WEBVTT 00:00:04.168 --> 00:00:04.769 And that's E4. 00:00:04.769 --> 00:00:13.410 Verses 23 through 25 says and he went throughout all Galilee and we know that the he here is who Jesus. 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:24.592 Jesus went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 00:00:24.592 --> 00:00:39.250 So his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures and paralytics, and he healed them. 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:48.072 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis and from Jerusalem and Judeaa and from beyond the Jordan. 00:00:48.659 --> 00:00:51.040 Let's pray for our time together tonight, father. 00:00:51.040 --> 00:01:02.011 We ask you, in the mighty name of Jesus, that you would take the words off of these pages out of the book of Matthew and that you would cause them to come alive to us this very night. 00:01:02.011 --> 00:01:05.781 We thank you for the privilege of studying your word to us this very night. 00:01:05.781 --> 00:01:07.164 We thank you for the privilege of studying your word, father. 00:01:07.164 --> 00:01:14.465 There are people in foreign lands who crave, who hunger and thirst for even one scripture to be able to read, memorize and meditate on. 00:01:14.465 --> 00:01:18.683 And so, lord, we thank you that we've been given this great blessing of your scripture. 00:01:18.683 --> 00:01:28.146 We thank you for these words of Jesus, that we will be studying over the next several weeks together, and we ask, lord, that you would grow us deeper in you. 00:01:28.146 --> 00:01:43.287 We pray, lord, that truth would move beyond our mental ability and capabilities and it will move into the realm of our hearts, because we know, lord, that out of the abundance of the heart we speak and we live. 00:01:43.287 --> 00:01:46.394 So we ask that you would transform us and change us. 00:01:46.394 --> 00:01:55.548 And also, lord, we pray that you'd draw us closer together within community, as we experience these times together, in Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:57.141 --> 00:02:04.471 So Amy and I recently had a great privilege, and that was we got to go view a child being adopted. 00:02:04.471 --> 00:02:12.507 So we got to go to the courthouse Blount County Courthouse and we got to be there for the proceedings, and it was an amazing thing. 00:02:12.507 --> 00:02:31.996 I've been to the courthouse for several reasons, most of them not because I was called to be there, but for other people, and this time in particular, it was one of the best experiences of our lives, as we got to see a young girl, a three-year-old girl named Emily, get adopted into the Seipel family. 00:02:31.996 --> 00:02:40.269 And I already talked to them about this and told them that I was going to be sharing this story a little bit tonight, and so they're on board with it and glad for me to do so. 00:02:40.269 --> 00:02:52.169 This young lady was surrounded by drug abuse when she was born and she was basically left in her car seat most of the time, very poorly fed and cared for. 00:02:52.169 --> 00:03:01.389 And here are some of the words that Allie Seipel, the now mom of Anna, shared about this story. 00:03:01.750 --> 00:03:06.562 In April 2023, we received a call about a placement for a little girl named Emma Lee. 00:03:06.562 --> 00:03:11.174 Emma Lee, she was just 11 months old at the time. 00:03:11.174 --> 00:03:14.883 From the moment she came into our home, something felt different. 00:03:14.883 --> 00:03:20.774 Emma was quiet, distant and unresponsive to our interactions. 00:03:20.774 --> 00:03:27.360 She rarely smiled, she didn't make typical baby noises and showed little interest in playing. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.645 Imagine an 11-month-old. 00:03:29.645 --> 00:03:45.132 How that must have been so strange, allie and Noah having had two sons before this and experiencing what it was like in a normal way to experience these ages, and now they're discovering this so different aspect with Emma. 00:03:45.132 --> 00:03:55.675 Developmentally, she was far behind, unable to crawl, unable to roll over or lift her head during tummy time, or even show interest in reaching or grabbing for toys. 00:03:55.675 --> 00:03:59.250 It felt as though her spirit had been dimmed. 