open them to Matthew chapter 8. Matthew chapter
8. We'll be looking this morning at the first
13 verses, but I'm going to do it a little bit
differently. I'm just going to read the first
four and then we'll pray. And then we'll go to
the other ones as they come up in the text. It
says, When he, that is Jesus, had come down from
the mountain, that is the Sermon on the Mount,
great multitudes followed him. And behold, a
leper came and worshipped him. Some of your translations
might say bowed before him. The Greek word is
proskuneo, and that's what it means, bowed before
him. Lord, if you are willing, you can make me
clean. Then Jesus put out his hand and touched
him, saying, I am willing. Be cleansed. And immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him,
See that you tell no one, but go your way, show
yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that
Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Let's
pray. Father, Lord, this morning, Lord, we open
your holy and eternal word. Lord, your word is
life and it is light. Lord, it directs our path
and guides us. But Father, it is life, Lord,
as it is illuminated and empowered by your spirit.
God, we need you this morning. Lord, would you
help us to see, Lord, what Christ has done for
us. Lord, would you help us to see our hopeless,
helpless condition, our uncleanness and inability
apart from him. God, would you make much of your
son through the weakness. and foolishness of
preaching. Lord, the weakness and foolishness
is on my part. May glory and honor be on his.
And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. As we open
Matthew 8, we have to understand that our Lord
has just finished preaching that great sermon.
It's the Sermon on the Mount. And in that sermon,
remember, we took the time, pretty much the better
part of a year, and in it, Jesus is explaining
how life in his kingdom works. And we could really
say that his kingdom is essentially a reversal
of man's kingdom. And what I mean by that is
what is praised in man's kingdom is rejected
in God's, and what is rejected or despised in
man's kingdom is honored in the kingdom of God.
So think with me. In man's kingdom, it's going
to be made up of the strong, the powerful, the
influential, the beautiful. But Jesus tells us
that God's kingdom is made up of the weak, the
inconsequential, the nobodies, the rejects, the
outcasts. There were large crowds, and they were
eagerly following Jesus, and they were listening
to every word that he uttered. In fact, in chapter
5, we are told that the reason the Lord went
up on the mountain to teach them is because the
crowds were so large, that was the best vantage
point he had to be able to influence them and
to issue the sermon. Crowds were that big, he
had to go up in order to teach them. But in Matthew
chapter 8, we see a pivot. Matthew is pivoting
from the teaching of Jesus now to his actions,
to his miracles. So in chapter 5, he goes up
on the mountain to teach. In chapter 8, he comes
down from the mountain to heal. Now we are told
that Jesus taught the people with great authority.
Such great authority that the people were left
astonished because he taught them not like scribes
and Pharisees, but he taught them as one who
had authority in himself. So he's teaching with
this great authority, and now he's going to authenticate
his teaching by his actions. He's going to work
miracles among them. And that's what these miracles
were really designed to do. They were to authenticate
that the messenger had come from God. Because
anyone can come on the scene and say something.
Jesus is going to back it up. So now he finished
preaching in chapter 7. He comes down from the
mountain. And that crowd had not dispersed. They're
still there. Because Jesus was overwhelmingly
popular, and the people would not allow him to
go anywhere unless they were thronging and flocking
to him. So you always see Jesus, when he's ministering
publicly, there's a large crowd gathering. Now
what's so interesting about that is against this
backdrop of a large crowd, we read in verse 2,
a leper came. A leper came to Jesus. That's really
interesting because of all the places that a
leper should not be was in a great crowd of people.
We need to understand that when the Bible uses
the term leper, it covers a multitude of skin
diseases, not just Hansen's disease, which we
know as leprosy today. So now for a leper to
be in the crowd was already a violation of the
law of Moses. You go back to the Levitical law
in chapter 13 and we read what Moses had written.
Now the leper on whom the sword is, his clothes
shall be torn, his head bare, he shall cover
his mustache and cry, unclean, unclean. He shall
be unclean all the days he has the sword. He
shall be unclean. He is unclean and he shall
dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside the
camp. Now friends, life for the leper would have
been very hard. There was a social stigma attached
to this disease. First of all, they were forced
to live in isolation away from others outside
the camp, outside the community. This meant that
this man would not be able to participate in
religious life. He was forbidden from going to
the synagogue. He was forbidden from going to
the temple to worship. So there was also not
just social isolation, spiritual alienation as
well. And he was required to let anyone who might
dare even approach him know that he was a leper.
