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And then all right Matthew chapter 9 So we'll just go ahead and we'll step through Matthew chapter 9 once again Matthew chapter 9 Has several several different stories in it and we're gonna step through and talk a little bit about each of those stories But there's a lot of different doctrines also in Matthew chapter 9, so I want to look at that So what I first want to do is as normal I want to just step through the whole chapter and just kind of explain You know each of these stories and the significance of the doctrine and then we'll make some application at the end of The the sermon this evening. So first of all, let's start off Matthew chapter 9 look at verse number 1 and he entered into a ship and he passed over and came into his own city and Behold, they brought him a man sick of the palsy lying on a bed and Jesus seeing their faith Said unto the sick of the palsy son being of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee so turn to Luke chapter 5 So this is an example of one of those situate one of those stories in the Bible We can look at one of the other Gospels and get a little bit more Detail a little bit more detail on what's happening with this story So if you look at Luke chapter 5 at verse number 18 We see another account of this same story and Luke chapter 5 in verse number 18 We get a little bit more detail here where it says and behold Men brought in a bit in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy and they sought means to bring him in and To lay him before him and when they could not find by way They might bring him in because of the multitude they went up on the housetop and let him down through the tiling With his couch into the midst before Jesus and when he saw their faith He said unto unto him man thy sins are forgiven thee so the same type of story, but here you see You know, here's a side note first of all So Jesus is in this house and there's all these people just crowding around him. So these guys they bring their buddy Who's who's sick? He's hand. He's crippled. He's sick of the palsy the Bible says, you know, and he's in this bed He's laid up in this bed and they can't get him to Jesus. Okay. And so what do they do? I mean now these are some friends I mean you want to have friends like this in your life where you're sick and they will literally they climbed up on the roof of The house they proceeded to take the roof apart and then they lowered this man So, I mean they must have had, you know ropes and things to do this But these these men took their friend and they basically made sure that they got him to Jesus. All right. So those are some good and faithful Friends, I mean they took they were faithful in Christ number one But they were faithful enough to take action on their faith to get there Make sure that by whatever means their friend got to see Jesus. So they disassemble the roof They lower their friend down to Jesus now. I mean guys like this. They deserve some they deserve some mention in the Bible I mean they're in the Bible for this reason. I mean good for them. I mean we should all hope that we have Friends like that in our lives, right? That would take us up on the rooftop and lower us down do whatever it takes to get us better to get us healed All right So that's the the context of the story Jesus crowded with this big crowd inside this house these men lower this man down to Jesus now go back to Matthew chapter 9 So what's interesting in this story is it starts off where Jesus he sees the man who's who's? Crippled paralyzed whatever is sick of the palsy and he says to him thy sins be forgiven thee now, that's Something to say to somebody who has a physical handicapped, right? Look at verse number three the Pharisees did not like him saying that and the Bible says and behold certain of the scribes said within themselves this man blaspheme and Jesus knowing their thoughts said wherefore think ye evil in your hearts for whether is easier to say thy sins Be forgiven thee or to say arise and walk So basically what the fair the Pharisees didn't say this out loud the scribes didn't say this out loud They said it within themselves But Jesus reading their thoughts being God knew what they said and he says to them Is it easier to forgive men's sins or is it easier to heal men turn to Ephesians chapter 4? Look only God can forgive sins That's why they said this man blasphemeth because Jesus was claiming to do something that only God can do Alright, so they said this man blasphemeth in verse number 3 look at Ephesians chapter 4 So, how could Jesus have done this right? Of course, we know that Jesus is God We know that but look at Ephesians chapter 4 in verse number 32. The Bible says this it says and be ye kind to one another Tender-hearted forgiving one another Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you turn to 1st Timothy chapter 2 1st Timothy chapter 2 so God the Bible says that God forgives you for Christ's sake now go to 1st Timothy chapter 2 and Look at verse number 5 where the Bible says this it says for there is one God and one mediator between God and men The man Christ Jesus So it says this is how this is the answer of how Jesus could do this because he is the mediator between man and God He's the only one so he could go and he could forgive this man's sins because the forgiveness is through him And he is God and he has the power to forgive sins through himself okay, so he's claiming to be God here and The Pharisees knew this they knew when he said that your sins be forgiven me They knew that he was claiming to be God and that's why they called it blasphemy Look, they didn't say that he was just making some crazy claim like hey, I can do this huge miracle No, he was doing something that was telling them. He was claiming to have the powers of God. Okay Look