Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath

Good morning. There's a contemporary worship song that goes like this. I'll bring you more than a song for a song in itself is not what you have required. You search much deeper within through the way things appear. You're looking into my heart. I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you. It's all about you. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it when it's all about you. It's all about you, Jesus. Now, Matt Redmond is the author of this, the lyrics, and he was concerned with his church that had become so focused on the style of music and the production of the music that the pastor took all the instruments out. And had the church just sing acapella, it was just, we're going to stop being so consumed and concerned with what kind of production is being made because we have a tendency to be consumers in the church. We're going to focus our attention back on to the one whom we are singing to. It's a song of repentance. I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it. We have to see in our own lives, and I hope we'll see in our passes this morning, we have this tendency, not just with music, but with everything in life. We take God's good gifts for granted and we corrupt his good gifts. This morning, we're going to look at our tendency to take what God gives us and corrupt it. We're going to be thinking about worship and how we always have a tendency to worship something else and ever focus on something else other than Jesus. We're going to see two examples of this in our story. First, there's a man who receives healing. He receives healing and he doesn't praise the one who heals him, who heals him, which is Jesus Christ. Second, we're going to see the Jews and they receive the law. But they failed to worship the author of that law and the one whom the entire law was pointing. So our message this morning is this. We fail to worship because we are blind to God's grace and his good gifts. As we look at John 5, if you're using a pew Bible, if you don't have a Bible, you're welcome to take that with you. If you're using a pew Bible, it's on page 890. We're looking at John 5. And here we see Jesus interacting with two parties. There's the pair, the paralytic, the man he heals, and the Jews, those who are going to accuse him and seek to kill him. Now, oftentimes when there's two parties, we have to decide who's really the main emphasis and the focus in the story. For instance, in Mark, the Gospel of Mark makes a drastic change and turn in the story whenever the friends lower the paralytic down to the roof. And Jesus says, your sins are forgiven. And then he says to demonstrate, I can forgive your sins. I'll heal you. The whole point of the healing is to prove that he can forgive sins here. The point of this healing is to demonstrate that he is the son of God, the Lord of the Sabbath, the one in whom we can find rest as we hear the story that there's great tension. First, Jesus heals and then it is. It explains why the tension begins. He heals in the Sabbath day. And the tension builds. They go from wanting to persecute him for healing on the Sabbath day, to wanting to kill him because he claimed to be God. As you hear the story read, listen for the repeated words, healing and Sabbath. Two key words for our story this morning. John 5, beginning in verse 1. After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roof colonnades, and these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, Do you want to be healed? The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up and while I'm going another steps down before me. And Jesus said to him, Get up, take up your bed and walk. And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, It is a Sabbath. And it is not lawful for you to take up your bed, but he answers him. The man who healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk. They asked him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? So the man who had been healed did not know who it was for Jesus had withdrawn as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, see your well. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, My father is working until now and I am working. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him. Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he's even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. Will you pray with me? Almighty God, we come to worship you. We praise you that we can worship you in Christ. We thank you that in Christ we have the how we worship because we have been cleansed of our sins and we know who is to be exalted. We thank you that we can exalt Christ this morning. As we lift him up, I pray that our hearts and the sin that reside deep within that would be they would be illuminated and we would repent and we would exalt Christ all the more. Teach us how to worship more faithfully in the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. First thing we need to see here is some context. We just finished Chapter four, John five, it begins a new stage in the Gospel of John. He can track the Gospel of John through how many times Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. So here we have a new transition. He goes back up to Jerusalem. And Jesus is going to begin a different kind of focus in his ministry. What he's doing is