A Blip on the Radar - Mark 7:31-37 - May 31, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for May 31, 2020. Watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 7:31-37 A Blip on the Radar

We are returning this morning to our study in the Gospel of Mark with chapter seven, verses 31-37. This account is only recorded in the Gospel of Mark, the other Gospel writers opted to leave it out. 

Let’s pray and then look at it together.

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

You’ll remember from last week that Jesus and His disciples were in the region of Tyre and Sidon which were Gentile territories on the Northwestern border of Galilee. Now, in verse 31, we read that Jesus returned to the region of the Decapolis. This was on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus had cast out the legion of demons from the guy chained up and living among the tombs. 

This was not a quick trip, this was a long walk! Some scholars believe that verse 31 took eight months!

At first glance this account of the healing of a man who was deaf and had a severe speech impediment as a result is kind of innocuous, kind of just a blip on the radar and then we move on. 

I admit, when I sat down to study in preparation for today, I thought to myself, “What could be here worth preaching on? What’s in here that could possibly be of use?”

But the Lord impressed this on me: “Think this account is no big deal? Imagine you were the deaf man!”

In truth, I have to imagine what it would be like to be deaf, it’s beyond my understanding what it’s like to live in that condition. I can, however, relate to the speech impediment part! But there is actually a lot more going on here besides any emotional response to this man’s sad condition. There’s a lot of layers to this onion!

If you recall from Easter Sunday we talked about how the Bible is not just a collection of random stories about God and Jesus and a bunch of other people, it is all on story, all one meta-narrative, the narrative of God’s reign and work of redemption in His creation. And this account here is part of that grand narrative.

Isaiah 35:4-6 recorded hundreds of years before this man was brought to Jesus:

Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. 

He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.

This brief but important account is the partial fulfillment of that prophecy, Isaiah was writing about Jesus unstopping the ears of the deaf and causing the tongue of the mute to sing for joy!

So the top layer of the onion, the meta-narrative layer, is a proof of Jesus as the promised Messiah that would eventually bring about the redemption of God’s creation.

So if we peel back that layer we can see how the gospel works, really we see an example of the Holy Spirit’s work in the gospel.

 Look at verse 32, 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

And THEY brought to HIM a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they BEGGED Him to lay His hands on him.

So who all is involved here? 

Jesus, the deaf man, and the nameless “they” who begged Jesus to help their friend. 

This is the prominent way that the Holy Spirit affects the gospel in the world. The work of the gospel is brought on by people with a passion for their needy friends. We can share that same passion, we can bring our needy friends and family and coworkers and neighbors to Jesus, maybe not physically but certainly in prayer. We can display the love of Christ in how we love them, we can introduce them to Him by telling them who Jesus is and what He did for them, we can invite them to join us each week as we gather around God’s Word for study and worship. Even just sharing this video is a small step we can take to get our friends to Jesus.

The work of the gospel is brought on by people with a passion for their needy friends.

And how does Jesus respond to their impassioned request to help their friend?

First, Jesus takes him aside privately. He doesn’t make a spectacle of Himself or the man, Jesus wasn’t seeking glory for Himself by meeting his great need.

Matthew Henry wrote, “Let us learn of Christ to be humble, and to do good where no eye sees but His.”

33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

Now we come to the place where we cannot ignore the question, “What’s with the fingers in the ears and the spitting and tongue touching? There must be some hidden meaning there, right?”

To this I can only respond by quoting John Calvin:

“By touching his tongue with spittle, [Jesus] intended to point out that the faculty of speech was communicated by Himself alone; and by putting His fingers into the ears, He showed that it belonged to His office to pierce the ears of the deaf. There is no necessity for having recourse to allegories; and we find that those who have amused themselves with ingenious discussions on the subject are so far from bringing forward anything of real value that they tend rather to hold up the Scripture to ridicule. Readers of sobriety and judgment will be satisfied with this single instruction: that we obtain from Christ, in answer to our prayers both speech and hearing; for He pours His energy into our tongues and pierces our ears with His fingers.”

Instead of some secret meaning behind Jesus’ actions we can clearly see that Jesus was simply communicating with this man in a way that he could understand.

Put yourself in this man’s shoes. You couldn’t hear Jesus’ instructions, but you could certainly see His intentions.

33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”

This man could see what Jesus was doing, he could feel it, he could observe Jesus’ deep sigh of compassion with His face toward heaven. He could even read His lips when He said the word, “ephphatha!”

“Ephphatha,” [an Aramaic word that means], “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36 And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

These passionate friends could not help but tell people what Jesus had done for their friend no matter how adamant Jesus was that they keep it to themselves.

