The following message is by Pastor John Piper.
More information from Desiring God Ministries is available
at www.DesiringGod.org Matthew chapter 17, and
I'll be beginning with verse 22.
And while they were gathering to gather in
Galilee, Jesus said to them, The Son of
Man is going to be delivered into the
hands of men, and they will kill him,
and he will be raised on the third
day.
And they were deeply grieved.
And when they had come to Capernaum, those
who collected the two drachma tax came to
Peter and said, Does your teacher not pay
the two drachma tax?
He said, Yes.
And when he came into the house, Jesus
spoke to him first, saying, What do you
think, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth
collect customs or poll tax?
From their sons or from strangers?
And upon hearing his saying, From strangers, Jesus
said to him, Consequently, the sons are exempt.
But lest we give them offense, go to
the sea and throw in a hook and
take the first fish that comes up.
And when you open its mouth, you will
find a stater, which is a shekel worth
four drachmas.
Take that and give it to them for
you and me.
Father, on the beginning of Holy Week, we
are always feeling inadequate to have affections that
correspond with the weight of what we're about.
And so I ask for all of us
as we enter this week that there would
be an appropriate sense of earnestness and passion
for you in your holy passion and suffering.
I pray that all week long our minds
would turn again and again to the coming
of Jesus into Jerusalem in that last week,
with his face set like flint to the
cross.
I pray that you'd bring us to Thursday
night with a sense of the weight of
the world upon the Son of God.
I pray that you'd bring us to noon
on Friday with the unspeakable sense of wonder
that the sins of millions and millions could
be borne by one holy God-man so
that we could be free.
The sons are free.
And I pray that you'd bring us to
next Easter morning, being spread out over three
services with hundreds of people who need Christ,
hearing the gospel and being won by the
power of the Spirit to see and love
Christ.
Lord, make it a great week all over
the cities, around the world, in Christendom, Lord.
Purify your church and exalt Christ and gather
in your elect from the four winds by
the millions this week, I pray.
May missionaries be mightily encouraged this holy week,
oh God.
May we have ears to hear now as
we open this word from your apostle Matthew.
In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
There are three reasons why I have chosen
this text for this morning.
Let me tell you what they are.
First, it's Palm Sunday and the text begins
with this magisterial prediction of what's coming.
Verse 22, the Son of Man is going
to be delivered into the hands of men.
They will kill Him and He will be
raised on the third day.
So here we are on Palm Sunday and
Jesus looks into that week and He simply
says, this is what's going to happen.
That's why I'm coming.
I came to die.
Nobody takes my life from me.
I lay it down on my own accord
and if I lay it down, I will
take it up again.
I will rise.
This week is going to be a triumphant
week for Jesus.
So that's the first reason.
There's a holy week flavor to that verse,
even though the verse comes in the context
of Matthew much earlier.
Second reason, in this conversation between Jesus and
Peter about the temple tax, there is revealed
to us, to Peter and to us through
this conversation, a glorious truth about the freedom
of the children of God.
I want you to know this truth.
I want us to taste it as a
congregation.
When He says, the sons are exempt or
more literally, the sons are free, that's the
message I want ringing in your ears as
you leave.
The children of God are free, free.
We could add, thank God Almighty, we're free.
And what does that mean?
What kind of freedom?
And who are the sons being spoken of
in this text?
And what does it have to do with
the temple?
That whole cluster of issues presses this on
me as something very, very blessed for our
church.
Third, the miracle of the coin in the
fish's mouth has a relevance concerning the majesty
and power and sovereignty of Jesus and it
has a relevance concerning education for exaltation and
the giving toward it and the supply of
the needs we have on our way to
pay what we think we ought to pay.
So those are my three reasons for landing
on this text for this Palm Sunday.
Let's take them one at a time.
We'll start with number two.
We'll go to number three and then back
and end on the prediction of Jesus that
He's going to die to purchase all of
this.
So the reason I end with verse 22
rather than begin with it is just because
I want to lead right into Holy Week
with a clear biblical statement that we couldn't
have the freedom being spoken of here.
We couldn't have a Christ who is worthy
of worship and who meets all our needs
in miraculous ways sometimes if Christ had not
gone to Jerusalem to die.
That's the reason we take it in the
order we're doing it.
So start with me at verse 24.
