The Long term Solution — Luke 5

0:00 Well, good morning. Good morning. You can open your Bibles to Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five. It's it's always interesting when when you're kind of assigned a a certain passage because it forces you to to study it and and try to understand it deeper.

0:22 And I've been blessed by it even though these stories that we're gonna look at today are very familiar to us. I still have been so blessed by it, and we're gonna try to do some practical applications that will help us to live it out a little bit better, Lord willing. Alright. So let's look at the passage. Before we read it before we read it, just a couple of important terms that I think we need to talk about just to kind of help us as we read the text.

0:52 Now, what what blasphemies or to blaspheme, we're going to read it in a minute in the text. Basically, what it means is you're you're disrespecting god. You you you're not honoring his name and who he is as a person. So when somebody says you're blaspheming in the Bible, you'll see that expression several times. They're they're saying to Jesus, you blaspheme.

1:18 So, you're disrespecting god, the creator. You're trying to make yourself equal to him and so that's what they mean by that. And Jesus also accused the Pharisees of blaspheming when they said that the work that he does is not by the holy spirit but by the devil. And so you'll see that word a lot in the gospels, but that's what the the idea behind it is. Then you're gonna see the expression where...

1:45 And what we're gonna read, God alone forgives sin. Now this was said by the religious people who didn't believe in Jesus, but this is a true statement. God alone and only God can forgive sins. The the next statement that we read or we'll see in the text is, you're reason in your hearts. So Jesus is saying to the religious people who are listening to him and criticizing him, and he's saying, you didn't say it out loud, but I can read your mind and your heart, and you're saying in your heart, only God can forgive sins, and I know what you're thinking.

2:24 And so it's important to understand that we're we're looking at the scriptures and we see that Jesus is indeed God because he can read the mind and the motive. You're also gonna see the expression a lot in Luke, but throughout a lot of the gospels, son of man. Now he's identifying himself as a man, but this is his claim to deity. If you were to go to Daniel chapter seven verse thirteen and fourteen, it says that the ancient of days handed the son of man the rule of the world. In other words, he was giving glory and a kingdom that were not passed and not end.

3:03 So when he says, I am the son of man, he's actually saying that he's deity. Yes. I am a man, and I am gonna rule the world. I am going to physically rule it for a thousand years, and the rule after that is gonna continue. It's never gonna end.

3:19 So in order for this to be true, you had to be God To have a rule that never ends. So when he uses the expression son of man, he's actually saying, I am God. Even though it sounds like he's saying, he's not just saying I'm a man. So it's a important little clarification you might want to make in your mind. And then we're going to consider the old does not fit into the new.

4:02 And so I had to go buy new clothes, and so I'm trying to keep myself within the range of what what I what I weigh because I'm a tight one. I don't like to spend money, and I don't wanna go buy new clothes. Right? And so the... We're going to look at that expression.

4:17 The old does not fit into the new. Alright. So having said that, just kind of to to warm you up a little bit, let's go ahead and read the text. We're going to read chapter five of Luke verse 17 and on. Five seventeen.

4:35 And it came about one day that he was teaching, and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of the Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. So this is unique to Luke. He's the only one that mentions the fact that there's a lot of villages and every one of them sent representatives if you will. A Pharisee, a scribe. Scribes were the ones that would keep the would would write out the the Jewish traditions and laws and and they knew all the all those little intricacies and the Pharisees were the the religious section and so they would they were worked side by side, and they were investigating, if you will, Jesus.

5:19 And so they sent guys from everywhere, Jerusalem, Galilee, little villages. So there was a whole bunch of religious guys sitting there just like, we're we're checking this guy out. So it's important that you note... Notice that. From every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present for him to perform healing.

5:40 That is Jesus. And behold, some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of him. And not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher right in the center in front of Jesus. And seeing their faith, notice the plural there, he said, friend, your sins are forgiven you. The scribes and the pharisees began to reason saying, who is this man who speaks blasphemies?

6:22 Who can forgive sins but God alone? But Jesus, aware of their reasoning, answered and said to them, why are you reasoning in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins have been forgiven, forgiven you, or to say, rise and walk. But in order that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I say to you, rise and take up the stretcher and go home. And at once he rose up before them, and he took up what he had been lying on, and he went home glorifying God.

