[0:00] And I'll briefly review with you what we covered last week and started off by telling us, reminding us of one of the biggest problems that every single one of us is going to face in our walk with the Lord.
[0:16] Our walk of faith is dealing with that old nature of ours, that flesh as we call it, the old man. And one of the ways that we can so quickly remember his presence is when there's pressure on us.
[0:32] When goings get tough, it seems like he is right there to act out in fear, to act out in discouragement, to just cast an unclean, I hate to use the word vibe, but spirit upon us and upon how we're living.
[0:50] And it's those pressure situations that tend to bring out the worst in everybody. And so that being the case, we wanted to look at the Lord Jesus Christ and let him be our example and see how he handled pressure.
[1:06] And so in John chapter 13, let's read again verse number one, where the Bible says, Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world unto the Father.
[1:19] And that hour is called the hour of darkness. It's the hour of his betrayal and arrest and trials. It's the hour where he would be beaten and suffer many things, an agonizing death on the cross of Calvary.
[1:33] And Jesus Christ knew that now's the time. Three and a half years of his public ministry had passed. He'd been healing. He'd been teaching. He'd been preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.
[1:45] He's had many followers. Multitude hail him and come before him. Even Gentiles come to him. He's experienced all of these things across the land of Israel.
[1:56] Now here he is into Jerusalem and he knows it's time. The time has come. All of that's behind me now. And now there's this dreaded cross. And it's coming.
[2:07] It's right here. And so he knew it was there. And he had already told his disciples about the sufferings and that he would be spitefully entreated and that he would be spitted on and scourged and so forth.
[2:19] He knew it was there. But the point is, now it's here. Now it's at the door. And it's in this time when the going gets tough for the Lord Jesus Christ that I wanted to analyze how he responded to this in this very evening.
[2:34] How he responded to it. The first thing we saw was in verse 1 that he loved his own which were in the world. He loved them unto the end. And Jesus Christ, the response to the pressure that he was facing that night was that he's still loving.
[2:48] He's just still loving his own all the way to the end. And we ran to chapter 15, verse 13, where he said, Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[3:00] And he was about to lay his life down for those men in the room and by the grace of God for you and I just as much as well. And yet Jesus Christ loved him to the end.
[3:11] He didn't blame them. He didn't, the pressure didn't turn his thinking into something else to say, you know, it's your fault. It's your sins that's got me having to deal with this. But no, he just loved him all the way to the end.
[3:22] He said, I'm going to go die for you tonight. I'm going to make a payment for your sins that the father will be pleased with. You'll be able to have a fellowship from here on forward. You'll know the love of God, of my father, because I'm going to die for your sins tonight.
[3:38] And he did that in love. He loved him unto the end. And the comments that I made there was, you want to deal with pressure? Do what Jesus Christ did. Love your own that are in the world.
[3:50] God gave you some into this life. He gave you some in this world to love. And it's your job to love him. To the end, love him. Show the love of God in you toward them.
[4:01] It's when pressure gets on that we tend to hurt the people we love. It's when the pressure shows up, we tend to say things that are nasty and say things that are cold and get indifferent.
[4:12] And it's not toward the strangers as much as it seems to be toward the ones we're the closest to. And so we can take a response from Jesus Christ and love our own unto the end.
[4:23] And the second thing we saw was that he was still trusting God. And in verses 2 and 3, when supper was ended, the devil, he's got something going on there.
[4:35] He puts in the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him. And so he starts his plan. That's going on. That right there, right in the room. And then in verse 3, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things to his hand, that he was come from God and went to God, he rises from supper.
[4:50] The Lord Jesus Christ knew some things. And I pointed out that while the devil is active and activates his soldier, so to speak, and gets the ball rolling right underneath the nose of Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that this is going to take place, even knowing who would betray him, even knowing later on, or knowing it was his hour, and then at the end of the chapter, knowing that his own disciples would forsake him and deny him.
