I AM King: Jesus Walks on Water - John 6:16-21

2:00Then he goes to Selim near Aeon, which is where there is water, where John the Baptist was baptizing, and so Jesus spends some time there. Then he has to go through Samaria, goes through Shechem, there at Sychar, which is near Jacob's well, and there spends some time in chapter 4, speaking to a woman at the well. Afterwards, he goes back to Cana, heals a nobleman's son, a nobleman who's from Capernaum. Then he goes back down to Jerusalem, chapter 5. He's down in chapter 5. He goes to, there's a festival of some kind.

2:44Not told specifically what, but that's where we encounter him at the pool of Bethesda. And he does that mighty miracle there in the controversy of him performing a miracle on the Sabbath, which later leads to his statements that they interpret to be equality. With God, and he goes into his, yes, I am equal to God discourse. That's chapter five. Then we come up to chapter six. He comes up to Bethsaida. He wants to get away with a little respite with his disciples. So he's on the northeast side, around the area of the Golan Heights, or somewhere in that area, north of Bethsaida. And in our passage this morning, he's going to cross, or the disciples are going to cross the northern part of the Sea of Galilee. So it's up there in the northeast part of the Sea of Galilee that he will perform the miracle of the loaves and the fish and feed the 5,000. And then in our passage this morning, they will cross the northern part of the Sea of Galilee. But a good question to ask is: what does Jesus expect of people? What does he want from people? What does he want from you and me?

4:00I mean, if you look at verse 15, it's clear that the people were ready to make him king, but then Jesus withdrew from them. They wanted to make him king, but he doesn't want to be their king. Why? I mean, think about what's going on in the disciples' minds, right? And they believe, even in chapter one, they say, okay, we found the Messiah. So what is the function of the Messiah to do? He's come to present himself to Israel, gather a following. Be king, and so here's this crowd that's going to make him king. And then instead of Jesus going along with it, he sends the disciples away. Get in the boat, go across. I'll connect with you in a little bit. I'm going to send this crowd away, and I'm going to go away and pray. And the question is: why? Why wouldn't?

4:54And I'm sure it was a question being asked in the disciples' mind. What was that all about? It's kind of like a, think about these disciples and what they went through those years with Christ. It would have been very much like an emotional roller coaster. Thoughts and emotions all over the map. In fact, this summer, I went on a roller coaster again. I did it again, right? After time passes, I tend to forget why I don't go on roller coasters. So we're at one of these parks. You get on one of these roller coasters with some of them, with my kids, and sure enough, I go through this whole gamut of emotions again. I mean, I think roller coasters are not just thrill rides, they're deeply profound because your mind scans a whole spectrum of thoughts and emotions. I mean, you start going up the big climb initially, and you're like, oh, this is pretty. Look out, you can see it. All of a sudden, you get to the top, and you're like, what in the world was I thinking? There's a reason why. 50-year-olds don't go on roller coasters, and you go down and you turn, and you, oh, I can do this. Oh, no, I can't. And then you back and forth. And look at that. That thing ain't going to hold up. Look at that. What kind of engineer designed that? Baby, he's from probably from UT, you know. I mean, and then this thing went to the lowest bidder, right? You know, all that, all these thoughts just started going on in your mind, and you get all these. Well, think about the disciples at what they're going through. Just the events that lead up to John 6 and what we've already read. John the Baptist is murdered. Okay, so think about what this does to some of the disciples that were John's disciples, right? The 12 disciples then are sent out and they're going preaching and healing. So they're experiencing all kinds of incredible things. They cross the Sea of Galilee. They've been working really hard. So they cross the Sea of Galilee for a little bit of a respite. Jesus wants to get away.

7:04As soon as they come on shore, this huge mass of people start pressing in on them. And they are a sick crowd. They need healing. They're an aimless crowd. They need teaching. They're a hungry crowd, and they need feeding. And this is a big crowd. So then Jesus, he heals, he teaches, he feeds. This is a pretty long event. Not something you want to do on your respite. And you think about the disciples, they had to distribute food to 5,000 men. There's probably 20,000 people there. But he has, you remember, Jesus blesses the bread and starts handing it to the disciples. The miracle is taking place in his hands, and he just keeps on.

