This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. Do you want to take a moment to read our scripture here this morning? I believe it's printed in your bolten as well, too. One last week, I told you last week, this might be the end of Acts, well, it wasn't. This will be our end of our study of Acts, at least this time this year. Looking at Acts, chapter 28, verses 17 through 31, this is God's Holy and Inspired Word. Please listen. After three days, he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. When they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, though I had no charge to bring against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and to speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I'm wearing this chain. And they said to him, we received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are. For with regard to the sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning till evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about the Jews, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement. The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. You will indeed see, but never perceive, for this people's heart has grown dull. And with their ears, they can barely hear, and their eyes, they have closed, less they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, they will listen. He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. This is God's holy and inspired word. It was a very last section in the book of Acts as we wrap up with that. As we know all along, as we looked at last week, if you were here, Paul knew that he was on his way to Rome. Paul knew that he would have the opportunity, because the angel had come and told him, you must testify before Caesar. Paul knew that he had had an opportunity to talk to the Jews, which he does in this case here, or at least he would try. He would call them together. And Paul was seeing more and more that the opportunity was certainly becoming for him to continue to profess and testify to the Gentiles, as his three previous missionary journeys were beginning to prove over and over again. This was the first opportunity that we read about here as he's in Rome to gather these Christian or not Christian, but Jewish leaders together to see whether or not indeed they were trusting in and following Jesus Christ and to make profession of that. Let me read verses 23 and 24 again, just real quick. It says, when they had pointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers. From morning until evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from a law Moses and from the prophets. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. You see, Paul was running into this problem everywhere he went. Paul was running into it repeatedly, trying to convince people that Jesus was God's resurrected son, and the only way to rescue them from sin and from death, that Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of the Passover meal. He was the ultimate picture of what the temple was pointing to. This was a radical concept and thought to Jews in his day and age. And at the core of this problem is the offense of the gospel message of Jesus Christ himself, that they needed a savior like him. Let me explain what I mean by what the offense is. To those who did not follow Jesus or did not follow Jesus yet, here it is. There is a healing, I'm sorry, jump ahead there. I'm out of control. Let's go back. There we go. There is a healing you need, but don't naturally see. 1 Corinthians 1, 18 says this, for the message of the cross, and this is Paul speaking, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. So Paul is saying, if you're off the bat, this is going to seem this Jesus stuff as foolishness upon first listening. And let me just say right now, at the beginning of this ceremony here today, if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, first, I'm really glad you're here. I'm glad you felt welcome enough or you were invited to come and listen. I'm glad you're looking and you're seeking your own bad journey. But just right up front, the Bible is telling you here, Paul speaking through the scriptures, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is telling you that if it seems like foolishness, then you get it. This is a crazy message. This strikes and will appear to our flesh, to our natural minds as something very much against the grain. So you're quite normal, if you're here this morning, this seems foolish to you. But let me challenge you to consider, is there indeed a healing that you need that you don't naturally see? Because the message of Jesus is that very much is the case. Now most of you I'm assuming are here because you do follow Jesus Christ, and some of you I know that personally that you do. Let me say the message is also for you this morning, there is a healing you need that you don't naturally see. Paul writing in Galatians to the church in Galatia, he says, this is Galatians 3.3. Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Notice foolish is used in both contexts. Paul is reminding us that the natural tendency is for us having even as followers of Jesus, having received that message of grace to fall back into an old way of operating and thinking, I've got to kind of earn my way and show myself worthy of deserving eternal life of being saved or being brought into the presence of God on my own merit. Paul is saying, don't follow that trap. There is a healing that you continually need that you won't naturally see. He even says in Colossians 2.6, writing to the church in Colossus, he says, so then just as you receive Christ, Jesus is Lord, continue to live your lives in him.
