Good morning, everyone. Welcome here to our morning service at Calvary Baptist Church in Prahran. And also welcome for those who tuned in to us via live streaming. Welcome. Please open your hymnals to number 125. One, two, five. Jesus, speed it up. Number 125. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small, Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find me there, Thine all in all. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, Said how glad by Crimson's deed, He was it's widest know. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power and light alone Come, change the labor's paths And melt the heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owed. Sin had left a crimson stain, He wasn't white as snow. Whereby thy grace proclaim, I'll wash my sins white In the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus bid it all, all to Him I owe, And when before the throne I stand in Him complete Jesus died my soul to save My lips shall still repeat Jesus paid it all All to Him I owe. Sin hath left the Christ unseen. He was it, wide as low. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful for the blood of Thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that was shed on the cross of Calvary. Thankful that that blood is still able to save sinners today, to cleanse sinners of their sin and old sin nature and to give them a new nature. We're thankful for the eternal life that we have once we are saved and that we can now as Christians walk with thee and serve thee and that we can also confess our sin to thee and be forgiven and cleansed to continue to fellowship with thee and to grow in thee. We thank Thee for providing us a place to meet, and we're thankful that we have the opportunity also of broadcasting through our website and through Sermon Audio, and we're just praying that many people would come to know the truth in these days of grace that we still have left. We do pray for Aaron that his heart would be broken soon, that he might desire the truth in his heart, his family as well. Pray for the Parks family that they might see the importance of truth and want to learn of thee and know thy peace and blessing in their hearts. We're thankful that we have the opportunity and the privilege of reaching out in this area. And we pray that we'd be faithful. Our newspaper ad would be helpful, as well as our services in the seniors' homes. that we can be a help there. Pray for Carl as his mind is going and his family as well. Pray that they might see the need for truth in their lives, see the importance of truth and knowing thy peace and knowing that they have a home in heaven rather than where they are now. So we're thankful again that we have these opportunities to reach out and pray that we would be faithful in doing so. We pray for Amy's foot. that she would look after that and get the help that she needs. And we do pray for Mrs. Dick's sister as well and her problems that she's facing, that she might seek out true help that can help her and her husband to deal with their problems in a godly manner, that they could have thy blessing in their lives. So we're thankful that we can talk to thee in prayer. Thankful that we can seek direction through thy word and through the guidance of thy Holy Spirit. And we pray that we would want to walk humbly with thee and submit to thee and allow thee to direct us. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. And over to 231. 2, 3, 1. Lisa saves. Number 231. We have heard a joyful sound Jesus saves, Jesus saves Spread the tidings all around Jesus saves, Jesus saves Bear the news to every land Climb the steps and cross the waves Onward is our Lord's command Jesus saves! Jesus saves! While in awe of the rolling tide, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Tell the sinners far and wide, Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Singing, I'll let up the sea, Echo back the ocean caves, Earth shall keep her jubilee, Jesus saves, Jesus saves. Sing above the battle's strife, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! By His death and endless life, Jesus saves, Jesus saves! Sing His off'ring through the gloom, With a harp for mercy grave, Sing in triumph o'er the tomb, Jesus saves, Jesus saves Give the winds a mighty voice Jesus saves, Jesus saves Let the nations now rejoice Jesus saves, Jesus saves Shall salvation fall unfree Highest hills and deepest caves This our song of victory Jesus saves, Jesus saves And over to 479 479 Jesus loves me 479 Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong. They are weak, but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so. Jesus loves me, He who died, Heaven's gate to open wide. He will wash away my sin, Let His little child come in. Yes, Jesus loves me, yes jesus loves me yes jesus loves me the bible tells me so jesus loves me he will stay Close beside me all the way, Thou hast lived and died for me, I will henceforth live for Thee. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ. chapter nine, verses 43 to 45. We'll stand, please, for reading of God's Word. Luke chapter 9, beginning there at verse 43, it says, And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered, everyone, at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples, Let these sayings sink down into your ears. For the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not, and they feared to ask him of that saying. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful again that we have thy word, that we can study the life and times while thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was on this earth, that we can understand the importance of knowing him as thy eternal son, that we might look beyond the fascination with the miracles that he did, but that we might be able to learn the important truths that are being taught throughout the Gospels. We need to be on solid footing. And I pray that we would be on that solid footing that is found in thy word, so that we're not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, but that we can stand with stability and help others to know the truth. It's not about boasting of how strong we are, but of being vessels that can be used to help others to know the truth as well. So we ask thy will be accomplished, that each person that's listening would set aside those distractions, whether mentally or physically, set aside those things that would hinder them from hearing what is being said, so that we can let the truth of thy word sink down into our ears today. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated. Title of the message this morning is The Need for Spiritual Perception. The Need for Spiritual Perception. There's nothing more important in life, it's something that I often raise with people that I'm talking to, there's nothing more important than being saved. Everything pivots on that. If a person is not saved, they're not gonna understand the scriptures properly. They might be fascinated by certain parts of them. Some people are interested in eschatology. They want to know what's coming. So some of them, you can tell by the way they respond that they have read the Bible and they know what the Bible says about what's coming, but they don't understand that they can't put it in its place properly because they're lost. And so oftentimes they're very fearful and sometimes they're It's like a horror movie or a mystery, but they're not grasping what is being said in the Bible. And they're obviously not prepared because they're not saved. So it's important to be saved. Salvation is not a hard thing. It's not a complicated thing, but it's a spiritual matter. And that's where we have to come to in our lives in our zoom meetings that we're having we are often touching on that matter because there's a lot of confusion on that issue and I believe there is across the west at least a lot of confusion when it comes to what is salvation and so that's something that you can't put a formula on a blackboard and say here it is But the Bible tells us there are two things that are essential to salvation. And those two things are found written in Acts chapter 20, verse 21 and elsewhere. But Acts 20, 21 gives a very clear understanding of what is required in salvation. And those two things are repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And unless those two things are there, there is no biblical salvation. And that is, quite frankly, why we are seeing such a watered down Christianity in our time. Because the repentance, biblical repentance, is not taught. A lot of people, when it comes to repentance, they don't understand what it is. So repentance is essential. Repentance is a turning to God. It's not a turning from sin, first of all. That's where a lot of people get it wrong. They think, well, when I stop smoking, or when I stop drinking, or when I stop partying, then I'll come to church, then I'll start listening. But that's backwards, because they never do that. You can't do that on your own. There's been hundreds of years of people trying to stop sinning. and unable to do it because we don't have that ability to stop sinning on our own. We need to turn to God. And when we turn to God, he gives us the ability to turn away from sin. If you go on 1 Thessalonians 1, it's a very good verse as well that helps us to understand biblical repentance. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 9, it says, for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God. Now, the Calvinist argues and says you cannot repent until after you're saved. because the Calvinist takes Ephesians 2.1, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And they say, how can a dead person do anything? And so that's why they say that the election is where God takes a certain person and he forces that person to be saved against their will. And there are others who would want to be saved, but the Calvinist says they can't be saved because God hasn't elected them. So they have a wrong understanding of election, but they also have a wrong understanding of repentance. So while the word repent is not found there in 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 9, it's very clear from elsewhere in the Bible that's what repentance is. It's a turning to God, that's what Paul said, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And when a person turns to God in repentance, God enables that person to walk away from their sin. And that's where a lot of people are crippled. They don't want to turn away from their sin. So if you don't want to turn away from your sin, obviously God is not there enabling you to do that, because you're not asking him. You're not turning to him. So that's why so many people are stuck in their sin even after they profess to be saved. And so as we continue our study in Luke's gospel account of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see that Jesus, when he was on this earth, was very active. And he was active for a purpose. The Bible says in Ephesians 5, we need to redeem the time because the days are evil. Jesus knew that he had about three and a half years of public ministry. He knew that. You and I, we don't know how long we have in this life, but Jesus knew. And so he made the most of those three and a half years of public ministry. There was nothing that he didn't get done. Nothing that he should have done that he didn't do. He did everything that his father wanted him to do during that time. So he was very busy. And many people were impacted by his