The Kingship of Christ and the Son of Man

[0:00] Morning everyone. It's good to be back again and we're well into the new year. Leave your books, your Bibles open at Luke chapter 5 and we'll start looking at the text together.

[0:12] We're going to continue our series looking at the kingship of Christ in Luke. And it's an important theme, in fact I would say it's one of the most important things, really it's actually the most important thing to get about Jesus, is that he's a king.

[0:27] You would have thought that that's normal and there's much in our modern church that says that we know that he's our king. We sing songs and we pray to him. But it's also one of those funny things that you know it and it's there but it doesn't actually headline everything that we understand about Jesus.

[0:44] There's so many different things I guess to get about him that people want us to get. And so I would say it's so important for us to get a really good handle and a really good grasp as to what the kingship of Jesus means for him and therefore for us, if that makes sense.

[0:58] And we saw how important it was leading up to Christmas with all those Advent sermons and the hymns of Mary and Zachariah and Simeon and all the people in Luke chapter 1 and 2.

[1:09] And Luke sets up the whole idea of we must understand that this person coming into the world is the Christ, the king. And I've explained that to us. And basically what I thought we'd do is just keep going through Luke.

[1:22] Obviously we're not going to do everything. But just keep going to see how this kingship theme pans out in the life of Christ and to see if it does actually carry through. And hopefully I've shown that.

[1:33] Last week we looked at his baptism. And the story continues in the book of Luke. Luke, the first few chapters of Luke, Luke is posing the question, who is Jesus?

[1:43] Who is this child that is going to be born? The answer is, oh, he's the king. And we've touched on that and you should know that by now. Luke then goes on to ask, well, the natural question is, well, what kind of a king is he going to be?

[1:57] What kind of a king is Jesus going to be? What are his priorities? How can you align yourself with his agenda? What kind of people is he looking to serve him?

[2:08] Is he going to care about his people? Or will he use them, like most kings, to further his own aims? Most rulers. Will he really have the power to change things?

[2:19] Or will his words just be, like so many other rulers and politicians, just so many empty promises? What kind of king is Jesus going to be? What I want us to look at today is that Jesus is a king that has power and authority at his disposal.

[2:36] Power and authority at his disposal. And you would have picked that up from the readings, but we need to unpack that a little bit. I would say that's one of the first things you notice about Jesus when you read the Gospels.

[2:48] At least that's one that I picked up. But having said that, I had to delve deeply to understand that Jesus is a king. Before I read, when I started reading the Gospels again with that in mind, I realized, gee, but every time Jesus is walking around and doing things, he's actually acting like a king.

[3:06] In everything that he does and says. And so it's a funny thing when you look at the ministry of Christ. We know he's a king, but somehow it's not front and center when we look at what he does.

[3:18] And so what I want us to do in Luke is what I'll do over the next few weeks is to show how when Jesus is going around doing miracles and calling his disciples, he's actually doing it as a king.

[3:28] And he's doing it with power and authority. Just look at how he gets things done in the few verses that we've been reading. Look at how he heals the leper from verse 12 onwards.

[3:43] This man is covered in leprosy. And Jesus just says, be clean. He just speaks a word, just like that. Boom, and it's done. Yes, he touches him and holds on to him, and that's important.

[3:54] We might look at that later. A word of command. And the man is instantly healed. When he heals the paralytic, he just tells him, get up. Boom. And his muscles and his nerve endings and everything that was dead just works.

[4:12] Now, if we were sitting there, we all would have gasped in amazement. You know, you would have got that goose flesh. You've never seen this before.

[4:24] It would have freaked you out. But many times in the New Testament, when Jesus does a miracle, people are scared. In our story, they're amazed. At the very least, they're amazed.

[4:35] Very often, they're very scared. When he calls Levi, listen, come with me. Boom. And he gets up and he goes. He does the same with Peter in the early part of the chapter.

[4:46] So, here is a man that calls and commands, and men and women, and all of creation, sinews and bone and disease and sickness obey.

[5:00] And here in our story, which we'll look at in more detail, is he has the authority to forgive sin. And that's the major part of the story of the paralytic. So, let's have a look at that in a little bit more detail.

[5:12] That's from verse 17 onwards. And I guess, in one sense, this miracle starts like many other miracles, although you don't want to downplay that.