7:07 And they were all seized with astonishment, and they began glorifying God. And they were filled with fear, saying, we have seen remarkable things today. And after that, he went out and he noticed a tax gatherer named Levi, that is Matthew, his nickname was Levi, his real name is Matthew, sitting in the tax office, and he said to him, follow me. And he left everything behind, and he rose and began to follow him. And Levi gave a big reception for him in his house, and there was a great crowd of tax gatherers and other people who were who were reclining at the table with them.

8:31 Jesus said to them, you cannot make the attendance of a bridegroom fast while he... While while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days. And he also was telling them a parable. No one tears a piece of a new garment and puts it on an old garment.

8:57 Otherwise, he will both tear the new and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one who puts new wine into into old white skins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking your wine, wishes for new, For he says, the old is good enough.

9:28 Now real quick clarification. Verse 39, what it's saying is, most people say, I don't wanna change. I like it the way it is. I don't want new. I like the old way.

9:41 So in other words, they're stuck in their religion. They're stuck in their religion. Father, bless your word as we consider it. Give us help, holy spirit, to understand in Christ's name. Amen.

9:54 Christ's name. Amen. Alright. Now, there's there's a couple of things that I would like to express to you. First of all, when I was young, we would constantly go to Mexico probably four or five times a year to go visit my grandparents and my uncles and cousins, and we loved it because my uncles had huge ranches, and we would go hunting and fishing, all that kind of stuff.

10:15 Well, on the way one day, we crossed into Mexico, and we're driving through the through the highway, and suddenly, the fan belt goes out. And back then, no cell phone, no way of communicating. You had to pretty much put your thumb out, wait for someone to come, and pray that they would pull over and give you a ride to the town so you can buy the part. Well, that happened to us. We're stuck in the side of the highway.

10:38 The fan belt had broke, And so we didn't know what to do. So my dad takes off his belt, and he puts it around where the fan belt was, and he tied it real tight with a rope, and it worked. And so next thing you know, we got to the village about 15 miles away. And so it was a temporary fix. It was a temporary fix.

11:01 Alright. So I don't know if you noticed. Let me backtrack a little bit here. We called it long term change. Long term change.

11:10 Change. Now, the paralytic had a short term problem is that is that he couldn't walk. And as you know, because you've probably heard the story many times. Right? They let him into the roof and the the lord sees that and he says, your faith is incredible and and but what he said was not I'm going to fix your physical problem.

11:34 What he says is I forgive your sin. And so what I... The way I see this is he could have fixed his physical problem, but if he didn't fix his sin problem, then it wouldn't matter because fifteen, twenty years down the line, he was gonna die, and then he was gonna spend eternity in hell. And so what what was more important to Jesus was not his physical healing, but his spiritual healing. You have great faith in me, and so the first thing I'm gonna do because you do believe in not just you, but your buddies to let you down, is I am going to forgive your sin.

12:15 So if I fix the long term problem, the short term problem will be a bonus. So he really didn't have to fix his sickness. But notice that the Pharisees were like, wait a minute, wait a minute. As they're observing them, only God can forgive sins. You're you're you're saying blasphemies.

12:39 You're disrespecting God. You're putting yourself in the same level of God as God. And he says, exactly what I'm doing because I am God. And then, of course, you remember the story. So what's easier, to heal him or or to or to forgive his sins?

12:53 Now, if he forgives his sins, how do you know he forgave him? Because you can't see that. Because... But to to show you that I have power, that the son of man has power, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go ahead and heal him, and and that's gonna be powerful, and that'll show you that I have the power too to forgive sin. And he does.

13:12 He heals them. And everybody's just like, wow. They're they're just... They are stunned. And so the the root of the problem of man is sin.

13:22 It's sin. So we can come up with all kinds of clever, let's have food programs, let's have drug rehabilitation programs, let's do this and let's do that. But what is the root of man's problem? What is the root of the problem? What is your problem?

13:39 It's sin. It's sin. So it's it's like, what if we change you from from the from the hood, you know, where I grew up, and we put you in the sub, would that fix your problem? Well, maybe it'll be better. You don't have to worry so much about somebody robbing you or whatever, but that doesn't fix your internal problem, who you are.

14:00 Who you are. And so Jesus came to fix our problem, and the problem of this world is not that that there's wars and cheating and all that. The problem is that sin is what causes all of that. So sin is the root of all sickness and death and pain and separation and tears and agony. So it's good to be reminded of this reality.