he's paving the path to the cross. Remember how he said a couple of times, we've looked at this a number of times, my hour has not yet come. His hour being a reference to his death, because that is a high point of his ministry on earth, his death on the cross. He's paving the path to his death. He's starting to illuminate more clearly what he has come to do and who he is. He's a son of God who takes away the sins of the world. Now we're studying. We're in Jerusalem. This is beginning in verses one, one through three. Here we have, he's, he's in Jerusalem. He goes up to a feast of the Jews. Oftentimes journal tells what feasts he's involved with here. We don't know because it must not have anything to do with what happens. He's in Jerusalem. He goes up to a particular pool. Literally, it's translated the house of mercy. And here are a number of sick people, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, they're coming because they they believe that the first person in after the waters are being stirred, the first person in that they get healing. So these folks are here, they're gathered. It sounds really like a pagan practice in the middle of Jerusalem. This sounds like a healing shrine that the pagans would have. We don't know if real healing takes place. I'm assuming it's probably a superstitious place that maybe some people get in and they they sense some kind of change. But there's no healing that takes place in this pool. The theory was that an angel would come down and stir the waters and the first person in gets healed. But we don't know if that's really true. Regardless, we have Jesus coming and he approaches this one man who has been paralyzed. Now, as we think about this particular setting before we move to the man, Jesus again goes out of his way to those who would be considered cursed and outcast in society. He went to the woman of Samaria. He went to this woman and he pursued her so that the gospel would go to the Samaritans. Here we see him going to those who are lame, paralyzed and blind. I want to challenge us this morning because we too often have the tendency, we have the disposition to see people in a utilitarian way. What can people do? That's how we view their worth oftentimes. What do people do? What do they produce? How effective and efficient are they? Jesus doesn't see value in this way. He's going to those who be social outcasts, and he's going to bring salvation to them. He's going to declare, I'm the one who can make you whole again. We have to remember here is that each human life has dignity. Every human life can offer the most important thing, and that's worship of God. That's something I've learned recently, that even the bedridden, they can lay there. And they can praise God with their thoughts, with their prayers, with their songs. We must not consider people's worth by what they do. Now we focus in. Jesus heals the paralytic. Beginning in verse 5. One man was there who had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, do you want to be healed? Now here, 38 years. It's not just that he wouldn't have any muscles. He wouldn't have the nerves. He wouldn't have the tendons. He wouldn't have the blood vessels. We are so fearfully and wonderfully made. So much would have to be going on with a healing to make this man walk again. He would have to get everything that's required to walk. He's sitting here, though, with just mere skin and depleted bone for 38 years. A key question is, why does Jesus choose him? As we walk through the gospel, Jesus targets particular people for particular reasons. Why this man? I think we get some clues later on, but that's the question we should be asking. Why does he come to this man? And why does he ask the most obvious question? Do you want to be healed? Now, this is a key word. Healing could be, do you want to be made whole again? Do you want to be saved? Do you want to be, to be cared for? Do you want to have your being restored to you? Now the paralyzed man, he doesn't say yes. He says, sir, I have no one to take me down to the pool. Now there's some, there's some important irony going on here. The one who can actually give him healing is asking, do you want to be healed? And just like everyone we've seen before, they're not able to recognize who's talking to them. The one who can truly give living water of healing, as we've seen before, he's asking to be healed and this paralytic, he's he's focused. Maybe he's requesting if you would stick around so that when the waters are stirred, if you could put me in, then I would be healed. In response to this man giving his excuse for why he hasn't been healed yet, Jesus simply says, take up your bed and walk. Now, this is different from what we've seen in other stories. In every other instance, Jesus has pinpointed sin in the person's life. Jesus just left us, we just left the story where faith and belief were a major focus of the healing. Not here. Jesus could have told him, I am the living water. I am the great healer. I am the one who can restore you. Instead, he just gives him a simple command. Take up your bed. Go. Walk. This stands out really as a less personal story. As we continue to look, immediately the man takes up his bed and walks. We see the power of Jesus. Immediately, everything this man needs, the blood vessels, the nerves, the muscles, they're given to him. The coordination to even know how to walk. He takes up his bed and he walks. Because what Jesus declares, it comes true. Again, as we're looking at the story, I don't think the healing is the focus. This is an abrupt declaration of Jesus, we're going to see now the tension of the story. Identifying the tension of the story is the most important part of understanding a story. What is the tension of the story? We see it at the end of verse nine. Now that day was a Sabbath. Makes you cringe a little bit as you see the story as because, you know, this is where the great tension between Jesus and the Jews come. