[0:00] Matthew chapter 15, and we'll begin reading at verse 21.
[0:15] Please stand with me as we read God's word together. Matthew 15, beginning at verse 21. Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
[0:30] A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.
[0:42] Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us. He answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.
[0:56] The woman came and knelt before him, Lord, help me, she said. He replied, it is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs. Yes, Lord, she said, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table.
[1:14] Then Jesus answered, woman, you have great faith. Your request is granted. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Let's pray together.
[1:26] If you have your Bible with you, would you turn to Romans chapter 11. What a wonderful privilege it is to open the Lord's word on the Lord's day with the Lord's people in the Lord's house and trust the Lord's spirit to bring it with power among us tonight according to our needs.
[1:54] One of the precious truths of Scripture that has encouraged Christians down through the ages is the fact that God always has a remnant.
[2:07] He always has a remnant, a little piece. A people, no matter how small in number, a people that are his very own, purchased for him by the blood of Jesus, whom he will never forsake or leave alone.
[2:25] And that's a tremendous encouragement to you and me as we live in the midst of a godless, self-righteous, materialistic world, isn't it? The believers at Rome needed that encouragement as well.
[2:38] And so the Apostle Paul pointed them back almost a thousand years to the example of Elijah, that discouraged prophet of God.
[2:51] And discouragement is one of the devil's best tools. If you haven't experienced it yet, you probably will. He uses that when nothing else will work.
[3:03] It's his best weapon. And so we need the word of God. We need the promises of God. We need the commands of God to encourage us and to build us up against the discouragement of the devil.
[3:18] And Elijah was discouraged, thinking he was the only one who cared about serving God anymore, the only one who was standing for truth. And in Romans 11 and verse 2, we read Paul's encouragement.
[3:35] God did not reject his people whom he foreknew. Don't you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah? How he appealed to God against Israel?
[3:47] Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I'm the only one left, and they're trying to kill me. And what was God's answer to him? I have reserved for myself 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
[4:05] Take heart, Elijah, you're not alone. There are 7,000 that won't bow to Baal. And then Paul nails it down for the Roman church and for every child of God that's alive today in verse 5.
[4:19] So too, at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. You're not alone. God always has a remnant.
[4:30] He has his people. Christ will build his church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it. Another aspect of this precious truth is this, that on the great day of our Lord's coming, he will have his remnant out of all the nations of the world.
[4:52] Even the most unlikely, the most idolatrous, the most backward, the most uncivilized nations of the world, will see their men and women, their boys and girls, who have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ, who are trophies of the grace of God, marching triumphantly up out of the hell holes in which they lived, toward the throne of God, under the banner of King Jesus, singing with the whole blood-bought church, you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
[5:32] You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. Revelation 5, 9, and 10. God will have his remnant out of all the nations of this world, and every one of them purchased by the precious blood of Jesus.
[5:50] That's the blood of God. That's the only blood that can redeem anybody. And Jesus was a bloody mess, let me tell you. When he was crucified, he had that crown of thorns dripping blood.
[6:05] He had his face so mashed and mangled that Isaiah said you couldn't even tell that he was a man. He had his back whipped so hard by Pilate's cat-of-nine-tails that it went through his back and onto his bones, in fact, some men died from that whipping of the cat-of-nine-tails, and he had blood gushing out of his hands and his feet when he was nailed to the cross, and he had blood pouring out of his side when they speared him.
[6:35] Blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. This is a true story. Little five-year-old Mary needed a serious operation.
[6:50] In fact, it was so serious that she required a blood transfusion. And they checked out the adults in the family, and nobody's blood matched hers. And they came to her brother, Jimmy, a husky 13-year-old lad that really loved his little sister.
[7:05] The doctor said, Jim, would you give some of your blood to your sister? And he said, Yes, sir, if she needs it. And it was urgent, so they got him ready right away, and they began to draw the blood, and the doctor noticed that Jim was turning pale.
[7:24] And he said, Jim, are you sick? And he said, No, sir, I'm just wondering when I'm going to die. He said, What? You mean you think by giving a little of your blood you're going to die?
[7:39] Yes, sir. And you're willing to give your blood for your sister? Yes, sir. Well, Mary lived.
