Seeing Jesus - Sin and Forgiveness

We're in the book of Matthew today. So if you've got a Bible, there should be one in front of you. We're going to open up to Matthew chapter 9.

And I am pumped about getting into the word today because it's such a simple verse. We're about to see a simple set of verses, like a familiar story, something that Jesus has done. And he, I mean, the main focus is the fact that, as we're going to see here in a second, that Jesus forgives sin. And I've been a Christian 20-something years, right? And I know that Jesus forgives sin. And I know he's forgiven my sin. But I oftentimes, like, get used to that idea.

Like the way that when you've been married for a long time, I've been married 15 years to Molly, and I love Molly. And sometimes I just say, well, I love Molly. And then sometimes I know how much I love Molly, right? And that's, she gets that. She's, yeah. She's staring bullets at me. She doesn't like me to talk about her. Don't give her a hug afterwards. That's, she doesn't like hugs. Amen. She would love a conversation. Okay, so I'm super excited about this.

So let's just catch up kind of, because we're in a narrative. There's a bunch of stuff happening. So we want to catch up with the situation because this is preceded by a lot of things. Jesus has been on a healing spree. He's healed a bunch of lepers. He's healed someone who's been nearly dead. He's healed someone, just to round it out, someone who was just mildly unwell, just not feeling great, right? He heals Peter's mother-in-law too. He's calmed the seas.

He's cast out demons in the passage just before. And then he's, before that, in the Sermon on the Mount, he's just taught with remarkable authority to the point where everybody's like, man, we've never heard anyone speak with the kind of clarity and truthfulness that Jesus is telling us about what God wants. And now as Matthew is painting this comprehensive picture of Jesus, he's having us see Jesus.

He introduces this controversial and exciting and sometimes an idea that we get used to, but a novel idea in the context of the book that Jesus forgives sin. It's a big deal. And we read about this in chapter 9, verse 1. It says this, he got into the boat. So he was over here in the region of the Gadrenes on the east side of the Galilee. He's coming back across the Sea of Galilee. This is in northern Israel. So he's got into his boat. He crossed over. He came to his own town.

And just then, some men brought him a paralytic lying on a stretcher. And seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, Have courage, son. Your sins are forgiven. So Jesus has come back to his home base. He's been traveling around the Sea of Galilee up in the northern part of Israel. And as he arrives, the way they have before, people hear Jesus is back in town. Let the healings commence. Like Jesus is the guy we're flocking to.

We're trying to chase him down. He's got something. So as he arrives, people come back. They start bringing their sick to him. And he starts healing just like he was doing before. And some men bring a man on a stretcher, a paralytic man, a man who can't walk. They bring him on a stretcher, and Jesus notices.

And it would be hard not to, because even though it's not made clear in the book of Matthew, it's pretty clear from context that this is the same man who gets lowered from the roof in Mark 2 and Luke 5, right? It's pretty much the same story, except Matthew doesn't give us that interesting detail that they break open the roof and bring the man down on a stretcher.

So like Jesus notices the man It would be difficult for him not to notice this man And it's remarkable Because Jesus sees this man's problem It's not like Guy in a stretcher, what's your issue? It's like very clear I can't walk I need these people to pick me up And bring me to you So he notices the problem. And Jesus says to him Seeing his problem Have courage son, your sins are forgiven, Not, you know, get up and walk, but your sins are forgiven.

And as I was thinking about this passage this week, I was reminded how amazing the gospel is and how absolutely surprising it is that Jesus forgives sin in the same way it is surprising here. This man was looking for something from Jesus, something very specific, but not that, not forgiveness of sins. He didn't come with a sign or a t-shirt that said, forgive my sins, Jesus.

He came being brought in on a stretcher. And in my mind, because I'm from New England and sarcastic, and I kind of have this vision of like... Him saying, well, I'm not on this stretcher because of that, Jesus. Thank you very much. Very nice of you to forgive my sins, but I'm not on this stretcher because of that. I'm here because I can't walk. I'm not sure if you've noticed, right?

So I have that in my mind, but then I have spent some time this week thinking, and I realized that is not what that man said. When Jesus brought to him on a stretcher, when Jesus says your sins are forgiven, he doesn't think that sarcastic thing that I would think. Because I remember what it was like when I really understood for the first time that Jesus forgives my sin. Like, I remember what that was like. I didn't know that I needed or wanted or could have forgiveness.