00:03:59.250 --> 00:04:03.429 We began loving her the best way we knew how. 00:04:04.561 --> 00:04:14.305 Emma started weekly physical therapy and we committed to daily exercises at home With the support of our boys. 00:04:14.305 --> 00:04:16.812 We welcomed her with kindness and joy. 00:04:16.812 --> 00:04:19.408 We worked together to help her grow and heal. 00:04:19.408 --> 00:04:25.892 In August of 2023, emma rolled from her back into a sitting position for the very first time. 00:04:25.892 --> 00:04:32.091 Doesn't seem like much, but, man, it was a huge deal for them and for her. 00:04:32.091 --> 00:04:45.435 In September, she crawled and after 10 long, challenging months of therapy, she took her first steps and officially graduated from physical therapy in June 2024. 00:04:45.435 --> 00:04:53.166 Today she's walking, thriving and full of life, and this is what they call her, as they said, our little miracle. 00:04:53.166 --> 00:05:01.990 When we were asked if we would adopt Emma, the answer was easy Our hearts had already made room to love her as our own. 00:05:01.990 --> 00:05:05.894 She is happy, secure and deeply loved in our home. 00:05:05.894 --> 00:05:11.427 We are incredibly blessed to now officially call her our daughter. 00:05:11.427 --> 00:05:17.480 Emily Jade Seiple, we love you more than words can say. 00:05:19.444 --> 00:05:21.086 And why did I share that story tonight? 00:05:21.086 --> 00:05:23.110 To make some of you cry. 00:05:23.110 --> 00:05:25.793 No, that wasn't my goal. 00:05:25.793 --> 00:05:30.726 My goal with sharing that story is it's not that dissimilar from our own stories. 00:05:30.726 --> 00:05:54.271 We were lost, we were in trouble, we were without God in this life, and Jesus entered into our lives and began to reveal himself to us and over time we began to realize and recognize our need for a Savior and we accepted him into our lives to change us forever. 00:05:54.271 --> 00:06:11.012 And the Bible tells us that at that very moment, and even before that, god adopted us into his family and, how many of you know, he's in the process of working with us and growing us and helping us to reach new milestones over and over again. 00:06:11.012 --> 00:06:15.245 And in a way, the Sermon on the Mount is sort of like a training manual. 00:06:15.245 --> 00:06:25.968 It's kind of a way that God describes for all of us what it looks like to grow spiritually, and so we're going to be looking at that together over the next, like I said, nine or 10 weeks. 00:06:27.430 --> 00:06:35.048 As we look at this initial passage in Matthew, the same essence, like I've said, of this adoption is displayed in grand detail. 00:06:35.048 --> 00:06:37.500 Jesus arrives on the scene and what is he about? 00:06:37.500 --> 00:06:42.148 If you had to describe Jesus in one word, what would be the word word, one word, what would be the word? 00:06:42.148 --> 00:06:47.454 It's almost impossible, but what would be the one word? 00:06:47.454 --> 00:06:58.259 Love. 00:06:58.259 --> 00:06:58.701 Jesus is love, love. 00:06:58.701 --> 00:07:06.548 The fact that in 1 John it says that God is love, it's a descriptor, it's something that helps to identify who he is, at the very core, at his very root, his character and nature, is love, right? 00:07:06.548 --> 00:07:11.591 And so, as we look through these verses tonight, I want us to contemplate what that love looks like. 00:07:12.641 --> 00:07:16.170 Love is first understood through a relationship between a father and a son. 00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:19.848 Let's not make it all about us in the beginning, right? 00:07:19.848 --> 00:07:35.007 How many of you know, if you look back throughout all of time and if you could peek into eternity past, you can imagine the relationship that Father, son and Holy Spirit shared with each other and that continues to today and will always be right. 00:07:35.007 --> 00:07:42.593 They are one, and so, father and Son, you can imagine again that deep love that they had for each other. 