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it's a Sabbath and it's not lawful for you to take up your bed. But he answered them, the man who healed me, that man said to me, take up your bed and walk. They asked him, who is the man who said to you, take up your bed and walk? And the man who had been healed did not know it was because Jesus had withdrawn himself. Now, here we see this great declaration, it introduces the primary attention. The permutation with Jesus and the Jews is what he teaches, especially regarding the Sabbath, because it is that particular day they corrupted with their traditions. It is that particular day that Jesus uses to show I am almighty God. I have authority with this particular day, what its limitations are, what its purpose is. And it's actually about me. Jesus is saying the Jews confront the man. It is unlawful for you to take up your bed on the Sabbath. Now, a key question for this story, was it truly unlawful for the man to take up his bed? It's a key question for us to try to answer. We do know that the Pharisees, they added numerous codes. They added their own laws to the law of God. And Jesus calls these traditions, you see this in Matthew 15. So the Jews do add to the law and so we have to ask, is this an added tradition or is this actually breaking the law of God? What we know about the Sabbath, it is set aside as a holy day in the old covenant as a day of rest. A day set aside to reflect on God, his law, his purpose, and his promise. It was a day to be unlike the other days, to not go about your business like other days. It's a day to reflect, to be with God's people, to think about how good God is and to demonstrate a trust in God that you don't have to work on that day. God will provide. We know this is called a day of rest because it's a different kind of day. There were six days to work, one day to rest. Now, was this man carrying his bed? breaking the Sabbath. There's a particular verse that I think the Jews accusing him could point to. It's Jeremiah 17. I'll be reading verses 21 and 22. Thus says the Lord, take care for the sake of your lives and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem and do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work But keep the Sabbath day holy as I commanded your fathers." Now this will be the verse because a bed could be considered carrying a burden on the Sabbath in Jerusalem. I think it's questionable if this passage really applies to what this man is doing. A burden referred to in Jeremiah 17 probably is something more like a hay bale, a sack of potatoes, a bucket of chicken in our day. It would be carrying something that you would normally carry on other days that would be businesslike. It would be doing work to get some chores done on the day that set aside for rest. To the contrary, what this man is doing is what he has never done for 38 years. He's not conducting business as usual. This is a new life that he is getting to live. He's getting up. He's walking and he's carrying his bed. It's not business as usual. The Sabbath day was the day set aside to do what is not normal. This man is not doing what he normally does on the Sabbath. Carrying his bed, I did not believe, counts as carrying a burden, as in gathering sticks, gathering hay, gathering the fruit and the vegetables. What we need to see is that Jesus performed this miracle to emphasize a particular point. He is Lord of the Sabbath. He knows its purpose. He knows its limitations. He has healed this man and commanded him to carry his man in order to make a scene in order to start a controversy so that he could emphasize using this most sacred day to declare that he himself is God and therefore the author and authority over what the Sabbath is. Now, we also have to ask the question, What is it about this man's response? What does it tell us about him? Because we just left a story that mentioned faith numerous times. The word faith is never mentioned in this story. What do we make of this man? Really, there's two options given his response that he is breaking the law. The first is that he recognizes the authority of the healer as superior to their authority. That is a possible interpretation. The other one is that he's simply shifting the blame to the healer to take the heat off of himself. Now, later in the story, we're going to see that he goes and he tells on Jesus. I think it's the latter. I don't think we give this man much credit in terms of faith. He couldn't give him a name. Again, this reveals how the story is somewhat different. Jesus is intentionally incognito as soon as he heals him. He withdraws. He hides. He's not bringing attention to himself at this moment with the healing. He's going to wait until the controversy boils up. Notice also, the Pharisees approached