life on earth. He taught all over Israel, walked across most of it, and taught everywhere he could, and that was his major point, was teaching. The miracles were there to prove that he was the Messiah. Of course, many people benefited from the miracles, but they were there to prove that he was the Messiah that was prophesied in the Old Testament. The teaching was to help the people get things straight in their minds and in their hearts. The Pharisees had been busy for some 400 years teaching their lies, The true prophets were at a minimum in those 400 years, not because God didn't want that, but because the nation of Israel was in such a state of unbelief at that point. So there were not very many true prophets around. They were still teaching, but they were not able to access the ears of the people as much as the Pharisees could. Today as well, there are far more false teachers than there are true teachers. The internet has given us the opportunity to get a little bit of an input into people's lives. But again, if people are not finding our sites and if they're not going there, then they're not hearing it. And so it's important for us to be faithful. And of course, prayer is a key. in our own lives as well as in praying that others would find us and be able to access our site and that we would be faithful in reaching out in our local area. So as we look at this passage, we see the need for spiritual perception. Perception is that ability to see beyond the physical. That's why in verse 45 it says, they perceived it not. So Jesus is teaching them, but they're not getting it. They're not getting it. We need to understand again that during the time of the Gospels, it's a time that was unique, and we cannot look at that and take everything that's there and say, well, this is what's going on today, because we need to remember, as John chapter 16 tells us and Acts chapter 2 shows us, that the Holy Spirit was not given as he is now, as he is since Acts 2. So the disciples at this time, Jesus was there with them. And that's why in John 16, Jesus talks about another comforter. Jesus was there with them at that time. And they could have understood, but they didn't understand for several reasons what Jesus was teaching. And part of that was that their mindset was not prepared to receive the truth. And we find in our own lives that it sometimes can take years for a Bible truth to finally sink in. Not because the truth is not there, but our minds are not prepared to receive it. We have something in our past that we've learned and we want to hang on to that, whether it's intentional or not, but it's there. and we're not allowing God to help us to get rid of that and replace it with the truth. So it's a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6 tells us that we're in a spiritual battle, and it's not a battle we can't win, but we need to identify it and address it. So the first thing we see here is the mighty power of God. In verse 43 it says, and they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. And why is that? Well, what do we have in the previous verses? Well, we have a person that's possessed with a devil. As a young person, in our devotional this morning, we looked at a man, another man that was possessed of devils. That was a common problem in Bible times, and I believe it's also a common problem today. The problem is today we address that issue with tasers and drugs, but we're not getting to the root of the problem. And that's why we have so many people walking around like zombies. They're on so many drugs and their minds are all messed up. And once they get on those drugs for a while, they can't get off of them because their minds have been messed with so bad. And that's why it's so important to get proper counsel in the first place, instead of getting on all these drugs and then later on, well, can we get off of them? Because many times these drugs are very powerful. and they cripple people for life. Now, yes, God is able to purge that body of the negative effects of those drugs, but he doesn't always do that. And we know that from what we see. But we see here that the people were amazed at the mighty power of God to be able to cast out this devil. It says there in verse 42, and Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the child and delivered him again to his father. So this child was now a child that could respond as any normal child would, the child that could love his father and be embraced by his father, that they could begin to build a relationship, which they couldn't do before that because this child was possessed. We said again, we don't know what happened, how this child got possessed. We know that it doesn't happen accidentally. No parent needs to be afraid and think, well, my child is all of a sudden going to become possessed. It's not going to happen. The child has to do something, and the parent, I would say, when the child is young, has to do something to allow for Satan to get access to the heart of that child. And we've talked about that, how that we need to be careful what we have in our homes, what our children have access to, what we have access to, that we protect ourselves from the wiles of the devil. And so that's important. So it says here, but while they wondered everyone at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples. So Jesus spent a lot of time with the public. What he did in last week's study was public. It says in verse 38, and behold, a man of the company cried out. So there were many people there that witnessed what Jesus did in casting out that devil. But now he's turning his attention to the disciples because the disciples were different than the average person. And again, it's important that we understand that there were