FBC Sunday Evening Service

A good evening. I hope you had a good afternoon today. It's pretty nice outside, so you could have enjoyed a little outside time. I hope you got some rest and didn't wear yourself out doing that work that's only supposed to be done in the six days, you know, that kind of a thing.

Singing of Redemption and the Evening Welcome

So I hope you had a good day of rest. I want to begin this evening with number 522. I have a song I love to sing since I've been redeemed. We'll see in our text tonight in Mark's gospel, a guy that just could not stop singing.

So let's stand, shall we, as we sing 522. I have a song I love to sing since I have been redeemed. Of my Redeemer, Savior, King, since I have been redeemed. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.

Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a Christ who satisfies. I have been redeemed as Christ. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.

Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have, since I have been redeemed, dispelling every doubt and fear. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.

Since I have been redeemed, I will glory in my Savior's name. I have a home free. Since I have been redeemed, I shall dwell eternally. Since I have been redeemed, since I have been redeemed, I will glory in His name.

Since I have been redeemed in my Savior's name. To see Denny in services again. Denny, would you please lead us in prayer? You may be seated. We're going to read a psalm here in just a moment, but I first need to give a word of clarification.

I did not realize this. Vicki mentioned to me when she came in tonight, Kent is not home. Kent Foster is not home. When Chris and I went to see him on Thursday, he was, I mean, good spirits and telling us all about everything.

He's really had a good long visit with him. And he said that the doctor told him he would probably be going home Saturday, maybe Friday, maybe Friday if he behaved himself, uh, but otherwise he figured Saturday.

So, you know, I saw a few comments of Lori's along the way and, um, asked her this morning how he was doing. And she gave me an update and never said he was still in the hospital. So I thought, you know, he'd gotten home and everything was all good and, you know, he was making progress and so forth, but not the case.

So he is still in the hospital up in Rockford and will be there at least till tomorrow, at least maybe Tuesday. All right. So he has a way to go. I guess he wasn't being very good. You know, he wasn't behaving himself.

So he told me about, told us about, you know, conversations with some of the people there, uh, witnessing to them and so forth. Had some, has had some good opportunities to witness. And this is in St. Anthony, St. Anthony's.

Okay. You get the point. Um, but, um, did actually come across a couple who were, uh, professing believers and had some good conversations with them. So that was good. Well, let's turn to Psalm 107, Psalm 107.

I want to read, um, verses one through nine, and then jump down to verse 17 through 22. And then we'll sing about this in just a moment. I'm thinking of, uh, any words of testimony you'd like to share tonight, God's doing in your life or has done this past week.

You'd like to share to be an encouragement and a blessing to us. So Psalm 107, uh, first nine verses, first of all, Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. That word mercy, by the way, is the word hesed, his steadfast love, the Lord's faithfulness to his covenant.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered out of the lands from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way.

They found no city to dwell in hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to, might go to a city for a dwelling place.

Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. For he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Now look down at verse 17 fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities were afflicted their soul abhorred all manner of food and they drew near to the gates of death.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of all their distresses. He sent his word and healed them. He delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. Keep those couple of verses in mind here in a few minutes. We have some opportunity to do that very thing. The Lord, the men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, his wonderful works.

And we would sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, declare his works with rejoicing. Well, in our Psalter number 229 is the musical version of that psalm. And so when we want to sing stanzas one, two, and three, and then over on the next page stanza six.

So 229, give thanks to God for he is good. This is a tune that we should know. We were dead in sin. He sent his word, our souls to raise that we might live again. In north and south and east and west, some wandered without aim until they cried to God for rest and he delivered them.

Give thanks for all his faithfulness, his mighty deeds make plain. He satisfies the purposeless and gives them hope again. Some sat in prisons dark as night, despising God's commands. But when they cried, he gave them light and cut away their bonds.

Oh, thank him for the liberty that cuts through every chain. His word breaks down captivity and sets us free again. And on the sixth, then praise the Lord, his love acclaim, all fears he will destroy.

And when the hungry cry to him, he'll fill their souls with joy. Praise him who puts his power within our spirits to sustain. For those who come in need to him will never thirst again. All right. So who will give testimony to the works of the Lord?

