Today's New Testament reading is from the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 13, verses 31 through 35 in the English Standard Version. Luke 13, 31 through 35. At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following. for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. Behold, your house is forsaken, and I tell you, you will not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading of his word. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you that your word is food to us, that because of your spirit, we can learn from it, we can grow from it, can sustain us. And pray now that as we take this time to look at this portion of scripture, we ask Lord, that you would accomplish your purpose through your word, that Christ would be exalted, that everything that is done here, everything that is said would be for the purpose of exalting Christ. I pray for each person listening here that even as they hear what's being proclaimed, that even in their minds and in their hearts that Christ would be exalted. Father, I pray that you would make us lovers of Christ as we understand what he did for us and how he made available to us the gift of salvation. Make your excellence known through what we do right now, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. In some ways, As we re-enter our study of the Book of Luke, in some ways this passage reads a little bit like a fever dream. Pharisees want Jesus dead so they save his life. Jesus sends a message to Herod that is not to Herod. and he informs the Pharisees of the successful failure of their scheme. And he predicts the circumstances of his future return, and somewhere in there, there's something about a chicken and a fox. But even as the fever dream of this passage is outlined for us here and the story is told and there's so much symbolism in what is said and what is exchanged between Jesus and the Pharisees, the same intent in this passage is fulfilled as in every other passage in the book of Luke. The book of Luke was written so that Theophilus, this Gentile believer, would be confirmed in what he believes and what he's been taught. Luke 1, 4, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Now it's important as we look at this and we reenter our study of the book of Luke that we reemphasize the fact that as Theophilus is a Gentile and this book is written to this Gentile man that what very often happens throughout the book of Luke is that Luke emphasizes and writes with an eye towards the down and outers. Those who you would not consider to be God's favorites. And let's face it, when you read the Old Testament, it's kind of obvious that God is playing favorites, isn't it? And the fact of the matter is, when we open up the book of Genesis and we see that the first couple, Adam and Eve, have three sons, and one of them kills one of the other sons and so he can't choose the line of the murderer so he chooses the line of Seth. Then out of all of the children of that one son we have this one son Noah. Then out of Noah's three sons God chooses to be his favorite Shem. Out of all of Shem's descendants, God chooses one of those descendants to be his favorite, Abraham. And as the song goes, Father Abraham had seven sons. Well, he actually had about nine sons. But he had seven at the end of his life. Out of all those sons, And out of the two primary sons, God chooses as his favorite Isaac. Isaac has two very famous sons, Jacob and Esau. And God chooses as his favorite Jacob. He renames Jacob and calls him Israel. And from then on, throughout the rest of the book, we see God's favor and attention poured primarily on the children of Israel, their God's favorite nation. Does that kind of bum you out a little bit? God really pays a lot of attention to the Israelites, to the children of Israel. Then that family, the children of Israel, from that family they produce a Savior and Messiah, Jesus. He's a significant figure who claims the mantle of the Messiah and claims the mantle of the Savior that goes all the way back to the book of Genesis, Genesis 3.15, that this Messiah's gonna be the one who's going to crush the head of Satan. And that family, by and large, does not think that this guy is him. They look at the resume that Jesus trots out before them, and they, in mass, reject him. Everything that they heard demonstrates that this is Him. This is the Savior. This is the Messiah. This is the guy who's going to save us from all of our enemies and our primary enemy being sin itself. And you as a Gentile sitting outside of that family looks at all of the evidence and you say, this has to be the guy. hears about it and says, this has to be the guy. This has to be the one. Is there any other hope for us other than this guy? And you look over at the family who's supposed to know all of this and they're like, no, not him. Keep moving. And then you consider the fact, does it even matter? Because it seems, and some people might get the impression, that this Savior Messiah, as much as he's rejected by that one family, was only sent to that family. And you're not one of them. And you as Theophilus, if you were in his place, you might get a little bit of concern. You're just part of that massive class of people who is kind of written