Darkness Trembles at the Light Matthew 8:28-34

There have been two rebellions in history. The one we know very well, our own.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, as Genesis 3 describes, all of humanity fell into sin.

But a second Adam came to rescue people from our rebellion to God and the punishment that we deserve for our rebellion.

Jesus is the second Adam, and Romans 5 .19 tells us that by the one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners.

So by the one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. This is the first rebellion.

But there is a second rebellion that many people don't know much about.

The second rebellion involves angels. When God created the universe and everything in it,

He created spirit beings that occupied heaven. But some of these angels did not stay in their place.

They weren't content being glorious angels under the authority of God. They wanted more.

Their desire for more led them to rebel. And there are a few places in Scripture that tell us of this rebellion.

Revelation 13, verses 3 and 4 tells us that there was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems.

His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.

The dragon here is referring to Satan, and one third of the stars is referring to the fallen angels known as demons.

In the Gospels, Jesus said that He was a witness to this event. He said in Luke 10 .18

that He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Satan and his demons' home was once heaven, but because of their rebellion to God, they were cast to the earth where they are to this day.

If we wonder why the world is such a mess, we know the answer.

Satan and his demons run this world. In 1 John 5 .19, the

Apostle John wrote, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. In God's wise purposes,

He lets them run wild for a time, but they are on a leash and their time is short.

The difference between the fall of humanity and the fall of demons is a significant one.

A very significant one. Humans have hope, and that hope is

Jesus Christ. Anyone who believes in Him for their salvation has eternal life and will never face

God's judgment. On the other hand, demons have no hope.

There is no hope for redemption. Hebrews 2 .16

says this, surely it is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham.

The offspring of Abraham being humans. Satan and his demons know their destiny and they are going down swinging.

Today, we are going to see an encounter between fallen angels and the one who witnessed their fall, the

God -man, Jesus. At this time, I encourage you to turn in a Bible with me to Matthew 8.

We will be looking at verses 28 -34. And if you're using a red Bible in the pews, this is on page 967.

This sermon is titled, Darkness Trembles at the Light.

Darkness trembles at the light. And here's our big idea. Jesus' absolute power over evil frightens the guilty.

Let's begin by reading this text. And we'll see this big idea here as we go through this. But let's read it first. And when

He came to the other side, to the country of Gadarenes, two demon -possessed men met

Him, coming out of the tomb, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out,

What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time? Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them.

And the demons begged Him, saying, If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.

And He said to them, Go. So they came out and went into the pigs.

And behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

The herdsmen fled. And going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon -possessed men.

And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged

Him to leave their region. Once again, our big idea is this.

Jesus' absolute power over evil frightens the guilty.

And we're going to see two areas this is seen in this text. But before we jump into our text, let me give you a little recap of where we were one

Sunday ago. We looked at the story where Jesus calmed a storm. Jesus was with His disciples as they crossed the

Sea of Galilee and a big storm rolled over the hills. The disciples were concerned and Jesus was asleep.

The waves from the storm were so big that they crashed into the boat, flooding it. This episode showed the faith of the disciples and their faith was found lacking.

After doing this, Jesus calmed the storm and they were on their way. But remember, He rebuked the disciples because they didn't trust

Him. What we learn from this text is that Christ is worth trusting in every storm. We saw two reasons why.

The first reason why is that He wants us to know His flawless track record. He has faithfully helped in the past and so He does in the present and future also.

And the disciples should have seen this because they saw the wonderful things He did and they didn't trust

Him in the present to take care of the storm that was flooding their boat. The second reason why we are to trust

Christ in every storm is that He alone has the power to help. The Lord has a way of bringing us to our knees where we can only cry out to Him for help, where He's the only one who's really going to get us through.

So we saw that one Sunday ago. Now this leads us to our text this morning. We've already read it but let's set the scene here by reading verse 28 and then we'll talk about it.

And when He came to the other side to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon -possessed men met

Him coming out of the tomb so fierce that no one could pass that way.

Now earlier, we saw that Jesus was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

There the crowds were overwhelming Him so that He wanted to cross to the other side. The country of the

Gadarenes was located on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. Now that He is on the other side of the

Sea, things do not quiet down. Remember, He wanted to get away from the crowds.

