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[0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang.! Thank you for joining us. Please open to Mark chapter 2.

[0:16] I know as I've had a chance already in greeting at the door to meet a number of guests who are with us today. So those who are new to us, let me just kind of update you. We are walking through the Gospel of Mark verse by verse and have made our way to the middle part of chapter 2.

[0:37] And just for a little bit of context and help for you that may be new with us, we know from other Gospels that when Jesus was ministering in Nazareth, for example, He was rejected.

[0:50] His ministry was not met with wide acceptance there. In fact, He went to the synagogue at Nazareth and they tried to run Him out of town and kill Him. In Galilee, though, it's been a bit different.

[1:04] Mark records for us here what's happening in His Galilean ministry, and His reception has been quite different in Galilee. He has taught and it's been received as they have recognized His authority.

[1:17] He has cast out demons. He has healed many with diseases. And the crowds have been flocking to Him. But here we are in the middle of Mark 2, and the tide begins to turn.

[1:36] We've seen this the last couple of weeks as we have been studying through Mark's Gospel. In chapter 2, Jesus healed the paralytic who was brought to the home with His four friends.

[1:50] And Jesus recognized that the scribes and Pharisees were questioning among themselves in their own hearts, who does this man think he is? Jesus had said to the man that his sins were forgiven, and they say only God can do this.

[2:08] Who do you think you are calling yourself God? And then we looked at the next passage where Jesus is eating, verse 15 says, with many tax collectors and sinners.

[2:23] And these same religious leaders look at that and think to themselves, how dare he? How dare he go into the home of Matthew, a tax collector, a man at the time known as Levi?

[2:41] How dare he have conversation with those who are the outcast? And the tide begins to turn. And the popularity gets challenged.

[2:57] And you're going to see it as we keep going through this chapter as today, as we look at Jesus does not follow the man-made traditions of the religious leaders.

[3:10] And then you're going to see in the end of chapter 2, Lord willing, next week, another example of where he does not do what the religious leaders want him to do.

[3:21] And if you'll just jump ahead to chapter 3, where we'll be in just a couple of weeks, when Jesus heals on the Sabbath, look at chapter 3, verse 6, the Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him on how to destroy him.

[3:39] That didn't take long. Just a few verses earlier, the disciples said, Jesus, why are you slipping away to pray?

[3:51] The crowds are gathered. Everybody wants to hear you. Everybody wants to see you. Everybody wants to be around you. Let's strike while it's hot. And now, in just a short amount of time, the religious leaders are going to meet together and say, how can we destroy him?

[4:16] Now, what's happening? I mean, all Jesus has done is drive out demons. that would be well received.

[4:29] He's taken people who were sick and he has healed them. That would be well received. He's taken a paralyzed man who could not walk and spoke in healing to him.

[4:46] And everybody saw the man get up and walk. It wasn't any charade. This wasn't a magician. They saw the evidence. This was the real thing. And you know it was well received because the people were pressing in to hear Jesus speak so much that when the paralyzed man got there on the stretcher with his four friends, they couldn't even get through the door because so many people were there to hear Jesus.

[5:15] They had to go around the back, up the steps of a traditional first century house to go up to the flat roof and pull away the tile and the thatch and the reeds and begin to pull away the dried mud to lower the man.

[5:30] It's the only way they could get their friend to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus was so popular at drawing a crowd that everybody wanted to be near him.

[5:41] So how do you go from that to just a handful of verses later?

[5:54] They don't want to just disagree. They want to destroy. What did Jesus do that made the religious leaders turn the tide so quickly against him?

[6:18] What he did is he made it clear that he was God. That's what he did.

[6:28] He said, Son, your sins are forgiven. Take up your mat and walk. And the people said, Only God can forgive sin.

[6:40] And Jesus is saying, Exactly. And they begin to understand this is not just a teacher. This isn't a miracle worker.

[6:52] This isn't just a prophet. This is somebody who claims to be God. Make no mistake.