Like, when I first came to know Jesus, I wasn't looking for that. I didn't say, Jesus, I'm really, I've done some bad things. I really need your forgiveness. But I heard that pronouncement, his grace and his kindness. And suddenly I had this realization and that that is actually exactly what I needed. That's exactly what I've come to you for, Jesus. It's not what I thought I was coming to you for, but that is exactly what I needed.

That's how it is for those who stumble across Jesus. And if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. You maybe show up at church, you start to maybe pray, or you start to read your Bible, or you start to wonder these questions that get us looking for answers, looking to the Almighty, looking to church, and you start to go around and all the while, I mean, you realize that you probably have some problems, right? Like that's usually what propels us to start seeking Jesus.

We realize we have some issues, but we don't say I have a sin issue. What we say is, you know, I'm depressed. I have an unhappy marriage. I have like, I don't know how to handle all the pressures of my children and my spouse and my work and my desires and my hopes. I don't know how to bear the weight. I don't know really how to be a person. We can articulate problems when we start to seek out for answers and we start to look to the Lord.

Maybe you feel confused. Maybe you feel hurt. Maybe you feel like you're in grief. Maybe you're just wondering, what is life really about? Because it doesn't feel like it's about much and all the things that I'm doing don't satisfy me. Maybe you've felt suddenly humbled or maybe you do feel guilt and you don't know what to do with it. Maybe you are in grief. Maybe your world is falling apart.

We've all had these things and these questions and these situations where maybe you're here today and you're in the middle of one of those things, right?

You come to God and you can articulate a problem. And if you have ears, and if you go to a church where they're talking about grace and forgiveness, and in the gospel, someone is going to tell you, I see your problem, but can I just tell you something else? You have another problem. And it's not even like a problem, like something that's being dangled in front of you, like, ooh, you're in a rough spot. It's actually just like the problem right along with the solution.

And that's that you have sin and you need forgiveness and you need grace and you need a relationship with Jesus. And I, when I first came to Jesus, I didn't know that's what I needed. And then suddenly I was in a place where someone told me that. And for whatever reason, this, this message that I've heard many times, it just made sense to me. And then because of God's kindness, like, like whatever, something clicks.

And then suddenly I I knew, while my problems aren't all solved, I had a new foundation for my life. A theologian I really like calls grace, that is the forgiveness, the work, the thing that Jesus does so that you can be right with God and forgiven of sin. He calls it one-way love. I like that as a definition of grace. It's one-way love, not my love for him that's one way, but his love for me that's one way.

Like this man didn't come to Jesus saying Oh Jesus I love you so much And Jesus was like Oh well since you love me so much I'm going to love you and forgive you This man was shown up with a problem He had a walking problem And Jesus says No actually I love you so much. That I'm just going to wash everything that keeps you from me And all your sin and all your blindness And all your total disorientation I'm going to take all that away.

I'm going to show you how much I love you. The gospel is this amazing news that though you don't love God, your religious devotion has not impressed him in any way whatsoever or lack thereof. Though you don't love God, he has determined to love you to the point of dying in your place so that you could have a life and restoration and peace.

Paul Zoll, Paul, this theologian who talks about this one-way love, he says, The theology of everyday life requires a one-way love because the human situation is in quarantine. There is no successful two-way love. That is because our part is always tainted. Our part is confined to a straitjacket. Human condition that we call sin is that I can't love God well enough. I cannot worship him or speak to him or be devoted to him enough. And God knows that.

And so he says, look it, I'm going to take care of this. I'm going to love you with an assured, passionate love. I'm going to put my spirit in you. The Bible talks about this like being like, he's going to be in you and you're going to be in him to the point where it's not, oh, you give this and Jesus gives this. It's that Jesus does all the work and you're just caught up in this love cycle that he initiated.

And it's just coming back to him and saying, oh God, you've shown your love and your kindness to me. And all I'm doing is responding. I'm not looking for some way to impress you anymore. I'm just looking at your beauty and your grace and your love and your forgiveness. And I'm just saying, it's so good. Like that's the Christian life from the time of salvation to the time we die to eternity beyond.

