Fruit not just leaves

Matthew 21, as Bo said, from verse 18, and we'll be reading to the end of the chapter.

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

! And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it, and found nothing on it, but only leaves.

And he said to it, May no fruit ever come from you again.

And the fig tree withered at once.

When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree wither at once?

And Jesus answered them, Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt,

you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain,

Be taken up and thrown into the sea, it will happen.

And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive if you have faith.

And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching,

and said, By what authority are you doing these things?

And who gave you this authority?

Jesus answered them, I also will ask you one question,

and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

The baptism of John, from where did it come?

From heaven or from man?

And they discussed it among themselves, saying,

If we say from heaven, he will say to us, Why then did you not believe him?

But if we say from man, we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.

So they answered Jesus, We do not know.

And he said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

What do you think?

A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said,

Son, go and work in the vineyard today.

And he answered, I will not.

But afterward he changed his mind and went.

And he went to the other son and said the same.

And he answered, I will, sir, but did not go.

Which of the two did the will of his father?

They said the first.

Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him.

But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him.

And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

Here another parable.

There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country.

When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

Again, he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did the same to them.

Finally, he sent his son to them, saying, They will respect my son.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.

And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

They said to him, He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

Jesus said to them, Have you never read in the scriptures, The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Good morning, everyone. My name is Dave. If you're visiting, I'm the pastor here.

A warm welcome to you.

Well, let's pray as we come to God's word.

Amen.

Father, I ask that your word might break down wrong thinking in our minds and in our hearts,

and help us trust you in that, that you want to help us live and thrive.

Lord, we need your spirit's power to understand your word and what you're saying to us,

and to have that spiritual discernment.

So I ask for it now in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, this miracle of the cursing the fig tree, it's bizarre, isn't it?

Like, why Jesus would do it in the first place, like, is he just hangry?

It's just, does he just, it's bizarre that he does it in the first place.

And then Matthew wastes ink and precious parchment to record this for us and our instruction,

rather than all these other miracles he just sums up.

Like, oh, yeah, and Jesus killed many.

Like, why do we need to listen to this cursing of the fig tree?

If you're living in the same broken world that I am,

most weeks we're just trying to keep our head above water.

Wouldn't your time be better spent listening to a podcast about financial planning or parenting

or look up the footy scores or something?

A fig tree, like, who cares?

Like, why should you and I care about this?

Well, let me ask a question.

Obviously, I do think you should care.

Please don't look up the footy scores.

But let me ask a question, and I don't want you to answer it too quick in your mind.

Since God will only accept and is only pleased with fruit-producing people,

as God looks at your life, will he find fruit?

Or just green leaves?

Now, don't answer that too quickly, please.

There's some in this room you're going to have confidence of many years of serving God,

and others in this room you're going to feel like God could never find anything good in you.

Don't answer the question too quickly.

We need to listen to this passage first.

We need to know what the fruit is.

What is the fruit that God wants?

I've been asking myself that lately.

Every now and then I'm just like, am I pleasing you, God?

One of the things I'm learning going through Matthew this time is that the religious leaders didn't simply attack what Jesus came to build.

They are resisting him.

But Jesus is on the offensive.

He came to destroy something as well as build something.

Something insidious and deadly.

He's condemning a counterfeit, a fake way of living for God, a fake love for God.

People who had false assurance, represented by these chief priests and rulers.

Our passage today ends with the pronouncement in verse 43.

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

This section is within a bigger section that ends in chapter 23 with Jesus pronouncing judgments, woes on these leaders.

He's come to destroy something.

He's confronting something.

Now he's not condemning Jews.

This is not anti-Semitism.

I need to say this given our current social environment.

Jesus was a Jew.

The apostles were Jews.

The blind and lame who came to Jesus were Jews.

The children who worship him are Jews.

He's come to attack a counterfeit way of expressing love for God.

So how do we know if we here today, as a church, if we're truly listening to God's voice and obeying him?

How do we know?

Because these leaders, they know their Old Testament scriptures.

They could recite it to you better than any of us in this room, except for maybe Don.

They know their scriptures.