[5:24] These miracles are totally amazing. But it starts off like every other miracle. Jesus is busy in the area of Galilee, which is the northern part of Israel. If you've got a map of Israel in your mind, Galilee is in the way north.

[5:38] There's a lake of Galilee, and then the River Jordan flows south into the Dead Sea, and Jerusalem is down by the Dead Sea. And it's likely that Jesus is in the city of Capernaum, which is really on just the north coast of the Sea of Galilee.

[5:53] And he's walking around, and he's going into people's houses. And here he's sitting in a house. No one knows where it is or whose house it was, although previously he's been in Peter's house. And he healed Peter's mother-in-law, I think.

[6:05] And he's busy teaching. But notice what it says there, that the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick, verse 17. So he's walking around, and he's got this power.

[6:20] It's not really flowing out of him, I don't suppose. The whole thing about Jesus is he's got the ability to hide it. So you don't notice it. He almost just looks like a normal guy walking around. But in the background, the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.

[6:33] But he's also teaching. And then these poor people come with their friend. They can't get into the house. There's so many people coming to listen to Jesus and to see what was going on.

[6:45] Notice, they're from all over Galilee, but also from Judea and Jerusalem. That's the size of the Cape Province. It's just huge amounts of people coming to see him. They can't get in. Let's go over the top and let him down.

[6:56] And there's this man who's paraplegic, meaning his neck or some part of his body is broken. He can't use his arms, and he can't use his legs. And then Jesus says, friend, your sins are forgiven.

[7:10] But why does he do that? Why doesn't he say to him, be healed? He didn't come to be sins forgiven. He's come to have his body healed. And then Jesus gets that reaction from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.

[7:25] Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? Everyone knows that if you want your sins forgiven, you've got to go to God or essentially to the temple.

[7:37] It's a very unexpected answer that Jesus gave to that paralytic. And Jesus' answer to their question is just as unexpected.

[7:49] Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and walk. But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

[8:05] He said to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home. And immediately he stood up. Just like that. Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he'd been lying on, and went home praising God.

[8:20] So what is Jesus trying to say with that parable? Oh, sorry, with his answer to the Pharisees. Well, firstly, he's just saying, look, the easy thing is to say your sins are forgiven.

[8:31] And the reason for saying that's easy in one sense is because you can't see if there's any change. The guy can still lie there and his sins are forgiven. It's easy to say, in one sense, it's easy to say your sins are forgiven. Now, it's easy to say that.

[8:44] It's impossible to effect that. Are you with me? Okay. But so that you know, so then Jesus says, So that you know that I've got the authority to tell this person that his sins are forgiven, I'll say the difficult thing.

[8:56] Okay, get up. And he gets up. So he says the impossible thing so that people can see that he does have the power and the authority to do what he says.

[9:07] Are you with me? So Jesus actually sets the whole thing up. He knows what they're going to say. It's much more difficult to say, get up and walk. And then if the person does it, then you'll know if what you're saying is really true.

[9:18] In fact, it's so hard, it's actually impossible. Because no man has that kind of power at his disposal. I mean, I don't know if you've ever tried to heal a paralytic. Anyone? Has it worked?

[9:30] No. Least of all to tell someone, listen, your sins have been forgiven you. You can say it, but do you have the power to make it a reality? Okay, so clearly Jesus set this up as a teaching point.

[9:44] This doesn't take him by surprise. Notice that he knows what they're thinking in their hearts. They actually were grumbling inside themselves. They weren't just out and openly displaying it. You know that thing where, I mean, it's such a way to respond to a miracle.

[9:58] This guy gets up. He's not allowed to say that. He's not like this. Okay, behind. And Jesus knows what's happening in their hearts. Now remember last week when we looked at his baptism, and behind the baptism, it's his kind of coronation as his king.

[10:15] And remember we looked at the Old Testament where Saul was given the Holy Spirit and he was given the gift of prophecy. And one of the things is to know what's happening inside people's hearts and minds. Okay, and you can see Jesus doing the same thing here.

[10:26] Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? He sees straight to what the problem is. So he knows what's going on. And so the teaching point that Jesus wants to raise here is clear in what he says about who he is.

[10:42] Firstly, that he, Jesus, is the son of man. And secondly, that he, Jesus, as the son of man, does not just possess the power to heal disease, but that he also has the authority to forgive sin.