[5:23] He still trusted in the word of God. He still trusted in the Lord. He knew what this book had said he was going to accomplish and what he was here for, and he never lost that faith.
[5:34] He seems confident in verse 3 when it's describing the events and the pressure building. And a confident Jesus Christ is one that's a great example to you and I when he's in the face of death.
[5:46] So how do you respond to pressure when it comes down on you at one time? Well, so one thing you can do is keep trusting God. Keep believing what the book says. Don't let your faith waver just because pressure comes.
[6:00] Just see it as, here it is. This is what the book's for. Now it's time for me to hold on. Now it's time for me to trust. Now it's time for me to claim these words of this book, these promises that God gave to me.
[6:13] And so Jesus knew some things. He knew them from the scripture and he rested his troubled heart in what he knew to be certain. And then the third thing we saw was in verse 4 and 5 that he got up, he laid aside his garments, took a towel, and he begins to minister.
[6:29] He washes the feet of his disciples. And we made some comments on that last week. And found it to be an interesting thing that in this time and in this place, he does something that he's never done before.
[6:42] And as far as I can see, that no one's ever done before. And what an interesting scene. And for now, let's just remember that in his response to the pressures that he's still ministering to others.
[6:54] He's still ministering to those disciples. Doing something that we would think would be beneath him. And the application to you and me is, hey, when things get tough, find a way to minister.
[7:05] It's a channel that you can put your energy toward the Lord and toward others. And even in such a way that will lower yourself, because like I said last week, maybe that's all that needs to happen in the first place.
[7:17] Is for you to humble yourself. Get a little bit lower. And get your eyes off of the situation. And put them on others. Put them on trusting the Lord God.
[7:28] And humbling yourself. And so Jesus Christ is still ministering. Now tonight, let's continue. And I'm going to kind of fast forward through a little bit of this. He gets into this discourse with Peter about washing his feet.
[7:42] And he teaches Peter something. But let's pick it up in verse number 12 now. And I want to read down to verse 20. Verse number 12. So after he had washed their feet, he had taken his garments and was set down again.
[7:56] And he said unto them, Know you what I have done to you? Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say, Well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
[8:11] For I have given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
[8:25] If ye know these things, happier ye if ye do them. I speak not of you all, I know whom I have chosen, but that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me, lifteth up his heel against me.
[8:37] Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.
[8:49] And what's Jesus Christ doing? It sounds like it's just a normal day with Jesus Christ, actually. He's got things to say. He's got the wisdom to impart to them.
[9:00] He actually was performing an object lesson for them to not just hear him say, but to see with their eyes and understand what he's teaching him. As their master and Lord, how I have humbled myself in front of you and done something to you that you've never had.
[9:14] From what I could see, ever a man ever did wash another man's feet. That's low. That's humility. And therefore, he says, I've given you an example that ye should do as I have done to you.
[9:31] What's Christ doing? He's still teaching. He's still teaching. Among many other things, that's what he was. They called him rabbi, which is teacher. That's what he was, was a teacher.
[9:42] Nicodemus said, hey, we know you're a teacher sent from God. Because he went around teaching and teaching and telling them things that they've never heard before. Never conceived in their minds to think things that way.
[9:55] They only knew it this rigid, lawful way. And then Christ shows up talking on a whole other level. Like, they know that committing adultery is a sin.
[10:06] But now he says, but if a man looks on a woman to lust after her in his heart. Well, that makes a lot of sense. He's just as guilty in practice or in mind. That makes sense.
[10:16] But to them, that wasn't even ever a thing. And so Christ is teaching them the spirit of the law and then so much more. And then when the pressure comes on and it's his hour that he should depart.
[10:28] And the son of perdition is in the room. And he's going to betray him that night. He's getting ready to leave. He's after supper has ended so that he's already broken the bread.
[10:39] This is my body. The Jews said this is my blood. That's already taken place. He's already instituting or informing them of the institution of a New Testament and his death that night.
