I want to say thank you again because it really is a certain marathon to do this. But I'm thankful for it. I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for a God who has given words by which we may know Him and a hope into which we may invest our hearts and hope. So we just have to do the New Testament. That's all for now. We just do the rest of the New Testament right now. But I think you've seen the nature of the approach. And so you can tell why I would be able to cover the whole New Testament really. It's all this whole story, all the providence, all the plan, all the prophecy has been leading somewhere. It has been directing thoughts toward a particular hope and a particular person. And so I think that whole time span chart gives a sense of it as well, just even structurally, that this New Testament really is going to be about that Savior, that Messiah, that coming King. It's really going to be about that. And so our focus will be Jesus Christ for examining the New Testament. And secondly, the literature of the New Testament comes in fairly simple categories as well. We have the accounts, four accounts of this Savior's life and dealings and teachings. It's really a pretty high percentage when you think about it. Think about the page numbers, I'm always about page numbers, right? But think about 104 of the 189 pages being the Gospels. 104 of the 189 just being the story of the life of Christ and His death and resurrection. Take note also that within that Gospel account describing Christ's life, there's another matter of proportion that's important to note because each of the Gospels spends really quite a lot of time just on the last few days. last few, you know, a couple of weeks, last few days. Look at the proportions there. The darker blue part is all on the last few days, meaning that Matthew dedicates 37% of his recounting of the life of Christ to the last few days. And Mark 41%, Luke 22% and the Gospel of John winning the lottery here at 43%. And so I think the very structure shows emphasis. Like this, right? Or excuse me, like this, structure shows emphasis. And like this, 55% is the Gospels. And then the percentage of the Gospels concerning his death, his resurrection, and all of those things. So that helps us that way. When you get to the book of Acts, Acts describes the spread of the gospel beyond Judea. And actually it has sort of a theme verse right up front saying that's what it's going to be about. The spread of the gospel, the spread of the news about Jesus Christ beyond Judea. And it's around Jerusalem and Judea. That account probably, as far as chronology, spans the next 28 or 30 years or so, describing what happened. But look at how the Book of Acts, Christ's words to his disciples become the theme of the Book of Acts. You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And so that's what Acts is about. There's a purpose statement for Acts. The rest of the New Testament is letters. Revelation is a letter too. Letters. And so that's the remaining 69 pages. All letters. And in those letters, there would be, because the gospel had gone to these different places, sometimes those bands of new believers would need clarification. How should we understand Christ? We have some ideas. We have persons interjecting this teaching or that teaching. They would need clarification, but it's all very much about Christ. What is the nature of his salvation? And how ought it to be understood? When you see the region of the spread of the Gospel, well, I mean, it's spread in all directions, but when you see the account, let's say, in Acts, and the names of the letters, it's usually regional. The Gospel spread up into Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey, up through Macedonia, and across the top there, down into Achaia, towards Athens, and towards Corinth, down there, all the way over to Rome, Christians are, the word is getting out, they're banding together even before the Apostle Paul ever got there. And so the letters often have city names. or region names. You've got a letter with the name of Colossae, Ephesus, Galatia as a region, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Rome. A number of letters. Some letters are to persons. So there would be individuals that were written to. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon. Some letters bear the names of the writer. You would have letters from Peter that way, and James, and the Apostle John, and Jude, all of those. But again, for simplicity, All of those have to do with the nature of what it is to know and follow Jesus Christ. So our New Testament overview is principally who is Jesus and was he really the one? So let's explore that together. Prophecy plays a role again, right up at the front. Prophecy's been playing a role since the beginning of time. Prophecy's been playing a role. But after a season, a rather long season of virtual prophetic silence, suddenly there's prophecy again. And the prophecy is specific to a person and persons. So let's walk through a little of that. The very first, you know, the recorded prophecy after the span of time between Old and New Testaments, is from the father of John the Baptist. His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and he prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has redeemed and visited his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. Prophecy doesn't have to be far away from an event as long as it's before the event. So, Zechariah is prophesying about a newborn infant. Well, he hasn't said directly there what he's going to say that, but he's prophesying about his newborn infant son that he himself will be a prophet