00:07:42.593 --> 00:07:44.386 And it's almost Father's Day, right? 00:07:44.386 --> 00:07:45.228 Woo-hoo. 00:07:45.228 --> 00:07:51.172 I wonder how much money Hallmark makes on Mother's Day compared to Father's Day. 00:07:51.172 --> 00:07:53.086 I'm just throwing that out there. 00:07:53.086 --> 00:07:59.670 But anyway, you can imagine the difference, the way that Jesus feels about his Father. 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:01.387 What do you get for God? 00:08:01.387 --> 00:08:04.815 If you're going to give a gift to your Heavenly Father, jesus is going to give a gift to your heavenly father. 00:08:04.815 --> 00:08:08.125 Jesus is going to give a gift to our heavenly father. 00:08:08.125 --> 00:08:09.067 What is he going to give him? 00:08:09.067 --> 00:08:16.440 Yeah, he said we can give him more kids. 00:08:16.440 --> 00:08:22.690 We can give him more children, children that he could adopt to be a part of his family, right? 00:08:22.690 --> 00:08:25.514 And so what does Heavenly Father? 00:08:25.514 --> 00:08:32.006 Not wanting to be outdone in the love quota, right, he's wanting to give something as well. 00:08:32.006 --> 00:08:35.788 And so what does the Father think concerning Jesus? 00:08:35.788 --> 00:08:36.630 What can he give him? 00:08:36.630 --> 00:08:41.971 A bride, a beautiful, spotless bride. 00:08:41.971 --> 00:08:49.644 And so we see creation coming out of what A relationship of love between a father and a son. 00:08:49.644 --> 00:08:52.211 Creation was an outworking of their love for each other. 00:08:57.381 --> 00:09:00.272 At each point of creation, the God had said what? 00:09:00.272 --> 00:09:03.442 At each day, at the end of each day, what does it say? 00:09:03.442 --> 00:09:05.568 They said it was good. 00:09:05.568 --> 00:09:11.269 But on the sixth day, after God created humanity, after he created Adam, what did he say? 00:09:11.269 --> 00:09:12.110 It's very good? 00:09:12.110 --> 00:09:16.263 And why did he say it was very good? 00:09:16.263 --> 00:09:20.051 This is a Bible study. 00:09:20.051 --> 00:09:21.173 We want you to think right. 00:09:21.173 --> 00:09:24.129 We're going to have some interaction and we're going to be talking to each other. 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:24.750 I want you to think right. 00:09:24.750 --> 00:09:26.537 We're going to have some interaction, we're going to be talking to each other. 00:09:26.537 --> 00:09:27.320 Why did he say it was very good? 00:09:27.320 --> 00:09:28.965 What was the difference? 00:09:29.085 --> 00:09:40.375 All of those other things were important, but what was God actually creating in order to come to the last point where he would create humanity. 00:09:40.375 --> 00:09:40.798 What was he creating? 00:09:40.798 --> 00:09:43.139 A family, yeah, he was creating a family. 00:09:43.139 --> 00:09:44.647 He was creating a space. 00:09:44.647 --> 00:09:51.510 He was creating a space, a beautiful creation, a created space for adam and eve to live in it. 00:09:51.510 --> 00:09:54.719 Right, the garden of eden, you know about that. 00:09:54.719 --> 00:09:57.647 Right, somebody's gonna need their, their child, eat. 00:09:57.746 --> 00:09:58.669 I heard that the other day. 00:09:58.669 --> 00:10:00.744 I can't tell who it is because I might get in trouble. 00:10:00.744 --> 00:10:15.806 I've learned the hard way that let people tell their own stories and their own stories and their own truths, right, but when they're born and you hear that name, remember this night, you see, love was multiplying. 00:10:15.806 --> 00:10:25.413 Not only was love shared between Father and Son and Spirit, but now love is given to humanity, love is shown to his creation. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:30.351 Imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to walk and talk with God in the garden. 00:10:30.351 --> 00:10:35.650 Imagine a place of perfection with no weeds and no mosquitoes and no. 00:10:35.650 --> 00:10:39.405 What else do you not like? 00:10:39.405 --> 00:10:52.923 Nats, nats, pigs, pigs, wasps, nats, nats, pics, yeah, pics, wasps, yeah. 00:10:52.923 --> 00:11:00.426 I was following the grass the other day and I moved the kids trampoline and something came out of the, the post and that thing and, let you know, got a hold of my thigh finger and I was so proud because I didn't say anything. 