We're going on the spot and appreciate you stepping up. This morning we continue our study in the book of Daniel. Before we look at that Daniel, we're in Daniel's chapter four by the way. If you'd like to go ahead and turn there. Before we look, we have a few things going on this week. After Tuesday, no more election ads, and that's something to rejoice about. So I tell you, I've never been more tired of them than I have been this year. As you know, UPC, we don't talk much about politics. In fact, I don't think I've said anything about the election one way or another this whole season. And that does not mean that we're not concerned about the election, or that we don't think that we as Christians ought to be involved. We do believe, as our founding fathers did, that the church should be free to conduct its business without any interference from the state. But we do not believe that UPC should dismiss your Christianity when you step into the voting booth. In fact, not only do we not believe that, we think, first of all, it's impossible to separate your Christian life from who you are when you vote. And then we think it'd be immoral for you to do so also. When God called you to himself as a Christian, he called you not just spiritually to himself, he called everything there is about you. And the power of the gospel is so powerful that it transforms us not merely spiritually, but it transforms the way we look at everything in life. And therefore, when we go to vote, we ought to be going to vote with a Christian world in life view. Well, exactly what that means is probably where it gets a bit sticky. But it means that we, as Christians, should see that we are under Christ's Lordship in everything that we do. Everything that we do is to be under His Lordship, and the Scriptures tell us that we're to bring every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. And so, as we go and vote as Christians, the question that we ought to be asking as we go to vote is not what is going to benefit me the most. Which tax cut plan is going to help me at the end of the year the most? That should not be the question that comes first to your mind as Christians. What first ought to be coming to your mind as Christians as you're informed by a biblical world in life view is what is going to promote justice and mercy and righteousness in the land? What is going to promote truth and justice? And so, when you evaluate a tax cut plan, you're to ask which plan is most just to all parties involved? When you think about social justice issues and social needs, you begin to evaluate what programs provide special care and protection for those who need special care and protection in our society. Like a social justice where to ask what gives justice for all people. Fundamentally, we as Christians, because we do believe that as human beings we have a propensity towards sin, ought to be looking at ways to protect people from the sins of others. Particularly, we ought to be safeguarding the powerless from the powerful. And that should be something that's primary in our minds when we go to vote. How can we protect those that have no protection of their own? That includes the poor, the poor powerless in our society. They have a few strings that they can pull, minorities because we have seen throughout history where the majority has often used his power to persecute the minority. And also, the unborn, the unborn do not have a voice. They cannot speak for themselves. And because of that, they are powerless and we as Christians ought to be speaking up for their rights, even if it means sacrificing our own rights and privileges. And so we must vote in such a way that liberates those who are powerless, at least frees them up and gives them protection from those that have power, and particularly those again with the unborn who have no voice of their own. This is not just a political issue where you can go and approach it and say I'm sending my religion aside and I've got politics over here. You can't compartmentalize your life that way, because the gospel is to transform everything there is about us. So saying this, two encouragements. Number one, vote. It's your duty. Not only as a citizen, but as a Christian, God has given you that responsibility. And so take it. And number two, when you vote, it's not good enough just to vote, but vote applying a Christian mindset. And that means between now and Tuesday, you ought to be evaluating the candidates on the issues and looking at them and saying what is going to be the best for society, what is going to be the reaching closest to the biblical ideal, recognizing that in any vote there is some degree of compromise because there's no such thing as a perfect candidate. But looking, saying how can I protect those who are not getting the adequate protection under the law? What can we do to defend their rights? And so I encourage you to be thinking about that and praying about that as you prepared to vote this Tuesday. Now as we move on from there, we're in Daniel chapter four. Daniel chapter four, which is an interesting story in the book of Daniel. One that may not be as familiar, but it is quite intriguing. As we're in Daniel chapter four, it reminds me of something happened earlier this week. There's a 19 year old young man named Daniel Blaise. He was driving along I-4. Before he went for his little drive along I-4, he had some blue and red flashing lights. And he also had a little fake police badge. And he wanted to see if these things would really work. We don't know exactly his motive, but we do know what he did. He got on I-4 and he pulled up alongside a car, rolled down his window and flashed his silver badge. The guy looked at the badge, and all of a