We just read his clothes had to be torn. Now,
some say the head had to be shaved or it had
to be disheveled. So he had disheveled hair or
a shaved head, and he had to be crying out. If
anyone was making their way to him, that he was
unclean. He'd have to yell out, unclean, to make
sure that no one came near him. So if you look
at him, he was viewed as a social contagion,
and life would have been absolutely miserable.
But what made matters even worse for the leper
was that in that day, many saw this disease as
a punishment from God. He was just reaping what
he had sown. In fact, they thought that the very
fact that this man had leprosy would have meant
that he was under God's displeasure or under
God's curse. So think about life of this man.
Full of shame. He's lonely. And there's torment.
Obviously, he could not work. There is no social
system of that day, so he's forced to beg and
rely on the charity of others if he's going to
survive. They were always asking for alms and
for food. If this man happened to be a husband
or a father, that meant he could no longer provide
for his own family and they too would suffer,
adding to his torment. But we haven't even talked
about the physical toll. Leprosy often brought
severe pain as it affected the nerves. There
was no modern medicine. You didn't pop a pill.
There was no cure. So life would have felt hopeless
for this man. Everyone you knew was afraid to
be around you. They saw you as the disease. I
think about this. It's similar to when the pandemic
hit back in 2020 when COVID first came out. You
know, someone would get that, and everyone was
afraid. So the patient was placed in isolation.
I mean, even medical community, if they went
in, they had to be wearing the PPE, the gowns,
the masks, the gloves. And the COVID patient
was placed in isolation, everyone avoiding him
or her at all costs. That was for a short period
of time. But this gives you some idea how this
leper would have been viewed and how he would
have been seen in the community. And we read
in verse 2, That there was a leper in the crowd
and he came to Jesus. He decided to come to Jesus.
Why? Friends, put yourself in this man's shoes.
What hope did he have? What other options were
available to him? He was either going to die
alone or he would live the rest of his life in
isolation unless he was cured and there was no
cure. Now, yeah, he knew the law. He knew what
Leviticus said. He knew that the law said you
don't approach anyone. But desperate times call
for desperate measures. Now this man was in the
crowd. So we know that he knew of Jesus' ability
to heal. Now you're saying, how do you know that?
You have to do the timeline. You go back to chapter
4 of Matthew, verse 23. And Jesus went about
all Galilee, and that's where he's at right now,
teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel
of the kingdom. healing all kinds of sickness
and all kinds of disease among the people. Then
his fame went haywire throughout all Syria, and
they brought to him all sick people who were
afflicted with various diseases and torments
and those who were demon -possessed and epileptics
and paralytics, and he healed them. Great multitudes
followed him. Megas, the word. Mega crowds. From
Galilee, from Decapolis, those are the ten Gentile
cities around northern Galilee there. Jerusalem,
that's southern. Judea, that's the southern part
of Israel. This is the whole country and beyond
the Jordan. Everyone had heard of Jesus. Now
this multitude in chapter 4, verse 25, it's the
same crowd because immediately you go into chapter
5. Jesus seeing the multitudes goes up on the
mountain. So this man's here, right? Jesus goes
up and preaches in Matthew 5, 6, and 7. It's
the same crowd that we find in chapter 8, our
text today, because Jesus just came down from
the mountain. So that means this leper had been
part of that crowd who heard Jesus preach and
had seen Jesus heal. And I think that's important.
Because it shows us why he reasoned, there's
hope. Jesus could heal me. If he could cure others,
epileptics and paralytics, he could cure me.
But even more importantly, he must have reasoned,
Jesus will accept me. But why would he think
that? The only reason I can think that he knew
he'd be accepted is because of what Jesus had
just preached. As he heard Jesus preaching about,
blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the
meek. Hope is arising in this man's soul. He
knows his own inability. He can't do anything.
He knew that he was ceremonially unclean. But
both of those things, knowing his own inability,
knowing he's not clean, made him a great candidate
for the kingdom of God. Why? What does he have
to offer Jesus? Nothing. He must strictly rely
on the mercy of God. But he knew that the kingdom
of God is made up of outsiders. He knew the kingdom
of God is made up of nobodies. There was no greater
outsider and no one more rejected than a leper.
He knew what that was like. Others stood away
from him, stood far from him. But he assumed
Jesus wouldn't do that. He certainly heard Jesus
and he believed what he was saying, so Jesus
must be a safe place for him. So without fear
of being rebuked, without fear of being rejected,
this man has the courage to come and he bows
before Jesus, proskuneo, worship some translations.
