Praying & Entrusting Yourself to the Father

[0:00] I don't hear anything.

[0:25] I can't hear myself at all. We're having a little conversation here. That's okay. Do you want to do lunch later this week?

[0:37] Is that okay? There you go. If you would take your Bibles, turn to the Gospel of Luke, back in the saddle again.

[0:51] Back in 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 and go towards the back, page 67. 67.

[1:06] Luke 22. I'm going to start reading verse 39 through 53. 39 through 53. 53. Getting down to the wire.

[1:25] I think the second week of February will be done with the Gospel of Luke. And then I think we're going to go to the book of Acts.

[1:36] You know, it's part two, sequel. Captain America 1, Captain America 2, Avengers 1, Avengers 2, Luke, Acts. I mean, it all goes together as far as I'm concerned.

[1:47] Anyways. That was for you. Verse 39. I'll read the passage and then we'll do our study.

[1:57] And Jesus came out and proceeded as was his custom to the Mount of Olives. And the disciples also followed him. And when he arrived at the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[2:10] And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and began to pray, saying, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.

[2:21] Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. And being in agony, he was praying very fervently. And a sweat became like drops of blood falling down upon the ground. And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow and said to them, Why are you sleeping?

[2:40] Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation. While he was still speaking, behold, a multitude came. And the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding, preceding them.

[2:53] And he approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword?

[3:08] And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, Stop, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come against him, have you come out with swords and clubs as against a robber?

[3:29] While I was with you daily in the temple, you do not lay hands on me, but this hour and the power of darkness are yours. There's a story about a father who took a small son with him to town one day to run some errands.

[3:46] Maybe you've heard this story before. Lunchtime arrived, two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich. The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted his boy up.

[3:58] Seated him right next to him. They ordered lunch. The waiter brought the food. The father said, Son, we'll just have a silent prayer. Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer.

[4:12] He just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time. When he finally looked up, his father asked him, What in the world were you praying about that whole time? With innocence and honesty, the child, he replied, How do I know?

[4:24] It was a silent prayer. A member would always laugh at me because I used to tell Michael or Gloria when we would play for the Lord's Supper, Hey, can you play silently?

[4:40] So he would say to me, Is this how they play silently? Like, shut up. It's obvious what these verses are about.

[4:53] Prayer. Specifically, from going back to Luke, come follow Jesus and you'll find forgiveness of your sins here in this passage what's going to be the focus is praying and entrusting yourself to the Father.

[5:09] Praying and then entrusting yourself to the Father. Jesus was determined to go to the cross. He prayed with dependence upon the Father, resolute to do and submit to His will.

[5:29] Jesus is in complete control of these whole events. He knew the Father was in complete control. That's why He just entrusted Himself. This is what's going to happen. Here I am. Here I go. Here I go. Praying and entrusting yourself to the Father.

[5:47] Jesus is the example in His attitude and His act of prayer. He exposed Himself in the difficulty of the trial that lied before Him. And God strengthens those who bring the request to Him in humble, honest, God-focused, God-submitting, simple, fierce prayer.

[6:14] He strengthens those who do that. Jesus openly and honestly prayed to God and focused on submitting to God's will, the will of His Father.

[6:26] And the Father would listen to His Son by giving Him the strength so that He could endure drinking the cup of wrath. and in all this, the disciples failed to get it.

[6:41] They were totally oblivious to what Jesus was going through. They were only living moment to moment with no regard to what was really happening. You see what's contrasted with the insensitivity, even dunceness of the disciples versus Jesus' dependence upon the Father.

[7:02] you see that contrasted. Look, if one, if one does not look to God for help in times of trial, then that one will be prone to faithlessness.

[7:17] Trials will come. Difficulty will come. And you must look to God for help. And that's what prayer is. For the disciples, it was sleeping.

[7:30] They should have been praying. They were fighting. Or wanting to fight. But they should have been entrusting themselves. That's why Jesus said, pray that you not enter into temptation.

[7:46] They didn't listen. They didn't listen. Look, God always responds to the prayers of His faithful children. If He responded to Jesus' prayer, then He will respond to our prayer.

[7:58] prayer. Yet it doesn't mean He will take away our trials. It just means He will give us extra strength to endure through it. That's what it means.