And He goes to the other side and He runs into another episode where there's lots of action.

And as we read this, we have to ask this. We have to think this. This would have been an enormously interesting time to live.

God in the flesh lived among them and people everywhere were drawn to Him. Everywhere Jesus went, crowds followed

Him. In heaven one day, these will be some of the most interesting people to talk to. What was it like to live among Jesus?

As He arrives on the other side, two demon -possessed men approach Him. What we learn is that they came out of the tombs.

What we learn is they were so violent that no one would go near the area by the tombs. It was known as the place where these two demon -possessed men lived.

And so no one wanted to go anywhere near this place. These demon -possessed men suffered more than the others.

We already saw Jesus cast out demons in this chapter, but this demon -possession is a much more severe case.

There are two other accounts that describe this same episode in the

Gospels. And this comes from Mark and Luke. And both of them further describe the severity of the situation.

In Mark 5 -9, when Jesus talked to these demons and asked their name, one of them responded, my name is

Legion, for we are many. What this tells us is that more than one demon can occupy a person.

And this is what is happening here. The Gospels of Mark and Luke describe the damage that these demons caused.

Mark 5 verses 3 -5 says this concerning one of the demon -possessed men.

He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart and he broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

That's what Mark says. This is what Luke says in verses 27 and 29.

When Jesus had stepped out on the land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.

For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demons into the desert.

What we see here in these two men are being tormented by these legions of demons.

Misery. That's what they're experiencing. A couple of weeks ago, we saw

Jesus in Matthew 8, 16. We saw that he cast out demons.

And what I explained in that sermon was that my dad once had an experience a number of years ago in the 90s.

He was up at a men's retreat in northern Minnesota and they were having a time of confession. And one of the men was going up to the front to confess his sins.

And also in this force overtook the man, throwing him to the ground. He was demon possessed.

For several hours they prayed over the man until the demon finally left.

So I explained that a couple weeks ago, but let me say a little bit more about demons here. To really see widespread demonic activity, you have to go to societies that believe in spirits.

Animism is the belief that spirits are everywhere in non -living objects. When one dabbles in this, they invite demonic activity.

Demonic activity is rampant with false religions. Every false religion is a little different, but they all have the same author.

Satan is the author of every false religion. He is the father of lies and he tells lies in order to deceive people.

Some false teachings are closer to the truth than others, but both of them lead to the same destination. They both lead to hell.

We also see demonic activity in homes in America. For example, we see Ouija boards that are very dangerous.

I remember I had a friend growing up that had one and my mom said, stay away from that. And she was right to say that.

Dabbling in magic or tarot card reading can also be very dangerous. In more sophisticated places, demonic activity is common, but it shows up differently than in uncivilized places.

It can be seen in psychology where a man or woman goes insane. We see this account.

This happens when demons, right? When they possess someone, horrible things happen. People lose their mind.

And it happens in wealthy places, in civilized places.

Secular psychologists do not diagnose their patient as having demonic activity, but as a mental disorder.

And some are put in mental hospitals while others are given heavy medication. Now, this doesn't mean that every mental problem is demonic.

Of course, that's not true. But in some cases, especially when it's extreme, I submit to you that there's demonic activity going on.

So do not think that demonic activity isn't happening. It is happening and it's happening everywhere.

Anytime you see someone who is a habitual liar or violent, it's likely that this person is controlled by demons.

And certainly it's the sinful flesh as well. But demonic activity is going on also.

Satan is the father of lies and those who almost never tell the truth are following their master, the devil.

Demons hurt people mentally and physically. Their effort is to control a person.

They cause people to go insane and they even harm people physically. And sometimes you see people do extraordinary evil.

The one that comes to mind right at the top of my head is Adolf Hitler. No one can do that much evil unless there's demonic activity going on in that person's life.

The sinful flesh could take you to bad places, yes, but if you're killing millions of people, that's satanic.

Jesus is not only the father of lies, He's a murderer. That's what 1 John says. He's a murderer and He has been one from the beginning.