Yes, Sue. Okay. All right. Now, how many years anniversary? 30. So did you bike for 30 miles? Okay. Hey, that works. That's all good. You also hiked. So that counts too. You get two miles of biking for every one mile of hiking.

So that's the way. That's my rule. Good. Well, praise the Lord. Glad you guys were able to get away. Yes, Dan. Back to safe harbor is that Psalm talks about. Anybody else? Yes, Dave. Preservation. He providentially got you to see that gas thing going and providentially delivered you from ever smoking.

Anybody else? So a couple of things. One, next Sunday evening at 4 .30, the Young Married Single Adult Fellowship at the Foreman's. There's a signup sheet. So don't forget to take care of that. Bring meat to cook on a side dish and it'll be a good time of fellowship.

And if you're not in that group, then the encouragement is to invite someone to your home for some fellowship next Sunday evening. Fireworks is part of it, whatever, but that's next Sunday night. The other thing, I just wanted to kind of publicly say a word about the little canopy out here and this little accident.

And it's not like nothing's being done about it. It's just that the wheels of these things take a long time. They grind slowly. And step one was to have one insurance company deal with it, say what they were going to do, which is never enough.

So then we had to get our insurance company involved and then those insurance companies will deal with them. They'll deal with each other. But there's all kinds of processes involved. And where it stands right now is our insurance company is sending a design engineer as well as a contractor.

So it's an independent person that the insurance company gets and they will come and analyze the thing and come up with a process and so forth. The city has weighed in on it and said, we cannot repair what's there.

It doesn't meet code. So it has to come off. The whole thing has to come off and has to be rebuilt. And from what one word I've gotten is that code says on a building with a roof hanging so low and all this that the canopy can't attach to the building.

There has to be a space between the roof line and the canopy so that exhaust can escape up so you don't get any exhaust fumes come into the building kind of a thing. So there's all kinds of little details that are involved.

So it'll be a process. It'll be a time before we can even get to the point of step one, which is demolition, tearing everything off and then going from there. So just kind of wanted to update you on that and let you know where that stands.

The Cleansing of the Leper in Mark 1

All right, let's take our hymnals again. Turn to 511. Only a sinner saved by grace. Let's stand again, shall we, as we sing? Have I gotten but what I received? Grace hath bestowed it since I have believed.

Boasting excluded, pride I abase. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.

Once I was foolish and sin ruled my heart, causing my footsteps from God to depart. Jesus has found me happy, my case. I'm, oh, am a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace.

This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. Suffer a sinner whose heart overflows, loving his Savior to tell what he knows. To tell it would I embrace. I'm only a sinner saved by grace.

Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is my story, to God be the glory. I'm only a sinner saved by grace. You may be seated. So we want to pray tonight for Kent. Also, if you think about it, pray for Melissa and Ileana and Ricky.

They're out in Seattle and Melissa and Ileana are flying back here tomorrow. There's a court hearing thing on Friday and then she'll be going back out to Seattle next Monday or Tuesday. So pray for their safety and their travels.

She sent me a text today with a screenshot of the weather situation. It is 100 degrees in Seattle and the forecast tomorrow is it's supposed to be 107. And they have no air conditioning. Most people don't have air conditioning.

This is out there, I mean, it's just unheard of to have those kind of temperatures. So pray for their safety and their well-being. Ricky, I think I mentioned a few weeks ago, he had torn his Achilles tendon.

Had to have surgery on it and it's, you know, it's a long process of recovery and still dealing with that. So let's have a word of prayer and well, I'll tell you what, let's read our text first and then we'll pray.

So turn to Mark chapter 1. Mark 1 and we'll read verses 40 to 45. Mark 1 verse 40 says, Now a leper came to him, that is to Jesus, imploring him, kneeling down to him and saying to him, notice the focus on him, came to him, imploring him, kneeling down to him, saying to him, if you are willing, you can make me clean.

Then Jesus moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, I am willing, be cleansed. As soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And he strictly warned him and sent him away at once and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go your way, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing, those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them.

However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the matter so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places. And they came to him from every direction.

Let's pray. So Father, we do thank you tonight for our time together this evening. Thank you for this day of rest from the normal routines of life and pray that it has been a refreshing day for us. By the time we retire for the night, we can look back over the day and give thanks for that refreshment.