It's just looking at the kindness and grace and forgiveness, his one-way love and just saying, oh Lord, I just want to surrender to that with my whole life. That's enough maturity for you. That'll get you all the way to the end if you just keep walking down that path. Jesus forgives sin, this man's sin, because he knows that just like me, He is not paralyzed only by his legs. He's paralyzed by his sin. He's paralyzed by his own lovelessness. And it's not like he needs to just do

better. Jesus just needs to do it for him. He needs to put his spirit in him. He needs to restore the relationship. Sure, he needs his legs to work, and Jesus will deal with that soon enough here in upcoming verses, but that is not the only brokenness that this man faces. So Jesus begins, before he heals this man's legs, he says, you're forgiven. And Jesus does for this man what this man could never do for himself.

He makes a way for him to know and walk with and follow after his creator and to be restored and reconciled and at peace again. It's what Jesus offers then to this man. He performs this miraculous healing. And it's what he continues to do now. Jesus is about the urgent work of healing this unseen, unnamed brokenness that still plagues man, women, anyone today. And just as interestingly in this little passage, I have one more thing to say about this and then we'll keep going on.

We see that Matthew tells us when Jesus sees these men, and he saw this paralytic, he tells us that he saw their faith. So these men are carrying him. They're carrying this man on the stretcher. And he sees this whole scene. And it doesn't say, oh, I didn't see just the man's faith. I didn't see just these people carrying. I see all of their faith. It's worth noting that Jesus doesn't just see this man's faith expressed through a willingness to come. I mean, that is faith, right?

But he sees that there are several others around this man who are carrying him to Jesus. And he's just like, I love every bit of this. This is the kind of faith that's like looking for my love and I'm going to supply it in abundance. See, faith is simply coming to Jesus with an expectation. Coming with Jesus with an expectation, with a cry of help me. Like, Lord, I can't help myself. So I come and surrender. Would you do whatever it is that you're going to do?

And honestly, we could say a lot about faith, but I'll just keep it really simple and say part of your faith in Jesus, is going to involve carrying those around you in faith to Jesus. I'm talking about not only just evangelism and sharing the gospel with people, but I'm also just talking about what do you do with the people in your life who seem to have zero interest in God? And we've privatized faith and it is personal.

Like we have to like, like you can't have a relationship with Jesus if you're not like willing to put your faith in him. Like that's true. But we, in the important emphasis on the personal, I think we sometimes forget the power of us collectively. Because we live in like the least church, metro area in the world. Someone told me that recently. I haven't gone back and checked that, but we're certainly up there, right?

I don't think anyone would find it hard to believe that we do live in that kind of area. And we've got to wonder, okay, well, what is it going to need? What is it going to take for the Seattle metro area? I mean, downtown Seattle, man, that's worse, right? No, I'm just joking. The whole area, what's it going to take for us to see the gospel go out here? What's it going to take for people to be saved? What's it going to take for your family and your friends and your co-workers?

People who are just like really almost performatively living a life in defiance of anything that God says is good, right? What's it going to take for people like that to know the gospel? And honestly, I think that we have to understand that we're calling people to faith, to personal response, but we need to have some faith. We need to have some faith for people and with people alongside them.

Because I promise you, you might not look at the world, people around you and think, oh man, these people don't seem to be looking for God, but you will absolutely, if you're paying attention, you will hear their problems. You'll hear about their depression. You'll hear about the fact that their marriages are a mess and that their careers aren't satisfying them and all the idols and gods and the things that we pursue and we think this is what was gonna make my life meaningful.

You will hear about how disappointing those things are every time. And those people might not be able to articulate, I need something from the Lord, but you can step into that place with a place of faith and just say, okay, in prayer, I'm going to lift people up to Jesus. Like I'm going to have faith that he cares about this person, that he wants a relationship with them, that he wants to forgive them.

And so I'm going to come like a man on a stretcher. I want to take this guy, this person, this man, this woman, this person that I love, my family member, and I'm going to lift them up by faith in prayer and in encouragement and by the power of the Spirit. I am going to do the work in the same way that Jesus did the work for me. We think, oh, well, one day they'll get desperate enough. Come on. I think we should be more desperate. I want to be more desperate on their behalf.