It doesn't mean he's worshiping his God here,
because not even his own disciples get that yet.
He bows down paying homage and reverence to him.
And he came down and bowed and he said, Lord,
if you're willing, you can make me clean. Now
think with me. If the crowds were so big, and
no doubt many other people are clamoring to get
to Jesus, how did this unclean leper manage to
get to him? Now I can't be dogmatic here. But
do you suppose it could be that everyone who
saw this leper moved out of the way when they
saw him walking? Because if he touched any of
them, even slightly, they became unclean. So
remember, how does he look? Tattered, torn clothes?
Disheveled hair. The people knew what he was.
And when they saw him walking, I believe that
this crowd is kind of like the Red Sea parting.
Just all these people would have moved out of
the way. They wanted to avoid him like the plague.
But that allowed him to make his way to Jesus.
And finally, he's before Jesus. He bows down
and calls him Lord. Kurios, Master. It's a posture
of humility. It's a posture of respect. But this
man not only shows great humility, he shows great
faith. Lord, if you are willing, you can make
me clean. This is not an admission of doubt.
He's not doubting Jesus' ability at all. In fact,
he's convinced, Jesus, you can do this. So there's
no doubt whatsoever of Jesus' ability to heal
him, but he was unsure whether or not Jesus would
heal him. So not knowing the will of God, not
knowing Jesus' will, he appeals to the Lord's
mercy. If you're willing, you can make me clean.
Let me just say this as a side note. That's how
we come to the Lord in prayer as well. We know
God can. We don't know if it is his will. So
we pray, Lord, if you are willing, if this is
in your plan, God, if this brings you glory and
honor, Now in this case, we don't have to wait
long because look at verse 3. Jesus put out his
hand, don't miss the words, and touched him.
Did Jesus have to touch him? Couldn't he have
just said the word? They said, yeah, touched
him and said, I am willing. Be cleansed. That's
what's amazing here. Jesus is breaking the protocol.
He stretched out his hand to touch this man.
The leper had moved toward Jesus and bowed down,
but he didn't touch Jesus. Jesus is now closing
the gap and he's going to touch this man. All
kinds of people looking. They know who this man
is just by looking at him. What are they thinking?
Is Jesus crazy? I'm the great teacher? He's going
to touch a leper? Didn't Jesus know the law?
Didn't he know if he touched him, that's going
to make him defiled? But what was the leper thinking?
No one's touched me in such a long time. Is this
really happening? Could this be the day when
I'm healed and I'm rid of this terrible disease?
Jesus touched him and immediately, immediately
his leper's sleeve was cleansed. Immediately
his skin is clear. One second earlier, he's a
leper. One second later, he's a whole man. Still
had on the same tattered clothes. His hair was
still shoveled. But he's a new man. By the way,
Jesus did not become unclean either. The leper
became clean. Jesus did not become defiled, but
the man was restored. Jesus' holiness is not
diminished by activity with our sinfulness at
all. But what we see is something. Yeah, we see
the Lord's power. But we knew about that. He
revealed his love and his mercy, his compassion.
To whom? To those who are on the periphery of
life. No one wants them. With Jesus' touch, the
lepers made whole. He's no longer broken. He
can rejoin his family. And he can rejoin the
rest of society. What he was unable to do for
himself, Jesus did for him. No matter how hard
this man tried, he could have never caused his
own cleansing. He was unable to do it. His leprosy,
it's incurable. But Jesus did for him what nobody
else in the entire world could have done for
him, the miracle that made him whole. What's
the point? Friends, if you are in Christ this
morning, we know what this is like. We can relate
to this man. We too had an incurable disease.
The disease we had was far worse than leprosy.
Yet we were unable to do anything about it. We
could not heal ourselves. We were unable to offer
the cure. But Jesus did for us what we could
never do for ourselves. He touched us and took
away our sin and gave us his righteousness. You,
in Christ, have been cleansed and have been made
whole by this same Jesus. Now Jesus then said
to the man, don't tell anyone. But you need to
go to the priest, because that's what the law
said. When the leper was going to rejoin the
community, a priest had to examine him. But why
not tell anyone? Well, the crowds were massive.
