(soft piano music) (people chattering) (soft piano music) (people chattering) (soft piano music) (people chattering) (soft piano music) (people chattering) (soft piano music) - All right, good morning, Church family. Happy Lord's Day. Let us begin our worship service this morning by praising the one who is worthy, our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So let us begin our worship and let us behold our God together. (soft piano music) ♪ Come and hold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ In the dawning of the King ♪ ♪ He the theme of heaven's praises ♪ ♪ Wrote in frail youth and in time ♪ ♪ In our longing, in our darkness ♪ ♪ Now the light, the light has come ♪ ♪ Look to Christ who condescended ♪ ♪ To God's flesh to rest on earth ♪ ♪ Come behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ He the perfect Son of man ♪ ♪ In His living, in His suffering ♪ ♪ Ever true, in one stand of sin ♪ ♪ See the truth that arrived ♪ ♪ Unto sin ♪ ♪ The hell that lived ♪ ♪ Was the great sure fulfillment ♪ ♪ Of the law of His name ♪ (soft piano music) ♪ Behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord upon the tree ♪ ♪ In the stead of ruined sinners ♪ ♪ Is the Lamb in victory ♪ ♪ See the price of our redemption ♪ ♪ See the final thrill of hope ♪ ♪ Bringing many souls to glory ♪ ♪ Christ our Lord ♪ (soft rock music) ♪ Behold the wondrous mystery ♪ ♪ Slain by death the final trial ♪ ♪ But no grave better to stand ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord is alive ♪ ♪ And what a foretaste of His living power ♪ ♪ He is born in our hope ♪ ♪ Christ is our Lord ♪ ♪ Let me rest, let me rest ♪ ♪ In His love and what a foretaste of deliverance ♪ ♪ How unwavering our hope ♪ ♪ Christ in power ♪ ♪ Resurrected as we will be ♪ ♪ When He comes ♪ - All right, good morning, and welcome to Bergen Community Church.

Is Pastor Peter Chong in the room? Okay, he has an announcement for us, for our family ministry. - Well, good morning, everybody. I've got two announcements. One is for the VBS. The dates are July 11th to the 14th. So if you guys do have a child that's eligible from about four years of age to, like, incoming sixth graders, you guys can register for that.

So please do find the link on the app or on the website and register that. For every child, the first child is $55, and then the registration for every subsequent child is 45. And so just take note that it's open only for members and potential members. But in the event you guys are reaching out to a family and then their children are not churched or not believers, and you wanna invite them, we totally would love for that to happen.

And so what we don't want are, like, VBS hoppers, you know? And so it's just for our members only. Also for our family ministry, we do have a ministry for newly-year weds. So three years. So basically everybody married after 2020. So if COVID affected your wedding, that's you, okay?

So we have a couple of things that are coming up. We do have around 50 couples at our church that are about four years and under. So there's a big pool of a community that you guys can meet. But May 13th, there's gonna be a barbecue bonanza at four o'clock near the Portola Springs.

The exact location is to be determined. But if you are a newer couple, especially to this church, and you've been married around three years or under, this is a great opportunity for you to meet people in a very similar life stage as yourself. And the following weekend, May 20th, we have the quarterly workshop.

And what we do there is just, we do like a Bible study and a time of fellowship for people specifically who just have been recently married. And so we've got that going on. So please not only mark that on the calendar, if you're not a family ministry member, a FAM245 member, please pray for that.

But if you are, you can register and sign up because food is involved and we do need a headcount. All right, thank you. - All right. Welcome lunch for newcomers. If you signed up for that right after service at 1 p.m. at the cry room across the courtyard, lunch is gonna be served and they're gonna start right at one o'clock.

And even if you didn't sign up and you wanna come, and again, this is just to get to know the church a little bit better. Some of the leaders will be there and then the welcome team is gonna be there. So if you desire to come, just go tell the welcome team that you're coming.

But for those of you who signed up, it's starting at one o'clock. Just to give you a heads up, on May 13th at 9 a.m., men's fellowship, the quarterly men's fellowship is happening. So please sign up for that. And then again, on June 3rd at 1 p.m., there's gonna be an annual golf tournament for fundraiser for our missions is happening on that day.

So just mark that on your calendar as well. And then today is the last day to sign up for the early registration for the retreat that's happening on August 11th through the 13th. And so after today, the cost is gonna go up into regular registration. So even if you signed up, if you have not paid, you're not registered yet, just to make that clear.

So I wanna make that clear. Even if you register, but you did not pay, you're not officially registered. So we need you to register as soon as possible. And those of you who have not registered, today's the last day for early registration. So keep that in mind. Okay. All right, so after I pray for the offering, we're gonna have time for our sister, Sakura.

I forgot how to pronounce her last name, so I won't say it. H-Y-U-G-A. But Sakura is gonna come up and she's gonna give her testimony and be baptized this morning. So let me pray for us. And again, if you have a physical offering, we have a box in the back as you're exiting.