So we need to be aware of demonic activity, but also realize that in Christ, they have no hold on everyone who knows

Jesus Christ. We are about to see them get a butt whooping from the one who is much more powerful than they are.

Let's look at verse 29 to see what the demons say to Jesus. And behold, they cried out,

What have you to do with us, O son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?

This brings us back to what I explained to you in the introduction. There are two rebellions in history.

Thankfully, as humans, Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sins, so that resolves the rebellion.

If we would just trust in Him, there's no punishment awaiting. But for demons, there is no sacrifice for sins.

There is no hope. Once they fell, they were doomed forever. They have a place waiting for them in the lake of fire.

What you will notice is that as they see Jesus approaching, they are terrified of Him. They know who

He is. They call Him in verse 29, O son of God. In Mark 5, 7 and Luke 8, 28, they called

Him son of the most high God. These demons know that this is not a mere man standing in front of them.

He was not just a prophet. He is the son of God. They know the one in authority here, and it's not them.

These demons that have been tormenting these two men have not been able to be held down by people.

The people from the town who are putting them in chains so that they don't cause all these problems to the surrounding community.

As we have seen, they are put in shackles. But since they are so powerful, it came to a point where the chains didn't do anything anymore.

As the demons came out of the chains, the demons continued to torment the men. Mark 5, 5 says,

Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

So these demons are making these men do these horrible things. This humiliation ought to make us feel so horrible for these men.

They are being humiliated by this legion of demons, and their lives are being ruined. Their only hope is

Jesus. That's the only way out here. They are blessed that Jesus crossed the

Sea of Galilee, and he is now among them. These demons tell Jesus not to torment them, not to throw them into the abyss.

The abyss is what? The abyss is the lake of fire. The place where Satan is going to go in the future, where every demon is going to go, and where anyone whose name is not written in the

Lamb's Book of Life is going to go. So here's what the end of the Bible says about the future of Satan and his demons.

Revelation 20, verse 10 says, The devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Now this text doesn't say demons, but when Satan is cast into hell, this is the time when his demons, these angels that fell with him, this is the time when they will meet the punishment that is awaiting them.

These demons know that Jesus is their judge, and the verdict has already been delivered the moment they fell with Satan, like lightning from heaven, as Jesus said.

They know that at his command in the future, they will be cast into hell. This is why they are terrified of him as he stands before them.

The one who stands before them has the power to cast them into eternal misery with a word.

And so as they are in his presence, they are terrified. As we think about this, everyone in this room who knows

Christ should have great comfort. It's so obvious right now that the world we live in is dominated by Satan and his demons.

It seems like the bad guys are always winning and getting away with everything.

And all they're really doing is storing up wrath for themselves. So don't think that evil people will always get away with things forever.

They won't. As we live in America, it seems like demonic forces are always able to do what they want, but the truth is they are doomed.

And what Satan and his demons are doing is they're going down swinging. We look at the end of the

Bible. Satan is going to possess the Antichrist and there's going to be demonic activity unlike anything this world has ever seen.

That's going to be the height of their rebellion. But it's going to be the end of their rebellion.

They have no hope. They will perish forever. 2 Peter 2 .4 says this concerning demons.

God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the day of judgment.

These chains are figurative. They're on this earth. They're being held in these chains and they're awaiting execution.

But this execution will be an eternal misery in hell.

And these demons here, as we read here, they have sound theology. When they're not out spreading false religions, when they're actually talking to Jesus, who they can't fool, of course, they have sound theology.

And we see that right here. They tell Jesus, don't send us there now. Don't send us there before the time.

The time being the final judgment. They know how hopeless their future is and the one who controls their future scares them more than anyone.

And by the way, if you're following Christ closely, you scare them too. Because God is working in your life.

Think about that. It's the people who don't do anything for Christ. Oh, that person is not a threat.

The moment you start walking closely with the Lord, you get their attention and you might start facing some trials because they're trying to stop you from being a use for God's work in this world.

Think about that. So Jesus' absolute power over evil frightens the guilty and we see the guilty here are angels.