They could probably enter in a debate and we'd be intimidated.

The DNA of this counterfeit religious type is, I think, trying to sum it up, Jesus uses one phrase repeatedly in Matthew's Gospel, and that's hypocrite.

Now, all of us do not live up to God's ideals.

I do not live up to God's ideals.

That's not hypocrisy.

If our message is, I'm a sinner and I need a great saviour, that's not hypocrisy.

Hypocrite is a word for a mask that an actor would wear.

It's a performance for people to see and applaud.

But this section, I think we see how focused these leaders are on people and their praise.

We see it in this section as well.

It starts and finishes with them.

They're fearing the crowds.

Their identity depends on the recognition of people.

So, like this fig tree bearing green leaves, there can be so much religious activity going on, but it's just making a show.

It's a performance for people to see it.

But as you look closer, as Jesus gets closer, there's no fruit at all.

I was once at this trampoline park.

You know where everyone breaks their legs and things, but a trampoline park.

And we were doing flips and stuff.

Well, some people were.

I was going to try and do a flip.

And I was about to go.

And then I realized at the last moment, no one's watching.

And I stopped.

It was just this weird moment in my life where I'm like, why did I stop?

Like, why didn't I just flip?

Or try to flip and probably land on my head.

But why didn't I do it for the love of the thing itself?

It was just this weird moment of introspection.

But we know that feeling, right?

We can do all this thing just for people to see.

There can be lots of religious activity.

But if it's just for people to see, it's making a show of being alive when there is zero fruit.

So as we, those of us who have grown up in the church and heard the Gospels many times,

we've got a bit of a danger when we hear about the chief priests and the Pharisees.

When we hear these enemies of Jesus, it's like we're watching a performance and we all know now's the time to boo, hiss.

Here's the enemy.

They're not just characters like, oh, there's the problem out there.

I think so much attention is given to these guys because we need to look at the hypocrisy within ourselves.

Our own tendency to do things just for people's sight and not for God.

So what fruit is God looking for?

If you have your Bibles open, we've got a lot to go through today.

So verse 23.

What fruit is God looking for?

I want to come back to verses 18 to 22 at the end.

So we're not skipping it.

But verse 23 to 27.

These leaders, they hold a legitimate office from God.

They're responsible for correct teaching and correct religious observance.

They sit on Moses' seat, Jesus says.

So when they ask, by what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?

In one sense, it's a legitimate question.

It's their role to preserve true religion, to lead the way.

But the context and Matthew's gospel overall make it really clear that their intentions aren't pure.

They know where Jesus thinks he's getting his authority from.

The day before, he's ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, declaring himself king.

He's gone into the temple and cleared out the outer court in the temple as if it's his own house.

He's done miracles inside the temple.

He's received praise from children, redirecting praise from God to himself in the temple.

And he's now teaching in the temple.

There's no doubt about where he thinks he gets his authority from.

But their question is saying, where's your authority from?

Because it sure ain't from us.

We are God's appointed authority.

We are God's authority.

They're confronting him.

But Jesus' response, I first thought he's kind of ducking and weaving like a boxer.

I don't think he is.

I think that was a wrong assumption.

He's not avoiding.

I think he's answering their question with his question.

He's not avoiding their question.

He's not like a school kid going, I'll tell you my secret if you tell me your secret.

His question is turning the tables on them.

His question is going to end up exposing why God is kicking them out of authority.

He's not on the defense.

He's on the offense.

Where did John the Baptist come from?

Where does his authority come from?

Heaven or from man?

The highest office in the Old Testament was not priest.

God ruled his people by prophet.

Prophet is the highest office.

He rules by his word.

He sends prophet after prophet.

And he sent John.

And they rejected John's message of repentance and forgiveness of sin.

They had no need of repentance, they thought.

Jesus has exposed their problem.

Even while implicitly answering their claim, like, John is from heaven and I've got the same source.

So what fruit is God looking for?

Despite these religious people's green leaves, they did not listen.

They didn't listen to God's prophet, his messenger.

They weren't convicted to their heart by his voice.

You can know the Bible really, really well and not be listening.