[10:53] What's he doing? He's still teaching them. And in this moment, in this scene, he's affirming something that he's already taught them several times.
[11:03] I want to show you that. Look at Matthew chapter 20. Come back to Matthew's gospel and chapter number 20. He's already taught this very thought and principle to them more than once along the way.
[11:24] Matthew 20. I want to read verses 25 through 28. Beginning in verse 25. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you.
[11:47] But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.
[12:03] Turn to chapter 23. Matthew chapter 23. And here again, he teaches the same thing in verses 10 through 12.
[12:16] He says, Neither be ye called masters, for one is your master, even Christ, but he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
[12:32] So back in John chapter 13, Christ is affirming, he's displaying to them something he's already taught them with his mouth. Now he's showing that to them.
[12:42] He's practicing what he preached. And in these last and these crucial moments with these men, Jesus Christ is still teaching them.
[12:53] He's still training them. It tells me that his heart and mind is still with these men in preparing them, his disciples. He hasn't checked out. He hasn't gotten so consumed with what is about to take place that he forgot about them, and he's just kind of zoned out in the corner.
[13:10] But no, he knows full well his hour has come, and he's still teaching. He's still being their master. I want you to realize in your moments of pressure and conflict, your reactions, they teach.
[13:28] They speak to everybody around you. And if it's been said that a parent never stops teaching, never stops being a parent, whether the kids grow up and leave the house, the parents still are teaching them how to live at this stage of life and then this stage of life.
[13:48] There's always somebody, especially a parent-child relationship, looking up to you. Back in 2016, Dr. Peter Ruckman passed away, and he was the president and founder of the Bible Institute where I went to school.
[14:06] And in 2016, he had been just slowly but surely deteriorating, and his eyesight was just gotten to where he couldn't see or read anymore.
[14:18] And it was in the spring of the year that we had his associate, Pastor Donovan, Brian Donovan. He was scheduled to come to our church in Pennsylvania and preach for a meeting.
[14:31] And he called the church and said, Hey, I'm planning on coming. We got the tickets. It's all set. But you need to know that Dr. Ruckman is not doing well.
[14:41] And if something goes, then I'm going to have to stay here. We're going to have to have the funeral. And there's going to be... So we understood. We said, fine, whatever happens. And so he was continually back and forth in touch with us about this thing.
[14:55] And there were several times where it looked like Dr. Ruckman was going to pass away, and he didn't. And when Brother Donovan, he came up finally and he had the meeting, and later on I got to talk to him about it all, and he said that there were several times that he spent a lot of time at his side, at his bedside as he was dying.
[15:13] And just in case you don't know him, to understand this is a man that is, for his life, was devoted for training men in the ministry and in the scriptures. That's what he did.
[15:24] He was a Bible teacher and preacher, and he just taught, taught, taught, taught, taught. That's all he did for years and years and years. And he's laying there on his deathbed, and he thought he was going to die, and he didn't.
[15:39] And again, it happened where it looked like he was going to die, and he didn't. And he said, he's laying there, and he's saying, what can I do anymore? Why am I still here? There's nothing I can do for the Lord.
[15:50] His life was spent just going, nonstop going. And he just felt so helpless and worthless. And he said to Pastor Donovan, what in the world is God keeping me here for?
[16:01] I'm worthless. And Brian Donovan said to him, that's not true. You're still teaching. You're teaching all of us how to die. You're teaching us to die with your boots on.
[16:15] And when he heard that, he just kind of like, he said he just kind of grumbled, like, okay. If you ever heard him or knew him, that sounds about right. And he said, you're teaching all the way to your deathbed.
[16:29] You're still teaching. There's still somebody that has their eyes on you, and you're still teaching them. And so, realizing whether you're a parent or a grandparent or a supervisor or a student, as a born-again Christian with Christ in you, you have a testimony and a responsibility with that testimony to be teaching somebody that Jesus Christ is in you.