[7:05] Everybody knew who Jesus claimed to be. I was in a conversation about two weeks ago now.

[7:19] Somebody who was not a believer but was engaged in talking with me about the gospel. And I just asked him, I said, Explain to me, how do you see Jesus?

[7:32] You don't believe He's the Son of God. And you're speaking of Him in a respectful tone. I assume you don't think He was simply some buffoon or lying man.

[7:45] Who do you think He was? And he said, Well, I don't really... The old... Was it C.S. Lewis that said Jesus is either a liar, lunatic, or Lord? He's either lying and deceiving people.

[7:58] He's a crazy man who's just out of his mind or He is the Lord. And this man said, I don't really subscribe to that. I really think that there's another option and that option is I don't think Jesus claimed to be God.

[8:13] And I said, Well, if you would have been in the first century, you would have been about the only one. Because His followers got it. And His enemies were just as clear.

[8:28] There's a reason they wanted to destroy Him. It's not because He was a teacher. It's not because He did miracles.

[8:41] It's because He made Himself equal with God. To Himself be God. for that reason, a few gave their life to Him and most chanted, crucify Him.

[9:01] But it's not because they weren't clear on what He said He was. and the tide begins to turn against Him.

[9:16] You're going to see another example of that today as we look at verses 18 to 22. There's really three steps here through these few verses.

[9:29] First, there's a question about fasting. It seems to be just maybe a question of curiosity. It's not, it's not a question of curiosity, it's really an accusation.

[9:41] Verse 18, now John's disciples, that's John the Baptist, and the Pharisees were fasting. And the people came and said to Him, why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

[9:58] That's the question that's asked to Jesus. Why is it that the disciples of John the Baptist are fasting, and why is it that the disciples amongst the Pharisees are fasting, and yet your disciples, the ones who are closest to you, are not fasting?

[10:17] Seems like just maybe an honest question. There's much more to it than that. We know that because Mark's already let us in on the thought process of the religious leaders.

[10:29] They don't like that Jesus claims to forgive sin. They don't like that He would call a tax collector to be a disciple. They don't like that He would share a meal and recline at a table with other tax collectors and sinners.

[10:45] They have already spoken to the disciples as we looked at last Sunday and tried to undercut their trust in Jesus when they say in verse 16, why is He doing this?

[10:58] They're trying to erode trust in Jesus. They're trying to knock away people's trust and respect in who He is because they know He claims to be God.

[11:15] So the question is, why is it that we look at the disciples of John the Baptist and they're fasting, and we look at the disciples of the Pharisees and they're fasting, and your disciples are not fasting?

[11:26] John the Baptist, remember, had disciples. John the Baptist's ministry was to point people to Jesus. He did that.

[11:38] He says of Jesus, there is the Lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world. Not John the Baptist himself. He's the forerunner. He just prepares the way.

[11:48] He points the way to Jesus. His own followers come to John the Baptist and say, we've got a problem. People are starting to leave you and they're following Jesus.

[12:01] Your crowds are getting smaller. His crowds are getting larger. What should we do? And John the Baptist says in John 3, verse 30, no problem. Christ must increase.

[12:15] I must decrease. Because John the Baptist was just a spotlight. He wasn't the substance. He was the spotlight shining his life on the real thing, namely, Christ himself.

[12:32] And so, you've got his disciples and now, what's happened historically is by this point, John the Baptist has been arrested. We don't know for sure if at this point he has been simply arrested or perhaps even has lost his life.

[12:49] We know that's coming. If it hasn't already, it's coming soon. John the Baptist is arrested. He's eventually executed. And maybe his disciples are just continuing on in fasting practices they've already had.

[13:07] Maybe his disciples are fasting because they have heard that he was arrested. Maybe his disciples are fasting because they're concerned that he may have already been put to death.

[13:21] The question, why, Jesus, do your disciples not fast? Now, let's take just a quick step back and understanding some things that I think are helpful to understand this question.