[8:12] Sometimes He might take it away. Most times, though, He doesn't. So, what does He do? He calls us to entrust ourselves to Him.

[8:24] Just like Jesus did. Jesus prayed and entrusted. Jesus prayed and said, here we go. Here I go. He trusted that God was going to give him the strength to be able to endure.

[8:37] And so, here I go. I'm going through it. In this life, we will suffer. How will God have you suffer this new year? We don't know.

[8:49] But what we do know, it won't be more than you can handle. that's the promise. It will not be more than what you can handle. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. But He'll give you the strength so that it will go away and you won't have to deal with it anymore.

[9:03] Awesome! No, that's not what it says. He'll give you the strength to endure. To go through it. You'll see that with Jesus.

[9:17] He will pray, remove this cup from me. But not my will, your will. Here I go.

[9:27] And you're going to give me the strength to endure. And I trust that. Jesus depended upon the Father. That's the point. Even when He knew He would drink the cup of the Father's wrath for sinners, the punishment that would come upon sinners, Jesus was going to drink it.

[9:45] So what did He do? He turned to the Father and submitted to His will. Aid will come to you.

[9:58] If you depend upon the Father, He'll give you the strength to endure it. What a perfect message for the beginning of this year. Great message. Just so happens to come at this time.

[10:11] Isn't it coincidence? Great. We don't believe in the sovereignty of God or anything like that. Of course we do. God set this up for us to hear this today.

[10:24] So, two points. Easy. Straightforward. One, praying to the Father. 39-46. And then entrusting Himself to the Father. Entrusting yourself to the Father. Praying to the Father.

[10:35] What kind of prayer did He have? Simple, fierce, God-focused, God-summoning prayer. Stole a little bit from John Piper on that one. At least the first two words, simple and fierce.

[10:49] Jesus' prayer was simple, but it was fierce, it was passionate, it was just so full of everything in Him. You'll see that. But it was God-focused, God-submitting as well.

[11:02] Those are my words, not His. 39-40. First, He came out proceeding as it was His custom to the Mount of Olives. The disciples followed Him. When He arrived to the place, He said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

[11:16] The customary place Jesus would go with His disciples. Judas knew this. Luke doesn't tell us about the details. He's different from Matthew and Luke.

[11:29] He tells us just the disciples He brought them. And He came to the place and He warned them, He exhorted them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. Most likely, Jesus was alluding to what He said in chapter 22, verse 38 through 38.

[11:49] He said, you are those who are still with me by my trials. Verse 31, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you, plural, like wheat, all of you.

[12:03] Satan wanted them to defect, to totally fail, to completely desert Jesus. That's what He wants for you. He hates you.

[12:16] He can't stand you. He wants to destroy you and will do whatever He can to get you distracted from what you're supposed to do, what we're supposed to do.

[12:27] Anything. But Jesus prayed for them, for their protection. He exhorted them to pray to be faithful and to endure.

[12:38] Pray for that. Pray. That's God's means by which He gives. So why is prayer important? Why do we do it? I believe in the sovereignty of God. Why do you pray anyways?

[12:50] Because it's there that we express we need God. Desiring to depend upon Him and rest in His care for us. That's why we pray. Because we're saying, I depend upon you.

[13:03] Not on me. I need you. One writer wrote this, the way to faithfulness in the midst of hostile rejection of Christ is a dependent spirit that communes with God.

[13:21] Do you have a dependent spirit that communes with God? Christian, how will you commune with God this new year? How will you make it a vital aspect to your life?

[13:35] A vital aspect in your life? 41. He withdrew from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and began to pray saying, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me.

[13:53] Yet not my will, but yours be done. Went away from them about a stone's throw. Interesting, only Luke has this. He knelt down.

[14:05] Again, only Luke has this as well. It was common in that day for you to stand and pray with your eyes to heaven. This is how people would normally pray.

[14:17] Not like this, but like this. That's how they would normally pray. Jesus didn't do that. He knelt down. Why? Why did Jesus kneel?

[14:30] To show his humility before his father? And also because of the agony he was about to face. Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.

[14:52] Notice how he revealed his mood as he was about to face a terrible death. Yet notice before and after his request, remove this cup. Before that and then after that, he says what?

