Forgiveness for Denying, Mocking & Hating Him

[0:00] If you take your Bibles and go to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 22, if you're visiting with us, you can pull that black Bible out in the chair in front of you, go towards the back of that, and go to page 67, Luke 22, I'm going to start, verse 54.

[0:30] And then we'll go to the end of the chapter 22. And like Travis was telling you earlier as you're turning there, next week, the 18th, the week after that, the 25th, we're going to do Luke 23, 32 through 56.

[0:48] It's like, well, that's the death of Jesus, so we're going to have the Lord's Supper the next week? Well, that's kind of weird. Let's just do it that week, that we're preaching through the death of Christ, let's have the Lord's Supper then.

[0:59] It makes sense to me. So, we'll do that on the 25th of this month, as we look at that last portion of Luke.

[1:10] So again, as I said, Luke 22, we'll start reading verse 54 to 71, again, that black Bible, page 67. 54. And having arrested him, they led him away, brought him to the house of the high priest.

[1:30] And a certain servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the firelight, and looking intently at him, said, this man was with him too.

[1:50] He denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him. And a little later, another saw him and said, you are one of them too. But Peter said, man, I am not. And after about an hour had passed, another began to insist, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean too.

[2:08] But Peter said, man, I do not know what you are talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, a cock crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had told them before a cock crows today, you will deny me three times.

[2:25] And he went out and wept bitterly. 63. And the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him and beating him. And they blindfolded him, were asking him, saying, prophesy, who is the one who hits you?

[2:39] And they were saying many other things against him, blaspheming. When it was day, the council of elders of the people assembled both chief priests and scribes.

[2:51] And they led him away to their council, saying, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you will not believe. If I ask a question, you will not answer.

[3:03] But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, are you the Son of God then? And he said to them, you say that I am.

[3:16] And they said, what further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth. You've probably heard about this past Wednesday.

[3:32] Three masked, black-clad men with assault rifles. They stormed the offices of Charlie, I think I'm saying this right, Hebdo. A satirical French magazine.

[3:46] They killed eight journalists. Two police officers. A maintenance worker and a visitor. Eleven people were wounded. Four of them seriously wounded. Did you also hear or read about the public flogging in Saudi Arabia?

[4:06] The public flogging of a liberal blogger and activist in Saudi Arabia. He was accused of insulting Islam.

[4:18] Raif Barawi. He was sentenced to 1,000 lashes. He received the first round of 50 in a public flogging after this past Friday's prayers.

[4:30] And it will continue every Friday for the next 20 weeks. Craig and I were talking about this on Friday.

[4:41] They're actually trained to not break skin. Well, that's convenient. I'm glad for that. The scary part is how they train them to do that. Now, do I think that a magazine like Charlie Hebdo should be doing things like that?

[4:59] Should be bringing this satire about political figures and religious figures? Not necessarily. Not exactly. Why unnecessarily offend people like that?

[5:12] You could come across disrespectful. And demeaning to others. Yet, having said that, in Islam, especially in Islam, and the other religions of the world too, if people mock, deny, or express hate for that particular religion, or for those who believe it, those who follow it are encouraged from its teachings and its leaders to hurt and punish those people.

[5:46] Case in point, this past week. Not so with true biblical Christianity though. Those who deny, those who mock, those who hate us or hate Christ, they're actually welcomed.

[6:11] Aren't they? As a matter of fact, they're welcomed with open arms. This is what distinguishes us from them.

[6:23] Distinguishes Christianity from all the other religions of the world. God says, come follow my son. Find forgiveness of your sins. For what sins? You denied him.

[6:35] You mocked him. You hated him. And yet he will forgive you. As you read this passage, you can practically put yourself in this situation, friends.

[6:50] We can put ourselves as the ones who denied Jesus. As the ones who mocked Jesus. As the ones who hated Jesus to reject him and wanted to condemn him to death.

[7:02] That's us. And yet Jesus welcomes people like us. Doesn't he? Deniers. Mockers. Haters.

[7:17] Find forgiveness of your sins. For denying him. For mocking him. For hating him. A disciple, a chief disciple denied Jesus.

[7:35] Soldiers arrogantly mocked him. A religious council hated him, condemned him to death. All of these are worthy of condemnation. But Jesus was going to the cross for people like them.