and will be the forerunner Messiah when he comes but what I want you to notice in this is notice all the allusions to the prophecies with which we're already familiar isn't all that talk just right out of what was anticipated from the scriptures and so he said of John this you child will be called a prophet of the Most High for you will go on to prepare the Lord and sorry, before the Lord to prepare his ways to give the knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins because of the tender mercy of our God. This is before anything has happened. This is before John, you know, it's right at his birth. It's before Jesus is born. Jesus is six months younger than John. And yet he's speaking in all the terminologies we've been familiar with, with the ultimate lesson, the forgiveness of his people through, you know, the knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins. He's right at the core of the issue. Well, then when, um, Mary, who would be Jesus' mother, receives word from God about what was going to come. This is what he will be. Once again, it echoes all of what we've seen, and it's occurring before anything has happened. He will be great. Jesus, that is, will be great, called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." I mean, there's a list of a number of things in there, right? Son of God, throne of his father David, reigning over the house of Jacob, kingdom having no end. That's all very familiar prophecies and suddenly here after 450 years or so of virtual prophetic silence, it's being said specifically about John who had been born and Jesus who would be born. We have the word that was given. The angel Gabriel had said, the Holy Spirit will come on you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. Nothing less, you see. And it's specific, and it's this person to be born. That is echo of prophecy 700 years old. But it said specifically, and it's an incredible claim. To Joseph, the word came, you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. The word of the angel to the shepherds really, you know again Christ is freshly born at that point But nothing has happened yet. No public ministry or anything like that fear not behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Messiah Christ the Lord Messiah and Christ are synonyms like that Oh, I think of John the Baptist. Again, public ministry for both John and Jesus started near age 30. There's a lot of years in between there. But John is public ministry as prophet before that. But again, his assignment from God was to be the announcer of the arrival of Messiah. And so there comes a day when he stands there pointing to Jesus Christ and saying, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The theme that has been the core theme, and that's why the lamb's down there at the bottom, the theme that's been the core theme, that's what John declares about this particular person, Jesus Christ, before any public ministry, really, by the Lord Jesus. In John's life, this was confirmed to him. Because again, it's a matter of God's communication, God's prediction, God's anticipation. God helped him as prophet by saying to him, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. What other prophet backing up have we talked about with regard to the idea of being born again, having God's spirit in you, being given a new heart, take out the heart of stone, get a new heart, that's Ezekiel. And sure enough, God himself speaks to John the Baptist and says, the one upon whom you see the spirit, he's the one that will baptize with the Holy Spirit. And John saw, it was manifest visually to John, saw the Spirit descending on him like a dove, coming to rest on Jesus. And a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved Son, in with whom I am well pleased. Again, I was mentioning the specificity with which Jesus fulfills, by this prophecy, as far as what Jesus' job would be, that whole idea of being born again that had been mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel. I'll give you a new heart, a new spirit. I'll put within you my spirit. And that's what the human race has needed. There is no other way, no other way to achieve change of heart toward God, except that God would himself give of himself by his spirit. And so that's that's really, really important. Hebrew says of Jesus Christ that he's God's Word in a sense. He's spoken to us by his son. This too is communication. I'm saying does Jesus fit the bill Hebrew says of him that God has spoken and it's interesting. that it alludes to the previous prophets again. In the times past, God's spoken at many times, in many places, in various ways, through the prophets. But in these last days, He's spoken to us by His Son, sending Jesus Christ. I think it's fascinating that in that same context, or excuse me, John is speaking here, Hebrew speaks just like that in other places. But the Gospel of John says this about Jesus, the word, we're going to talk about God speaking through his son, the word was with God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made, and in Him was life. I always think of Colossians 2. All things were created through Him. Let's use the big letters for this. And for Him. And for Him. When I say does Jesus fill the bill, he actually exceeds all expectation in the word of God concerning who he was by prophecy as he comes on the scene and by all report of New Testament testimony. Hebrews 1 verse 2 refers to Christ as the heir of all things. That also fits into the big picture. Think of the big picture. When things were created, they were good. They were created for God's glory. They were created, they were good. And it