[15:03] If you will. Father's will. See, it just went out right there. Your will, remove this cup, your will.

[15:14] So as he's praying this, he reflected his trust in his father's sovereignty by entrusting himself to the father.

[15:28] Which we're going to see more of this later. God's will was Jesus' first desire. And you see the relationship between the father and the son.

[15:41] That's why we believe there's two distinct persons here. By the way, we don't believe that there's manifestations. We don't believe that there's one God and he manifests himself as the father.

[15:53] He manifests himself as the son. Then manifests himself as the holy spirit. If you believe that, then you are a Mormon. That's Mormon. It's what Mormonism teaches.

[16:05] He manifests himself this way, manifests himself this way, manifests himself this way. way. Some monotheists, they believe it. Monotheists, this way, there's only one God. You can't think that.

[16:16] That's not what you see here in the text. There's two distinct persons. The father and the son. The father and the eternal son is praying to the father. Remove this cup from me.

[16:32] what cup? Cup is figuratively linked in the Old Testament to suffering and wrath.

[16:46] Psalm chapter 11, Isaiah 51, Ezekiel chapter 23, Jesus asked to have the cup of suffering and wrath taken from him.

[17:04] The first question comes to mind is why? We're going to talk more about what this is, this cup of wrath and suffering, but first why? Why would he ask this? Not suffer, I mean, he was just talking about this the whole time in the Gospel of Luke.

[17:20] This must happen. He predicted it would happen. Now he's saying, I don't want it to happen? Is he like schizophrenic or something like that? Does he have multiple personalities? Jesus did not have some death wish, like some suicide bomber.

[17:39] We have to understand that. But yet, at the same time, it was his choice to face the cross as an act of service, suffering, and a sacrifice for sinners.

[17:53] The sacrifice for sinners. sinners. He's an example of one who submitted himself to the Father, to the will of the Father, and yet, this was daunting.

[18:07] So what exactly was he asking? He was asking for a potential shift in the plan, so that he would not need to drink the cup of the Father's wrath.

[18:21] The writer of Hebrews picks up on this, in Hebrews chapter 5. In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one able to save him from death, and he was hurt because of his piety.

[18:42] But only if it's possible. And according to the Father's will, so the idea is like this, it's like Jesus was saying this, quote, if it's necessary, it is necessary.

[18:53] But if there's another way, could it be, could it be, it doesn't say. But there was no other way.

[19:10] He had to drink the cup of God's wrath for sinners. What was the cup? Jesus would be arrested as a criminal, tried as a criminal, beaten as a criminal, fraud, as a criminal, and then crucified as a criminal.

[19:29] He would become a curse for us. That's the cup that he would drink. He would drink the cup of suffering and wrath. all of the father's anger, all of the father's condemnation, all of the father's punishment upon sin would be placed upon Jesus.

[19:50] Which is why if you are here and you are united to Jesus, God will not punish you because he punished his son. Why would he punish you?

[20:01] Why would he punish you? see, it wasn't so much that he would die, it's not about just death, but the kind of death he would face.

[20:12] The father's entire wrath just exhausted on Jesus, just poured out on Jesus, just a flood of anger on Jesus.

[20:23] so he's wracked with anguish at facing this kind of death, awful, dreadful, unbearable, appalling, horrendous, atrocious death.

[20:40] Because without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness of sins. He would pay the full wages of sin by exhausting the father's wrath.

[20:54] All of the father's wrath was poured upon him. The father would unleash his punishment upon his son in the place of sinners.

[21:11] For all those who would turn away from their sin and place all their trust in Jesus and what he's done. Living for sinners, dying for sinners, rising for sinners.

[21:23] This is good news. If you are not a follower of Jesus today, come to God on his terms. What's his terms? Turn away from your sin and put all your trust in Jesus.

[21:36] Cling to Christ. Cling to Jesus because the wrath of God is punished, was poured on him Jesus. And if you cling to Jesus, if you are united in Christ, he will not punish you.

[21:49] What flows to you is love. What flows to you is compassion. What flows to you is mercy and grace. Don't you want that? People say, well, God's not gracious.