00:11:00.426 --> 00:11:02.428 That's cooked. 00:11:02.428 --> 00:11:06.215 I'm going to share a poll that happened. 00:11:06.215 --> 00:11:07.605 Sorry, they're kind of smacking at it. 00:11:07.605 --> 00:11:10.687 Yeah, they don't like to die when they get them. 00:11:10.687 --> 00:11:11.309 They got to hold you. 00:11:11.309 --> 00:11:19.595 But anyway, think about the perfection that this created space must have been. 00:11:19.595 --> 00:11:33.325 And yet, looking around at all of this creation, adam and Eve had to be enthralled by getting to talk and walk with God like actually get to do that. 00:11:33.325 --> 00:11:40.330 That's amazing, but unfortunately we know that that's not the end of the story, is it? 00:11:41.080 --> 00:11:44.144 Sin brought a separation between God and mankind. 00:11:44.144 --> 00:11:47.831 Sin brought a separation between God and mankind, as any good parent does. 00:11:47.831 --> 00:11:52.509 There were boundaries that were set in the garden and really, just, there was really one rule. 00:11:52.509 --> 00:12:04.806 One rule you could eat from every tree in the garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, because if you eat it, you will, you will die, you will surely die. 00:12:05.989 --> 00:12:14.634 Satan tempted them and challenged their thinking as to whether God really loved them or if he was holding out on them, and Adam and Eve gave into the temptation. 00:12:14.634 --> 00:12:20.433 And so God, in order to remain holy, had to do what he had to deal with the sin that they had committed. 00:12:20.433 --> 00:12:32.067 Adam and Eve had rebelled against God, they had disobeyed him and they had broken relationship with him, and so he, god, in order to remain holy, had to deal with the sin that was committed. 00:12:32.067 --> 00:12:49.413 There were many curses that were handed down because of the sin that was committed, but the biggest one of all was that they would be removed from the presence of God, kicked out of the garden, and in the place of the entrance of the garden were placed angels with flaming swords to maintain their distance. 00:12:49.413 --> 00:12:55.625 Because if they had remained in the garden were placed angels with flaming swords to maintain their distance, because if they had remained in the garden, there was another tree that they could have eaten from, which was what? 00:12:55.625 --> 00:12:57.769 The tree of life. 00:12:57.769 --> 00:13:12.986 Not only did they suffer this fate, but how many of you know that all of humanity, except for Jesus that would be born after them, would be born dead in sin and trespasses? 00:13:12.986 --> 00:13:14.729 And that's all of us. 00:13:14.729 --> 00:13:20.057 We were born not sick, not sort of not okay. 00:13:20.057 --> 00:13:22.708 We were born dead in our sin and trespasses. 00:13:22.749 --> 00:13:26.957 Romans 3.23 and Romans 6.23, you can write those down for reference. 00:13:26.957 --> 00:13:42.446 So God's love is displayed, though, through a promise in the middle of the punishment, in the middle of him giving out these decrees and causing all of the different parties that were involved in this sin to be punished because of the sin that they were committed. 00:13:42.446 --> 00:13:45.695 There's a verse thrown in there, genesis 3, verse 15. 00:13:45.695 --> 00:13:54.533 And I'm reading this one, actually from the NIV and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. 00:13:54.533 --> 00:13:56.673 He's cursing Satan at this point. 00:13:56.673 --> 00:14:01.852 I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers. 00:14:01.852 --> 00:14:06.716 He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 00:14:06.716 --> 00:14:09.811 Who's the one who's going to crush the head of Satan? 00:14:09.811 --> 00:14:20.351 Jesus, and he did that, didn't he? 00:14:20.351 --> 00:14:21.397 Satan is already. 00:14:21.397 --> 00:14:22.120 Take this to the bank. 