They're in Capernaum, you see, Jesus and His
disciples, probably Peter's hometown, maybe in Peter's house
or outside his house at the beginning.
Some Jewish people collect the two drachma tax
and they come to Peter and they say,
does your teacher not pay the two drachma
tax?
Now let me clarify what this is.
Do not confuse these collectors of the two
drachma tax with the tax collectors that are
the bad guys that we read about all
the time in the New Testament or in
the Gospels.
They're not them.
This is a Jewish tax to support the
temple, not a Roman tax.
The Romans are not concerned here at all.
And these tax collectors are godly friends of
Jews.
Nobody dislikes these people.
These are people who come, they fan out
across Israel and they say, it's time to
support the temple again.
And people gladly and readily support the ongoing
ministry of the sacrifices and the priestly work
in the temple in Jerusalem.
This is not a hostile operation here like
the tax collectors who collect Roman taxes from
Jews and Jews feel like this is seditious
for Jewish people to participate in that kind
of tax collecting.
That's not what's going on here.
So let's get that real clear.
It's going to make a big difference in
how we see this.
This tax is rooted in Exodus 30, verses
11 to 16.
We don't need to look at the details.
But in Jesus day, it was still collected
in one form or another.
It was an issue of patriotism or religiosity.
And so when they ask, do you folks,
do you and your teacher pay this?
The issue is how pro-temple are you?
Because, you know, Jesus has already got a
reputation that he said some pretty negative things
about the temple.
Remember, he's already said, John, chapter two, destroy
this temple.
And in three days, I'll build it up
again.
Now, it's a double meaning there.
He means his own body.
But everybody out there is listening.
Oh, you're going to destroy the temple.
That's why he's brought to trial.
Ultimately, it's because one of the things he
said was, I'm going to destroy the temple.
I'm anti-temple.
So they're going to say to him, OK,
do you pay the two drachma tax?
We'll do a little test here to see
whether you are supportive of the temple or
not.
Now, here's Peter's answer to the question in
verse twenty five.
Yes, that's his answer.
Yes, we do.
My teacher does and I do.
Now they come into the house and Jesus.
Before Peter says anything to him.
Says, what do you think, Simon?
From whom do the kings of the earth
collect customs or poll tax?
From the sons, from their sons.
Or from strangers, from others.
So Jesus is not going to let this
little incident go by without a lesson.
Outside, they had said, Peter, do you and
your teacher pay this?
He said, we do.
He walks in and before he has a
chance to say anything to Jesus, Jesus says,
let me ask you a question.
And then he creates this comparison or this
analogy.
And he says, now picture a king over
a kingdom like Caesar over Rome.
He has a family, children and a wife.
And he he needs money to support the
palace and the government.
Does he tax his children or does he
tax the citizens?
That's the question Jesus is asking to Peter.
So you need to get clear the analogy.
So he's comparing God over the temple and
its temple services to this king over his
kingdom.
And he's asking, in the analogy, who pays?
Sons or non-sons, strangers, citizens?
Peter's answer, verse 26, from strangers.
It's a multiple choice question.
Sons or strangers?
And Peter says, be strangers.
Now, that's the right answer.
And so here's the conclusion Jesus draws from
that.
Verse 26, Jesus said to him, therefore, the
sons are free or exempt.
Literally, it's free.
Therefore, the sons are free.
Now, this raises lots of questions to try
to figure out what's going on here.
Requires a lot of meditation and reflection on
this.
And I said to the family, he goes
at supper last night.
I came down.
Having spent the whole day pretty much meditating
on this.
And I said, you know, I am just
amazed that when you meditate a long time
on the words and the acts of Jesus,
how unified what he teaches is with what
the Apostle Paul teaches.
It's just amazing.
All thoughts of disunity between Jesus and Paul
are based on superficiality, I think.
Meditating long and deeply creates another impression.
So let's ask a few questions about the
meaning of this.
Who are these sons who are free?
The sons are free.
And how are they free?
Now, verse 27, I think, gives a clue
as to who the sons are.
So look at it.
And I'll just pass over the miracle.
We're going to take that in a moment.
But just read the brackets of this verse.
However, Jesus says, so he says, the sons
are free.
However, then jump to the end of the
verse.
Take that, namely the coin.
And give it to them for you and
me.
The sons are free.
But.
Pay it anyway.
So who are the sons here?
The sons are Peter and Jesus, at least.