So too much publicity is going to make ministry
that much more difficult. It's already hard enough
for him. And besides, he wasn't doing miracles
for some ostentatious display. Jesus was not
wanting to be known as the miracle worker. Rather,
those miracles were done to authenticate his
teaching. the miracles all were pointing to something
far greater. So he wasn't sitting there wanting
to entertain the masses by displays of miraculous
power. So he said, don't tell anyone, but go
down and tell the priest. Because the law said,
go before a priest. The priest is going to examine
him, he's going to look for any signs of leprosy,
and then he's going to declare him clean by giving
him a certificate by which he could show to the
world, I have been cleansed of this, and now
I can rejoin the rest of society. That's the
leper. Verse 5. Now Jesus leaves that area. Now
when he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came
to him pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant
is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.
Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not
worthy that you should come under my roof, but
only speak a word and my servant will be healed.
For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers
under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes,
and to another, come, and he comes, and to my
servant, do this, and he does it. Just say the
word, Jesus. And when Jesus heard that, he marveled
and said to those who followed, Assuredly, I
say to you, I have not found such great faith,
not even in Israel. So Jesus leaves the mountain
area, right? The Sermon on the Mount. He leaves,
he enters in Capernaum. This is the base of his
operations while in Galilee. This is where most
of his miracles will take place. Capernaum's
on the north shore, the north side of the Sea
of Galilee. It's there, 2011, Tim and Kenny went
with me. So again, this is his base of operations
here. It is in Capernaum now that Matthew introduces
us to another outsider. This time it's a centurion.
Okay, well, we know who they are. A centurion
was a well -respected, mid -level officer, and
he was in charge of about 100 other soldiers.
That's why it's called a centurion. Only the
most talented soldiers could work their way up
and become centurions. And they had a lot of
responsibility given to them. They had to train
other soldiers. They were responsible for their
welfare and their conduct while under their own
care. So when they're in Israel, because that's
where they're at, they had to enforce Roman law.
They had to collect the taxes and they had to
keep order. And because of this, the Jews despised
them. Why? Because the Jewish people felt that
the Roman army was unjustly occupying their land.
I mean, they looked at the Romans as unclean
people. They're these pagan oppressors who had
invaded their sacred spaces and they didn't like
it at all. Get them out of Israel. Get them out
of Jerusalem. So it is bad enough that this man
we're reading about, not only was he a Gentile,
but he was an officer in the army who was occupying
their land. That made it worse. So there's no
self -respecting Jew who felt that any member
of the Roman army would have any inheritance
in the kingdom of God. So that's not going to
make it. Certainly the scribes and Pharisees,
their leading religious officials, They would
not have offered to help this man. They would
have considered him a dog, unclean, just like
the leper was. But once more, Matthew is showing
us a picture. There's an outsider who has the
temerity to come to Jesus. But he's not seeking
anything for himself. This man does not come
asking for a miracle from Jesus or himself, but
rather from one of his servants. He said, Lord,
my servant is at home paralyzed and he's dreadfully
tormented. We don't know why he was paralyzed.
We don't know how he became that way. So we don't
need to speculate there. The Bible does say that
he was dreadfully tormented, but it doesn't even
explain what the torment was. Was he wracked
with pain? Was there an accident? Was it something
far more sinister? We don't know. All we see
is verse 7. Jesus said, okay, I will come and
I will heal him. Do you remember when Jesus touched
the leper? That's scandalous. He broke with protocol.
Jesus going to this man's house? That's scandalous.
He's breaking with protocol. To enter a Gentile's
house would have been a major social faux pas.
Why? The Jews considered Gentiles unclean. If
Jews had to go into Gentile territory as they
re -entered Israel, they would shake the dust
off their shoes and off their clothes. They didn't
want even Gentile dust being upon them. So to
enter into this man's house would have been defiling
ceremonially for Jesus. You can get an idea of
how this was if you remember Peter in Acts chapter
10. Do you remember when he saw the vision of
the unclean animals? So you had an angel go to
Peter and say, Peter, arise and eat. And Peter
said, no, I'm not eating unclean food. That thing
happened three times. The whole point was that
angel was trying to get Peter, you're going to
go to a Gentile's house and enter it and preach
the gospel to him. It took an angel with a vision
three times to get Peter to do that. Racial prejudices
ran very deep at this time. Very deep. There
was no social interaction, no fellowship between
Jews and Gentiles. They did not like each other.
Again, often Jews are referred to Gentiles as
dogs. Do you remember when the lady came to Jesus
and Jesus said, it's not fit to give the children's
food to the dogs. This was how they were viewed.
But just as Jesus touched a leper, he said, I'm
willing to go to your house. Scandalous. But
the centurion said, no, Lord, I'm not worthy.