sudden Daniel turns on the flashing blue and red lights. And so the man pulls over and they pull over the rest area right at Longwood. Some of you probably know where that is. Pulled into that rest area there at Longwood. And Daniel got out to make his arrest or whatever he was going to do. The trouble is the man he pulled over was a policeman. Someone did get arrested that day. Young Daniel learned a valuable, valuable lesson. That just because you have the lights and just because you have the badge doesn't mean you have the power. And I think about that, and I think of what are the odds of this? I mean if all the people in I-4, I mean if you've been I-4 is packed, all the people in I-4, what are the odds of you pulling over an off-duty police officer? I mean astronomical, yet he did. And you think of how humiliated he must be. He's going to be on one of those TV shows in America's dumbest criminals. I mean you know he's going to be there. And how this young man is probably just devastated his friends and everyone else. He humiliated in front of everyone. Yet you know it's probably the best thing that ever happened to him. I mean it really is. I mean if he had gotten away with this, then he would have thought blue lights and a silver badge actually gave him power. When they really don't mean anything. And if he continued to go on, they're telling what he would have done. He could have lived that delusion and it would have been harmful to his life. And so many ways, even though it was the most humiliating thing that could happen to him, it really was the greatest. King Nebuchadnezzar had something very humiliating happen to him. He thought because he had a scepter, a crown, and a big army that he was in charge. He thought he had power to do whatever he wanted. But God showed him that he wasn't in charge. And he showed him in a way that turned out to be King Nebuchadnezzar's most humiliating moment. It's in Daniel 4 and it's a long chapter. We're not going to read the whole thing. But we're going to pick up at verse 10. What has happened is Nebuchadnezzar's had this strange dream. And by the way, in your bulletin of the outline, you see there the beginning and the end of the chapter. And this is a chapter as unique in the Bible in that it's a copy of a document that King Nebuchadnezzar sent out. It was a proclamation that he sent out to all the land. And it's in a sense, it's his testimony. It's how he became converted from being a pagan king to one who acknowledges the God most high. And so he's sending out this document and he tells this story of his conversion. Now like all good stories, it has a moral. And we don't let the guest with the moral is. Nebuchadnezzar tells us the beginning and the end of the story. Now we're not going to read that part. But that crystallizes the point for us very well. And so he has this dream. And he calls for Daniel. After no one else can interpret. It calls for Daniel to interpret it for him. And here we are, verse 10. This is God's Word. These are the visions I saw while lying in my bed. I looked and there before me stood a tree in the middle of the land. Its height was enormous, the tree grew large and strong and its top touched the sky. It was visible to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, and on it was fruit for all. Under it the beast of the field bounced shelter. And the birds of the air lived in its branches. From it every creature was fed. In the visions I saw while lying in my bed, I looked and there before me was a messenger, a holy one coming down from heaven. He called and allowed voice. Cut down the tree and trim off its branches. Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But let the stump and its roots, bound with iron and bronze, remain in the ground. In the grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him live with the wild animals among the plants of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let him be given the mind of an animal. Till seven times past spy for him. The decision is announced by messengers. The holy ones declare the verdict. So that the living may know that the most holy is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes and sets over them the lolliest of men. That was the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. He calls Daniel to interpret it. Daniel doesn't want to at first and Nebuchadnezz says, go ahead Daniel don't be afraid. Daniel says, I wish this is about your enemies and not about you. And then Daniel interprets the dream and says Nebuchadnezzar, you are that tree. Your empire covers the world and feeds everyone in it. And then verse 24. Daniel says this. This is the interpretation of King. And this is the decree that the most high has issued against my Lord the King. You will be driven away from the fields and driven away from people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. The command to leave the stump of the tree with its roots means that your kingdom will be restored to you when you acknowledge that heaven rules. Therefore, O King, be pleased to accept my advice. Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. It may be that then your prosperity will continue. So Daniel interprets the dreams as Nebuchadnezzar, the dream is about you. God is going to cut you down for your arrogance, repent, care for the poor, and maybe your prosperity will continue. Daniel is dismissed, a year goes by, and we picked up at verse 29. Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, he said, Is this not the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty? The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven. This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar. Your royal authority has been taken from you. You will be driven away from the people and will live with the wild animals. You will eat grass like cattle. Seven times that is seven years will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over the kingdom of men and gives them to anyone you wish is. Immediately what have been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird. At the end of that time, I Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the most high. I honored and glorified him who lists forever. His dominion as an eternal dominion is keen to m endures from generation to generation. It is a great story and it is a clear story. It does not require a lot of explanation. You can clearly read what happened to Nebuchadnezzar. We are going to look at two points of application. Two things that this text tells us about God. Number one, when it tells us about God, it tells us number one about the power of God. The power of God. Now let's be honest. Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant but he had every right to be arrogant. It seemed anyway. He was the most powerful man alive of his day. Maybe the most powerful man of all time. He conquered everyone who stood in his way and so he proved that he was a mighty conqueror. But not only did he prove he was a mighty conqueror, he proved he was a fantastic administrator and leader. He gathered together people from all different cultures, different religions, different worldviews, different practices, different languages, and molded them together into a unified empire and empire that was filled with peace. Not only was he able to rule, but then he was able to build. He built the most magnificent city possibly that the world has ever seen. There was a tower in the city over 250 feet high. There were colossal statues of gold throughout the city. We know from ancient historians. We also know that he had a wall around the city that was so wide and so tall that a chariot with four horses could turn around on top of the wall. He had the hanging gardens of Babylon which was one of the seven ancient wonders of the world. He was an incredible man. And so we look at this and we think, of course he was arrogant. I mean, he knows his old saying. It's not arrogance. It ain't bragging if it's fact. And the fact is, he was a great man and he built a great empire. And so it seems perfectly natural for him to be so arrogant. It is perfectly natural but it's also perfectly simple because when Nebuchadnezzar is not taking into account as God's hand in the whole process. Look again at verse 30. He said, is not just the great Babylon I have built as my royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty. Nebuchadnezzar thinks that he did this on his own. He looks at the city and said, I built it. I did it. It's mine. It's for my glory. Aren't I great the great Nebuchadnezzar? This is a tribute to me. What he's failing to take into account is that God's involved in the process. Now, Nebuchadnezzar didn't see God involved in the process. He said, where was God? I conquered him. Where did he conquer anybody? I built the city. Where did God build the city? I didn't see him plan anything. And so he was arrogant because he didn't think that God had anything to do with it. But the truth is, the reason Nebuchadnezzar was a great conqueror is because God made him a great conqueror. The reason Nebuchadnezzar was a great ruler is because God made him a great ruler. The reason Nebuchadnezzar was a great builder is because God made him a great builder. The truth is that everything he had was a gift from God. And that's true about all of us. Everything that you have is by God's grace. The Greek word for grace is chaos, which we get the word charity from. Everything that you have comes to you by way of charity. Your house is the act of charity of God. Your job is a charitable gift to you from God. Your car was given to you by charity. Your bank account was given to you by charity. And you're saying, wait a second. No. I know what charity is and I know what I've done. I didn't get charity. I worked for what I have. I earned what I have. I got here on my own. Nobody gave me charity. The fact is your house is just as much an act of charity as if it had been built by habitat for humanity. That assaults our senses, doesn't it? I'm saying, no. How did you get your house? Why worked for it? I earned it. Well, I have a job. And I worked hard at my job. And I worked hard to get where I am. Okay, great. How did you get that job? I went to a college and I studied hard. And that's how I got the job. How did you get the college? Why studied hard in high school? How did you get the self-discipline to study hard? Well, my parents taught it to me. Where did you get your parents? Okay, I didn't pick my parents. I mean, maybe I would pick differently for some howling, but I didn't pick my parents. No. Okay. Where did you get your mind that enabled you to study? Where did you get the discipline? The self-discipline that we call it. That gives you the ability to work hard. How come you have it and other people don't? How come you were born with these opportunities and other people were not? The fact is, the only thing you contribute it to is either you have to say it's all just fate, all by chance, you know, the forest-gump philosophy. Life is a bunch of chocolates. You never know where you're going to get. You just happen to draw a nice little piece of chocolate and somebody else who happens to live in Bangladesh got a bad piece of chocolate. You have to say it's just a matter of fate. Or you have to say it's a matter of charity. It's one of the two. Either, either life is meaningless or there's a God behind it who's been charitable to some. And so what we see