14:24 Now, what is the answer? Believe by faith that Jesus can and will heal you of sin. He's not so much concerned about if he heals you physically as he is. He wants to heal your soul from sin and our soul from sin. And if you know Christ, then you know that you have eternal life and you are forgiven.

14:48 You have your eternal destination, then we'll be in order. Alright. So this is an interesting debate. I don't want to linger there because you've heard the story. I'm positive because I see most of you and I know you many times.

15:15 He hated the Jews. He became rich by over taxation. In today's world, we would say, there's a business guy who became rich by cheating people, by not paying the employees right, by doing things crooked, And so I can't stand that guy. Yeah. He's got his business up, but but he's crooked and he's mean, and he has all his riches because he did everybody wrong.

15:39 And so you can see that people, when they looked at a tax gatherer, they they just got just so angry at them because they were considered traitors and and just really mean people. And so as he approaches Matthew, notice how interesting, he immediately stopped being a tax gatherer. He immediately left and started following Jesus. That means he immediately left his career. I mean, the dude was rich.

16:13 He was making a lot of money. But when Jesus Christ gets a hold of you and you really are saved, you are are are you will be willing to leave whatever the lord asked you to lead to follow him. Now, I find it interesting that there's so many people that we're always wondering, are they saved? Are they not saved? They could be saved.

16:35 It sound like they're saved. Sometimes, they look like they're saved but we're not sure. There's no commitment. There's there's nothing happening there. But you don't see that with Matthew.

16:44 Hey, follow me. And immediately, he left everything and he started to follow him. In fact, he wrote the gospel of Matthew, which reminds me of my dad. When my dad got saved, he immediately left everything. So did my mom two years later.

17:02 They stopped worshiping idols. It was a total transformation. It was a change. This is amazing that this guy, being rich and and having it made and making all his money and having a big home, immediately left everything to follow Jesus. Now he was so impacted by the Lord Jesus Christ that he threw a party.

17:24 I wanna invite all my friends and say, look, Jesus got a hold of me and saved me and transformed me, and so he invites them on, and he didn't know. He... All of his buddies were all cheaters like him. They're probably drunkards and cheaters and and businessmen who who got rich by cheating people. You know anybody like that?

17:43 And so he he invites them. And and of course, the Pharisees are are like, why would you hang out with those kind of people? And and they were angry. See, they were grumbling. And and here's the point.

18:00 The Pharisees, the religious people couldn't see their need of a savior. And and and unless you see yourself lost in sin, then why do you need Jesus? And you can come here and sit here day after day, week after week, year after year but until you see that you are lost in sin, then you don't need a savior. But you need to be saved. And so the guys come in there and and there were guys who who, yeah, who were sinners, who were your everyday guys who who did wrong, you know, like like many of us have.

18:43 Totally lost. But the Pharisees just couldn't see that they needed salvation. They couldn't see it. Why are you hanging around with those guys? Because they need a doctor.

18:58 By the way, are you like me that you don't go to a doctor until you're half dead? That's me, right? And then I finally say, okay, maybe I need a doctor. Or like my mom, she's the kind that she's never sick, right, in her her head. So we go visit her one day in the hospital.

19:17 She's got a 101 fever shaking. And we go say, hey, mom, how you doing? And in the hospital, I'm not sick. I'm sick. I'm okay.

19:26 I'm okay. Like, mom, you're in the hospital. You're shaking. You're sick. You you need a doctor.

19:32 So, what is he saying that you you you will not come to Christ for the salvation of your soul until you see that you are sick in sin and you need to be saved. And the Pharisees, they're... They just couldn't see it. We're righteous. We're gonna get...

19:48 Make our way up there and we're gonna get saved by our good behavior. I was speaking to a to a Jewish rabbi, and he was studying to be a rabbi. He wasn't quite there yet. And we had several conversations, forty five minutes to an hour long. And we were talking about salvation.

20:06 And of course, he said he didn't believe in the New Testament, so we had to stick to the Old Testament. After several days of talking to him, here's his conclusion. He goes, I understand the gospel. You explained it to me that I need to be saved by faith, by believing in Jesus. I I get it.

