Matthew chapter 9. We'll be looking at verses
27 through 34 this morning. Let's turn on this
mic. Verse 27. When Jesus departed from there,
two blind men followed him, crying out and saying,
Son of David, have mercy on us. And when he had
come into the house, the blind men came to him,
and Jesus said to them, Do you believe that I'm
able to do this? They said to him, Yes, Lord.
Then he touched their eyes, saying, According
to your faith, let it be to you. And their eyes
were opened, and Jesus sternly warned them, saying,
See that no one knows it. But when they had departed,
they spread the news about him and all that country.
As they went out, behold, they brought to him
a man, mute and demon -possessed. And when the
demon was cast out, the mute spoke, and the multitudes
marveled, saying, It was never seen like this
in Israel. But the Pharisee said, He cast out
demons by the ruler of the demons. Let us pray.
Oh, Father Lord, I would ask so very much, Lord,
for your help right now. God, let me humble myself
before you and ask Lord for the help and aid
of your Holy Spirit. Lord, would you feed your
people with the true man of the true bread of
life, which is Christ himself? Let them see in
this passage the glory of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
One of the things that I have discovered as I'm
going through the book of Matthew is what really
a brilliant storyteller he is. Some authors are
easy to read, some are a little bit harder and
you have to wade through it, but Matthew is very
gifted. And I think he's particularly gifted
in the way he lays out a series of events. So
if you're reading Matthew compared to Mark, one
thing you'll notice about Matthew is he is known
for the way that he condenses narratives. He
leaves out a lot of extraneous material. But
what really strikes me is the way he places them
in a certain sequence to kind of form a picture
or to tell a story. Matthew is king of telling
a story indirectly. He lets you connect the dots
and figure it out. He doesn't come right out
and directly tell you his point. Instead, he
shows his point. And we'll see that this morning.
For example, as you look at the miracles and
you look at the sequence in which those miracles
occur that Matthew's including in this gospel,
you're going to get an idea that he's letting
you in. He's going to let you figure out who
Jesus is. Now he begins in Matthew 5, number
5, 6, and 7, that big sermon on the Mount. And
there you see an an itinerant rabbi preaching
with great authority. In fact, so much authority
that the people who were hearing him were left
astonished as he preached. They could not believe.
The question we are left with at the end of chapter
7 is, who is this man who is teaching with this
great authority? Well, then, Matthew, he begins
to show you who he is. and he lets his readers
drop in and witness what Jesus was doing. So
the Sermon on the Mount ended chapter 7. Beginning
in chapter 8, we see Jesus immediately start
healing. He touches a leper, touches the leper
and heals him. Then following that miracle, Jesus
healed a centurion. That's a Roman soldier. He
healed the centurion's paralyzed servant with
just a word. Now that was interesting because
there was no touch needed. Jesus didn't even
go to that man's house. The paralyzed man wasn't
even near Jesus. But just a word from Jesus from
far away, that paralytic was healed. We then
see him go back into the house and Peter's mother
-in -law is lying sick with the fever. And Jesus
heals her. After that, we are told that there
were many coming to him from outside, many who
were sick and many who were possessed by demons.
And Jesus healed them all by just his word. And
then later we see him get in a boat. And we see
that He has control even over nature. A huge
storm, just a wonderful tempest arose, and Jesus
commanded the wind and the sea to calm down,
and they immediately obeyed. We then see Him
heal another paralyzed man. This man had been
brought to Jesus by four friends. But before
healing that man, Jesus forgave his sins. So
whoever's teaching with this authority Not only
does he heal, but he forgives sin. Then we see
Jesus start to call another disciple. He calls
this man Matthew, the one who wrote this gospel.
Matthew, as we saw a few weeks ago, was this
despised tax collector, hated, notorious sinner,
a fraud, a crook, a thief. Jesus called him to
be one of his disciples. He heals people, he
forgives sin, and he calls sinners to be his
disciples. Later that evening, he enjoyed this
big celebratory dinner with Matthew and his friends,
and his Matthew's friends were also notorious
sinners. They were the profligate of the town,
if you will. And watching all this over here
were the Pharisees, religious leaders, the purity
police, and they are indignant. They hated what
they were seeing. They could not believe that
Jesus was willing to eat, to have table fellowship
with men and women such as Matthew's friends.