And Jesus keeps pressing in on them.

He keeps exposing their problem.

And he does it in a very surprising way, doesn't he?

Like, if you want to take someone down in a debate, don't you find impressive, like, logical arguments?

Someone who just, on the spot, can just bring an argument together and great rhetoric, great knowledge,

attacks your point and tears someone down.

He uses stories.

It's, it's, the weapon he uses is parables, stories.

I love that because I think it just shows the theme through scripture.

God loves to work through what the world counts as of weak.

He uses these little children's stories to bring them down.

someone described the power of parables like if you're running 10 minutes late for a school

musical you're running late you it's a bit dark outside you you think you're entering the back

door so that you can just sneak in the back and and be in the audience watching the story

but to your horror you walk in on stage and the lights are on you and you're the one being exposed

that's the power of these stories you think you're just listening to this

harmless story but then you find yourself the lights are on you

you're drawn in in both of these parables jesus draws a response from maybe from

the crowds but maybe even from the chief priests themselves it's not super clear

so here here's the first story what do you think a man had two sons and he went to the first and said

son go and work in the vineyard today and he answered i will not but afterward he changed his mind and

went and he went to the other son and said the same and he answered i go sir but did not go

which of the two did the will of his father

now we who have grown up in the west we love our personal freedom and we treat our parents poorly

all the time nah i'm not doing that it's but i think if you if you've grown up in a traditional

culture like a family where a patriarch matriarch is the center of the family your identity and

your will for the day and agenda is is revolves around them you you get the offense here like

to to to just go i will not it is so disrespectful

whereas the second son is respectful i will sir i will

but who does the will of his father who listened

who is the father pleased with

the disrespectful son

who repents that's who the father is pleased with

not this not making a show

of being respectful to god now repentance

means a change of mind which which we got

in the story itself it changed his mind it's a change of intention it involves conviction

of doing wrong and then changing

so i don't think we should see this disrespectful son begrudgingly going and doing the will

but changing wanting to do the father's will

i remember this time as a teenager my parents are going to call me after this illustration later today