hundreds of people, thousands of people that gathered around Jesus. We're told there were 5,000 men besides women and children that he fed at one point. Another time there was 4,000 besides women and children. So there were many people that gathered around him. And yet Jesus spent a lot of time with 12 men, not with the 5,000, but with 12 men. And of those 12, one of them had a devil or was a devil. So actually it was only 11 of those men that Jesus was preparing for the time after his ascension. And then he added the Apostle Paul to that. So here, as everybody's amazed at what they've seen, and again, they're not getting what he's doing, even the disciples aren't, but Jesus is going to spend time with the disciples in helping them to lay hold on the truth. Now, we know that again, because of the time here, the timeframe, this is before the Holy Spirit is given. So much of what the disciples are hearing from Jesus, they're not actually grasping until after his resurrection. We read in Luke's account that after his resurrection, he was traveling, met some men traveling to Emmaus, and he expounded the word of God to them from the time of Moses and on, and they didn't get it until he broke bread with them. They didn't realize who he was. But then when that happened, they said, did not our hearts burn within us? So there was something going on inside them that they were not paying attention to. And today as well, I believe that many times that we hear the word of God, and there's something going on inside our hearts, not a feeling, it's more than that. But there's something going on that we're not paying attention to, and so it just kind of goes over our head. And then all of a sudden, one time we hear someone preach the same topic, same passage, and all of a sudden, we get it, talking about Christians. Lost people as well, they can sit and hear the preaching of the word of God time and time again, year after year, and all of a sudden, they are brought to the place of brokenness and salvation. So here the people, it's not Jesus' fault here, but they're distracted by the outward appearance of what is happening. It's not that Jesus was wrong, we need to keep that in mind. He wasn't wrong in casting out the devil, but the people were so trained for outward appearance. Jesus rebuked the Jews for always looking for a sign. That was their problem. That was what they were focused on, a sign. A lot of people today are still focused on a sign. That's why the Antichrist will be so effective. God's gonna give him lying signs and wonders, and because the people are so trained to signs today, you look at the charismatic movement today, That movement has infiltrated just about every religious organization that's around. It's not just the charismatic churches or Pentecostal churches, but Mennonites, Baptists, other groups. Many of them have been influenced by the charismatic philosophy. And what is that philosophy? Signs and wonders. That's the big thing there. And so that has taken over in the thinking of people and very few people are willing to listen to what God has to say. And so if we're going to be effective in verse 43, we're not going to be that effective in addressing the crowd. We're going to be effective in that one-on-one. We have a discipleship course that we run here when there are people that express an interest. And that course is designed to be dealt with in small groups, where we can be more one-on-one, where questions can be asked, and where we can address the issues that people are facing. And it's important to have that one-on-one. And that's what Jesus did here. He's got this crowd that's there, But he's now turning to the disciples, because they are the men that are going to be out establishing churches after Jesus left this earth. Jesus started the first church in Jerusalem, and that church was added to in Acts chapter two, and the disciples, the apostles, they went out and established churches in many areas in the first century. So they needed to know the truth. You can't establish a church, a true church. There's a lot of churches today that are not true, but you can't establish a true church unless you know the truth. You need to help people to build their lives on the truth. And that again begins with biblical salvation. So the second thing that we see here is that we need to meditate on the truth. So verse 44, it says, let these things sink down into your ears. And I know that I'm guilty. My wife can talk to me about something and she'll tell me something and I don't hear it. I hear it obviously with my ear, but I don't hear it because later on she'll talk to me about it. And I said, well, I never heard that. And she said, yes, I told you. Well. I wasn't paying attention. Now that's just in secular things. But in spiritual things, we're oftentimes the same way. We hear something, but it doesn't sink in. It doesn't have its application where it needs to be. And that's why, if we go back to Psalm 1, And this is not just in Psalm 1. But in Psalm 1, it talks there in verse 1, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. So there's three things here that we see that are essential if we're gonna know the blessing of God. First of all, we can't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. So where are you getting your direction from? Secondly, we can't stand. So walking, we're moving along in the world, we're working, whatever it is we're doing, but we're moving along and we're moving along in the counsel of the ungodly. We're getting our direction from the banker, from the lawyer, from whoever else, a doctor, wherever you're going, that's where you're getting your direction from. Can't do that. Secondly, standing in the way of sinners. Now you're stopping. You've got this