was created for the human race to inherit and to manage and to cultivate and to glorify His name in, but all that got broken. And then when the Savior is sent, he becomes, having become human, and we haven't talked a lot about that, but he becomes heir of all things, but he's heir of all things also because he's son of God and creator of all things. Let's move on to the idea of the acts of Jesus, the works of Jesus. I get to talking and I need to find my place at that point. Yes. Jesus was, let me use the word accredited to us, approved to us as the one by miraculous acts. And I think it's rather significant. We're actually studying miracles at Fresno Church in the sermon series called Miracles Teach. I think it's enormously significant that God gave Jesus many miracles and across a region and for years. many, many, many, many, many miracles. So that person's saying, I have seen what he has done. I have seen what he has done. Thousands of them all over the place. I think that's the Lord's kindness to us, to accredit Jesus to us. This was the talk of the region. that all these things have happened. And I noticed that in the stories of Cornelius. In the story of Cornelius, he is an Italian. He doesn't live down in Judea. He lives up there. But the word of the Apostle Peter to Cornelius is, you know what's happened throughout the region and how Jesus went around and doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil for, you know, God had put His Spirit on him. And the reason Cornelius, who had probably never himself seen a miracle, could in a sense believe is because there's testimony all over the place. Everyone is reporting across the region that he is accredited by miracle. I think too of how the Apostle Paul was later under arrest. at Caesarea on his way to Rome. He was there for a long time. And Festus was there. And Agrippa, one of the last of the Herods, had just been appointed to his office over Judea. And he comes up to give his respects to Festus. And Paul is there, and Festus says, hey, I've got this guy from Judea in prison here. And Agrippa says, I'd like to hear him. I'd like to hear that guy. So now you've got a situation where they're sitting together talking, Festus and Agrippa and the Apostle Paul. And the Apostle Paul looks at Festus and says, you know what I'm talking about here? This is reasonable. You know, the king here, Agrippa, he's completely aware of this, because this did not happen in a corner. So I think that's on purpose of God to confirm to us by widespread report of His miracles, changing water into wine, healing people in public places, healing people on the temple grounds on purpose so that people witness it and see it, feeding thousands with bread, walking on water, giving sight to the blind, casting out demons, raising the dead. I think of this word. With regard to that testimony, We didn't follow, this is Peter's word again, we did not follow cleverly and devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty and also John's testimony, that which we've seen with our eyes, which we looked upon, which we've touched with our hands concerning the word of life. We've seen it, we testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the father and has been made manifest to us. We have Jesus' own testimony about himself. It's huge to say these things. First of all, he says, the works I'm doing bear witness about me, that the Father has sent me. But not only that, what we have on top, the scriptures bear witness about me. Think of what it means for Jesus to say, truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He doesn't come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. That's a claim. To believe the one who sent me has eternal life. It's enormous in the claim. How about this claim? Does Jesus fit the bill as the coming Messiah? The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. That's either ludicrous and crazy or substantive as it is here. How about this? As the Father raises the dead, gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will. These are incredible claims. How about this? The Father has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Does Jesus measure up here Let's go on to the idea of how he fulfills this role as coming king and king of kings. That's actually something that threw off those in Judea in some measure because they thought, well, some king on the throne of David, where's the relief from the oppression of Rome? Where's that? How much does he fulfill that kind of prediction? Judah is still subject to another nation. And I put this one up because even his own disciples are catching on. Not until way late in the game, even after his resurrection, Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel? They thought maybe maybe in Jerusalem, maybe on the ground, maybe a throne over there, maybe the raising up of armies there. But I think what I want to declare in accord with the scripture's testimony is that the throne Jesus took as heir to the throne in the house of David, the throne Jesus took is greater, not lesser than what that concept of throne would have been. Does that make sense? What Jesus actually did, ascending to heaven to the right hand of the Father, is actually greater than what they expected, not lesser than what they expected. I think of the, backing up to the prophets, Isaiah, what is the throne of God about? You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. That's the nature of the throne. Kingship belongs to the Lord, and He rules over whom? Yeah, the nations, all of them. All across the world, no matter that from an earthly point of view, one would look across toward powers