In other words, Jesus and his disciples are
the sons.
The sons are free.
But Peter, so as not to give offense.
Pay it anyway.
So that's the clue as to who the
sons are.
The sons are Jesus and his disciples.
Now.
Keep in mind here what I've already said.
The Romans are not in view here at
all.
This is not Jews versus Romans.
And this is not Jesus versus Romans.
When Jesus distinguishes sons from non-sons.
He's making a division in Israel.
Just like John the Baptist before him.
And just like the apostle Paul.
After him.
Remember what John the Baptist said?
He came preaching a baptism of repentance for
the forgiveness of sins.
And Jews flocked to him to be baptized.
Mostly.
And some didn't.
And the ones who didn't were saying to
themselves.
We have Abraham as our father.
And John responds.
Do not presume to say.
We have Abraham as our father.
God can raise up from these stones children
of Abraham.
In other words.
Don't think that your descendancy physically from Abraham.
Exempt you from judgment.
If God needs to fulfill his promise and
doesn't have any candidates.
He'll create some out of stones and make
them the children of Abraham.
And fulfill his promise.
His word will not fail.
And you can't make it fail.
Even if you are judged as Israel.
So John with his baptism is putting a
dividing line in Israel.
He's drawing a line right down the middle.
Saying.
If you repent.
You're part of the true Israel.
If you don't repent.
And you just say.
We have Abraham as our father.
You are not true Israel.
Not the children of God.
And Paul comes along.
Later.
And says in Romans 9.6. Not all
Israel is Israel.
And then in verse 8.
Chapter 9.
He says.
It is not the children of the flesh.
Who say.
We have Abraham as our father.
It's not the children of the flesh.
Who are the children of God.
But the children of promise.
Are the children of God.
So within Israel.
First John the Baptist.
Now Jesus.
And then Paul.
Split Judaism wide open.
Between those who will believe.
And follow Jesus.
The Messiah.
And those who won't.
And claim.
The benefits.
Of the promise.
Anyway.
Because they're Jews.
Even though they reject Jesus.
Their Messiah.
That's a.
Huge division.
And that's what's going on here.
When he says.
The sons.
Are free.
He means.
Those who have attached themselves to me.
Are you now.
Are now.
United to me.
The son.
Remember that happened.
Just a chapter earlier.
Who do you say that I am.
Peter says.
You are the Christ.
The son.
Of the living God.
And so as you attach yourself to.
The son.
Jesus teaches you become.
Sons of God.
In a lesser.
But a real sense.
For example.
Matthew five.
Nine.
Blessed.
Are the peacemakers.
For they shall be called the.
Sons.
Of God.
He's talking to his.
Disciples.
So I am the son.
Attach yourself to me.
By faith.
And follow me.
And you will be.
Sons.
Of your father.
In heaven.
It's the same thing we see in Romans.
Eight.
The spirit testifies with our spirit.
That we are the.
Children of God.
And if children.
Then heirs.
Heirs of God.
And fellow.
Heirs with Christ Jesus.
If we will suffer with him.
That we may be glorified with him.
It's this.
Heirship.
With Jesus.
That defines this new.
Sonship.
Because here's.
Here's an issue.
That a Jew would raise.
At this point.
With Jesus.
Jews.
People would say.
Wait a minute.
It says.
In Exodus.
Four.
Twenty.
Two.
That all of Israel.
Is the son of God.
Israel.
Is God's son.
Exodus.
Four.
Twenty.
Two.
Israel.
Is God's son.
You say the sons.
Are free.
We're all free.
And Jesus didn't say the son.
Is free.
Meaning all Israel.
He said the sons.
Are free.
Meaning.
I have come into the world.
As the son.
And now.
A new thing.
Is happening.
In relating to God.
I am here.
As the Messiah.
The son of God.
I'm going to lay my life down.
For my people.
And I'll save them.
Those who believe in me.
And embrace me.
Will be unified to me.
By faith.
And will become.
Individually.
And personally.
Not corporately.
Only.
But individually.
And personally.
Sons.
Of the living God.
Children.
Of God.
That's.
What he's talking about here.
As he appears.
And moves.
And calls people.
Into fellowship.
With himself.
He is calling.
Into being.
The new Israel.
Who are individually.
Personally.
And intimately.
United to the Messiah.
And thus.
Sons of God.
Not just.
Israel.
The son of God.