So the first area this is seen is among demons that await their final destruction. The second area that Jesus' absolute power over evil frightens the guilty is among unbelieving humans that tremble at his holy presence.

We'll see this in verses 30 through 34. So what we see here is the demons do not want to be thrown into the lake of fire before the time.

So they have a request to have a new place to occupy.

What we are about to see became the talk of the town of this region where this happened.

The request the demons make is bizarre. Let's look at this in verses 30 and 31.

Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them and the demons begged him saying, if you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs.

Okay, let's stop right there. Now we don't know exactly why this legion of demons asked

Jesus for permission to inhabit the herd of pigs. It's interesting. Here's two possible reasons.

Number one is pigs were considered unclean by the Jews. In fact, they were considered the most unclean animal.

Jesus, of course, was a Jew and these demons may be thinking that since pigs are unclean, he won't mind if we go there.

To go into a dirty animal is much better than to go into the lake of fire. So maybe he'll just let us do that.

That's one possible reason. Another possible reason is that these demons may have wanted to get back at Jesus.

Let's read this in verse 32, what the demons did once they occupied the pigs. Verse 32, and he said to them, go, so they came out and went into the pigs and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.

Now that would've been interesting to witness, huh? Unlike anything else you've ever seen in your life. What we read is that once the demons possessed the pigs, the pigs flew down the hill and drowned in the sea.

You might think, well, maybe there's a dozen pigs here. No. Mark 5 .13 tells us that there's 2000 pigs rushing down this bank into the water and these pigs drowned.

That's a lot of bacon thrown away. Think about the foods we love just out the window. And these people must've been like, well, there goes our herd.

So as we read this, the other reason the demons may have possessed the pigs is to make the locals angry with Jesus.

All the pigs were drowned when Jesus gave the demons possession to occupy them. Now we don't know why they want to go into the pigs.

We don't know for sure. But the important part here is that Jesus cast them out of these men and he did it with a word.

He said, go. And they went. Demons are very powerful.

Very powerful. We see that in the narrative here. They tormented these men.

They were able to break through chains. They made these men's life miserable. These men had no control.

They were controlled by these demons. They're powerful, but their power is nothing compared to the power of God.

1 John 4 says, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

In the world meaning Satan and his demons. What a marvelous verse that is. And we see this power here.

As humans tried to bind these demons, they felt they fell short every time. They were unable, but they found the right man, the only man who had the power to cast them out with a word.

It's interesting that Jesus' apostles had the ability to cast out demons because they received power from him.

But what Jesus did here is different. In Mark chapter 9, verses 14 through 29, the disciples were unable to cast out a demon.

Then Jesus came and cast the demon out immediately. And the disciples asked him later on, Lord, why weren't we able to cast out that demon?

And Jesus said, it is only through prayer that you can cast out a demon like that. So it must have been more powerful than other demons.

But think about it. Jesus goes there in a word, gone. I mentioned the story of my dad going to northern

Minnesota at the men's retreat. It took him several hours as they prayed to get this demon to leave the man.

But Jesus has the power unlike anyone else. With a word, gone.

They leave. He is God. Don't you see that here? He's not just a man.

He is God. Only God can do that. So we see here

God's power on display. His power supersedes other instruments of God in the

Bible who are able to do supernatural things on God's behalf. But here we see that his power is a step above because he is

God. Now, we are at the place in the text where we see the reaction of the people who witnessed this.

And this is the focus of the second point as we focus on the unbelieving people of this community.

Verses 33 and 34. Let's read this again. The herdsmen fled and going into the city, they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon -possessed men.

And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they begged him to leave the region.

They begged him. What we read in verse 33 is that the herdsmen fled.

And what they saw is unlike anything they had ever seen. They told everyone about the pigs, but that was not their focus.

Verse 33 says what their focus was, especially what had happened to the demon -possessed men.

That's what they wanted to talk about the most. If their focus had been on the pigs, their focus would have been in the wrong place.

But their response was the right one. Their focus was on the supernatural power of Jesus.

He was able to cast these demons out and send them into the pigs with a word. In our lives, when you see something special, you want to share it with other people.