like the Assyrians, powers like the Babylonians, powers like the Medo-Persians, powers like the Roman Empire, and think that's power. Instead, the kingship really belongs to the Lord and he rules over all the nations. So how does Jesus fit into that? Ascending to the right hand of his father. You get some sense of it on trial before Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate said, don't you know that I have authority to have you crucified? I'm paraphrasing a little bit there, but Jesus responded to him, you would have no authority over me at all, unless it had been given to you from above. From that throne, if you will. So there's a sense in which Jesus is saying, And Pilate did ask him, so you're a king then? And he said, well, my kingdom is not of this earth. But what he's actually saying is, I take the throne from which you get your authority. I don't think Pilate caught on to that. But when Jesus says the words, my kingdom is not of this world, he didn't mean my kingdom has no jurisdiction here. Right? He did not mean that. He wasn't saying my kingdom is kind of a different emotional kind. It's kind of a kingdom of private thoughts and that. No. I'm taking the throne from which you get your authority on earth. It is greater rather than lesser, greater rather than lesser. Jesus fills the bill on the throne in the house of David and all of that. My kingdom is not of this world. And so the scripture continues to testify. God has highly exalted him, bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. I think of the book of Revelation. That's a depiction of the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. But the whole book of Revelation has very much to do with the conflict of kingdoms and whom will the peoples of the earth serve, the kingdoms that are the kingdoms of this earth. and the kingdoms that serve the false prince, or will they be in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ? So as he begins his letter in Revelation, he says, I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus. We've got to talk about the cross. Let me put the Old Testament and New Testament side by side, if I can. Old Testament. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Old Testament, he shall bear their iniquities. New Testament, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. New Testament, he made him to be sin who knew no sin. Testimony from Galatians, the Apostle Paul's writing, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Jesus own words. I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me. All of this is on purpose in accord with the plan. I think I love this part of the gospel of Luke. where it's very clear and then it becomes clear again and again and again across each gospel record that Jesus absolutely and fully knew what was going to occur with him in Jerusalem when he got there that time. He's going on purpose to Jerusalem. And it says when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And then came, this is Luke's report, then came the day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. People understand the timing is testimony. in accord with the word of the prophets in accord with the meaning of everything we've seen since Passover the first one. The timing is testimony for you that Jesus on purpose knowing what he's going to do goes in this season to Jerusalem so that on the very night where the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. All providence and prophecy from the beginning of time comes together on that arrest night and in the crucifixion the next day. So that then at Passover time, Jesus uses familiar language. Do you remember? Take us all the way back to the Mount Sinai where Moses shook the blood on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant, right? Because breach of covenant is, is, um, they'd given blood oath. The wages of sin is death. Jesus said, I've earnestly desired to eat this path over with you before I suffer this. is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. It's an absolute direct echo of everything we've seen since the beginning. It's timed for your assurance that this really is from God. It's timed by prophecy that he would on that night speak these words so that we could see it all coming together in him. And at the end of his sufferings on the cross, He cried out, it is finished. Having taken upon himself the sin, having taken the sin to himself, having received from the hand of his father, the punishment for sin, the punishment that brings us peace. As the prophet Isaiah had said, having taken the wrath of God, he cried out, it is finished. Joseph of Arimathea had physically wrapped the body up with Nicodemus, another name which I haven't talked about much, but physically wrapped up the body and put it in the grave. Jesus lay in the tomb all through that night. The next day was a Sabbath day. Actually, I should say also that when they laid him in the grave, that's why it's dark up here, when they laid him in the grave, the women who had attended him, who had come all the way from Galilee, they were ready to participate in the embalming process but didn't have time. And so he lay in the grave all that night, lay in the grave all through the next Sabbath day, lay in the grave all that night. But remember, Jesus had said, I lay down my life only that I may take it up again. So early in the morning on the third day, Mary Magdalene and the other women made their way out to the grave to see if they could complete the embalming process. And there they found the stone rolled away. And the angel said to them, he's not here. He's risen. I should have gone back to