group of people that this is your inner circle. So you're coffee shop people. You're going out to the coffee shop and you're spending time with these particular people on a regular basis. You're spending time with them. Then the third one is that you're sitting in the seat of the scornful. So what's the conversation at the coffee shop table? Are they talking about the Lord? Most likely not. How much swearing goes on there? How many dirty jokes are told there? You see, where are you spending your time? So you can't know the blessing of God if you're being permeated with the world's poison. Verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. So there's nothing wrong with going out for coffee with another Christian. visiting in a home with another Christian. Used to be a lot more of that than there is today. But spending time with another Christian, that should be the delight, the desire of the Christian person. You want to spend more time with Christians who can challenge you from the Word of God, who you can discuss things from the Word of God, you can study things from the Word of God. You should want to do that more than spending time with the world. That's the person that's going to be blessed of God. And not only are you spending time with other people, but as it says, you meditate in God's law day and night. We've talked about that before. Turn the radio off in your vehicle when you're driving. You don't need it on. There's nothing there anyway. Turn it off. Did you read your Bible before you got out into the vehicle? You should have. And so now meditate on what you read. Think about it. How is that going to apply to where you're going, to what you're going to do in that day? And then, as we mentioned in Sunday school, read the Bible before you go to bed so that when you are in bed and you're falling asleep, some people they hit the pillow and they're out. They're gone. Some people not. So what are you thinking about then? Well, you should be thinking about what you read. Let God work in your heart and think about the things of God. That's what's important when you're Wake up in the middle of the night for whatever reason. What are you thinking about? Worried about what's coming in the day ahead? Bad thing to do. Think about the Word of God. The first church that I pastored was a big challenge for me. Coming straight out of Bible school, Greenhorn, and not well taught in Bible school. taught better by God in my personal studies and preparing papers than what the instructors taught me. But anyway, when I got into that first church and some of the challenges that I faced there, there were many nights where I was awake for hours. Didn't want to get out of bed because I didn't want to wake up my wife. So I would just lay there and think about things that I was studying in the Bible and how do I work my way through what I was facing in the church there. A lot of hours were spent there. And it was a very challenging time for me, but a time that God also was able to teach me many things that were foundational to where I am today. A lot of things that he taught me in those years there. A lot of foundational things that I've built on since then. So that's the important thing that if we want to be as our text talks about, that we let God's word sink down into our ears, it's gonna take discipline on our part. We're gonna have to determine that there are things that we're just not going to have time for. And there are things that we need to prioritize. So again, verse 44 of our text, let these sayings sink down into your ears for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. Now Jesus is telling the disciples this while it's fresh in their mind that he has cast out a devil. Nobody else around them had ever done that. The Pharisees couldn't do that. There was nobody around at that time that could cast out devils. And Jesus did that often. And this was fresh in their minds. They're in with this crowd of people that had just witnessed this and they're talking about it. And Jesus turns that and says, let these sayings sink down into your ears, for the son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. How is that even possible? Somebody that just cast out a devil, how can anybody deliver that man into the hands of other men? That's just not humanly possible. I mean, Jesus proved his power. And it says that in verse 43, they were amazed at the mighty power of God. And now Jesus says that he's gonna be delivered into the hands of men. The son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men. So this is something that, again, in order for the disciples to be able to grasp that, they're going to have to change their thinking. They obviously were not ready to do that at this point in their lives. Again, we can't look at ourselves today and say, well, OK, I have an excuse then. That's not why God is telling us this. We know that oftentimes we're very slow to pick up on a biblical truth. We can be warned. Someone can warn us and say, well, if you go down that path, here's what you can expect. And we tend to put up our dukes and put up our defenses and say, how do you know what's going to happen? Well, I don't know what's going to happen. I'm just looking at what the Bible says. And I didn't give you a specific. That's when I talked to this man this week again about our politics. And for me, I always bring the Bible into it, but he says, we don't know who the next leader is. I said, yeah, you're right. I never said we do know. But I said that God is gonna put the next leader in place. He's in charge. Who that man is, who that person is, I don't know. But it really doesn't matter who it is. They're all headed the same direction. It's not gonna make any difference in the big scheme of things in Canada. we're going down the wrong path. So when it comes to anything that we deal with, I can't put it in black and white and say, if you take this step, here's what's gonna happen. But I can say, here's the direction you're moving in, because God says so. So we need to be those who are listening with a mind to hear what God says. And go to 2 Corinthians chapter 10 again. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. So there's a battle going on in your life and mine. The devil is always trying to, if you're a Christian, the devil's always trying to get you to forget about God and think about yourself, figure it out for yourself. So the Bible says, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. So how are we going to deal with our thought life, with our physical life, with our spiritual life? How are we going to deal with it? Well, we're not going to deal with it by just simply determining in our mind that I'm going to get over this. Verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So if we're going to win, in this war that we're in, it's going to be through God. So again, we're gonna have to be meditating on his word and allowing him to direct us. And that's where the power is, it says, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. That's that wrong teaching that you built your life on, I built my life on, that you heard in the past, That's that wrong teaching that is a stronghold. It's a habit. It's something that you developed from your childhood, something that you heard over and over again, and it's just, to you, it's normal. It's a fact. It's a stronghold. So verse five, it says, casting down imaginations. Imaginations are things that you think. And every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God. So how are we going to know what the knowledge of God is? We're going to have to spend time in God's word. That's where we're going to know about his knowledge. So if you're a Christian, you're not spending quality time in God's word. You're not finding the knowledge of God. So every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, whatever that is, What are you doing with it? You're casting it down. How are you doing that? Well, again, verse four, mighty through God. You're not just determining on your own, you're taking God, as many as received him, to them gave he power to become, to be called sons of God. So that power that we receive at salvation is the power to say no to sin and yes to God. That takes power. It's not a normal thing to be able to do that for us as people. It takes power to say no to sin and no to self and yes to God. So that's the power that we have to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. That's a tall order. Every thought that I have needs to be brought into obedience of Christ. We look at the Apostle Paul, who I believe was a great man of God, but what made him great? Because he did this many times in much of his life. Why could God use him in such an effective manner in the first century? Because he did this. He wasn't forced into it. He had to submit to God, and he did. So that's the key as we look at our text again. And Jesus says, let these things sink down into your ears. The disciples, They were not ready, as we see in the next verse, they were not ready to do that, but that's the exhortation given to them here. The Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. That's why when Jesus was arrested, they weren't ready for it, because they didn't let these things sink down into their ears. Now again, there was a limitation put upon them because their hearts were not ready to receive it. Jesus didn't need 12 Peters cutting off the ears of the Roman soldiers when Jesus was arrested. He didn't need them. It was time for Jesus to be arrested. And so he didn't need the disciples grabbing their swords and fighting off the Roman soldiers. It would have been futile, but he didn't need that interference. That's why he told Peter to put the sword up and he healed that man's ear, because this was his time to go to the cross. And they weren't ready to accept that. They didn't understand at that point yet why Jesus came. And it wasn't until after his resurrection, when he met with them, and then more importantly, when the Holy Spirit came upon them in Acts 2, that they finally grasped the purpose of his coming. We're in a different stage. We can understand that because the moment we're saved, we receive the Holy Spirit. And so we have that enabling Holy Spirit inside of us to help us to understand the word of God and we can. walk by faith and not by sight. But then we see also, what do we see? We find that even in our time, professing Christians, they get out there and they think, this is a good cause. We got to fight against the murder of unborn children. So once a year, at least used to be, I don't know if it still is, but there used to be a march for, against what they call abortion, which is murder really, should call it what it is. So people get out there with their placards and people from all different kinds of religions get out there and they march in wanting to expose the evils of murdering unborn children. But by doing that, we weaken the facts of the truth because you can't get out there and march with the Catholics and win anything. So it's important that we learn these things, but we're slow to learn. So here was the problem in the disciples' lives. They needed to let the truth sink down into their ears, but they weren't in any position to do that. Verse 45, the third point is the lack of perception. So it says there in verse 45, but they understood not this saying. Why was it? And it was hid from them. It was hid from them. Again, God didn't, Jesus didn't choose these 12 men to run