[7:49] Deniers. Mockers. Haters. This is why Jesus had to die, man. It's people like us.

[8:02] You and me. Because what does Paul say in Romans chapter 5? For while we were yet still really good people. No, no.

[8:13] That's not even in the jive version. For while we were still kind of really good people. No. That's not there either. For while we were yet what?

[8:25] Sinners. Rebels. For while we were yet deniers. For while we were yet mocking him. For while you were hating him.

[8:37] Christ died for us. This is for people like us. Like you. Me. Outcasts.

[8:49] Losers. Sinners. Rebels. Lawbreakers. And then this is the crazy part too.

[9:02] Even more crazy. And we call other rebels to come to Jesus to find grace and mercy. Instead of a denier we come to confess him.

[9:14] Instead of one who mocks him we embrace him. Instead of a hater we come to love Jesus. That's what God does. He changes us. Isn't that great?

[9:27] And then we call other deniers come and confess him. Come and embrace him. Come and love him. That's what we do. That's why people think we're crazy.

[9:42] Because the world says go kill them. The world says go destroy them. The world says you should inflict punishment and pain upon them. We say we welcome them with open arms.

[9:55] What? Are you crazy? Yeah. Because we follow a crazy savior. Right? And these verses they show us the craziness of Jesus.

[10:12] They show us who he really is. He truly was. He is God's great servant the Messiah. And the events display this. I mean he predicted Peter's denials.

[10:23] He predicted the soldiers mocking him. And he truly resurrected and sits at God's right hand. He is who he says he is. And that's the irony.

[10:36] The one who said he would die for Jesus denied he knew him. Soldiers mocked Jesus showing their rejection of him. And those who think they're condemning Jesus they're actually going to be condemned themselves by the one whom they hate unless they repent.

[10:53] Jesus confessed his supreme authority a son of man in Christ over those who wielded their puny authority and his trial.

[11:06] Jesus the righteous son of man son of God Messiah he will end up suffering on behalf of sinners all of according to God's plan for him.

[11:17] It was all planned. It was meant for him to do. He was driving all the events that led to his death. He would be condemned by the Sanhedrin for claiming to be the son of God God's equal sitting right next to him.

[11:37] And then later we're going to see how he was condemned by the Romans for claiming to be king. We'll see that next week. Just as a side note some people might have the question how did Luke obtain this information if the disciples had deserted Jesus?

[11:57] Especially the info about his trial. How did they get this info? Well the proceedings of the trial would have been circulated by the Jews to justify their execution of Jesus plus other people would have attended the trial.

[12:11] Very easy to answer that type of question even though the disciples were gone. As we come to this section of Luke I want to encourage you be encouraged although those who follow God's way will suffer in this life just like Jesus did they will deny you they will hate you they will reject you and mock you we will be vindicated by God because we follow his eternal son we've turned from sin and believed in Jesus God is in the business of saving changing and vindicating rebels the world might think you're crazy because you reach out to them and you reach out to others who will openly deny and mock and hate you and kill you and we welcome them you will be vindicated because Jesus was so be encouraged be encouraged so let's go through obviously hopefully you've seen the three main points deniers mockers haters forgiveness of sins first for denying him there's the first sin 54 to 62 after that whole fiasco in the garden they arrested

[13:29] Jesus they led him away verse 54 and brought him to the house of the high priest but Peter was following at a distance you read from John that they took him first to Annas then to Caiaphas eventually Jesus had to go before the Sanhedrin their counsel to obtain a verdict which we'll see in just a moment so they can bring him before the Romans but Peter trailed behind why maybe out of fear curiosity to stick with him to be at his side but it was a setup for Peter's failure and see this is a big deal because the four gospels of the New Testament they're full of Peter no disciple spoke as often as Peter did and our Lord addressed him more than any other disciple and no disciple was rebuked by Jesus as much as

[14:30] Peter was or as strongly as Peter was and nobody had the guts to actually rebuke Jesus except for Peter I don't know if I want to be known to have done that but it is what it is plus no other disciple was as bold to directly confess who Jesus was and keep in mind there was no other disciple who walked on water no other disciple except maybe John was present during Jesus arrest and unfortunately no other disciple denied Jesus like Peter did one writer said this about Peter quote sometimes he only opened his mouth to change feet and at other times his words were immortal this night would be the most memorable night for him the most instructive night of his life 55 and after they kindled the fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together