[22:00] God is so unloving. How so? He should give you what you justly deserve and then he poured that out upon his son. And if you trust in his son, you'll get his love and compassion and grace.

[22:12] Don't you want that? sin matters to God. It does. But we're not good enough for God to accept us.

[22:23] You will never be good enough. You know what I said? You will never be good enough for God to accept you. Never. There's a greater curve.

[22:35] You must be perfect. But there's one who was perfect. Jesus, the righteous one. He was perfect.

[22:47] So you cling to Jesus. And the Father will not look upon your sin because your sin will be placed on Jesus. The Father will look upon your righteousness because it's not your righteousness.

[22:59] It's Jesus' righteousness credited to you. And you don't face his wrath. You don't face any of the wrath of God. There's no other way to have relationship with God.

[23:12] There's no other way you can have forgiveness of sins only in Jesus. There it goes. It goes out again.

[23:23] Here's Jesus pouring out himself to simple fierce God-focused God-submitting prayer. And he closed the prayer the same way he began. Your will be done.

[23:35] He was committing himself to the Father's will. Here's his exemplary attitude. Jesus made known his heart's desire but his concern was God's will.

[23:48] As Jesus prayed with agony and despair he was committed to obey. He was committed. Do what you have for me. Okay, here I go. Christian, do we pray like this?

[24:05] Do we pray with passion? Do we pray fiercely? Do we pray wanting the Father's will be done? Do we pray to honor him or us? Do we pray entrusting ourselves to the Father and to his will?

[24:24] John Piper had blog posts or not John Piper but in Desiring God there was a blog post grow in passionate prayer. And here's something that we could be praying this year.

[24:36] Father, you are faithful. I can't imagine a worse reality than forgetting you. And you are faithful never to let me forget. In fact, you wash over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without your will.

[24:51] And every little thing that comes into my life works together so that I might enjoy more of you forever. What a great prayer. Just, here I am.

[25:03] And then you entrust yourself, here I go. Here I go. If we're followers of Jesus, God is our Father. And we have a loving relationship with Him.

[25:14] He's given us all things. So we must prayerfully wait. That's the secret of not yielding to temptation. When you're tempted, when temptations come, what should you do?

[25:26] Depend upon God. Throw yourself upon God. Throw yourself upon the Father. prayer. But if we do not pray, then we are unprepared and we get ourselves into trouble.

[25:42] Yes, that's what happens. And that's what we'll see with the disciples too. Going back to our text, look at verse 43. 43, Now an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him, and being in agony, he was praying very fervently, and his sweat became like drops, so blood falling down upon the ground.

[26:02] It's actually in your Bibles, I think, some of your Bibles say some manuscripts don't have these two verses. So we'll first deal with that. This is what's called a textual variance. Is this legit?

[26:14] All you scholarly people give you some of this information. A couple of the papyruses omit this. A couple of the key unseals omit this. Although a couple of the other key unseals have this, along with many other later manuscripts, it's really hard to determine this.

[26:31] Because you have the dating is contrasted with the family distribution of the manuscripts, so it's kind of hard. If you had to twist my arm or put a gun to my head, I'd say, yeah, I think this is probably part of the original.

[26:46] But again, it doesn't take away or add to God's word. I mean, it's not going to change a major theological thing if we take that away or we add that. That's the great part about textual variances.

[26:56] So if we were to include it, these two verses show something. It shows us that the Father stands beside those who suffer according to His will. Did you see that?

[27:08] In other words, God gives help to those whose attitude is obedience to His will. He will help us to endure through the trials of life. So that's why an angel was sent to strengthen him, to be able to face the coming wrath.

[27:26] Jesus' agony in prayer, you see that there in verse 44. He was praying very fervently. He was just so agonizing. The emotional and physiological effect on him was traumatic.

[27:42] As he was in agony, he was praying fervently, keenly, fiercely, passionately. It was so agonizing. There was such anxiety. There was such fear and just brokenness.

[27:55] But what he was about to face, he was sweating profusely and abundantly in such a way that his sweat beads had multiplied like flowing clumps of blood.

[28:09] And what does not say his sweat became blood. It doesn't say that. Some might try to make it say that, but it doesn't say that. It's talking about the size of the drops, not the color.