They couldn't believe He's willing to eat with
sinners. They could not believe that Jesus could
be a holy man sent from God because no holy man
would ever deign to eat with such notorious sinners
as Matthew and his friends. Jesus was undeterred.
From there we read that He goes on and He heals
an unclean woman who had an issue of blood, some
type of hemorrhage, for 12 years. She reached
out and touched to Him with His garment. And
on that same day, Just a few hours later, we
see him raise Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue.
His daughter had died, and we see Jesus raise
this young daughter back to life. Who is this
man? He teaches us authority, so much authority
that the people are astonished. He controls nature,
wind and seas obey him. He forgives sin. He heals
sickness, and he raises the dead. All that is
in Matthew 8 and 9. And then we come to our passage
today and there are two blind men. Men who could
never see and they're crying out for Jesus and
they want him to have mercy on him. And we read
that in verse 27. It says when Jesus departed
from there, two blind men followed him crying
out saying, son of David, have mercy on us. It
says Jesus departed from there. Well, you have
to understand he was just at Jairus' house. That's
where he raised that dead little girl back to
life. And now there's two blind men. side of
the road, and they're crying out to Jesus. And
what do they want? It says they wanted mercy.
Friends, that's what you better want from God,
by the way. You don't want justice. You want
mercy here. But what they really wanted, they
desperately wanted to be healed. But I love what
they're doing here. Notice what they're calling
Jesus. They don't cry out using His name. They
don't cry out, hey, Jesus! Instead, they cry
out, son of David, have mercy on us. Son of David
is loaded with theological meaning. In fact,
the way Matthew opens his gospel, he uses that
very same title, chapter one, verse one, the
book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son
of David, the son of Abraham. The son of David.
The blind men are using it. It's a Messianic
title, and it recognizes Jesus as the promised
Messiah who would come in the line of David and
rule over God's people as king forever. Now what?
These blind men are using that? The irony here
that Matthew is letting us witness is that these
two blind men could see that Jesus was the promised
Messiah, yet the Pharisees, who were their religious
leaders, they were blind. to who Jesus really
was. Later on we'll see that the Pharisees even
accused Jesus of being in league with Satan himself.
So Matthew's arranging this narrative on purpose.
There's a juxtaposition here. You have the Pharisees
and you have the blind men. It's a striking contrast,
right? So the Pharisees representing the religious
elite, the leaders, the scribes and Pharisees,
they should have known who Jesus was. There's
no excuse for learning to believe, but they're
blind to him. But the irony is, you have these
two blind men, and we assume they're peasants
because they couldn't work, there is no welfare
system, and yet they were able to see him. They
were able to recognize Jesus for who he was.
Now the question I immediately said, why is this
the case? Why were the Pharisees blind and the
blind could see? Now I'm going to steal my thunder
from a few weeks from now, but you can see the
answers clearly in Matthew 11. So Matthew 11
beginning verse 20. Jesus begins to rebuke. You
don't see Jesus rebuking a lot in the Gospels.
But he begins to rebuke the cities in which most
of his mighty works have been done. Now notice
why he rebuked them. Because they didn't repent.
Now can we stop and just imagine? Imagine you
are there and you're seeing all this. Dead are
raised, lepers are cleansed, blind see, mute
speak, deaf hear, wind and seas calm down. And
you're like, no, I don't believe this guy. They
did not believe. They did not repent. They had
seen the miracles. And Jesus now issues woes,
condemnation. Woe to you, Coruscant. Woe to you,
Bethsaida. For if the mighty works which were
done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon,
they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. You're going to be judged harsher
because you had much more revelation. And you,
Capernaum, that's his home base of operations.
That's where Peter's house was. That's when Jesus
was in Galilee. That's where most of these miracles
were taking place. He said, and you, Capernaum,
you who are exalted to heaven, you will be brought
down to hell, to Hades, to the grave. Why? For
if the mighty works which were done in you had
been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day. But I say to you that it shall be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of
judgment, then for you." And at that time, Jesus
answered, and he starts to pray, I thank you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have
hidden these things from the wise and the prudent,
and you have revealed them to babes. Even so,
Father, for it seems good in your sight. All
things have been delivered to me by my Father,
and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor
does anyone know the Father except the Son, and
the one to whom the Son wills, chooses to reveal
him." Now that's the text. That's a straightforward
reading, right? Why were the Pharisees blind?
