healing, that deliverance from that affliction. But we find that she runs into an obstacle. And it's a most unexpected obstacle. The obstacle is Jesus Himself. In His response to her, as He says to her, I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus and his mission we've not yet come to the point in which the Jews and mass have rejected him and so thus The gospel and the kingdom are given to those producing the fruit thereof which will be the Gentile nations He's here at this point in his mission to go to the house of Israel and he tells her I'm not here for you I'm here for the house of Israel and The circumstances that are presenting themselves to this Canaanite woman are far bleaker than what we've seen with the disciples and what we saw with Peter. But their eyes are firmly on the impossibility of the situation. And so their faith wavers. But notice what the Canaanite woman does. She leaves. She turns around. She goes home, hopeless, right? No, we find that she persists. unwavered, undeterred by even that answer from the Son of God Himself. Even that answer from the Son of David and says, what? Lord, help me. And she receives another answer from Jesus. Another rebuff, as it were, when He says, but He answered and said, it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs. Throw it to the house dogs. It's not good to take the children's bread, to take what is meant for the children and to give it to those for whom it is not meant. It's consistent with what he's just said about his mission being to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It's not good to take the bread from the table and give it to the others. To give it to the dogs. Perhaps at this point in time we would expect that she would note the impossibility of the situation and have her eyes on that, take them off of Jesus and perhaps go somewhere else, right? Well, no. She says in verse 27, yes, Lord, get even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters table. She'll be satisfied with whatever little bit of bread and don't miss that connection. the bread of the 5,000, the bread of the 4,000, the leaven of the Pharisees, the bread in the desert. She'd be satisfied with one little crumb from the master's table. She believes that even those little crumbs Even those little crumbs will procure for her the deliverance of her daughter because she knows who Jesus is and with unwavering faith cries out to him. And thus we find in verse 28 that familiar statement of Jesus. Then Jesus answered and said to her, Oh woman, great is your faith. Let it be to you as you desire." Her faith is proclaimed and her request answered. Her eyes never wavered from the one who could meet her need. As we go through the rest of verse 16, we're brought to that demonstration there as Jesus says to the disciples, beware of the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees. What does He mean? Beware of the externalities. Beware of being satisfied with the external purity that the Pharisees and the scribes proclaim. is the way to cleanness, is the way to right relationship with God. Beware of that leaven, lest it infect you, unless you succumb to it, unless your eyes remain on the external, and thus you miss who I am. But praise be to God, at the end of our text we find that indeed they will beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees. As Jesus, when they come to Caesarea Philippi, asks that question, who do men say that the Son of Man is? They answer, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He asks them again, but who do you say that I am? Peter answers with the central declaration of the whole of the gospel. Psalm 8, Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And from that declaration of Peter will be the declaration of the victory and the power of the kingdom. That this kingdom, that this assembly, that this church that God is building, that Jesus Christ is building as the master architect and as the master of the house and as the king, grounded on that solid confession from the lips of Peter. We'll march forth inexorably until the end of the age. We won't spend much time here at the end here of chapter 16. We'll leave that for next Lord's Day. But right now, focus on this. After all of the wavering faith, Peter and the disciples see and confess who Jesus is, the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon this confession, Jesus declares the whole of the matter. He is the son of God who's come to build his assembly and death itself will not prevail against it. He will give his church all that it needs as he builds it. And he will, he will give it to them through these lesser masters of the house. In other words, there is every reason to see Jesus for who He is and every reason to set your eyes upon Him resolutely, steadfastly, fixed upon Him. Because He will build His church. He will accomplish His purpose and the Father's purpose. And in the process, He will supply everything that we need in order to see it all the way through, even to the gates of death and beyond. Set your eyes upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So what do we do with the text then? The first way in which we set our eyes upon the Son of God is by professing our faith in Him, seeing Him for who He is. If you've heard and you've yet to see Christ, yet to see who he is, who he's declared himself to be, who he's demonstrated himself to be. And you have yet to place your faith in him. Now is the time to do so. He is building his assembly. And as we've already seen, you're either inside or you're outside. And it will be a whole lot better to be inside than to be outside. To be inside is to have the Son of God as your King. To be inside is to have the Son of God as your Savior, your Deliverer. To be on the inside is to have the surety that all of your needs will be supplied by His abundant strength and wisdom. Would you know real blessedness instead of the frivolous, temporary, blessed pursuits of this life? Then put your eyes on Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God. For those of you who have indeed already professed Jesus, have already by God's grace, by His revealing power, by His opening of your eyes through His Spirit, set your eyes upon His Christ, the Son of the living God. The first lesson that we are