[10:55] You can see the link between I'm the son of man and so that I have got these things at my disposal. You got me with that. Now we've come across many titles for Jesus already in the Gospel of Luke. The Christ, do you remember what I said about that?

[11:08] What's, the Christ is the Greek word, what's the Hebrew word behind it? Messiah. What's an English equivalent? King. You all said king, right? Did I hear you say king?

[11:19] Or did I hear, no, no. Okay, we've come across that. He's the Holy One of God. He's the Horn of David. Okay, now, these are all Davidic and kingly titles, which I'm trying to show you.

[11:31] And they're telling us something about who Jesus is. And they all come out of the Old Testament. Well, the son of man one is no different. And that's why we read that Daniel 7 passage, because that's where it comes from.

[11:42] So, now, every Jew sitting there would know immediately what Jesus was saying when he says, I'm the son of man. They would have had all these images in the back of their head and understanding of who he is, but, you know, we don't because we're not Jewish.

[11:53] So let's turn back to Daniel 7 and unpack that a little bit and see what it says about Jesus' power and authority. So just turn so long back to Daniel chapter 7, and we'll dig around there for a little bit.

[12:05] And we'll dig around there for a little bit. To see what's going on and what it's talking about. So Daniel, just to give you background, is a prophet, a leader of God's people.

[12:16] But he's not living in Israel. He's living in Babylon. He's part of the exile, mid-500s BC. And, you know, it's the lowest low point of the people of God.

[12:29] God has sent them into exile because of all their sins. And yet one of the important messages in Daniel is that God is not finished with his people yet. That although their kingdom has been overthrown, there is still going to come a time when God will raise up for them a ruler who will listen to God and obey him and lead his people out of captivity.

[12:49] And the person who will do this is given the title of the son of man. Now, so you've got Daniel's vision starting, you know, right at the beginning of chapter 7. In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream.

[13:03] And then you've got all those beasts coming out of the sea and it's all kind of crazy. Now, just so that you know, that's what's known as apocalyptic literature. The book of Revelation in the New Testament is its counterpart.

[13:15] So all those crazy visions and creatures doing funny things. I don't have too much time to explain it other than to say that those creatures that come out of the sea, there's four of them, four beasts.

[13:29] It's commonly acknowledged that those are kingdoms, kingdoms of the ancient world. So the book of Daniel is like a prophetic book. It gives you kind of timelines as to when things are happening. But just ask yourself this, these beasts, these kingdoms that are roaming around on the earth, do they sound like good people, good kingdoms or bad kingdoms?

[13:48] It doesn't sound really good. It doesn't sound like you want them to be your friend. Well, they're not going to be your friend because that's what animals and beasts do. They come after you and they chew you up and spit you out. But who's in control of them?

[14:01] Have a look at verse 6. After that I looked and there before me was another beast. I think that's the third one. One that looked like a leopard and on its back it had four wings like those of a bird.

[14:13] This beast had four heads and it was given authority to rule. By whom? By himself. Well, no. By God. So behind these things that are moving around in the world and doing their own thing is the God who gives them the authority and ability to do that.

[14:29] So Daniel is looking. When Daniel, he's actually standing up kind of in heaven and looking down on earth and seeing what's happening on earth from God's vantage point. And he keeps looking around and he sees all these things going on down there below.

[14:44] And then he looks around. And verse 9. As I looked, thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow.

[14:56] The hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire and his wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. And thousands upon thousands attended him.

[15:09] Ten thousand times, ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated and the books were opened. And that's an incredible vision of looking into the courtroom of God, the throne room of God up in heaven.

[15:23] I wonder what you would have thought if those books were opened and they called your name. You all know, it's like when you're at school and the, I don't know if they do this anymore. When I was at school, it happened a lot.

[15:34] And the intercom would come on. Would Dylan Murray, please come to the office? Like it was never a good sign. If that book was opened and they called your name, I wonder what you would think.

[15:48] I would be really scared. I would be really scared. Nonetheless, Daniel keeps looking. Next he sees another vision.

[16:01] It's kind of the same vision. It's a continuation of the same vision down in verse 13. In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.

[16:14] That's coming up towards heaven. Because that's where Daniel is. He's sitting with, he's looking from the throne room of heaven down to earth. And this one like a son of man appeared before, approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence.