but my parents needed to go out and um

they were expecting someone to drop something off i think

at our house and they told me just stay home

um this is really important that uh we told them that you'll be home

but as soon as they left i got on my push bike

and rode as fast as i could to mackers

which like it was only 10 minutes away i was pretty quick

and as i waited across the main street

who should be coming in the car

but my parents

i broke their trust pretty badly that day

because to their face

i was obedient

i was respectful

but in my heart

i was preparing to go to mackers

that's how god feels towards

some of this

so much religion going on

who cares it's just green leaves

he actually wants us to listen

jesus drives the point home

when he says truly he says

this is something you gotta hear

you base your life on this

truly

i say to you the tax collectors and the prostitutes

go into the kingdom of god before you

it might be able to translate that

and you do not go in

you outwardly appear good

you're not in the way of righteousness

john showed you the way of righteousness

you were too good to need forgiveness

you you don't need to repent

but hear me

it's the disrespectful sons of the world

who god is pleased with

when they listen

and receive forgiveness

and change their mind

and want to live for him

repentance is the fruit god wants

not a show

actual conviction of sin

is the fruit of listening to him

he drives the point home for these chief priests

he's like

you saw the changed lives

of these tax collectors

this is the scum of society

i don't know who you think the scum are

maybe the ceo's making

300 million dollars

i'm not sure who you picture

but the scum

come in

ahead of you

you saw their changed lives

only god could have brought that about

and you still didn't listen to john

in their goodness

in their sense of superiority to others

they rejected john's message

of god's free grace

his forgiveness

i wonder who the kinds of people are

you think god can't love as much as you

it's going to be different for all of us

i won't get your response by the way

just have a think about it

but whenever we think like that

it can only come

from a belief that i'm offering god something more than them

i'm superior

we've got to grow in this message of grace

if we actually hear the message of grace

i'm the worst person i know

because i know my own thoughts

i don't know your thoughts

i know mine

and here's the good news

such hopeful news of this parable

is god cares where you end up

some of some of you might

some of us

have these huge sins in our past

that you think god can never forgive you

he can

he cares where you end up

the past

grace means the past

i've got to be careful

i'm just going to go for it

and correct me later

but it doesn't matter

it's where you end up

he has the power to change

it's the disrespectful sons of the world

who hear god's voice

and are convicted

and repent

they're the ones god's pleased with

that's the fruit he's looking for

a broken

a broken heart

is the kind of worship he wants

psalm 51 tells us

jesus keeps going

he's on the offensive

he tells another story

from verse 33

now he's

he's already mentioned

vineyard

and he sticks with that theme

he's not just plucking this out of nowhere

vineyard was

hugely significant

to describe israel

let me read

i should have had a bookmark here

but isaiah 5

my beloved

speaking of the lord

my beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill

he dug it

and cleared it of stones

and planted it

with choice vines

he built a watchtower

in the midst of it

and hewed out a wine vat in it

and he looked for it

to yield grapes

but it yielded

wild grapes

for the vineyard

of the lord

of hosts

is the house

of israel

and the men of judah

are his pleasant planting

and he looked for justice

but behold

bloodshed

for righteousness

but behold

an outcry

these hearers would have

known

what

jesus was

saying

the purpose

of israel

of god creating israel

was to create

a holy nation

godly lives

the owner

of the vineyard

creates it himself

he owns it

it's a gift

he does everything

for it

it's pure gift

he leases it out

to tenants

who should be paying

the rent

of giving the fruit

in its season

the master

is owed it

but they beat

kill

stone

the servants

sent to it

the prophets

sent

and this story

draws the hearers

to pronounce

their own

judgment

what will the

master of the

vineyard do

to such tenants

he will put

those wretches

to a miserable

death

and let out

the vineyard

to other tenants

who will give him

the fruits

in their season

i think there's

three things

we learn

from this parable

jesus is answering

the original question

of his authority

where's your authority

come from

as you know

australia

expelled the

iranian

ambassador

recently

now how you

treat an

ambassador

is how you

treat

the supreme

leader

but jesus

is inferring

a world

of difference

for himself

when the

vineyard

owner

sends

his son

he's the

he is the

owner

he

he is the

heir

it's

he's not

just an

ambassador

he's the

owner

that's his

authority

so he is

not holding

his punches

he's

he's

he's

saying

his authority

the second

thing i think

we learn

from this

parable

is

something of

the fundamental

sin of the

religious leaders

why they don't

like to listen

they're tenants

they forgot

it's all gift

and god is

owed

everything they

have is

owing to god

and

but when they

see the son

coming

come let's

kill him

and he'll be

ours

they want

to be

the

owners

they're

refusing

to be

tenants

they hate

anyone who

reminds them

that they

belong to

god

everything is

gift

pure gift

from him

and everything

we have

is for

him

and so

they killed

the prophets

every time

they bring

that message

every human

heart

even religious

hearts

naturally

wants to

forget

that all

is gift

and all

is owed

to god

and i think

the third

thing

and the

most surprising

thing we learn

from this

parable is

the heart

of the

master

after sending

many servants

whom they beat

and kill

and more

servants who

they beat

and kill

this

owner

has the

law

on his

side

he should

have sent

soldiers

that's

that's what

he should

have done

i don't

know if

you've seen

seven news

the

spotlight

interview

it's

there's this

gripping

interview

of a

father

denny

he comes

face to

face with

samuel

who got

drunk and

high and

crashed his

car killing

his three

kids and

another child

i don't know

if you've

seen it

but it is

it is a

moving story

of forgiveness

i'll go

look it up

but denny's

asked

about justice

for samuel

and denny's

response says

if it was

up to me

i'll bring

him out of

prison

tomorrow

justice

is to have

my kids

back

i found

that quite

moving

because no

amount

you can't

pay it

back

it's

it's

such a

big

sin

you can't

pay it

back

and yet

he's

chosen

to

forgive

and

apparently

he talks

on the

phone

with

samuel

from

prison

on a

weekly

basis

he's

visited

sam's

parents

he says

he's

gonna have

sam

over

for a

barbecue

when he

gets out

of prison

like

you gotta

watch it

for yourself

and see

it's

incomprehensible

i'm

struggling

to believe

he's

fully

forgiven

him

but it's

it just

doesn't

it's

incomprehensible

his

forgiveness

this father

in this

parable

is more

incomprehensible

than that

who would

send his

son

knowing

the danger

who would

do that

if he

just wants

the rent

send

soldiers

he wants

he wants

the tenants

back

they will

respect

my son

he wants

the relationship

i think

it's this

little

little

picture

god's

love

for rebellious

people is

incomprehensible

!