The Pharisees were blinded, and the blind saw
because it was deemed good in God's sight. Now
let me just say in this passage, that passage
in Matthew 11, you see both human responsibility,
woe to you because you should have repented,
but you didn't. And we also see divine sovereignty.
God is the one doing all this. God chooses to
reveal or to conceal according to His own wisdom,
and Jesus is in a complete agreement with that
Father's will. Complete agreement. God chose
to reveal His Son to the least likely, and that
pleased Him. Spiritual sight, friends, is a gift
from God. So far in Matthew's gospel, and I go
out and check it out, so far in his gospel, no
one other than demons has shown the level of
understanding of who truly Jesus is except these
two blind men. These blind men were the very
first people to use that title, Son of David,
in Matthew's gospel. They were the first to use
it. Why do you think they used it? I suspect
it's because they knew some promises. I don't
know this. But I suspect that they had heard
about these other miracles. They had not seen
anything. But the word was sweeping town. They
knew that Jesus was doing the extraordinary,
and they remembered, hey, we have a prophet that
we hear read in the synagogue, Isaiah, and he
talked about this time. Isaiah 35. Say to those
who are fearful -hearted, be strong and do not
fear. Behold, your God will come to you with
vengeance. with the recompense of God, He will
come and save you." Now, how do you know when
this is going to happen? Verse 5, then the eyes
of the blind shall be open and the ears of the
deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall
leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb or
the mute shall sing, for water shall burst forth
in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
Isaiah is saying something. He said, listen,
when Messiah comes, the blind is going to see.
And the deaf are going to hear, the lame are
going to walk, and the mute is going to sing.
And these men, these blind men, they're like,
hey, I heard that he healed a lame man, a couple
of paralytics. Hey, he's healed other blind men.
He's allowed the deaf to hear. So they heard
about all these miracles, then he must be the
one promised by God. He must be this. So believing
he was the Messiah, they have the boldness to
cry out for the healing, as foretold in Isaiah.
And Jesus says when he'd come into the house,
verse 28, these blind men, they followed him
into the house, and Jesus said, Do you really
believe that I'm able to do this? And they said
to him, Yes, Lord. Now Jesus had been outside
with the crowds, right? He left Jairus' house.
Crowds were always following him, and he entered
into the house. And the scriptures do not tell
us whose house he entered, but most likely from
inference we can say this is Peter's house. Remember
Peter's mother had been healed, she had had a
fever, and Jesus raised her back to health. So
this is Capernaum, most likely Peter's house,
and this served again as Jesus' base while they're
in Galilee, specifically Capernaum. So these
blind men, they follow Jesus into the house,
and Jesus turns and he says, hey, I've got a
question for you. They're like, go ahead. Do
you believe that I'm able to do this? What is
he doing? He's testing their faith. believe on
the promised Messiah? Do you truly believe that
I am the one that's foretold by Isaiah? Do you
really believe that I can restore your sight?"
And they immediately answered, yes, Lord. And
Jesus basically touched their eyes and said,
well, we'll see. According to your faith, let
it be to you. Now, let me just say this. This
is an important part. Their faith did not merit
their healing. Their faith was not the basis
of their healing. The basis of their being healed
was Jesus' sovereign authority and goodness.
Faith did not cause this miracle, but faith was
the conduit through which God chose to do and
perform this miracle. Faith is not always present.
Grant Osborne, in his commentary, he said, faith
is not a necessary ingredient in Jesus' healing.
Let me give you an example. Do you remember earlier
when that Roman centurion came with a paralytic
soldier? That paralytic soldier was nowhere near.
And the centurion said, hey, will you heal my
soldier? And Jesus did. That paralytic had not
exercised faith in Jesus. The centurion did,
the paralytic had not. So faith is not a necessary
ingredient in the healing, but it turns healing,
and I love this, into salvation, and it brings
the person into the process. Jesus not just wanted
to heal them, he's wanting to save them. So the
Lord touched their eyes, and we read their eyes
were open. Jesus touches, immediately they receive
sight. And then he says he sternly warned them.
Hey guys, be quiet about this. He did not want
this miracle published all over town. Why not?
