WWUTT 2316 Blessed Are You Who Are Hungry (Luke 1:21, 25)

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In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus said in the Beatitudes, "'Blessed are you who are hungry now, "'for you shall be satisfied.

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"'Woe to you who are full now, "'for you shall be hungry.'" When we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ. For he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

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Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Hey, once again, it's Pastor Gabe.

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Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel according to Luke, we've been in the

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Sermon on the Plain, where Jesus preaches in Luke chapter six, and it starts in a similar way to the

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Sermon on the Mount, with Beatitudes, but also contrasting woes. So let me read that list once again.

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I'm starting here in verse 20, and going through verse 26. Hear the word of the Lord. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

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Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

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Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, and revile you, and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of man.

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Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.

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For so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

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Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

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Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

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Now, just like the Sermon on the Mount, we open up with these blessed are you statements, which we call the

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Beatitudes. That word simply means happy, but really when it comes down to the statement of blessedness, it's synonymous with saying approved by God are you.

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God approves of you who are poor, and you will receive the kingdom of God. That was the first Beatitude that we looked at on Wednesday last week.

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So we're going to the second today. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

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And we're also gonna look at the contrasting woe in verse 25. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

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So first of all, this statement of blessedness, God's approval upon the person who is hungry.

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Now, as I pointed out last week, each one of these Beatitudes has more of a physical and spiritual meaning to them than the

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Beatitudes that we read at the start of the Sermon on the Mount. Those seem to be a lot more particular.

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Luke is not as specific here, or at least in what Luke captures of what Jesus preached on the plane, it's not as specific as what

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Matthew had in the Sermon on the Mount. They're not the same sermon, as I pointed out last week. Jesus will use similar talking points, preaching to different crowds.

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And of course he repeated the same sermons as well, but this would not be the same sermon. Different location, different words.

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It's also more brief, probably a third as long as what we have in the Sermon on the

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Mount. And so again, he says to his disciples, and he's speaking specifically to the disciples, though the crowds are there, because the disciples are the ones who are there to learn.

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The rest of the crowd is there because, well, we've heard his teaching is great. We don't know what we think about it yet.

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They're not necessarily following it. Jesus makes that point at the end of this particular sermon.

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But they're also there to see a miracle. We want to see him do something spectacular.

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So they're looking to be entertained or something to that effect. They want to have their flesh satisfied rather than really learn and humble themselves before the teaching of God through the

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Son of Man. And so Jesus says here to his disciples specifically in verse 21, blessed are you who are hungry now for you shall be satisfied.

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Now that statement now automatically implies that it's temporary. You will not always be hungry, but today you are hungry and blessed are you, approved by God.

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He approves of you. And though you may be hungry now, your bellies are empty, your bones may even feel the effects of your malnutrition, but you will be satisfied.

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He is going to give you good things. And like I said, with Luke's capturing of these beatitudes, it has both a physical and a spiritual application.

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This is speaking quite literally to those who are hungry, who have been praying and asking

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God for food, actual food, not just spiritual food, but literal food.

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I need real physical food to fill my physical belly and provide for my physical body.

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Well, God cares about these things. And he is going to provide for the one who asks of God.

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Jesus said this very thing in the Sermon on the Mount, not contrasting it or not comparing it rather with the beatitudes in Matthew 5, but rather what

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Jesus says in Matthew 6. Your father cares about you and that, and he knows that you need all of these things.

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Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And then all the other things that you need will be added to you as well.

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Seek those spiritual things first. And then even those physical things,

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God will provide for you. But our greatest need is spiritual rather than physical.

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And we saw that previously in the previous chapter in Luke 5, where Jesus heals the paralyzed man to whom he says, get up and walk.

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And he picks up his mat and walks. And Jesus says the purpose of this miracle so that you would know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

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And he tells the man to get up and walk so that you would see Christ's power over this, over his lameness.

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And if he has that kind of power where he can tell a lame man to get up and walk and he does it, then Jesus has the power and the authority to even forgive a person of their sins.

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And Jesus is really highlighting there with that so that people would see that and know that he has authority on earth to forgive sins.

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So people would see that this is our greatest need. Jesus is really putting his finger on our greatest need there.

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It's not physical. The thing we need the most is not to have our lame legs be able to stand up and walk again or have our blind eyes see or our deaf ears hear.

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Talking about those physical things. The thing we need the most is salvation. We need the forgiveness of our sins so that we would be made right with God.

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That is our greatest need. And so even these things that Jesus promises will be satisfied.

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It's pointing to the greater reality of our spiritual need that God will likewise satisfy.

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You are physically hungry now. Do you know how spiritually hungry you are? And if you hunger for God in your spirit, well, even in this way, you shall be satisfied.

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But it's not as though God doesn't care about our physical needs. Again, it has both a physical and a spiritual application to it.

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God does indeed care for us and provides for us good things. Again, as Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, your father knows how to give good gifts to his children.

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So ask of him and he will give to you. You need bread, you need food.

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In order to survive, God will provide those things for you. You know, as you probably know, the struggles that Becky and I had this year with our finances because we could not get our house in Texas to sell.