We do pray tonight for Kent and ask for your continued intervention in his life, strengthening his body, weaning him off of the oxygen that he needs and clearing up the fluid problem. Pray that he could get home soon.

Just be gracious to him. Do protect those out in the Northwest and think particularly of Melissa and Ricky and Ileana. Just pray that you would protect them from this extensive heat and just pray also for their safety and travels tomorrow.

So Father, bless in our time in this text this evening and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Well, during the near the end of my seventh grade year, so this goes back a couple of years, we were living at the time in Niles, Ohio, and it was about a couple of weeks before school was out and my father sat us down around the table in the kitchen and he said, we have some news.

We're going to be moving to Chicago area. We're going to be moving to Chicago. So this was, what, 1971, I guess it was. And he wanted to talk about it, what he's going to be doing. And he was, I mean, when we were in Niles, Ohio, he was pastoring a church.

And by the way, did you know that before we lived in Niles, Ohio, we lived in Wellington, Ohio. And yesterday, I guess President Trump had, former President Trump had this big rally in Wellington, Ohio.

Wellington, Ohio is a town of about 4 ,000 people. I mean, it's out, you know, it's just a farm town. It's one fourth the size of Sterling, but it happens to be the town where the Lorain County Fairgrounds is situated.

And they're kicking off the Lorain County Fair this week. And they had Trump there and it was, to me, it was kind of fascinating because, you know, having lived there and just this sea of people, thousands and thousands of people showed up for this rally.

But anyway, so my dad was pastoring a church in Niles and he sat us down. He said, we're going to be leaving here. I've taken a position with Regular Baptist Press in Chicago. So we're going to be moving to Chicago the end of June.

And I was thrilled. I was thrilled because, I mean, it's really excited me because I was born in Chicago, Mount Sinai Hospital in Oak Park, to be precise. And yet I never saw it. I mean, as a one month old child, what do you see, right?

I mean, we moved away from Chicago when I was about a month old. So, and I'd never been back. I'd never been to Chicago. And so I was all excited about this. I get to go back to my birthplace and, you know, we get to live there and all this.

This really excited me. But my dad threw a damper on that excitement when he said, now here's the thing. You can't say a word of this to anybody until after I announce it in church, until I announce my resignation at the church.

When's that going to be? It's not going to be for a couple of weeks. So you just have to keep a lid on it. A couple of weeks, you know, you know, the next day I told my best friend, I mean, you know, I was excited.

You know, I couldn't, I couldn't wait to tell somebody about that. And about a week and a half later, sure enough, my dad at the end of the church, end of service on a Sunday morning, he announced that he was resigning and that he was taking this position and they would, we would be in around for another 30 days and then we would be moving.

And I was sitting in church with my best friend and he looked over at me and I looked at him and we kind of smirked a little bit, but then I looked back at his mother who was in the pew behind us, down the pew, and she looked over and she, she smiled like this too.

And after church, she's telling everybody, oh, I already knew it. I already knew it. Brian told, Brian told Richard, Brian told Richard, you know, and I heard about it when I got home, you know, that I didn't keep my mouth shut, but I couldn't help it.

I was so excited about moving to Chicago that I, I just had to tell somebody. Now in Mark chapter one, in this text that we read tonight, there's a, there's a young man or a man who is affected, who's impacted by Jesus and he cannot help but tell it.

His heart just overflows and he has to say what's on his mind, what's on his heart. He has to tell it. And I, I see this and I wonder, I wonder how many of us are so impacted or have been so impacted by the work of Christ in our lives that we can't help but tell it.

Of course, the impact of his work of grace and saving us, apart from any merit of ours whatsoever, but totally taking us out of the pit of despair and, and putting us on a rock forever. And how many of us have been so impacted that we can't help but tell it?

How many times does God work in our lives, Christ work in our lives in a way that leaves us with a heart overflowing that just has to tell somebody about it? Well, this man really represents what, you know, how we ought to respond to the work of Christ in our lives.

So I want to, I want to see, first of all, the, the composite of the needy that this man represents. He, he serves as like a, a picture of the needy. He's a leper. He's a leper. So this man is typical of the sinner.

Leprosy is a, is one of those types of sin. It's a figure of, of sin. But the desperation of this man, this deplorable condition that he finds himself in as a leper, it means he's an outcast. He's an outcast.