[16:54] And you react differently when there's adversity because you have somebody inside of you that reacts differently to adversity. And so, he's still teaching his brethren or his disciples.
[17:09] And a lesson in this all, we read it in verse 13. He said, Ye call me master and Lord, and ye say well, for so am I. And I think it's pretty obvious in this chapter, the lesson he's getting to them is that if as your master and Lord, I will get down and have my hands on your dirty feet and wash them.
[17:28] If I will humble myself, if I will get that way, then you can do that too, to one another. You're not above doing this, is what he's teaching them. But how can we apply that to us?
[17:40] A lesson for us is, if Jesus Christ can respond to the pressure and to the hour of his death in this way, you too can respond to situations that you face with grace, with humility, with meekness, with concern, and with confidence.
[18:03] If Christ can handle the hour of his death and the hour of darkness and knowing that he's about to go suffer or go to hell, and he can still do this, and he's the master in the Lord, you and I can handle the little things in comparison with grace.
[18:26] We can handle those things and display a godly testimony despite the pressure. There's something else I want to see. That was number four. I have a total, I don't know, it's eight of them and they're going to be fast now, so don't worry.
[18:38] But find John chapter 13 again. And look at verses 25 through 27. Notice shortly after that, it says, He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
[18:58] He's asking who's going to betray him. In verse 26, Jesus answered, He it is to whom I give the sop when I've dipped it. He tells him it's Judas Iscariot. And then he turns to Judas in verse 27 and he says, That thou doest do quickly.
[19:12] So he's answering John, as we know, John the beloved disciple that's right there against him, asks him the question, and he answers his question. And then he turns and he speaks to Judas after he dips the sop and so forth.
[19:25] And so he's having these little one-on-one interactions with certain disciples. Look a little bit later at verse 36. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
[19:41] Peter said unto him, Lord, why can't I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Whither I lay that down? He's talking to Peter now. Having a little one-on-one discourse with Peter about some things.
[19:52] Chapter 14, there's Thomas in verse 5. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? And Jesus answers Thomas' question. I'm the way.
[20:03] And then just two verses later, Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father. And Peter, or Jesus Christ, answers Philip with what his little concern was, which is something he should have known already but didn't understand, and the Lord talks to Philip.
[20:16] And then look over later in chapter 14. There's another one by name, Judas. This is verse 22. Judas saith unto him, Not as scary it, Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself unto us, not to the world?
[20:29] And that's the one that's elsewhere called Thaddeus, also Labbeus. Here he's called Judas. And so there's another disciple with a concern or something he doesn't understand.
[20:42] And meanwhile, the Lord Jesus Christ has got the powers of death lining up, the powers of hell to take him out. and here he is, still seated with his disciples, still communicating with them, available to them and to their concerns and answering their questions, conversing with them.
[21:06] I pointed it out already. He's not sitting in the corner in some fog, shaking and trembling and sweating. He's not checked out or zoned out. The pressure hasn't gotten to him.
[21:17] He's conversing about things that they didn't understand. He's not completely absorbed in this, this is my hour.
[21:29] This is going to happen tonight. But no, he's still, I think it's so interesting. I can't imagine that myself being able to shut that off.
[21:41] I just, I don't, I can't imagine the raw emotion of it, the fear of it, the nerves behind all of this. What, considering what you're about to face. When I was younger and I had the, like the first time or five or 20 times that I had to preach, I was so scared to death.
[21:57] Like, if I had an opportunity, I was given weeks in advance because that's just what you do to somebody who doesn't know what they're doing. And with weeks in advance, that's a, was a blessing and a curse because it was a blessing for time, but it was a curse for, freak out and scared to death and, and throwing up, well, not quite that, but just getting so worked up just to preach for 15 minutes in front of people.
[22:23] And, and you know what was happening? Days and weeks, I just consumed my mind, consumed my thoughts, worried about it, nervous about it, getting all worked up inside and my appetite.