Understanding your need for him is not just the doorway, it is the path of the Christian life and Christian experience. See this message here this morning, what Paul is saying here is as much for the follower of Jesus, it is for the non-follower of Jesus here. Some of you may have remember seeing a year or so ago in the news, a guy named Drew Manning. Now, physical fitness trainers, they're kind of a dime a dozen, they're everywhere. Every gyms got their own slew of people who help you get in shape. Drew is a little different. See, Drew decided that he would take 12 months and he would go from a very, very fit guy and you can look at his pictures on the internet if you want. And in six months, he gained 70 pounds. He totally stopped his exercise routine. He totally did nothing. He ate everything he wanted to and more. He had to train himself to start eating that way. Then it kind of came pretty naturally after a while. 70 pounds in six months. Now, that's not necessarily such an uncommon story except his plan was in the next six months to lose it all and go back to his original condition, which he did. And you can read about in his book, called Fit to Fat to Fit, very appropriate title. Took 12 months to do that. But an interesting thing that he says in his interview afterwards, what he didn't expect after he had come back and he was back in shape again and looked just like he did before is that he had lingering cravings, things that he hadn't desired before that all of a sudden now stayed with him when he saw that piece of cake. You remember what it tastes like. And it was a very different experience. He said he gave him a whole different level of empathy dealing with his clients now going forward as I can imagine it would. I just want to say there is a similarity to that that those of us who have fallen, which is all of us, according to the teaching of God, when we come back and we begin to walk with him, we remember, we remember the cravings, remember the tension, remember what it's like to not walk with him. And so the challenge is, if you are a follower of Jesus, this as much as you're not a follower, is that you would understand this need for healing and know that you don't naturally see it on your own. So we're going to explain that first. We're going to talk a little bit about what more that is. And then I'm going to give you two ways that you might commonly miss that understanding. So that's kind of where we're going ahead. So if you're following along on that insert in your bulletin, number point number one, if you want to follow or fill in the blanks on that as this, which I've already said, there is a healing that you need, but you don't naturally see in this passage again versus 25 through 29. It says, and disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement. In other words, it's the way of saying, here's the, the straw that broke the back here before they took off. And it was this, the Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. And you will indeed see, but never perceive for these people's heart has grown dull. And with their ears, they can barely hear in their eyes. They have clothes, less they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn. And I would heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. This quote here is from Isaiah chapter six versus nine through 10. This is for those of you maybe grew up in church or Sunday school, maybe remember hearing it. This is where Isaiah is one has the epiphany, the appearance of God and sees the glory of the Lord filling the temple. The train of his robe member fills the temple. And he says, what is me? I'm unclean. I'm man of unclean lips. Here he has this encounter. And from this encounter, after God has said, who will go and Isaiah famously says, here I am, send me come these verses and verses nine through 10, that the people will see and not perceive, that the people will hear and not understand. What a way to commission and send off your great prophet Isaiah. Hey, Isaiah, I'm raising you up. I'm sending you. You've seen my glory. You know what's at stake. You know what it's needed. You see who I am in my power and I am King and Kings and Lord of Lords. I'm going to send you. And by the way, it's not going to work very well. Or at least not like you think. But that's how he sends Isaiah. I don't think it's any accident that chapter five right before this, this quote that happens with Isaiah was talking about judgment coming on the people of Israel because of their unfaithfulness to God. And chapter seven will say, behold, a virgin will give birth and you will call him a manual. Judgment is going to come upon Israel. There is a Messiah coming that's going to be born of the virgin. And in the middle of that is Isaiah. I'm sending you and they need eyes to see and they need ears to hear. Why? Because there is a healing you need. But you don't naturally see Jesus quotes this same quote from Isaiah that Paul is doing in all three of the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus says this that you will have eyes but won't see. You'll have ears but not here. And Jesus quotes it in each of those cases right after he is given the parable of the sower, which is why I had this picture here. But Jesus gives this parable of how the sower is going to come and some of the seeds are going to fall on the rocky ground and some on the path and some with the weeds and some's going to find good soil. Jesus is telling them right up front that there's many of you that will not listen. There's many of you that will hear and not listen and see and not perceive. It's not going to come naturally. Paul for the same reasons is quoting this just like Jesus was and just like it was given to Isaiah, he's quoting it because he understands that reality. He understands that he's been called to profess and testify. He's not been called to expect that everyone's going to buy in, that everyone's going to listen. In fact, he's told right up front through Jesus teaching through Isaiah that it's not going to happen. And when Paul sees that it's not working for all those there, there he comes and he quotes this because the truth is there's a healing you need but you don't naturally see. So here's the question, why not? Why? Why can't we see this reality naturally? Why was that told to Isaiah? Why is Jesus giving parable of the sower? Why is Jesus not just saying, look, come to me, come on, come on, come on, please, please come to me. Why is it not going to happen? The reason why it's not going to happen is because of sin because our hearts are automatically bent away from God. Our hearts automatically don't want to see. They don't want to listen left to themselves. That's the reality of it. But Romans, Paul writing as well says in chapter 5 verse 20 but we're sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. God gives gauges in life to warn us July 16, 1999. Jeff, do you remember Jeff's our only pilot in the house that I'm aware of? John F. Kennedy Jr. took off in a plane that looked just like this with his wife with a sister-in-law going to Martha's vineyard for a wedding. They would not make it. I asked a pilot for an in mind, a guy named Chip Hart who flies smaller planes and things like this, asking him a little bit what was going on and probably what went wrong in the situation. He told me, well, there's lots of things that went wrong in the situation. In fact, he says that's what usually causes a plane crash. It's not one error. It's a multiple group errors. Is that true, Jeff? Better say, yeah, now, right? I'll put you on this. Yeah.