at verse number six But that you may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins So now he says it again. It's gonna make him even madder then sayeth he to the sick of the palsy Arise take up thy bed and go unto thine house and he arose and departed to his house so look This is how this went down. Okay, he says to the guy your sins be forgiven you The Pharisees the scribes freak out because he they know that he's calling himself God and then he says to him Is it easier to say his sins are forgiven him or to heal him and you know, make him better? basically Jesus says so he's saying what's easier to say that his sins are forgiven or to actually heal him because If I tell brother Matt like look a Catholic priest or a Lutheran pastor would say your sins be forgiven you Can we see that happening? Can you see proof of that? I mean, we know it's a lie from the Bible But can you see can you can you outright physically disprove that? That that man who just spoke something I mean we can disprove it from the Bible, but it's not something that you can physically see you see what I'm saying? That's why Jesus said is It is it easy to he's like it's probably pretty easy just to say that right just to say that I forgive his sins But it probably wouldn't be very easy to just heal him right it's actually harder to forgive his sins But you can't see it outrightly. So he heals them and he gets up and walks. He's like BAM Right. I did them both So that proves that the first one was done in many ways, right? So he's saying which one's easier. You can't see the first one They already called, you know They say you you're it's blasphemy because you're claiming to do something that only God can do and then he actually just heals the guy And walks everybody sees it. So Everybody believes that he's the Christ basically is what is what happens? Okay, not everybody but you see what I'm saying. He proved himself Through that exercise. All right So, I mean just to rub it in and to show everybody that he can forgive sins He actually heals the guy too. You see what I'm saying? It's it's a wonderful story Matthew chapter 9. Look at verse number 8 But when the multitude saw it they marveled and glorified God Which had given such power unto man and as Jesus passed forth from thence He saw a man named Matthew Sitting at the receipt of custom and he said unto him follow me and he arose and followed him This is the call of Matthew in the book of Matthew The receipt of custom Matthew was a tax collector verse number 10 And it came to pass as Jesus sat at meat in the house behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples and when the Pharisees saw it they said unto his Disciples why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold need not a physician But they that are sick turn to Luke chapter 18 So the Pharisees they say to him they see him eating with all these people that they're calling You know publicans and sinners these were these were people that were you know known to be bad people and known to be you know lower in people according to the Pharisees view of things and Jesus says they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. Look at Luke Verse number 18 and let's see what Jesus is talking about here I want to show you that when Jesus says they that be whole here. He's talking tongue-in-cheek to the Pharisees Okay, look at Luke 18 and verse number 9 And the Bible says this and it says and he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and Despised others. So he's speaking this parable to prove a point to those who trust in themselves and despise others They trust in themselves to be righteous, right? Is that going to work out for you if you trust in yourself to be righteous the Bible says no Verse 10 two men went up into the temple to pray the one of Pharisee and the other a Publican you see the same two groups of people that we're talking about in Matthew chapter 9 One a Pharisee and one a publican the Pharisee stood and prayed thus within himself God I thank thee that I am NOT as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this publican I fast twice in a week I give tithes of all that I possess notice how he says that he's not like these Sinners and then he goes and he tells what he does he his works that he does Alright, I fast twice in a week. I give tithes of all that I possess and the publican Standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven But smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner I Tell you that this man went down to his house Justified rather than the other for everyone that exalted himself shall be abased and he that humblest himself shall be exalted now If you're a soul winner, you know these two guys you've met these two guys several times you've met the guy who's humble and is a based and knows he's a sinner and is ready to admit that he's a sinner and then you've met the guy who is Righteous in his own mind that he he's I do all these things and I go to church And I whatever you know and you've met these two guys in this chapter This is the same type of people that Jesus is talking about in Matthew chapter 9 go back to Matthew chapter 9 and look at verse number 12 But when Jesus heard that he said unto them they that behold need not a physician But they that are sick so look were the Pharisees whole Were the Pharisees whole No, they were not but they thought they were that's the problem Right the Pharisees asked in verse 11 why he eats with publicans and sinners But look as it is written there is none righteous No, not one the Bible says saying, you know saying that it is those that know they are righteous You know that they're they're saying that they're they're sinners They're not admitting that they're sinners. You see they think that they're whole one one must first be humble in order to accept Christ That's what Jesus is trying to Show here, so you must know that you cannot rely on your own righteousness, which is exactly what the Pharisees were doing You must first know that you are sick before you Realize your need for a physician Period so you cannot get saved if you will not admit that you're a sinner and you know that people will not do that The Pharisees thought that they were righteous. That's the problem and that's what Jesus was trying to get across. They thought that they were whole Period it was very easy to show the publicans and sinners their sins and Jesus that that's why so many of them ended up getting saved the Pharisees not so much Okay, so that's what Jesus is getting at here. The fair the Pharisees thought that they were whole they were not Jesus knew that and He was just saying that look the the publicans and sinners they admit that they're sinned and they're humbled So they're they're easy to get saved because you can't get saved through your own righteousness You need the righteousness of Christ. All right now Matthew 9 verse number 12 also has a great Application to the modern-day debate on vaccines. Okay those that you know that's not the actual context of what Jesus was talking about, of course, but The bottom line is when it comes to this vaccine debate Jesus himself said those that be whole would not need a physician All right, so it basically comes down to the fact of why would you give medicine quote-unquote to a perfectly healthy child Okay, I mean and the Bible teaches that but there's many moral issues with it. That's not the purpose of the sermon tonight I actually want to refer you to pastor Jimenez's sermon on Sunday if you did not see it. It's a very complete and full Sermon on the whole vaccine debate which is going to become very relevant in the near future In my opinion, all right now look I used to always say to people On the vaccine thing that the best thing that you could do to avoid You know having to take vaccines and having to have anything forced upon you is to just not participate in any kind of government program Don't participate in the government schools don't participate in government health care because look if they're if they're providing you all this stuff They can make the rules. That's the bottom line. Okay, and that's brought up in pastors sermon as well So just get off the government period I mean look if they're paying for everything for you And they're paying for taking care of you and your health and all these bills and all this stuff for you They're gonna make the rules for you. That's just the way it's gonna go Alright, but look here's something else I just want to add just an adder on to this something else that I'm seeing that's going to come and it's this First of all, the vaccines is not the mark of the beast. Okay. I know that people are gonna start throwing that out there Alright, it's not the mark of the beast but here's what's coming. Okay what you're gonna see. Let me give you a little private sector Vision here, okay We're seeing a lot of private companies today that are very Nervous and putting a lot of things in place to protect their liability because of this Corona thing that's going on and They're they're putting out checklists. They're sending in health officers into offices They're taking people's temperatures. If if something happens to where they send you home and you're deemed to be sick They're not even they're not even testing people in many cases They're just they're reporting you to public health agencies and they're you know Making sure somebody like make sure that you stay home for 14 days that type of thing It's it's become this thing where these companies don't want to get sued that they haven't done enough to protect the employees at their company from Sickness it's a huge liability thing. Here's what's coming In Revelation 13 when it does talk about the mark of the beast and I used to talk about this With friends of mine two three years ago who were concerned that the government was going to come around to your house Put a gun to your head and make you get a vaccine and I was like, you know I just don't see that coming first of all, who knows these days, but I don't see that coming in Revelation 13 what is used to get people to take the mark of the beast is the ability to buy and sell and Here's what's coming and I I can see it clear as day If this type of thing keeps going on Companies will require that you are vaccinated to come work there. I Can see that coming plain as day. Hey, you have the choice to go work there But if you want to come work here for the safety of our employees as soon as one company starts doing it All companies will follow suit That's what happened with this checklist thing and all these different things as soon as one company starts doing it All companies will follow suit because no company is gonna say that they didn't protect up their employees as well as some other company did So this is coming. I already know that hospitals do it from the past like hospitals are a business They do it you have to be vaccinated for certain things if you want to work at a hospital Alright, so look this is coming. So when that comes people are going to have a decision to make in their life We're not to find out, you know at that point you're gonna have to find out Where your convictions lie How strong you hold your convictions because look the vaccine thing It can get very complicated on all the technical things But here's the here's the brass tacks of it if it's morally wrong morally meaning if it's against what the Bible says It doesn't matter what the benefits are or the risks are or that it doesn't matter if it's morally wrong It's morally wrong period that's it Alright, so look these things are coming and we're gonna see this more and more and more and there's some very