Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Luke chapter 4, verse 31. Luke 4, verse 31. If you're using one of our Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 860. You may remember that Jesus has begun his great Galilean ministry, and so last week we saw him enter the synagogue there in Nazareth, and he took up the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he read a particular text from Isaiah 61, which he claims to have then, to be fulfilling in their hearing. It was a text about how he's come to bring good news for the poor, and liberty for the captive, recovery of sight for the blind to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. And now, as we turn to today's passage, we begin to see those very things being played out. We begin to see that Isaiah 61 passage in action. Jesus doing those very things. So, this morning my intention is to start in verse 31 and cover through the end of the chapter through verse 44. if you would follow along right now as I read the text. So this is Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 31. And he, Jesus, went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his words possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, what is this word? For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits and they come out and reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many crying, you are the son of God. But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew that he was the Christ. And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him. and would have kept him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose. And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea. Let's pray, ask the Lord to help us with this text. Heavenly Father, we pray that your word would come to our hearts with authority and power this morning. Do this through your Holy Spirit, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. I'm not sure how it developed, but you've seen those presentations of Jesus that depict him as something of a hippie Jesus. Do you know what I'm talking about? He's like a flower child of the 60s, long hair, kind of glazed eyes. He's always talking about peace and love, man. And he's a gentle soul. He's not going to harm anyone. He has good teaching. He says insightful things about not worrying and about not putting too much stock in physical things, kind of live with as little as you can sort of mentality. Sure, every now and then he sticks it to authority like he should, but He's mostly promoting brotherhood and love and community. He's mostly chill and relaxed. You might even say he's weak. You might even say he's effeminate. You know what I'm talking about, the hippie Jesus? Have you seen that mischaracterization? Well, in looking at today's passage, it doesn't take long to realize that that version of Jesus is not in the Bible. Here, we see a Jesus who is authoritative. Here, we see a Jesus who is powerful. He's commanding demons. He's miraculously healing the sick. Even the words that come out of his mouth, just his plain old teaching, his Bible lessons are words that come out with power. They're powerful, they're authoritative. Notice how that's even stressed for us. Look at verse 32 and then later verse 36. Verse 32 says that the crowds hearing him were astonished at his teaching for his words possessed authority. Or you see it in verse 36 as well. It says they were amazed and said to one another, what is this word for with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out. The crowds are amazed at the authority and the power that are commanded by this man. We actually even see it emphasized even in the fact that Luke uses this word, I don't know if you caught this, but he uses this word rebuked three different times. You see it in verse 35, but Jesus rebuked him. Verse 39, and he stood over her and rebuked the fever. Verse 41, Demons also came out of many crying you were the son of God, but he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak He keeps rebuking these things and each and every time the thing that he rebuked immediately Responds to him you see this is this is no hippie Jesus. This is this is no pansy Jesus but lest we swing too far the other direction to the opposite end of the spectrum, lest we end up with a G.I. Joe Jesus, you know, a tough guy, macho, insensitive, all I want to do is crush everyone else, that sort of Jesus. We need to look again at this passage and we realize that the authoritative Jesus is not the only Jesus that we see. I was reminded this week of that hymn. We'll sing it later. It's that hymn, Come Ye Sinners Poor and Wretched, where it says in the first verse, it says that Jesus is full of pity, joined with power. Full of pity, joined with power. And we see that here, don't we? While this passage certainly shows the authority of the word of Jesus, it also shows the compassion of his heart. He rescues a man who's oppressed by a demon. He relieves this woman from her high fever. He stays up late into the night to heal massive crowds of sick and diseased and the demon oppressed, full of pity, joined with power. Pity and power. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad that he's both of those things? Aren't you glad that he's full of pity that is joined with power? I mean, just imagine, just imagine that you are Peter's mother-in-law and there you are, sick with a swelling fever, a high fever, sweat on your brow, bedclothes in disarray. And imagine if Jesus walked by and he had power, but had no pity. Then he would just keep walking. He would pass you right by. Sure, he could heal you, but he doesn't care about you. Or imagine if Jesus is there and he has the pity, but he has no power. He cares about you. He wishes he could help, but he has no power. He can do nothing about it. But this Jesus, brothers and sisters, this is your Jesus. This Jesus has pity and power. And it is this combination that leads Jesus to proclaim the good news, but then also to perform the good news. He speaks the good news that we need to hear, but he also does the good news. He actually enacts the good news. It's this delicious mix that we saw last week in that Isaiah 61 passage. You can look back and see it. It's the one that Jesus quoted in the synagogue. Jesus is proclaiming the good news. He's speaking it, but that's not the end of it. He's also doing those very things. He's making that good news come into reality. He's making it happen. And so I want for us to look at both of those elements of Jesus' ministry this morning. So first, we're gonna look at his proclamation of good news. Then we're gonna look at his performance of the good news. And so let's start here. Jesus proclaims the good news, so listen to him. Jesus proclaims the good news, so listen to him. You'll notice as we look at today's passage that while it's the miracles that kind of pop off the page and it's the things that you might most notice about this passage, it's the teaching of Jesus that actually kind of bookends this passage, even getting a little bit highlighted at the end of the passage. But at the beginning of the passage in verse 31, we're told that Jesus went down to Capernaum. That's a village, a little town on the edge of the Sea of Galilee. And actually this town will end up functioning as something like a headquarters for Jesus during this time, this part of his ministry. It says he went down to this town and it says he was teaching them on the Sabbath. This was an ordinary practice for Jesus. It would have looked much like what we saw last week in that previous passage when Jesus was in the synagogue in Nazareth. He would have gone there for the time of worship and at one point during the service he would have stood up to read a passage and then He would have been expected to exposit the passage, to exposit the text, to teach on it and this would have been a normal Jewish practice But of course Jesus was a man of authority and so his teaching was different People notice it. Verse 32 says that they were, quote, astonished at his teaching for his words possessed authority It stood out to them Somehow, when he stands up and when he explains the text, he says it in a way that's different than everyone else. He speaks it with authority. You see, the common practice at this time was for the man who was standing up to exposit the text, could be a rabbi, could just be one of the men of the town. It was typical that that guy would stand up and he would simply cite a string of rabbinical quotations. So he'd read the passage and then he'd say, Well, you know, according to Rabbi so-and-so, this passage means this. And according to this other rabbi guy, when he looks at this word, he interprets it this way, just citing a bunch of other rabbis. And this was actually thought to be commendable. People thought this was great. This is what you're supposed to do. And they'd be amazed. They'd say, wow, look at him. He can really quote the rabbis. He really knows his stuff. He knows his Talmud. He's really just kind of a walking encyclopedia. This guy's great. In fact, there was one rabbi who famously said, he bragged, I have never in my life said a thing which I did not hear from my teachers. That was the goal, to be really good at quoting everyone else, to be quoting the authority of others. But Jesus, Jesus, his teaching is altogether different. It comes with its own authority. He speaks like he has the authority to say the things that he is saying, not you have heard it said, no, but I say unto you. Jesus has this message to bring and it's not just some dry commentary on scripture spoken by a disinterested rabbi. It's a message of good news preached by a man who seems to be a lover of all mankind. Now this ministry of proclaiming the good news, please understand, this was the primary mission, leading up to the cross, the primary mission of Jesus. This is his soul, but not soul, his most important and significant focus. He says as much at the end of our passage. So look at the end of our passage, verses 42, 43. After a long day and night of ministry, and we'll come back and we'll look at that later, but it's been a long day. It's been a long evening. We're told in verse 42 that Jesus, the next morning, departed and went into a desolate place. What's he doing? Well, this gospel doesn't tell us, but the gospel of Mark has a parallel passage that tells us the very thing that you all would have imagined he's doing. He's gone off to pray. He's weary. tired, and in order to recharge, he doesn't take a morning in bed, he doesn't sleep in, he actually gets up early and sneaks out and he goes off to pray to his Heavenly Father. Well, the crowds, a bit later I imagine, begin to look for him, and they realize he's not there at Peter's house. He's gone somewhere, and so they seek him out. Eventually, they find him. Perhaps this was a typical spot for him to go. I don't know, but they find him, and it says that they urge him to stay. Would you stay with us, Jesus? I wonder why. Was it because they so valued his teaching? Or was it because they so valued his miracles? They wanted him to do more of those fancy tricks. It says here that they would have kept him from leaving. That's pretty strong language. They really, really want him to stay. But look at Jesus' response in verse 43. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, for I was sent for this purpose." He says, I was sent for this purpose. You want to know the purpose for which I was sent? Do you want to know why I'm here? He was sent, of course sent by whom? He's sent by God. He was sent for the purpose of preaching the good news of the kingdom of God. He must do it. In fact, you'll notice there that it's something of a divine imperative because he says, I must. It is obligatory that I do this. I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God. This is his main mission for this part of his ministry. Oh, I understand that the miracles have their place and we'll talk more about them later, but Christ's main mission leading up to the cross was to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. He must tell the people the good news that the kingdom of God, this kingdom of God is breaking into this world in a new way. In fact, they've just even seen a picture of it. They've had a taste of it when Jesus is driving away unclean spirits and driving away sicknesses, but he must proclaim it. He must help them to understand. He must preach it. Which actually forces us to ask this question, what is this kingdom of God? What is this kingdom of God? It's actually a major theme in this gospel. The phrase will appear 32 times in Luke. The kingdom of God, or as Matthew in his gospels likes to say, he likes to say kingdom of heaven, but there's not really much of a difference, it's the same thing. The kingdom of God is God's sovereign and unchallenged rule being established now in the lives of his people. It is God's sovereign and unchallenged rule being established now in the lives of his people. And so please understand, when we talk about the kingdom of God, this is not some sort of physical kingdom. We're not talking about land and territory. We're not talking about God doing something distinctive right there in Israel at that time. This is about God's rule and reign being established across the globe in the hearts of his people. And brothers and sisters, please understand that if you are a Christian, you belong to this kingdom. This kingdom that is broken in. God's making for himself a people who love him. A people who desire to obey him. And you are a part of this kingdom. Now, it's a kingdom that has arrived, right? Jesus says the kingdom of God is at hand. The kingdom of God is here. It's a kingdom that has arrived, but it has yet to be fully consummated. In other words, there's greater things yet to come. There's a full consummation of this that will eventually happen on that last day. And so please don't expect God's people. If you're looking at God's people and you're like, they don't look like citizens of this king. Sometimes they're messing up. Sometimes they're singing. Don't expect God's people to submit to his reign perfectly. But the kingdom is here. We just await for that great final consummation. And this kingdom is made possible only by the one who is ushered in this kingdom. It's made possible by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Jesus has come. And he says, listen, this is my main purpose. I was sent for this purpose. I must proclaim the good news of this kingdom of God. You know, there are some who decry a ministry of proclamation. And that's what Jesus is doing, a ministry of proclamation. There are some who question whether the modern church should really give so much time to proclamation. Should the modern church really give so much time to preaching? I mean, preaching, come on, isn't it really kind of old-fashioned? Haven't we progressed beyond that? Can't we do something more collaborative? Something more hands-on? Maybe we could do something more democratic, with a little more give and take, back and forth. Maybe we could do something that really catches people, like show a film, or show a movie, or perform a skit. What's up with this proclamation? Why do we stand a guy up front and have him talk for 40 minutes? Isn't there some better way? But listen, what better way is there to share the good news of the gospel than simply to proclaim it? We must proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. We must share the word of God that comes with the authority of Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter 10, Paul asks how the non-Christian will ever believe in a Jesus they've never heard of. And then, He asks, how will they hear without someone preaching? Someone's got to preach. It's an excellent question. You know, you've heard that phrase, that quote from St. Francis of Assisi, that quote where he says, preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words. And I understand the point of that quote, okay? The point is, we need to be living out the gospel. Don't just speak it, but live it out, and that's going to certainly affect people. But listen, if we are to mimic Christ, we must use words. We must be those who are proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. And my friend, you are this morning hearing the words of Christ. As God is gracious, and as I do the job he's given me to do, you're not just hearing the words of Craig Regal, you are hearing the words of Jesus Christ, words of good news about the kingdom of God. And so the question is, will you, non-Christian, Will