[28:21] water. What's the point? The point is that Jesus' emotional state was very intense. He knew he would face a terrible fate and it was agonizing to him.

[28:35] Yet God gave him the strength he needed so he would be ready to suffer and die. He would entrust himself and say, here I go. Here I am. Here I am. Here I go. The father did not take away the cup of wrath.

[28:51] Jesus had to face but gave him the strength to endure it. The writer of Hebrews says, for the joy set before him, he endured the cross despising its shame.

[29:05] In the same way, God may not take away the trials that he gives us, but he will give us strength. Unfortunately, the disciples didn't really get that.

[29:19] He rose from prayer. He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow. He now goes to the disciples. He rose from praying, returned to the disciples. Notice, found them sleeping, and this is only in Luke as well.

[29:33] They were sleeping because of grief and sorrow. Have you ever been so broken and just so sad that you're just exhausted and then you fall asleep? Ever had that happen? Jesus coming, suffering and death, it hit home with them.

[29:50] It drained them emotionally. And yet, it was still sad because at a time when Jesus' closest followers needed him most, they were insensitive to his feelings, insensitive to what was happening.

[30:14] Notice what happens in verse 46 again. Jesus exhorted them. The words are pretty much verbatim from verse 40. Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray you will not enter into temptation.

[30:24] Pray you will not enter into temptation. The heat is going to get turned up, fellas. And you'll be vulnerable to temptation because the one who prayed, the only one who prays, they're going to remain strong over the next few hours.

[30:39] Do you get that? The next few hours. I mean, here it's like, what, three, four o'clock in the morning or whatever. It's early, early, early in the morning. And Jesus is saying, if you guys don't pray, you're not going to have the strength to endure the next few hours.

[30:52] In other words, we should be praying hourly for strength, for God to help us to endure. Unfortunately, when the moment of the truth arrived, it would be seen the disciples did not pray.

[31:09] They were not ready, they did not depend upon God, but praying to be faithful. There was no diligence. So how do you respond to crisis?

[31:21] Like Jesus, who turned to God for strength, expressing his heart's desire, asking to remove the cup of wrath, yet also showed commitment to follow God's will? Like that?

[31:35] Simple, fierce, God-focused, God-willing prayer? Jesus was faithful to God. He is the exemplary martyr, the servant of God.

[31:56] How do you respond? When trials come, no longer fear, for in the pain our God draws near, and fires of faith worth more than gold.

[32:15] That's why we sing that. So I want you to sing that. Because as we come near to him, expressing our heart to him, yet also submitting to him, when we do this, God will respond to you.

[32:31] He'll respond to you. He'll send you strength, he'll send you aid, he'll send you help, so you will endure. I mean, we could even say, here at this point, 45 and 46, we could even say at this point, Jesus had said, I'm entrusting myself.

[32:47] Boom, here I go. We could even say at this point, this is what he did. Is that how you respond?

[32:59] As trials come, no longer fear. Praying to God, and then, our second point, entrusting yourself to the Father.

[33:13] That's what Jesus does. He prays, God gives him strength, here I go, I'm going to endure, I'm going to trust myself, that's why we read 1 Peter chapter 2, he entrusts himself to the one who judges justly, God knew he was perfect, he should not be judged as a criminal, Jesus was no criminal, I'm not a criminal, come on.

[33:34] Here I go. Notice how everything begins to move now. He was still speaking, behold, a multitude came, the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them, he approached Jesus to kiss him.

[33:48] The first thing to happen, the betrayal. That lack of prayer and dependence on God by the disciples, it's going to come out.

[34:01] And you're going to see Jesus' compassion, his control of everything, and just like he's entrusting himself to the Father and what the Father has for him. He's just letting things unfold and he's here I am, and here I go.

[34:15] You see such a stark contrast of disciples not understanding what's going on, wanting to defend Jesus violently, then Jesus healing a guy's ear, talking to his arresters, wanting to face suffering, is in total control.

[34:33] His response shows he was no criminal. He entrusted himself to God for these events. Judas, notice, one of the twelve, ouch, this magnified the betrayal tenfold, it stung even more.

[34:53] He approached Jesus to kiss him, why? Because it was dark, can't see anything. Want to make sure they get the right guy. Remember, they were nervous about arresting Jesus because all the people loved him.