[13:32] What is the biblical requirement of fasting? The Old Testament spoke of fasting. The New Testament speaks of fasting. fasting. In the Old Testament, while there are many different fasts that are described, there's only one that is prescribed.

[13:52] That would be in the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement. The people were to fast for 24 hours. You can read about that in Leviticus 16.

[14:03] Now, as you go through Old Testament history, there are more fasts that begin to emerge.

[14:14] A fast would be when you would abstain, stay away from food for a certain amount of time. They would, by the end of the Old Testament, have about five different regular fasts that most people would participate in.

[14:33] Only on the Day of Atonement were God's people called to, told to fast. The rest that happen, there are all kinds of voluntary fasts that take place in the Old Testament.

[14:46] Usually, it would be in a time of war or in a time of famine or in a time of stress or grief if someone had died.

[14:57] We see this from David. We see it from Daniel. We see it from Esther. Several different examples in the Old Testament where people would fast.

[15:12] And they would sometimes fast for 24 hours. We read about fasts that lasted for three days and even some for seven days.

[15:24] By the time you get to the New Testament, Jesus speaks of fasting in Matthew 6. And he says, when you fast, see to it. And he begins to give them some warnings.

[15:37] He says, if you're going to fast, it needs to be something of the heart. It's a time of humble seeking after God. The problem are the religious leaders by the time of Jesus' day is they see their fasting as just one more religious achievement.

[15:58] They loved to tell people they were fasting. They would make themselves look sickly so that when someone would say, well, what's wrong? You don't look good. You could say, well, it's because I'm fasting.

[16:10] I'm so holy. And people would say, well, I'm concerned. You look terrible. And they would say, well, it's because I fast so much. I look this bad because I'm just that holy.

[16:23] So, see, by this point and by the time Jesus comes around on the earth, the whole purpose of fasting has been distorted and taken out of its context and it's gone from a season of humble pursuit of the things of God and it's been turned into just another work of self-righteousness.

[16:48] Jesus, why is it that John has disciples and they fast and the Pharisees have disciples and they fast and your disciples don't fast?

[17:01] Well, we also know the Pharisees, they not only fasted, we know from Scripture they fasted how often? Twice a week. You may remember in Luke 18 when the man says, I fast twice a week and he begins to use his prayer as an expression of his own confidence in the flesh.

[17:25] They would fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Luke tells us that the Pharisees are asking this question and Matthew tells us the disciples of John are asking this question and Mark clarifies that both groups are asking this question and everybody is wondering why do your disciples not fast the way that we do?

[17:49] We're fasting every Monday and Thursday. Why aren't your disciples doing what we're doing? Why don't you subject yourself to our man-made traditions?

[18:06] See, the Pharisees believed that you could not be holy unless you were just miserable. So that's the question. When you get to verses 19 and 20 Jesus is going to give them an answer with a deeper meaning.

[18:25] He's going to take their question about fasting and he's going to answer it with a deeper meaning than they're even exploring. Verse 19 Jesus said to them can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

[18:46] Can you stop for a minute? And if you're reading this today in our culture you might be saying I don't know what's the answer? It's a trick question. It's not a trick question. It's an answer that they would have been able to have answered with no problem.

[18:59] Do the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is there? Do you fast at a wedding celebration? And the answer is what? No. You have cake and punch.

[19:12] That's how we would answer in our culture, right? Old Testament culture, you've got these traditions by the time we get to New Testament culture. In Jesus' day you've got traditions and in the first century the tradition would be that the wedding party, the wedding feast, the celebration could last up to about a week.

[19:32] And it was a time of feasting. When you plan a wedding, even in our culture today you always have a reception afterwards and those of you who have helped pay for a wedding might like the practice of a fast with a wedding but that's just not the way it goes.

[19:50] Can you imagine that wedding? Thank you for coming. The bride and groom would love to meet with you. You get a chance to share your excitement with them. Please turn left twice.

[20:00] You'll make your way to the gym. You'll see no food but we are fasting. Mom and dad is saving hundreds of dollars. Go down there and enjoy nothing.