Again, we're not told. But here's a couple things
we can know. If it were made known, even more
people would come to Jesus, right? I mean, if
Jesus were just looking to gather larger crowds,
and he just wanted to attract more people, then
he would certainly want this miracle published
all over town. If you're just trying to get people
in the door, hey, let that be known. But Jesus
did not want people coming to him for the wrong
reason. And this is the problem I have today
with a lot of the church growth gurus. They need
to take note. And I don't say this critically.
Perhaps I do. I don't want to have a critical
spirit. But they use gimmicks. to get a lot of
people in the door. And I believe they have good
motives saying, let's get people into here. But
they're attracting people to Jesus for the wrong
reason. Much of what goes on today is really
akin to a dog and pony show. And moreover, whatever
it takes to get them in the door is what's going
to take them to keep them inside. So why do people
need to come to Jesus? Why bring people to Christ
today? Because you are sinners who have broken
the law of God. You stand under God's judgment
and you need to be saved from God's wrath. That's
why you come. The Lord did not want people to
come to him simply to be healed without understanding
who he really was. He could have gotten all Israel,
both Galilee and Judea, to come to him to be
healed, but that's not why he had come. Why did
he come? To seek and to save the lost. Chris
Miller, I love what he said, I put Christ Miller,
his name is not Christ, it is Chris, sorry about
that. Although a magician wishes for fame, a
redeemer longs for repentance. Now keep in mind,
remember, there's a common misunderstanding among
the Jews of that day concerning the role of the
Messiah. They knew he would come as king, they
wanted their king, but they had sadly overlooked
his role as a suffering servant. Isaiah wrote
about that extensively. They did want deliverance.
They did. The Jews wanted deliverance, but they
wanted deliverance from Rome. And they could
not see they needed delivering from their sin.
They knew about the lion from the tribe of Judah.
Yes, come lion of tribe Judah, come and rule.
And they could not see they were blind to see
that that lion would first come as the lamb of
God to save. Most of Israel was blind to who
Jesus was because they did not understand their
need of salvation. These blind men got it. They
knew they needed help, but most Israel didn't.
They were blind because they placed confidence
in their lineage. They were the sons of Abraham.
They had the sign of covenant, the circumcision.
They assumed they were automatically right with
God, and none of that was true. And they're at
now, so we're back to the miracles of Jesus.
And we see none of these were done so that Jesus
might garner praise or popularity or prestige.
Why were the miracles done? They were signs,
pointing to the dawn of the Messianic age. They
were done so that people might see a new day
had dawned, the King had come. All that Isaiah
had prophesied the Messiah would do was taking
place right before their eyes. So there is no
excuse for human unbelief. No one should be an
unbeliever at this time. Blind receive their
sight, deaf hear, mute speak. All these were
authenticating Jesus' message that the kingdom
of heaven was at hand. Now sometimes critics
will ask, why do we see so many miracles in the
Bible but we don't see those miracles today?
You don't see the blind receiving sight or the
deaf receiving hearing? Why? That's a good question.
First, it is important to note that miracles
have never been common in any age. No age. Miracles
tend to appear in concentrated periods when God
is revealing something new or he's advancing
his redemptive plan in a major way. For example,
let me give you a few examples here. You see
miracles in the Exodus. Moses was given authority
to perform miracles, think about the plagues,
to show that God had sent him and to show the
people that He was about to deliver them from
Egypt. You go centuries later, probably about
nine centuries later, almost a thousand years,
you have prophets like Elisha and Elijah, or
Elijah and Elisha, I should say. They were given
the abilities to perform miracles. Why? To confirm
God's Word in a time of widespread idolatry throughout
Israel. You have Christ. Christ comes on the
scene and He performed greater miracles than
anyone had ever done. Why? To prove that he was
the Messiah sent from God. Later we see the apostles.
They're performing miracles in the early church.
Why are they given that ability? To authenticate
that the message they were preaching was true
as it spread beyond Israel. But apart from these
epics, not many public miracles took place. It's
not as though this was happening willy -nilly
all the time. In fact, that's why it captured
the attention of the people. This was something
different. Now let me hasten to say, one day
in the future the blind will see, and the deaf
will hear, the lame will walk, and the mute will
sing, because another epic, another day will
dawn. And all that is going to take place when
the kingdom of God arrives in its fullness. The
kingdom of God, when it is fully realized in
its full eschatological completion, is heaven.