We can talk a lot about the methods and the how-tos of evangelism and intervening in prayer, but on a basic level, we just need to know this. We need to have a deep certainty of this. Jesus helps people. He helps people who have no idea what their problems are. Jesus intervenes. And so what we can do is we can know that and we can move in that kind of confidence and we can have faith for people. We can point them in the direction of Jesus.

We can lift them up and encourage them and help them to see their deep need that they sort of are in the background aware of, but aren't really able to articulate. And the enemy of that kind of faith, right? The enemy of that kind of faith is forgetting that Jesus actually saved you. That he miraculously through other people who lifted you up, he intervened in your life when you weren't even looking for him.

Would you take some time this week and just remember, would you just remember what it was like when Jesus first showed up in your life, if you knew him? Because honestly, the more we think about that, the more I think we're going to be propelled to look at the people around us and just say, oh man, I think Jesus wants to do just like he did with me to these people. So, interestingly, though, in the narrative, things take a turn.

We see that everyone is not happy about what Jesus is doing, telling this man that he's forgiven. In particular, some people just like, they're called the Pharisees, right? And if you're familiar with the Bible, you might be familiar with them. They do not like, particularly this thing that he says, that Jesus would tell him his sins are forgiven. They're okay with him healing. They're like there to see the healing,

right? But the forgiveness of sins, they don't love that. So picking up in verse 3, it says this. At this time, some of the scribes said to themselves, scribes and Pharisees kind of spoken of synonymously in the Bible. Some of the scribes said to themselves, He's blaspheming. Perceiving their thoughts, Jesus said, Why are you thinking evil things in your heart? For which is easier, to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he told the paralytic, get up, take your stretcher, and go home. And so he got up and he went home. And when the crowd saw this, they were awestruck and gave glory to God, who had given such authority to men. So the Pharisees, the scribes, these kind of religious leaders, they knew that Jesus was healing people.

Everybody knew that. That was kind of an undeniable fact. But for these men, these Pharisees, these scribes, the idea that Jesus could forgive sins, that was too much. That was him overstepping because they knew, no, like forgiving or holding sin against people, that's God's business. And you know what? Their logic isn't off. If sin is an offense against God, a violation of God's covenant with with people who could forgive that stuff except for God himself.

Ooh, who, whoever. Well, we're not going to get in that today. We'll, we'll see more, but this is of course the question that Jesus provokes who could forgive sin, but God, and I'll give you a spoiler alert. Jesus is God. Jesus can forgive sin. And then Jesus like here in this moment, he doesn't, he doesn't kind of take that bait. He doesn't go into that question, but he demonstrates for them that he is able to forgive.

He explains, look, it's a big deal to heal people. It's a lot harder than just saying in your words, oh, your sins are forgiven. But it's very clear that I have the authority to heal people. In fact, I'm going to show you right now. I'm going to tell this man that I just said his sins are forgiven. Now I want him to stand up and walk.

And he's just kind of demonstrating his authority. He's kind of rhetorically asking the question, why would God allow me to heal a broken body and not forgive a trespass. If I've been given that kind of authority, which is greater than why not do the lesser thing, which is to forgive sins. And we don't get the Pharisees' response, but we can assume they don't love this idea.

And in fact, a few chapters later in Matthew, in Matthew 12, 24, the Pharisees have this talking point that they start to spread around, kind of to poke at Jesus' argument here. And they say this about him. When the Pharisees heard this, that he was casting out demons and healing people, they said, this man drives out demons only by Beelzebub, the rulers of demons. So they're like, there's no, it can't be that he is both able to heal and also able to forgive sins because that's God business.

So it must be that all of his healing is just by the power of some dark thing because he's trying to deceive us because he can't forgive sin. So there's this slanderous thing that starts to get repeated throughout the book of Matthew and in the other gospels. So it's clear that the Pharisees won't accept that Jesus has the authority to forgive. And Jesus says, okay, I don't really care. I don't really care. I'm just going to go about my business.

And in what feels like a really intentional, almost poking the eyes against the Pharisees and the scribes, their hard-heartedness, Jesus decides to further demonstrate his authority to forgive sinners by inviting one of those very sinners to be one of his disciples.