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And so we were paying for rent on this house and still paying the mortgage on the house in Texas.

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And the utilities and everything else that went with that. An extremely high HOA, which we did not agree to when we first bought that house.

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All of those rates increased while we were there. And they became very crippling for us.

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We talked about that. Our income was not enough to get over that hump. Although our church provided for us greatly, but we had some wonderful listeners that stepped in and provided for those needs as well.

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Becky and I would lay in bed and hold hands and pray that God would provide for our needs, not knowing where the next dollar was going to come from.

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And there were two occasions where I'm looking at the budget for that month and thinking, we're not going to get out of this.

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We're going to redline this month. And I don't know how I'm going to get back out of that pit when

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I'm having to pay the late fees and everything else. And yet God provided. We never were late on our bills.

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We were able to pay for every bill because of the wonderful love and support that was shown to us by the people of God who listened to this program or whom we attended church with.

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People took care of us. And it was so wonderful to see it and experience that. I know

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God takes good care of me. I know that. I know even if I can't pay my bill, if I'm late on the bill because I just don't have the money to pay it,

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I know that God is still providing for me even in those moments. I'm still going to trust him. I'm still going to hold on.

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I'm still going to be responsible with the things that I need to be responsible with. But again, it was still so wonderful to watch

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God provide for our needs in the midst of those things. I didn't even really feel like I was praying with enough faith.

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You know, I'm asking God. I'm asking God, we have a need here. You know what our need is.

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You know that we can't pay the bill this month. We can't buy enough groceries this month.

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What are we going to do? I am asking those things, but in my heart, there's still an element of,

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I mean, he's not really going to give us money, is he? Money's not just going to magically appear for us and we're going to be able to pay all of our bills.

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No, God used his people and provided that money for us even when my faith probably wasn't strong enough in the midst of those moments, yet he still loved us and he still provided for us.

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And I'm so very thankful that in the midst of all of that, we were all still very healthy. We didn't have any major health complications or anything like that going on at that time.

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It was just paying bills. And yet God provided, even for these things.

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There are bigger things that we could have been facing, but even with this, just paying our bills, God provided.

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He does care about those needs and he does care for his children. So what a testimony to us to be able to witness that.

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I'm never going to forget that, especially giving praise to God knowing that he provided for us.

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And when Jesus promises here in this beatitude, you hunger now, you're going to be satisfied.

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God will provide for you. When we look at Matthew chapter six and Jesus saying, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the things that you need will be added to you as well.

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How is it that he is going to meet those needs? Well, it may not be because money just magically appears in your bank account.

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Something comes out of nothing in that sense. That's not how God meets that need, but he will providentially put those people in your life who are going to help you in the midst of difficult circumstances, in the midst of hunger and needing to be fed.

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God will provide you with someone who is going to give you food. Consider these words in 1

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John 3 .16. 1 John 3 .16, not John 3 .16, okay? We read, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

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But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does

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God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth.

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So there in that command, we become the ones who would provide for those who are praying for relief.

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And God would use us to give that relief to people within his body.

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We have a similar statement made in James 2 .15. If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and if one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

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So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. The illustration that James gives there.

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And so we must recognize the needs of one another and provide for each other. If we say that we have the love of God, let us show the love of God.

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Doing more than just saying to somebody, go in peace, be warmed and be filled. No, help provide for that peace that they need.

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To feel at ease because my needs are being met. They need to be warmed, pay a heating bill for them or buy them coats, you know, whatever.

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And need to be filled, they need food, provide for that family that is in need. And this is how we fulfill, how

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God uses the body to fulfill that promise that he gives to his children. If you're hungry, you will be satisfied.

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But like I said, there is also a spiritual application to that as well. As we have in Psalm 107 verses eight and nine, it being said, let them thank the

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Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

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So yeah, even if you hunger in your physical stomach, let that remind you of your greater hunger for the things of God, for his righteousness, for his kingdom.

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And even in this, you hunger for these things now, meaning that it's temporary. You shall be satisfied.

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Let our physical needs open our eyes to the even greater spiritual need.

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Now that's the beatitude as we have it in Luke 6 21. There's another beatitude in that verse and it's the one we'll look at tomorrow.

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Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. So in the meantime, let's just stick with that first one and then the contrasting woe.

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So once again, the beatitude in verse 21, blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

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Now let's look at the contrast. Verse 25, woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

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Yeah, you're filled up. You do not hunger and you want for nothing. Well, you might think you're full now, but a day is going to come in which you're going to be hungry.

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You're going to recognize a need that you've had all this while and have not come to God to have that need met.

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You've been so sure of yourself and arrogant and filled up on what you have, not providing for somebody else or not coming to God to have your needs met, that you're going to realize you're hungry, but it will be too late.

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And you won't come to God as a beggar in need of bread. James chapter five tells us, come now you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.

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So for those who are filled and it kind of goes along with the woe to the rich, which was in the verse before in verse 24, but those who are filled, they feel like they have everything.

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Yeah, you feel like you're sitting in the lap of luxury, but get ready because a day is coming when you're going to weep and howl for the miseries that will be upon you.