[7:51] And Jim didn't die. But God's people lived because Jesus gave his blood, but Jesus had to die. Christ died for sins once for all.
[8:06] The righteous for the unrighteous to bring you to God. He had to die. He had to endure hell. He had to suffer the wrath of God. And if you're saved tonight, he died for your sins.
[8:20] And if you're saved tonight, his blood was shed for you. And if you're not saved tonight, dear one, let me tell you, you will pay for your sins in hell forever and ever.
[8:37] Jesus didn't die for you. He didn't shed his blood for you. Otherwise, your sins would be atoned for. Oh, the blood, the precious blood of Jesus.
[8:47] Jesus. Well, the region of Tyre and Sidon was a godless place. On the far northwest borders of the land of Israel, next to the Mediterranean Sea, it was a hotbed of Gentile materialism.
[9:03] Its religion, dominated by a fertility cult which produced a rotten moral impact upon the whole people. And in order to reach this area of the world, Jesus and his disciples probably had to walk at least 35 to 40 miles.
[9:21] They had been in the town of Gennesaret where Jesus had just had a head-to-head confrontation with some self-righteous Pharisees showing them how the tradition of their elders had left them with a hard-hearted external religion that worshiped God in vain.
[9:38] He said, you're honoring God with your lips but your hearts are far from him. And Jesus pronounced woe on hypocrites because that's what you are if you honor him with your lips and your heart is far from him.
[9:55] Now, there's a hypocrite in most all of us but if you're a child of God, you recognize that and you confess it to him and he forgives you of that sin but if you're living in hypocrisy, if that's your lifestyle, you're in big trouble.
[10:14] So I'd ask you tonight, how about your heart? Is it right with God? That's the thing that counts today. People often see you as you are outside.
[10:27] Jesus really knows you for he sees inside. How about your heart? Are you right with God? That's the thing that counts today.
[10:40] But these people that Jesus was talking to were his own people. They were Jews and he loved them. They were dear to his heart and it wasn't long before he was weeping over them because of their sinfulness.
[10:55] But listen to John chapter 1. He came to that which was his own. That's the Jews. But his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, Jew and Gentile alike, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.
[11:15] Children not born of natural descent, nor of human decision, nor of a husband's will, but born of God. That is, born from above.
[11:26] Born by his power so that they might have his life pulsing through them. And so Jesus shook the dust of his feet off against these Jews and he left Gennesaret.
[11:40] They didn't believe him. But way up on the borders of Tyre and Sidon, 40 miles away, there's a part of that remnant chosen by grace, just one woman.
[11:53] Just one woman. We don't know her name. We don't know her personal history. We don't know how she heard about Jesus. But we do know that she had three strikes against her.
[12:06] Number one, she was a Gentile. That means the Jews hated her. And then she was a Canaanite, the political enemy of the Jews, a country long before condemned to destruction by God himself.
[12:21] And thirdly, she had a little daughter that was possessed by a devil. Three strikes. But not out.
[12:32] Not out. Her little girl's plight was a great trial to this dear mother, but her great need brought her to Jesus. And her great pain taught her to pray.
[12:44] And her great faith gained her request from her Lord. and her little girl was healed from that very hour, the Bible tells us.
[12:58] Turn back to Matthew chapter 15, if you would. Matthew chapter 15, and tonight, I'd like for us just to consider four lessons that rise out of this passage.
[13:11] And I'm glad to say that I got some help from our dear brother, J.C. Ryle, over in England. In the first place, true faith may sometimes be found where it is least expected.
[13:28] True faith may sometimes be found where it is least expected. Verse 21, leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
[13:41] A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me. My daughter is suffering terribly from demon possession.
[13:53] A Gentile woman from a pagan nation where our Lord had never been before. She's tracking him down. She's crying out for mercy on behalf of her daughter.
[14:07] Notice her address to Jesus. Lord, Son of David. David, that means she knew that Jesus was more than just a great man. She knew that he was more than just a great prophet.
[14:20] She knew that he was more than just a great example. Somehow, by God's grace, she knew that he was the Messiah. She said, Son of David, and that's a synonym for Messiah.
[14:34] And because she believed Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of David, she came expecting mercy from him.