At that time, There won't be any more sickness,
and there won't be any more suffering, and there
won't be any more need for funeral homes or hospitals,
because there won't even be death at that time.
But in the meantime, you and I, in the meantime,
we work with faith in our risen King, praying
daily for his kingdom to come. So we go back
to Matthew. What do you see? The blind are receiving
their sight, but the people who have sight are
becoming more... blind. It's a reversal of roles,
right? Verse 32. Right after the Lord had healed
these two blind men, another desperate man was
brought to him. They brought to him a man mute
and demon possessed. That's a pretty severe case.
What's Jesus going to do? Now, we see this man
was mute and the muteness was caused by the demon.
Demons often use a few physical ailments and
illness to torment people. For example, in the
Gospels we read that sometimes those who were
demon -possessed were blind. Sometimes the demons
would cause epileptic seizures. Sometimes it
would cause muteness or other forms of suffering.
Because demons, just like their ruler, came to
steal, kill, destroy. But the demons don't match
our Lord. We're told Jesus cast out that demon.
We're not told how. Did he touch the man? No,
no. We're just said he cast out the demon, setting
this man free, and the man began to speak. The
blind see, the mute speak. These crowds are gathered
there and they could not believe what they had
just witnessed. Miracles like this had never
been done in Israel, they said. Not even in the
great epics of Elijah and Elisha. You don't see
these things. None of their miracles compare
with Jesus's. Jesus was the true prophet sent
into the world. He's the great healing prophet.
He's the Messiah and the promises of God were
being fulfilled. And the people were left in
awe and wonder except one group of people. The
Pharisees, they're blaspheming. Instead of falling
on their faces and repenting of their unbelief,
they amped up their attacks. Earlier in the same
chapter, chapter 9, the Pharisees were upset
why they saw Jesus eating with sinners. They
just don't like it. How dare he? Now, they are
attributing his miracles to the power of Satan.
What's interesting, they can't negate the miracles,
they can't deny that they occurred. I mean, they
saw them themselves, so they concluded that Jesus'
authority to heal and to cast out demons must
have come from Satan himself. Now, let's forget
he also controlled the wind and the sea and can
raise the dead. These men are just, you use the
word, I mean, they're almost idiotic. They refused.
They refused. to believe that he was from God
because he didn't meet their expectations of
what the Messiah would be like. I mean, the Messiah
in their mind would not fellowship with sinners.
And the irony is they're blind to what great
sinners they are. So they're blind to Jesus,
and the blind begin to see Jesus. And this is
true for all of humanity. All of us, everyone
in here, including myself, are born spiritually
blind. all of humanity is blind to the things
of God. Now, sure, we see well enough for this
world, right? But we are blind to the things
of God. That's what the Bible says. Our problem
does not lie in our optic nerves. The problem
is that our heart is darkened, our heart is blind.
Our heart is corrupt, naturally. And you and
I cannot see the things of God unless God first
removes the scales from our eyes. He's got to
do it. God must first give the grace that you
have spiritual sight. Then and only then will
you see in Jesus the glory of God. God must do
it. Jesus said to Nicodemus, that leading Pharisee
in John 3, he said, most assuredly I say to you,
unless one is born again, he cannot see, not
even enter, he can't even see the kingdom of
God, much less enter it. You must be born again.
You must be born again. If today you see Christ
as the one sent from God and you can see in Jesus
your salvation, that is because you have received
a gift that God has granted to you. Praise Him
for that. Just as Jesus opened the eyes of these
blind men, so God has also opened the eyes of
your heart so that you might see His dear Son
as Savior and Lord. You know what that ought
to do? It ought to make all of us fall on our
faces in worship before the one who has shown
us such mercy. But you might be thinking, okay,
well, I understand, all right, these miracles,
but I mean, okay, Jesus, Messiah, but what does
that have to do with us today? And the answer
is everything. Since Jesus can forgive sin, And
since He has power over nature, and He has authority
to heal, and He can cast out demons, He can even
raise the dead. That changes everything, by the
way. Everything. Jesus is the Son of David. He
is the Son of God who came as the promised one.