But within Israel.
Saved.
By Jesus.
United to him.
By faith.
And sons.
Of the living God.
And those are free.
Those are.
Free.
He says.
Which raises now.
Another question.
If you say.
Believers in Jesus.
Followers of Jesus.
Become united to the Messiah.
Become the sons of God.
And they are free.
And those who do not.
The unbelievers.
In Jesus.
Are not free.
Not free.
From.
The temple tax.
Are you saying then Jesus.
The temple.
Is to be supported by unbelievers.
Not believers.
So it sounds like.
The sons are free.
You don't have to pay this tax.
Let the.
Others pay the tax.
So support the temple.
In your unbelief.
But if you believe.
You don't have to support the temple.
Is that the point.
That's not the point.
Well.
What is the point.
Couple of things.
The first one is this.
I think Jesus is saying when he says.
I am here as the son of God.
And.
I gather to myself a people.
Who are the sons of God.
And they gather to me to worship me.
And honor me as Emmanuel.
God with them.
And therefore that temple.
Is over.
Doesn't need support anymore.
It's over.
Matthew 2661.
I am able to destroy the temple of
God and to build it in three days.
That's what they were accusing him of saying
and it's true.
I am able to destroy the temple of
God and in three days to build it
again.
What does he mean.
He meant this body.
This is the temple.
What does that mean in the context of
Jesus.
When Jesus says I'm going to lay my
life down and the temple is going down
for three days.
And the temple is coming up again in
three days.
What is he saying about the temple.
This body and that temple.
What's he saying.
He's saying.
I'm the temple.
I'm the presence of God.
I'm the place of worship.
You are free from place now.
You are free from building.
You are free from taxes.
You are free from animal sacrifices.
You're free from the priesthood.
You come to me and you're free from
all that because that is over.
That's what he's saying first of all.
That's over.
I am God incarnate.
I am the place of worship.
I am tabernacling among you.
Or in another place Matthew 12 6 he
says something greater than Solomon is here.
Something greater than the temple is here.
Meaning here on this little square foot of
ground.
Something greater than the temple is here.
And they were supposed to hear it's over.
It is over and in 40 short years
it will be flat and never raised again
as a place of communion with the living
God.
Jesus is now the place of communion with
God and you can commune with him anywhere
and you are free from buildings.
You are free from location.
You're free from Old Testament sacrifices.
You're free from Old Testament priesthood.
You are free to unite with Jesus and
know God personally as his own child and
you do not have to pay that tax
anymore because that building is over and all
that it stood for is now found in
me and I'm going to go lay my
life down and make it complete in just
a few weeks.
That's the first thing I think we should
caution ourselves with when we say oh he's
saying unbelievers should now support the temple.
Here's the second reason I don't think that's
what he means because in verse 27 he
sends the free sons to pay the tax.
Strange.
Verse 27, however, so that we do not
offend them, let's skip over the miracle,
we'll come back.
So he's not saying sons don't support the
temple, unbelievers support the temple.
He's saying sons don't have to support the
temple.
It's over.
But sons, to advance my cause, if it
helps, support the temple.
If it doesn't help, don't support the temple.
You're not bound to support the temple.
This is not a law.
You are on a new footing now.
What advances the cause of King Jesus?
Not what is the rule or what is
the tax by which I have to support
this Old Testament thing.
Now you're on a new footing here.
What advances the glory of Jesus?
That is what I will give my money
to, that is what I'll give my life
to, that is what I'll give my bondage
to.
I am absolutely free from men, I'm free
from these Old Testament regulations and Jesus says
you're free, now go pay it.
Because I judge that in this case it
will remove an obstacle and enable us to
get to where we're going in the laying
down of my life in Jerusalem in due
time.
So what's the main point of this first
observation about the freedom of the children of
God?
The main point is this, when you trust
Christ, when you come to Him, when you
follow Him, when you acknowledge Him as Lord
and Messiah of your life, promise fulfiller of
the Old Testament, sacrifice for your sins, your
righteousness, your forgiveness, your justice before God.
What happens when you come to Jesus like
that is that you become His child or
the child of God, more precisely, you become
a child of God and He becomes your
point of worship and your person of worship
and all that old attachment to the temple
and its system falls away.
And if, if there is any building involved
incidentally and culturally, like the one in which
we stand, in relationship to this Lord and
this Jesus, it is absolutely non-essential to
Christianity.