[14:47] And perhaps grasping the fact that he was her creator as well. Her Gentile status would make no difference to Jesus at all.
[15:00] She believed that. Such a faith we might expect from a Jewish woman living in Jerusalem or Bethany or Bethlehem. But here's true faith in a Gentile woman living far from the ministry of our Lord.
[15:17] One commentator put it simply, this ought to teach every one of us that it is grace not place that makes people believers in God.
[15:30] Grace not place. God has his children everywhere and he saves them by his grace and not because of the place where they live. What is this grace?
[15:43] A.W. Pink puts it this way. It's the sovereign saving favor of God upon those who have no merit in them and for which no payment is demanded from them.
[15:58] If you could earn it or if you could pay for it, it wouldn't be grace, would it? No. This grace is only given to helpless, hopeless, hell-deserving sinners who were chosen by God before the creation of the world.
[16:14] And he delights to pour out his grace upon hell-bound sinners who can't do anything for themselves. if a person's place in the world determined his salvation, consider Gehazi and his place.
[16:34] Way back in 2 Kings 5, servant of the great prophet Elisha, lived with Elisha, worshipped with Elisha, served with Elisha, and yet Gehazi loved this world.
[16:51] He was greedy for gain. He lived an unbelieving, unrepentant life. And he died with the curse of leprosy hanging on his body.
[17:05] It's possible to be in the most godly place in the world. He was with Elisha, God's prophet, and with the most godly people in the world and yet not be saved.
[17:19] And some of you are like that. You live in godly homes. You have godly parents. You have a church where the word of God is preached.
[17:35] But you're lost. You're lost. Place does not save anyone.
[17:46] grace. But if grace determines a person's relationship to God, again in 2 Kings 5, consider that young Israelite girl. Do you remember her? She was taken captive from her parents by the Syrian army and carried off to their land, strange land, made to serve in the household of Naaman, the commander of the army, in a land of superstition and idolatry.
[18:10] But for all of that, she was a faithful witness for her Lord because she had grace in her heart. And she was bold and unashamed to speak up when the situation called for it.
[18:21] And it resulted in Naaman being healed under the hand of the prophet Elisha. So never underestimate the power of God's grace.
[18:33] It will produce true faith in the most unlikely of sinners. It's possible to grow up in Tyre and Sidon and yet sit down in the kingdom of God.
[18:48] True faith may sometimes be found where it is least expected. I wonder how many of the disciples would have bet on Saul of Tarsus ever being a disciple and an apostle of God.
[19:05] Persecutor of Christians, throwing them in prison, rejoicing when they were killed. And on his way to Damascus to do the same thing when a bolt struck him.
[19:18] God said, you're persecuting me, Paul. And yet by the grace of God, he was saved. Praise the Lord.
[19:31] And there was a brilliant student of mathematics who was lost. In the university, he loved to challenge his fellow students with the most difficult mathematical problems.
[19:46] And he beat them every time. Had no use for God or the Bible. One day, one of his fellow classmates came in and put a folded piece of paper on his desk and he said, I'd like for you to solve this problem.
[20:04] And he turned around and left. And the mathematician opened it quickly and looked at it. But it wasn't a mathematical problem.
[20:16] It was the words of the Lord Jesus. What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
[20:29] And he ripped it up and threw it on the floor and went back to his studies. But the Holy Spirit took that word and pressed it on his conscience and he couldn't get away from it. What shall it profit me if I gain the whole world and lose my soul?
[20:47] Day after day he began to come under conviction and ere long he threw himself on the mercy of God and was saved.
[20:58] Although people never would have given him a chance to be saved. And he went on to be a minister of the gospel. And what do you think his first sermon was? What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
[21:17] I want to ask you to solve that problem tonight if you haven't already solved it. You'll never solve a more important one. What shall it profit you?
[21:29] gain everything the whole world and lose your soul? True faith may sometimes be found where it is least expected.
[21:46] Second lesson affliction sometimes results in rich blessings here on earth. Sometimes afflictions result in rich blessings right now here on earth.
[21:57] what a wonderful promise every believer has in Romans 8 28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him who have been called according to his purpose.
[22:11] But sometimes we don't see that good right here and now do we? Sometimes it can only be understood or realized when we meet the Savior and when all things are made clear to us.