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:23.024 Satan is already a defeated foe. 00:14:23.024 --> 00:14:29.922 And Satan did attempt to strike Jesus' heel, and we know that Jesus is victorious. 00:14:32.264 --> 00:14:36.431 You see, god had no intention of leaving his children in this place of desperation. 00:14:36.431 --> 00:14:41.578 God had no intention of not addressing the problem of sin and creating a pathway for redemption. 00:14:41.578 --> 00:14:49.472 He will go to great lengths to make a way for them to have a chance to be restored to right relationship with himself. 00:14:49.472 --> 00:14:50.554 So how did God do this? 00:14:50.554 --> 00:14:54.451 Let's just take a quick journey through the Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi. 00:14:54.451 --> 00:14:54.991 Are you ready? 00:14:54.991 --> 00:14:59.087 I'm only kidding, we're going to do this in 30 minutes. 00:14:59.087 --> 00:15:00.129 We're halfway there. 00:15:00.129 --> 00:15:05.250 God kept an open pathway for his love through the covenants. 00:15:06.014 --> 00:15:08.325 Let's just quickly look through the covenants in the Old Testament. 00:15:08.325 --> 00:15:08.807 Right? 00:15:08.807 --> 00:15:11.154 We already talked about Adam and how that covenant was broken. 00:15:11.154 --> 00:15:14.875 The next one is well, let me describe what a covenant is. 00:15:14.875 --> 00:15:18.485 A covenant has particular characteristics. 00:15:18.485 --> 00:15:28.855 So, first, every covenant has a mediator, a person with whom God makes the covenant right, who represents a particular group of people, which could be their family, their tribe, etc. 00:15:28.855 --> 00:15:34.452 Second, every covenant promises certain blessings for those who keep the covenant. 00:15:34.452 --> 00:15:37.365 So if you do this, then I will do this right. 00:15:37.365 --> 00:15:44.006 Third, there are conditions laid out for keeping the covenant and curses that come with breaking these right. 00:15:44.006 --> 00:15:49.393 Fourth, each covenant has a sign which is used to celebrate and remember the covenant. 00:15:49.393 --> 00:15:56.581 And finally, god's family takes on a new and bigger form with each successive covenant. 00:15:56.581 --> 00:16:01.636 God doesn't bring a new covenant on unless he's looking to expand and multiply. 00:16:01.636 --> 00:16:03.912 God is not a God who shrinks back. 00:16:03.912 --> 00:16:07.033 God is a God who expands and grows. 00:16:07.033 --> 00:16:12.134 So let's look at God's covenant with Noah and you can write down Genesis 6 through 9. 00:16:13.645 --> 00:16:19.672 After rescuing his family on the ark, god makes a covenant with Noah promising not to destroy the world by flood. 00:16:19.672 --> 00:16:25.032 Again, they will be blessed, but they are not to drink the blood of animals nor to shed any other human blood. 00:16:25.032 --> 00:16:26.169 You see the interaction there. 00:16:26.169 --> 00:16:29.292 I'm going to do this for you and I'm requiring this from you. 00:16:29.292 --> 00:16:39.136 God leaves as a sign, a rainbow you can say it out loud, it's okay A rainbow. 00:16:39.136 --> 00:16:40.799 Friends, it's time to take it back. 00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:42.745 This is God's sign. 00:16:42.745 --> 00:16:44.629 This is God's sign. 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:55.011 He put a rainbow in the sky and grows God's chosen people from a couple under Adam and Eve to one holy family, right. 00:16:55.091 --> 00:16:58.625 So the next one is God's covenant with Abraham, or would have been Abram at the time. 00:16:58.625 --> 00:17:00.451 God reaches out to Abram. 00:17:00.451 --> 00:17:09.476 He's the chieftain of a tribe, so we're moving from a family now to a tribe, and he's promising him a great deal, including land and descendants. 00:17:09.476 --> 00:17:12.984 Promising him a great deal, including land and descendants. 00:17:12.984 --> 00:17:18.958 God further explains that this is a promise that all nations will be blessed through him and that his descendants will be too great to number. 00:17:18.958 --> 00:17:26.169 Remember what he uses as a comparison for the number of his descendants Sand and stars. 00:17:26.169 --> 00:17:28.316 Ever tried to count them? 00:17:28.316 --> 00:17:37.766 That's the point. 