this man. He's carrying a bed through Jerusalem. This, again, is not a normal practice. They're much more focused and worried about the Sabbath code, their Sabbath tradition. They have no interest in the miracle. There is no interest here in what has actually happened to bring about the healing. They're worried about their code and their tradition. They have blinders on regarding what God is actually doing. We have to see that the healing is not for the healing's sake. It's to eliminate the fact that Jesus Christ is God and that God's word points to Jesus Christ. Now, something we're going to see here as we continue to look at this next week and the week after. The problem with the Jews is that they're so committed to the Old Testament, they're so committed to the law that they're missing the point of the law. Jesus will say in verse 39, you search the scriptures for life. You look at Moses, but you don't understand Moses, because if you believed in Moses, you believe in me because Joseph is telling you about me. He's telling them you're missing the point. All of this is to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is God. As we continue to look at our passage, The tension continues to increase. It is that Jesus comes and he exhorts the man. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well. Sin no more. That nothing worse may happen to you. Now, Jesus, he now goes and finds the man. The tension has been built up. The Jews are out looking for who's been healing him. Jesus goes and he finds him in the temple. And when he says the word, well, that's actually the same word is healed. That's another instance of that particular word. See that you have been healed. See that you have been made well. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. There is a relationship based upon this passage between sin spiritual sin and physical well-being. And I wanted to think about this for a moment, because this is extremely important. It's a major topic throughout Scripture. So a couple of parameters as we think about the relationship between sin, spiritual sin and physical well-being. First, all sickness. It is based. It is caused by our general sin. God created this world good. God created this world for all who were created in it to live. It wasn't until the fall that sickness is introduced. So, as we think about the relationship, the big picture is sickness is not the way it's meant to be. Death is not the way it's meant to be. God created us for a lie. It is our sin in general, as human beings have rejected God, that has brought about a curse. So that's the first parameter. The second one is this. Not every single sickness is caused by a precise, impersonal sin. Just because you're sick, it doesn't mean that that sickness is because you're a sinner. of a specific sin. It may be that you, you stuck your child in the nursery and they got a cold and then they've carried it over to you. There, there is some, this kind of natural tendency that happened. John nine, which is a parallel passage of John five, go home and read John nine. It's meant to be read in juxtaposition. It's meant to be read over against because you see two completely different responses, but very similar stories. That man was not That man was not blind because of his own sin, or his parents' sin. He was blind so that God could bring glory to himself through his sickness. You see, not every sickness is caused by personal sin. However, as we continue to focus in here, some sickness is caused by personal sin. Some sickness is caused by personal sense. We could go back to Exodus chapter 15. God declares to Israel, see that you keep all the commandments I've given you so that I do not strike you with the plagues that I've given to Egypt. I am your healer. He is declaring I'm going to strike you with the plagues if you do not obey. We could go in the New Testament and see two very precise passages. First Corinthians 1130. This is our passage, we read every Lord's Supper, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body. and drinks, discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill and some have died. But if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged, but we are judged by the Lord. We are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. The sickness, it's a way of God disciplines us. to redirect our hearts, to recognize what we're doing wrong sinfully, that the sickness there is because there's a selfishness within the body as they're taking the Lord's Supper together as a gathering for fellowship. And then it says it's your discipline. God is correcting us oftentimes with sickness as a direct link. James 5, something we just read this past Wednesday night and studied. Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Whenever there's a sickness of this type that you have to call for the elders, there is a necessary function of recognizing. Is there sickness? Is there sin that may be behind why God is disciplining me with a sickness? And it's confessing that sin that is a key element in bringing about the healing. Our spiritual and physical well-being, they're connected. God is seeking to make us whole and complete, both spiritually and physical. We have to recognize that our spiritual life affects our physical life. Now, if you think about application of this, a pastor a few years ago, he gave me a very provocative exhortation. Do not waste your cancer. It was a sermon he preached and it became very popular and I'm very thankful for that. Do not waste your cancer. One of the key things to recognize is that every moment of life, every situation is to be used to worship God, especially when we're found in the midst of our weakness and our disabilities. When we are sick, it's an opportunity to ask ourselves, is there some way I'm living that has caused the sickness? It's an opportunity to recognize how weak and frail we are and how powerful and mighty Almighty God is. When we're not well, it's an opportunity to take a spiritual inventory and ask God, are you disciplining me? Is there a way I can be living more faithful and trust that he will care for us? As I think about this story, I want to step back for a moment. What is the main sin being confronted here? So Jesus comes and he confronts this man in a very unusual way. See your well. Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you. What is the main sin? We don't know what this man's sin is. I do believe his sickness is clearly caused by a sin. But I believe that we see here this man, he's received a great blessing and he doesn't worship the one who healed him. He receives a great blessing and he takes for granted the one who has healed him and the blessing he's received. At the same time, we see the Jews being confronted for the same kind of sin. They received the law. And they're so consumed with what it is, they're missing the point of that the law makes. They fail to see that the Sabbath is pointing to the rest that we're defined in Christ. So think about this man. He takes for granted the healing. He goes, he doesn't care, he doesn't tell us on Jesus to keep the heat off himself, I believe. How often do we take for granted God's great blessing on us? I mean, this is a very extravagant. This is a very unusual kind of blessing. How often do we receive great blessing and we just think I deserve that? We receive great blessing, we think, well, I really worked hard and I've been blessed. I'll go on my merry way. We receive great blessing, it's an opportunity as well to reflect upon the good God who gives good gifts to his children. We do not praise him enough. For what he gives to us, we lack. We lack gratitude. That's why we prayed a prayer of thankfulness, because we must learn to be thankful. Further, when God gives us good gifts, we corrupt them as the Israelites. They've taken the law and they've corrupted it. They've missed the point of it. They've made it a burden rather than a joy. We have to recognize that we often take God's good gifts and corrupt them ourselves. The tension rises, so the tension is first that man has been healed. Now the tension rises. Jesus is revealed as the one who broke the Sabbath. Verse 14. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, See, you are well, sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you. Verse 15. The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. We see the tension rising. He's doing these things on the Sabbath, but now the tension explodes because after the Jews seek to persecute him, Jesus answers them. My father is working until now and I am working. The tension has been built up. They're seeking to persecute him. The tension is built up. Now, this is exploding tension. To say the tension heightens here would not do it justice. He says that I am working. We now see what he's been doing with this entire story. He's been building it up to get to the point where he can declare, I am God. Jesus is getting to the point where he can declare, I am the one true son of God, the one who is Lord of the Sabbath, the one who created this world, the one who therefore has authority over that most important day, the Sabbath day. He's paving his path to the cross in this way. Because he's starting the controversy with the Jews and he's getting them to realize they have to kill him. Because they're they're he's challenging their authority and the way they've taught. Did you had no problem with this healing? The Jews had no problem. The Jews, they love the signs. They love the miracles. They were interested in it. And then he starts healing the Sabbath. Well, they want to persecute him. He declares he's God. They want to kill him because they believe this blasphemy. And it would be blasphemy, only he is God. Again, Jesus is focusing on. You have searched the Scriptures and you've misunderstood them. You have been committed to the Sabbath, but you've never understood what the Sabbath is really about. You've never understood what Moses is really saying, because if you did, you would see it's talking about me. Now, what does it mean when Jesus says my father has been working and therefore I am now working? My father's working until now. I am still working. This is what leads the Jews into disarray. Well, what is the Sabbath? We need to ask that question. The Sabbath is the seventh day. On that day, God rested. The seventh day demonstrated a number of truths. First, man needs rest. Man needs rest. The Sabbath is for man. We're finite. We need rest. Secondly, it demonstrates the order that God has designed for us. There's six days you work. There's a day you take off. It reminds us of the order that God has given us. Third, it reminds us of the purpose of creation. The last day shows us the entire purpose