7:50You do the math for just a little while, feeding 5,000 people, or feeding 20,000, a volume of 20,000, but then just the disciples had to distribute to the 5,000. Just think about that. It takes a long time just to get a 100 or 200 people through a line, right? And you think about these disciples. This is a very busy day. And then this crowd gets all excited. I'm sure the disciples are excited. They want to make Jesus king. And then Jesus says, you know what, you guys get in the boat, go across. I'm going to dismiss this crowd, and I'm going to go away and pray.

8:28So the question, I mean, that's a busy day in ministry, right? I mean, you're physically exhausted, emotionally drained. But the question, why didn't Jesus allow them to make him king? Well, two reasons. And we looked at the first one last time, but by way of review, I think it's important to bring it back to our minds. Verse 15 declares they wanted to make him king by force. They wanted to take him by force and make him king. They rightly recognize that Jesus is the prophet. That Moses spoke about.

9:04And since Passover is near, you think about John's made the connection that Passover is near, and just as Moses delivered Egypt or delivered Israel from Egypt, so the second prophet must certainly be willing to deliver Israel from Rome. But at this point, keep in mind, the crowd's desire echoes very much the same strains of an earlier generation of Israel that demanded that Samuel give them a king. You remember that? In 1 Kings, I mean, 1 Samuel chapter 8. And Samuel tries to discourage him. You don't want a king. And this is what they say in verse 19. Nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel, and they said, No, but there shall be a king over us that we also may be like all the nations, that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.

10:04So that's what they want. We want a king to do our bidding. Now, keep in mind, this isn't just about Israel. This is revealing a condition of the human heart, human disposition. Deeply ingrained in the fallen human heart is a desire to have a king just like us. A king who will give us the things we want. When we want, and how we think they ought to be delivered. You know what I'm talking about? But such a desire is a fundamental rejection of the Lord being king.

10:461 Samuel 8:7, God says to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. I mean, listen to the way you pray sometimes and ask yourself: are you somebody who's trying to get God to give you what you want, when you want, and in the manner that you want? Then you're very much like this crowd. Or are you somebody that's welcoming his kingship? If he is king, he really knows what ought to be done. Are you really looking to come under his leadership? And are you excited? Do you trust that this king knows what's good for you and he knows how to get you there?

11:38Are you excited? Is there an anticipation about what God is doing? Such is the definition of the biblical king. Well, the people of Samuel's day, what did they do? They ended up getting Saul, right? A man who looked good on the outside, but he was severely lacking on the inside. Listen, we don't need a king like ourselves. You don't need a king just like yourself. Such a king will be a monster, a tyrant, and never satisfied, by the way. You know, that's just the kind of king. What we need is a king who we can become like. Do you see the difference? We don't need a king that we can reduce to our wishes and our desires. We need a king that will elevate us to his wishes and his desires. Very different. We need a king after God's own heart, one who will do all that's in God's heart, not just a projection of what's in man's heart.

12:48And Jesus is this ultimate David, this ultimate king, who isn't going to allow his kingship to be defined by fallen man. And praise God, he would be a tyrant if that's the case. But he doesn't. He doesn't have any desire to be the slave of the fallen wishes of fallen man, even if it comes with the holy and lofty title of king. He knows better. We looked at that last time. That's the first reason. They were going to make him a king after their own pattern, and he would have nothing to do with that.

13:32But there's a second reason why Jesus didn't want to be king by this crowd. And that's because he already was king. He didn't have to be made king. He didn't need this crowd to make him king. He was king, and he is king. And he doesn't need man to affirm that. He was born king. Remember the verse that we celebrate at Christmastime, right? Matthew 2, chapter 1. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, Magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and we have come to worship him. You see, he didn't need to be made king, he was born king.

14:28So the appropriate question is not: is Jesus king? More appropriate questions are: what kind of king is Jesus? And what does he expect from his people? What does he expect from you and me? Those are the more appropriate questions that we should be asking ourselves and asking the scriptures. The fact that Jesus has the power to create matter out of nothing or transform inner. As one person would like to scientifically describe it, the very fact that he has the power to create matter out of nothing demonstrates his kingly authority, certainly.

15:15But it says nothing about the kind of king that he is, it says nothing about what he expects from people. And the disciples, as they walk with Christ, they are the ones who are getting their eyes open to the kind of king that Jesus is. He's got brute raw power for sure, but they're also watching him how he uses that power and what it's directed towards and the goodness and the kindness. And the life of these disciples is one of a continual opening of their eyes. Wow, I see, I get. And they're all over the map, like a roller coaster. Their emotions, their thoughts are all over the map.

16:05So we come to the fifth miracle in the Gospel of John. And this is the miracle for his disciples to see. The crowds aren't going to be around, they're not going to be privy to this. And the disciples are going to need this because the crowds are going to be reduced severely in this chapter. This is going to be a major turning point in the ministry of Christ. He's going to go. To the synagogue at Capernaum. He's going to teach that famous discourse on the bread of life.

16:39And at the end, when he gets to that, there's going to be a defection in mass numbers. Because though they recognize him as the prophet that Moses promised, they don't do what Moses says, who said, listen to him, recognize him, and then listen to him. So Christ gives this to his disciples. He gives this miracle and he makes it clear to his disciples, yes, I am king. Yes, I dismiss the crowd for sure. But he comes to them, he's like, but I want you to know I am king. I am king. Truly am God's king. And I'm not going to be made king by a bunch of self-willed revolutionaries. I am king.

17:40And I'm going to disclose myself to you. And that's going to be important because the disciples are going to see a great shift take place in this chapter. So let's look at the setting for the fifth miracle. Look in verse 16. Now, when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea and And after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. And the sea began to be stirred up because of a strong wind was blowing. A few years back, I visited the Sea of Galilee, and I was always picturing this big kind of ocean-looking thing. But after I got it, I'm sure it's more like a big lake. In fact, it is. It's a big lake. That's what it is. It's a big lake. And I was standing there trying to think, okay, as we were crossing it, I'm like, okay, how does a big wind, how does this sea get so frothy and foamy and tossy and turvy or whatever? And it's like, how did it...

18:43I was struggling with imagining it. And our guide said, oh, yeah, no, the gale-force winds can hit this lake very suddenly. Hurricane-force winds. And I came across this traveler who journaled back in the 1800s, who came to this spot in the Sea of Galilee. And he writes this. His name's Thompson. And he says this, My experience in this region enabled me to sympathize with the disciples in their long night's contest with the wind. I have seen the face of the lake like a huge boiling cauldron.

19:30Wind howled down the valleys from the northeast and the east with such fury that no efforts of rowers could have brought a boat to shore at any point along that coast. To understand the causes of these sudden and violent tempests, we must remember that the lake lies low, 600 feet lower than the ocean, that the watercourses have cut out profound ravines and wild gorges converging to the head of the lake, and that these act like giant funnels to draw down the cold winds from the mountains. No wonder the disciples toiled and rowed hard all night. In fact, he'll go on to describe you couldn't even pitch a tent, because these winds would come off the mountains and down these waddies or these gorges and hit the northeast of the lake and just with extreme force. Well, it's in this storm at sea that Jesus is going to further demonstrate his kingly authority to his disciples. If he is indeed king, then we really need to listen to what he has to say, right? We need to accept the implications of what he has to say, and we need to simply obey him. That was what recognizing the prophet that Moses described was all about. Recognize him and then listen to him. So I want us to look. At three ways this morning that Jesus manifested his kingly authority to his disciples so that we will do a better job of hearing and accepting and obeying the things he has to say. So, three ways Jesus manifested his kingly authority. First, he walked on water with his feet. He walked on the water with his feet. Look back at verse 19. Now, when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat, and they were frightened. Now, when the captain of a ship or when experienced fishermen get frightened at sea, there's a reason to be frightened. I remember years ago, I had a client that loved to go fishing off into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California. And we'd go sometimes for days, and we would go out there, and sometimes, in my opinion, those waves got big and scary. Of course, you're out there in this little boat, and just the expanse, it's huge. You feel really small.

22:09You understand the phrase, the deep. But I always would gauge how the captain was feeling. If we're in the middle of all these big waves, and I look up there at the captain, he's just, you know, drinking his soda water or whatever, and just going on, I'm like, okay, no problem. He's at peace. I can be at peace. And I remember sitting up there, I said, these things look. Pretty bad. He goes, oh, no, this is routine. This is okay. Then one day I'm sitting up there on the top with the captain, and this whale jumps right out in front of the boat. And I'm like, that is beautiful. Look at that thing. And a big old thing, a whale, right? That's why we call them whales. They're big, right? That's a whale. And I looked at the captain, who looks like all the blood just fell out of his face, and he's just scared to death. And he looks at me and he goes, I hate it when those things get that close to the boat. And I said, yeah, now I do too.