to be learning and continuing to learn day after day after day is to get your eyes off the circumstances of life and the seeming impossibilities that life placed before us and put them on the Son of God. First and foremost, who provides? Let's not think the actual physical provision had nothing to do with it all. Yes, it teaches a spiritual truth, but nonetheless, the physical truth is there as well. Jesus Christ provides for his people exactly what they need, both physically and spiritually, in order to progress and to push forward in service of his kingdom. We need to take our eyes off the impossibility of the circumstances surrounding us, whatever they may happen to be, whether it seems like the gates of hell will prevail, whether it seems like the tares outnumber the weed and are choking them out, whether it seems like we don't have the daily bread that we need, and all of that impossibility, get your eyes off the circumstance and put them on the Son of God. who has made a promise and a declaration, I will build my church. And I will give you everything you need in order to do it through you. And through that, taking eyes off of circumstances and putting them on the Son of God each and every day, Learning to develop that unwavering faith the faith of the Canaanite woman is the goal undeterred Constantly calling out to Christ with her eyes firmly fixed upon him because she had no other source of hope Not just because there was no other source of hope but she had no other source of hope she knew what the source of hope was and Nothing else was intruding upon that. And that is the unwavering faith that we are to be developing and growing in by the Spirit's power each and every day. Looking to Jesus, the Son of God. Yet all the while, knowing that Jesus doesn't break the bruised reed, he doesn't quench the smoking flax, he provided the bread. He didn't let Peter drown. He gave the keys of his kingdom to his disciples, wavering though their faith was for so long. We strive to that unwavering faith because we know that we have a God who is always faithful even when we're not. Finally this morning, we need to learn the lesson that the Pharisees need to learn, and that is to avoid the leaven of the Pharisees. To avoid the leaven of the Pharisees. And that is to set our eyes chiefly on the doing. chiefly on the acts and not on the heart behind it. To think that raw obedience, mere external obedience, is somehow that which purifies, is somehow that which justifies, is somehow that which sanctifies, instead of those things being the outflow of a truly transformed and purified heart by the blood of the Son of God alone. Your works will not save you. Your works will not make you better in God's sight. You can't be better in God's sight, because He sees you through His Son. And there is nothing better than that. Avoid the leaven of the scribes and Pharisees that would say, as long as we follow the letter, we're good, and miss the whole spirit of the thing. so that we can, with our eyes set firmly upon the Son of God, trusting Him through His Spirit to work His sanctifying grace through us, live the life of faith with boldness and confidence as through us He advances His kingdom. Let's pray together this morning. Our Heavenly Father, how thankful we are that You have been so gracious to condescend and to reveal Yourself to us in Your Word. To reveal to us how we might be restored to right relationship with You, no matter how much we might not want it. Beyond that, to buy your spirit, make that revelation effective and powerful within us, to transform hard hearts, to open blind eyes and deaf ears, to then desire that right relationship with you. Thank you for your gracious condescension. Thank you for your mercy, that indeed we might be citizens of the kingdom of your son and your children. Father, we ask that the mercy that you have shown to us, that the grace you have revealed to us through your Son might be further expressed and exclaimed in the world in which we live. Understanding that we know that Christ will build his church, that his gospel will go forth, that his people will be gathered in, that the assembly will be built and not even death and hell itself will stand against this kingdom. and the assembly of its people. And so then with boldness, let us proclaim the kingdom of God in order that this assembly might grow. And through the conversion of those who are lost, just as we once were, your kingdom would come and your will would be done here on earth as it is in heaven. Father, we ask that you would give us our daily bread, that you would, by your Spirit, help us to take our eyes off of our circumstances, those things that we think are so important. And it's not to say they aren't, Father. But it is to say that your kingdom is more important, and that seeking it and your righteousness is more important, and that we can trust that you will give us exactly what we need in order to pursue you, to pursue your Son, to proclaim your kingdom with strength and fervor and zeal. Father, we ask that you would forgive us of our sins, that you would forgive us for our weak faith, For we waver just as much as the disciples did, though often we like to pretend we don't. We take our eyes off of your Christ, the Son of the living God, even though we like to act like we don't. We come overwhelmed by the circumstances around us, and we doubt the truth of the declaration of Christ that he will build his church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Forgive us for our weak faith. Yet, Father, lift us out of the waves as we sink. Feed us with the bread from heaven, though we doubt. Remind us of the pardon that is ours in Your Son, Jesus Christ, and assure us that indeed we are in the Son of God, cleansed from all impurity. Teach us to forgive as we have been forgiven. that we might show that we are sons and daughters of the King by showing forth His character in our own grace and mercy towards those who would seek forgiveness for offense. And as we leave this place, we ask that you would lead us not into temptation, but that you would deliver us from evil. And we ask all of these things in the name of your Son, our King, the Son of the living God, Jesus Christ. And we ask them of you, for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.