for which God created this world. It's to rest in God. The final end, the final purpose of creation is to have peace with God. Fourth, it demonstrates man's trust in God to provide for him. Now, if that's what the Sabbath means, most of that is for us. So what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day, according to Genesis? And what does it mean when Jesus says, my father has been working till now? Does it mean that God rested, that he ever stopped sustaining or keeping the earth in order? No. Does it mean that he's ever stopped exercising his sovereign control over all things every day since creation? No. What it means is he ceased creating ex nihilo, he ceased declaring this is the this this these plants will be this day, the stars will be this day, man will be this day. He stopped creating ex nihilo. He never stopped working. He's always in control. seven days a week. Jesus makes it clear that God has been working. The Sabbath doesn't declare what God can't do. The Sabbath declares what we weren't supposed to do. He is saying that he is the Lord of the Sabbath because he is still working because the father's still working. That in itself is a divine claim. He's calling himself the son of God, which declares he's divine. It also declares I have authority to work today because God has authority to work today. As we think about the purpose of the Sabbath. Again, the end of creation was to rest in God. We were created by God for God. We were created to know him, to know his love and to love him. We were created to have a peace, a relationship of peace with him. What's wrong now is that we have rebelled against him. We have broken that peace. We have rejected God rather than found rest in him. And it's been articulated so well in the middle of our singing service as he introduced a scripture reading. We will only know the rest we were created for when we recognize that is Jesus's work that gives us the rest rather than our own. We cannot fix our relationship with God. We can never do enough good deeds to, if we even could overcome our sin with good deeds. We can never, with our own effort, with our own work, with our own labor, satisfy God and his holiness. How sweet and awful is the place? That's where we belong. In God's presence, in his love, in the midst of his glory. But it's our sin that takes us out and it's Christ's work that takes us back in. We have to realize that we are restless. We're restless in our own sin. And it is only the work of Christ that brings us back into the rest we were created for. That's why Christ is worthy of our worship. He's the only reason we can worship. It is only because Christ has cleansed us of our sin. It's only because Christ has brought us back into the presence of God. That's the only way we can worship. And that's because he is who we worship. He is God who has done that for us. Next week, we're going to look at this declaration of the son and the father. This is where John's gospel, he gives us a purpose so that you may believe that Jesus is the son of God. This is a very important concept throughout the book of John. He's going to articulate it more as he explains this declaration. What we can see now is that the Jews, they failed to see the son of God. because they failed to see what Scripture truly says. They failed to see the Son of God because they failed to see what the Sabbath is meant for. I believe there's a helpful warning for us. They knew the Scriptures. They had memorized much of the Old Testament. The Pharisees, who would have changed and added to the Sabbath with their own traditions, they would have memorized this. It's only when we seek and ask God, let me see Christ in your word that we're going to truly understand it and see its full intention. This is one of the best gifts God has ever given to us. He spoke. He let us know who he is and is right here. Are we taking this for granted by not reading it? Are we looking for proof texts that prove our positions? Or do we open this humbly and say, God, your word stands over me because you're greater than me. Judge me. Correct me. Let the power of the truth here, which is the gospel, cleanse me. The Jews, they're confronted because they've taken God's word and they've tried to proof text their own life. Rather than saying, what does this say? How does that lead me to the one I'm supposed to worship? You know, you're reading Scripture wrong. If you if you if you're looking at it, you say, I've got that done, I've got that down. Friends, when we look at Scripture, what we're supposed to see is I'm so far off praise Christ who has cleansed me, forgiven me and given me the rest that I cannot attain. Let's pray. Father, we praise you that you have spoken. We praise you, Father, that you have sent your son who dies for us to give us rest. We praise you for the Holy Spirit who has given us these words through inspiration and dwells within us so that we can read them. Lord, I pray that we would be a church that reads your Word together, that comes together around what you have declared and reminds one another and helps encourage each other to recognize that we are sinners, to see in the Gospel a courage to confess sin and know that it is forgiven in the name of Christ. Lord, help us to find that rest that only comes from above. There's only the name of Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.