00:17:37.766 --> 00:17:41.794 Yeah, the sign of this covenant was circumcision, and the chosen family grows into one holy tribe. 00:17:42.756 --> 00:17:44.219 The next covenant was with Moses. 00:17:44.219 --> 00:18:05.567 You can read all about Moses in the book of Exodus After a side trip to Egypt by which God, through Joseph, saves his chosen tribe, israel has grown to be numerous and Pharaoh has enslaved them, and God uses Moses as a what, as a judge and liberator, to free Israel from slavery, swearing to be their God and asking them to worship him alone. 00:18:05.567 --> 00:18:16.009 The sign of the covenant is the law which is called the Ten Commandments, and the holy tribe has grown now into what A holy nation. 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:17.535 A holy nation. 00:18:17.535 --> 00:18:22.395 And then we have God's covenant with David 2 Samuel, chapter 7. 00:18:22.395 --> 00:18:31.006 David is chosen by God to lead Israel as her king, and God swears to David that one of his descendants will forever remain on the throne of Israel. 00:18:31.006 --> 00:18:37.465 The sign of this covenant is the throne and temple which Solomon, david's son, will build. 00:18:37.465 --> 00:18:40.493 Didn't we just read about that in our Bible reading for this year? 00:18:40.493 --> 00:18:49.369 We just have concluded, and Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord, and the nation has now become a holy kingdom. 00:18:49.369 --> 00:18:50.855 Isn't that interesting? 00:18:50.884 --> 00:18:58.855 You can look back at all of these and find direct ties to Jesus as well, if you think about the Exodus and Moses being a deliverer. 00:18:58.855 --> 00:19:00.873 How many of you know, jesus is our deliverer. 00:19:00.873 --> 00:19:04.954 Think of David becoming this king and having a lineage of kings. 00:19:04.954 --> 00:19:06.157 Who is Jesus? 00:19:06.157 --> 00:19:11.817 He's the king of kings and Lord of lords, amen. 00:19:11.817 --> 00:19:22.313 So then, the last one, and that's the one that the verses that we read tonight really kind of give us a view into, and that is the new covenant of Jesus. 00:19:23.174 --> 00:19:24.277 The new covenant of Jesus. 00:19:24.277 --> 00:19:27.329 In this covenant, jesus is both God and mediator. 00:19:27.329 --> 00:19:34.094 He's the high priest, he's the perfect man, he's the chieftain, just like Abram. 00:19:34.094 --> 00:19:37.315 He's the judge and the prophet, he's the king. 00:19:37.315 --> 00:19:43.738 He fulfills every promise made in the other covenants and promises to us what? 00:19:43.738 --> 00:19:49.037 Life eternal with God, forever and ever. 00:19:49.037 --> 00:19:52.007 And how does he cut this covenant? 00:19:52.007 --> 00:19:53.086 What is required of him? 00:19:53.086 --> 00:19:56.012 Death. 00:19:56.012 --> 00:20:05.576 He will sign this covenant in red, by willingly laying down his life as the once and for all sacrifice for the sins of the world. 00:20:05.576 --> 00:20:08.201 God saves us by grace alone. 00:20:08.261 --> 00:20:12.015 And our proper response looks like what are the two things we must do? 00:20:12.015 --> 00:20:13.978 If we want to? 00:20:13.978 --> 00:20:14.880 What is it? 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:18.211 Repent, and what does repent mean? 00:20:18.211 --> 00:20:24.743 To turn, to change direction, to change our mind about who God is and who we are Right. 00:20:24.743 --> 00:20:26.234 So we're going to repent. 00:20:26.394 --> 00:20:27.298 And what's the second thing? 00:20:27.298 --> 00:20:30.194 We must believe. 00:20:30.194 --> 00:20:36.738 We must believe what, that he is, who he says he is. 00:20:36.738 --> 00:20:40.647 Amen, he is who he says he is and he is who he says he is. 00:20:40.647 --> 00:20:43.578 And then also there's a follow-up to these things. 00:20:43.578 --> 00:20:47.740 So to repent and believe and be baptized. 00:20:47.740 --> 00:20:58.740 Be baptized, the Holy Kingdom now becomes the universal church, not the universalist church, don't connect with you, but it becomes the universal church, the big C church. 