[16:30] He was given authority and glory and sovereign power. All peoples, all nations and men of every language worshipped him.

[16:41] His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away. And his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Now ask yourself this.

[16:54] How much authority and power is given to this son of man? We're talking about a little bit of power and authority or a serious amount of power and authority? In fact, we're talking about a serious amount of power and authority or all power and authority delegated by God to this person, the son of man?

[17:14] Well, you've got someone who is the most powerful figure in human history. And it's kind of got to do with human history because it's got to do with all these beasts that are moving around on earth. So yes, the son of man is approaching God in heaven and he's given all this power and authority not to rule in heaven but to rule on earth over these beasts.

[17:32] Are you with me? You understand that part? Now this prophecy is happening about 500 BC and about 500 years later, we have a person sitting in a house in Galilee saying that he is the son of man.

[17:50] You can see why people's minds exploded. He's like, what? Hang on. We know about that. Son of man from Daniel and he's up in heaven and you're just here.

[18:02] How do we know that you're the son of man? Well, because I tell people to get healed and they just get healed like that. That's not someone with a small amount of power and authority. That's someone with a huge amount of power and authority. And it intertwined with this talk of...

[18:17] Oh, before I get there. Clearly then, Jesus is the son of man and he's got all power and authority. Someone who is this powerful to heal a paralytic. You know, that's nothing. But what about the power and authority to forgive sin?

[18:29] Because Jesus links it. He links the son of man to the power to forgive sin in Luke 5. Are you with me? But there's no sin here in Daniel chapter 7. So how do we get that link?

[18:41] Well, again, we need to understand the story of the Old Testament. And Daniel, of course, knew it well. Intertwined with all this talk of kingdoms and power and glory is the story of the sin of the people of God. Daniel knew they were in exile because of their sin.

[18:54] He knew why they were under foreign dominion. Because of their sin. And so the son of man, if he is to bring about the kingdom of God, must do something to take care of the sin of God's people. Are you with me? Okay.

[19:06] But that's not in Daniel 7. You really need to know the whole book of Daniel, but we don't have time. But there is an important part in Daniel chapter 9 that links the son of man, or this ruler of God's kingdom, with the forgiveness of sin.

[19:19] And it's an amazing prophecy. So just turn over a page or two to Daniel chapter 9, and we'll see that the son of man who's got power and authority over the kingdom of the world has this power and authority to forgive sin.

[19:36] In Daniel chapter 9, it's much later on in Daniel's life. Daniel lived a very long life, many years, under many different rulers in Babylon.

[19:48] And he's lamenting and he's wondering when is God going to end the exile. And God says, no, it's not going to be a short amount of time. It's going to last in 70 years. And Daniel realizes, okay, our sin, you know, this is really, really bad.

[20:05] It's not just a weekend jaunt out of Jerusalem and then back again. God is going to be angry with us for 70 years. And he breaks out into this prayer in Daniel chapter 9.

[20:16] We don't have time to read all of it. I'll just start it, but there's a bit at the end I want us to look at. From verse 4 in Daniel chapter 9, I prayed to the Lord, my God, and confessed. O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obeys commands.

[20:34] We have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled. We have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants, the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

[20:48] And he goes on to confess all their sins. And at the end, he turns to God and asks for mercy. I'm just going to end from, just go down to verse 17.

[21:01] Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, O Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. That's the temple in Jerusalem. Give ear, O God, and hear.

[21:12] He's begging for God to listen. Open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy.

[21:24] O Lord, listen. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hear and act for your sake. O my God, do not delay because your city and your people bear your name.

[21:36] And you can just hear that anguish and that wanting God to do this. But he doesn't have the power to affect it. He can only ask God for it. But it's up to God to actually do it.

[21:46] Now, while he's busy praying, the angel, the archangel, Gabriel, appears to Daniel. The same one that comes to us in Luke. The same angel in Luke.

[22:00] And he says to Daniel, your prayers are going to be answered. Because God is going to send someone who's going to forgive his people their sin and make a payment.

[22:13] And that person is the Messiah. So, we're going to continue reading from verse 23. Let me just read from verse 20.

[22:25] It will give us the context. While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill, Jerusalem, while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight by the time of the evening sacrifice.

[22:42] He instructed me and said to me, Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed.

[22:54] Therefore, consider the message and understand the vision. Now, depending on your translation, it's the NIV I'm reading, seventy sevens or seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy one.