Let's pray. (pastor praying) Gracious Father, we thank you so much for this morning. We thank you, Father, for sustaining us with all the crazy things that are happening in the world. Help us, Lord God, to continue to stand firm and be the light. Help us, Lord, whatever it is that we are entangled with, the sicknesses of our loved ones and our families, various things, Lord, that we are wrestling with.

I pray that this morning would be an opportunity for us to worship you, to be refreshed, to be reminded, Lord God, that our hope is in Christ and Christ alone. I pray that this offering, that it may be given cheerfully, may it be multiplied with your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

(soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) (soft piano music) Church family, let's stand together for worship. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ God is great ♪ ♪ The Father of creation ♪ ♪ His splendor fills the earth ♪ ♪ When the lightning crashed ♪ ♪ The thunder sings his praises ♪ ♪ The gathered seeds can't help but shout his word ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul to you I'll pray ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens sing ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ ♪ When they cut the Word ♪ ♪ They flesh God's promise to the fallen ♪ ♪ They were proud to say ♪ ♪ The blood of life was flesh for our rebellion ♪ ♪ And now the death arose up from the grave ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul to you I'll pray ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens sing ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ - Our King will come.

♪ Our King will come ♪ ♪ When trumpet blasts are sounded ♪ ♪ And His blood washed bright ♪ ♪ And when the skies are sanded in His Word ♪ ♪ And in an instant faith will turn to sight ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul to you I'll pray ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ My soul, my soul ♪ ♪ Oh, let the heavens sing ♪ ♪ How great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ ♪ Oh, how great you are ♪ (upbeat music) (soft music) ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my plea ♪ ♪ I have no defense, my guilt runs too deep ♪ ♪ The best of my works pierced your hands and your feet ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my plea ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my peace ♪ ♪ In heaviness I claim the grounds of my home ♪ ♪ Whatever I have is still what I need most ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all I need ♪ ♪ Jesus, the King who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood condemned ♪ ♪ Oh, how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my rest ♪ ♪ My fears weigh me down in enemies' purse ♪ ♪ The comfort I cling to in life and in death ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my peace ♪ Praise the King.

♪ Jesus, the King who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood condemned ♪ ♪ Oh, how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ (gentle music) ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my joy ♪ ♪ Forever I'll lift my heart and my voice ♪ ♪ I'll sing of a treasure no power can destroy ♪ ♪ Jesus, your mercy is all my joy ♪ ♪ Praise the King who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood condemned ♪ ♪ Oh, how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing ♪ ♪ Praise the King who bore my sin ♪ ♪ Took my place when I stood condemned ♪ ♪ Oh, how good you've always been to me ♪ ♪ I will sing of your mercy ♪ Amen, you may be seated.

Good morning, I'm Sakura Hyuga, first year at UCI, and this is my testimony. I was born and raised in a non-Christian household in Japan, and then due to my parents' business, I grew up having almost no interaction with my family. At the age of seven, I started noticing how broken my parents were.

By hearing them argue about who's gonna raise my brother and me after the divorce every night, I thought I was the reason for their unhappiness, and thus their love was something I must chase to earn. As I entered middle school, I realized that they gave me attention and love when I acted as a good student.

Soon after, I started pleasing them with my grades and leadership positions. My decisions were based on what made them happy, and I desired to be a proud, worthy daughter to feel loved. However, their brokenness couldn't be fixed by me, no matter how hard I tried. I quickly became so jealous of my friends, who seemed to receive all the love from their parents without them even trying.

I was depressed and judgmental, wanting to leave my family. So when my dad told me about studying abroad, I pridefully thought it was my chance to be free from my parents' burden. After I graduated from middle school, I left Japan. Unlike my expectation, I retained the desire to please them.

Then another trial came into my life as my grandma, who basically raised me to develop dementia. Constantly hearing how she felt betrayed because I left her back in Japan, I started thinking that I was unlovable because I wasn't capable of loving. That made me desperate to find others to complete myself.

I pleased those around me by blindly idolizing them, and by living this way, I committed sin repeatedly. At the beginning of my senior year, my relationship and friendships fell apart. I became so broken and hopeless that I considered giving up on my life daily. And to stop these thoughts, I fell for all material desire to please my flesh.

When my friends brought me to Berean after coming to UCI, a ray of light came into my life. Yet my heart was hardened that I still chose to reject him. Witnessing the brightness of light brought me to recognize the true cost of my sins, and I believed even his unconditional love couldn't fix my uncleanness.

But praise God, while I was so arrogant to believe in my fallacy over the truth of God, he was faithful and patient. Through his love and power, my heart began to hunger for my salvation during the winter quarter. The gospel became so personal as I confessed my sins in desperation for his forgiveness.

Who can ever be so loving that sending his own son to die on the cross, that I can have a newness of life when I consistently rejected and wronged him? It was nothing but his grace. Just as Jeremiah 29, verse 11 writes, "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans for welfare and not for calamity "to give you a future and hope." He faithfully broke me down so that I could come to accept him.

By understanding how simple and deserving I am, I truthfully cherish him and long to be his servant so that he can use me for his glory. Being saved doesn't make my life any easier. I still face trials and experience sleepless nights that make me think darkness will overtake me.