off in the Old Testament as Gentile. This has nothing to do with you. Israel is the hope. You are nothing. So you commission Luke, who is a companion of the Apostle Paul, to write something. to investigate, to research. Are we getting this right? Are we a part of all of this? And what Luke does as he goes through and researches the life of Christ is that he starts at the very beginning and in the first two chapters of the book of Luke, who's emphasized? It's woman after woman after woman. These people that were down and outers as far as the Jews were concerned, these people who were only going to participate in the kingdom of God in some kind of cursory way, they'd kind of be there, but they really weren't important to the plans and purpose of God. And Luke says, no, these women were intricately weaved into the story of the life of Christ so that you would understand that those whose society, who Israel may have cast aside as less than, are central to the plan and purpose of God's redemption. And then you read about the Gentile woman of Nain. And then you read about the travels of Jesus as he walks around the land of the Gentiles and just starts to heal all kinds of people. And predominantly, the book of Luke is taken up with Jesus not being in the land of Judea and ministering all over the place, the Gentile after Gentile. And these people are central. to the redemption brought through Jesus Christ. And Luke investigation keeps emphasizing two things. First thing that it emphasizes is, yes, Jesus is that Messiah. Jesus is that Messiah. Three things I'm sorry to emphasize. Jesus is the Messiah. Number two, He is the Messiah for the down and outers. Those who've been cast aside by Jewish tradition. Those who traditionally wouldn't be a part of the kingdom. He is your Messiah. And number three, what Luke does so beautifully over and over again, is he frames and gives context to the rejection of the Messiah by the Jewish leaders. Because you don't look at the Jewish leaders, and as it has kind of come down in our tradition, it's kind of like, well, if the Jews said it, it must be wrong. And really, that's not the way it was looked upon back then. Those who were coming to this new faith were looking at it saying, if anybody's gonna know, it's going to be the wisest among them. It's their Messiah. And Luke, over and over again, gives context, gives depth, gives texture for the reasons that these people are deliberately, willfully, and sinfully rejecting the Messiah. Now, folks, we have the same thing in this event in Luke chapter 13. In fact, the last time we were looking at Luke, we concluded with verse 30 that says, And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last. Now what in the world could Jesus be talking about there? Specifically, he's probably talking about Jewish religious leaders who are first, and Gentiles who are last. And he's saying those who think they're going to be first are going to end up being last, and those who think, you know what, I don't even belong in here, are the ones who are going to be first. God gives us our order in the kingdom, not our genetics. Now what we find as we come to this passage, and I want us to look at this because what it's going to do is it's going to exalt Christ and it's gonna give us context for Jewish rejection of the Messiah. And he does that, first of all, by looking at three things that are hidden in this passage. There are three hidden things in this passage. And it's one of those kind of things that is sort of hidden, but it's not. And you'll see when it comes up what's going on. And then there are two things that are not hidden in this passage. They're very blatant in this passage. So we'll look at the three hidden things first. The first thing is their hidden scheme. Look at verse 31. At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you. Now how noble and benevolent of them. When you think of Pharisees in the New Testament as it relates to their relationship with Jesus, don't you think fair and noble? No. That would be completely out of character with how they're being portrayed throughout all four Gospels. These are not noble people. These are very much political people. They're concerned about the political ramifications of what might happen here And so they make a calculated political decision and they tell Jesus, hey listen, we heard that Herod wants to kill you. This is Herod Antipas, by the way. Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great, one of the sons of Herod the Great. There was Herod Philip, Herod Antipas, and Archelaus. And Herod Antipas governed over the part of the land that was west of Galilee, and then another section of land that was east of the Jordan. And the two places, you can look those up later, they're Galilee and Perea. So Jesus is in this section. And he's in one of these areas that is governed by Herod Antipas. Now, one of the other things we learn about Herod Antipas is that Herod Antipas does not value life very much. He's the one that beheaded John the Baptist because some little girl did a dance for him and said, if I do this dance, will you kill John the Baptist? And he said, sure. And he did. It didn't exactly go down like that, but it was very similar. Herod Antipas was