[15:40] Peter was sitting among them and a certain servant girl seeing him as he sat in the fire light and looking intently at him said this man was with him too so the ones who arrested Jesus they're the ones who are holding Jesus to get warm they kind of the fire we're going to see if his commitment to Jesus holds out and notice one writer puts it like this the menacing intimidator the slave girl you know it thinks it would be some soldier are you with him it's some little slave girl hey he was with him too and it says looking intently actually it means she was staring at him this one was also with him too and notice it says he denied it verse 57 saying woman I did not know him denied it

[16:43] I don't know him I don't have no knowledge of Jesus at all he phrased it like one of the Jewish ban formulas so it's a strong denial to know Jesus have any knowledge of him 58 the second denial and a little later another saw him and said you're one of them too the girl persisted and now others started to join in with her and so this one says you're one of them too that is you're one of his disciples too he's one of Jesus disciples well Peter not only denied his association with Jesus but also serving with the other disciples I'm not one of those pesky disciples me pressure was mounting and Peter was crumbling isn't it interesting how it's in the heat of the moment when our true colors come out when life doesn't go the way you want it to go when things go wrong your heart comes out don't you just hate that because the facade goes away and then who you really are comes out

[18:05] Peter said man I am not one of those disciples 59 and after about an hour had passed time doesn't really change anything here another man began to insist insist intently he insist on Peter being a disciple because what gave him away was his dress or maybe his accent surely he was with him for he is a Galilean why else would a Galilean be here this late evening during this trial in front of the fire Peter is in danger of being exposed instead of acting like the rock that he was called he chickened out like probably many of us would but Peter said man

[19:05] I do not know what you're talking about he claimed he didn't know what this guy was saying he yielded to temptation remember Jesus warned him he warned him pray that you will not enter into temptation look you just have the wrong guy or I can't understand why you insist on this connection of me to this man I don't know what you're talking about and notice what Luke puts here and immediately while he was still speaking a cock crowed so chapter 22 verse 34 was fulfilled fearing for his life Peter yielded to temptation and denied his lord and master and then something happens something happens that you only see in

[20:07] Luke you don't see it in the other gospels 61 and the lord turned and looked at Peter the lord turning looked intently at Peter now we're not told where Jesus was or how he was able to see Peter but for a moment they locked eyes and actually the verb means he fixed his gaze on Peter can you imagine that and Peter went oh oh no and he remembered Peter remembered the word of the Lord how he told him before a cock crows today you will deny me three times he melted he locked eyes Peter remembers and then the prediction came true exactly all the disciples are gone

[21:13] Peter was with him he was the only one with him and now he denied him he did not even knew him now Jesus was all alone no one stood with Jesus so then Peter was crushed was broken flattened ruined shattered defeated dejected without hope he had instant remorse for those three denials his spirit was totally devastated and he went out and wept bitterly he failed he succumbed his spirit was dejected Peter was faithless wasn't he but praise

[22:13] God that our God remains faithful in in times of testing you will fail you should have said this or that you should not have done this or that yet as Jesus granted Peter repentance and restoration so he does for us that's why he welcomes those who are deniers with open arms you are a failure the sooner you admit that the better you should understand you should have a growing awareness of your sin as we have been learning in the adult class a growing awareness of God's holiness a growing awareness of your inadequacy you should have that and should we we bitterly yes should we be broken yes should we confess that we failed yes but know that that very failure was why

[23:15] Jesus had to die for you he will be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness the justice was put on Jesus that very failure that Jesus did that's why Jesus had to die that very failure that you did Christian that's why Jesus had to die it put on him not on you if you confess I here I am he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness God's grace God's grace doesn't give us a license to sin but it gives us the desire to live as he wants us to live the enablement power and motivation to live as he wants us to live and the confidence when we fail miserably in the way that he wants us to live the confidence is in

[24:24] Christ it's not in your good deeds it's in the good deeds of Jesus his merit his righteousness not yours that's embedded in the gospel don't lose sight of that that's why we sing that song right my hope is built on nothing less than my good works my righteousness no than Jesus blood and his righteousness my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness it's on him it's on him that we find that it's on him that we cling to Christ we look to Jesus not to ourselves and and what a huge lesson on humility take heed lest you fall no that was