you Christian? Will you listen? Well, secondly, not only does Jesus proclaim the good news, but he also performs the good news. So secondly, Jesus performs the good news, so trust in him. Jesus performs the good news, so trust in him. And when I say Jesus performs the good news, I'm thinking mostly of this ministry of miracles. healings, exorcisms. There actually is going to be 21 of them in the Gospel of Luke. Now why? Why does Jesus do these sorts of things? I mean, isn't his ministry mostly a spiritual ministry? Isn't he doing this work of proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God? Isn't his work about changing hearts and forgiving sin? So why does he do so much of this physical, could we call it earthbound, even temporary sort of healing? Why the focus on miracle ministry? Well, let me give you three reasons, all right? What's the main point of these miracles? First, these miracles, they are proof of his word. They offer proof of his word. The miracles serve as a confirmation of the teachings that he's been teaching. They serve as kind of signs and wonders that verify the words that are coming out of his mouth. In fact, if you look at the scriptures as a whole, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, so you look at the whole story, the whole arc of the Bible, you'll notice that miracles occur in conjunction with times of new revelation. So new revelation is being offered and we see a burst, a bubble of miracles happening at that point on the redemptive timeline. So think of the Exodus. The Exodus, amazing things are happening in redemptive history. All sorts of new revelation is being given, like including all the law, 10 commandments and beyond. All this revelation is being given to Israel and that's the point at which we have all sorts of miracles. Crossing of the Red Sea, manna in the desert, water from the rock. Or think of the prophets. Prophets are bringing revelation of God. words of God to the people of Israel. And that's where you find guys like Elijah and Elisha performing miracles. Then we move forward, we get to the New Testament era. Of course, a new revelation. There's this new kingdom of God. There's this new covenant about to be instituted. And so in this moment of new revelation, we have again, this burst of miracles. I think that's one of the reasons We would say that we don't expect to see lots of miracles in places where we've already received the final and full revelation that's been spoken to us by God's own son. If God's own son has come, Hebrews 1, right, with this full final revelation, what more stamp do we need of that at this point? All right, so first of all, Jesus at this point in history offers miracles as proof of his word. It's a mercy to us. that he proves that his words are coming from a credible, even divinic source. Second, why these miracles? They are a display of God's redemptive purpose. Sorry, purposes. They are a display of God's redemptive purposes. In other words, they serve almost as metaphors. So we understand, don't we? We should understand that sight to the blind, and we see those stories of Jesus healing a blind man, sight to the blind is meant to be indicative of a deeper blindness and a deeper seeing. We understand that the healing of sickness is meant to point to a more spiritual and more significant sickness. It's the sickness in our hearts. We understand that the casting out of demons represents a far greater cosmic battle with Satan himself. And so we wanna make sure that we see these signs and wonders for what they are is actual signs. What do signs do? They point to something. And all of these miracles are pointing to greater spiritual redemptive realities. But then finally, Why these miracles? These miracles are a foretaste of the whole package of salvation. They are a foretaste of the whole package of salvation. Brothers and sisters, please understand that our salvation is ultimately not just spiritual. It's not just about what's happening in our hearts and our souls. Our bodies as well will be redeemed. We will not be disembodied spirits kind of floating around in the new heavens and the new earth. We will take on flesh. We will have bodies. They will be new and resurrected bodies. They will be glorious bodies. So God's salvation is going to be shown to be so complete that there will be no more sickness. There will be no more sorrow. There will be no more death. There will be no more disease. There will be no more pain. There will be no more tears in our bodies. And here, Jesus is giving some of these people just a little foretaste of what is to come. You see, in all these miracles, Jesus is performing the good news of the kingdom of God. He doesn't just proclaim it, he performs it. He is visibly showing what it's like to live under the consummated kingdom of God, what it's like to live under his rule. We see that here with three different miracles. And so let's just quickly look at each of the miracles that show up in today's reading. So the first is this exorcism of this demon-possessed man who interrupts Jesus when he's talking, preaching in the synagogue. So Jesus there, he's teaching in the synagogue when suddenly this demon-possessed man shouts out and interrupts him, and he says, ha. It's an interesting word. You don't expect to find that in your Bibles. Ha. Actually, that Greek word is found only here in the Bible. It seems to be an expression of surprise and annoyance, even hostility. So all of that seems to be wrapped up in this ha. But then he says, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? The