Sermons

Introduction

Well, good morning. I didn't realize we were doing a responsive reading this morning. I am so glad to be with you this morning. It is a privilege, and it is a privilege as we continue our march through the gospel according to Luke. The verses this morning are powerful. The verses this morning apply to each and every one of us. Luke the physician, the author of this gospel, sets the Lord Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, as Israel's long-awaited Messiah. And beyond that, Luke presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of all men.

Later in this gospel in chapter 19 – we'll get to it soon – it's the story of the conversion of Zacchaeus the chief tax collector. Zacchaeus was hated. He was hated by all those in Israel because he was taking their money. And Jesus says, "Today salvation has come to this house because he, Zacchaeus too, is the son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to seek and to save that which is lost." That is Luke's key statement in this gospel. That is what we will see today.

The Lord Jesus is the Savior of all mankind, all types of men. He is the Christ, He is the Messiah, He's God's anointed. And not only that, but Christ has compassion on the lost. He is the compassionate Christ. And that's what I have titled these verses today: "Christ the Compassionate," again, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost." Luke's purpose in stating this is that all types of people, people in all stations of life, both Jew and Gentile, the highly regarded and the outcast, will look to the Lord Jesus as the only Savior of men. That's Luke's point. And as a result, the Lord Jesus Christ is the only hope in this world. He's the only hope for a world that is passing away.

If you are in the Lord Jesus Christ this morning, and I pray that you are, you have a hope that the world does not have. You have a hope for a forever future, and at the same time, that same hope guides your life now, moment by moment. You have a hope because the Lord Jesus has had compassion on your soul and paid the debt that you owed at the cross. What happens in life that brings us to hope in Christ? The Lord knows. He's the one that draws His people to Himself, He's the one that draws, and He is the one that is guiding all things, unfolding them in time in our lives according to His will and His sovereign plan. In God's salvific plan, He often brings men to the end of themselves through the circumstances that He has ordained.

It normally starts out something like this: man relies upon himself – his wit, his wisdom, his resources, maybe his connections – and man will do this relying upon himself, resulting in failure after failure, until desperation sets in. When a man reaches his end, when he gets to the end of his rope, when he gets to the end of himself, God in His mercy and compassion often opens the eyes to the only one that we can hope in and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. God drops the scales from the eyes. He is the one who has compassion. He is the one who sets our love on the Lord Jesus Christ. He opens our eyes that we might see who we are, sinners, and that the only one that we can trust, the only one that we can look to is the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior. Amen. The Christian life is fully trusting in the Lord Jesus and not trusting Himself, casting all our cares upon Him. And that's what we will see in the verses that we consider this morning.

Just to put the cookies on the bottom shelf, just to state it plainly, what is amazing about the hope in Christ is not the fact that man finally gets to the end of himself and realizes there's no hope in himself, but the amazing characteristic of this hope in the Lord is that this is what the Lord wanted to do. He desires to pour out His mercy and His compassion on His people. That's the amazing aspect of the gospel. This is a hope in Jesus who is willing, and He is compassionate. We studied this several weeks ago. But if you're in the gospel of Luke, you could turn to Luke 5 on our way to Luke 8. It's the healing of the leper. And in verse 12 of chapter 5, "While He" – Christ – "was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, 'Lord, if You are willing, if You are willing, You can make me clean.' And He" – the Lord Jesus Christ – "stretched out His hand and touched him." – He touched the untouchable – "And He said, 'I am willing; be cleansed. And immediately the leprosy left him."

When we consider the compassion and the willingness of the Lord as we see set forth in Luke's gospel, as amazing as it is, the application question is, "Can the Lord save you? Can He not save those on whom He has shown compassion? Can He not pour out His love on whom He is willing? Is He not willing?" This is what the world needs. This is the most important thing in the world: Jesus the Savior.

Turn with me to Luke chapter 8. Let's read our verses. We have quite a few of them. "Christ the Compassionate!" Starting in verse 40, "As Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him. And there came a man named Jairus, and he was an official of the synagogue; and he fell at Jesus' feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying. But as He went, the crowds were pressing against Him.

"And a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. And Jesus said, 'Who is the one who touched Me?' And while they were all denying it, Peter said, 'Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.' But Jesus said, 'Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had gone out of Me.' When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and declared in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.'

"While He was still speaking, someone came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, 'Your daughter has died; do not trouble the Teacher anymore.' But when Jesus heard this, He answered him, 'Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.' When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, and the girl's father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, 'Stop weeping, for she has not died, but is asleep.' And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she had died. He, however, took her by the hand and called, saying, 'Child, arise!' And her spirit returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat. Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened." Let's pray and ask the Lord for help.