Christianity is a religion without a geographical home
base and without any architectural attachments.
This building is incidental and cultural.
It is shot through with American culture and
it is absolutely incidental to the cause of
Bethlehem Baptist Church.
If it got blown up this week, we'd
meet in the parking lot on Easter Sunday
morning or somewhere if it's too cold and
we would praise God.
We would set our face to ask, what's
the meaning of that almighty sovereign God and
show us how to be church now with
one another and glorify your name, Lord Jesus,
in our lives.
And when it comes to supporting a church
like this or building the other one, you're
on a totally new footing now, but I'm
getting ahead of myself.
Back off for a minute.
Let's go to point number two, the miracle.
What is this miracle about here?
Let's read verse 27, however, so that we
do not offend them, go to the sea
and throw in a hook and take the
first fish that comes up.
And when you open its mouth, you will
find a shekel.
And Steve was right.
That's worth about four drachmas, which is enough
to pay for Peter and Jesus the tax.
Take that and give it to them for
you and me.
Now, what is the point of that little
phenomenal miracle?
Two things, as I judge one, if Jesus
is now presenting himself to the disciples as
the end of the temple and as the
place where God is met and worship is
done.
Then it would be fitting for him to
show himself as worthy of worship.
And have you thought about what it took
to get this coin into Peter's hand?
Someone must decide that a coin be dropped
in the sea.
Maybe it happens between the time he says
it and time Peter gets there.
Maybe it's been there for years.
Somebody has to decide that a little fishy
swim along and scoop this coin up into
his mouth, but not swallow it.
And someone must decide and ordain and bring
about that this little fishy be swimming nearby
when Peter drops his line in the sea.
And someone must see to it that the
fish bites this hook, doesn't swallow the coin
and stays on the hook until he's up
out of the water and the coin is
taken out of his mouth.
That's God running the world in minute detail.
And I think in Jesus' mind when he
said it might have been a twinkle in
his eye that said to Peter, you want
to worship?
Fall down here.
You don't need to go anywhere to worship.
Just fall down now, because what I have
just told you is going to happen in
about 15 minutes.
That fish will bite your hook and it'll
have in it exactly the right amount to
pay this.
And I did that.
I did that.
And therefore you can go pay it in
order to remove a stumbling block.
But don't you make any mistake.
Here's the place where you worship.
Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us, and
he is to be worshipped.
So come back to me, Peter, and don't
get stuck in the temple which is passing
away.
That's the first meaning I see in this
miracle.
The second meaning I see is that freedom,
the sons are free, means that you make
your decisions about what you do, not on
the basis of the law of the temple
anymore, but on the basis of what will
advance the cause of the kingdom, the cause
of Christ.
It's a kingdom-oriented, ministry-oriented, people-oriented,
God-exalting thing that you think about.
You say, all right, now what do I
do with my life?
You just don't get out your list and
say, well, you pay the tax to the
temple.
And then you pay your tax and you
feel like you've done your duty and God's
impressed and you're accepted.
That whole dimension is not appropriate for the
children of God.
Rather, you say, all right, I have a
life to live.
I have a savior.
He set me free from hell and death
and Satan and sin and the old temple
sacrifices.
How shall I then live?
And the answer is to advance this Christ.
Anything that will remove obstacles from people seeing
Jesus.
Anything that will lift up and magnify Jesus.
That's the way you live your life now.
And here's the added twist with the miracle.
Jesus says, Peter, I'm teaching you now how
to live in order to remove stumbling blocks.
I want you to pay the tax anyway.
You don't have to.
You're free.
But for me, to glorify me, to remove
obstacles from my being understood in the world
and to give a right impression to people
about me, shape everything in your life around
me and on your way to do that,
which may cost you your life someday, I'll
meet every need no matter what.
So, for example, you don't have a shackle.
Go down and drop a hook in the
sea and when you pull it up, take
the shackle and support my cause, not the
temple.
The lesson here is huge.
It's just like the lesson of the feeding
of the 5,000.
Isn't it?
Here these disciples, they have a little boy's
lunch with five loaves and two fish and
they have 5,000 people plus women and
children and Jesus says, feed them.
That's like saying to Peter, pay the tax.
I don't have any money.
Just pay the tax.
Feed them.
Pay the tax.
Feed them.
This is my cause.
I'm going to glorify my power here.