[35:09] He was popular. So they're kind of like, okay, we're going to do this. And you're going to see Jesus, he's kind of like, hey, why are you guys doing this in the dark? They knew there was something underhanded about it.

[35:22] Covert action. Interesting note, before Judas kissed Jesus, Jesus responded to Judas with this question of irony. The word kiss comes from the word which means to love.

[35:37] And then Jesus gave his title of authority. Whoa. You want to betray the Son of Man? Has absolute authority over you, Judas?

[35:48] All I need to do is just blow one of my eyebrows at you and you'll fall dead. You want to betray the Son of Man with a kiss?

[36:00] Which expresses friendship, esteem, love, and loyalty? Yes, the Son of Man will suffer because you have chosen to betray him, Judas.

[36:11] Yes. You know, what's interesting too, Luke doesn't tell us if Judas kissed Jesus. You see that? It's not there. He doesn't tell us if Judas did indeed kiss Jesus with the kiss from hell.

[36:30] Oh, great. 49. When those who were around him saw what was going to happen, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear.

[36:43] So he was to decide to see what's going on. All these people are here to arrest Jesus. Jesus was betraying him. It's all going down, man. Lord, shall we strike with the sword to defend you? And given their misunderstanding, remember in verse 36, 37, 38, when Jesus says, you've got to make sure you're prepared.

[37:00] Lord, here's two swords. Oh, Jesus, never mind. They didn't wait for the answer. They didn't wait for Jesus' answer. One drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest cutting off his right ear.

[37:14] And John, in the Gospel of John, he tells us, Peter was the one who did this. He's the guy wielding the sword. Some say, well, because he was a fisherman, he didn't know how to strike.

[37:26] I think what he did was just kind of go like this, drew his sword, and the dude's like, oh, no, right? Slow motion, goes like this, and the ear falls off, right?

[37:38] That's what I think happened. Well, can you imagine, though, he possibly ducked, Jesus arrested, comes to a halt, and everyone's like, everyone's sword gets drawn at this point.

[37:50] And notice Jesus responds, Jesus answered and said, stop, no more of this. Literally, he's saying, let go of this. Which could mean, leave it alone, or like the idiom from the New American Standard, stop, no more of this, or even, let them do this.

[38:10] Don't defend me through physical force, no. I am to suffer. Jesus is entrusting himself to the plan of the Father. I am to suffer.

[38:21] This must happen to me. You don't want any fighting. Isn't it amazing how Jesus was in total control of what's happening, even with this betrayal and arrest?

[38:38] And then how did he respond? He touched his ear and healed him. He touched the guy. So what did he do? Did he pick up the guys here?

[38:50] Oh, man. There you go. How did he do that? Or did he just touch it and then it just would be amazing.

[39:05] I mean, what compassion and grace amid these men coming against Jesus. He showed compassion and grace to them. But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

[39:21] While we were yet his enemies, Christ died for us. By this very act, Jesus made it totally clear. He was no threat to the state.

[39:32] He was no threat to anyone. He had no desire to battle. He was not some dangerous revolutionary. I am going to take over the Roman empire.

[39:43] He just healed some dude's ear. that one of his weirdo wacky disciples cut off. By the way, this is an argument for the historicity of the gospels.

[39:58] Because the early church would not create such an attack picturing the disciples like such buffoons. And there's a corporate lesson here for us as well.

[40:12] As Christians, we should vote and express our rights as American citizens. Yes. We should elect people in office who represent our views. Yes. But it is not for the church to take up the sword.

[40:25] The only sword we should take up is the sword of the spirit, which is the Bible. We're not called to take up arms. This whole thing that people throw at you by the crusades, yeah, they're right.

[40:36] And you know what I told people? I said, you know what, Matthew and Mark Jesus says, he who lives by the sword dies by the sword.

[40:53] Jesus does not advocate violence, nor should the church be about advocating violence. That's not our place, friend. Our place, our mission is the gospel. Take up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

[41:06] That's the only sword we should take up. He heals the guy. Now Jesus turned his attention to the priest, officers, officers of the temple, elders, the religious leadership, military leadership, civil leadership.