[22:26] oh yes there's good being worked out but sometimes we don't see it. Sometimes dreadful suffering ends in death without any immediate evidence of good like in the first century martyrs were tortured thrown to the lions boiled in oil sawn in two burned at the stake and although the promise was true the evidence didn't quite sink in and even today godly men and women often are bed fast for years enduring pain and suffering until the day of their departure and sometimes we say where is the good but God says I work everything together for good to those who love me your business love me my business do you good and sometimes those situations we have to leave in the hands of our wise sovereign
[23:27] God and cling to the promise of Romans 8 18 spoken by the apostle Paul when he said I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us sufferings now glory coming you can count on it you can count on it no matter how tough your life is right now or how much you're suffering or how much you don't understand glory is coming and your sufferings can never compare with that glory that's sure to be yours but sometimes God does allow us to see the sweet blessings in the midst of our suffering here and now consider this Canaanite woman again her darling daughter was suffering dreadfully and so was she she was powerless to help her daughter and what mother is there here who doesn't know what it is to suffer when your little one suffers you're staying up nights and you're giving medicines and you're giving baths and you're going to the doctor and they all count as nothing as long as that little one gets well but this little girl didn't get well her problem was the devil and her mother was no match for the devil but wait that affliction brought her mother to
[24:52] Christ taught her mother to pray with perseverance Lord have mercy on me and again Lord help me without this severe trial she might have lived on in ignorance but she'll testify with many today it was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees you knew what you were doing Lord it was good for me to go through that affliction in other words she would say it was worth it through it all through it all I learned to trust in Jesus through it all I learned to trust in God through it all I learned to depend upon his word I often have to think of that young 40 year old mother who was among us for a while she didn't know the Lord she had no desire for church for the
[26:01] Bible for the gospel and cancer hit her she began to come and hear the word she began to read her Bible she began to think about her soul and she turned to the Lord many of you knew Penny Cody but how many times did she come to me and say Pastor Bob I thank God for cancer in my body because that's what God used to bring me to himself and I don't know what would have happened if I wouldn't have got cancer can you thank God for your affliction God would be glorified we bow in humility before the one who says I form the light and create darkness I bring prosperity and create disaster
[27:02] I the Lord do all these things and why does he do all these things for the good of his elect for his own glory health is a good thing how we appreciate it but sickness is far better if it leads us to God wouldn't you say prosperity is a great mercy but poverty is a greater mercy if it brings us to Christ anything is better than living in careless unbelief and rebellion to God and dying in sin anything is better than that better a thousand times to be afflicted like the Canaanite mother and like her to flee to Christ than to live at ease like the rich fool who said I'll eat drink and be merry and God said tonight your soul will be required of you don't despise the difficulties in your life God is at work
[28:03] God is at work third lesson God's people are far less gracious and compassionate than Jesus God's people are far less gracious and compassionate than Jesus well we can believe that can't we but this suffering mother found little patience and kindness from the Lord's disciples look what they did look what they said verse 23 second sentence so his disciples came to him and urged him send her away for she keeps crying out after us what in the world were they thinking perhaps oh she's a Gentile and she's a Canaanite and she's not worthy of Christ and his help or maybe they were thinking we came out here for a rest and she's disturbing us send her away Lord whatever they were thinking they were not helping her to Christ they were rather trying to drive her away and let's take a warning lest lest we find ourselves ever following that horrible example of those disciples too ready to brush her off with her deep need and to let her go on in her sorrow too ready to doubt the reality of grace in her heart too ready to treat her like the apostle
[29:26] Paul was treated when he first came to Jerusalem after his conversion Acts 9 26 when he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples but they were all afraid of him not believing he was really a disciple we're not going to receive him how could he be a disciple how could this persecutor be one of us how could this pagan woman be one of us well Peter James and John may send her away but those words never came from the mouth of Jesus oh no he may keep her but he never would send her away empty and rejected because she came pleading for mercy she came pleading for mercy and nobody who pleads for mercy was ever or will ever be sent away from the Lord Jesus Christ parents a word for you please don't treat your young children lightly when they call on the