[Prayer] Lord, it is amazing as we read Your word and consider who You are and what You have done and what You are still doing and what You will do, that You seek and save what is lost, that You have loved the people, that You have poured out Your mercy, that You are compassionate, that You are willing to seek and to save. Lord, those that are in You, we owe everything to You. You have given us something that we do not deserve. And so I pray this morning that You would give us a greater appreciation for who You are and what You have done. And I pray, Lord, for the eyes of the lost, that if You'd be willing, Lord, that You would have compassion on their soul even today. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. [End]

Summoning Hope

Well, I've broken these verses into three sections. The first section, verses 40-42, is "summoning hope." If you remember from last Sunday, Jesus had cast out the legion of demons from the demoniac. He had allowed the demons to go into the swine, the swine rushed down the hill, they were drowned into the water, and the demoniac was no longer the demoniac. He was clothed and in his right mind, Jesus had healed him, and he was going to become a witness to the Lord in what He had done.

But the people from the surrounding areas did not receive the message well. And in verse 37, if you look up right above our verses, "All the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked Him to leave, for they were gripped with great fear; and He got into a boat and returned." That's a contrast from what we see in verse 40, what we see in these verses today, as Jesus returns back to the boat to Galilee, probably to Capernaum. There is a crowd waiting for Him in anticipation. They've seen what He's done. They have witnessed the miracles. They have seen the dead rise, the blind see. And so in verse 40, "As Jesus returns, the people welcomed Him, and they had been waiting for Him."

Mark's gospel records these same events and records them with different words, and so I'm going to reference Mark 5, because when we look at both events side by side, both accounts side by side, they round out the events for us. They create a better picture. They give us a richer understanding. Mark 5:21 says of this verse, "When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, a large crowd gathered around Him; so He stayed by the seashore." Everybody was waiting for Him. Everybody was waiting for return. And again, there's a contrast from where He's been to where He is now. Everyone was seeking Him.

Remember when John the Baptist sent his disciples to Jesus in Luke 7, they asked Him, "Are You Him? Are You the Christ?" And do you remember what Jesus' words were? back to him in Luke 7? It's recorded in verse 22: "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them."

I want you to think about this. We know how the book is written, we know the end of the story, but if we put ourselves in the shoes as these events are unfolding, if this was happening in Dallas, Texas today, the hospitals would be empty. Everybody would be seeking Jesus. And everybody is seeking Jesus, but the question is, "Why are they seeking Him?" And the answer, really, can be boiled down into two camps, two categories, two groups.

These men were either seeking Jesus for what He could do for them. The crowd wanted to make Him king because He fed them; their stomachs were full. Or, there were those that knew that He was from God. And when I say this, what I'm saying is some that were seeking Him were seeking Him in faith. It was a new faith. It was a growing faith. It was an incomplete faith. But it knew that the Lord Jesus was different, that He taught with authority, that He had power that could only be from God. It was a faith that Jesus was able, that He was who He said He was. It was true faith. It was saving faith.

Verse 41, "Then a man named Jairus, who was an official," – meaning he was a ruler, or he was a leader in the synagogue – "fell at Jesus' feet, and began to implore Him to come to his house; for he had an only daughter, about twelve years old, and she was dying." Mark says that Jairus' words to Jesus were, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay hands on her so that she may get well and live."

His little daughter was sick; she was about to die. We're not told how long the sickness was, but she's at the point of death. If you're a parent, like I am, it doesn't take much for your mind to go to the lengths that you would go for your child. You can imagine that Jairus and his wife had tried everything to make her well. They had probably tried home remedies, gone to the rabbis, gone to the doctors, got medicine, and nothing worked. It's not natural for a parent to bury a child. And Jairus and his wife were out of options. Even though Jairus represented the synagogue – and most in the synagogue, a vast majority, were against Jesus – Jairus had reached the end. He was desperate. He had nowhere else to turn.

Jairus knew who Jesus was. Jairus may have seen what Jesus had done firsthand. Go back to Luke 7. This is before He had crossed over to the sea. This is the healing of the centurion slave. Again, we're in the region of Galilee. Capernaum is the major city in that region. Jairus is an official in a synagogue in either Capernaum or a neighboring town. Luke 7:1 says, "When He" – Christ – "had completed all His discourse in the hearing of the people, He went to Capernaum." Verse 2, "And a centurion slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some of the Jewish elders asking Him to come and save the life of his slave." That may have been Jairus. He may have been one of them. If it wasn't them, he knew who this was.