[22:34] and, and, and when it came down to like the day of, it was kind of like, leave me alone. I've really got to stay focused here. For what? For, for preaching 10, 15 minutes.
[22:46] Just saying a few things that nobody would ever even remember and, and fumbling all over myself and, you know. And that was just something tiny, but that's how I react to pressure situations.
[23:00] Get all worked up. It consumes my mind. Now preaching and being in the pulpit is pretty routine and I don't take it for granted, but it takes something like, like a funeral or, or something outside of the, every Sunday, every Wednesday to get, you know, get the nerves a little bit, the stomach in knots a little bit, you know.
[23:19] But even so, when that happens, that's kind of where I go. I kind of get a little worked up. And I learned something from my previous pastor because I noticed he was a very, very busy man and pulled in every direction, but I noticed that he still welcomed people to come into his office even when he had to preach and, you know, that evening or he was just getting ready for it before he could go home to catch dinner to come back to church or he would always have his door open and people would come in and they'd just bombard him with their kind of just whining or his, their cares of life, some important, some not so much, just people sometimes just want to talk and so be it.
[24:02] And he would always just say, yeah, come on in. And he'd never say, don't you know I'm the man of God? I've got to get with God. I've got to feed the people of God a tremendous responsibility.
[24:13] He didn't play that card. He didn't pretend to be that man. He always just said, hey, what's up? What's going on? Come on in. What's up? What's up? And he'd talk to you and he'd listen to you and he never let things like I have to preach soon.
[24:28] And I noticed that and I thought to myself, that's the way it ought to be. He saw ministering to people one-on-one was just as important as preaching the word of God from the pulpit.
[24:40] And I picked that up from him and thought, that's good. That's something I need to tuck away and remember because that's the ministry. And here I see Jesus Christ doing exactly that.
[24:51] Finding time for the one that has a question for him. He's not so consumed with his hour. And believe me, I'm trying to tell you when I had to preach something tiny, I was consumed with it.
[25:04] Don't you get consumed with those things that get your stomach in knots when the pressure's on in life? Do you get so consumed that you no longer display patience and humility?
[25:19] But here's just another aspect of Jesus Christ loving them to the end and putting their needs and their concerns before his own, even in certain things where they should have known this by now.
[25:30] Three and a half years and there's some things they're asking him that they should have known it by now. And yet he's still available and he's still answering them. And again, he's not consumed with himself.
[25:42] What a response to the pressure. Here's another one. Look at chapter 13 and verse 21. When Jesus had thus said he was troubled in spirit.
[25:53] He's in that room. He's talking about Judas betraying him and he's troubled in spirit. But he's not projecting that onto the others in the room.
[26:06] As a matter of fact, you know what he is projecting? Look at chapter 14 and verse 1. Let not your heart be troubled. Look at 14 and verse 18.
[26:18] He's telling them just a few verses later, I will not leave you comfortless. Guys, it's going to be okay. I'm not leaving you comfortless.
[26:28] I'll come unto you. Look at verse 27. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled.
[26:41] Neither let it be afraid. What's he doing? He's still comforting. He's still comforting. His response to the seriousness of the day, of the time, and what's taking place is just another evidence that his mind is on others.
[26:59] He's loving them. He's ministering to them. He's teaching them. He's available for them. And he's comforting them. He's attempting to assuage their fears with comfort and peace.
[27:13] Only the Lord Jesus Christ is that selfless that he's going to reach out to you and care about your heart when he's about to go suffer on the cross and have to drink a cup of the wrath of God for our sins.
[27:29] And yet he's so selfless about that that he's saying, look, I'm not going to leave you comfortless. I'm going to give you peace. Don't be troubled. Don't be afraid.
[27:40] It's going to be fine. And he's helping us. These men, grown men, and he's helping us to keep us up, to keep our attitudes chipper, to keep us serving God, to keep us thinking on what things we ought to do.
[27:54] The Bible says, let not every man, or look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. So what an incredible minister.