23:09But he was one of those things where you hit that, we go down. But when a fisherman gets frightened, there's reason to be frightened. And these are experienced fishermen out on the sea, and they are frightened. And I love how this, how John describes this scene. Now, he remember both Matthew and Mark tell us that the time of this event was in the fourth watch of the night, sometime before around 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., somewhere in the middle of the night. So you can think about how their respites go in, right? They just went across, big day, and then now they're rowing all night, gale force winds. They're rowing westward. So if you're rowing westward, you're facing east. Eastward, okay, and that's the direction from which Jesus is going to come. Near Passover, so there's probably a moon out, a lot of intense wind, maybe some clouds.

24:12The description gives us more information about the wind. But whatever, there was enough light as these rowers who are heading west and facing east, they start to see a figure coming through the waters, walking on the water. And that frightened them. Okay? Probably frightened all of us, right? And not only is this figure coming towards them, it's catching up to them. So it seems to be moving faster than they are. And they've, you know, these guys have never seen anything like this before. And then, you know, of course, what Jesus is doing, he's coming, and he is demonstrating to them that he is Lord over their environment. He is Lord over man's environment. He is Lord over the physical realm of nature. He is Lord over the realm, the elements in which we have to live.

25:11In fact, he is Lord over the chaos. In fact, waters throughout Scripture is often described or is a metaphor for chaos. And so, in fact, in Genesis 1:2, we see this, the earth was formless and void. And darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Verse 6: Then God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the water from the waters. So here is God who can speak to the water, who can separate. Psalm 29:3 says, The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is majestic. That he has control over the waters. His kingly authority is manifested in that he is Lord over the waters. And here comes Jesus walking on the waters, demonstrating his kingly authority. You know, one of the things I really like about this picture is Jesus has this great internal navigation system. He's got a great internal GPS system, right? He knows where his people are, he knows what they are going through.

26:42He knows the storm. He knows the degree. He knows. He knows. He sees. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what you're going through. Just like he knew these disciples. And as Mark 6 says, he was watching them straining at the oars. He knew exactly what his disciples were going through. Commissioned him on that journey. He had a destination in mind, and he had something he wanted to teach them in the process. And so he comes to them. He comes to them in probably what was one of the most darkest nights of the disciples' time. Crossed excluded, of course. But it was dark, rough. Jesus is offshore, and then he comes to them. And he comes to us in our darkest night, and he comes to us in our not-so-dark nights. He comes into everything. You know, he's there, he sees, he knows what we're going through. But he comes not just to come as one who can sympathize with our darkest night, but he comes as one who is Lord over our darkest night. And that's what the disciples needed to learn and what we need to learn, right?

27:58So three ways that Jesus manifested his kingly authority. First, he walked on water with his feet. Second, he calmed their fears with his presence. He calmed their fears with his presence. Look back at verse 20. But he said to them, It is I, and do not be afraid. A literal translation would be like, but saying to them, I, I am. Don't you dare be afraid. An imperative there. Do not be frightened. Basically, he speaks to the soul of these weary disciples of him, and he says, I am. I am.

28:44He is the I am. Certainly, he's identifying himself, but he's identifying himself as one who walks on the water. The waters obey him. Verse 21, so they were willing to receive him in the boat. The word willing there should probably be translated a little more. They were wishing, they were desiring, they were desiring to receive him in the boat. So they go from being frightened to wanting him in the boat. See the difference, the change there.

29:20They go from extremely terrified to gladly receiving. And so the situation obviously had changed. In Mark 6 and Matthew 14, they talk about the wind stopped. The storm on the outside stopped. John pays a little more attention to what's going on on the inside. The storm on the inside also stops. Not only the storm on the sea, but the storm that's going on in the hearts of the disciples also ceases. And it's Christ's. Presence that makes all the difference. He calmed their fears with his presence. And Jesus' presence is certainly sufficient to calm any fears if we will believe him.