that he would

send his

son knowing

he would be

thrown out

of the

vineyard

and killed

in verses

42 to

46

jesus

presses

the

implications

of all

this

he changes

metaphors

from vineyard

to building

quoting

psalm

118

now it's

not so

abrupt

a picture

if we

remember

they were

in the

temple

this isn't

quite a

temple

we're never

going to

call it

a temple

but

they're in

the temple

their

identity

as a

people

of god

was in

these

beautiful

stones

around

them

the

centre

of

their

life

was

bound

up

here

the

psalm

the picture

is

the

builders

are

looking

for

stones

to

build

and

they

find

this

one

it's

ugly

it's

useless

and

they

chuck

it

in

the

rubbish

piles

it's

worthless

and it's

that stone

that the

whole

building

ends up

depending

on

now the

original

context

is

Israel

is that

stone

and

Jesus

is saying

I'm

that

stone

he's

building

a whole

new

people

on

himself

therefore

I tell

you

the

kingdom

of

God

will

be

taken

away

from

you

and

given

to

a

people

producing

its

fruits

when

Jesus

curses

the

fig

tree

it's

a

metaphor

for

Israel

eagles

in

America

apparently

are

protected

by law

because

eagles

represent

the

nation

the

government

the

people

I

heard

a

comedian

joke

that

an

eagle

made

a

nest

in

his

backyard

and

he

looked

at

it

from

his

deck

and

he

could

do

nothing

about

it

he's

not

allowed

to

do

a

thing

it's

like

the

eagle

was

just

looking

at

him

going

this

is

my

land

that's

that's

the

metaphor

that's

the

kind

of

significance

this

fig

tree

had

Jesus

is

saying

may

no

fruit

ever

come

from

you

again

this

is

the

end

of

an

era

of

salvation

history

centred

on this

temple

building

now

how

is

he

going

to

replace

it

here's

the

wonder

of

it

he's

not

going

to

turn

the

crowds

against

the

religious

leaders

he

had

the

crowds

in

his

pocket

he

could

have

easily

done

that

he

creates

it

by being

rejected

himself

by

taking

the

curse

himself

he

only

cursed

a tree

he

didn't

curse

them

in

that

moment

he's

actually

giving

them

a

warning

still

it's

a

loving

warning

he

takes

the

curse

Jesus

isn't

a

strong

saviour

who

welcomes

the

morally

strong

and the

morally

religiously

superior

he

welcomes

the

tax

collectors

and the

prostitutes

that's the

kingdom

he wants

he wants

it full

of

prostitutes

he wants

it full

of people

who are

cut to

the

heart

and look

at his

son who

was rejected

and go

this was the

Lord's doing

and it is

marvelous

in our

eyes

this is the

day the

Lord has

made

let us

rejoice

and be

glad in

it

that's the

temple he's

building

that's the

kingdom he's

building

repentant people

who just marvel

that he would

take the curse

for you

for your

lack of

fruit

and my

lack of

fruit

the fruit

the father is

pleased with

is listening

to his

son

to the

point of

being convicted

in our

hearts of

having no

fruit to

offer

accepting the

forgiveness

and marveling

that you

are in

the people

of God

simply by

faith

I want to

return and

finish in

that second

lesson of

the fig tree

in verses

20 to

22

Jesus says

truly I say

to you

he's talking

to the

disciples

if you

have faith

and do

not doubt

you will

not only do

what has

been done

to the

fig tree

but even

if you

say to

this

mountain

be taken

up and

thrown

into the

sea

it will

happen

and

whatever

you ask

in prayer

you will

receive

if you

have

faith

now I

think we're

pretty good

in this

church

I don't

suspect

we're

tempted

to go

okay

if I

pray

for a

million

dollars

and I

truly

believe

it

I'll

get

it

that

is

now