[30:39] Lord or ask Jesus to save them go on teaching them go on checking their lives go on testing them go on praying with them go on praying for them but don't be in a hurry and don't send them away from Christ grace and faith are the prized possessions of many young child and there would be people in this room who would say God brought me to himself when I was a child Spurgeon said in everything you do with them in every plan and activity that concerns them do not leave without that mighty question how will this affect their souls how will this affect their souls that's your major concern as a parent toward your child grace and faith are the prized possessions of many a young child may we never be so selfish as to be bothered by our children or by anyone else who would come to
[31:54] Jesus rather let's be our master who in great compassion bid sinners to come to him Matthew 11 come to me all you who are weary and burdened I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls may we have that kind of compassion towards sinners in our own household in our area our town and may I ask you again would you commit to pray for at least at least three lost people every day we've gone over this before but would you do that three at least three lost people every day that God would give them a new heart that God would give them repentance that
[32:55] God would give them faith saving faith in Jesus Christ they're on the road to destruction right now they're on the road to hell and if they die today they're done they'll drink nothing but the cup of God's wrath would you commit to pray for at least three lost people every day I trust that everyone must might do that for God's glory final lesson persevering prayer is pleasing to our Lord persevering prayer is pleasing to our Lord notice these important things about the Canaanite woman her mouth of faith and her persevering prayer her mouth of faith can never be closed she faced one difficulty after another yet nothing could make her stop praying and Jesus had to finally say woman you have great faith she believed
[33:56] Jesus was the Messiah able to heal all kinds of diseases and she meant to keep on praying until she saw her little daughter delivered from that demon then notice too her mouth of faith cannot be closed even when our Lord's mouth is closed she cried for mercy and in verse 23 we read Jesus did not answer a word not a word oh his silence was a hard answer wasn't it harder than a sharp word might have been but mother wouldn't give up her heart was tender and her little girl's case was very urgent and the only one that could help her was standing right there in front of her and I don't care if he's not going to answer me a word I'm not going to quit praying couldn't make her doubt what a challenge it is to us that when
[35:04] God's silence is all we get for our prayers we still do not doubt his power to do the impossible for with God nothing is impossible rather we pray on and we remember our blessed Lord in his agony in the garden of Gethsemane prayed the most more earnestly until the sweat was like drops of blood falling on the ground and he was saying Lord Father take this cup away from me I don't want to drink this wrath of God and then he went back and he prayed again and then he went back and he prayed again but each time not my will but yours be done Father that kind of faith I believe was the faith of the woman the Canaanite woman and certainly with the kind of faith she exhibited toward
[36:07] Jesus her heart would have said Lord your will be done it your will for my daughter to keep on being possessed by this demon so be it but I'm not going to quit praying I'm not going to quit asking and she didn't and her mouth of faith cannot be closed even when God would seem to confine his blessing to a favored few Jesus said I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel and she could have said well there's no mercy for me he's not sent to me I'm a Gentile and only the Jews will receive the blessing that I'm seeking and though our Lord was sent to the house of Israel still there is a house of Israel not after the flesh but after the spirit and we know it as a church of God the Canaanite woman was included in that house even though it appeared that she wasn't but she prayed on and she wouldn't quit in fact she kneeled down in front of him now and she worshiped him and she cried out again
[37:15] Lord help me someone here tonight may be tempted to quit praying because you think the biblical doctrine of election may exclude you from salvation are you God no you pray on if you have the faith of a child you will believe the things that God says to you and that's simply this God is your maker and your judge sin is your nature and your enemy Jesus died and rose again to save sinners and you must repent and believe on Christ and you will be saved and those truths will in no way conflict with the mysteries of God's decrees not when you obey what God tells you to do you'll find one day that you can rejoice that you were chosen before the foundations of the world pray on my friend ask him for mercy he will not send you away empty and then we notice her mouth of faith was not closed even by her admitted unworthiness verse 26 he replied it's not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs
[38:53] Jesus let her know that the Jews considered the Gentiles as dogs for generations the Gentiles didn't know any more about the true God than the dogs that roamed the streets of Tyre and Sidon or that cuddled as their pets in their homes he called her a dog he calls us worms he calls us maggots you can read it in Job he wanted her to see the depths of her own sinfulness and as we heard this morning how far she was from God not how close she was because of her own praying or her own merit how far she was from almighty God he called her a dog did she argue with him did she dispute him no not at all faith doesn't dispute faith worships and faith also begs and prays in verse 27 she says yes