idea there is, for what reason would you come among us, Jesus of Nazareth? Why would the likes of you mix here with us? Why have you come? And of course, he doesn't mean why have you come from Nazareth or wherever he was that morning. He means why have you come from heaven? And then he says, have you come to destroy us? Although actually, that sentence there could actually be read as a statement. It doesn't need to have a question mark at the end. And so it's very possible that what he actually says here is, you have come to destroy us, haven't you? He knows the answer. He knows why Jesus is there. In fact, look at what he says next. He reveals it. He says, I know who you are. He says, you are the Holy One of God. Later on in verse 41, the demons will acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God. We also see there that they know that he is the Christ, the Messiah. And so the demon understands. He understands if Jesus is the Holy One of God, if Jesus is the Son of God, if Jesus is the Christ, then as the Holy One of God, that means he cannot tolerate sin. He cannot tolerate demons. He's not going to negotiate peace talks with devils and try to compromise with them. No, he understands that Jesus indeed has come to destroy him. 1 John. 3 verse 8 says that Jesus came for this very purpose. It says the reason he came was to destroy the works of the devil. And the demon knows this. The demon knows that he and all his cohorts are in big, big trouble. You have come to destroy us. Well, Jesus rebukes the demon. He says, be silent. Be muzzled. And he says, come out of him. Come out of this man whose body you've been using for your own twisted purposes. And it says the demon throws the man on the ground and leaves him unharmed. Notes Dr. Luke, who is very careful to follow up with his patient. It's a very Luke comment there. The man was unharmed. Now, why does Jesus silence the demon? Why does he silence him? He does the same thing you'll notice in verse 41. Why? It may be because he didn't want his ministry to be brought to a crisis prematurely. You could imagine what might happen. This demon reveals what's really going on, and people start to scratch their heads, and then they eventually get angry. And before you know it, Jesus is being crucified on a cross way before Jesus intended to be crucified on a cross, something along those lines. There have been those that have argued that. But I think it has more to do with the fact that he does not want or need demonic testimony. He does not want or need demonic testimony. The fact that Jesus is the Messiah, is the Son of God, is the Holy One of God, does not need to come with the endorsement of Satan, does not need to come from the mouth of one of his minions. It's the entirely wrong context, right? Instead, his messiahship, which will be slowly revealed over the next three years, should be understood in the light of his redemptive work, should be understood in the light of the great thing he came to do, not even necessarily in light of his miracles. He doesn't want them hearing, oh, messiah, messiah equals miracles. No, he wants them understanding that messiah is in light of his redemptive work, especially his death and his resurrection. And so he silences the demons. And by the way, what a good way to start his miracle ministry, demonstrating his power over Satan and over Satan's minions. Well, the next instance of a miracle is the one beginning in verse 38. Jesus goes to the home of Simon. This is the disciple that you might know as Peter, Simon Peter. He discovers that Simon's mother-in-law is sick with a high fever. And by the way, you understand what that means, don't you? If Simon Peter has a mother-in-law, that means he's married, right? He's He's got a wife. And so I'm not sure how the Roman Catholic Church, who consider Peter to be the very first pope, I'm not sure how they can argue for the celibacy of all priests. So you can talk to me later and tell me how that works out. But here's Peter, married. We don't often think about the families of the 12 disciples, do we? Married, mother-in-law lives in the house and Jesus learns that she has this fever. It actually literally reads that she was racked by a fever. She was held fast. It's taken her captive like a demon took captive that man. Jesus hears of it. Jesus has compassion. And here we see that Jesus doesn't just engage in cosmic supernatural battles with devils. He also looks at an individual person. and cares. Just somebody's mother-in-law. And he cares. He stands over her. He rebukes The fever, he rebukes the fever. Notice he doesn't rebuke a demon. We can't think that these people had primitive ideas about a demon being behind every sickness. You know, oh, if they're sick, it must be caused by a demon. Jesus rebukes demons when there actually are demons. He rebukes a fever when there's a fever, okay? But he rebukes the fever, and it says she is immediately healed. You know, I was recently sick a couple of weeks ago. Stomach bug, not fun. And even when the sickness was gone, in other words, even when I was no longer actively sick, it took me days. to regain my energy. But Jesus here, look at this. He heals her so completely that she is immediately on her feet and in the kitchen and ready to serve. And I love that as well. How appropriate that her very first instinct is to serve Jesus. This one who has rescued her from sickness, she wants to serve him. She wants to do whatever she can for him. What better can she do than serve Jesus Christ? So