20:26 He goes, but this is what I think. My conclusion is this, that at the end of my days, god is going to look at my behavior, my good works, and he's going to he's going to let me in based on the fact that I was good. He didn't see his need for a savior. And you could know about Jesus and see Jesus, see him doing miracles, but until you repent and turn to him for the salvation of your soul, it doesn't matter. You're lost.

20:57 You're lost, and and you could be coming here all your life. But until you repent and turn to Jesus, you you you don't see that you're sick and that you need a doctor in your soul. So the religious guys could not see their sin. We are good. We are earning our way to God.

21:16 We do all the rituals. We do all the good stuff. We're not like those sinner guys. And then he says, I came to call sinners to repent. So have you repented?

21:30 Have you repented? Have you seen that you need to be saved and you need to repent and be saved? Have you seen that? If not, Jesus is not gonna do you any good. Alright.

21:58 And and if you look at the Old Testament, all that religion, all that all that stuff they did, none of that could change them. They they wouldn't change. They they were just they were terrible. And so what Jesus is saying is, we're gonna put away that religious stuff. Everything is changing.

22:18 And so the gospel of grace and what Jesus came to offer is an inner transformation. God gives us a new nature. We're born again. Everything changes from the inside out and that's what it means to to be saved, to to have an encounter with Jesus is that he transforms you from the inside and you're no longer the same person. Your nature changes.

22:44 Your disposition changes. So it's not changing your environment. It's not giving you... Changing from poverty to to to riches. It's it's not, you know, external stuff.

22:58 It's an internal change that happens when you place your faith in Jesus. He changes your nature and you are born again. You're born again. And when Jesus gets a hold of you, you can't be the same person. You can see in the paralytic.

23:16 You can see it in Matthew. The money didn't matter to him anymore because it didn't fill him. He was empty. What filled him was Jesus Christ. Alright.

23:27 So what is the difference between the old and the new? The old is due. You have to do something. You you have to perform. You have to do something versus done.

23:37 What we're saying in the New Testament is that Jesus Christ did it all and it's done. You just have to place your faith in what he did. So it's do versus done. It's not producing, but receiving. It's like I am totally lost in my sin, and Jesus says, look, I'm offering you salvation.

23:59 Will you receive it? You just receive. It's free. You don't earn it. It's done.

24:06 It's done for you. And so here's the way the the New Testament puts it in second Peter chapter one and verse three. God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. And so he saves you from your sin. You receive the salvation that's from him, and he gives you everything you need to live this life now in him.

24:27 That's called the gospel of grace. It's no longer religion, but a reality. Alright. So perform versus receive. It's ordinance, traditions, rituals, conform versus a real desire because God changes my insight.

24:47 And so now I I want to come to church because I love Jesus. Nobody's making me. I'm not doing it just to do rituals. I'm not doing it because I'm bored or because I'm supposed to because Christ changed my heart. And he gave me a love for him.

25:05 And so that's the new. That's the new. It's repent of sin and turn to Jesus for the salvation of your soul. Alright. So let's look at the the old versus the new versus the gospel of grace in in regard to the 10 commandments.

25:21 Alright. So what translates into the new? You shall have no other gods before you. We say that Jesus is our God, John fourteen six, and at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow. And so that's what the gospel of grace is.

25:39 The gospel of grace is Jesus is our God, and we abide to him and to him only. Last week, when we were doing the marriage conference, one of the couples over here, the guy was saved from Hinduism. And he says, here's why they get mad at me when I speak the gospel of grace to them. I say to them, because, you know, they have thousands of gods. And so when I come to them and I say, Jesus is god but he's the only god, then they get mad.

26:09 Wait, wait a minute. You can't say that. He's one of many gods. We we... You can say that.

26:15 We're okay with that. No. No. No. He's the only god.

26:19 All the other gods are false and fake and they do nothing for you. Only Jesus can save you and give you new life and transform you. And when he got saved, his Hindu relatives got mad at him. Because he was saying, it's Jesus and Jesus only. And so the...

26:38 This translates then into into the gospel of grace. Right? That no other gods before you. We only have Jesus as god. No idol.

26:48 No images of men or animals. That's why we don't have images here. We don't need them. We don't need them. Right?

26:57 So, it says in first Peter one eight that Jesus whom you love and you worship even though you have not seen him. And so yes, that translates also into the gospel of grace that we worship Jesus. We haven't seen. By the way, that's why he didn't have somebody draw him. Right?