powerful people and very Powerful companies pushing these types of agendas, but let me tell you when one private company starts doing it They will all follow suit because it's all about in America. Especially it's all about not getting sued Unfortunately, that's a society that we live in. All right. So look those that be whole need not a physician It's very simple. All right. All right, let's go move on. Let's look at Matthew chapter 9 of verse number 13 But Go ye and learn what that meaneth I will have mercy and not sacrifice for I am NOT come to call the righteous but sinners under repentance He's continuing this thought of the Pharisees and these Pharisees are all out there and what did the guy say when he was praying? He said, you know, I I tithe and I fast twice a week He's saying all these things that he does to sacrifice right he sacrifices to make himself righteous But God says no, I want to have mercy your sacrifice is not what I'm looking for. All right So the Pharisees were doing all these outward things to show their righteousness All right to show that they sacrificed for the Lord, but Jesus says I'm gonna have mercy Meaning on those who admit they cannot do it on their own He will save them. There's nothing you can sacrifice to the Lord to save yourself That was the problem with the Pharisees All right Look at verse number 14 Then came to him the disciples of John saying why do we in the Pharisees fast off but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them can the children of the bride chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them and then they shall fast Look, they can't he's basically saying the kingdom of heaven is walking around with them. They have nothing in To fast for they have nothing they're in need of nothing right now is what he's saying the kingdom of heaven Jesus Christ is walking around with them right now is what he says look at verse 16 We see another applicant or another concept brought up in verse 16 no man putteth a Piece of new cloth unto an old garment for that which is put in to fill it up Take to fill it up taketh from the garment and the rent is made worse the rent meaning the tear in the garment Neither do men put wine into old bottles else the bottles break and the wine runneth out and the bottles perish But they put new wine into new bottles and both are preserved So look, this is what he's trying to say that it won't work living, you know to try to live half of the Christian life That's what he's saying. He's like notice. He doesn't say that the patch, you know won't look right He says that you know, it'll actually be worse. He says that it will actually you know Tear he says that the bottle it's not only that the bottle won't be right He says it'll break the bottle will actually break if you try to do that So he's trying to say that you can't just live half in on the Christian life. We'll apply this This is gonna be one of our applications at the end. Okay. Look at verse number 18 for sake of time While he spake these things unto them behold there came a certain ruler and worshipped him saying my daughter is even now dead But come and lay thy hand upon her that she shall live and Jesus arose and followed him and so does it his Disciples and behold a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years came behind him and touched the hem of his garment For she said within herself if I may but touch his garment I shall be whole but Jesus turned him about and when he saw her He said daughter be of good comfort thy faith hath made thee whole and the woman was made whole from that hour So now this is very interesting. All right, this is very interesting He's walking to go to this guy's house to raise this guy's daughter who has died and this lady touches him now Here's the thing Jesus didn't even she didn't say hey You know Could you heal me? I have an issue Jesus didn't even know until she touched him, but he felt her touched him. Okay, and This explains this story right here. You ever wonder why Jesus did miracles? You ever you ever thought about that I mean why? Jesus was on this earth to die for the sins of the world to become the sacrifice for us and to whoever would believe on Him, you know would have everlasting life, right? But why did he have to go around for three and a half years and do all these miracles you ever think about that? You say okay to show that he's God, right? Well, yeah, that's one reason but there's a bigger picture here All right, and this story Explains it notice what he says to this woman in verse number 22 He says to her he says thy faith hath made thee whole she didn't even ask him She didn't ask him for permission. Hey, would you heal me, please? She didn't even ask him. She went and she touched him and she had something and It just she was healed just like that and Jesus explained what that something was and it was her faith It was her faith look back look to the man sick of the palsy Jesus I mean the Bible says Jesus seeing their what? their faith To the centurion from chapter 8 he says verily I say to you I have not found so great Faith no, not in Israel and then he heals his servant, you know turn to Matthew chapter 13 So there's something that's common here to these people that are getting healed and it's their faith and Jesus points it out Let's look at the opposite of this. Let's look at the opposite of this. You say I don't believe you I don't like the connection. Let's look at the opposite. Look at Matthew 13 in verse 54. Jesus goes to his own hometown He goes to his own County or whatever you want to call it where he's from. All right, and the Bible says and he was come into his own country He taught them there in the synagogue It's so much that they were astonished and said whence hath this man this wisdom and these mighty works Is not this the carpenter's son is this his