Verse 4, "When they came to Jesus, they earnestly implored Him, saying, "He" – the centurion – "is worthy for You to grant this to him; for he loves our nation, and it is he who built us our synagogue." Jairus knew that. He would have been familiar with all these events. Verse 7, the centurion replies, "For this reason I" – the centurion – "did not even consider myself worthy to come to You," – Jesus – "but just say the word, and my servant will be healed." Verse 9, "Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him," – the centurion – "and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, 'I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.' And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health."

Jairus was aware of these events. Jairus, whatever simple faith he had, he believed that the Lord Jesus could heal his daughter just with the touch of His hand. It's so beautiful. It is the faith that a believer has in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the same faith that a little child has. It is simple, and yet it is so profound.

Verse 42, "But as He" – Jesus – "went, the crowd was pressing against Him." Jesus agrees to go to Jairus' house. Jesus is going to meet the need. Jesus has compassion upon Jairus and he's going to have compassion on his daughter. But the crowd is in the way.

Desperately Seeking Hope

The second section, "desperately seeking hope," verses 43-48. Verse 43, "There was a woman with a hemorrhage for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone." Mark adds this in Mark 5:26, not only did she had a hemorrhage, but "she had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all she had" – all her money, all her resources; she had gone to all the doctors – "and was not helped at all, but had rather grown worse."

For the same period of time that Jairus' daughter was alive, twelve years, this woman had been hemorrhaging blood. You can imagine her poor health. Today we would say she probably has anemia from the constant loss of blood. She couldn't have been in good health. But beyond her health, be it much greater than that, is she was unclean ceremonially. Any woman – it's Leviticus 15:25, I'll let you read the details – a woman that has a flow of blood is unclean. If it goes beyond her normal cycle, she continues to be unclean for the length that the blood is flowing.

When somebody is unclean, they were untouchable. Anybody that would have touched her would have been unclean. She was an outcast. The whole center of society was surrounded around the synagogue. She wasn't allowed into the synagogue because she was unclean. She wouldn't have been allowed in the temple.

Her life was one not only of poor health, but she's unclean. She's an outcast. And there's an amazing contrast that Luke sets forth in these verses between Jairus and this woman who has a hemorrhage of blood. They are at polar opposites of the social scale. One is an outcast, and one is a leader in the synagogue. One is highly regarded, and one is to be forgotten.

As different as this contrast is, as different as their station in life, they had one thing in common, they had the same need. All men have the same need, all people have the same need, and that's a need for a savior. They both needed the Lord Jesus Christ. All men need the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we see this contrast between the two, and we see how Jesus responds to both of them, we quickly realize that Jesus has compassion on all types of men – men and women, rich and poor, Greek and Jew, the well-regarded and the outcast. Remember, the thesis of Luke's gospel, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost."

Verse 44, "She came up behind Him and touched the fringe" – meaning the outside, the very edge – "of His outer garment," – it may have been a tassel as the Jews would wear that would hang down; she may have just touched the very edge of the tassel of His cloak – "and immediately her hemorrhage stopped." Mark 5 says, "for she thought," – this gives us her motivation – 'If I just touch His garment, I will be made well.' Immediately the flow of her blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction." That's amazing.

You and I get sick – I don't feel great today, as a matter of fact – we take medicine. "Are you feeling better?" your wife says to you in the morning. "I don't know. I'm waiting to see what happens." She immediately felt this in her body that she was healed. That's amazing. That's only of God. She, like Jairus, had faith. She had faith that Jesus was able, that He could do for her what no one else could do for her. She had faith in Christ. She had faith that He was who He showed Himself to be.

Verses 45 and 46, "Jesus said, 'Who touched Me?' While they were all denying it, Peter said, 'Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.'" You can imagine a narrow passageway in the city or the town, with walls on both sides, and the people, the crowd flocking to Him. Everybody's touching Him. Everybody inadvertently is bumping shoulders with Him. There's no room. You're herded together. He's flocked. And Peter looks at Him like, "What do You mean who's touching You? Everybody's touching You." But Jesus says, "No, there's a difference. This was a different touch. This was a touch of faith. This was a touch of faith because I felt power leaving Me, coming out of Me, healing power, restoration power."

Verse 47, "When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Christ, and declared in front of the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed." Mark says, "She fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth." Verse 48, "He said to her, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.'"