Jesus, I'll go back with you. And what's so surprising
is this man declined that offer. Why did he decline
the offer? Well, we don't have to wonder because
the text tells us. He says, I'm not worthy for
you to enter into my house. He was a military
man. He understood authority and rank. He understood
that, Jesus, you are my superior. This is a great
display of humility. He knows how authority works.
He's a man with authority, right? As an officer,
he said, no, Jesus, you can't do this because
I know what it's like to issue commands to my
subordinates and they have to obey my word. And
he says, your, this is what he's saying, your
word has more authority than my own. Your word
has supernatural authority. Yeah, I can tell
a servant to come and he has to come. I can tell
him to go and he has to go. I can tell him to
do this and he has to go do this. He says, but
you, you have the authority to say to a disease,
be gone and the disease leaves. I'm not worthy
for you to come to my house. And apart from that,
he knew that he didn't need to come all the way
to his house. Why? Because the authority that
Jesus possessed was not... limited by distance.
He says, only speak a word and my servant will
be healed. He touched the leper. He didn't have
to. He doesn't have to touch this paralyzed man.
But notice the display of faith in this Roman
man. Only speak a word and I know my servant's
going to be healed. Just speak it, Jesus. That's
all I need you to do. Because if you speak it,
it's going to happen. This is incredible faith.
Now keep in mind what Matthew is doing here because
let's not lose sight of this is a book written
for an audience. Matthew is highlighting events.
Why? He's not telling us who Jesus is. He's showing
us who he is. He is the one whose word has authority.
What kind of authority? What cleanses lepers
and it heals paralyzed men. So Matthew, by pointing
these miracles out, and you're going to see that
as we continue through the chapters, he is showing
to everyone who will read this gospel that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Messiah sent from heaven.
The people couldn't see it. Verse 10. But when
Jesus heard what this man just said, he marveled,
astonished. And he says, my goodness, I've not
heard of such great faith at all, not even in
Israel. The irony of irony is here. This Gentile
showed far greater faith than anyone in Israel.
The outsider got it. Now he didn't understand
everything about who Jesus was at that time.
But he was on the right track. He knew enough.
But the insiders, the ones who should have seen
it, the ones who had all the prophets and the
prophecies, they were blinded to Jesus. So Matthew's
starting to show something. The outsiders are
beginning to understand who Jesus is and his
mission better than the insiders, better than
his own countrymen. See, there's a foreshadowing
that's taking place. Israel is going to be hardened
to the gospel of Christ, and the Gentiles are
going to embrace it. And we ought to be saying,
thank you, Lord. Verse 11. Jesus said, I say
to you that many will come from east and west.
These are Gentile nations. And they will sit
down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom, they
will be cast out into outer darkness. There will
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Those coming
from east and west, those are Gentiles, folks.
Just like this centurion, and they're going to
be welcomed into the kingdom of God. The sons
of the kingdom. Those are the Jews. They're the
natural sons. They're the ones to whom the covenant
was given. They had all the advantages in the
world. And Jesus said they will be cast out because
of their unbelief. Many foreigners, many outsiders,
many unclean people entering. The insiders, the
natural sons are shut out. Why? This is exactly,
folks, what Paul talked about in Romans 9. Verse
30. What shall we say then? That Gentiles who
did not pursue righteousness, that's us, have
attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
of faith. But Israel, on the other hand, pursuing
the law of righteousness, has not attained to
the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did
not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the
works of the law. For they stumbled, they tripped
over that stumbling stone. That's Jesus himself.
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling
stone and a rock of offense, and whoever believes
on him will not be put to shame. Most Jews were
trying to enter the kingdom by obeying the law
really well. Take the Apostle Paul before being
converted. They were trying to earn their way.
And consequently, they're trying hard. They're
living moral lives. They're living pious lives.
They're trying to honor God. And Jesus said,
you will be denied entrance into the kingdom.
And yet you have these outsiders, these dirty
people, the pagans. They don't know God. They're
idolaters. Sons of wrath. Ephesians 2. That's
us. But they don't get rejected. Why? Because
they begin to see God's grace works and we start
to see our own unworthiness, our own just condemnation,
and we rely only on the mercy of God. We don't
deserve it. That's the point. But the Jews never
deserved it. But they thought they could earn
it if I just try harder and harder and I keep
that law. And Jesus is the stumbling block because
he's like, I'm the only one. I'm the true Israel.