I'm a stargazer. I love looking up at the stars at night. And when I see something neat, you see planets or you see a shooting star,

I want to go tell someone. I go and tell my wife. I maybe even tell some of you what I saw.

And you experience this in life when something extraordinary happens. You want to tell someone about it.

And that's a small example of something glorious compared to what these people experienced.

What they experienced was the power of God over the power of Satan.

They witnessed demons walking away with their tail between their legs.

But even though these people had the right response as these people witnessed it and they run back to the town, it's remarkable to see the human response to Jesus here as in other places in Scripture.

The townspeople, once they arrived there. What we read is that when the people from the city came out to meet

Jesus, they begged Him to leave their region. What we must understand is that this region located east of the

Sea of Galilee was a Gentile region. And most Gentiles were unbelievers. When Jesus was in Jewish areas, the

Jews were interested in asking the question, is this the Messiah? And some of them believed.

But these Gentiles are not interested in that. They know that they are in the presence of greatness.

And they know that the one in their presence is too great for them to be close to Him.

They're not curious. Who is this man? He's not like other people around here.

Who is he? Maybe the Jews know something about this man. Maybe the Jewish religion is the true religion.

They're not asking questions like that. They just don't want Him around them.

They just want Him out of their life. Their life was going good. And He comes, and they see

Him as a threat. The appropriate response here would be to have a healthy fear of Him, but also longing to be in His presence.

There are other accounts in Scripture where people did not want to be in Christ's presence because of His greatness.

Because He was special. The appropriate response of sinful humans should always be one of trembling and unworthiness.

For example, we see this throughout the Bible. Isaiah 6, verses 1 -5.

Isaiah is in the presence of the free incarnate Christ as he sits on the throne. And what he says is,

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. Then after saying this, he says,

Woe is me, for I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips.

For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. So Isaiah, the prophet, realized he was in the presence of holiness.

And he realized he was filthy as a sinner. And if we stood in the presence of God, we would feel the same.

The Apostle Peter also had a similar experience as what we see in our text.

And what Isaiah had. In Luke 5, Jesus told them to throw the net off the side of the boat.

And I read this earlier. Remember, the net goes out and this huge amount of fish comes in, so much that the net can't even hold how many fish.

And in Luke 5 -8, this is what it says. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying,

Depart from me, for I am sinful, O Lord. He didn't feel worthy to be in His presence.

And he even realized how filthy he was. He realized the man before him was perfect. He isn't just powerful.

He's sinless. So Peter knew he was in the presence of greatness.

He knew he was in the presence of perfection. And he says, I am a sinful man. This trembling is the response of humans when they are in the presence of Jesus.

The presence of greatness. The presence of perfection. And think about this in your own life. Sometimes, when you're around someone famous, you stumble a bit.

Your words can't come out. I remember I had a teacher one time. He told me a really funny story.

He saw Bud Grant, the famous Vikings football coach. He was getting groceries. And he comes up to him and he says,

Can I help you with your groceries? He wouldn't say that to anybody else. But he said something he wouldn't say because he was so nervous to be around him.

I remember when I met a famous pastor who I really respect and who had a great impact on my life.

I remember I was shaking when I was standing next to him and talking to him.

We do this when we are in the presence of mere men. All of this pales in comparison to the experience of meeting

Jesus. People are afraid of him because of his power. And they notice their sinfulness when they are in his presence because he is perfect.

And the two examples I gave you above, Isaiah and Peter, are two believers. And they realize their sin before Christ.

But both of them knew they were his and longed to be in his presence. In heaven one day, when a believer is in God's presence, the filthiness feeling of standing before God still in sin will be gone.

First John 3 .2 says that when he appears, we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is.

In other words, we will be perfect just like he is perfect. But the reality is right now, we still have sin.

So if God were in our presence, we would say, man, I'm filthy. And man, he is perfect.

But even with that, believers still want to be in his presence. But unbelievers want nothing to do with God's presence.

People are uncomfortable coming to church because it reminds them of God. And they don't want anything to do with God because it reminds them of their sin.

It makes them feel bad. It's interesting being a pastor, by the way. Now pastors are imperfect.