[25:36] Peter what an idiot I wouldn't do that take heed lest you fall may this failure from the prominent apostle encourage us to remain faithful and also to realize that we could we would do it too and without God's grace we would deny Christ to serve our own interests praise God for his grace God's in the business of forgiving those that deny him and for those who mock him as well for mocking him 63 to 65 the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him and beating him it shifts back to Jesus abruptly probably these were the temple guard soldiers who knew Jesus they probably heard him teaching they probably knew who he claimed themselves to be and notice his custody had two parts they mocked him and as they were mocking him they were beating him up and as they began mocking

[26:46] Jesus they started beating him it gives us a good glimpse of what people do or would do if or when they reject Jesus is a picture of the world's hateful rejection of him this is what this they were blindfolded him or asked him saying prophesy who's the one who hit you they mocked Jesus prophetic gift punching him while he was blindfolded and find out who's the one who actually punched you now sick abusive game the irony though is the fact that they mocked him it shows that his prophetic claim was indeed true because yes he prophesied that they would mock him that's kind of ironic Luke's gospel is so full of irony so yeah he already did I already said I knew you were going to do that because I said that a few months ago actually thanks you can continue to hit me now go ahead not to mention

[27:51] Peter's denials is another place where Jesus words came true he was truly indeed a prophet look there is no in between with Jesus one either embraces Jesus or mocks him a non decision is a rejecting one you must decide if you will follow Jesus or reject him praise God he will give you grace he will give grace if you have been mocking Jesus he will save you if you're here today you're not a follower of Jesus listen to what I'm saying to you you can find forgiveness and mercy for having denied him for having mocked him he will save you he will be merciful to you he will not face his judgment isn't God's love and grace for those who mock Jesus amazing he calls people who mock him ridicule him scorn scoff and deride him to come to him and find forgiveness of their sins and that should be the way we respond to people who do that to us in the world they respond differently they lash out they are taught in islam you lash out you're not supposed to make fun of this when people make fun of us we should say come on welcome we should welcome them we should show them mercy and compassion the way jesus has done that for us should we not do that should we not respond that way god's love and grace is amazing because for people who mocked him ridiculed him and scorned him he says come to me you'll find forgiveness of sins again if you're here today you don't know christ you're not a follower of jesus it's for you to listen to hear what i'm saying you should face god's judgment god should condemn you because you are rebellious sinner but he sent jesus who lived died and rose for sinners for those that turn away from their sin and put all their trust in jesus you can be saved he's in the business of saving those who deny him those who mock him and last for those who hate him for hating him 66 to 71 it seems that this trial which happened at daytime when it was day the council of elders of the people assembled both chief priests and scribes this took place early in the morning this is most likely a second part of a two part meeting at this council the sanhedrin would officially declare their guilty verdict of jesus there was no witnesses just an official ruling so there's most likely two night meetings one with annas one with caiaphas and then there's another official meeting whereby the council declared jesus to be guilty so they can be ready to bring him to the romans and they had to come to the romans early in the morning so they had to get this done fast because it was the only time that the romans heard cases and if they waited this is why everything was moving so fast if they waited jesus could have been held for days because the next day was sabbath and then it was they were having passover so then it was they celebrating the feast so he could be held for quite a number of days they don't want that they don't want jesus to be held for that long plus it is going to be risky remember the crowds were for

[31:51] Jesus and if they found out they did some night thing and blah blah blah people are going to be like hey what's going on with this they would find out this is kind squirrelly type stuff so that would be risky so they need to seize this opportunity to get rid of jesus real fast now on the flipside as i was saying before just a moment ago it was squirrelly for them to be doing these night trials it was unlawful to conduct a night trial uh uh that was a no no it was unlawful to give a verdict at a night trial too so that they everyone together oh man gotta get out of bed for this thing some of the council members probably coming over here okay what oh yeah susanna you wouldn't have made a really bad sanhedrin person it was really bad it like 530 in the morning oh my goodness this is what's happening this is going on and yet keep in mind the father and the eternal son they were orchestrating all things so that jesus would end up dying as the passover lambs were being slain it is all in god's plan oh and by the way there's more irony jesus the one who reigns over heaven and earth would be condemned to death by the sanhedrin a group consisting of elders the people chief priests and scribes he was going to be condemned by them that's ironic so this is a kangaroo court and notice you're going to see the three divine titles of jesus being mentioned christ son of god excuse me christ son of man son of god so they started in here verse 66 they led him away to their council saying verse 67 if you the christ tell us move right into question of jesus why this question because they wanted jesus to get in trouble with