interference for him. He chose them to prepare them, the 11, to prepare them to continue the preaching of the gospel and to finish the biblical record for all of humanity. But at this point in their lives, they were too earthly minded yet. And so they were hid from them. They didn't understand what Jesus was saying. How is this possible? that this man that just cast out this devil, how can anybody deliver him into the hands of men? Yet Judas did that. And Jesus didn't resist because it was God's plan. They perceived it not and they feared to ask him of that saying. Again, we see the pride here of these disciples. They didn't understand what Jesus is saying. They're scared that he's going to rebuke them because of their lack of understanding. But when Jesus rebuked his disciples, and he did that at times, he never came at them with a two by four to slap them across the head. He always came in a way that was, he was able to teach them. And that's something that we need to learn too. We can sometimes lose patience with someone. and we can get upset and get in the flesh. It doesn't help. So we need to be as Jesus was. We need to learn that. But here, it wasn't because Jesus was at fault again, but they were afraid to ask him about this saying that he's going to be delivered into the hands of men. It's not a good place to be when we're afraid to ask questions that need to be asked, something that I urge the people in our Zoom meetings all the time. If you got a question, ask, but there's a language barrier there because they're in the Philippines and I'm in Canada and I don't speak their language and they don't speak mine very well. They do speak it somewhat, but it's a broken English and so they're afraid to ask many times and that's not a good thing. It's not how you learn. So I'm trying to help them to overcome that by the way that I respond when they do ask a question. So if they can see that I'm not gonna beat them over the head, I'm not gonna laugh at them, I wanna help them. And so we need to be approachable, but people also need to understand that we are approachable, and so we need to build that trust. And Jesus, of course, there's no one better at building that trust than Jesus, but we see the pride of man here. They're afraid to ask, not because they couldn't, but because they were just afraid of what his response would be. So they were trying to figure out how's Jesus gonna respond, rather than just asking and getting the help that they needed. So they didn't perceive what was going on, and their minds were too focused on things that didn't matter, rather than paying attention to what actually did matter. So again, we're given this here for us to learn ourselves. We don't need to get ahead of ourselves and think that we can figure out how someone's gonna respond to us. If we have a question, we need to ask it. And we need to ask God, and we need to ask other people to help us as well. And if we find that the person that we're asking is always putting us down, always trying to put us down and make us feel bad. Now again, we need to be careful there too, because some people, they wear their emotions on their sleeve. And so everything that is a little bit contrary offends them big time. And that's something we need to get over as well. Sometimes, No is very important and we need to realize that no is not a bad word. So if someone says you're going the wrong way, you shouldn't take offense to that right away. You should be willing to, okay, why is he saying that? Or why is she saying that? What's going on here? So there's things that we need to learn in how to understand ourselves and how to understand others as well. The disciples here, again, they're in this training period here for three and a half years where they need to be prepared because when you read the book of Acts, you find that the disciples faced a lot of challenges that they were not ready to face here when they were with Jesus, but they were ready in the book of Acts. And they stood strong for the most part. Peter had a problem. Paul, the newest of the apostles, had to rebuke him. But again, when Paul rebuked him, Peter didn't stand back and say, hey, wait a minute, I've got more seniority than you do. Why are you telling me this? Peter needed to be rebuked, and he took the rebuke. He learned from it. So again, in the Christian life, we need to understand that our thinking, it will be changed because we've been saved, but we need to act in the light of that change that God is making in our hearts. And oftentimes we can get in the flesh and we can resist what God wants to teach us. So we need to learn that. That's part of growing in the Christian life, being willing to learn how to become warriors for God, not with swords and spears, but in regard to spiritual things. That's what we need to learn. And that comes with time and persistence, sticking to it, believing that you are in the right place, believing that God wants to help you, and trusting in the help that he sends across your way. There's a lot of people that they miss out because they run from the truth. And the truth And my wife mentioned that to someone she was talking to this week, that I had said something to someone in our Zoom meeting, and she had told that person, well, either that person is going to quit attending our Zoom meetings or they're going to learn from it. Because I'm not one that likes to beat around the bush. I believe in telling people the truth. I tried to do it in a nice way, but I believe in telling people the truth. That's what helps. Jesus said, the truth shall make you free. And so when you tell people the truth, if they're not prepared to receive it, they can take offense and say, well, I'm done with that guy. I'm not coming back there