Jesus charged them to tell no one so that He could still move about the countryside freely without throngs of people seeking miracles and signs and wonders, but they zealously proclaimed what He had done all the more.

There is a lot we can learn from this account.

First and foremost is that Jesus is the promised Messiah, he is the One who was to come into the world and make peace between God and Man, the only source of salvation, the only way to God the Father.

We can learn that we should passionately and persistently bring our needy friends to Jesus, earnestly pleading with Him in prayer to save them and help them.

We can learn to do our work humbly, to do good where no eye sees but God’s. And to communicate the gospel in language that people can see and understand.

I’ll close with the words of Isaiah 35…

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 

3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf [EPHPHATHA] unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. 

For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 

10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Amen.

The Faith of the Little Pet Puppies - Mark 7:24-30 - May 24, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for May 24, 2020. Watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 7:24-30 The Faith of Little Pet Puppies

Good morning! I ‘d like to say, welcome back, to all of those who are brave enough to return after the beating we all took in last week’s sermon!

We are returning once again to the Gospel of Mark, chapter seven, verses twenty four through thirty.

To some it may seem as if Mark had turned the page and changed the subject in his Gospel account here in our text, but that isn’t really the case. Jesus didn’t move on from this teaching about what defiles, or doesn’t defile a person.

In this chapter Jesus has shown us that it is not the keeping or breaking of tradition that defiles a person or makes them clean, it is not what a person eats or avoids eating that make a person clean or unclean, and now, in this morning’s text, He shows that it is not a person’s race that makes them clean or unclean.

This is a very important text for us to consider this morning and there is a lot for us to learn here from Jesus, from the Gentile woman, and about the expansion of the Gospel. So let’s read the text together.

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Let’s pray.

Jesus and the disciples had been near Capernaum in Galilee previous to this account and now traveled to the Northwestern border of the District of Galilee. The cities of Tyre and Sidon were Gentile cities on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, today this is Lebanon. In going to this region Jesus hoped to avoid the crowds and be able to teach His disciples, and on its face, this account shows, once again, that Jesus could never be hidden, people always found Him and brought their troubles to Him. But that isn’t to say that He wasn’t able to teach His disciples. This account teaches a great deal and we would do well not to miss it.

So what do we know about this woman? She was a Gentile, Matthew calls her a Canaanite, and she was. She was born in Phoenicia which was in the province of Syria, and she had a little daughter that was possessed by a demon.

In Matthew’s account of this event it shows how she initially tried to play by the Jewish rules in order to get Jesus to meet her need. Matthew 15:22-24 says,

22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

She calls Jesus, “Lord, Son of David.” This is the Jewish reference to the Messiah. But Jesus did not answer her a word, He kept silent. The disciples tried to get Jesus to grant her request so she would go away but He said, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

It was only after she dropped the pretense and simply said, in Matthew 15:25 “Lord, help me,” that Jesus responded.

Mark skipped those details but we don’t have to, I think that they’re very important.

What’s also important is that this was the first act of salvation in the Gentile world, this was a prophetic and symbolic representation of the future progress of the gospel from Jews to Gentiles. Those of us that are not descendants of Abraham can have saving faith in Jesus Christ and it started right here!

Now all through this chapter of Mark we have been dealing with cleanness and uncleanness, uncleanness due to the lack of following traditions and washing your hands correctly, uncleanness due to eating the wrong kinds of food and drink, but as we saw last week, defilement comes from within a person, not from without. Jesus goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon to continue to teach this point to His disciples and to you and me.

The Jews taught that uncleanness came from breaking tradition, from touching the wrong thing, from eating the wrong thing, and from being born of the wrong people. The Jews were not allowed to interact with Gentiles, they couldn’t eat a meal with them, they weren’t even allowed to go into their homes or use a dish that a Gentile had used without being considered ceremonially unclean and disqualified from worship until they were ritually washed. 

But Jesus shows us here that a person’s race has nothing to do with whether or not that they could come to Him in faith, sin remains condemned but faith is available to all.

Now, I don’t know if this lady was trying to trick Jesus into thinking that she was Jewish by referring to Him as the Son of David, but I do know that Jesus knew that she wasn’t and He made that pretty clear in Matthew.

So she dropped the pretense and humbly said, “Lord, help me.”

This woman crossed the lines of race and social stigma and looked with longing to the Savior. She begged Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.

Jesus’ response at first looks pretty harsh but it did offer a glimmer of hope.

27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

Yikes!