We fight sin just like any other believer. But what is interesting is that when pastors are around unbelievers, and sometimes even

Christians, it's almost like Jesus is around. People are careful what they do and what they say.

And unbelievers don't think they can have any fun. Is that true? What they mean by fun is that they can't say or do dirty things that they normally would.

So they don't want a pastor around or they don't want a Christian around. That might be your experience around an unbeliever.

I heard an author tell the story of Billy Graham one time. He was playing with a professional golfer.

I think it was the president of the United States, a professional golfer, one other guy and Billy Graham.

This was the group that was golfing together at some special events. And the golfer, after they had gone through 18 holes, he confessed that he felt very uncomfortable being around Billy Graham.

He was asked after the outing, well, did Graham push his religion on you? And he said, no, he didn't say a word about religion.

It was just being around him that made him feel uncomfortable. It's not good to run from righteousness because one wants to live an unrighteous life, but rather it is good to run to Jesus who will forgive you for your sins.

Remember, Jesus is a friend of sinners. And if we will go to Him, if any unbeliever will go to Him and repent of their sins,

Jesus will receive that person. But this is not what we see here with these

Gentiles east of the Sea of Galilee. They want nothing to do with Jesus. They beg Him to leave.

Now, when we are in the presence of Christ, we should fear Him, realizing His greatness, but we should also long for His presence, even though He is great beyond our understanding.

He wants us to be with Him. And this is what heaven will be like in the future. Jesus will not be our buddy.

He's different than we are. He is our God. And we will give

Him the reverence He is due as we are in His presence. And the Lord calls us to live with this healthy fear right now.

There should be a little bit of trembling realizing who we worship. But He's also our friend.

I heard the illustration. It's like Aslan from Chronicles of Narnia, the lion. If you're friends with Aslan, you love him and you enjoy being around him, even though you know he has so much power.

But his enemies hate him and fear him because he can destroy them. And we see that here in this text.

Believers are to be ones who run to Him. And want to be around Him because He's our friend. But we also know He has infinite power.

And with a word, He's going to cast people one day into the lake of fire. So what we've seen in the sermon is this.

Jesus' absolute power over evil frightens the guilty. We've seen two areas in this text.

The first area this is seen is among demons that await their final destruction. The second area is among unbelieving humans that tremble at His holy presence saying, get away from me.

I don't want you here. And what I want to say right now is that every believer in this room is in a glorious position.

But if you are not a follower, I pray that you will become one. Anyone listening? Anyone on Facebook live?

Jesus went to the cross so that you would not have to fear the future judgment. He is all -powerful.

But if you know Him, He is a comfort. He will defeat evil once and for all. And He will gather

His people in the future who will dwell with Him forever. My prayer is that everyone here and everyone who hears my voice would live in this hope.

We are not doomed like the fallen angels who have no hope. We have a

Redeemer and we cling to Him realizing He is our only hope to live in forever bliss, not fearing the judgment.

Now, next Sunday, we will see Jesus do something remarkable again. I should say next

Sunday. Let me pause and say this again. Next Sunday, I won't be here.

I will be gone. Paul from New Life is going to be filling in, the associate pastor down there.

And it's very kind of them to borrow him to our church. Two Sundays from today, we are going to have our

Christmas service. And several weeks down the road, we will jump back into Matthew at the beginning of chapter 9.

At this time, let's bow our heads in prayer together. Father in heaven, what a wonderful God you are.

Adoration, Lord, is what we need more of. Amazement of how great you are, how powerful you are, how perfect you are.

That to be in your presence is unlike anything else. I think about the saints in heaven right now.

What they would say to us about how wonderful it is. And every believer in here is one day closer to that.

Our redemption, as Scripture says, is nearer to us now than when we first believed. And give us that hope today.

Fill us with that hope today. Remind us of the hope that we have in Christ. But my prayer,

Lord, is that any unbeliever, Lord, would realize that they don't need to run from you because of their sins, but that they would leave their sinful life, the bondage of their sin, and run to you and truly be free.

As Jesus said, you will be free indeed. So, Lord, I pray that you would use this in everyone's life, right where they're at.