mother not called Mary and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas and his Sisters are they not all with us? Winston had this man had all these things and they were offended in him but Jesus said unto them a prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house, and he did not Many mighty works there because of their what? Because of their unbelief so he didn't do mighty works there because of their unbelief which is the exact Opposite of faith. So the faith caused the mighty works out of Jesus So the lady that touched Jesus without even announcing herself to him, but she had the faith in her in Jesus you see she believed on Jesus and that is what healed her So look the people's faith came before healing and the people didn't have faith here So nothing was done. You see he did not many mighty works there. This is a picture of your salvation The miracles of Jesus are a picture of foreshadowing of your salvation That's why he did miracles faith was the source of healing It was never look it was never through money or gifts or favor Jesus just really liked these people. No, it was by faith It was by faith. Look for by grace. Are you saved through? faith So this the miracles of Jesus are a picture of salvation look at Matthew chapter 9 in verse number 23 and When Jesus came into the rulers house now, he's there and saw minstrels and the people making a noise He said to them give place for the maid is not dead but sleepeth and they laughed him to scorn but when the people were put forth he went in and took her by the hand and the maid arose and the fame here of Went abroad into all the land and when Jesus departed then's two blind men following crying and saying thou son of David Have mercy on us and when he was coming to the house The blind men came to him and Jesus said unto them believe ye that I am able to do this They said unto him. Yea Lord. So there's that faith again, right? So Jesus is gonna heal these guys and look at he says to them He says believe ye and what are the what's their answer? You know what their aunt if their answer is number one Yes, we believe that you can do it. But then what's the last word of their answer Lord? They believed who he was too. So they believed he was the Lord. So there's that faith again. Look at Matthew 9 verse 29 So we see that that this these miracles I mean they're just a picture again and again and again of Salvation by grace through faith period all right Look at verse 29 Then he touched their touched he their eyes saying according to your faith be it unto you And their eyes were open to Jesus straightly charged them saying see that no man know it But they when they departed spread about his fame and all that country and as they went out behold they brought him a dumb man possessed with the devil when the devil was cast out the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled saying It was never so seen in Israel But the Pharisees said he casteth out devils through the prince of the devils now Look, this is a little bit of a preview of the situation in Matthew chapter 12 where you know We get this story of the blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. All right, I'm not gonna get into that story yet We'll save that for Matthew chapter 12, but I just want to point out that you know, the Pharisees, you know Basically made a habit of this. So when it happened in Matthew chapter 12, it wasn't like the first time it happened, right? I mean they were constantly saying, you know following him around he's doing all these great things and they're saying that you know He's doing it by demons. He's doing it by Satan. He's doing it by the power of the devil all this stuff So by Matthew chapter 12, you know, he was fed up with it So that's a little bit of a context to Matthew chapter 12 when we get there All right, accusing people of using the power of Satan to cast out, you know Satan, but we'll get to that in Matthew 12 all right, we'll get verse number 35 and Jesus went about all the cities and the villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and Healing every sickness and every disease among the people but when he saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no Shepherd Look they were just these people were confused. They were carried about in every way. No focus. No direction We'll talk about that a little bit at the end of the sermon as well, but he had compassion on them He had compassion on these people look at verse 37 and then having compassion on those people He says this he says then said he unto his disciples the harvest truly is plenteous But the laborers are few pray ye therefore that the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest That's a good prayer. I mean, that's a prayer that we could pray I mean you should pray, you know, you should pray for this church to grow You should pray for more people to become soul winners because the heart, you know The harvest truly is plenteous out there All right, Fresno is a plenteous harvest. We see that week in and week out We need more laborers and we need more time So we should pray for laborers and time, you know I've said this many times but soul winning is a function of man-hours, you know, basically bodies out there doing it Bodies times time equals salvation's basically is what it is. So we need more laborers. We need more time That's a good prayer to have. All right, so that's Matthew chapter 9 Let's look at some application of some of these stories in Matthew chapter 9 look back at you know verse number 16 First number 16 I want to look at this idea of this new cloth onto an old garment and then this you know This new wine into old bottles and what Jesus is talking about here is, you know Having one foot in the world basically, you know we teach separation here and this is talking about having one foot in the