But this time, I know that I am with him. Philippians 4, verse 67 writes, "Be anxious for nothing, "but in everything by prayer and supplication "with thanksgiving, "let your requests made known to God. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." By acknowledging this, I will remain in peace and find joy by trusting in him, for I know he is a good God with a perfect plan.

Thank you. (audience applauding) (audience applauding) - Grua, do you understand when you're going to the water, you're being united to Christ's death? When you come out, you're being united to his resurrected life? And I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (water pouring) (water pouring) (audience applauding) - Thank you so much for that powerful testimony.

If you can turn your Bibles with me to Luke chapter five. Luke chapter five, we're gonna be reading from verse 33 to verse 39. Luke chapter five, verse 33 to verse 39. Reading out of the NASB. And they said to him, "The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers.

"The disciples of the Pharisees also do the same. "But yours eat and drink. "And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendance of the bridegroom fast "while the bridegroom is with them, can you? "But the days will come, "and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, "then they will fast in those days.

"And he was also telling them a parable, "no one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment "and puts it on an old garment, "otherwise he will both tear the new, "and the piece from the new will not match the old. "And no one puts new wine into old wine skins, "otherwise the new wine will burst the skins "and it will be spilled out, "and the skins will be ruined.

"But new wine must be put into fresh wine skin. "And no one after drinking old wine wishes for new, "for he says the old is good enough." Let's pray. Gracious Father, we pray that you would help us open up your word, that we would do more than study, but to understand your heart.

Help us, Lord God, to have eagerness of will. Surrender, Lord, that all that you teach us would mold us, empower us. May your word be like the hammer that molds us. May it be like the fire, Lord, that purifies us. May your word go forth and not return until it has accomplished its purpose.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. If you looked at the question that I put on the Facebook last night about better preparing for this, to listen to the sermon, one of the questions I asked is, how do you judge righteousness? What qualities do you look for in an individual for you to be able to say, oh, he's a mature Christian, he's a righteous person, right?

Give it a minute to think about that. Actually, not a minute, that's too long, right? You probably have some thoughts in your head, maybe one, maybe several. My guess is, whatever it is that you thought of is based upon what you may be good at, right? You're at a Bible teaching church, so because the word of God is emphasized to the degree where I think if you've been here long enough, either you're in outright disagreement, which I'm assuming you're not, or if you are in agreement, that's kind of like the measuring stick.

Like, do you take the Bible seriously? Do you come to Bible study? Do you do inductive Bible study? Do you have a grasp of the word of God? Do you read it? When I was an English pastor of a Korean church before this church was started, in the Korean context, the emphasis is on prayer.

And so, in that context, if I didn't come out to morning prayer at 5.30, and if I didn't join the community of prayer, that was their measuring stick. So it doesn't matter how much Bible you knew, it didn't matter what you did, but if you didn't come to morning prayer, you're not a strong Christian.

In college, I was a part of a discipleship group, right? Similar to navigators. And so, in that context, a lot of the measurement was how much fruit were you bearing? Like, where's your disciples? Right? Like, are you going out and evangelizing, memorizing scripture, doing all this? So, the measuring stick was, like, what are you producing based upon your life?

So, whatever it may be, your perspective may be based upon whatever it is that you may be good at. And sometimes, the very things that we are good at causes us to be blind of the weaknesses that we may have. I remember, as an honest confession, when I got really committed to homeless ministry, you know, it always begins with, like, I want to help the homeless, and this is the avenue for us to glorify God.

And then, frustration sets in, because people are not coming in and helping out, and, you know, everybody who joins eventually fizzles out. And so, once that happens, the next phase of that is, what's wrong with everybody? Right? And I remember, there was a large period of time where I measured everybody's righteousness based upon how involved they were with helping the homeless, because I was so committed to that.

It didn't matter how much you studied, how much you prayed. If you weren't concerned about the homeless, what good is it, right? It's like, doesn't it say in James, what good is your faith, right? If you don't practice, if you don't have compassion, loving your neighbors. And so, I had Bible verses memorized, and I used to have, like, memes.

They didn't call it memes back then, but basically, in my mind, I saw a poster of a homeless Jesus saying, "How do you worship," you know, I completely forgot what that said. How do you worship a homeless man on Sunday and neglect the homeless man on Monday? That was the meme, right?

'Cause Jesus himself's like, fox have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to rest his head. In other words, he's homeless. So, how do you come to church and worship a homeless man on Sunday and then completely neglect him on Monday? And so, I had all these Bible verses and things memorized, and so, everybody, in my eyes, was measured by if you were participating in the homeless ministry or not, even if you were good at other stuff.

Now, obviously, in time, I began to realize that there are strengths and weaknesses in the church, and sometimes, some people are better at others, and so, the beauty of the church is people who are flawed, people are gifted in certain things where we disciple each other through our life.

So, maybe somebody is good at prayer and somebody's good at evangelism, and instead of pointing fingers at each other, why aren't you good at prayer? We inspire each other, and we cover each other's weaknesses, but the tendency is whatever we're good at, that becomes a measuring stick that we use to measure everybody else, even grace.