one of the Isaiah prophecies to that whole chapter 53. It does say at one point in that chapter, he will see the light of life and be satisfied. That's in there too. So. Does Jesus fit the bill? He transcends every expectation. And he, he belongs to the whole story. And he belonged to the whole story. Everybody talks about Jesus, just like the whole story. He is fulfilling what we've seen in the word of prophecy that way. So the one question that remains is, what should we do to enter into the hope that he holds out for us? One really helpful way in which the Gospel is described, and here it's in the Gospel of Luke, but it says that he went through cities, villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. So that if we ask ourselves, how may that be good news to me? It's good to know that fundamentally it's news and not advice. I'm indebted to Tim Keller, who may be indebted to somebody else for saying it that way. But the nature of the gospel is news to embrace and to take hope and take courage in, as opposed to advice that says, here's what you must do. You must get your act together and it must be enough. Okay? The gospel is different from that. If you hope, if you want to hope in Christ, it's not advice saying, get your act together enough and perhaps God will save you. The issue of the gospel is news. It's what God has done, not what you could do enough. Never use the word enough with regard to talking about what it takes to be a part of this. As far as what you would do, there is hope. And so the whole New Testament approach is about entrusting yourself to Him because He's made Himself known as merciful through Jesus Christ and the provision of sacrifice. and trust yourself to him. Depend, cast yourself, if you will, upon him. There were some people that, oh, it's news. There were some people that had been following Jesus because he seemed to be such a miracle worker, such a helper. And they said, what must we do to be doing the works of God? And Jesus answered them, this is the work of God, that you believe. in Him whom He has sent. I think of how encapsulated the Gospel message was when there was the report in the Gospel of Mark about the nature of the message that went out. It seems as concise as this. The time is fulfilled. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news. It's encapsulated wonderfully that way. Believe in Him and trust yourself to Him. That's going to have content in accord with the great story, right? Because the great story portrays us as needing the forgiveness. So repent and believe, acknowledge your sin. Acknowledge that you need this. That's what it's about in that way. And your hope of rescue is in him and all of what he has done. I want to talk about the word believe a little bit because it's important that we understand that it is more than saying more than just an assent that that might be or probably is true. You know, I believe in Abraham Lincoln, I assent that certain things are true, but I'm not entrusting myself. And the kind of believing the scripture talks about when it says, believe the good news. is a trust issue. So I'm going to give an illustration. I hope it's helpful. Illustrations have limitations. But I'll give an illustration. I'm going to give one from rock climbing. Let's imagine that you've gone rock climbing. Let's imagine that you've gone way beyond your abilities in rock climbing. Let's imagine that you have gotten yourself stranded to the point where there is nothing short of rescue that is going to keep you from dying, okay, in rock climbing. Nothing short of rescue. Let's put you there, all right? Very clearly, in this illustration, you don't have the energies, you don't have the skill, you've put yourself in a place that is nothing but death, unless outside of yourself, somebody rescues you. That's the situation for the sake of illustration, but sure enough, a voice comes from above. and says, I can help. I can help from up here. And a line is thrown down your way. So there you are. But the voice comes from above and a line is thrown down your way. I think it's important for illustration purposes, illustrations have limitations, but to say that you would not have in this illustration, you would not have the strength, the ability in any manner to manage that line and get saved by it. You don't have that. But the person from above throws it down. and calls to you, can you see that I have anchored this rope carefully on this end? And you holler back up, yes, I can see that. And there hanging on the cliff, you now have some important information. And let's imagine also that you actually, you can see the ranger uniform and you recognize, wait a minute, that's like the chief ranger of the park and he must have all kinds of training in rescuing and all that kind of thing. So that ranger says, do you believe this can hold you and that we can get you to safety? And you shout back, I'm pretty sure you know what you're doing. So you have information. You have a certain assent that what is being said makes sense, is probably true. And the ranger calls out, good, so shift your weight over to the edge and we'll pull you to safety. Do you trust me? Shift your weight. You know, again, I told him how to wrap it around him and all of that. Shift your weight. I give the illustration because trust involves depending, not just agreeing in the head that it is probably true. It involves entrusting one's self. Illustrations have limitations, but I want to make that difference. Maybe that's the only thing I want the illustration to do for us. It's one thing to have knowledge. It's one thing to know that there could be a Savior. It's another