[33:49] Rome they wanted him to declare himself to be some political leader see they wanted jesus to incriminate himself by his answer remember calling jesus messiah or anybody messiah for that matter was confessing that he was the one to rule because messiah is a royal title political figure romans didn't like that shame shame they're going to kill you it's about jesus having the authority as the one whom god has sent his servant his messiah that's why they asked this question but he said to them notice what jesus says end of 67 68 but he said to them if i tell you you will not believe and if i ask a question you will not answer jesus used what's called a third class conditional sentence to respond what does that mean i'll put up on the screen for you if i reply and i'm not currently saying that i will or will not you will not believe in other words he refused to answer them why why should he answer them what's the point it was useless they already made up their minds you know are you really are you really the messiah are they really asking like that no they weren't asking because they really wanted to know what's the point this was not a fair hearing trial this was not trying to find out justice find out what's the truth they didn't care about that they wanted to formalize what they already decided so they weren't asking oh we really want to know they want to condemn him plus if he raised a question about his authority notice he says they wouldn't answer him either so first he says if

[35:57] I tell you you're not going to believe why should I say you're not going to believe and then he says if I ask you a question you're you guys didn't say anything we don't know where it came from so what's the point of talking to you do you know something Jesus was not being interrogated he's interrogating them he was on the offensive raising the question of justice he knew their motives he knew what they were trying to do I'm not a moron I know what you guys are trying to do he saw right through their intentions he could read every single one of their hearts ah but then he gives them more than what they bargained for 69 from now on the son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God now there's a lot of stuff involved in that when he made this statement though first we want to point out something it looked like he was being the subject of their judgment but in contrast they were being judged by him they would be judged by him just him making this very statement and he used the phrase son of man

[37:22] Jesus loved to use that about himself first he asked if he was the Messiah and then he uses this phrase son of man which is talking about himself from psalm 110 from Daniel chapter 7 psalm 110 Daniel chapter 7 putting those together he showed I'm going to ascend to God's right hand as a mediatorial vice regent from this time in my appearance before you in this council I'm going to be exalted as the one who sits at God's right hand whoa see to them he was just some guy standing before the council Jesus says I'm going to sit at God's right side which is a figure for rule see in essence Jesus was answering their question about being Messiah I'm going to be seen at God's right side ruling he answered the question about

[38:25] Messiah then he gave them some more see you gotta understand to Jews in the first century even angels were needed to mediate between God and humans humans could think humans are just coming to God's presence they didn't think that they even thought angels should do that so here Jesus was claiming to be the mediator between God and humans God it was a statement that would condemn him it would condemn him in other words what would eventually condemn Jesus was his claim that he would sit at God's right hand that's what would condemn him why because he was saying he had the highest place of honor and he's resting there it's not just the highest place of honor as I have his honor and I'm resting there see one couldn't just come into

[39:28] God's presence and sit down how you doing you couldn't do that now I know people think you can do that today but in the first century you couldn't do that without some type of purification or some type of worship I mean to not have that would be an insult to God and his uniqueness you not to mention God is one who sits anyone else sitting that would be insulting to his greatness you don't sit a person may stand before God but to sit with him they knew what he was saying that was unheard of so when Jesus said the son of man his favorite title expressing both his mortality and his heavenly existence son of man he is going to sit at God's right side he was profaning God's person as far as they were concerned he's blaspheming he should die and even more if he was able to take

[40:40] God's seat then this has ginormous implications one of which is he will be judge judge so not only am I resting and sitting right next to the father I'm also going to be judge and I'm going to judge you you little puny people with your little authority type thing you little Sanhedrin thingamabobber Sanhedrin people I'm going to judge you so back to what I said earlier the religious leaders thought Jesus was in hell but on the contrary he's the true judge he's trying them so what you do to me doesn't matter it's already been planned man in this statement from Jesus he was showing how truly exalted he was I am the son of man with you little puny Sanhedrin people things believe it or not in essence