So we read about that in verse 9. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And he said to him, follow me. And he got up and he followed him. And while he was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came to eat with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?

So Jesus calls Matthew. And yes, Matthew's name is the same as the writer of the of this book and that's because it's the same person this tax collector who was called he becomes the writer of the book of Matthew he's a he's a disciple and now tax collectors have never been liked historically so I don't really have to explain that to you I think there's a bunch got fired this week right and I'll probably be hired again and then fired again and we

love to complain about taxes we always we always have. But they were particularly disliked in Israel for two reasons. One, because they worked for the Roman occupiers, right? Israel was under Roman occupation, and they helped to extract wealth and impose Roman authority on Israel. So that was bad. And number two, because they were incentivized to extort and squeeze people, even beyond the taxes that Rome would exact.

So the system worked this way. The Romans would appoint a tax collector, oftentimes by giving it to the person who would bribe them the most, right? So there's extortion there. They pay for the right to become a tax collector, right? So your family would buy this for you. It's very expensive bribe that had to be paid. But then it didn't come only with privileges. It came with some responsibilities.

The tax collector would then have to fulfill a quota. So every certain amount of time, they would have to bring to the Roman governor a certain amount of money that was required. And you think, why would anyone want to pay for such a job? And then the reason is because they were also given the privilege to collect as much taxes as they could.

So if Rome says every month you need to bring me 2,000 denarii or whatever, whatever the currency would have been, you need to bring me 2,000 of those every month. They could go ahead and collect the 2,000, but they could also collect anything more beyond that quota they could keep for themselves. So they're totally incentivized to be extortionists, to be cruel, to just squeeze as much money as possible because they are making this their career.

And it was a way for people to get actually fabulously wealthy as tax collectors. But it didn't make you any friends. Right? Except for other tax collectors and sinners and other social outcasts. And so the Pharisees hate that Jesus is hanging out with a tax collector because of all the people he could be hanging out with. These are the worst. They're the worst sorts of people. Frederick Dale Brunner, he's written a really great commentary on Matthew, and he always translates the Pharisees.

He doesn't say Pharisees because he's like, we just kind of think of them as like super villains. So he always translates Pharisees as the serious, which I really like. So he's like, the problem that these Pharisees had is that they were just super serious about their faith and about the Bible and about the fact that God is going to defend us. So they were super serious. And they saw Jesus sitting with these kind of anti-Israel, like extortionist, sinful people as being just unserious.

They did not like this. Brunner asks kind of these rhetorical questions that they would have been sort of on their mind. What possible good could fraternizing with such people do to the community's moral seriousness? If one of Jesus's purpose is the renewal of the people of God, what kind of example is this evening's dinner setting? They're disturbed that he's sitting with these people and he's not yelling at them.

It would be one thing if he came in and he started kicking over tables and telling them how terrible they were, but he just sits there and eats with them and laughs and jokes and has a good time. He invites other tax collectors. This is not good if you're a serious person. And it's not as if Jesus like thinks they're wrong for asking the questions. Actually, Jesus is sympathetic a little bit to their response because Jesus knows the scriptures really well.

And he knows that God's people are called to obedience and purity and like a degree of taking God seriously, taking God at his word. And he doesn't have a problem with that. Jesus does this really interesting thing. He never like says, oh, religious observance, faithfulness, that's for losers.

Like let's get rid of this stuff just do whatever you want god is fine with it he never does that right but he also is like very skeptical and he pushes back against the kind of seriousness that the that the that the pharisees kind of want to get into because jesus knows that yeah god cares about you know religious observance and he and he wants to bring about kind of a moral and ethical transformation in people.

God cares about those things. But he also knows that God recognizes the weakness of all people and especially the unserious people. He understands that these tax collectors and these sinners and the prostitutes and all these people that Jesus hangs out with of ill repute are actually stuck. They're stuck in something that's beyond them. They don't know how to get out of it. And so he doesn't just say, I'm just going to shame and guilt these people till they finally get with it.

And they finally, that's me trying to snap. I can't. So they, that's so pathetic. You can pray for my inability to snap. He doesn't just like turn the screws on people. He recognizes that God cares about people and he even cares about unserious people. He cares about people who are fenced out of religious culture and spaces because they can't measure up. Because they don't. Want to try to keep up or they just like, they know they just can't.