[20:13] Of course not. You say go down to the gym. There's a lot of food. There's a lot of cake. A lot of other weird decorative food you never see any other time besides a wedding.

[20:26] And you've got moms and dads nervous hoping there's enough food there. And if you've been to church fellowships it's like at the wedding. You start off with great big pieces of cake and you think there's more line than cake and the pieces get smaller and smaller because you don't want to run out.

[20:40] Why? Because a wedding's a time of feasting not fasting. It's a time of celebration not mourning. Jesus why don't your disciples fast?

[20:54] He says would you fast during a wedding feast? Would you fast while the bridegroom is still here? Now the answer is no.

[21:08] You wouldn't fast. You wouldn't abstain from eating at a time of a wedding. You would celebrate. So whatever Jesus is saying, he's giving them the answer that this is not a time of mourning, it's a time celebration.

[21:28] Why a time of celebration? Because the Messiah has come. What have the people been longing for for centuries? When will the Messiah come?

[21:43] And Jesus says, the answer to all of your prayers is here. This is a time to celebrate.

[21:53] God has made do on his promise. But we can dig a layer even deeper than that.

[22:04] Because in the Old Testament, the bridegroom, if spoken of, was always a reference to God.

[22:18] God. In the New Testament, once the church is established, it will speak of Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride.

[22:30] But in the Old Testament, before the church is established, the bridegroom is a reference to God. Jesus says, you ask me why my men don't fast?

[22:46] Because God is here in the flesh. Now, you may read that and not catch that distinction.

[23:01] The people Jesus is speaking to would not have missed that. They would say, he just did it again. This guy must be destroyed.

[23:15] Why? Because he keeps claiming to be God. If somebody tells you, I don't know that Jesus ever claimed to be God, it's not because he didn't.

[23:29] It's because they do not understand. He absolutely did. So clearly that people wanted to destroy him for doing so.

[23:45] They asked a question about fasting. Jesus says, let me explain fasting to you. Fasting is a season of mourning. It's not a season of mourning because I'm here.

[23:58] The bridegroom is here. And they're saying, but the bridegroom is God. And he's saying, yes, God has come near to you in the person of Christ.

[24:13] That statement that Jesus just gave is a staggering statement.

[24:27] And if you were a first century Pharisee, you just heard everything you need to hear. they're saying amongst themselves, I'm hearing rumors that Jesus claims to be God.

[24:43] Is that true? That is true. How do we know? How did you hear this? Well, he told a guy that his sins were forgiven. Well, he can't do that. Only God can forgive sin. I know. He said he could do it.

[24:58] And they say, we've got to check this guy out. So they say, let's try a different approach. Let's ask him about fasting. And Jesus says, let me tell you about fasting. And while I answer the question about fasting, let me go on record again and make it really clear that I am the bridegroom.

[25:16] They would say, you can't claim to be the bridegroom. That speaks of God. And he would say, that's it. See, Jesus was not vague. They got it.

[25:27] they got it. Which is why in about 15 verses, they're going to make plans to destroy him.

[25:41] Because they got it. Do the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

[25:55] He says in verse 20, the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

[26:06] What is that? Jesus says, the reason why my disciples aren't fasting is because I'm here. The bridegroom is here.

[26:16] This is a time of celebration. This is a time of rejoicing. This is a time of glorying in the reality that God has kept his word. He has sent the Messiah, and I am here.

[26:29] John's gospel says the word became flesh, and our English word says and dwelt among us. It's actually a noun used in a verb form, tabernacled.

[26:44] The word became flesh and tabernacled among us. The word became flesh and made its dwelling, made its home right here with us.

[26:56] When you see Christ, this is God tabernacling, making himself at home among the people. This is a time of celebration, and Jesus clarifies, though, he says, however, there is a day coming, look again at verse 20, when the bridegroom, Christ, will be taken away and then they will fast.