[41:26] And he gives him a rebuking question. Have you come out with swords and clubs against a robber? I'm shocked that you're coming to arrest me as if I'm some violent revolutionary with swords and clubs.

[41:40] Really? I mean really? I mean I just healed the dude's ear. And like I can't just take your swords and melt them in your little sword thing? In your little sheath?

[41:52] Like use my x-ray vision type stuff? I mean come on. My heat vision? I mean can I not do that? I mean really? How absurd. It's like you're arresting some dangerous criminal?

[42:05] Ah. Yes. This fulfilled what Jesus had predicted in the upper room. Remember when he quoted Isaiah 53? He'll be numbered with transgressors like a criminal.

[42:22] But notice what he does in verse 53. He gets to the heart of the issue. While I was with you daily in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this hour and the power of darkness are yours. He got to the heart of their intentions.

[42:33] When I was with you in the temple daily teaching, you didn't arrest me then, did you? In other words, you could have arrested me peaceably, publicly, oh, not in the cover of darkness.

[42:47] You don't want to do that. You're trying to hide something. By this very statement, Jesus exposed their hypocrisy.

[42:59] They were on the cover of darkness because they knew it was not a lawful just arrest. They knew that. There was something underhanded in this covert operation. That's why he says, but this hour is your hour.

[43:16] It's the hour of the power of darkness. The forces of evil are now having their way to try to destroy Jesus. Night is a picture of evil and its rule or domain.

[43:31] Thus, it displays the dark nature of their action. Evil is being allowed to do this. Yet, evil is not in ultimate control.

[43:44] Jesus just entrusted himself to the Father. The Father is in control. Jesus is in control. God was bringing this about for sinners, for us, for our salvation.

[43:57] He's doing this for us. So, he might bring us to himself and show that he's a glorious God who's gracious and compassionate to sinners. They chose darkness.

[44:11] They wanted to destroy the light. Yet, the light, suffering and dying, it was all part of God's plan. It was all part of God's plan. Just a note, too, Satan wanted to destroy Jesus, and he also wanted to keep Jesus from accomplishing redemption for mankind.

[44:31] Satan. It's sad how this section is full of hypocrisy, isn't it? Judas had betrayed Jesus with a kiss.

[44:43] The Jewish leadership came to arrest Jesus under the cover of darkness. They knew it was unjust. The disciples who said, we're going to stand with you, Jesus. No, they didn't. And yet, in the midst of all this, Jesus was in total control, showing who he really was, a compassionate, gracious Savior who came to suffer and die for sinners like a criminal.

[45:13] Though darkness will seem to reign, as we go farther in, darkness will seem to reign, Jesus was just entrusting himself to the Father's plan. This is what the Father wanted for Jesus.

[45:24] And he says, here I go. I will do what you want me to do. Wouldn't it be great, wouldn't it be great that when someone attacks us, we would respond with compassion, submitting to what God has for us.

[45:43] That we would entrust ourselves to the Father, like it said, 1 Peter chapter 2, knowing that he is the just judge who will vindicate us? Does not God see?

[45:56] Does not God know? Of course he does. What's the first step to responding this way? Just like Jesus did.

[46:07] Fervent, passionate, fierce, simple, God-focused, God-submitting prayer, and then, I'm entrusting myself to you. You're going to give me the strength, strength, I'm going to trust you gave me strength, here I go.

[46:21] Go through it. What does God have for you this year? What is God going to have for you in 2015, 2015? What's He going to do? I don't know.

[46:33] But He'll give you the strength to endure, Christian. You've got to trust that. Take a few moments to ponder what we've seen in God's Word.

[46:44] a few moments to think about what we've seen here in the Gospel of Luke. Maybe it might be a time for you to pray.

[46:57] Maybe there's been conviction. Maybe you need to confess. And as you're doing that, remind yourself of the Gospel, because we're going to partake of the Lord's Supper in a few moments. So think through what we've seen in God's Word, and then we'll do a song.

[47:17] We'll do our time of giving, and then we'll prepare ourselves for the Lord's Supper. Amen. Thank you.

[47:47] I'll instructions for the tool. Thank you so low one way of what I've invested.

[47:57] Food, and then we'll do a few interviews. I'll be wondering, why doSmj?

[48:07] Please turn around one. Thank you.