They don't have the strength to fit in in certain spaces. And so they just lean into this alternative thing. Jesus understands that God cares about those people as well. And he actually thinks that that is totally consistent with scripture. He goes in Matthew 9, 12, he says, it is not those who are well, who need a doctor, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice, for I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Jesus is responding to what the Pharisees are saying. He understands. And he's saying, you know what, Pharisees, you're right. God cares about things. These tax collectors, he makes the case, are indeed sinners. They are people who are violating God's law. These people who I'm hanging out with and enjoying their company, they're problematic. They have problems. They're sick even. They're unwell. But as I am making it very clear to you, God heals sick people.

God heals the unwell. God cares about those who can't lift themselves up. He doesn't cast them out of society like you do to all the lepers, right? He doesn't ignore them when they're sitting on the side of the road begging, unable to work, unable to do things the way that you do. God says, these sick people actually need to be made well. And so he lifts them up and he brings them to him in all of their inability and all of their weakness and all of their sin and all of their brokenness.

And he gives them and washes them with his love and his kindness and his forgiveness. See, he says, you Pharisees think that your holiness and your seriousness is the most vivid and right picture of what God wants to do on the earth. That if you guys are serious enough, then God's going to finally be pleased and he'll be faithful to you and he'll kick Rome out. You think that all of your seriousness is going to make God happy?

Jesus sees that actually those four men who lift up this broken person and in faith bring him to Jesus, that's the picture of what God wants to do in the world. He wants to see people come to him in all of their brokenness, and he could just say, Take courage. Your sins are forgiven. That's the picture. And Matthew goes out of his way to say, We need to draw some distinctions because all your seriousness is actually making you blind to what I really want to do.

And he goes on. I mean, he uses this imagery to kind of illustrate this. Picking up in 14, and the worship team can start to come up here. Picking up in verse 14. Then John's disciples came to him saying. Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast? Well, Jesus said to him, Well, can the wedding guests be sad while the groom is with them? The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. and then they will fast.

No one patches an old garment with unshrunk cloth because the patch pulls away from the garment and makes the tear worse. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the skins burst and the wine spills out and the skins are ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins and both are preserved. So John's disciples, who are pretty serious, but who are very interested in Jesus because John was very interested in Jesus.

John's disciples come to him and they're just like, could you help us figure this out? Because... They want an explanation of what Jesus' disciples are doing because they're being really unserious, right? They don't fast, but we, John's disciples, we fast. And all the Pharisees, they're fast. It's like saying, we all agree that fasting is part of what God calls us to. Why aren't you guys taking this seriously? Shouldn't you be fasting? What's up with that? And Jesus explains through two

metaphors what he's doing, right? First, a garment, and then through this wineskin image. And he says it's really simple. You can't take a piece of unshrunk cloth and then fix an old garment with it. Because we understand this. A piece of cloth, before you put it into, the first time you put a sweater. Don't put a sweater in the dryer. First time you put a shirt in the dryer. First it's very loose, and then it tightens up a little bit.

The cloth gets shrunken down. And he's saying, like, you can't take a piece of unsharmed cloth and put it onto an old thing. Like, you can't just try to heal some old system and put something new onto it because it's just going to break everything. And then he uses this imagery of wineskins. And just to explain it a little bit, like, you know, wine is a fermented drink and fermentation is a process that releases gases, right?

And so you would put grape juice and I assume some yeast or some kind of leavening agent into an unshrunk or sorry, an unstretched canvas bag and you tie it up. And canvas was good for this because it could stretch, right? I know. The skin can stretch out a little bit and it can do that. But it can only do it once, right? It can stretch enough to make room for all these gases and to allow the fermentation process to happen, but it's only going to do that once.

And if you take a wineskin that's already gone through this fermentation process once and you fill it up with new wine again and you try to put it through again, it's just going to burst open. So what's Jesus saying here? Jesus explains through two metaphors what he's doing. His gospel, his good news, the thing that he's going around preaching is, repent because the kingdom of heaven has come near.

It's a gospel of forgiveness and grace, and that I'm going to do on the cross, which you cannot do for yourself.