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Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth eaten, James goes on to say. Your gold and silver have corroded and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire.

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You have laid up treasure in the last days. Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your field, which you kept back by fraud are crying out against you.

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And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self -indulgence.

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You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous person.

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He does not resist you. So you filled up yourself, but you didn't share it with anybody else or you didn't recognize your own spiritual need and come to Christ for forgiveness and to have that real spiritual hunger met.

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And then on the day of judgment, when it comes, it's going to take that person by surprise because they did not realize the need until it was too late.

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Woe to you who are full now. And that use of the word now, once again, just like it was back up in verse 21, now indicates it's temporary.

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You're full, but it's not going to last. Any dependence that we put on anything material in this world, it doesn't matter whether it's food or the material possessions that we have or land or accomplishment or fame or popularity, any of those things, all of that is wasting away.

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Going back to James again, it's but a vapor. It's here for a moment and then it's gone.

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All of those things that we would put trust in would not sustain us. They will fail us.

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We think that we're filled up with all that stuff now, but it isn't satisfying our deepest need and that is the spiritual need that we have for Christ.

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Only he forgives sins. Only he reconciles us to God. Only he can promise us life after death.

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All these things in the world are wasting away. They're coming into nothing. None of that saves. Only Jesus saves.

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And so you think you have all that you need, but really you have nothing if you do not have

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Christ. You know, this very statement that Jesus makes here, we actually read this previously in Luke.

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The Magnificat in Luke chapter one, Mary's song, where she says of the

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Lord in Luke 1 .53, he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

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Even Mary recognized this as she praised God so that it makes its way even into the

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Beatitudes. Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

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Woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. Blessed are you who are hungry now for you shall be satisfied.

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Woe to you who are full now for you shall be hungry. Let me finish with this story.

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I had this in mind. It's actually an old joke. I had this in mind earlier and I wanted to put it in there, but I forgot.

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So this isn't a proper segue into it, but I have to put this joke in here anyway.

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And you may have heard this before. There was an old woman who was a widow. She didn't have much of anything at all.

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In fact, whatever money she received from her deceased husband or from social security and those kinds of things, it was never really enough for her to meet all of the needs that she had, whether it was paying for the bills on the house or even buying groceries for herself.

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So she used to go out on her front porch every single morning and she would just pray to God. She would pray and ask

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God. She would thank God. She would express her delight in him for giving

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Jesus Christ to die on the cross for her sins. She knew that eternity was secure for her in heaven above.

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And so she praised him every morning, but she also asked, she mourned for her loneliness.

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She asked God that he would provide for the needs that her meager income could not meet.

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Well, she had a neighbor who was an atheist, and this neighbor was annoyed by her prayers.

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Probably sounded like Job's wife, curse God and die, you know, something like that. So he made fun of her faith, and she would always try to use that as an opportunity to encourage her atheist neighbor to turn from his sin to the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and he would live. Oh, but he just couldn't stand that. Couldn't stand this idea that everybody's actually basically evil and we all need a savior, and I have to believe in this guy that died on a cross 2000 years ago.

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No, thank you. That was what was going on in the atheist mind. But every morning she would still come out and she would still praise

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God and ask him, God, buy me some groceries. God, can I have some groceries just to fill my cupboards and my cabinets so that I would have enough food?

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Well, finally, this atheist took it upon himself. He wanted to prove to her that God was not real.

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So the atheist decided that he was going to go to the grocery store and buy some groceries for her.

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And so he does that. Two big paper sacks of groceries, sets them on her front porch, and waits for her that morning to come out and once again, lift her praises to God and her prayers and her needs for groceries.

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So that's what the woman does. She comes outside. She sees the bags sitting there on the porch and she says, praise you,

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God. I praise you. I have asked you for groceries and you've provided them for me.

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And the atheist jumps out and he goes, ha ha. See, I've proven to you that your God does not exist.

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God didn't give you those groceries. I did. I'm the one that went to the grocery store and got them for you and I have set them here on your porch.

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So your God is not real. Your atheist neighbor bought these groceries for you.

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The woman kind of looked at him. She lifted up her face to the sky again. And she said, oh

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Lord, you have provided me with these wonderful groceries and you made the devil pay for them.

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And this is how God provides by his providence. He has said that he is going to provide.

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He will provide. And not just for our physical needs, but especially we see in our physical needs the greater need that we have in our spirits.

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And it's there especially that he provides in giving us his son and his spirit to comfort us.

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Heavenly father, we thank you for what we've read. We thank you for these reminders that the blessings of God come to us through many ways but all by your providence that you would provide for your children.

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So may we trust you with our needs knowing that you give to us. Jesus taught us to pray in the

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Lord's prayer. Give us this day, our daily bread that has both a physical and a spiritual aspect to it.

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Give us the food that we need in order to be sustained for the day and meet our spiritual needs as well.

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Fill the hunger that is in our spirits so that we may be filled with eternal things not just the bread that perishes but the bread that leads to everlasting life.

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That bread being Jesus Christ our Lord. It's in his name that we pray, amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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