willing to kill people at the drop of a hat to kind of maintain the unity in the area. He understood that Rome really didn't care what you did in your province as long as there were no uprisings. And for the most part, Herod Antipas kept his people in subjection and kept them really happy except for those that he killed. And having killed Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, the Pharisees understand that and they tell him, listen, you need to flee to someplace that's safe because it's obvious that John the Baptist is not safe. Now, what is the scheme here? This is a case where the first century audience, being very aware of something that might be foreign to us, and most commentators will actually point this out, that Jesus being in Herod Antipas' area might have reason and might have concern, might have reason to have concern about whether or not if he killed his cousin, maybe Jesus was next. So where do you flee from? Well, any Jew, if you're fleeing from Herod Antipas, would want to flee outside of Herod's jurisdiction and under the protection of his fellow Jews. Now what had happened over the years is that there was a, the son of Herod the Great that had the area of Judea was Archelaus. And Archelaus didn't rule over that area for very long at all. He only ruled over it for a couple of years before his brothers tattled on him to the Romans. And some of the Jews didn't like him. And there were these uprisings that kept happening that he was hiding from the Jews. And so they eventually got him out of there. And over the next few years, the next couple of decades, five different leaders of the region of Judea, where Jerusalem was. The first was Coponius. The second was Marcus Ambivalus. I don't know much about Marcus Ambivalus, but I just get the sense that he didn't care. Sorry. The next was Aeneas Rufus. The next was Valerius Gratis. Valerius Gratis plays a very central role in one of the most popular movies of all time. When Judah Ben-Hur is overlooking the entry of Valerius Gratis into the city of Jerusalem, the woman that he's with leans over and pushes a roof tile off of the roof. And it lands next to Valerius Gratis' horse, spooks it, and knocks him off the horse. And that begins the saga of Ben-Hur. And you've probably all seen Charlton Heston in that. Valerius Gradus though then gives way to Pontius Pilate. And there's a theme through all of it. There's a reason why there's so many different people. And that is because the Jews were just constantly discontent with the leader that they had. And so they would be discontent and they would form an uprising. And like I said, Rome didn't care what you did within your province as long as you kept it in order. And they were not keeping these people in order. And so one of the strategies that was invoked early on was to allow the Jews to just govern themselves. And that usually worked. But you know how it is when you think you're doing one thing and someone from another culture thinks you're doing something else. There was never ever enough freedom for the Sanhedrin. And so that's what's happening. Under Pontius Pilate, the Sanhedrin pretty much had free reign within the area of Judea. So now, with that historical context that I'm pretty sure Theophilus would have been very aware of, especially knowing how the story ended, when the Pharisees come and say, Herod is going, Herod Antipas they're talking about. Herod wants to kill you, you need to flee. They're probably pushing him and encouraging him to flee to Jerusalem where he would be under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin. And the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees have already made it very clear they don't like Jesus and they want him tried and executed. So what I said earlier is that there's a scheme to save Jesus's life so that they could kill him. They wanted to kill him so in order to kill him they had to pretend to be saving his life. And so there's this hidden scheme that goes on. And you remember all the way back in chapter 11, the Jews had already started referring to, and the leaders of the Jews had already started referring to Jesus as doing miracles by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. The Pharisees then, in their hidden scheme, are trying to send Jesus to where the Sanhedrin has jurisdiction, and there he could be tried and put to death. Pretty clever scheme. I'm not in favor of it, because I'm partial to Jesus, but it's a pretty clever scheme. But what happens when you put all of your effort into a scheme like this and the person you're trying to trick knows exactly what you're doing? Anybody here a fan of the movie Tombstone? Anybody here watch that movie Tombstone with Wyatt Earp and all those guys? Val Kilmer plays Doc Holliday. You know the scene, right? Everybody knows the scene. Everybody who likes that movie knows the scene. There's a scene where Doc Holliday, played by Val Kilmer, pretends that he's dying and he's in bed and he can't go on. and his main antagonist, Johnny Ringo. Johnny Ringo hates Wyatt Earp, and he hates the order that Wyatt Earp brings to Tombstone. And he hates Doc Holliday because Doc Holliday is obviously the quickest pistolero in the entire town. And so he hates