some

churches

are saying

that kind

of message

and it's

it's

wretched

now I

don't think

I'm not

suspecting we're

in danger

of that

I kind of

don't like

how much

Jesus is

promising us

here

I feel a bit

uncomfortable

I don't know

about you

you can

move a

mountain

this is

not the

power of

positive

thinking

and it's

not saying

you need

to just

work

yourself

up

I'm

going to

believe

against

what I

don't

actually

believe

it's

not

saying

that

there

are

massive

mountains

that

are

impossible

for me

to move

on my

own

I

can't

produce

fruit

on my

own

like

the

hypocrisy

in my

heart

still

where I

want

people's

applause

rather than

serving

people

that is

a

mountain

I

can't

actually

change

I

don't

think

I

can

change

my

own

heart

or

when

you're

feeling

powerless

to

change

knowing

you

sinned

this

week

the

same

you

did

last

week

and

for

months

and

months

and

you

think

you

would

never

change

it

is

a

mountain

you

can't

produce

fruit

on

your

own

or

we're

raising

money

for

missionaries

do

we

really

think

money

on

its

own

is

going

to

make

any

headway

in

people

being

convicted

of

their

sin

and

trusting

in

a

place

that

is

totally

hostile

to

God

that

is

a

mountain

!

I

think

we

absolutely

we

must

believe

this

promise

I

don't

think

it's

an

option

if

you

want

to

produce

obedience

to

God

in

your

life

you

have

to

believe

this

promise

we

have

no

power

but

when we

look to

Jesus

if

we

want to

produce

good

fruit

that's

pleasing

to

God

if

we

look

to

him

he's

saying

you

have

every

divine

present

power

not

to

be

victorious

like

the

world

counts

victory

this

is

the

rejected

stone

remember

he's

in

the

line

of

the

suffering

prophets

expect

God

to

work

through

weakness

and

pain

but

we

need

to

be

assured

when

we

look

to

him

we

we

have

divine

power

for

real

change

to

actually

produce

fruit

he's

pleased

with

and

that's

the

kind

of

fruit

he

loves

praying

when

we

say

in

the

name

of

Jesus

it's

not

just

this

sincerely

add

on

we're

saying

we're

helpless

God

but

we're

dependent

on

you

in

the

name

of

Jesus

and

we

have

present

power

now

may

not

be

in

our

timing

but

we

must

believe

this

it's

a

wonderful

promise

he

will

produce

the

fruit

that's

the

kind

of

fruit

he

wants

listening

to

his

word

repentance

marvelling

at his

son

and

prayerful

dependence

on

him

so

can

I

finish

with

the

question

as

God

looks

at

our

church

when

God

looks

at

your

life

is

he

is

he

just

going to

find

green

leaves

or is

he

going to

find

fruit

that

he's

really

pleased

with

look

to

Jesus

and

the

father

will

be

pleased

let's

pray

our

father

thank you

that we

can call

you

father

thank you

for

your

incomprehensible

love

that

despite

our

hard

hearts

that

refuse

to be

tenants

knowing

that

all

our

life

is

from

you

you

sent

your

son

knowing

we

would

reject

him

and

reject

you

that

you

did

it

in

love

to

win

us

back

lord

my

words

have

no

power

to

reach

into

our

hearts

but

I

know

your

word

does

have

power

I

pray

that

you

would

move

us

to

marvel

fresh

that

you

would

send

your

son

and

I

pray

that

especially

for

those

who

feel

helpless

at

the

moment

and

guilt

ridden

and

shameful

lord

I

pray

that

your

words

of

grace

that

the

tax

collectors

and

sinners

are

the

ones

you're

pleased

with

lord

please

speak

into

their

hearts

lord

pray

for

all

of

us

that

you

would

help

us

to

depend

entirely

on

Jesus

to

please

you

not

on

put