I'm about grace, right? The Bible said about grace. Even with grace, it's like, but you don't practice grace. Like, I practice grace. How come you don't practice grace? How come you don't apply this grace? So, whatever it is that we think that we're good at, we have a tendency, right?

Satan comes in, and he sprinkles a bit of pride in there, and once that pride comes in, your righteousness becomes self-righteousness, and self-righteousness always end up condemning other people who aren't doing what you're doing. Now, why do I say all this? Because the conversation that Jesus has with the Pharisees and the disciples of John is in the context of them trying to measure Jesus by their standard, right?

Why don't your disciples fast? That's the question. Why don't your disciples? Now, it's not because Jesus didn't fast, right? Do you remember when Jesus came into ministry, what did he do? The very first thing he did was he fasted 40 days and 49. So, it wasn't that Jesus wasn't fasting.

The Bible says that he constantly broke away to take time to pray. My guess is Jesus himself was fasting all the time. He just didn't require it of his disciples. Now, this interaction that's taking place between the Pharisees and John the Baptist, even though it doesn't mention John the Baptist's disciples here, in the Gospel of Matthew, it says John the Baptist's disciples were part of the group who came to question him.

In fact, in 1 John 3, 26 to 30, it says, they came to John, meaning John the Baptist's disciples came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he was with you beyond the Jordan to whom you have testified. Behold, he is baptizing and all are coming to him. Now, I want you to understand what's going on.

Not all of John the Baptist's disciples shifted and went to Jesus. Some of them did, right? Majority of them did not. And so, they were following John the Baptist because he was the great prophet. All these people by hundreds, thousands are coming to him. So, he was, people were thinking maybe he's Elijah, maybe he's the Messiah, and all of a sudden, that ministry of thousands of people coming to Jesus started shifting, coming to John, started shifting to John the Baptist.

And so, some of the disciples started to wrestle with possibly jealousy. 'Cause if you were one of the disciples of John the Baptist, everywhere you walked around, oh, that's John the Baptist's disciple, that's John the Baptist's disciple. All of a sudden, Jesus comes on the scene, and John the Baptist is slowly fading, and Jesus is coming on the scene.

So, the question that they're asking is, all the work that you've done, everybody coming, now he comes, and everybody's going to him. So, some of them were wrestling with this jealousy. And John, John answered and said, a man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him. He who has a bride is a bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, so this joy of mine has been made full.

He must increase, I must decrease. So, that famous statement where John the Baptist says, he must increase, I must decrease. He was speaking to his disciples, who was wrestling. You were the man, you were the guy, you were the prophet that everybody's following, and then just flick of a switch, he comes on the scene, and he didn't put the work that you put in, years of preaching and discipling, all of a sudden he's on the scene, and you're just kind of shifting over there.

That's the context in which this conversation is recorded in the Gospel of Luke, and so you have to remember that these guys who are coming to ask this question, again, in the context of what we see, they weren't simply asking questions. They were questioning him. So, you remember, up to this point, what happened?

Jesus' popularity is growing, people are coming from all over the place. Pharisees, right? Christian leaders, the spiritual elites were coming all the way from Jerusalem and Judea to sit and to check him out, and Jesus, knowing that they came to examine him, remember what happens? You get a paralytic, and they bring him, break open the roof, they bring him down, and deliberately, Jesus says, "Your sins are forgiven," because he knew exactly what the Pharisees were thinking, and as a result of that, they said, "That's blasphemy!

"How can a mere man say that your sins are forgiven? "Who are you?" And it never says that the Pharisees repented. They just go their own way, and then, remember what Luke says? He comes out of there, what we talked about last week, he sees Levi, right? The worst of sinners.

People, I mean, people despised him, and Jesus not only forgives his sin, right, he says, "Come, follow me." Basically, in your face, Pharisees, right? I mean, it's like, if they were disturbed by him saying, "I can forgive sins," he didn't just forgive sin, he made him his disciple. So remember, Pharisees came to check him out, and they probably were thinking, they're the spiritual elites, they're the ones that everybody's going to, so if the Messiah is going to gather anybody to himself, it would be the Pharisees.

But instead of going to the Pharisees, he goes and calls the worst of sinners, the tax collector. Can you imagine what's brewing in their heart? They're brewing in their heart, and they're thinking, "Something's wrong with this guy." Not only is he saying blasphemous things, he completely bypasses them and goes get a tax collector to be his disciples.

So right after that event is this conversation. So when they say, "Why don't your disciples fast? "Pharisees' disciples fast, "John the Baptist's disciples fast, "why don't you fast? "Why don't you make your disciples fast?" Again, you have to understand that this was not simply a question of curiosity. I'm kind of curious, why are you doing this, why are you doing that?

They already have problems in their heart. They're starting to lose their disciples. All the work that they put in to build up their reputation and whatever gathering that they had, Pharisees had their disciples and John the Baptist had their disciples, and then all of a sudden, they're all shifting to Christ.