30:17See, troubled waters in the scriptures are often a metaphor for troubled souls. Oftentimes, the waters are seen as nations in an uproar. And let me read to you a little bit portion of Psalm 65, beginning in verse 5: By awesome deeds, you answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation. You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea, who establishes the mountains by his strength, being girded with might, who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the peoples. You see, he is Lord not only of the wind and the waves, but also the agitation of the crowds, the thinking of the crowds, the fomenting of the crowds. He is Lord of it all. He knows what the crowd's thinking, and he knows what he's doing.

31:23But Jesus' presence, the point here is his presence is sufficient if we will only believe. If we will believe the promises that he gives us. You know, Jacob needed to hear these words in Genesis 28, 15. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Joshua needed to hear these words in Joshua 1:5, I will be with you, I will not fail you, nor will I forsake you. The disciples needed to hear this promise in Matthew 28, 19, I am with you always, even into the end of the age.

32:08We need to hear those same words, right? Promises of God to never leave us, never forsake us. His presence calms. He doesn't leave. He sees your situation just as he saw the disciples' situation. He has a desired destination in mind. And the safest place for you is in the center of his will, even if you all don't understand it totally. Well, Jesus calmed, or Jesus, three ways Jesus manifested his kingly authority. Number one, he walked on the water with his feet. Number two, he calmed their fears with his presence. And number three, he made sure they Made it to their destination. Look back at verse 21. So they were willing to receive him in the boat. Then look at these words. And immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. And immediately, no intermission, the boat was at the land to which they were going. You know, Mark tells us, it's interesting to read how people deal with this. Mark tells us the boat was in the middle of the sea. Matthew tells us that the boat was a long way from the land.

33:38Mark emphasizes the hardness of the disciples' heart. Matthew records that Peter went walking on the water. Both Matthew and Mark speak about the wind and put an emphasis on the wind stopping. But John emphasizes, it's interesting to watch what the different disciples highlight. John emphasizes the quickness with which their destination was reached upon Jesus stepping into the boat, being received into the boat. And for John, the emphasis, destination, was reached like that. And if you simply take John's words at face value, it's clear that another miracle took place. Now, I hear all kinds of stuff. Explaining, well, Jesus really wasn't walking on the water. He was actually walking on the rim of the sea, and they just thought he was on the water. Experienced fishermen, scared to death. Jesus is on the sea, and they don't know it. And that really they were right there on the sea when he came in the boat, and they really didn't. If you take John's words at face value, and there's no reason why we shouldn't, another miracle takes place.

34:57Another one, a miracle that brought the boat miraculously to its precise destination, immediately. And this is his kingly authority. A miracle over time and space. It shouldn't be too hard to understand. If you get to where God can create, or Jesus can create matter out of nothing and determine its final form, bread that never went through a process, fish that never swam, and dinner is served, and he can speak into existence reality. It shouldn't be too hard to understand that he can transport, get. But that's the language here that's very striking. But here's the point that John is making. And I don't think we can take this as just say, well, you know, Jesus got in the boat, we had such a great time, and wow, time just went by, and next thing you know, we were there. That's not the kind of language that John's using here. He is saying, immediately. And the The point is that God knows how to get his people where he wants them. Jesus, as king, knows how to get his people where he wants them.

36:14He knows what he's doing. Even if he sent the crowd away, he's telling his disciples, I am king. I am king. I do have a destiny. I know how to navigate humans. I know how to navigate my people. I know how to control the because I am king. I know what I'm doing with humanity because I am king. And what I am doing involves a cross. Because the greatest enemy of Israel is not the Roman Empire. It's the sin and the defection in their own heart, as well as with all the nations.

36:59I mean, what a night, right? I'm going to read to you a portion of Psalm 107, beginning in verse 23 and down to 31. It's almost as though the psalmist of 107 was actually on the boat. The language is so, he wasn't, of course. But listen to this language, and I would encourage you to write this down as a psalm to reflect upon when you're going through troubled times or even to use to reflect. Reflect upon troubled times that you have gone in the past. Listen to this psalm, a portion of it, verse 23. Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they have seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted the waves of the sea. They rose to the heavens, they went down to the depths. Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the seas were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet. So he guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Now we go through storms like this in life, right?

38:42Cry out. Know that he is there. Know that he sees. Know that he understands. Know that he knows how to guide you to his desired place. And he's going to make sure that we reach his destination. He's got a destination just like he had for his disciples. He had a destination, a place for them to be, and he sent them to that place, and he made sure they got there. And he's also going to make sure that we get to the destination he has for us.