[27:26] Today is a day of celebration. The day is coming when I will be taken away, and when I am taken away, then my followers will grieve.

[27:40] You don't have to turn there, but you might just make note of John 16, 16-20. Listen carefully as I read this. A little while and you will see me no longer, and again a little while and you will see me.

[27:59] So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us? A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while you will see me, and because I am going to the Father.

[28:10] So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying a little while and you will not see me, and again a little while you will see me?

[28:30] Truly, truly I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

[28:46] day. Jesus says, you want to know why my disciples aren't fasting? It's because this is a day of celebration. But the day is coming when I will be taken away and you're not going to see me, and the day is coming where you will see me again.

[29:12] make no mistake what's happening here. Jesus says, I am God, I am in the flesh, I am the Messiah, I am the Savior, I am the one who can forgive sin, but what I'm going to go through is going to be something that will grieve your heart, because Jesus will not simply forgive sin, He will pay for sin.

[29:58] Then He gives two pictures of this truth. They ask a question about fasting, He gives an answer with a deeper meaning, and then verses 21 and 22, He's going to give two pictures of this truth.

[30:17] First picture is of a garment patch. Look at verse 21. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.

[30:30] If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

[30:43] When I was a kid, I don't know if they still do this, when I was a kid, I had some jeans, I'd go outside and play in the jeans, ride bikes in the jeans, play football in the jeans, I'd get a hole in the knees, and so my mom or my grandma would get a patch, and I thought the idea was the patch was supposed to match the jeans, but apparently that's not the idea because the patch was always wildly different color, which to me just looked like you're advertising my jeans are broken.

[31:17] Well, then it becomes kind of trendy and fashionable, and you've got holes in jeans now. Now you don't even patch jeans, you pay more money for jeans to have nice holes in them. I don't get this.

[31:29] So if you're one who likes jeans with holes in them, you may completely miss the point of what Jesus is saying. This is a good example of why you should not wear jeans with holes in them because it's unbiblical.

[31:42] I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. It's just bad fashion. It's not unbiblical. Here's what he says. If you have a garment that has a hole in it, and that garment has already been shrunk, if you take a patch that has not been shrunk, put that patch on the hole, then you wash the garment.

[32:09] When that patch then shrinks, it's going to pull on the thread of the garment, and you're going to create a bigger hole than you had the first time.

[32:22] And my wife is sitting here saying, since when did you learn anything about laundry? I get it. so I'm told this is how it works. I've done laundry before.

[32:36] It's a bad, bad weekend. You have a hole in a garment, you put a patch on it that hasn't been shrunk, when that patch gets wet, it shrinks, and when the patch shrinks, it pulls, and now you're going to have holes all over the place.

[32:54] So Jesus says, that's not the way you would do it. Nobody sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

[33:10] And everybody is listening in the first centuries going, okay, we get it. We wouldn't do that. Makes sense. What is the point?

[33:25] I mean, is this just a lesson in laundry of course not. He's saying, you don't take who I am. You don't take Christianity and try to make it fit your old system.

[33:42] If you put a new patch on the old, and they're not compatible, what you get is going to be worse than what you had.

[33:57] In other words, Jesus says Christianity is not some patch work religion. You don't take me and just add me to what you're already doing.

[34:10] You don't try to earn heaven by your works and oh, by the way, add Jesus to it. You don't do that. Jesus says that's not an option.

[34:27] Mark 2, 21 is most people in America today.

[34:41] Most people in our nation want what the world wants, wants the popularity of the world, wants all the money of the world, all the applause of the world, all the blessings of the world, the world.

[35:12] But can we just add just enough Jesus to it so we can get to heaven when we die? So, let's be just like the world, but let's add the patch of going to church on Sundays.

[35:26] Let's live like the world, talk like the world, think like the world, be like the world, go to church on Sundays, that gets us in, right? And Jesus says, of course not.

[35:36] All you've done is try to add a new patch to the old garment and it's going to tear apart. People go to church because of what they can get.