again. But the people that I said that to, they didn't slam the door. They keep coming. That's good. That's how you learn. The truth shall make you free. And so we need to, both sides need to understand, how do we respond to a person? How do we receive what a person is telling us? And the disciples here were with the best teacher there ever was, the Lord Jesus Christ. And they were having difficulty with these relational issues because their hearts were not prepared, not because Jesus needed to learn something. And so it's important for us to learn these things. The Bible is the word of God and it addresses every situation that we as people will ever face. We don't need to go to some secular instructor to learn how to deal with people. We need to go to the Bible. Secular instructors are going to be distorted in their thinking. But the Bible is going to show us how we need to respond if we're the person that's giving the response, and it also is gonna show us how we need to receive the instruction that is given to us. And so here, Jesus is giving the disciples, he's not rebuking them at all, he's just telling them, the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men, a statement that was a fact, but they couldn't understand it. and they were too afraid to ask him what it meant. And that was intentional here because they weren't ready to deal with it properly. So sometimes us too. Sometimes we will read something in the Bible and we're not gonna understand it. Sometimes it's because we're not ready to receive it. Doesn't mean it's not true, doesn't mean it's not important, But obviously, God has to do more work in our hearts to get us to the place where we can receive it. It's not an excuse we can use, but it's something we need to address. So how do we address that? Well, again, we address that, as we've looked at already, in preparing our hearts to meditate on God's word day and night. So get rid of the distractions, get rid of things that are interfering, so that your mind can be and your heart can be more focused on that which is really important. And then, when you're ready, when you've done that, then God's word is all of a sudden going to have that effect on you that it needs to have. It's gonna be that blessing in your life that you need to have because you have done your part in preparing to receive it. Now, it starts again with salvation. If you're not saved, the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God because they're foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned. So it always starts with salvation. And after you're saved, then it's a matter of daily reading God's word, meditating upon it, asking God to give you that humble spirit to be able to receive what he's saying and to cast off the imaginations that you've built into your life and replacing that with the truth. So it's a lifelong process. God's not done with me yet. My mind's still fairly clear and I'm still alive. So he's not done. He's still teaching me things. He wants me to learn things. Same goes for each one that's saved. God has something that we need to learn yet and also something that he wants us to do with what we know. So it's up to us to be Servants of His, know Him first of all and be servants of His, and allow Him to direct us so that we can perceive the things that are given to us in the Word of God. Not so that we can be broadcast around, oh, this is the greatest speaker, get him, talk to him, see him. No, but so that we can make God known, make His Word known to people. That's the whole point. Exalt Him. Make His name known. That's why in Acts chapter 1, if you go there in verse 8, it says, but ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. And that's what Peter and John did, Acts chapter four, none other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. They made much of Jesus. And that's why the ruler said, we don't want you speaking in his name anymore. Because they made much of Jesus. The apostle Paul did the same thing. And that's the same thing that we need to do. We need to be prepared to do that. as we are first of all saved and then spending time in the Word of God, letting the truth sink down into our ears. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we're thankful that we have thy Word. We're thankful that we can know the truth today. We have the Holy Spirit who indwells every true child of God. We're thankful that we don't have to walk around in a fog, but we also need to understand that there are things that sometimes we're just not going to grasp because we've not allowed thee to give us that discipline we need to be able to grasp them. So we pray that we would not get in the tug of war amongst ourselves and our personalities, but rather that we would want to grow in thee. and allow thee to do thy work in our hearts so that we can be more effective in our own families, as well as in our workplaces and others that we meet with, that we can be more effective in pointing them to thyself and thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're thankful for the opportunities that we have to sit down and study thy word. to meditate upon it, to grow in thee. May thy will be accomplished in each one that's listening, for those that are not saved, that they might see the importance of trusting in thee alone for their salvation. Getting rid of the false ideas that they have accepted and believing the truth. Turning to thee in repentance and trusting in thy son, the Lord Jesus Christ, alone for their salvation. For those of us that are saved, that we would want to grow in Thee, that we can be a greater help to others and enjoy Thy blessings in a greater way ourselves. May Thy will be accomplished, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.