27:16 And so we don't have all these images. We don't know what Jesus looked like. And so you can see probably 20 different gospel movies right now on TV, and you have all these kind of Jesuses. Right? Some is the white guy with a beard, other is more of a Arab guy with a beard.

27:33 One has blue eyes, one has green eyes, one has brown eyes. One is taller, one is shorter. They all kind of have the same kind of a look they try to give them, but we really don't know what he looked like. And so we don't have idols of him. We don't need it.

27:49 We worship him directly. So that translates. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain. And in James says, you shall not swear by heaven or or using the name of God. Now have you heard the expression, OMG?

28:08 Even Christians are starting to do that. You know, that's a sin. Did you know that? It translates. The gospel of grace says, you respect the name of God, especially Jesus.

28:23 In Christmas, I went to Houston, and we got together with a bunch of people I grew up with. And much to my dismay, five or six of them were constantly saying, OMG. Got to a point where I sat them down. I'm like, what's wrong with you guys? How could you disrespect the name of Jesus that way?

28:44 Or the name of God? And so, yes, that translates to the gospel of grace. We don't swear. There's your verses, by the way. Wanna see the New Testament verses.

28:56 Now, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Now, this one does not translate into the New Testament. You never see in the New Testament teachings keep the Sabbath. Now what it does say is that in the first day of the week, they got together. And Hebrews, it right there says, do not neglect getting together.

29:16 And so what do we do? We get together like we are now. Hopefully, you're committed to the local assembly. Right? We get together to worship Jesus, to remember Jesus, to preach Jesus, to teach the word, to pray together for one another, to have fellowship.

29:32 Man, how do we eat last week? Whoo. I'm still tasting all that stuff. That's part of that's part of it. So, it's it's to to listen to teaching, to draw closer to Jesus, to learn more about our faith, to pray for one another, to have fellowship, to eat together, but that that that's the...

29:52 Oh, I just did something. Oh, here it is. Whatever that is. Okay. Never mind.

30:04 So so we don't have to keep the Sabbath. We meet on the first day of the week, and we worship Jesus. Honor your father and mother, of course, that translates. Right? Because the principles of the 10 commandments come into the gospel of grace.

30:23 Now, you shall not murder, James two eleven. You shall not steal, Ephesians four twenty eight. Do not steal, but go to work so that you can provide for yourself. So that translates. You shall not commit adultery.

30:36 Hebrews thirteen four. God would judge fornicators and adulterers. So, yes, that translates. You shall not bear false witness. Ephesians four twenty five.

30:46 Do not lie to one another. So that translates. You shall not covet. So first Timothy six says that godliness is great when it's accompanied by contentment. Because as long as you have food and and clothing and shelter, and in today's world, and a car.

31:08 Because you can't go anywhere without a car. Right? Even if it's junky and rusty, if it turns on and gets you somewhere, praise God, you got a car. Amen? Yeah.

31:17 Hey. Yes. And so we can see then that the principles of the 10 commandments translate into the gospel of grace except for the Sabbath. Now, what does not fit the new? Let's go to Colossians, and we're gonna see what doesn't fit the new.

31:36 Because often we are confused as to, okay, I'm a Christian now. And what what I've noticed is the most difficult thing when people get saved is to let letting go of their old religion and and and starting the new, the gospel of grace. The old doesn't fit the new, Jesus said. It doesn't fit. And so one lady tells me one day, we let her to Christ, and she comes...

32:05 And I was coming into the to the chapel building in Houston. She said, Ray, can I talk to you? I said, yeah. What's up? She goes, I had to confess that even though I've been saved for five years, it took me five years to stop worshiping Mary as God.

32:22 Because it was part of my culture. I was taught since I was little that she was God and we would worship her. And finally, Lord pulled it from my heart. And so what what translates? What doesn't fit?

33:03 Now baptism is important. Yes, it is. But all it is is you... When you get baptized, you're you're giving testimony to everyone that you belong to Jesus. And that's what it is.

33:13 It doesn't save, and it doesn't do anything other than that. Yes, it is important. But festivals and new moons and Sabbaths and rituals, and and so someone called, the other day in the, Bible Answers Time in in Moody, comes out on Saturday mornings. And so they asked doctor Rodelmik, who is a Hebrew scholar, can we do the Old Testament festivals? He goes, look, if you want to do them, go ahead and do them.