One, there was the pressure of a wedding. You know, you can't really run late for a wedding or you shouldn't. So there was this push that he had to get out and to get going even though they were running late, even though his sister-in-law was getting off work late. He pushed through it anyway. There was no flight plan that was officially filed, which is kind of a no-no all the time. Why? Because things were apparently pretty rushed to make it happen. They were supposed to fly in the daytime in the daylight, which was quite a bit different than flying at night, especially if you're a new pilot, but she was. There was perhaps maybe overconfidence. He had flown this route 35 times in the last 15 months, and five of those had been at night. So John F. Kennedy Jr had relatively some reason to think that he could make this flight. Weather conditions weren't ideal, and weather conditions, by the way, changed when he was originally going to go until he actually took off. In fact, there's another pilot that actually canceled the same flight plan that night because of weather. They found later on, too, after finding the plane, that he had the incorrect radio frequencies dialed into on the plane. So he wasn't getting, or somehow in his haste, or wasn't able to read the map. Clearly, he wasn't able to even get accurate weather reports from either Martha's Vineyard, where he was going, or he had taken off. Other problems. He could have been distracted by landing procedures, and things that would have been somewhat an angst for somebody who was a new pilot with that. And more than likely, in fact, the actual official report on it was that they believed he experienced spatial disorientation, which is what happens and what occurs when you don't realize that your plane has begun to take a circular descent motion. You can't tell. We have fluid in our ears, apparently, that when we're sitting up level, you kind of feel like you're standing up level, but that can be all disoriented when you're in an airplane, and unless you're paying close attention to your gauges in some circumstances, and especially when you can't visually see, you could actually be on a slope slowly descending without even realizing it, which is what they believe happened. What could have rescued him? Those. Paying attention to the gauges, the warning signs could have saved his life, his wife, his sister-in-law. And you see, he wasn't officially certified with instrument training, which meaning that you had been certified that you could fly simply by following your instruments. So it's the reason why you don't usually fly at night, especially not in bad weather conditions. Some key things about flying with your instruments. You need to know how to read the gauges, right? It's not going to help if you can't read them. Secondly, you know how to use the gauges together. How do they interact with one another? Third, you need to know how to use them when you have no visibility. That's what the training is for. And fourth and most importantly, know how to rely on the gauges when they go against your senses, which somewhere along the way, he had to make a choice between trusting what he thought he saw in his senses and what his gauges were telling him. And he made the wrong choice. Or he ran out of time because you have about 178 seconds average from the moment you realize that there's a conflict between your instruments and what you're receiving to make the right decision before you usually hit the ground. There are gauges that God has hardwired into us. Let me give you some sample ones because I want you to think, are you paying attention to them? Here's one, shame. When you feel shame, what do you do with that? Where do you take that? How do you process that? When you feel a need for secrecy and to do things that nobody else sees? Why is that? Where is that coming from? When you feel bitterness,
when you feel guilt and it's unresolved, when you feel anger, when you feel isolation, and the list could go on, these are gauges that God has built into us. They're adhered to tell us that something is desperately wrong and there is a solution needed that you must look for and find. We're to trust the gauges over our personal assessment. We're to acknowledge that something is wrong, that we need healing. If John F. Kennedy Jr. had acknowledged that something was not right with reality, what he thought was reality when his gauges were telling him, he would have taken evasive action. Are you taking evasive action with the gauges that God has put in your life? Pilots have 178 seconds most of the time. We maybe have an average of 70 years. Some of us here may only have 70 months, 70 days. We never know how much time we have left. There's always a healing you need but you don't naturally see. Another resource God has given us besides gauges and things that pop up in our life like some of those emotions, God has sent His Holy Ghost to diagnose. Yeah, I'm sorry, it really rhymed well. He's given us His Spirit to speak, to show us, to give us answers that we want to naturally see on our own. I remember when we adopted Gracie back in 2004, wonderful time, wonderful experience. Great joy of our lives to have her with us. When we first got to know her, we first met her, we realized there were symptoms that we saw in her life, things that needed to be addressed. She wasn't a healthy young girl like she is now. We saw that she was visibly malnourished. Our initial conclusion was initially, is that she needs to eat more. She was eating plenty. She was very inactive. She needs more exercises. She needs more encouragement. She needs more prompting. Another thing, she had constant perspiration. Even a sleep at night, you could wipe the perspiration from her forehead and I did. We could have