[35:54] Go to church, it's good for your business. Go to church and make business contacts. Go to church, your kids are around nice people. Go to church and you have friends.

[36:08] go to church, you have people to go out to eat with. And the first time people don't get their way in the church, they're gone.

[36:22] Or, all of a sudden it's not good for business, they're gone. Or their youngest kids graduate high school, they no longer need a safe place for their kids, they're gone.

[36:38] What happened? Mark 2, 21. We want to be just like the world. I just want enough Jesus in me just to get me to heaven, not to change me, not to transform me, just to add to what I really want so I can be just like the world, take my last breath, and just slip into heaven.

[37:01] That's all I really want. Jesus said no way. That's not what this is about. You don't take me and add me to your religion and try to get enough of you to be happy, enough of me to escape judgment.

[37:25] That's not salvation. He gives a second example in verse 22. No one who puts new wine, no one puts new wine into old wine skins.

[37:40] If he does, the wine will burst the skins and the wine is destroyed and so are the skins, but new wine is for fresh wine skins.

[37:52] What does that mean? Well, what you would do is you would take the wine and you would take the grapes, crush the grapes, and then you put that into new wine skins.

[38:11] You can't put it into old wine skins because it won't work. The wine ferments, and as that wine ferments, the yeast transfers, transforms sugar into alcohol, and as that takes place, carbon dioxide is released which causes it to expand.

[38:32] If you do that in old goat skins that are already brittle and cracked, the process breaks down. So you've got to put that into new wine skins so that it has room to expand and not crack and break.

[38:50] And the people would have heard verse 22 and said, of course, none of us would put the new wine into old wine skins. Of course we can't do that.

[39:01] What's your point? The point is that the new cloth and the new wine represents the teaching of Jesus.

[39:15] The old garment and the old wine skins represent their Judaism, their Old Testament taken and distorted by their traditions and Jesus says, you cannot put it together.

[39:34] You cannot take man, religion and Christ and merge them together. That's not what conversion is.

[39:47] Conversion is abandoning the old and embracing the new. Which is why the Bible says if any man be in Christ, he is a what?

[40:03] New creation. Old things passed away. Behold, everything is new.

[40:15] we are not adding Jesus to our works. We are releasing our works and embracing the fullness of Christ.

[40:31] What's our takeaway? Two things. One, you don't add Jesus to your system.

[40:46] You don't add Jesus to your system. Jesus takes over. That's conversion. He takes over.

[41:01] You've heard it said, as I have so many times, when you ask somebody if they're a believer, you talk to someone about the gospel, and they'll say something like, but I'm not, I'm not exactly a believer, I'm not exactly a Christian, I don't really believe what you believe, but me and God have a thing worked out.

[41:18] That kind of response, me and God, we've got a thing worked out, me and God have made a deal. Let me tell you the deal. There is a deal. The deal is the wages of sin is death. That's the deal.

[41:30] Period. Your system, your works, earns death.

[41:44] That's the deal. Here's the gospel. But the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ.

[41:55] Christ. The good news of the gospel is that those who repent of their sin, who turn away from their sin and embrace Christ, find life.

[42:13] That's the good news of the gospel. What you can't do is say, I want to do it my way.

[42:24] because your way earns judgment. And if you say, I'll do it my way, but I'll just go to church, then what's going to happen is you do it your way, you go to church, and you die, and then judgment.

[42:40] Or you say, you know, maybe if I give an offering every once in a while, then God will accept me. So you just keep living your life, doing it your way, give some money, die, and then you face judgment.

[42:55] That's the only thing that changes. You're not saved because you go to church, you're not saved because you give an offering, you're not saved because you mowed your neighbor's yard. Those are all fine things. None of those things bring salvation.

[43:07] And if you say, well, I want to be a really good person, I want to be really generous, I want to help those who are hurting, and I want to cook meals for those who are sick, and I want to be the best neighbor in the world, that's good, that makes judgment.