33:42 It's, you know, it... They're nice. You know, remembering... Like like for example, some people want to do the the Passover thing. Right?

33:52 If you wanna do it, do it because it it it reminds us of Christ and how he's a Passover. If you wanna do Hanukkah or some of the other things, go ahead. Right? But but it doesn't make you more holy and it's not necessary. The Bible doesn't say you have to do those things.

34:08 But if you wanna do them, do them. You know, it's up to you. But it's not necessary. It doesn't make you more spiritual. Because as we're saying in the Lord's Supper, what fills us is Christ.

34:22 Through the Holy Spirit. And so it says right here, food and drinks and festivals and new moons and Sabbaths, all that stuff, all those rituals, you don't need them. You don't need them. You gotta let go of that stuff because now we go directly through the Holy Spirit to Christ and worship him, and he fills our hearts and our needs. We don't need this to be spiritual.

34:50 Now it goes on to say more. Right? Don't worship angels. Verse 18. And then there's more.

34:56 Look at look at verse 20. If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, so in other words, the world thinks, Why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to degrees such as do not handle, do not taste, and do not touch? Now, some people are like, well, you know, I'm I'm a vegetarian. I don't touch meat. Meat is bad for you, and you shouldn't do it.

35:23 And and and so listen, lady or man, if you want to be a vegetarian, more power to you. I like meat. I'm gonna have my steak. Know? I want my tacos with meat in there or with chicken.

35:37 If you want to do vegetarian, I like vegetarian pizza sometimes and all that kind of stuff, but it's not more spiritual. It's not more spiritual. It doesn't get you closer to god unless you think it does. But look, do not handle and do not taste and do not touch commandments and teachings of men, the text says. Man makes them up.

36:01 You see, god transforms me when I get saved through Jesus and he changes my inner being and I worship in spirit and truth. If you want to eat certain foods or not eat certain foods or do this and do that, that's, you know, between you and God. But it doesn't make you more spiritual. Now, all of these are trying to please God. Watch what he says in 20 in 23.

36:57 So here's the monks. They go up and live in a cave and they wear... They shave their heads off. They wear these brown outfits and they said, that doesn't draw you closer to god. That's just man made.

37:10 It sounds good, doesn't it? Doesn't it sound like they're really devoted? But it's just their effort, them trying to transform themselves, trying to please god. Well, when god's already pleased with Jesus and we don't have to do those things. We don't have to have a little cross and and do that number.

37:28 That... That's just superstition. In Christ, as brother was saying this morning, we are complete. And so all of this like severe treatment of the body and all that. Yeah, we do want to have some disciplines and we want to do that, but trying to do that to please God doesn't translate, does not fit the new.

37:54 They are of no value, the text says. They are of no value. Verse 23. Listen, it doesn't change your nature. They provide no help in conquering a person's evil desires.

38:10 And so all of these are efforts to conquer the evil inside. And like the first thing you do is you're born again, he gives you a new nature. Then he gives you the holy spirit to help you conquer those evil desires and you have to fight that the rest of your life. Through the holy spirit that has been given to us. We have been given everything we need to live a life of godliness in Christ.

38:34 And so we're free from from rituals, from doing things to try to please God. God's already pleased. Amen? And and he's already in my life, and he changed me, and he's filling my life. And so it's easy to turn religious again and and think that there's something I have to do, but it's receiving.

38:57 It's receiving. God empower me. I I I receive power from the holy spirit. I I receive that transforming change. As I read the word and the holy spirit is is in me, he's transforming me and filling me with the joy of the of the lord.

39:14 So, it's leaving religion and culture and and and all of that stuff behind and now, we live by faith in the son of god and it's a joyful experience. It's a transforming experience. To know Christ as savior. So we have what we need. The paralytic was forgiven.

40:12 Amen? Alright. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for the way you saved this paralytic man, and you cleansed him from sin. Thank you that Matthew, even though he was rich and and everything seemed good, he was empty inside, and he turned to you, and he followed you, he left everything behind because he was so empty, and only you could fill him.

40:37 And thank you for the gospel of grace, in which we leave religion and self effort behind, and and you give us everything we need to live a life that's joyful, that's fulfilling, and that's pleasing to you. We worship in spirit and truth. Father, send us home with your blessing now, we pray. In Christ's name. Amen.