We're, we all fast, we all tithe. What's wrong with your disciples? So this is not a simple questioning out of curiosity. They're questioning him. Now, there's a huge difference between asking question and questioning. Asking question is you wanna learn, you're asking, and you can answer somebody who's asking questions.

Often, asking question is what leads you to grow. It causes you to dig, it causes you to examine, but when you're questioning, no amount of answer can satisfy somebody who's questioning because they've already determined what is right and wrong, and they just want you. They just want you to see what's wrong with you.

So we say, why don't your disciples fast like us, like what we do? Think about how often we measure other people. Say, how come you don't read this? How come you don't go to morning? How come you don't do quiet time? How come you don't, how come you don't give?

How come you don't serve? How come you don't come out to this? Every righteous deed that we do, if we're not careful, becomes a lens that we use to measure other people if we're not careful. Even when we're being gracious, it becomes a source of stumbling block because, oh, you're not being gracious like I'm being gracious.

Look at the way Jesus answers them. There's three things that he says, right? Oh, sorry, before I get to that. I want you to understand why this fasting was so important. The Jews had two kinds of fasting. They had the public fasting and private fasting. The public fasting was only required in the law, in Leviticus, on the day of atonement.

So God didn't have all these different days of fasting, only one day. But they regularly fasted. So there would be a disaster that happened, or maybe there's a famine, or they go into war, and so they would call a fast. And so the public fasting was determined that they would do it every Monday and Thursday.

Can you guess why they picked Monday and Thursday? That this was universal. Whenever they fasted, they designated Monday and Thursday. Those of you astute students, why Monday and Thursday? Because Sabbath was Saturday, so they were kind of spreading it out, right? So if they had Sabbath on Saturday, so they rest on Sunday, so they would do something righteous on Monday, and then there's three days, so they just chose Thursday to just kind of even it out.

So that's why they said, "When we do public fasting, "it's gonna be Monday and Thursday." So any time they fasted, it was Monday and Thursday. It was just those two days. Then there's the private fasting. Private fasting happened when they were grieving, when they were crying, they were praying, or something happened personally.

And so they would also fast, but in order to match the public fasting, they would always pray Monday and Thursday, 'cause that's when the public fast happened. So it was, by culture, understood that if you are a good Jew, you fast Monday and Thursday, and it became a habit, just like kind of the way we do quiet time.

If you're a good Christian, you do quiet time, right? You do inductive Bible study, you do these other things that are required, and these are the things that we look at. The problem wasn't with the fast itself. Jesus set an example of fasting and praying. We're commanded to fast and pray.

In fact, in the New Testament, it says we are to be devoted to pray, and when you are truly devoted, you would end up fasting. So the problem wasn't the fasting in itself. It's what the Pharisees used the fasting for. Luke chapter 18, 11 through 12, it says, "The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself, "God, thank you that I am not like other people, "swindlers, unjust adulterers, "or even like this tax collector, "for I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get." Do you see how he differentiates himself with the sinners?

These swindlers, these unjust adulterers, these tax collectors. But in contrast, I fast, right? He's looking at his spiritual discipline. Contrast to all the sins, but look what I do. I fast and I tithe. That was their measuring stick. That's how they measured if somebody was truly a servant of God, right?

In Matthew 6, 16, Jesus reveals what's in their heart in their fasting. He said, "Whenever you fast." It was already understood. He didn't even have to tell them to fast because that's what they did. That's what the Pharisees did. "Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face "as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance "so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting.

"Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." In other words, every time they fast, they fast for other people to see. When you are displaying your righteousness for other people to see, you have to make sure other people know, right? If you give, I mean, you can't give and then walk around saying, "Look what I did," right?

But if you're not acknowledged, if you serve in the church, and at some point you're not acknowledged, if you're, like, whatever it is that you're doing, at some point if you're not acknowledged, you lose motivation, right? And I see that a lot with mercy ministries. I go, "Oh, there's a companion that you wanted to do this, "and after a while they get frustrated.

"No one's helping me, and then there's this constant cycle. "Nobody's helping me, and then nobody's acknowledging, "nobody cares, and they don't do it either." You start a prayer meeting, it's like, "Yeah, we need to pray, we need to do a revival prayer." And then after a while, "Hey, nobody's coming to pray with me.

"What's wrong with everybody? "How come nobody cares about prayer?" Then after a while, you stop praying. You go evangelizing. "Hey, we gotta evangelize, we gotta do this, "and then everybody, come do it with me." And then after a while, you get frustrated because people are not excited as you are, and then after a while, it's like, "Ah, I'm not gonna do it either." Every good thing that we endeavor to do, whenever a little bit of pride gets in, because we want acknowledgement, right?

We wanna see something happen, and whenever that happens, we have a tendency to kinda, "Okay, then I'm not gonna do it either." Jesus indicted them in saying, you do everything simply for people to see. In Luke chapter 18, nine, Jesus says, and he told this parable to some people who retrusted in themselves that they were righteous and viewed others with contempt, and this is why self-righteousness is so ugly.