[23:21] Huh. Now, that's a title that's been given to Jesus. Know and understand this. From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Messiah, the anointed one, the Christ, the king, the ruler comes, there will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, etc., etc.

[23:43] It continues in verse 26. After the sixty-two sevens, the anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. Isn't that an amazing prophecy about the coming of Christ?

[23:56] Now, just so that you know, again, we don't have too much time, in fact, got no time to explain all of this, but it's widely acknowledged that the seventy weeks is seven years.

[24:06] So it's seventy times seven, which gives you 490, plus minus 490, or exactly 490. But that takes you from the time that the Jews came back from exile, smack bang into the time of Jesus.

[24:20] It's plus minus, well, just on 500 years. And that is precisely what Jesus is claiming in Luke chapter 5. I am the Son of Man, and I do have the right to forgive and atone for the sin of my people.

[24:37] In other words, Jesus has come to help his people. The most important help he can give is to secure for them the forgiveness of their sins. And clearly that's a priority for Jesus and his ministry.

[24:51] Yes, he understands that physical healing is necessary and helpful and good. But he also knows that there's something underneath that that's more deeper and requires a more profound healing from his hand.

[25:04] So Jesus is a king with power and authority. You can see that from Daniel 7. You all got that now. What is he going to do with that power and authority? Well, he's going to help his people. So let's turn back to the New Testament now, back to Luke chapter 5, and we'll end our time there just exploring how Jesus goes around helping his people here.

[25:22] So in answer to our question, what kind of a king is Jesus going to be? Well, he's powerful and has huge authority, but Jesus is a king who uses his authority and power to help his people.

[25:34] The next story in Luke illustrates that point, that Jesus knows that while physical healing is important, there's a deeper problem, a deeper sickness that needs his help, and that he's the only one in the whole world that can fix that deeper sickness.

[25:50] First of all, look at the man with leprosy from verse 12. Notice how he's just covered with leprosy, chapter 5, verse 12, back in Luke. When he sees Jesus, he falls flat on his face, begging him, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

[26:09] That little willing, are you willing, Lord? And Jesus' answer, yes, yeah, I'm willing. You don't have the power to make Jesus do stuff.

[26:21] He decides who he's going to clean. He's got the power, but is he willing? Listen, Luke's answer, God's answer, and Jesus' answer is yes, I'm willing.

[26:32] Every single person that comes to Jesus for help receives it in the Gospels. Every person. There are some people who come to him that don't want his help. Fine, they don't get it, because he knows what's in their heart.

[26:44] But the ones who do want help receive it from Christ. Then we're going to look at the calling of Levi from verse 27.

[26:56] So there's Levi, a tax collector. We all know how badly they were viewed, especially in Israel. I mean, no one looks at tax collectors, even in our day, and hey, wants to be their friend.

[27:06] They're not our friends, are they? But especially in Israel's time, because they were working for the Romans. They were set up by the Romans to collect taxes from the Jews, and so they were seen as a farrier.

[27:17] What is that? That, yeah. I've got that word in Afrikaans, but. Traitor. They're worse than a leper.

[27:29] They don't get invited to parties. No one wants them around. They're beyond redemption. And Jesus says, come, Levi, you're with me now. And then he goes and has a party in his house. Hey, and the Pharisees are upset.

[27:41] Oh, man, what are you doing with these people? Sinners, drinking and eating. Again, Jesus gives an unexpected answer. Verse 31. Jesus answered them, it's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

[27:54] Not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. So I guess the amazing thing is that this all-powerful ruler, with all power and authority at his disposal, that can lift kingdoms and bring them down, is actually willing to heal and to forgive.

[28:15] Because that's Jesus' own words tells you why he's here. Yes, Jesus is powerful and authoritative. But he uses his power and authority to help people who are deep in need.

[28:27] And, of course, he has the power to cure their deepest need of all, forgiveness and repentance. So let me encourage you with that as we close our time together. Jesus is powerful and authoritative.

[28:40] And when I say authoritative, I just mean he's got authority. He's living in the modern world. I don't know, it's the whole democratic idea that people with authority, we don't like people with authority.

[28:52] We've got to, everyone must be equal. But really, it doesn't work out like that in real life. Everyone who has work and has a boss knows what I'm talking about. So we've got to give Jesus his due.