thought, man, she has a perspiration problem. Lots of symptoms that, to us, the untrained mind, the non-doctor mind would have said, wow, it's these things. When you try this, me do that. But to the physician, to the doctor, knew, looking at those exact same symptoms, that she had a heart problem. You see, you perspire when your heart can't keep up. That's how your body cools itself. When your heart is overworking, overheating, because she had three large holes between the two chambers of her heart. So the oxygenated part of the blood wasn't getting fully oxygenated to send out to the rest of the body. No wonder she was inactive. By the way, you burn a lot of calories when that happens. It's not that she wasn't eating or getting fed. The calorie intake couldn't keep up with the demand because her heart was having to work so hard. She needed, and got my God's heart surgery as a healthy young little girl today. The Holy Spirit, though, is our physician who comes and looks at the symptoms that we might see and come to other conclusions and says, no, here's the real source. Here's the real problem. John 168 says this, and when he comes, this is Jesus talking about the Spirit. When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. The Holy Spirit is a comforter, yes, but the Holy Spirit comes and brings comfort and first telling you what the real problem is, and not just the symptomatic problems going right to the heart and showing, here's the source of those problems. And is your relationship with God, not your finances, although your finances might need some help, not your marriage, although your marriage is struggling, maybe, not your self-esteem because you're having trouble with that. There is something more at the core of who you are that must be reconciled, that must be fixed, that must be healed. There's a healing you need, but don't naturally see. Well, hopefully that explains it a little bit more. Let me tell you two main problems that exist of how we deal with this. Here's the first one, number two. If you don't naturally see it, then you might think you need a different kind of healing. If you don't naturally see it, you might think you need a different kind of healing. See, the Jews thought they needed a national or a political healing that would free them from the Roman occupation or oppression that they were experiencing. They wanted to see Israel restored to the days of King David or King Solomon, even better, when they were at the top of the food chain. See, they were occupied by Rome at the time. They had to pay taxes to Rome. Their freedoms were subject to Roman rule. Their religious beliefs were tolerated by Rome, but they could feel the toleration there all along. They knew things were not right as a nation. They knew of the hope and the promise of Messiah. The Pharisees and the religious leaders didn't question if there was going to be a Messiah. The only issue was was Jesus, Him. They were longing. They were looking for a Messiah. They had a picture of healing in their head that they knew they needed, but the picture that was in their head was not what they really needed. They thought the nation of Israel was to be an end in and of itself. There was a healing the Jews needed, but didn't naturally see in many today as we know, still don't. God planned for Israel to lead the world and restoring His kingdom on earth as it was in heaven. In fact, Israel did do that and does do that through the New Testament, but it wasn't through an Israeli invasion that happens that Jesus leads. It wasn't through oppression of the rest of the world. They're going to come and dominate it like the Crusades did or tried. No, it was to come through peace that God established through Jesus Christ and the spiritual birth of a whole new race that Israel was just a a pre-picture of. See, Jesus comes and says, look, if you're a true child of Abraham, you would believe in me. You would follow me. It was way more than genetic DNA that God was going to have happen here on earth. It was going to be spiritual DNA transformation that would spread from the Jews to the Gentiles around the world. Israel had the opportunity to lead the way as a people, but only a remnant would eventually follow. Only a remnant would faithfully recognize and follow the Messiah of which Paul was one. You know, you might be prone to make the same kind of mistakes. You think you need a different kind of healing this morning. Some of the ones I've already made reference to. Some of you think you're what you really need right now is financial healing. If I just have financial healing, everything would be okay. Some think no physical healing. Gosh, if I just had physical healing, things would be back on track. Equilibrium would be set. We'd be good to go. Some think I just need relational healing. It's a problem with a person or a group of people or some kind of stress is going on. Some think it's self-esteem healing. Some think it's marriage healing or sexual healing. Some think it's a family healing. You can pick and fill in the blank, but these are all symptomatic, not the core of the issue what it really is. We think we can get these areas fixed and working better than things will be right, but here's what's important. Please listen to this. Finding help in these areas certainly will medicate us and bring some positive change, but it is only treatment of the symptoms. Back in 1996, I could have sworn it was just a skin rash. It started out just with really swelling on my face and then it became a little bit itchy and things like that. It's good time for some hydro-quarters-owned creams, so we put some of that on that and tried some different things. Only problem is that it began to swell and blow up bigger and it had some heat too. It was really