Self-righteousness doesn't stop with displaying your righteousness. It always ends with condemnation of other people, always ends with contempt with other people. So if you pray a lot, when self-righteousness and pride comes in, you judge everybody by their lack of prayer. If you give a lot, you judge other people by their lack of giving.

If you serve a lot, you judge everybody based upon the lack of serving. So whatever good that we do, all you have to do is just tweak a little bit and to make it ugly. Every righteous deed that we do, it leads to contempt with other people who don't do what we do.

In Luke 18, 14, it says, "I tell you, this man went to his house justified," and he's talking about the tax collector, "rather than the other," he's talking about the Pharisee, "for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, "but he who humbles himself will be exalted." Now, that's the context in which the disciples, Pharisees and John the Baptist disciples are coming to Jesus.

Why aren't your disciples? So this was not an honest question. This was more of an indictment against Jesus. In fact, every time the Pharisees come to Jesus, they're not asking him an honest question. They're coming to indict him. We knew you're not good. We knew you're not righteous. You can't be saying those things.

All these people are coming to you, but you're fake. Even after three years of demonstrating who he is, even after raising Lazarus, they were so jealous of his fame. Look at him. He doesn't obey the Sabbath. He has sinners that he hangs out with. He's claiming these things. He can't be.

So they're not discounting him because they've examined him and he fell short. They want to discount him because he wasn't bolstering their egos, what they worked so hard to build up. So they want to discredit him because they wanted to discredit what was happening. Now, Jesus answers, and on the surface, you look at it and you say, I don't really understand how this fits.

So he says three things. One, he says, "You fast. "No one fasts when the bridegroom is here. "It's when the bridegroom is gone, "then you're gonna fast." That makes a little sense. I'm not exactly sure why he went there. And then he goes, "You know the cloth? "You had old cloth and you put new cloth "or you get new cloth and old cloth "and they're gonna tear "because they're gonna shrink at a different rate.

"Now do you understand?" Okay, since if you didn't get that, let me tell you. You know wine, right? You have old wine or new wine, you put it into old wine skin and then if you put it in, the old wine skin is gonna break. And so therefore you gotta put old wine to old wine or new wine into new wine skin.

Now do you get it? Now do you get it? Now if you just read that through, it's like, "I guess, right? "What is he saying?" Well, I'm gonna spend the rest of the time unpackaging this because what he's saying is very, very important, right? First thing that he is saying is the reason why they're not fasting is because they're in between two covenants and the old and the new.

And the way they fasted in the old covenant and what the new fasting is going to be is gonna be different in the new covenant. So that's why he gives the illustration, "No one tears a piece of cloth from the new garment "and puts it on an old garment, "otherwise he will both tear the new "and the piece from the new will not match the old." Now just so that you can understand this illustration because every Jew would have understood what he was talking about because every Jew would have practiced this.

'Cause at that time, a common Jew, unless you were filthy rich, only owned one garment. And they didn't have like spring outfit and then a summer outfit, you know? And they didn't have running shoes, tennis shoes, basketball shoes, relaxing shoes, church shoes. They had one garment, right? And one sandal, that's it.

So let me ask you a question. How many of you, when you were younger, when your pants ripped, that your parents or somebody put a patch on it to fix it? Okay, so a few of you. Those of you who were born before 1970, okay? (congregation laughing) A few of you, okay.

I mean, long time ago. I mean, right now you put the holes on purpose so you're not gonna understand. (congregation laughing) You have no clue what Jesus is talking about, right? But those of you, I mean, maybe you saw it on TV, right? Maybe you saw your uncles, right?

Back then, I mean, in our home, 'cause we didn't have much money, so whenever our pants ripped, my mom would get one of those patches and she would iron it on. So, and three of us being boys, we're playing outside, we're skidding on grass, so almost every pants eventually ripped.

It was just a matter of time. And back then, you didn't just go out and buy new pants. They'd be perfectly good pants, just has a hole in it, even though today that's more expensive, right? So you put a patch on it. So back then, they would have this iron-on patches where you would iron it on, and then after a while, you would have three, four patches in your, you got one on your back and then one, two on your knees.

And then if you have a jacket, you would have a patch on your jacket. But those patches, some of those patches were not useful because after they did it and they keep washing it, just like Jesus says, the old garment would shrink and the patch eventually would just kind of come up because they're not shrinking, you know?

Because it kind of had like a glossy, plasticky thing. So after a while, they have to rip it out and put it on. So after doing that for a while, in order for, if we're gonna, you know, we're really committed to this pants and we're gonna keep this pants, eventually they would have to have a cloth, like a jean cloth or something that's gonna match this so that it doesn't rip when we wash it.

So those of you who's never experienced this, this part of the Bible is, it's not relevant to you 'cause you're not gonna understand, okay? But you could imagine what he's talking about. So for those of us who are a little bit older, you know, know exactly what he's saying.

Every Jew would have understood this illustration because every Jew would have practiced this. The meaning behind that is the old covenant is passing and the new covenant is coming. That's what he's saying. Now, again, this is all related to fasting. And then the second thing that he says, he says in Luke 5:37, "No one puts new wine into old wine skins.

"Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins "and it will be spilled out and the skins will be ruined." Now, I have no reference to what this is talking about. I'm assuming most of you don't either, unless you're winos and you've experienced old wine skin. But I'm assuming most of you don't have that.

But you can understand the illustration, right? That the covenant, so he's using two different things. But the specific thing about this new wine and the old wine skin, in Ephesians 5:18, it says, "And do not get drunk with wine, "for that is dissipation, "but be filled with the Holy Spirit." Many theologians believe that the new wine that they're referencing is the Holy Spirit and the old wine skin is before the covenant, the old covenant.

And this makes so much sense. Because in Ezekiel 36, 26, it says, "Moreover, I will give you a new heart "and put a new spirit within you, "and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, "give you a heart of flesh. "I will put my spirit within you "and cause you to walk in my statues, "and you will be careful to observe my ordinances." In the old covenant, they just kind of did whatever God told them to do, and they said sacrifice, and they jotted the dots, and then went to the temple and did whatever God told them to do.

But remember what God says, Jesus says to his disciples, that a time is coming, to the Samaritan, time is coming, where he's not looking for people, whether you're gonna worship on this mountain or that mountain. Whether you practice at this or that, what God is looking for are people who worship him in spirit and in truth.

In spirit and in truth. So the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant, in the new covenant, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, where in the old covenant, the Holy Spirit would come, and it would influence and empower people, but it would never make an indwelling.

And the reason behind that is, if an indwelling of the Holy Spirit happened in the old covenant, the person would die. It was only after you and I had become made new, because we have been covered by the blood of Christ. And so the Bible says we have become new creation, new creatures, new wineskin.

So now when the Holy Spirit comes in, we have new wineskin to be able to receive the Holy Spirit, and that's the distinction between the old and the new covenant. So I said, okay, I understand what he's saying now. So how does that relate to fasting? In Luke 5, 34 to 35, and this is the key, right?

And Jesus said to them, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast "while the bridegroom is still with them, can you? "But the days will come, "and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, "then they will fast in those days." So he says, fasting is related to the bridegroom, right?

So who's the bridegroom? If fasting is related to longing for the bridegroom, who's the bridegroom? Jesus. That's what he's saying. He just called himself the bridegroom. I am with them, so I'm not requiring them to fast, because I am with them. So in other words, what is he saying?

One, that he is God. Because in the Old Testament, God calls himself the bridegroom. In Hosea 2, 19 to 20, "I will betroth you to me forever. "Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness "and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion, "and I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, "then you will know the Lord." The whole book of Song of Solomon is about a relationship with God and his bride, and God is the bridegroom.

And so when Jesus says, "When the bridegroom is here," they do not need to fast. If they were paying attention, they would have heard. Not only is this man saying that he can forgive sins, he's declared to be God. In fact, John himself says in John 3, 20 to 30, when the disciples come, he's like, "Aren't you concerned that everything that we've done, "everything that you've done, "they're all shifting to Christ and Jesus?" And John says, "You yourselves are my witnesses, "that I said I am not the Christ, "but I have been sent ahead of him.

"He who has the bride is the bridegroom. "But the friend of the bridegroom, "who stands and hears him, "rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice, "so this joy of mine has been made full. "He must increase, but I must decrease." He who has the bride is the bridegroom. Who's the bride?

Israel. So instead of being jealous, John the Baptist says, "They're all going to him because he's the bridegroom. "And he who has Israel going to him, "he's the one that they've been talking about." So first of all, he's saying fasting, they don't need to fast because the bridegroom is here.

But what he's saying to them is that fasting in our spiritual disciplines is about Christ. Fasting is about longing for Christ. Quiet time is about longing for Christ. Our Bible study is about longing for Christ. Our singing is about longing for Christ. And that's basically what he is saying.

The bridegroom is here. Your longing has been satisfied because I'm here. And that's exactly what Simeon, he was praying and waiting for the consolation of Israel. Anna the prophet, prophetess, in her old age, she never left the temple and he prayed and fasted because she lost her husband when she was young.

I remember years ago when I was teaching ESL to Korean grandmothers in their 70s and 80s, there's one particular lady, she was in her late 70s, and she would walk into the classroom and every morning she would say the same thing. It was so depressing because of her in the beginning.

And she would say, "Oh, I'm still living. "God didn't take me another day." You know, I was probably about 35, 34, 33 years old at that time, 34. So for a younger person, hearing somebody in the crowd, "Oh, I didn't die." So I said, "Man, she's very depressing. "I gotta hear this every day." After some time went by, I was able to sit with her during recess and I asked her, "Why do you say that every morning?" And she wasn't saying it to be depressing.

Found out that she was widowed when she was young. She was married to her husband no more than seven weeks when the Korean War broke out. And during the Korean War, within the conflict, her husband died. And then she never remarried. So she's been living as a widow all those years.

And every day, all she does is writes the Bible. This is before computers and all this stuff. And I don't know if she would have, even though. She just took the Korean Bible and she just copied the Bible. And she would open up her notebook and show me that she was copying, like all she did.