world and You know, basically it's not gonna work out It's it's not gonna work out where you know, you're gonna fall back into the world All right, and especially in times like this people need to be very very careful All right sin in general turn to Luke chapter 11 sin in general is a very very Dangerous thing for the Christian. All right, and you need to understand that sin is dangerous and Look at Luke chapter 24 Luke chapter 11 in verse number 24 The Bible actually teaches that if there's something that you know, you've gotten Out of you've gotten, you know, you've you've gotten past in your life You need to be very careful about especially that particular thing in your life All right Look at Luke 11 in verse 24 The Bible says this when the unclean spirit has gone out of a man He walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none He saith I will return unto my house which I came out and when he cometh he findeth it swept and garnished then goeth he and Taken to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter in and dwell there and the last state of that man Is worse than the first now if you say this is confusing. Let me just explain it to you There's a whole sermon in this Passage itself, but basically what the Bible is saying here and I've seen this several times in my life is If you get out of something you get saved you get out of sin you get out, you know You stop drinking or whatever your sin that you're struggling with and then you fall back into that thing It will be worse than it was the first time and I've seen it many times and it's very true. So look You need to guard yourself and you need to understand that especially if you have struggled with something in the past You need to put protections in your in place for yourself because Being saved does not mean you don't still have the flesh and the Bible says if you fall back into those things Like it will be worse than it was the first time because look first of all, you're saved now You're not getting away with anything. You're gonna have the chastisement of God on your life And I mean that enough right there Put protections in place like especially times like like today People are are in a transitional period they're in they're doing weird different things now Then they they're used to they're out of their routines That they usually been in look you just have to protect against those things that you know You struggle with and just sin in general just stay away from it because as a saved person you fall back into those things It can be worse than it was the first time. All right, let's talk about just living in sin You know, look let's talk about somebody who wants to live in sin and and fit in a church like this for example I mean we preach the whole series on this when I we first opened the church here. Look It's not just fornication, I mean everybody thinks about when you're living in sin things that'll get you kicked out of a church It's fornication. There's all kinds of different things extortion, you know taking advantage of people in a church We talked about Christian extortion, you know That kind of thing is look that's why God put these protections in place in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 he put these protections in place that if you do certain things and you think you're gonna come into a Biblical church that has a candlestick in it and you think you're gonna live with these sins. Look God's not gonna allow his bottle to break You see what I mean? That's why it has to be that way that's why these certain sins will get you kicked out of the church if a church is run properly and And practices Church discipline like the Bible says they will get you thrown out Because God's not gonna allow his bottle to break. He's not gonna allow his you know clothing to get torn. It's gonna be you That sins gonna do you know covetousness being a railer being a drunk or drunkard, you know 2nd Thessalonians 3 14 by the way says that if a man won't work that we should not keep company with him There's another one Right. So these are serious sins that will literally get you thrown out of church All right. Look churches that don't practice proper discipline that church tears That bottle breaks. That's why you see these churches that allow just these anything goes churches You see all these terrible things happening there. I Mean you see, you know child molesters in the church. You see kids getting hurt. You see all these horrible things done there because The bottle will break But Jesus says that against my church the gates of hell will not prevail against it So that's why God puts these these these lines These lines in in the Bible Finally tonight look at verse 35 and verse 36 of Matthew chapter 9 So we see that you know this half in half out not only is it dangerous for you But it's not gonna work. Your bottle is gonna break. It's not gonna work out for you I mean you're gonna be a laughingstock to those people you have one foot in out there You have one foot in here. You'll be a laughingstock to them. The bad always influences the good That's the that's one of the biggest reasons that nobody should have their kid in public school Because your your child will never be an influence on the kids in the public school. It will always be the other way always all right, look at verse number 35 and Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom in healing every sickness and disease Among the people but he saw the multitude and was moved with compassion Among them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd look Don't we see this today? I mean The today is such a great example of verse 36. I mean don't we see just the unsaved? just completely confused and and Scared and They're just they're just I mean they're it says they fainted right? I mean people I mean you can hear you can