[43:26] Why? Because the wages of sin is death. And if you get to the end of your life and say, but I know I didn't trust in Jesus my Savior, but I was a good neighbor.

[43:43] I gave money away. I went to church. All you've done is try to fill your resume with what you have done, and your works will never save.

[44:03] You say, but what if my resume is seven pages long? I'll say, what if it's 700 pages long? It doesn't matter. To use the Old Testament's example, how many filthy rags can you pile up before it becomes valuable?

[44:20] The answer, there is no answer. how many bins of trash have to be thrown on your front yard until it becomes pleasing?

[44:32] There is no answer. More trash doesn't make it better ever. So, your good works multiplied by 10 or 10,000 will never save.

[44:54] The first lesson is that we don't add Jesus to our system. Here's the second lesson. You can't contain Jesus in your system.

[45:08] You can't say, I want to bring enough of Jesus into my life, but I don't want to be one of those fanatics. I'm okay, I'll go to church, I'll go to a Bible study, I may even take a few notes during the sermon, but I don't want to be one of those people like all of a sudden, everything about my life is just all about Jesus.

[45:32] I just want to contain it. You cannot bring Jesus into your system and contain Him. that's not conversion. Picture a man that's in the ocean and he's drowning, and he's kicking, he's flailing, he's doing everything he can to try to keep from sucking water down his throat, he's doing everything he can to get oxygen to breathe, and you were to offer him a boat or life vest or raft to get him up out of that water.

[46:09] That man is not going to say, hey, I like the raft. Can I keep drowning just a little bit though? I really love the thought of water going down my lungs.

[46:21] Can I keep that with the vest? Of course not. If he's going to be saved, he's going to get on top of that raft and he's not touching the water again.

[46:41] Because he didn't want to add the life raft to the drowning, he wanted the raft to take him away from the drowning.

[46:54] That's salvation. salvation. It's getting you away from the world's system and all together lifted to Christ.

[47:14] Jesus will not be managed, marketed, manipulated, or married to any man-made system.

[47:29] What he will do is take over the life of one who comes to him in faith and make him a brand new creation.

[47:44] The amazing thing of this short paragraph here, is everybody got the message. A few believed and trusted and they would give their life to him.

[48:07] Others heard the message just as clearly and out of the hardness of their heart refused to repent and worship, but nobody wondered who does Jesus say he is.

[48:24] This morning, can I say with the same clarity if the Lord would allow me to, the truth we've just read? Jesus absolutely says he is the way, the truth, and the life.

[48:44] Jesus absolutely says nobody comes to the Father except through him. Jesus absolutely says he has the authority to forgive sin, and Jesus absolutely says you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him.

[49:08] That is the invitation. he also says that he will give living water, and that he is the door, and that he is the good shepherd, and that he is the resurrection, and that he is the life.

[49:30] And if you believe in him, you never die. see, Jesus alone can bring eternal life to you.

[49:45] In your hearing today, you've heard the claims of the gospel, that we are sinners, Christ is a Savior, and we don't add him to what we do, we abandon who we are to follow him with all of our life.

[50:07] And if there's never been a time where you have turned from your sin and placed faith in Jesus Christ, I invite you, even this moment, right where you sit, to in your heart say, God, would you be merciful to me, a sinner?

[50:26] God, would you forgive me through the work of your son, Jesus Christ? God, I've tried the world, it does not satisfy.

[50:41] I need forgiveness of sin. I need you. God, would you save me?

[50:54] And the testimony of Scripture is that for all who in faith call upon the name of the Lord, they will be saved.

[51:08] Not by your works, by his, not by your achievement, but by the cross. There is salvation and it is found only in the name of Jesus.

[51:26] Jesus. Some trust in chariots, some trust in horses, some 20, but we trust in the name of the Lord, our God.

[51:43] He alone can save. Can I ask you to very quietly bow your head and close your eyes with me this morning? As you're doing so, I'm going to ask the deacons of our church to join in the Amen.

[51:56]  Amen. Amen.