here, what God has said to Nebuchadnezzar, you think you did it all. But it's all an act of charity. Everything that we have is an act of charity. It is all a gift of God. And what happens then is we think, no, I'm a self-made person. When you begin to think, I did it, I earned it. This is mine. Then what happens at that point, you begin to lose all compassion for everyone else. If you believe that you did it all on your own, you will never be a compassionate person. We see this when Nebuchadnezzar, when that Daniel speaks the words of judgment to him, verse 27, Daniel says, okay, be pleased. Renounce your sins by doing what is right and your wickedness by being kind to the oppressed. Renounce your sins by doing what is right. What does that mean? Well Daniel explains it with the next sentence. This is Hebrew parallelism. This one says, renounce your sins. The second sentence explains it more clearly. How does he renounce his sins by being kind to the oppressed? What does being kind to the oppressed have to do with arrogance? Everything. Everything. Nebuchadnezzar, arrogance, led to oppression. If I believe that I've earned everything I have, that means I deserve what I've got. If somebody else doesn't have it, then what does that mean? They don't deserve it. They haven't earned it. They don't want what I've got. Tell them to go out and work for it. Get a job. You know, come on. Give it a program. Have some discipline. Work hard. Set some goals. And so we begin to get less compassionate. Because you think, I've earned this. You haven't. If we begin to see that the reason I have what I have is because God has been gracious to me. The reason that you have the mind that you have. The reason you have the abilities that you have. The gifts that you have. Notice the word gifts. Is it because they are gifts of God. If you are gifted, it's because God has so gifted you. And we can't take credit for that. So when I see that, everything I have is an act of charity. Then all of a sudden I realize that if I'm only making it by God's charity, that others are only going to make it by charity as well. If I'm living by charity, then I'm certainly much more compassionate on the others who have to live by charity too. See, the gospel reminds us that we are here by charity and charity alone. That's the essence of being a Christian. That's why being a Christian means understanding. I have earned nothing before God. I have done nothing to deserve his blessings. Yet he loves me anyway. And because the more I begin to realize that, the more I realize that, I stand on Christ and cross this alone on his charity, then suddenly I'm going to be much more compassionate towards others. That's why as a Christian, charity and mercy are not things we add on to the Christian life. They are naturally a part of the Christian life because we live by it. If we are not charitable towards others, then there's some way there's a disconnect. We're not getting the gospel. If we look at people who are in need and don't have compassion on them, then somehow we don't understand. Somehow we're not believing the true gospel. There's a disconnect between those things. Because if I believe the gospel, then I'm saying that I am here by God's grace and grace alone. And then when I see others who are in need of grace and charity, it reminds me of myself. Also, when I look instead of looking at them with arrogance, I think that's me. That is me. Because then God reached out his mercy to me. And because then I'm going to reach out and mercy to others. And so the more the gospel begins to penetrate our lives, the more we're going to be charitable. That's why the church is involved in such things as speaking up in the unborn. We've been shown grace. We want to make sure that they're unborn or shown grace. That's why we get involved in life care. Because the elderly can't care for themselves. And we say someone needs to show their love because God has shown us his love. That's why we get involved in the man of ministry because we're saying, you know, if it wasn't for the grace of God, there would I go too. Notice this is interesting. During the dream that the messenger says the nebuchadnezzar, he says God has taken the loliest of men and made them rulers. God did pick out the best. He picked out the loliest. What's the point? The nebuchadnezzar is king not because he's so great, but because God uses weak people. And God has shown his grace even to the pagan king, nebuchadnezzar. We live by grace and by grace alone. Caring for the poor and the powerless in their press are not optional for the Christian. It's a natural outflow of the Christian life. It means we understand the grace. And if we don't have compassion, we don't understand grace. And the more we understand grace, the more compassionate we're going to be. Many years ago Abraham Lincoln wrote a proclamation for a national day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer was 1863. And he wrote something I think could aptly describe our situation today. He says, we have been the recipients of the choices, bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. Stop right there. Doesn't that just sound like the campaign speeches? It doesn't sound true. It is true. We are incredibly prosperous and so describes us. So does the rest. He continues. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserves us in peace and multiply and enrich and strengthen us. We have vainly imagined and the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. That's where we are. We look and say, I've got my house, I've got my car, I've got my stock portfolio, and I think I'm set. I've done it, I've accomplished it, and God says no. He didn't do. I made you. I've given you everything. You are here by charity and charity alone. And for you said the nebuchadnezzar, your king by my grace. Verse 32, then God tells them, seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes. God is sovereign over everything, nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar said, I've got my crown, I've got my scepter, I've got my army, I'm in control. And God says no, you're not. The reason you're in control is because I put you there, and if I put you there, I can take you out any time I want. To prove the point, I'm going to do it. And he takes nebuchadnezzar out for seven years. And nebuchadnezzar begins to see that God is the one who's control of human events. Now the nation of Israel was beginning to wonder if God was in control. Here they've been taken into captivity by this wicked king. He was an evil tyrant. He slaughtered people many times for pleasure. And so they're beginning to wonder, why does God let the Babylonians conquer us? And he said, you know, why would he do such a thing? And the book of Habakkuk addresses that very question. And so they were saying, why does he allow this to happen? Is God in control? Later on, the Greek empire would conquer them and then the Roman empire. And the question would always be, is God in control? Or are these nations just too mighty? Are they too powerful? Today around the world, many Christians ask the same thing. It's Christians sitting in Muslim countries where they're being persecuted for their faith. And they think, is God powerful enough to stop this? We've prayed for the persecution to stop, and it doesn't stop. We look at this and we think, is God in control of history or not? And God says, I'm in control. I can take Nebuchadnezzar and I can make him a donkey if I want to. And he shows Nebuchadnezzar that he is nothing but a fool. And God says, I'm in control of history. Now for what does Russ's Christians, we suddenly see, we're not hapless victims. There is no power outside of God's power. There's no one who comes against you that is not within God's grasp. That means that everything that happens to you happens according to God's divine purpose. And that also means that if you are a child of God that everything that happens to you then happens ultimately for your good. And even the Babylonian captivity, even Nebuchadnezzar being raised to the throne was ultimately in control of all of that. And it's all for our good. Anyone who has power only has it because God gives it to them. There are times we question that. We see it seems like the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. We see evil people getting ahead and we wonder, is God in control? We look at life and we think, where is God? This question has come up. When you lose your job, you say, is God in control of my life or not? When your spouse comes home and says, you've been married a number of years and says, you know, it's not working. I don't love you anymore. When your child rebels, when your finances hit the bottom and you don't know what to do to fix it, you begin to say, where is God? We begin to question where he is. But God told Nebuchadnezzar. He said, the most sovereign, the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone who wishes. And so what we begin to see is that God has a purpose even for our pain. Even in our pain, God is working something for our good. Even pain can be a minister of mercy to us and say, that's hard to believe. So let's Nebuchadnezzar learn and we see that in point two. Point one was the power of God, but point two was the mercy of God, the mercy of God. About a year ago, a small gathering about 10 to 15 pastors and the guy facilitating the meeting knew all of us pretty well. But we didn't all know each other well. And so he was going to do a little get to know you thing to help us get to know each other. And so he said, I tell you what, everybody go around and share your most embarrassing moment. Now, if you've ever had to do something like that, there's a key to this game. The key is you've got to think of something embarrassing enough that people will believe it's your most embarrassing moment. But they can't be your real most embarrassing moment because that's just too embarrassing. So you have to think of something, so your mind's churning. Well, the problem was this guy knew us all well enough. And so he went around and he picked our most embarrassing moments for us. And he said, he talked to one guy, a pastor friend. And he said, so Bob, tell about the time your wife walked out in your sermon because it was so bad. And it's a buzz that you guys have to tell the story. And he goes around and he's doing all this. And he gets to me. And I'm saying they're thinking, what's he got? You know, what's he got? You know, and also, and I realized what he had. And he goes, so Mark, tell about, and I'm not repeating it. And it was something happened a few years ago. And I said, I don't get embarrassed easily. I'm turning red. I mean, I'm just humiliated in front of my peers. And it was so uncomfortable because all of a sudden my stupidity was being broadcast. And there was no sympathy in the room. I mean, you know, you think pastors are compassionate? Well, I am, but the rest of them know. And I'm just bare here before them. And I'm crushed, I'm just crushed. And I think of this because Nebuchadnezzar is telling the story of his most embarrassing moment. And what, you know, he tells about, let me tell you about, he says, let me tell you about the time God turned me into a donkey. You made me live like a donkey on the woods. I mean, that's embarrassing. I was in the Emperor of the World and I went out eight grass for seven years. That's humiliating. And he tells a story. Now, you