I wanted to remind myself of the, the way the lepers had, what the lepers had to do. So I went back to Leviticus chapter 13. Look, look at that passage with me. Leviticus 13, and look at verses 45 and 46, and, and just imagine what life would be like for this, for a person so afflicted with leprosy, for this man that comes to Jesus.

Leviticus 13 verse 45, well, verse 44 declares, he's a leprous man. He is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean. His sore is on his head. So by the way, the, the condition of leprosy as it's described in Leviticus and the leper in Mark's gospel could be, could stand for a variety of skin diseases that could be contagious.

Not all, not all necessarily the kind of leprosy that we think of today that would eat the flesh and cause members to fall off and so forth. Some would have had that kind of disease, but, but the leprosy spoken of in Leviticus could be any kind of, you know, skin infection, bodily infection.

So one so afflicted, verse 45 is declared to be unclean. Now verse 40 or verse 45 tells what he had to do. Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare, and he shall uncover his mustache and, or he shall cover his mustache and cry unclean, unclean.

He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore, he shall be unclean. He is unclean. Notice the emphasis here. He's unclean. He's unclean. He's unclean. And he shall dwell alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

This is that man. This is his condition. Some of you mentioned you or indicated that you've watched those episodes of the chosen and there's one of those episodes where this scene is played out on the screen.

This man with leprosy comes before Jesus and Jesus cares for him and, and I think they did a very good job of expressing in that visual form the deplorable condition of one such as this. He's an outcast and, and as an outcast in this deplorable condition, he is desperate.

He's desperate. He's in great need and the, the extent of his desperation is seen in what he does. He comes to Jesus imploring him, imploring him. That is begging him. Now, I don't, we've seen, we don't, see too many in our community, individuals who are, who resort to a position or a place of begging.

I've seen a few, but really very few. But you go to some of our bigger cities and you see images of, you know, cities like LA and San Francisco where those who are in terribly deplorable condition are reduced to, to beggary, to begging people for help.

And it is, it is heart-wrenching to see. Now, I saw someone the other day, I thought it was kind of an interesting juxtaposition. Where was it? Maybe it was in, is this in Rock Falls? I don't know. I can't remember.

We, we were somewhere together and saw, where? Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, it was when we were in Rockford. We were visiting Kent. And what a, what an interesting juxtaposition. Here's a guy who's standing at the street corner, you know, he says anything you give would be helpful, God bless you, kind of a thing.

And he's, he's perfectly, he seems to be perfectly healthy. I mean, he's walking around, he's, you know, this kind of stuff. And, and so we just passed all these signs that say help wanted, you know, help wanted.

And I made a comment about that, you know, that, you know, seems like an able-bodied guy ought to be able, in this day and age, ought to be able to get a job. But then we realized, you know, every, every place you go to apply for a job, one of the things they insist upon is you have a residential address.

You have an address. If you don't have a residence, you don't have an address, they're not going to hire you. So someone like that might be in a pretty serious situation. But anyway, we don't see this kind of thing very much.

And this, this guy is in such a deplorable condition that he's desperate. And his desperation is seen in his begging Christ for help, imploring him. And in his deplorable condition, he is also without hope.

There is no doctor he can go to that's going to prescribe an antibiotic for him to clear up his skin infection or whatever this is that he has. There, there isn't anybody who's going to help him. This is why the only thing they could do was, you know, get away from anybody that they might infect with that, with that disease and hope and pray that it clears up.

This is it. He's really without much hope other than that. He's hopeless and therefore doomed. If somehow this disease doesn't take care of itself, he's destined to a life of misery and woe and, you know, death in squalor.

This is a, this is a good picture of the sinner, of each one of us before Christ, outside of Christ, isn't it? An outcast that once was an outcast. Is that, that song, you know, an outcast in a deplorable condition, desperate, desperate, without hope and doomed.

So he's in a deplorable condition, but he has, as he comes to Jesus, a desirable attitude. He comes kneeling down. This, I suggest, is the first step. This, this attitude expressed in kneeling down. This is the sinner's first step, recognizing his needy condition and acknowledging the Savior's ability.