[28:07] What an incredible teacher. And what an incredible friend Jesus Christ was to be in such straits, but to care for others. That's just not natural to us.
[28:20] It's not. You know that. To me, that's only the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know what? Even though it's not natural to us to be in pressure situations and to shut off our fears and in turn and care about others, it is natural to the new man inside of us because it's Jesus Christ inside of us.
[28:46] And let your mind think that way. We need him on the inside to teach us how to respond to these things because our natural response is not good. Now two more things.
[28:57] These are very quick, but they're powerful. Look at chapter 17. How did Christ respond to the pressure? Chapter 17, verse 1.
[29:10] These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. What's he doing? He's still praying.
[29:21] It's getting closer now. It's getting to the time. And now he's shifting from speaking to his disciples to speaking to the Father.
[29:34] And the pressure is getting, no doubt, even more intense inside. And so he's turning to prayer. We read in other Gospels that he went to that garden and he prayed for what appears to be hours.
[29:50] And so when you feel pressure, Christian, that's a great time to pray. It's a great time to cast thy burden upon the Lord because prayer is not some religious thing.
[30:03] Prayer is powerful. Prayer is real. And prayer is helpful. It's not like, oh, dear Jesus, please help the missionaries. Please help this person get better.
[30:13] Please help that person. It's not like, go down this list of people and places and friends and things that we know. Prayer is communicating with the Father. prayer is opening your heart to God and talking, spending time.
[30:28] If you're married, you spend time with your wife. If you have a girlfriend or boyfriend, you talk to them, you communicate with them. If you have children, you communicate. You have friends, you communicate with the Lord Jesus Christ, especially when there's pressure on, pray.
[30:44] Learn to pray. Oh, I know preachers get on you and say the only time you pray is when tough, yeah, well, that's a great time to pray when things get tough. You better be praying when things get tough.
[30:54] That's the right place to go to the Father. There's a spiritual interaction that takes place there. It takes faith to talk to God and to pour out your burdens, not whine, but actually communicate your heart.
[31:10] And I think it's, if it's not the best, it's one of the best things you can do when you're facing pressures in life. We sang a song tonight that has to do with a little of that. I'm going to read you the words from another one.
[31:23] One of these hymns in here, it says, what a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend we have, we, we have him in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.
[31:37] What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Now listen to this verse. Oh, what peace we often forfeit.
[31:53] I don't want the peace, God. I'm going to bear this on my own. I'm going to bear the pressure. I'm going to deal with it myself. Oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
[32:09] Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Why? Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
[32:25] Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge.
[32:40] Take it to the Lord in prayer. It goes on, if you have a refuge, if you have a hiding place, a place to get in a person, why would you not?
[32:53] Why would you not take it to them in prayer? There's a list of songs. I started looking at them this afternoon. They're powerful. The things that born-again Christians wrote from their experiences with trials in life and the scriptures and realizing this thing with prayer is a privilege to have access to God and to get ease and to get peace and to get mercy and to find grace.
[33:23] And so what is Jesus Christ doing in times of pressure? Something we should be doing in times of pressure. He's praying. He's praying. And one final thing. Keep your place in chapter 17, but go back to chapter 12 and we're almost finished.
[33:37] two verses here to look at. Chapter 12 and I want 27 and 28.
[33:53] Christ says, Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. Should I say that? He's saying, Father, but he says this, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
[34:08] Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.
[34:21] What's he doing? He's calling for the Father to be glorified. Look at chapter 17 again and we were in verse 1. We'll just read that again. Verse 1 says, These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come.
[34:36] Glorify thy son. Why? That thy son also may glorify thee. What's his response to the pressure? He's still seeking God's glory.
[34:51] He's still seeking God to get the glory. He's still doing what he's calling in his role in this world was to obey the Father, to fulfill his will and to glorify him.
[35:05] Is that how you respond to pressure and to tough things that come up in life? And they're coming and it's getting closer and it's getting closer like the hour of his death. Do you respond by saying, God, I just want you to be glorified in this.