would think he would tell it with all the shame. But you look at how he screams it at the beginning and the end of the chapter. He's not, he's not going, oh, this is so bad. He says, let me tell you about the mighty acts of God. Let me tell you what God did. And he tells, and he thinks he can tell about how God made him king of Babylon. And he says, let me tell you about the exciting thing God did in my life. He made me a donkey. And you go, whoa. Well, you know, Nebuchadnezzar, why is he so, he is delighted in what God has done to him. Why? Because the most humiliating thing that ever happened to King Nebuchadnezzar was what he tells about seven years living out as a wild animal with his nails growing and his hair growing all over his body and everything else, is the best thing that ever happened to him as well. His most humiliating moment was his greatest moment. Because at that point, God broke Nebuchadnezzar. He thought he was in control and God said, Nebuchadnezzar, you're not. Sometimes the most gracious thing God can do to us is humiliate us. Because we think we're independent. We think we're in control. We think we can make it on our own. And sometimes God just has to slap us down and say, no, you're not. And all of a sudden we look up and we say, I think God, I'm not in control. I think God, I was wrong. I think God that you are God and I am not. You know, that's the first theology lesson you have to learn. Number one, there is a God. Number two, you're not him. I mean, it's the most important lesson you'll ever learn. Nebuchadnezzar learned this that day. And says, God is in control. He is on his throne. And therefore, I am not on my throne. And he delights in it. Nebuchadnezzar is joyful. Now, George Madonna once said, he said, and whatever man does without God, he must fail miserably or succeed more miserably. And everything man does without God, he must either fail miserably or succeed more miserably. The cruelest thing God can do to you is let you succeed and think you did it on your own. Because you will live your life independent of him. And that's the worst thing that could possibly happen to you. You know, I see this experientially in my life all the time. But I think one of the ways that I see it, is I used to think that as I matured as a Christian, that I would get better. And I thought, in particular, I thought I just, in a certain sense, I just went struggle with anymore. I said, you know, by the time I get close to 40, which is where I am, I'm going to have certain things lit. And I'm going to, you know, I'm going to maybe have a few little rough edges to polish off. It hasn't turned out that way. Christian maturity is not where your behavior gets better. Christian maturity is where your repentance grows deeper. That's Christian maturity. Because it's serious how it works. The more you grow as a Christian, the more you begin to see of your sin. And instead of all of a sudden thinking you're better, the more often you realize how simple you are, and at that point, you're ready to see God's grace. And also, you become more and more repented. The worst thing that can happen to you is to think you have nothing to repent of. You know, you know, that's, I mean, until you die or get to heaven, that is. The worst thing you can have is to think of nothing to repent of. Because at that point, what happens is, is you're going to think, hey, I've got this thing lit. I haven't sinned in a long time. I'm pretty much under control. And at that point, you don't need Jesus anymore. You know, if I didn't sin, I wouldn't pray. It's just the way it is. If I didn't sin, I wouldn't pray. Because I wouldn't need to. I always think, I think I had my Christian life under control. It's not that you sin so the grace increase, Paul says, but the more we sin, the more we see of God's grace. And so the more we begin to see our sin, the more repentant we are, the more dependent we become on Jesus Christ. And the person who does not see his sin in his life, oftentimes is really, not oftentimes always, is the most ungodly of persons. That's why Jesus and the Pharisees never quite clipped. They didn't repent. They didn't have anything to repent of. It's those who begin to see their sin because they're humbled before God and they see that without the cross of Christ they are nothing. They begin to see that without Jesus they are nothing. And until you come to the point and say Jesus without you I am nothing, then the gospel will always be distant. It will always be theoretical. That's why the Lord's table is so important for us today. As we come to the Lord's table, it breaks us. It reminds us of how sinful we are because you cannot understand God's grace without first understanding your sin. And so we are reminded that Jesus Christ had to die for our sins. That's how severe it is. But there's another truth. You cannot face your sin unless you first understand God's grace because you won't have the courage. And so Lord's table does that too. It says that your sins may be great but the grace of God is even greater. That you are not a failure but you are holy in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has died and we remember that when we come to the table to pay for our sins. This morning I invite you to come to the Lord's table to celebrate it with us. I invite you as you come. To come is the one who says Lord I need you. Not as one who says I built all this, I've done all this, I have this great Babylon to offer you, O God. To come is one who says Lord I know I'm a sinner and I need your grace. There's nothing in my hand I bring. I'm sustained by your grace daily and I come hungry and starved for the food that you give me. Let's go to him. Let's go to him.