This is what he's, this is what he's communicating in coming to Jesus and kneeling down. He is acknowledging, I am desperately needy, but you, you, Lord Jesus, are, you are sufficiently power, powerful.

You have sufficient ability to deal with my needs. That's what he's communicating in that kneeling down. He has a desirable attitude. The, the sinner that stands aloof with his eyes up to heaven and he says, I'm so glad I'm not like other people, like this guy over here, like that guy over there, and yeah, I may have a few things in my life, but I'm glad I'm not like all these miserable people.

You know, such in one is that he's in a deplorable condition and doesn't even know it. You know, he comes kneeling down and this, this needy sinner, this needy man also demonstrates a definite faith, a definite faith.

He says to Jesus, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Understanding Jesus' ability is, and my own inability, is a sinner's first step. The second is the expression of this faith. If you are willing, you can make me clean.

And look at how this faith is expressed. His, this faith prompted his boldness. It prompted his boldness. He believed that Jesus was able. That's why he comes to him in the first place. It prompted his boldness.

It compelled, his faith compelled his statement. He believed that Jesus was able. The only condition is, is he willing? But his belief that Jesus is able, his faith in the ability, the power of Christ, it compels him to say this, to speak of this.

But his faith also goes a step further in that it submits to his sovereignty. You see that? If you are willing, you can make me clean. He's submitting to the sovereignty of Christ. He knows Christ can make him clean, but he doesn't presume upon that ability.

He counts upon his sovereignty. He submits himself to that sovereignty. If you are willing, you can make me clean. So this man in his condition, he really is kind of a composite of the sinner in his need.

Well, verses 41 and 42 express to us and reveal to us the compassion of the Savior. He, Jesus, is moved to action. It says Jesus moved with compassion, stretches out his hand. And this is a regular feature of the compassion of Jesus.

Action. Action. Every time compassion is used, action follows. Pity doesn't always equal compassion. You can see somebody and pity them, but really not show any compassion for them because you don't do anything about it.

It's like, you know, the guy that we saw the other day. You know, my heart went out to him. I pitied him in his condition, but I didn't really do anything about it. I didn't really do anything about it.

What to do? It is a dilemma for us, isn't it? It is, isn't it? And I can't imagine how much more of a dilemma it is when you get into the bigger cities where it's like every single street corner you've got, you know, you've got two or three or four, you know, people that are there just asking, wanting a handout and so forth.

What do you do? It is a pitiable situation. What do you do about the, how do you feel? How do you feel about these pictures, these images? You see them of the tents and the shanties and the cardboard shelters that are just set up in these homeless camps.

It's awful. It's pitiable. But do we have compassion for those things? If we don't really do anything about it, we may pity but not have compassion. And see, this is the difference. That's the difference between pity and compassion.

And it's, I'm not suggesting that we ought always to have that compassion. I don't want to suggest that because it's like I said, your wallet would be empty very quickly if you drive to Chicago or to Rockford.

But you certainly can have pity. You certainly can have pity. Well, Jesus was moved with compassion. The pity didn't end with feeling sorry for the guy. The pity moved him with compassion. He had compassion on the individual and that compassion compelled him to touch.

You see this? Moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand and touched him. I loved that scene in that episode of The Chosen where Jesus heals the leper because it communicated the horror on the part of those who witnessed this because you don't touch a leper.

They went out of their way to make sure nobody touched them. They had to cry out, I'm unclean. I'm unclean. Stay away from me because you don't want to touch me. You don't stay away lest you touch. And Jesus stretched out, moved with compassion, stretched out his hand and touched him and he touched him.

This, I suggest, is an expression of his love, an expression of his love. The touch, the touch is an amazing means of communicating love and compassion for someone. Jesus touches the leper. It not only expresses his love, though, it's a channel for his power, a channel for his power.

Look back, for example, at verse 31. We see this many times as well. Jesus came to Peter's mother-in-law, took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her. In Luke's gospel, chapter 4, verse 40, let me just read this for you.

It says, When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. So it's like the touch of Jesus was a channel for his healing power.

He touched him and he healed him. And he demonstrates in his compassion that he is motivated to help. He's motivated to help. He says, I am willing, I am willing. This is the response of Jesus to the sinner's faith.

He always responds to faith, faith in the sinner who calls upon him, faith in the believer's prayer. He responds to that prayer, maybe not always the way we want. We would like to see it respond, but he does respond.