And so they just start feeding them.
He said to them, I'll do it.
And God does the miracle.
And Peter, on his way to the temple,
goes by the lake, throws in his line,
pulls up, takes out the coin, throws it
in the church.
That's freedom, folks.
That is a free obedience.
That is a freeing message.
So when he lifts off of you the
law of the temple and he says, now
make it your lifestyle to glorify me and
remove obstacles to understanding me and making me
look glorious and beautiful in the world.
That's going to be really costly.
It's going to cost some of you your
lives because it's the path of love.
I am a loving Christ.
If you want to show me as a
Christ, I am.
You love people.
You lay down your life for people.
And if it's costly, just remember, I will
meet every need.
I will meet every need.
My God will supply all your needs according
to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,
Philippians 419.
God is able to make all grace abound
to you so that you may have enough
of everything and may supply in abundance for
every good deed.
And you can see, can't you, that education
for exaltation is just a little millimeter beneath
the surface for me here, that the giving
of last Sunday and the pledging of last
Sunday is just right beneath the surface because
we talked about a Gideon venture and an
Isaac factor, and now we could add the
coin component.
Do you see the point?
The point is you are free.
You do not have to believe in or
support a building in order to be accepted
by God.
That's another issue entirely.
Coming to Jesus, being bound to him.
The question is, will you make your choices
to magnify Jesus now?
Not law-oriented, but Christ-oriented.
The law of Christ, magnify Christ, glorify Christ.
Then if you judge that a new building
is one way by which now in this
point in history, in this location, in this
culture, it might be a good thing to
advance the cause of education for exaltation in
Christ, then you might say, I will give.
And giving freely like that then means if
you give freely like that, you're going to
find coins in fish's mouth.
I have heard stories already that is happening.
You're just going to find them.
I don't promise that God will get you
out of every financial scrape ever in your
life.
I promise this.
I think I can promise this from the
word of God.
If you set your face to lead a
life of love in the freedom of the
forgiveness and acceptance of Jesus Christ, every need
you have will be met.
Every need.
Let him define it, not you.
Let him define need.
Every need you have to love, to love
in freedom will be met.
It's not easy to decide what those steps
are to take of love.
I'm not explaining that.
That's not, I don't have a law for
you.
I have a Christ for you.
I have freedom for you.
I have a hope for you and I
have a promise for you.
I have no law for you live to
exalt Jesus Christ and all your needs will
be met.
Now I close very briefly by referring to
verse 22.
The son of man is going to go
up, he's going to be rejected, he's going
to be killed, and he's going to rise
again.
What's the point?
The point here we are at Holy Week
and it simply is this.
I don't deserve to be free from sin,
guilt, death, temple, fear, all the things Jesus
freed me from.
I don't deserve to have a coin found
in a fish's mouth.
I deserve to be thrown into the mouth
of hell.
I don't deserve to have help on the
way to love.
I deserve judgment.
So how can I be promised freedom and
promised escape from hell and promised provision for
all my needs?
Answer Christ died for me.
That's the only answer.
I have a substitute.
I have a glorious savior who put himself
in my place and all my sins were
borne by him and he supplied me the
righteousness that I never could work out on
my own.
And therefore I am freed by him.
And that's what this week is about.
We're going to look at it on Thursday
night.
We'll look at it on Friday noon.
We'll look at it on Easter Sunday morning.
It's all about Christ's provision for sinners.
Sinners who can claim to be a child
of God, claim to be free, claim to
be provided for miraculously in all of our
needs.
Jesus bought it.
That's what Holy Week is all about.
Let's pray.
Father, I plead with you now to take
hold of human hearts in this room and
bring them to see and love and trust
Jesus.
And I pray that you would adopt them
into your family and that you would set
them free.
And I pray, oh God, that this would
be a week that no one would ever
forget, especially any unbelievers in the room.
May this be the week in which Jesus
Christ is seen to be the son of
God, the one who is to be worshipped
above all other beings, and the one who
sets us free and meets all our needs
according to his riches in glory.
I want you to stand for a benediction.
Now unto him who is able to keep
you from falling and to present you before
the throne of his glory with rejoicing, to
the only wise God be glory and majesty
and dominion and authority before all time now
and forevermore.
And all the people said, Amen.
Thank you for listening to this message by
John Piper, pastor for preaching at Bethlehem Baptist
Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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