that's Peter's mother-in-law. And then finally, we're told in verses 40 and 41, that when the sun was setting, crowds of people came to him when they're sick and they asked him to heal them. Now understand, it was the Sabbath. This is the same day that we saw back in verses 31, 32, 33. It was the Sabbath and these people, they did not want to get in trouble with the religious authorities for purposeless traveling on the Sabbath. Why were you traveling? Right? There's laws about how far you can travel on the Sabbath. And so they don't want to get in trouble. And so they wait until sundown when the Sabbath is officially over. The day ends at sundown. Although it actually says when the sun was setting. I don't know if this is the point or not, but it's almost as if they were so eager that they kind of jumped the gun a little bit. The sun was still setting. It wasn't set, but they just, they got to get to this guy who's been casting out demons. They heard that he healed Peter's mother-in-law. And so the crowds show up outside the door of Peter's house and they're begging for help. And what does Jesus do? Does he say, hey, you know what guys, it's been a long day. It's been a full day. Not right now. Hey, I'll be here tomorrow. Come back tomorrow. No, he reveals his heart of compassion, his pity that's mixed with his power. He loves them. In fact, We see here his individual concern for each of them. His individual concern for each of them. So he doesn't just do kind of a mass healing, kind of wave his arms around over the entire crowd and say, be healed. And they're all kind of simultaneously healed. No, look what happens. He laid his hands on every one of them individually. He took the time to know them, to talk with them, to touch them. caring for each one. What a beautiful Jesus. He doesn't just proclaim the good news. He displays it. He does it. He performs it. And it's a foretaste, isn't it, of what he ultimately will do, sacrificing himself for the miracle of our salvation. And so, where else would you want to put your trust? I mean, can you name for me someone who is better than this Jesus? Someone who more deserves your trust? Someone who more deserves your faith? This Jesus, he can perform the good news in you. And so will you listen to Jesus? His message is good news. And will you trust this Jesus? Will you trust that he can perform a miracle in your heart? You know, the demon's response is not enough. The demon's response is not enough. Oh, they could speak theological truths. They could openly declare that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the Holy One of God, that Jesus is the Christ. I mean, as James chapter two tells us, they believe it and it says they tremble. But listen, there is no place reserved in heaven for a demon. Even with all that knowledge they have about who Jesus is, they will not be in heaven. They did not have, they knew who Jesus was, but they did not have an ounce of reverence for Jesus. J.C. Ryle says this. He says, let it never content us to know religion with our heads only. We may go all our lives saying, I know that, I know that, and sink at last into hell with the words upon our lips. Just knowing it. is not enough. The demon's response is not enough. The crowd's response is not enough. Oh, they were astonished. They were amazed. They clapped their hands in glee. Look at this guy. He's awesome. They enjoyed talking about Jesus with others, kind of gossiping him up around town. Maybe they even had lovely little Bible studies where they talked about how great Jesus was. They might even have told you. If you went to talk to them, they might have said, look, we're kind of like on the inside with Jesus. We even pleaded with him to stay with us. We wanted him with us. We tried to convince him that he should stay among us. We really liked the guy, but they only wanted him for his miracles. They wanted him for his earthly benefits. That's not enough. You see, the real response has a missing ingredient, and it's a very important missing ingredient. The real response must involve faith. Faith is the missing ingredient. It's not enough to know about Jesus. It's not enough to use Jesus or to be content with Jesus or to be impressed with Jesus. You must have faith. You must trust in him as the only one able to save you from your spiritual sickness and fever, as the only one who's able to save you from your captivity to the devil. He's the only one who can make you a citizen of the kingdom of God, brought under the benevolent rule and reign of the Heavenly Father. He alone can do it. Your faith must be directed in Jesus Christ. Why is He the one that can do it? Because He's full of pity, and so He loves to help you, and because He's full of power, and so He's able to help you. Listen, there is no one in this room who does not need to be reminded to come to Jesus. This is not a message for just a few people who are here. We all need to be reminded to come to Jesus. Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, joined with power. He is able. He is able. He is able. He is willing. Doubt no more. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that you did not just preach the good news. We love the good news, we love to hear it, but we thank you that you also performed the good news so that sinners like us could come to you. Oh Lord, even now as we prepare to partake of the Lord's Supper, would we Even as broken sinners be those who come to you for the forgiveness that you give. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.