kind of strange. In fact, it was a Sunday morning just like this that I set out and it was at one particular level. By the time the third worship service was over that morning, I had people saying you need to go to a doctor because my face, my cheek had begun to swell up and the red was a really dark red. Some of you are not in because you probably saw it. Those that were back in those days there. I went to the little walk-in care clinic and it wasn't just a little skin rash and a skin abrasion. It was called a strep virus. In fact, a streptococcal cellulitis. What would be so dangerous about being on your cheek is that it's so close to the brain. If not treated quickly with strong antibiotics, it could go and pass to the brain very quickly. I had no idea how dangerous of a spot I was in by just getting some kind of strep virus through a pore or pimple or something on my face that was very, very dangerous. If I had just tried to treat the symptoms which I did at first and never gone to a doctor, not sure what the outcome would have been. But don't misunderstand us treating our symptomatic things as if they're the core problem will have the very similar kinds of results if we don't ever look to what is really underneath at all. There is a healing you need but you don't naturally see the best of the Jews, by the way, the ones that were seeking, looking for the Messiah, were called the Pharisees. They're the ones that knew the law of God. They kept it more and faithfully better than anybody else, but they were dealing with symptoms. They wanted the outward symptoms to be dealt with, but they never dealt with the heart. Listen to what Jesus says, writing about them in this parable. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable, this is Luke chapter 18. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisees stood by himself and prayed, God, I thank you that I'm not like other people, robbers, evildoers, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get, but the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven but beat his breasts and said, God have mercy on me a sinner. I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God, for all those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
What is Jesus trying to get across? You're never going to treat the symptoms any better than a Pharisee did. Let me tell you, they had spent their lives studying God's word. They had dedicated everything about who they were trying to fulfill it faithfully outwardly, but Jesus said you're like white wash tunes. You look nice on the outside but you're full of dead stuff on the inside.
There was a healing the Pharisees needed but didn't naturally see and there's a healing that each of us need that we don't naturally see and if we're not careful, we're prone to think that it's something different than the core. That's why there's still a third option. The third option is this, if you don't naturally see it, then you might think you don't need healing at all. I love this picture. It's a great picture of the blind leading the blind, isn't it? The blind woman leading the other guy by the leash? Maybe? If you don't naturally see it, then you might not just confuse the type healing you need. You might not think you need healing at all, which really is more a picture of what the Gentiles, the Romans, were like at this time. You see, Paul's addressing both of these in this situation, I believe. The Gentiles, the Romans, because those that were non-Jews that were all around Israel here were the Romans. That's who had invaded and taken over. They probably didn't perceive a need for healing at all or at least not very much. You see, it was the best of times for Rome. This was the time with a Pax Romana, which you remember anything about your history. This represented a Roman piece which started in 27 BC and went to roughly about 180 AD. This is good times in the history of Rome. Things were going well and they were going to only get better. Here's a picture of what Roman, back in 117, under Emperor Trajan, Rome had its maximum expansion. This is almost all of the known world at the time, dominated by Rome. Things were good and there was peace in Rome at this time. No Gentiles had much of a felt need for healing at all at this point. But see, that doesn't change the fact, though, that there is a healing you need that you don't naturally see, even though the Gentiles were not aware of it. There is a hearing without understanding. There is a seeing but not perceiving happening. University of Pennsylvania's Martha Fera is a founder director of the Penn Center for Neuroscience and Society. She's done lots of studies on the human brain. One interesting one that she did, she found a person who had been in a motorcycle accident and she realized that he was having this condition. He could remember any face that he saw from somebody that he knew before the motorcycle accident, but he could remember no face of anybody that he had met after the motorcycle accident, including sadly his wife. So can you imagine having some woman walk into your room and you're like, who are you? Oh, you're my wife. You can't really, can you? The complexities of the human brain. But let me tell you, if what Paul was saying is true and what he'd experienced was true, and by the way, Paul was one who was persecuting Christians. Paul was one that did not believe in follow Jesus at all. To the extreme, what Paul was saying here is that there is something that happens deeply in our sin nature that makes us not be able to perceive and recognize what is true around us. There's a blindness that comes. There's something that's happened far more dangerous than in the human brain. It's happened to the human heart that forgets, they were created by a creator.