both of these guys, but he understands that Doc Holliday is on his deathbed, so he challenges Wyatt Earp to a gunfight, and they go out where they're supposed to be, and this Johnny Ringo looks up at a silhouette that he thinks is Wyatt Earp, but it's not Wyatt Earp. You see, because the whole time Doc Holliday has been sniffing out this scheme. And so what Doc Holliday is, instead of getting sick, he pretended to be sick and dying. And he shows up. Johnny Ringo sees him, and you know the line. Why, Johnny Ringo, you look like someone walked over your grave. Johnny Ringo says, my fight's not with you. I'm your huckleberry. Love that line. I don't even know what it means, but it's just so cool because he says it like he means it. My fight's not with you. Doc Hollis says, I care to differ. We started something that we haven't finished yet. Now you all are going to go watch Tombstone, aren't you? My point is there is something about scheming and thinking you have your man trapped and then watching as it just unfolds before your eyes. Now folks, look at this. Jesus knows exactly what they're doing and it's very obvious in his response because Jesus has a hidden response to the Pharisees. So the first thing is the hidden scheme. Then you have Jesus' hidden response. It's not very hidden though. There is a very thin veil over his response. Look at verse 32. He said to the Pharisees, okay, so now he's talking to the Pharisees and he says, if he's looking for me, if Herod is looking for me, then you go tell him this. Go tell that fox, by the way, he uses actually the feminine form of fox, so it's actually go tell that vixen. It's possible that he's even further insulting Herod Antipas, or it's possible that he's talking about Herod's wife, who seems to be the power behind the throne. Go tell that vixen. Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. Oh. Do you see what Jesus is saying here? He's telling the Pharisees, go tell that fox all of the miracles you have seen me perform. Now why would Jesus bring that to their remembrance? They want to kill him and he's reminding them All I have done from the beginning of my ministry until now is Messiah after Messiah after Messiah after Messiah. And what I want you to do is go and chronicle everything that you've seen to Herod Antipas. Then tell him where I am. What a condemnation. You want to go rat me out? Go rat me out. Tell him what you've seen. Tell him, I can tell you where to find our only hope for redemption. Go and kill him. It's mind boggling to me what he does. And in the middle of it, I mean, it really is Jesus' way of telling them, I know what you're up to. I know exactly what you're doing. And in the middle of this hidden response, then, Jesus makes a hidden prophecy. This is the third hidden thing. We had the hidden scheme. We have the hidden response. Because he's not really responding to Herod Antipas. He doesn't really care what Herod Antipas has to say. He's just responding to the Jews and saying, you know who I am. You know what I do. And in the middle of that, he outlines a hidden prophecy. Notice couched in the middle of the hidden response to the Pharisees are two hidden prophecies. First of all, verse 33. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem. In other words, I'll make it to Jerusalem. and you're going to succeed. But your success will point to the fact that you have failed. I'm going to Jerusalem, Jesus says. Yes, to die. Yes, to be killed. But I'm going to Jerusalem to be killed like a long line of prophets before me. So that you, that the leader of my people, can put me to death just like you put to death every prophet that came before me. You know what that means? That means Pharisees, Sanhedrin, if you succeed or when you succeed, you will be sealing your doom. When has Jerusalem ever killed a prophet and not seen the wrath of God because of it. The one thing that the Pharisees or the Sanhedrin wanted was to try Jesus in a court and to prove that he's not a prophet, that he's a blasphemer. But by killing him in Jerusalem, they're only going to enshrine forever what this sham trial was about to begin with, that the conclusion was already in, that they didn't care about the evidence, that some of them even believed that He was the Messiah, but out of fear, they didn't speak up, and that Jesus was going to die a prophet's death, and His legacy would be enshrined even in that. What a prophecy. I know what your scheme is, and guess what? It's going to work. And in success, you will seal your doom. The second prophecy comes in verse 32, though. Look at what it says. And he said to them, go and tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow. Now look at this phrase. And the third day I finish my course. Now, what we have here is what's known as dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is what happens when is a literary device that writers use in which the reader is aware of something that the characters in the storyline are not aware of. Now what is it that he would be aware of? What is it that Theophilus would be aware of? Because chapter 1 verse 4 is I'm going to confirm these things and make you sure of the things that you've already heard. Well, the gospel is very clear, right? Paul outlines it. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, and what? Rose again the third day. Just like the scripture said. Now, I don't think that the Pharisees were aware, or even the disciples, apostles, were aware at that moment of what Jesus was saying. But as Theophilus, as Luke is writing it, and as Theophilus is reading it, they're very clear of what the third day means. And not only does Jesus say that I'm going to die in Jerusalem like a prophet, he says on the third day, he says the third day I'm going to finish my course. And it's a very difficult, the word that's translated as finish my course is a very difficult word. It means to complete something. It means to fulfill something. It could mean to perfect something. In fact, the old King James says, and the third day I shall be perfected. Huh. What do you think he's prophesying? What do you think Theophilus thought he was prophesying? I think it's very clear. He's saying, yeah, I'm gonna die. But the grave is not going to hold me. Theophilus already knew the story. And it's as if Luke, with a grin, says, and listen to what Jesus said, and they didn't even know. Imagine Luke writing this with a grin on his face. I imagine Jesus saying this with a grin on his face. Third day, I'm going to finish my course. Now in verses 34 and 35, Jesus puts aside the clever banter. And really, that is what it amounts to, right? I mean, to me, it's a very amazing part of the story here, where they're being indirect, and Jesus responds to them very indirectly. It reminds me a whole lot of my father-in-law, who is the master of being indirect like that. And he would just say things, and just clever, clever. We were stuck in Mexico one time, and I did what you're not supposed to do in Mexico. I drank the water. And I was, Montezuma was getting all kind of revenge on me. I was in the back of the Suburban, and we had a 12-hour drive through windy hills back up to the border. And I was just, I wasn't sure I was going to survive. And we get stopped in this one little plaza by some crooked foot police officer. And by the way, what they do in Mexico is that they come to you and they say, well, you know, I hate to have you come with me to the police station. I mean, that would just be a waste of all of our times. I just, you know, you went the wrong way on that little street back there. I just don't know. And obviously they're looking for a bribe, but my father-in-law wouldn't give a bribe to anybody. In fact, he walked around with a copy of the Mexican Constitution in his lapel pocket. He would pull it out. The Constitution says that you can't do this. You know, they were always shocked. But he didn't do that this time. He sat there and just argued with the guy. He gave him his card. And what they do is they keep your driver's license because then you can't get to the next checkpoint in Mexico. And without your driver's license, you have huge fines and all kinds of stuff. And they take your driver's license down to the police station. Or you just give them a bribe on the spot and they give you your card back. So he gives him his card, and he says, my son is in the back of the car, and he's dying, and you're going to put me in jail. What a horrible thing this is. It's really, really dramatic, because he knew what the guy was doing. He knew what he was up to. And finally, after this argument, we're all just listening, and they're all telling me what's being said back there, because I can't understand Spanish. Finally, he comes back. Whistling back to the car, and he gets in the car, he's stuffing his card back in his wallet. And his wife says to him, what were you going to do, Valente? If they took your driver's license, you should have just given them something. They were going to take your driver's license. And he reached in and he pulled out the card that he gave him. It was his Sam's Club card. So if the guy took it, because, you know, Sam's club card has all of those official looking boxes on the back. And you figure, Uncle Sam, you know, this isn't some mountain town in Mexico. Uncle Sam, it's got to be official. And then, of course, they have a nice black and white ugly photo of you, just like every official document has to have. Anyway, my point in all of that is I think that's another way that Valente was like Christ. He was clever like that. But after all of the clever banter was over, Jesus turns to a very straightforward lament, and there's two things now that are not hidden in the passage, that are not clever in the passage, that are very straightforward. In verse 34 and 35, he says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to it, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing. Behold, your house is forsaken." We'll end right there. What Jesus does is he takes on an Old Testament theme that when Israel is disobedient and the Lord punishes her, it is like an old house that has been left desolate. And in the Old Testament, there's a theme of Israel taking refuge like chicks. under the wings of a hen. Psalm 36, verse 7 says, How precious is your chesed, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wing. Psalm 57, verse 1 says, Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wing. I will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by. Folks, Jesus uses the very theme to make clear that they would not be under the protection of the Messiah as much as I want to bring you like a hand and guard you like Israel has taken refuge in me many times before. I long for that and you refuse to huddle underneath me. In this case, Israel's expression of their freedom allowed them to be free, to be ravaged by their enemies. And then he says, behold, your house is forsaken. The idea of forsaken is to be left desolate. And it's probably an allusion to Jeremiah chapter 12. Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 11 says this, they have made it, speaking of Israel, they have made it a desolation. Desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate, but no man lays it to heart. Now what's fascinating about that description of the desolate Israel is that if you go a few verses back, what you find is there's a reason for Israel's desolation. Verse 8 of Jeremiah 12 says, My heritage has become to me like a lion in the forest. She has lifted up her voice against me, therefore I hate her. Is my heritage to me like a hyena's hair? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go assemble all the wild beasts, bring them to devour. Now listen to this. Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trampled down my portion. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. And then verse 11, they have made it a desolation. So when we talk about the desolate house of Israel, what has made the house of Israel desolate? It's the actual shepherds who were there supposed to be protecting it, who took advantage of it. and ruined it and so it is here that it is the leaders of Israel it's the Sanhedrin, it's the Pharisees, it's the high priest, it's the Sadducees they're the ones that are rejecting Jesus as the Messiah even though some of them know He is and it's because of their rejection that Israel is made desolate And what he's pointing to here is not just a general idea that in some time in the future, he's literally pointing to the fact that in a few years from this point, a few years from the ascension of Jesus, that Israel was going to be razed to the ground. It was going to be completely destroyed to the extent that people would not even know that there was a city there for hundreds of years. Notice in the lament of what will become of Jerusalem, there is no hope, Jerusalem. You reject the Messiah and you will be destroyed, except. Look at the end of verse 35. Beginning of verse 35 talks about the desolate house. Your house will be forsaken, and I tell you, you will not see me, who is me, Jesus, the Messiah. You will not see the Messiah until you, Jerusalem, say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. You know what that tells us? Because what Jesus is talking about here is his second coming. He makes that clear in the Matthew passage, because this passage happens before he's in Jerusalem. Then he reiterates all of this at the end of his ministry and tells those in Jerusalem at that time, I'm not returning until you declare, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. That means this. That Israel will be destroyed but they will not ultimately and utterly be forsaken. That Jesus will return to Jerusalem someday and when will it be? It will be when the leaders of Jerusalem confess Him. to be the Messiah. The phrase that he uses there, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, is from Psalm 118, one of the last psalms that they would sing after the after the Passover feast, and what it was is they believe that when the Messiah came, one of the ideas that would be chanted as he entered into Jerusalem would be, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, and here Jesus says that the leaders of the city are going to chant this, the leaders of the city are going to confess this, and it's at that point that Israel will be redeemed. It is a tragedy that Israel became, Israel, who was supposed to be a light to the nations, became that light in the midst of their rebellion. Because as Israel rebelled, they put the Messiah on the cross, and as the Messiah was lifted up, he drew all men unto him, right? But Jesus says that they will not be left alone. The point in all of this is to say that Jesus, from beginning to end, did all kinds of Messiah stuff. It was all before them. It was all in front of them. All they had to do was bow the knee to Him and worship. And they would not do it. And the same message is issued out to Theophilus, the same message is issued out to the Gentiles, that all you have to do is bow your knee to Him and worship Him. Let's pray. Father, we do exalt Your Son. We know who He is. We know that He is the Savior, the Messiah, We know that He is the Savior of the Jews and He is the Savior of all men. We know, Father, that you didn't just love the Jew, but you love the world to the extent that you sent your Son to die. so that we do not relate to you by genetics, but by faith, so that whoever faiths in you, believes in you, will not perish, but have eternal life in the eternity of your eternal kingdom. We glory in that. We thank you for your son and we exalt his name. And it's in His name that we even stand before you this morning. Amen.