[40:10] Lord what an answer what a beautiful answer what a humble trusting answer this Canaanite woman gave and if there's one person here tonight who thinks he's the worst sinner out of hell let him pray let him beg for mercy God will not send you away empty in this Christmas season you know what it's all about Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners and Paul said and I'm the worst he realized he was a dog he realized he was a worm he realized he was a maggot he realized he was far from God and that that only left grace it only left grace grace was poured out on on him and on many of us here tonight
[41:36] Jesus answered woman you have great faith your request is granted she had never seen the Lord before in her life and yet she had a faith that drew the praise of Jesus himself and you know I I had to think I'm really ashamed every time I read this account this woman knew so little about Christ and yet she had such great faith I know so much about Christ yet my faith is so small her faith enabled her to persevere to keep on until she had her answer from her God persevering prayer pleases our God Adoniram Judson was raised in a Christian home with parents who loved him and who prayed for him and he went off to the university and he became fast friends with a young unbeliever named
[42:52] Jacob Eames and he was a very persuasive young man and he began working on Adoniram Judson and he persuaded him to forsake the ministry and to forsake God and Adoniram went home and he told his folks I'm done with it I'm not going into the ministry I'm going off to New York I'm going into the theater I'm going to be writing for the theater and their hearts were broken but they were praying people and after a bit he lost his job in New York and he headed for home and the hound of heaven was after him the Holy Spirit was after him and he directed him to a little village inn one night and he directed him to the second floor and to a room that was next to a room where there was moaning and groaning and suffering going on and the next morning
[44:06] Adoniram Judson went down and said to the innkeeper is that person alright did he make it through okay he said no he died seemed like a fine young man registered here as Jacob Eames and it struck at Adoniram it got him it woke him up woke you up too didn't it and the long and short of it was he went home and he got right with God he repented and he believed on Christ and in 1812 with his wife Ann he became a pioneer missionary to Burma and you ought to read his biography to the golden shore it's worth your time Adoniram Judson can't we learn from the parents of Adoniram
[45:11] Judson something about persevering prayer can't we learn from this dear woman to persevere in prayer can't we learn to resist temptation to quit praying to know that it comes from the devil can't we learn to believe God and pray on no matter what difficulties confront us can't we learn to pray against our own entangling sins can't we learn to pray against the spirit of the world that would engulf us can't we learn to pray persistently and perseveringly against the schemes of Satan God hardened me against myself that coward with pathetic voice that craves for rest and joy and ease myself arch traitor to myself my hollowest friend my deadliest foe my clog whatever word whatever road I go Amy Carmichael can't we learn to pray for grace to be faithful for our
[46:21] God given duty and for strength to bear up under every trial and for humility to serve one another in love can't we learn to pray perseveringly for the lost and to plead for our own children as this woman pleaded for her daughter expect great things from God attempt great things for God William Carey you have not because you ask not James stir us up by the example of this dear woman give us prayers like hers coming hot from the heart and straight to the point trusting only in God and his power because he is God because he saved us because we're part of the remnant because we've been chosen before the creation of the world and because he is
[47:24] God will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you and my friend if you're not a Christian tonight may I make a suggestion go home after this service get down on your knees and talk to the one who made you and who will judge you and talk to the only one who was able to save you because he shed his blood and died for sinners and ask him for mercy and if he's quiet and doesn't answer you ask him again ask him tomorrow because on the authority of God's word he will never turn aside anybody who begs for mercy God be merciful to me a sinner and save me tonight let's pray our father how thankful we are that you are our
[48:38] God and that we are your people you know all about us you measure out the difficulties the challenges the afflictions in our lives and you give us grace to bear whatever comes our way and as we come into a new year we pray Lord that we would all be cleansed by the blood of Jesus from every sin and that we would learn to hate sin more and to love Jesus more and to worship you and to serve you with all of our heart oh Lord Jesus may this coming year be a year of rejoicing in heaven because many many in our homes and in our community will confess Jesus Christ and will live for his glory do your great work in our lives and we will praise you in Jesus name amen number 714 700 700