That doesn't acknowledge that yes, all these images and thoughts of justice and love and purity and things that we long for and things that the people, the songwriters write about and the kind of books that you want to read about from Barnes and Noble, all those stories and themes all come and intersect with the reality that there is a loving just God who has created the universe and who has made us different than monkeys and apes. But we would rather have a theory of monkeys and apes to give us meaning for being here on earth than to stand accountable before a holy God who created us. I do this come to rescue us through his son Jesus Christ. It's a beautiful story, but who wants to feel like you need that kind of rescue? Not us. Not left to ourselves. There's a learned forgetfulness that sin has brought to us and affects far more deeper than the human brain but to the human heart. The Gentiles didn't recognize their need for forgiveness before a holy God and the need to trust in Jesus Christ and his work for them. Rome was in the process by the way of conquering and occupying more than known world at this particular time. Interestingly though in their quest for more and more power they realized or they should have realized right they were less and less satisfied. They needed more and more to fill their world. You couldn't just conquer part of a known world. You had to conquer all of the known world and even when they did that it wasn't enough. It's like climbing a ladder of success only to find that it really doesn't ever end. Their blindness to their need of healing was a great barrier. However God knew that healing, the desk really needed. He knew there was a healing that you need but you don't naturally see. Until that healing is experienced then nothing will make sense in life. That's why I love this quote by C.S. Lewis. He says this, I believe in Christ like I believe in the sun not because I can see it but by it I can see everything else. If what Paul is saying is true then you need a Holy Spirit diagnosis this morning. Jesus says in John 15 but when the comforter comes which is a spirit who will I send who I will send from the Father even the Spirit of truth which proceeds from the Father he shall testify of me. That's what the Holy Spirit's role is, is to testify and to point to Jesus. And then John 16 which I already read and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and justice. The great physician is the Spirit of God poured out and that speaks and he points to Jesus and he points to Jesus not just as what a loving God but he points to Jesus as a God that you desperately need. A God who died in your place. A God who will take on your sin and will give you his righteousness. There is a healing you need but you don't naturally see. For those that don't follow Jesus here this morning and again I'm glad that you're here if you're here you can receive this healing today. You can come to know him as the God who will forgive your sin. The God who will allow his son to pay the penalty for your sin that you might receive forgiveness. If you do know Jesus a day let me encourage you to walk in his healing power. You need the gospel not less today than when you first became the follower of Jesus but just as much today as you did then to walk in his power and his hope. Now I started this morning talking about this story the sower. The sower is spreading his seed and by the way the sower is spreading his seed this morning. I'm thankful that many many years ago my dad was walking past this painting at the Moody Bible campus in Chicago. It was on his way to work and I've shared this story before. Every time he walked by he kept thinking he made him think. He did not follow Jesus at the time. He did not believe in Jesus at the time but this got him thinking. God used this. He used the story of the sower to change his heart, to warm his heart, to trust and to believe. He was healed. He wouldn't be healed of cancer in the year 2000 but he was healed spiritually back in the 1960s and I believe that I'm here today, standing here today, largely in part because God used that. Whatever seed God plants bears fruit and it can bear fruit in your lives. Let's pray. God just asked that you would come that you would do, would indeed bear fruit, that you would come and minister your mercy and grace, your forgiveness and power here this morning. God thank you that your truth, your gospel message, God allows us to hear the fact that we are indeed sick. It may be an unwelcomed and undesirable prognosis to hear. Nobody likes to hear a bad prognosis from any doctor but all of us understand that it's far more important to get the prognosis even if it's unpopular rather than to not get it. So God in your mercy, in your grace, in your kindness would you lead us to repentance this morning. Maybe someone who doesn't follow you or hasn't followed you to come to lay their lives and trust it in your hands. For those of us that do, God seek to follow your walk with you, to more God faithfully here, cling to the gospel that you've given us, resting in what you have done for us knowing that that is all that we need. All our hope is in you and that you have satisfied the righteousness that God requires through Jesus Christ. There's nothing more we need than to walk, clinging, hoping to you. It's a God but you minister your mercy and grace to us this morning. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.