read all sorts of things about how stressed out and Depressed people are now. I mean, I'm sure you know the 80% increase in drinking or alcohol consumption is not helping that situation either but look All these people out there are confused. They're scattered like sheep having no Shepherd This is why I said to brother Frank the other day when we were out soul winning. I think we're gonna get a huge Spiritual bounce out of this thing. I Mean, I'm convinced of it. I'm convinced that when this thing starts, you know, whatever coming I don't even know what it'll look like on the outside of this thing But look we're gonna get a bounce out of this thing because people people that were thought they were whole The people that thought they were whole and thought that they had it all figured out You know what a lot of those people are still gonna think that they still have it all figured out But some of them are gonna be looking for something different They're gonna be looking for what their conscience is telling them that they need They're gonna be looking for that. Hope that we can provide You know Maybe a few more of these people after going through these uncertain times and being scared and stressed out and depressed and drunk Maybe a few more of these people will realize that they need a shepherd Maybe a few of these people that were just thinking before all this happened that you know what I need to get in church How many how many times have you heard that at the door? Do you go to church? No, but I need to you Never see him again Maybe some of those people when they get you know Shooken up a little bit Maybe some of those people will realize you know what I need to do that You know what I need to they pick up an invitation to Verity Baptist Church and they realize you know what today is the day because I don't know what's coming tomorrow and What people I mean people are scared. They're they're depressed. They're stressed out We're gonna we're gonna get a bounce out of this and we need to be ready for that People are gonna be yearning for a church. They're gonna be yearning for answers. They're gonna be yearning for what the hope The hope that we can give them because look at the end of the day I mean, what is your hope at the end of the day God's will be done at the end of the day You're saved at the end of the day. I'm saved at the end of the day Whatever we're going to heaven You know, I mean at the end of the day it's gonna be fine and and what do we do now What do we do now? Well, we do what we're just supposed to do. That's it We do what we were always supposed to do So we know we know what to do through times like this We know what to fear through times like this We fear God like we feared him before this and like we'll fear him after this. It's really simple for the saved Christian It's really simple and when you don't have to worry about all these different things Well, which direction we should go. We know the direction we should go. You don't have to be stressed out about it You just go that way and whatever, you know, the Bible says go that way and whatever happens. We just keep going that way There's no decision there's no what do I do now? It's just we just go that way. That's it. It's so easy I mean, it's so easy People are gonna want that When this whole thing's done and you know Americans Americans some of these Americans need to be brought down a little bit and and there will be a spiritual bounce that comes out of it and I do believe that they'll be looking for, you know, they'll be looking for fellowship. You know, what makes me feel so much better Just fellowship You know, no matter what stupid crazy thing is going on when I come here and we just have just fellowship Just everything's better People want that I'm convinced. Look I'm convinced overall That people people want a church like this that people want a Bible preaching church that people look I've seen for 20 25 years. I've seen people lose their kids to the world unsaved people Unsaved people lose their kids to the world. They have no idea, you know, they don't like it because guess what? They have a conscience. They're not reprobates, right? They don't like that their kids are going into fornication and drug and alcohol use they don't like that Over and over and over 14 15 16 years old They just go into that stuff because they're off in the world with the public school system. People want a church like this I'm convinced of it. You will never convince me. Otherwise people want they just don't know that They don't know that it's possible to raise godly children. They don't know that it's possible to have a godly marriage They don't know that it's possible to live the victorious Christian life Minus all these problems that these people are dealing with that this this sin that people are dealing with and the consequences of it so look We need to be ready for that We need to be ready to go out and tell these people and we need to be ready for this place to grow We need to be ready to you know Show people the hope that's in us because it's coming and I can feel it coming Okay, let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer Matthew chapter 9 dear Heavenly Father We thank you for this book in the Bible. We thank you for Matthew chapter 9 and all the different doctrines that you teach in just this one chapter Lord we thank you for all the miracles and all the wonderful things that you did when you were on this earth and just all the Things that you know They they edify us all these stories and all these things that you did in in your ministry Lord will never stop learning from that those few years of ministry that you had on this earth. We thank you Lord We thank you for this church. We thank you for everyone in it Please just put the hand of God on this church. We pray all these things in Jesus name