He responds to our faith. When he saw, how many times have you read this? How many times you've seen this in the gospels? When he saw her faith, when he saw his faith, when he saw their faith, remember the four who brought the lame guy and let him down through the roof.

When he saw their faith, Jesus responds to faith. And he responds to your faith. Let's Romans 10 tell us, Romans 10, 9 and 10. You believe in your heart, you believe in your heart with the Lord Jesus, confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

And then that faith is expressed in verse 13, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. What's the response? Shall be saved. So Jesus is motivated to help as he responds to the. And here's the thing.

Here's the thing. He had compassion. That compassion compelled him to act. It motivated him to help. He said, I'm willing. But what if he didn't have the ability? Right? Isn't that really the final step that's critical here?

And yet he does have the ability. He is competent to save. He says to him, be clean. Be clean. I am willing. Be clean. And the leprosy left him immediately. And he was cleansed. The healing was immediate.

The healing was thorough. The leprosy departed. The healing was unquestionable. He was cleansed. And everybody who is standing there witnessing this saw with their own eyes as that leprosy was healed.

It was gone immediately. He's competent to save. Now this then leads to verses 43 and 44 with the commands of the Savior. And what I want us to catch here in this command, when Jesus told him in verse 43, he says, he warns him and sent him away at once and said, don't say anything to anybody, but go your way, show yourself to the priest, offer for your cleansing those things.

Notice which Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Jesus in his commanding this guy, I want you to catch first of all, how he charges him to obey the scripture. And that is a consistent charge of the Lord Jesus.

Even to us. He charges us to obey the scripture. And what Jesus is getting at when he says here, do those things that, you know, offer for your cleansing, those things that Moses commanded. And we're not going to take the time to go back and look at it, but back in Leviticus 14, there is a whole ritual that had to be, that they had to go through for, for the cleansing at, for, to be declared cleansed by the priest.

Had to do all these different things. Priest had to inspect them. They had to offer these sacrifices, this offering and all the rest of this kind of stuff. And, but, but what Jesus and what Jesus is compelling this man to do, commanding him to do is to obey the scripture.

Now, why does he do that? Because he's communicating that our greatest allegiance needs to be to the scriptures. Our greatest allegiance needs to be to the scriptures. Well, why emphasize that at this point?

Well, because of the inclination. The inclination would be, the inclination would be to, to just live off of the experience. All right, I'm cleansed. Yippee. You know, and he goes off and he's cleansed, you know, and he just, he goes back home.

He says, Hey, look, I'm cleansed, you know, and all this kind of stuff. But he's completely bypassed the scripture in the meantime. He's living off his experience and our inclination can be to ignore what the scriptures tell us to do and live off the experience in some way or another.

For example, I, I have run into a few along the way, charismatic individuals who, who make the big deal out of speaking in tongues. They say you haven't, you haven't gotten the spirit if you haven't spoken in tongues.

You don't have the spirit if you haven't spoken in tongues. Well, you know, the, the, the scripture doesn't command me to speak in tongues. The scripture nowhere commands anybody to speak in tongues. And it's, it's nowhere said to be a necessary expression of the presence of the Holy spirit within you.

So what, what are you really getting at here? I'm getting at my experience. See, I've spoken in tongues and this demonstrate, no, we're, we're to, we're to be obedient to our greatest allegiance needs to be to the scripture.

And our greatest need in that allegiance is to obedience. And there is a, there's a sternness in Jesus voice in verse 43, where we read that he strictly warned him to do this. He strictly warned him to go away and do this.

And that sternness is due to the tendency to ignore the scriptural guidelines. Now, this still is true today. You know, people, people in our day, they say, well, you know, I'll worship, I'll worship the Lord the way I want to worship the Lord.

I can worship God out of the bass boat. I don't need to be in church to worship the Lord. I don't need to assemble with Christians to worship God. I can worship God any way I want to worship God. No, no, our greatest allegiance needs to be to the scripture.

And our greatest need is obedience to those scriptures. And so he earnestly warns him, but he also compels the man to do this as a testimony, as a testimony. See this at the end of verse 44, he says, offer yourself, offer for your cleansing, those things which Moses commanded as a testimony to them.