[29:05] We've got to have a king that has power and authority at his disposal. But then the great thing about Jesus is he uses his authority and power to help free, release, heal, and forgive.

[29:20] If you ask for help, you will receive it. Here's a king that hears and listens and responds to the cries of his people. I don't know who you've spoken to.

[29:30] The highest authority in the land you've ever spoken to. Whenever you've needed help, maybe you needed help with getting an insurance claim done. And you phone the call center and the guy doesn't help you. And you go, can I speak to the team leader?

[29:41] And then, you know, that's about as far as it goes. You know, whenever you need help, you always hit that ceiling. We've got a king who's got all the authority and power in the world. And he's listening to his people.

[29:53] This king has come to rule but not to hurt. This king has huge power and authority but he doesn't use it to crush and destroy. Here's a king who doesn't think he's above the people he's come to rule.

[30:03] In fact, he hasn't come to rule as much as he's come to serve out of his words of his own mouth. Here's a king who spends time with his people.

[30:15] The low down and the lowly. Fishermen. Tax collectors. A leper. A paraplegic. Broken people. People who are sick in mind and heart and body.

[30:26] A king who takes the time and responds to his people when they call out for help. He listens and he acts. He actually makes a difference in the lives of the people who ask him for help.

[30:37] He actually changes them and their circumstances. He releases from bondage. He restores. He heals and forgives. He helps and strengthens. Is there any other king in the history of the world that has this kind of power but also this kind of compassion?

[30:52] You know, many people have power but they lack compassion. And many people have compassion but they don't have the power to affect change. Jesus has an infinite supply of both power and compassion.

[31:05] So think about it. If you were really sick and in real pain, would you want to stay that way? If you're really sick and in real pain, why stay that way?

[31:16] Well, guys are guys. No, it's fine. I can handle it. But eventually you've got to go to a doctor because that's where you go when you're in pain and when you're sick.

[31:29] Wouldn't you urgently go to someone who could make you better or heal you? Well, sin is just like that. I mean, after all, who enjoys being bitter towards your family or to someone who's hurt you?

[31:41] Is it fun and enjoyable being miserable? Is it fun to be full of anxiety and let it rule your daily life and routines? Do you enjoy being depressed and down and thinking that life and everyone is out to get you?

[31:53] Is it fun to be angry and lose your cool and to curse or shout or say words that weren't? None of us really enjoys it. In the moment, you think you're cool and you're showing them, I'm really showing you who's who now.

[32:07] But it doesn't take long before you realize you feel so bad about the things that you've said. It's much nicer to be easy and friendly and forgiving and loving.

[32:18] Now, think of your sin as a type of sickness. It's not enjoyable. It's like a poison that's making us really miserable. Wouldn't you want to go to a doctor that can get rid of it? Well, take it to Christ.

[32:31] Christ. And this is where I confess and pray, repent, ask, beg, Lord help. Knowing that you can take it to someone who hears and is willing to act and has got the power to act.

[32:45] On our behalf, so that we are not slaves to the problems in our life, but can overcome them and live as happy and restored citizens in his kingdom.

[32:58] Jesus is a king, but he's a king with healing in his hands. So, let's end our time praying to Jesus and asking him to help us with our stuff in our daily life.

[33:10] Let's pray together. Dear Lord Jesus, Like the people in your life while you were walking around on earth, we've got so many problems in our lives that we just don't know what to deal with.

[33:23] It can be real sickness and pain, and it can be psychological and emotional. And so many problems that we don't know how to deal with or cope with, Lord.

[33:35] And yet we know that you are a king with power and authority at your disposal. So, Lord, help us to come to you on a daily basis, whenever we're faced with issues we don't understand or can't handle.

[33:47] Help us to take them to you, Lord, and to ask for help and to receive from you the help that you promised. The Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sins, cleansing our hearts and minds, and empowering us to overcome sin and the problems that we create ourselves and overcome the sin that people throw at us.

[34:09] Lord, help us to turn to you first of all, before anything else, before we throw out our own sin and our own toys out of the cot. Help us to turn to you in prayer and ask you for help, knowing that you are the Son of Man, being given all authority by God to destroy kingdoms, but also to help your people.

[34:32] Help us, Lord, have mercy, and be with us, your people, for the rest of the week ahead. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[34:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. v.