Some of the Jews, in their pride, referred to all Gentiles as dogs, but not the same type of dog that Jesus meant here. Jesus used the diminutive form of the word to mean more like little pet puppies, not dirty, scavenging street dogs that are common in Palestine even today.

Let the children be fed first, for it’s not right to take your children’s bread and throw it to your puppy.

So where is the kernel of hope? Let the children be fed first, meaning, the pets will get their chance later.

Notice how the woman responds. She doesn’t say, “How could a loving God allow bad things to happen to my daughter? God is love, now give me what I want!” These are demands of pride, demands we hear far too often today.

Instead she responds in humility.

27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

1 Peter 5:5 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” And that’s exactly what is happening here. The woman recognized that she wasn’t owed anything, another lesson we all could learn, She didn’t want the children’s meal, she didn’t want the children’s bread, she only wanted a crumb of God’s grace to heal her daughter.

She looked longingly to the Savior, she waited in humility for help, she persisted though she recognized that she was owed nothing, and when Jesus granted her request she held fast to that hope with confidence.

29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Notice that she had no evidence that Jesus had done what He said. This was one of two miracles performed by Jesus from a distance. She left with no evidence that her daughter had been healed, just hope. But her hope was not just a wish, she held fast in confidence that Jesus did what he said He did.

She didn’t leave there saying, “I hope He really healed my daughter.” That’s not hope, that’s wishful thinking. She left with a confident expectation that Jesus did what he said he would do. That’s what hope is. 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

I’ve said before that what is recorded in Scripture is strategic and is put there on purpose, it’s not just a collection of random stories. So why did Mark record this account?

First of all, this account was the glimmer of hope that salvation through faith in Jesus Christ would not be for the Jews only but for the whole world, Gentiles included.

Secondly, this account shows just exactly how people should come to Christ for salvation and help in times of trouble. 

Like this Syrophoenician woman, we should look with longing to the Savior, bringing to Him our needs, whether it’s for forgiveness and salvation, or for help in times of trial and trouble. 

We should come to Him humbly and persevere in our prayers recognizing that we are not owed anything but are totally dependent on His grace.

And we should hold fast our hope with firm confidence in Jesus, not that we will always get what we ask for, but that He will always do as He said.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you today, and if there is anyone watching that hasn’t put their trust in Jesus that you would come to Him just like this woman did, humbly, confessing your sin to Him, confessing your need for forgiveness, and accepting His death on the cross was for you.

Let’s pray.

Defilement's Origin - Mark 7:14-23 - May 17, 2020

These are the Sermon Notes for May 17, 2020. Watch our livestream service every Sunday at 9:37 am on our facebook page or watch the livestream recordings any time.

Mark 7:14-23 Defilement’s Origin 

We are returning in our study of the Gospel of Mark with chapter 7:14-23. Last  week we left Jesus and His disciples on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in the region of Gennesaret in a dispute with the Scribes and Pharisees.

The Scribes and Pharisees had been questioning Jesus as to why His disciples eat with hands that were defiled, meaning that they had not gone through the ritual of ceremonial washing before they ate according to the traditions of the elders that had been passed down.

Jesus condemned their religious tradition for what it was, a tradition of men and not the command of God. He then went on to expose the hypocrisy of their hearts by showing how they very easily ignore the commands of God in order to protect their traditions. Jesus used the example of their violation of the fifth Commandment in order to protect their own wealth and resources instead of caring for their aging parents. He exposed that they were making void the Word of God by their traditions not just in this way but in many others.

And then we come to our text in chapter seven, verse fourteen.

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Last week I quoted Matthew Henry when he wrote, “Corrupt customs are best cured by rectifying corrupt notions.” Here in this passage Jesus not only shows the answer to the Scribes and Pharisees corrupt notions but He also exposes the corrupt notions of all mankind when it comes to defilement.

Now, I’m sure that that may not be the vocabulary that people use when, or if, they consider this issue but the concept is there that mankind is basically good and whatever makes him bad comes from outside. 

This is at the heart of modern psychology, that a person starts out as good but their environment, their education, or their examples let them down and somehow damaged them, defiled them.

The Scribes and the Pharisees taught the same thing, that the children of Abraham were pure in and of themselves, and as long as they carefully held to the traditions of the elders that they would remain pure and acceptable to God. If something on the outside of a person could defile them, the assumption is made that they were inwardly pure before but Jesus here says that it’s exactly the opposite.

The problem with thinking that people are basically good, that people were morally pure in and of themselves before situations arose, or circumstances changed, or bad things happened that damaged them and defiled them is that it ignores the Scripture, it ignores what God’s Word actually says.