And so what Jesus is saying is that look at I don't disagree with at the heart of what the Pharisees want to do they want to worship God they want to love him well right they want to take God seriously and take his word seriously this is all commendable stuff but the truth is that I'm doing something that looks a lot different it's achieving the same goals but I can't just take my message of love and grace and forgiveness and try to blend it with this old way of being super serious.

And in fact, like what I am trying to do now is I'm trying to bring about the work of God. I'm trying to do this, this new wine, this new fermentation, this, this new process.

And it's, it's going to be that people are going to have a relationship with the living God, not on the basis of their seriousness, not on the basis of how many prayers they pray in a day, not on the basis of their serious religious observance, not on the basis of anything except... I love and I forgive and I have made a way, my one way love has made a way for them to have all of those things, to have that seriousness, to have that relationship.

And Jesus is saying, look, I get that you guys think that seriousness is the road that you need to walk, but you can't be serious enough. Instead, actually what you need is you need to just kind of abandon this project of seriousness, right? And you need to get at it a different way. You need to get at it through this new work that I'm going to do. I forgive sin. And so you can come to Jesus on the basis of his forgiveness.

You can come to him on the basis not of like, oh God, I'm going to really finally do better this time. How many times have you prayed that prayer? I prayed that prayer so many times. That's like the prayer that you pray when you first come to Jesus every day. I'm going to do better for you, God. And like, man, what a good hearted thing to want to do for the Lord. But here's the thing. It's what I've learned now after trying to follow Jesus for a long time.

Man, I do my best when I just look to his best. I become faithful and I take the word seriously. And I take it in the way that he believes it to be. It becomes like life to me when I just do what Hebrews 11 tells me to keep my eyes firmly fixed upon Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.", I'm saying, see, the Pharisees were like, we have to author and finish our faith. We need to take this seriously. We got to get stuff together. And Jesus says, no, no, no, no. I'm going to do it for you.

I'm going to finish it because I started it and I've done this work.

And so, you know, guys, if you have forgotten, if you have forgotten what Jesus did for you, I just want to encourage you guys to remember this week. And I want to pray for you. I want to just ask in faith on all of our behalf that we would just see and realize what Jesus has done. So, would you guys stand up? We're going to pray, and then we'll worship together.

Lord, if there's anyone here who has not just seen your beauty and your grace and your kindness and your forgiveness, if we have not heard that word and just said, yes, okay, Lord, thank you, and just received that, and trusted you. Lord, I just pray for that voice of forgiveness to be spoken loud and clear. God, that you would bring life to that person and that they would know that you have done everything.

You've paid the price for them, that they can have a relationship with you simply on the basis of trusting in you, coming to you, Jesus, and saying, help me, God. I don't even know what my problem is. Would you show me your love and your grace and your kindness? Would you give me your spirit? Would you teach me your way of taking myself less seriously and you more seriously, Jesus? Lord, we just want to, But it is not selfish of us to just say, we just receive everything from you, God.

We're just caught up in your grace and in your presence and in your spirit and in your power, Lord. And it's like you invite us to just sit back and just say with empty hands, God, whatever you want, like I just give myself to you. And that is enough for you. Faith and surrender is enough for you. We don't need to muster up some emotions, some feeling, some guilt, some pronouncement of seriousness, God, you are all the seriousness we need.

So if you've never like trusted in Jesus, like I just, like that's a free invitation. And I'm praying that he would just make it clear to you. And you would just say, yes, Jesus, help me. Like, forgive me of my sin. Wash me clean. Give me a life with you. And if you have done that before, you know, if you've been following after Jesus, oh, I just pray.

I pray right now, Holy Spirit, would you bring to remembrance, like you say in your word that you'll do, would you bring to remembrance all these things that Jesus has done and said and spoken over us, Lord? Would you remember, remind us of your faithfulness, Lord, so that we might be people who are again today and tomorrow looking to your faithfulness, your kindness, your supply, and your grace, God.

We want to be people who are ever, ever coming empty-handed and just saying, thank you, Jesus, for what you've done. Would you let your grace have its work within us, Lord? We pray all that in Jesus' name. Amen. Hey, why don't we stand up and we'll worship together.