00:20:58.740 --> 00:21:01.269 Don't get me back if you, but it becomes the universal church, the big C church, right? 00:21:01.931 --> 00:21:15.895 So you see all of these different covenants described throughout the Old Testament and then moving into the new, the new covenant is characterized by what we already talked about in the beginning One word love. 00:21:15.895 --> 00:21:24.496 The new covenant is characterized by love, is primarily characterized by love, and it is its central principle and guiding force. 00:21:24.496 --> 00:21:31.376 It emphasizes God's unconditional love and grace and calls for believers to love God and one another. 00:21:31.376 --> 00:21:43.679 As a reflection of that love, aren't you glad that there's been a new covenant that's been established that each and every one of us can benefit from, and we can use that benefit to benefit and bless others? 00:21:43.679 --> 00:21:46.811 That is the gospel, that is the good news. 00:21:46.811 --> 00:21:54.172 This covenant, established through Jesus, promises forgiveness, reconciliation and a restored relationship with God. 00:21:54.172 --> 00:21:58.096 And all of these concepts are rooted and grounded in love. 00:21:58.096 --> 00:22:00.157 All of these concepts are rooted and grounded in love. 00:22:00.198 --> 00:22:04.843 So Jesus, in this passage, begins to travel extensively throughout Galilee. 00:22:04.843 --> 00:22:08.926 There were about 300,000 people in this area. 00:22:08.926 --> 00:22:11.931 So how big is Knoxville? 00:22:11.931 --> 00:22:12.912 About 300,000. 00:22:12.912 --> 00:22:30.184 So if you think of Knoxville and you think about the expanse of the ministry of Jesus at this time, it's grown in a year and a half to the point to where I'm not saying that the crowds were that large, but the group of people that the crowds were coming from was around 300,000 people. 00:22:30.184 --> 00:22:34.567 And he's preaching the gospel of the kingdom, the good news of the kingdom. 00:22:34.567 --> 00:22:36.614 And what is the good news? 00:22:36.614 --> 00:22:45.801 It's that great, grand, grand, merry news that God has come, in the person of the Messiah, to deliver Israel and to inaugurate the kingdom of God. 00:22:47.491 --> 00:22:53.500 It was the news which every Jew longed to hear, although what did they think that it actually meant for them? 00:22:53.500 --> 00:22:55.656 What did they want to be delivered from? 00:22:55.656 --> 00:22:58.557 They wanted to be delivered from Rome. 00:22:58.557 --> 00:22:59.527 God had something else in mind. 00:22:59.527 --> 00:22:59.818 What did he want to deliver? 00:22:59.818 --> 00:23:00.029 Delivered from? 00:23:00.029 --> 00:23:00.137 They wanted to be delivered from Rome. 00:23:00.137 --> 00:23:00.234 God had something else in mind. 00:23:00.234 --> 00:23:08.050 What did he want to deliver them from the bondage of sin and death and the grave Amen. 00:23:08.050 --> 00:23:11.836 Much higher goals, much loftier goals. 00:23:11.836 --> 00:23:16.045 The news which every Jew, like I said, long to hear. 00:23:16.045 --> 00:23:21.817 Jesus also backed up what he was saying by what Powerful signs and wonders. 00:23:24.251 --> 00:23:28.098 I want us to just recall there isn't anything that's too difficult for Jesus. 00:23:28.098 --> 00:23:34.900 There wasn't, and there isn't anything that is too difficult for Jesus. 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:43.917 There wasn't a case that was brought to him that he sat down and scratched his head and said not really sure about this one, he was prepared. 00:23:43.917 --> 00:23:44.880 He was ready. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:46.782 He was the image of God. 00:23:46.782 --> 00:23:49.595 He represented his father in such beautiful ways. 00:23:50.457 --> 00:23:53.262 Think about the kindness and compassion of Jesus. 00:23:53.262 --> 00:23:59.353 How many of these people had been overlooked and pushed aside. 00:23:59.353 --> 00:24:02.336 Remember the woman that had the issue of? 00:24:02.336 --> 00:24:19.013 I don't remember what was said of her that she had been to I think it was nine doctors or it was a lot of doctors, and nobody could help her and she had spent everything that she had and she just felt like, if I could just reach out and touch the hand of His garment, the very bottom. 