39:15Formed into the image of his Son, blameless, faultless, before the throne. He knows how to get us there. And he's also going to make sure we learn what we need to learn along the way. And that's why he sends the disciples there. He not only wants to get them from A to B, but there's an important lesson that they need to learn going from A to B. He is king, and he knows how to get you where he wants you to go. So trust in him.

39:49So three ways Jesus manifested his kingly authority. Number one, he walked on the water with his feet. He calmed their fears with his presence. And number three, he made sure they made it to their destination. As you look back, we're now getting ready to look at this bread of life discourse that's going to dominate the rest of John chapter 6. And I believe that these two miracles, the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water, is Jesus' way of preparing his disciples for the teaching that's going to turn the multitude away. He's about to say, he. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And this is going to offend many, and they're going to stop listening to the prophet that Moses spoke about.

40:44It's interesting when you look at what's going to happen. Look at verse 68, 67 or 66 as many people, many of his disciples withdrew and not walking with him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, you do not want to go away, do you? Simon Peter answered, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. There's no place to go. No place to go. The disciples are saying, look, we want to follow you. We want a world where Jesus is king, or we don't really want to hang around. Listen, I don't want a world that's governed and shaped by fallen man. We want a world that's governed and shaped by the King of kings. Two different worlds. Yes, we're in this world now, or we see the kingdoms in conflict. But I hope your heart has no ownership here, but that you are using your time here to understand, to grow, to know God, to know the King. Because our heritage, our place is not of this world. There's nothing in this world that should grip and fashion our hearts. It is the King of kings who should grip and fashion our hearts. That's the kind of King we need.

42:18Well, listen, you know, suppose for a minute you have a wealthy relative. You find out, you didn't know this, you have a very, very wealthy relative, very, very, very wealthy. And suppose this very, very, very wealthy relative of yours just happens to be very, very, very gracious. And suppose this very, very, very gracious and very, very, very wealthy relative of yours sends an attorney over to your house with a written invitation for you to come to the reading of the inheritance that this very, very wealthy, very, very gracious person has left you. Would you go and listen?

43:04How many of us probably would not? We'd at least give it a hearing, right? Well, the good news of the gospel is that there is this individual who has power over everything. And he graciously uses his power for the highest good of his people. That's the good news. And he generously invites you to come. And to be one of his people, no matter what you've done, no matter who you are. This is the Christ of Scripture: absolute power, absolute kindness and graciousness.

43:47This is the good news. And he calls you to come to him, to repent. And the call to repentance is also part of the good news. Because you need to leave your life occupied by sin in order to go and receive the kind of life that he wants for you. You cannot receive what he has if you tenaciously hang on to your sin. And so, even the call to repent and to leave your sin behind and to come to him is the good news because he's doing something so far beyond what your sin does. He's giving you something far beyond that you have no place for it if you're tenaciously holding on to your sin. So, even the call to repent and to give away your sin, leave and come to him, ask for forgiveness is all the gospel.

44:46Will you listen to him? This is the person we celebrate. If energy, matter, physical elements, time, and space, If all of these hear and accept and obey his commands, shouldn't we? If all these hear and obey his commands, then guess what? He already is king. He already is king. That's off the table. He is king. The question is, are you going to recognize him as such? He doesn't need you to make him king, but he does want you to recognize him as king, for so he is. He is good. He is kind. He is powerful.

45:37It's people that have a hard time hearing, accepting, and obeying his words. Even the elements will hear and accept and obey. Let us not be a people that refuse to listen and accept and obey. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we recognize your goodness. We recognize your truth. We recognize that you are king, for no one can do the things that you do and did if it were not granted to you. Father, we see your kingly authority expressed in so many ways. Father, and we are convicted, Father, that in our hearts we do not hail you as the king as you deserve.

46:30But we can come to you knowing that you have made provision for all of our failures, even our failure to honor you as you deserve. But, Father, we do not desire to stay this way. We ask you to forgive us for our sins. We ask you to lead us to your desired destination. Forgive us for all the times when we have tried to make you our little king, instead of bringing ourselves under the authority of your goodness and your kindness.

47:01Father, we just thank you, trusting you. In Jesus' name, amen.