I love what Mark adds here in Mark 5 because he draws a distinction between the peace she has and the healing of the affliction. This was not just a physical healing, she was healed spiritually, she was now in the household of God. It says, "Go in peace," – peace with God – "peace with God through Me, and be healed of your affliction." He draws a distinction between the two.

Jesus has compassion on this woman, the outcast. He heals her. He recognizes her faith. He has compassion for her; and not only has she physically been healed, but think about it: she has her life back. After a few days and showing herself to the rabbis, she will no longer be an outcast. She will be clean. She's welcomed into the family of God.

Astounding Hope

All this is going on. And you can imagine, put yourself in Jairus' position. He's got a daughter that's at the point of death – the anxiety, the anxiousness. I know that when there's a deadline, when there's something important in my life, not death hanging in the balance, but something important in my daily life, I'm like, "Let's go. Hurry up." And you can imagine him, Jairus, thinking, "We have got to get to my house, my daughter is dying, and You have stopped to talk and asked who touched You?" You can just imagine the desperation in the fact that the sand is ticking through the hourglass, it is going.

But the Lord Jesus is in control of all the circumstances. He planned it there for His glory. Jesus' delay in healing the woman with the hemorrhage was to further reveal who He was in His glory. Remember, the Lord Jesus is set forth in this section of scripture. He calms the wind and the waves. He controls the created beings, even the demons. He even controls death, and He does it with His word.

Not only does He control death, death has a different relationship for the people for whom Christ died. Do you realize that, that death for the believer is described as sleep because it's temporary. It's not permanent. What is permanent for the believer is to live with the triune God. At death, the believer is ushered into the presence of the Lord. I think – great context. Turn with me forward to John's gospel, John 11, the raising of Lazarus: the Lord's timing, the Lord's way, for His glory.

John 11:1, "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary, and his sister Martha." Verse 3, "So the sisters sent word to Him," – Christ – "saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.' But when Jesus heard this, He said, 'This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.'" It was going to end in death, but it was just going to be temporary death.

Verse 5, "Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He" – Jesus – "stayed two days longer in the place where He was." He stayed there so that Lazarus would die. That is all His predetermined plan.

Verse 11, "This Jesus said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus had fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." Again, death, what's the point? Death for the believer is described as sleep because it is temporary. The believer has a different relationship with death than the unbeliever. Death is a door to life.

Verse 12, "The disciples then said to Him, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.' Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought He was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there – that I didn't heal him before he died, i.e. – so that you may believe; but let us go to him.'" Jesus was revealing Himself to be God, the God-man, to the apostles, to the world, the raising of Lazarus from the dead. Who can do this but God Himself?

Go back to Luke 8:50. Jesus' delay was all according to His plan. Apply that to your life and my life. There are things that happen that we don't understand. They happen, they unfold in time, and we just don't get it. Always go back to the given: Is God sovereign? Is He in control of all things? Is He doing all things for His glory? If you are His child, is He doing all things for your good?

We look at the circumstances of life and we go, "This isn't good. I've got most of the information, I think I know what's going on." That's not correct. That's not proper thinking. You and I are not God. He's written the end from the beginning. He knows how we get to the end, and He knows that it's for our good.

Verse 50, "When Jesus heard this, He answered Jairus, 'Do not be afraid any longer; only believe, and she will be made well.'" Jesus is telling Jairus not to look at the circumstances. He's telling us not to look at the circumstances but to look to Him. It's no different than in the Old Testament. These things are written over and over again for our instruction.

God tells Abraham, "You're going to have a child," and Abraham's like, "How's that going to happen? I'm 99, my wife's 90, and her womb is dead." What is not possible with men is possible with God. He's saying to Jairus, "Trust Me. I know what you need. I know what I have planned for you. I am your shepherd. I will take care of you."

Verse 51, "When He came to the house, He did not," – verse 51 – "He did not allow anyone to enter with Him, except Peter and John and James, the girl's father and mother. Now they were all weeping and lamenting for her; but He said, 'Stop weeping, for she is not dead, but asleep.' And they began laughing at Him, knowing that she was dead."

In those times, in those days, the funeral started as soon as death happened. They did not embalm the body. It was the custom of the day to hire professional mourners, often women. They would shriek loud shrieks, create audible noises of anguish, of distress, of weeping. They would hire flute players to create this high-pitched noise. They would tear their outer garment near their heart to show that they were heartbroken. The women would tear the inner garment near the heart, turn it around backwards, and then they would tear the outer garment around their heart to show that they're distressed.