I want to be very clear before I go any further: I am not downplaying mental health problems, I am not denying that mental health problems exist, I am not suggesting that if people just believe in Jesus that their problems and issues will disappear. I am an example of exactly the opposite, I have put my faith in Jesus, I have given my life to His service, and yet I still struggle with anxiety and depression. These things are real and are constant companions so please do not hear me saying that this stuff is not real, it is.

The problem is not the psychology, the problem is moral defilement, what makes a person bad. And the question before us, the question that Jesus answered here is, does defilement come from the outside or the inside?

The Scribes and Pharisees were saying that moral defilement comes from the outside, from external, outward performance. But the Bible says, Jesus says otherwise.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, Romans 3:23 says, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Jesus said, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”

That is to say that a person is not morally defiled by what he eats even if his hands were not ceremonially washed, disobedience is what causes defilement, disobedience to God’s Law. A person who ate unclean food or ate with unclean hands as defined by the Law of Moses was not defiled by the food nor defiled by their hands but by disobedience to God’s commands. Even Adam and Eve are an example of this, it wasn’t the forbidden fruit that made them sinful, it was their disobedience of God’s command not to eat from that particular tree. Mankind has suffered from their disobedience ever since.

The scribes and Pharisees taught that a person had to follow their rules in order to maintain their cleanness, but external rituals do not cleanse a person, God alone can cleanse a person’s evil heart.

The Disciples still did not get this. 

17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? I grew up with the New International Version of the Bible where my life verse here is translated, “Are you still so dull?”

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 

Good news for all you bacon and lobster lovers! Paul also echoed this truth in Romans 14:17, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

This was a problem that plagued the early church, not just eating non-kosher foods but the eating of meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Even the Apostle Peter struggled with this long after this teaching from Jesus and visions given by the Holy Spirit. You can read about that in Acts 10 and Galatians 2.

And yet somehow, though we don’t really struggle with the cleanness of foods or the ceremonial washing of our hands we still don’t get Jesus’ real point, that defilement from sin does not come from outside a person but from inside a person.

Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”

 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

This is a list of evil that is tolerated, accepted, celebrated, even seen as fundamental rights of the individual in our society.

Evil thoughts, the first item on the list, is the general category and root of all the various evils that follow. Evil thoughts unite with a person’s will and produce all these various evil words and actions.

When Jesus said, in verse 21, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts and so on, He was not talking about one man, but every man, all of mankind, men and women alike. This is the common condition of all mankind, bubbling over with evil thoughts that give rise to evil deeds.

Sexual immorality, that is, any sexual activity outside the covenant of marriage, theft or stealing, murder (1John 3:15 says that everyone who hates his brother is a murderer), adultery, that is any sexual activity with someone who is not your spouse or who is the spouse of someone else, coveting, that strong urge to collect more and better material things than others around you, the need to keep up with the Joneses, wickedness, generally doing evil things, deceit, lying, trickery and treachery, sensuality, meaning sexual activity with no moral restraint, envy, literally “an evil eye,” an idiom that means a feeling of resentment or jealousy because of what someone else has, slander, speaking about someone in such a way that damages their reputation, pride, meaning arrogance, foolishness, not goofiness or silliness but an unwillingness to use one’s capacity for understanding, some might say living in a constant willing denial of God. 

This is the common condition of the insides of every person who has ever lived besides Jesus. No external ritual can cleanse us of this, no amount of hand washing or rule following will ever effect this condition.

And this condition, which the Bible calls “sin,” brings with it consequences.

Romans 6:23 says, the wages of sin in death. That is that the reward for this inward sinfulness is death, eternal death. This is the great predicament of mankind. This is the bad news. Because of our inward sinfulness we are defiled in God’s sight and that sinfulness earns us only death and eternal judgment.

This bad news from Jesus is offensive, I wouldn’t blame you for shutting off this video long before now, but Jesus didn’t come to make your life easy or to make you feel good about yourself and I’m not here to make you feel good or make your life easy either. It’s the badness of the bad news that makes the Good News so good!

Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, Jesus came to expose our sin, remind us of its consequences, and offer a solution. It is by God’s grace that we are saved from the condemnation that we deserve because of our inward defilement, it is by God’s grace that though we sin against Him, God the Father still loves us. John 3:16-20 says:

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.

Not everyone will accept this word, not everyone wants to come out from the darkness. But I do pray that everyone who hears this word today will come to the light, confess their sin, and trust in the Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take the punishment that we all deserve for our sin. Through faith in Him He cancelled the record of our debt that stood against us, this He set aside, nailing it to the cross.

May His Name be praised.

Let’s pray