[35:20] I want you to be glorified. Glorify yourself in me. That's what, you deserve glory from me. And this is tough and this is, I don't know what to do, but I want you to be glorified.
[35:32] Is that how you respond to pressure? That's how Jesus Christ responded. I wonder if that even crosses your mind. How can God get glory out of this situation?
[35:44] Because I've already articulated it and you know it to be true is when the thing gets tough, it's just about you. It's, you just, you cave to the pressure. But the Lord Jesus Christ turned toward heaven.
[35:58] And he communicated with the Father and he sought the Father's glory. And you might know that he knows the situation that you're in, all of you, always.
[36:11] Nothing new to him. He allows it. He's not surprised by it. He's going to watch how you respond to it. He's going to watch to see, does this child of mine that I washed in the blood of my son, is this child of mine seeking my glory today?
[36:29] Are they walking with the Lord Jesus Christ in fellowship with him? Are they seeking to glorify God? Are they even communicating with me? Or is this thing getting the best of them?
[36:41] How are they responding? What we see in these chapters here in this hour of his death, what we see is Jesus Christ just still being Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
[36:53] He didn't cave in. He didn't run. He didn't turn it on him. He didn't lash out on them. He kept on. He kept on. And this is how Jesus Christ responded to pressure.
[37:05] And so in conclusion, this is how Jesus Christ that lives inside of you in the new man, this is how he will respond to pressure in your life. That's how he'll respond.
[37:18] And so you can take a little gauge here. If you're not responding like he would respond, then it's not him inside of you that's responding. It's your old nature.
[37:28] It's the flesh. And that's what we started with last week was that warning. That flesh shows up so fast. And so there's a little gauge to show you the needle's pointing at the old man unless these truths are coming out, these responses.
[37:45] Because that old man is always going to be there. But with Jesus Christ inside of you, you can get victory and you can walk in the spirit even when the pressure gets pretty hot.
[37:57] So I hope that helps you. I hope those thoughts there from these chapters, it was eight different thoughts that we drew out of that. And I feel like there's even more in there, but I'm not going to just be laborious with it all and labor the thought.
[38:11] But I think you get it. And I pray that it helps you and I pray you realize that when the going gets tough, allow the Lord Jesus Christ to live through you and to be that testimony because you can't do it on your own.
[38:24] And then furthermore, those last two thoughts, spend more time in prayer and seek the glory of God and it might turn out differently than you expected it. So let's be dismissed with prayer and then you can get on your way.
[38:37] Father in heaven, thank you for Wednesday night. Thank you for the chance to have these doors open, to come together, to be seated together around the word of God. Lord, I pray that we'll put to practice what we've heard and allow your words to minister to us, to change the way we are.
[38:55] God, you said that this book will renew our minds and that we could be transformed. And so I pray that that would happen and I pray it would be revealed as we grow in Christ and as the pressures come and the situations in life come and go and at the times when it gets hot and it gets hard, may it be Jesus Christ living in us and shining through us.
[39:19] May there be a difference. God, I pray you'll help each one to live out these truths that our Savior showed us. Thank you for them. Thank you for the chance to get together again tonight.
[39:30] Please be with those that aren't well. I pray you'll be with Mark and heal him up and allow his family to be back here on Sunday. We also ask the same for Mrs. Fleming that she'll continue to heal and that she'll be able to join the lady Saturday and be here Sunday as she wants.
[39:42] And Lord, we thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. One quick announcement. I told Mark I'd ask prayer for him. He's got some thing going down in his stomach and you know they'd be here if he didn't.
[39:55] So they missed all day Sunday and they missed the doctrines class and they missed tonight and he's just not happy. So be in prayer for Mark that that thing will pass and he'll be able to be with us Sunday morning. He said he's looking forward to Sunday for more ways than one.
[40:08] So, all right. You're dismissed. Thank you. I'm just