I want you to think of the world when the world has a funeral for an unbeliever how much grief and sorrow and anguish there is. But for the believer, it's so different. There are tears, there's loss. There is, in one sense, disappointment. But at the same time, there is such joy when you know that someone is in the presence of the Lord. And for the believer, that is what we're looking forward to. That is our hope. And so it gives us a great comfort. Let me tell you what Mark says here. It says that these mourners, that "He put them out," – Jesus drove them out of the house – "and He took His companions, the mother and the father, and took them into the house."

Verse 54, "He took her by the hand and called, saying, 'Child, arise!' And her spirit" – which had left her – "returned, and she got up immediately; and He gave orders for something to be given her to eat." Mark says that "He took her by the hand, and he called out to, 'Talitha kum!' (which is translated, 'Little girl, I say to you, get up!'). And immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. And immediately they were completely astounded." Verse 56, "Her parents were amazed; but He instructed them to tell no one what had happened."

Conclusion

Can you imagine the change in emotion from unconsolable grief in a matter of minutes to astounding joy, to go from a state of hopelessness to incredibly satisfied hope. What a miracle. Who raises the dead? Who has the power of life in His hands? Who is not bound by natural things but orders and changes these things by His word? It's Jesus. He's the Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Savior of all men. He's the one that saves men, and He is the one that has compassion on men.

So, I ask you these questions. Are you one of His people? Has He saved you? Do you have faith in Him? Have you experienced His compassion in your life? If not, I pray that you would look to the Lord Jesus Christ for the saving of your soul, and I pray that He would have mercy and compassion on your soul. I love what the old hymn writer says. He says, "My hope is in the Lord." This is my testimony. This is the testimony of any believer: "My hope is in the Lord who gave Himself for me, and paid the price for all my sins at Calvary. For me, He died; for me, He lives." Let's pray.

[Prayer] Dear Heavenly Father, we thank You that You have compassion on all that You want to have compassion on, that, Lord, You are not only the great physician, but You are the healer of men's souls, and that, Lord, Your people look to You, boldly march forward knowing that death is just a door for eternity. I pray, Lord, that You would cause these words, that we would see Your willingness and Your compassion to seek and to save what is lost. And I pray, Lord, that You would bless this remembrance of the Lord's Supper right now. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. [End]

[The Lord's Supper] Well, I think it's a perfect transition to the Lord's Supper. So if you have the cup with the emblems in it, I want to say to you, as I have been trying to say for the last hour, this is only for believers. The Lord's Supper is for those He's had compassion on. If you're not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, this will not save you. This won't do anything for you. And I would ask that you would not take it with us.

We do this, believers do this, to remember and to proclaim what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us at the cross. We are to do this often because we're fickle. We forget. This always needs to be driven back into our minds. We are doing this in a temporary basis. We're doing this in a temporary basis because we are to do this, we've been commanded to do this, until the Lord comes again. He is coming again. He is our hope. We should be praying nightly, "Lord Jesus, come quickly." And we will be with Him.

So, I want to turn to 1 Corinthians 11 as we take the Lord's Supper and we remember what the Lord Jesus Christ did for us, that He became a man, that He was just like us except without sin, that He had to become a man and had to be perfect at the same time in order to be a representative for us. In order for Him to be an acceptable substitute on the cross, He had to be like us. So He took on flesh and blood. He lived a perfect life that He might stand in our place before the Father and bear our sins that the Father would accept the payment made on our behalf.

In the great exchange at the cross, our sins go to Him, and His righteousness is applied to the heart of the believer. And so when the Father looks at us, He sees the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That hymn "My Hope is in the Lord," says, "He shows His wounded hands for me, and names me for His own." He's standing before the Father's throne doing that. So let's take the Lord's Supper together.

First Corinthians 11:23, "For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'" Let's take it together.

Lord, it is amazing that You are able and willing, and the lengths You went through to humble yourself to take on flesh and blood that You might redeem a people for Yourself. It is amazing that You left Your Father's side and came to be scorned, and You came to die upon the cross as a sacrifice. Lord, we thank You. We give You the glory.

Verse 25, the cup: "In the same way Jesus took the cup also after the supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.'" Let's drink.

Lord, nothing is cleansed, and You know how much we have to be cleansed from our sin, but nothing is cleansed without the shedding of blood. Throughout all the sacrifices in Israel's religious economy, there was the blood of bulls and goats. But Your blood has paid once for all time for the sins of all Your people, past, present, and future. And, Lord, we are washed clean by Your blood. So we thank You. May we not forget. We ask these things in Your name. Amen.