00:24:19.013 --> 00:24:20.549 I don't want to disturb Him, but I want to stop him from his movement. 00:24:20.549 --> 00:24:22.317 I don't want to interrupt anything. 00:24:22.317 --> 00:24:29.498 I just believe that there's something about this Jesus and the kindness of this Jesus that can change my life. 00:24:29.498 --> 00:24:31.241 And so what did she do? 00:24:31.241 --> 00:24:34.630 She reached out and touched his hand and Jesus stopped. 00:24:35.010 --> 00:24:38.278 You know how few times it says that Jesus stopped? 00:24:38.278 --> 00:24:42.051 Very rare Jesus stopped. 00:24:42.051 --> 00:24:42.795 And what did he say? 00:24:42.795 --> 00:24:48.855 Drew touched me, of course, his disciples being brilliant the men that they were. 00:24:48.855 --> 00:24:56.019 They said Jesus, you okay, there's lots of people around you, it could have been anybody. 00:24:56.019 --> 00:25:10.463 I just touched you and he said no, I felt Birch Eagle out, something came through me and out of me to touch somebody at their point of need. 00:25:10.463 --> 00:25:13.896 This is the new covenant. 00:25:13.896 --> 00:25:20.163 This is what we get to enjoy as members and participants of the new covenant. 00:25:20.163 --> 00:25:22.980 I'm not saying that we won't experience sorrow in this life. 00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:29.002 Part of the new covenant reality is the fact that he's with us and he dwells in us by his spirit. 00:25:29.002 --> 00:25:32.659 So it's not always about the desired outcome. 00:25:32.659 --> 00:25:40.263 It's about the fact that we have been restored to right relationship with God because of love. 00:25:40.263 --> 00:25:47.423 So his fame began to spread and people came from all over to get a touch from this generous man. 00:25:47.423 --> 00:25:50.878 He mercifully healed them and set them free. 00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:54.400 I'm going to just read the words to this old song that probably all of us know. 00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.776 I would try to sing it, but without some accompaniment. 00:25:57.776 --> 00:26:00.361 We all might need to take a moment to pray. 00:26:00.361 --> 00:26:13.722 It says how deep the Father's love for us, how vast beyond all measure that he should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. 00:26:13.722 --> 00:26:16.772 How great the pain of searing loss. 00:26:16.772 --> 00:26:19.056 The Father turns His face away. 00:26:19.056 --> 00:26:19.856 How great the pain of searing loss. 00:26:19.856 --> 00:26:25.424 The father turns his face away as wounds which, near the chosen one, bring many sons to glory. 00:26:31.718 --> 00:26:34.170 Behold the man upon a cross, my sin upon his shoulders. 00:26:34.170 --> 00:26:40.619 Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers it was my sin that held him there until it was accomplished. 00:26:40.619 --> 00:26:43.632 His dying breath has brought me life. 00:26:43.632 --> 00:26:46.096 I know that it is finished. 00:26:46.096 --> 00:26:57.240 I will not boast in anything, no gifts, no power, no wisdom, but I will boast in Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection. 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:00.022 Why should I gain from his reward? 00:27:00.022 --> 00:27:09.223 I cannot give an answer, but this I know with all my heart his wounds have paid my ransom. 00:27:09.223 --> 00:27:18.121 Come on the great merry good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:27:18.121 --> 00:27:21.424 Haven't we all tasted of this? 00:27:21.424 --> 00:27:23.056 Haven't we all experienced it? 00:27:23.056 --> 00:27:34.942 Don't our hearts burn within us when we consider this, when we hear these words, my friends, let's shake ourselves loose from anything that would try to keep us away from these truths. 00:27:34.942 --> 00:27:40.076 What in the world are we doing? 00:27:40.076 --> 00:27:52.836 Spending hours a day worrying about things when we should be focusing in on the love of God displayed in each of our lives because of Jesus Christ?