But for all those decades, all those decades, she's been waiting. So she wasn't saying, "Oh, life is miserable. "I don't wanna be here anymore." She's been longing, longing to see her husband, the longing to meet Christ all those years. And so when she says, "Oh, I'm here another day.

"I gotta wait another day to meet him. "I gotta wait another day to meet him." And I can imagine when she passes how happy she would be. Jesus was telling them, "You fast for me." For badge of honor. "You fast so that other people can see. "You fast thinking that somehow that gets you ahead "of other people.

"But fasting is about me." That's what he was saying. "Fasting is about me." Longing so that the bridegroom will come. That's why they don't fast 'cause I'm there with them. But one day I will be taken away and then they will fast. In 1 John 3, 2-3, "Beloved, now we are children of God "and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.

"We know that when he appears, we will be like him "because we will see him just as he is. "And anyone who has this hope fixed on him "purifies himself just as he is pure." They were so aware of this in the early church that in the old covenant, they would say, "Shalom, shalom.

"We're looking for the shalom of God." But the believers in the New Testament had a different greeting. They say, "Maranatha, maranatha." And maranatha in Aramaic basically means Lord, come. That was their greeting. They took this to heart. They understood because the bridegroom has gone. When Jesus ascended, all they could think about was one day we will be reunited with him.

And they fasted, they prayed, they obeyed, they gathered, they worshiped, all to eagerly wait for the coming of Christ. When our righteousness becomes anything less than that, it'll easily turn into self-righteousness. When every spiritual endeavor that we pour our energy into is not about a passionate pursuit of Christ, all your effort, just that little tweak, just that slight bit of, slight bit of pride, turns all your effort into judgment, something ugly.

We're here to celebrate Christ. We're here to celebrate Christ. There's not a single person here that deserved any more than any other person in here by your own merit. I don't care how long you prayed. I don't care how many books you've read. I don't care how many passages you've memorized.

There's not a single person in this room, including myself, that earned our way to have this relationship with Christ. So he calls us, he calls us to continue to pursue him, continue to celebrate him, continue to long for him, that he may get the glory, and that our worship would simply be a reminder to us that he is coming, he is coming, Maranatha.

Let's pray. (pages rustling) Let's take a minute to take some time to pray. And let the word of God richly dwell in your hearts. Ask the Lord that the word that you've heard would mold your heart and your very life, and allow the word of God to judge the thoughts and intentions of your heart.

Let's take some time to pray. Again, as our worship team leads us. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) Let's all stand up for the closing praise.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) ♪ As the deer panted through the water ♪ ♪ I saw me so long ago turning year ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ ♪ You're my friend and You are my brother ♪ ♪ Even though You are the king ♪ ♪ I love You more than any other ♪ ♪ So much more than any other ♪ ♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ So You alone be my spirit, dear ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ (gentle piano music) ♪ I want You more than gold or silver only ♪ ♪ You can satisfy ♪ ♪ You alone are the real joy giver ♪ ♪ Let me have all of my life ♪ Sing You alone.

♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ To You alone be my spirit, dear ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ ♪ You alone are my strength, my shield ♪ ♪ To You alone be my spirit, dear ♪ ♪ You alone are my heart's desire ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ ♪ And I long to worship Thee ♪ Let's pray.

Psalm 42, one through five. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, "Where is your God?" These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me, for I used to go along the throng and lead them in the procession to the house of God with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, the multitude-keeping festival.

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence. Lord, we pray that the longing of our hearts, Lord God, would be expressed as this psalmist does, that as the deer pants for the waters, my soul longs for You.

I pray that You would help us to kindle that continued longing, that we would seek You with all our heart, and just as the early church did, that we would desire Maranatha for You to come, that as our life is hidden with You, that we would seek the things that are above and set our mind, our hope, our heart, not on temporary gains, but in eternity, Lord, when You will come with reward.

So for that end, I pray that wherever You send us, help us, Lord God, to be Your light. In Christ's name we pray, amen. ♪ God sent His Son ♪ ♪ They called Him Jesus ♪ ♪ He came to love ♪ ♪ Heal and forgive ♪ ♪ He lived and died ♪ ♪ To buy my pardon ♪ ♪ An empty grave is there to prove ♪ ♪ My Savior lived ♪ ♪ Because He lived ♪ ♪ I can face tomorrow ♪ ♪ Because He lived ♪ ♪ All fear is gone ♪ ♪ Because I know ♪ ♪ He holds the future ♪ ♪ And life is worth the living ♪ ♪ Just because He lives ♪ Amen.

♪ Sister, I'm so blessed ♪ ♪ How can I thank You enough ♪ ♪ Now You will bless my faith ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love You ♪ ♪ Ever adore You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love You ♪ ♪ Ever adore You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love You ♪ ♪ Ever adore You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love You ♪ ♪ Ever adore You ♪ ♪ There's no one like You ♪ ♪ Jesus, we love You ♪ ♪ Ever adore You ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ All we need ♪ ♪ All we want is You ♪