That's what Matthew showed in the beginning of
the gospel. I'm the true Israel. I'm the true
son. I'm the only one who can do this, and you've
got to come to me. And they're like, no, far
be it. And they crucified him. They thought,
the Jews thought they had a guaranteed place
in God's kingdom. Why? Because of their lineage.
Because of their heritage. But without faith
in Christ, no one enters in the kingdom of heaven.
So both the leper and the centurion, they saw
their need. Because they knew they were humbled.
They knew they were powerless to fix it. But
that was just the beginning. They also saw the
answer in Jesus. They both came to Jesus in faith,
believing that he could do for them what they
could never do for themselves. So what was the
end result with the centurion? Verse 13. Jesus
said to them, Go your way, and as you have believed,
so let it be done to you. And the servant was
healed from that same hour. He was right. Jesus'
word did it. So they came humbly, both of them,
came believingly, and they find the solution
they were looking for. The message for us is
the same. If we come humbly to Jesus, believingly,
you will also see that he is not only the only,
but the ultimate solution we are looking for.
There's a narrow gate, Jesus said. That door
of humility and faith, it's so very narrow, but
it leads to life. Whoever would be saved must
come to the end of himself, truly knowing that
you are absolutely unable and powerless to earn
God's favor. Nothing. Nothing in my hands I bring.
Only to thy cross I cling. You must believe,
friends, you must be convinced that Jesus is
the one sent from heaven. by God, who can do
for you what you could never do for yourself.
Notice what he said. Many sons of the kingdom
would be cast out into outer darkness and there's
weeping and gnashing of teeth. We all weep at
times, don't we? Everyone weeps at some point.
But those redeemed by Christ will come to a day
when weeping will be no more. For we're told
in that great final book of the Revelation that
God will wipe away every tear from our eye and
sorrow will only be a distant memory. But there
is a weeping that does not end. There is a weeping
that will be bitter and last for all eternity.
That's the weeping of the lost, shut out of the
kingdom, those who would not bow the knee to
Christ. Their weeping will be so severe it will
cause them to gnash their teeth. What bitter
regret. What soul's anguish. How foolish they
have been. But Matthew is showing us something
as well. God is gracious and merciful and he
grants mercy freely upon those whom we may least
expect. Isn't that good news? That is really
good news. That it's on those who are the outsiders.
Those are rejected. Those who are going to sit
down in this great feast in the kingdom, and
they're going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, they are the one who hold on to Jesus.
They have seen him, they believe him, and they
plead for his mercy. What is it that you hope
will earn an entrance into the kingdom of God?
It is only, it is enough that Jesus died. And
that he died for me. I need no other argument.
I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus
died and that he died for me. That's it. That's
it. Why would God the Father let me into heaven?
Why should he let me in the kingdom? If it's
anything I've done, I'm damned. I deserve none
of it. I've been confronted with my sin. I understand
I'm broken. I understand I'm a rebellious, just
one who's lifted up his hands against the Lord.
I don't deserve his mercy. Lord, if it's based
upon me, you should not let me in. But I believe
that Jesus died and that he died for me. That's
the one. I'm united to him. He's the one that
said I could come. Look at that last verse in
verse 33. Let's read it again, Romans 9. Behold
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of
offense. But look at this last phrase. And whoever
believes on him will not be put to shame. Do
you believe that? Do you really believe that?
The one that believes on him will never be put
to shame. The Jews could not accept that righteousness
comes through trusting Christ. Not through performing
the deeds of the law. That's why Paul wrote in
Romans 10, he goes over, one chapter over, and
he says, hey, listen, for Christ, he's the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes. Amen. That's it. That's the gospel.
To everyone who believes on Christ, your sins
have been remitted, righteousness has been granted,
and you have been made a son of God. You will
never be put to shame. Do you believe that? This
is the good news of what our Lord has done. And
friends, we don't just get to talk about it.
Can we tell Jesus thank you as we commune with
him? Let us thank him for his broken body. Let
us thank him for his shed blood. Let us thank
him for his sacrifice. Let us thank the divine
father for sending in love his son. Let us thank
the Holy Spirit for awakening us and showing
us our need. And today we come and we come in
here sinful. And miserable. And broken and weak.
And we're like, I'm not worthy. That table, it's
for outsiders. Rejects. Broken, sinful people.
Who can come to Jesus Christ. Jesus welcomes
you at his table. He wants to minister to you.
He wants to serve you. As we commune with the
risen. Lord, as he has prescribed. The deacons
are to come and pass out the elements at this
time.