And since He's the Son of God, then you must
surrender to Him or you perish. That's what the
scriptures teach. Your confession, like all Christians,
must be, Jesus is Lord. Psalm 2 says, kiss the
son lest he be angry with you and you perish
in the way. Lord, Jesus is Lord. We're saying
Jesus is Yahweh. He's the ultimate authority
in heaven and in earth. That means, at that time,
Caesar's not Lord. That means today, Trump is
not Lord, your boss is not Lord, your bank account
is not Lord, and not even you are Lord of your
own life. It is not your body, it is not your
life, it is not your choice. When you come to
Jesus, you surrender yourself, you surrender
your rights, you surrender your decisions, you
surrender your values, you surrender your desires,
you surrender your very life. What? Because he's
the one who's Lord. Jesus said, in the gospel,
He said, no man can serve two masters. You're
not going to straddle the fence with Jesus. He's
not going to allow you to say, I'll take a little
bit of Jesus and I'll take a lot of this. He
doesn't give you that option. There can't be
any competing loyalties. Why? Jesus alone is
Lord. And since He is Lord, you must bow before
Him. There is no other power, ideology, or person,
or hobby, or sport, or anything who's ultimate.
Nothing. Jesus alone occupies that space. He
changes your identity, your self -worth, and
your purpose now come from belonging to Him.
We are the children of God. We are Christians.
And we see here in Matthew's gospel that He will
not allow you to remain neutral. The crowds,
they marveled at Jesus. And the Pharisees blasphemed
Him. What do you want to do with Jesus? To remain
undecided, as though you had that option, is
to reject Him. Jesus, you either stand with me
or you're against me. You're either with me or
you're not. You know, I think about that great,
you know, choose you this day whom you will serve,
Joshua said. It's for me and my house. We will
serve the Lord. If Baal be God, go and serve
Him. But if the Lord be God, fall on your faces
and serve Him. You cannot remain undecided. And
church, I want you to see that in these miracles
that Matthew's pointing out, they parallel our
salvation. Just like these blind men, you and
I were once blind. We were helpless. We could
not fix ourselves. But the grace of God reached
for us and gave us sight. Now seeing, just like
that mute man who once couldn't speak, now our
mouths have been open so that we can tell others
about him. That's our responsibility. Because
Jesus is Lord, the Great Commission is not optional.
Evangelism. It is about calling others to place
themselves under the rule of the rightful king.
Hey, you're in the wrong kingdom. You're serving
the wrong savior. You're suffering the wrong
deliver. Come to Jesus. Because Jesus is reigning
right now. The world doesn't see him. The world
doesn't recognize him. But Jesus is seated on
the right hand of the Father on high, ruling
over all people. History is not random. It is
moving toward its planned end. What is the planned
end of all history? It will culminate with the
Lord of glory returning in triumph and every
knee bowing to Him and every tongue confessing
to Him. Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. That's where we're headed. You
will bow. Bow now or bow then. But since He is
Lord, He holds ultimate authority in our lives.
He calls us to wholehearted allegiance and obedience,
and we participate in his ongoing mission in
this world with faith in our risen King. You
know what we can do now? Let's fellowship with
him. Jesus gives himself to his church today
in the table and he says, fellowship communed
with me because he's the risen Christ. And this
is our privilege. Our faith is strengthened,
but friends, we participate. We commune with
the Lord of glory now at the table of the Lord.
Let us prepare our hearts. Father, thank you
so very much, Lord, for your word. Lord, it is
glorious. It is rich. It's so helpful. God, would
you help? Lord, I cannot make people see who
Jesus is. Lord, I pray that you'd wake up cold
people who are indifferent, who are serving lesser
masters, who are not masters, who are serving
lesser gods, which are not gods. They were serving
things that will enslave them instead of set
them free. Oh, Lord, if the Son sets us free,
we are free indeed. But Father, now we come and
we read and what we cry out is a mystery. Paul
said, Lord, we participate in the body and blood
of Christ. It is a true koinonia. It's a true
participation, a true fellowship in the body
and blood of Christ that was given to us and
given for us. Oh, God, we receive that today
and we fellowship with Jesus, our Lord. Lord
bring people who don't know you maybe people
who Lord have have been deceived Lord they're
deceived because Lord their their hearts are
cold and dead Awake them awaken them more to
life this morning. We pray in Jesus mighty name.
Amen Deacons if you would come and prepare the
table of the Lord, please