[41:43] Jesus was saying I am the judge and you really have no authority to judge me and this statement would seal his fate because as far as they were concerned he was profaning God by claiming to be able to sit at his right hand what what and yet what would prove this otherwise when he did what resurrected from the dead see the father the father would resurrect Jesus from the dead vindicating his eternal son who had completed the work set out for him to do and he would be exalted to that high place of authority and see this is good news it's good news because our lord and savior is at the father's right hand interceding for us and it's good news because the same with us friends as Jesus as Jesus disciples we suffer in this life that we're hated by others because of

[42:47] Jesus God will vindicate us because we've chosen to follow his eternal son we've repented we've trusted in Jesus God has saved us and he will vindicate us you don't have to do judgment or punishment upon those who deny or mock you or hate you you don't have to do that it's all in his hands you let God do that you just welcome them with open arms we will be different from those of Islam we will be different from those of other religions in this world won't we let us be different from them come and mock all you want come with your satire all you want go ahead we will welcome you and we will say God will forgive sinners like you just like he forgave me right the religious leaders wait wait wait time out are you the son of

[43:48] God then the leaders knew what he was saying they knew he was claiming a unique highly exalted position for God so they asked are you the unique exalted one who's able to sit next to God as his equal see for a Jew in the first century when you would say I'm the son of God you were claiming deity you were claiming your God the son that's what you're claiming they knew what that meant for some reason people for them they understood that very clearly so we know that when Jesus claimed himself to be the son of God he was proclaimed himself to be deity to be God of God in the flesh he was God's equal for them here that's blasphemy that's blasphemy and then

[44:50] Jesus answered he said to them I think in your numeric standard if you have NAS it says yes I am I don't know why they did that that was really weird it's just that you say that I am he knew they were not sincerely asking him are you really the son of God they weren't asking like they were like are you the son of God again they want him to incriminate himself to be so that's why literally from the Greek you say that I am he was intentionally ambivalent he gave them a mild affirmation or one writer puts it like this a grudging admission in other words it means you've said it so he wasn't really denying it but he wasn't really admitted it either for they didn't care notice verse 71 and they said what further need do we have of testimony for we have heard it ourselves from his own mouth why should we proceed further didn't deny their accusation

[46:04] Jesus did not deny their accusations so from their perspective it was enough to convict him no need for testimony he's going to die Jesus chose to go to the cross by his own words he'll bring his death though he would be condemned his words were true were they not the truth can be deadly can it especially when it's not well received they they can take him to the Romans now with the key charge being his claim to be a political figure who rivals Roman rule and then for them hey we're off the hook you know he was the one who said it we're just telling you this so which kind of judge do you prefer this little Sanhedrin group thingy bobber these religious leaders with their power of mocking soldiers and able to send someone to a higher authority so you can be killed or the one who will sit at

[47:15] God's right hand with total absolute power which do you choose which would you want will you turn from your denying him mocking him from hating him will you repent today and trust Jesus if you're not a follower of him will you do that stop clowning around get right get real when the heat is turned up we may wilt if we're unprepared like Peter the world's rejection of Jesus is seen in their insulting hostility though the religious leaders judged and condemned Jesus sending him to the Roman authorities it will be he who will judge them the righteous one who is equal to the father he will suffer and those who decide to follow him they will suffer too but thanks be to God he will vindicate those who follow his son isn't that good so a disciple denied him soldiers mocked him counsel hated him all worthy of condemnation but

[48:31] Jesus was going to the cross for people like them like us but God he's in the business of saving these kinds of people deniers mockers haters of his son he saves and he changes deniers to confessors of Jesus from mockers to those who embrace Jesus from haters to those who love Jesus he loves doing that so may we welcome and have open arms to people like this because God has been so gracious to have open arms to us we are people like this my study this past week I've been listening to a particular song hallelujah all I have is

[49:32] Christ and due to the connection of the song to what Luke was showing us in this passage we are ones who denied him we are ones who mocked him we are ones who hated him what I want us to do is to sing the first couple verses of this song together as a response and then we'll have our time of silence and then we'll do our time of giving and do our normal last two songs I think this was an appropriate song for us to respond to hallelujah all I have is Christ and especially the words to the verses that those first two verses coincides perfectly with what we look at here in the passage in Luke chapter 22 so let's sing this together if we can go on there again I once was lost