thing to even assent in your mind that that Savior is probably real. It's another thing and an essential thing to entrust yourself, to trust that Savior. Here's another important thing. Oh, there you go. Here's another important thing. You wouldn't care about any of this unless, by God's grace, he has begun to make known to your own heart that he's real. People look at all the wonder and glory. I tried to do wonder and glory at the first with the photographs, right? Wonder and glory of creation and all of that. And God being glorious, Jesus being essentially glorious, essentially merciful, all the things that one could trust. But if that glory is not seen, that's why that went dark, I think. I mean, this is objective glory. But if that glory is not seen. We have a problem, and that's very real in the world. The truth about things is not stirring in every heart. Some look across at Jesus and say, mythical story. Some look at creation and say, no special place in the universe here. This all happened by accident. I want to take you actually to something that the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul reflected on his own kinsmen, the ones who had had the Bible, the ones who had known the law of God and all the prophecies and all that kind of thing. He reflected on his own kinsmen with grief in his heart because so many hadn't accepted Jesus. And the words that he gave were this, the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. There is in our experience of life there is a thing such as blindness to the glory that the glory could be real Jesus being real the fulfillment of all the prophecies but not seen there's the darkness not seen when Paul described his own salvation he described it in this way in these words we do have but God who said let light shine out of darkness has shown that in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Even the perception of glory is a gift to you. To even care about any of this is a gift. To have an actual sensation of the need for forgiveness of sins, that's a gift of God to you. But He gives that gift by His word. He's making it known all the time. He gives it by His Word. And the Apostle Paul reported it in terms of that kind of thanksgiving. And it's a divine act. It's the same kind of power from God as far as comparative powers, it is as rich a power from God as His first declaration, let there be light. And that's what you need. But I think if you're listening today and you have not yet given your heart to Jesus Christ, it may be that He's already stirring in you. Maybe the Spirit is already at work in you to turn the light on. And I think we experience that on the ground as human beings. We experience that by His Word. How shall they believe of one of whom they've not heard? That kind of thing. And He ministers that way and things begin to stir inside. A recognition of one's own sin. A believing. A sense that there is glory. I love the way He said it. What was revealed to him? The knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ was revealed to him. There are things that can blind us. That whole concept that if I keep the law of God sufficiently, that will be enough. That whole concept was a problem. People who had the law of God in their hands were stumbling over that stumbling stone. And here's how the scripture describes it. Being ignorant of the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, what? Their own righteousness. And they didn't submit to God. They did not submit to God's righteousness. Wonderful illustration is that of the tax collector standing far off, couldn't even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. But there's another character in that story. What was that character's blindness? He went to the temple. He prayed too. What did he pray? God, I thank you I'm not as wicked as this other guy. That's a paraphrase. That's a shorter paraphrase. So we have to watch for those things. I think finally, I've been trying to just depict this to you. Finally, I want to say, I don't know where you are, whether or not you have found Christ glorious and hopeful. But I think we've had a lot of his word to commend that to us. And if you are stirred, maybe there would still be fear. Maybe there would still be fear. Maybe he wouldn't accept me. But I'm hoping some of the story helps you there. The final thing I want to say is this. It's what the Lord said. Oh, I'm sorry. We've already been over that. A broken and a contrite heart will not be despised. But this. Jesus said, I'll ask the Father, he'll give you another helper to be with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, you know him for he dwells with you and in you. You must be born again. You must have the Holy Spirit to be saved, but you need not fear that God would refuse him to you. I think that's what I want to close the whole thing with. Let's imagine that during the sequence of hearing the whole of the story, Christ has been commended to you as the real thing. But maybe there would still be fear inside. What if he would not accept me? What if he would not give me his spirit? The illustration that was given was, working with him in the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, that you know what it is to care enough about a child not to want to give that child bad things, false things. If your child asks you for bread, are you going to give him a stone? Are you going to hand him a scorpion? You know, that kind of wording, you know, even on our level, we know what it is to care about a child. If you then, this is the word of God to you, so that you need not fear. If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?