[0:00] Well, good morning. It is a privilege for me to be able to open the Word of God with you this morning. And we will read the passage out of chapter 13 in just a minute, but to tie it to what we talked about last week, and to tie it to where we are in the Gospel, let me just say a couple of things.
[0:21] One is in early part of chapter 13, it says this, Jesus knew that His hour had come. You know, throughout the Gospel, He says, My hour has not come. My hour has not come.
[0:34] And now He says here in chapter 13, My hour has come. What hour is He referring to? It's the hour that He would give up His life, where He would be willing to go to the cross.
[0:46] He'd be willing to die on behalf of His people. That's the hour He's referring to. Where we are in the Gospel of John is we're in chapter 13.
[0:58] We're looking at the very day that He would be arrested. This evening, chapter 13, going forward, He will be arrested. He will be tried. He will be convicted.
[1:08] He will be elevated on the cross the next day. So we're very close to the last day of Christ's earthly life. And I would just remind us of a couple of things He said in the early part of chapter 13 that's really going to speak to what we're going to read this morning, starting in verse 18, where we're going to read.
[1:30] But He says this in verse 2. He said, This morning we're going to read about a great betrayal.
[1:42] And this great betrayal is at the hands of Judas Iscariot. And we see here that Christ is telling us before it happens that this is going to come to pass. He says this to Peter as he is washing the feet of the apostles and disciples.
[2:01] And Peter says to Him, You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus says this, If I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me. And He says, Not only my feet, but my hands and my head also.
[2:12] Wash all of me, Peter would say. And Jesus says that I only need to wash your feet. It is enough. What He is symbolically saying is that the washing of His sacrifice, the sacrifice of His life is sufficient for salvation.
[2:29] But I want us to catch this in verse 11. He says, He knew who was going to betray Him. That was why He said, Not all of you are clean.
[2:43] There's this truth in the Scripture in John that says that there's this one who is a part of my close friends, who is one of the apostles, who is going to betray Him.
[2:56] He's telling them this ahead of time. And He says, Not all of you are clean. In essence, He's saying that the covering of my blood has not covered Judas.
[3:09] And we'll talk more about that as we look at his betrayal. And as we step into verse 18, I would ask if you're able to stand in honor of God's Word, I would ask you to do that.
[3:20] If you're not physically able, we understand. Please remain seated. As we read chapter 13, starting in verse 18, reading through the end of the chapter. I hope you brought your Bible with you.
[3:32] I would encourage you to open it and read with us. As we read, starting in verse 18. I am not speaking of all of you. I know whom I have chosen.
[3:43] But the Scripture will be fulfilled. He who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me. I am telling you this now before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am He.
[3:58] Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in His spirit and testified, Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.
[4:16] The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at the table at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter motioned to Him to ask Jesus of whom He was speaking.
[4:30] So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to Him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, It is He to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.
[4:43] So when He had dipped the morsel, He gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after He had taken the morsel, Satan entered into Him. Jesus said to him, What you are doing, do quickly.
[4:56] Now no one at the table knew why He had said this to Him. Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, Buy what we need for the feast, or that He should give something to the poor.
[5:09] So after receiving the morsel of bread, He immediately went out, and it was night. When He had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
[5:23] If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once, little children. Yet a little while I am with you.
[5:33] You will seek Me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
[5:48] You also are to love one another. By this all people will know, that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, where are you going?
[6:00] Jesus answered him, Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow afterwards. Peter said to Him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down My life for you.
[6:11] Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow, till you have denied Me three times.
[6:22] Let's pray. Father, I recognize even this morning, my weakness, and my inability to accurately share Your Word, unless You do it through me.
[6:33] So God, I ask that You would lead our time together, as we open Your Word. I pray that You would speak to our hearts, not just our ears, not just our head. I pray that You speak to our hearts.
[6:45] Father, I pray that You would open our eyes, and our ears to see the depth of Your Word this morning, and You would move us to obedience, I pray in Your name. Amen. You can have a seat. So this morning, I want to talk about, and I see four things we really want to look at in this passage.
[7:03] One is a great betrayal. We see, and we know that in the life, in the example of Judas Iscariot, we'll talk about that. And also, we see a great love in this passage, in the person of Christ.
[7:18] We also see a new commandment, and we'll talk about what that means for you and I. And then lastly, there's a great need that each of us has. A great betrayal, great love, a new commandment, and a great need is what we'll talk about.
[7:35] First, a great betrayal. Consider this. How is it possible that Judas Iscariot would live with Christ for three years, be one of the disciples that was with Him, that ate bread with Him, that watched all the miracles that He did, watched how He loved people and cared for people, not just the elite of the society, but the down and out.
[8:05] How He loved them, how He healed those who had limbs that didn't work, how He opened the eyes of blind men, how He fed 5,000 in the wilderness.
[8:16] He saw all of this. How could He see that? And how could He see how selfless Christ was, how much He loved and cared for people, and even Judas himself received care from Jesus?
[8:31] They sat at the table together. They lived together. And yet, how is it that He'd be willing to kill the Lord Jesus?
[8:43] We look at that and we can't fathom why He would get to this place, or how is it possible He'd get to this place? Let me just share this. It's not just that He betrayed Jesus as a friend, and He said, oh, He's not my friend anymore.
[8:59] anymore. That's not what is being shared by Christ here. This betrayal is greater than just turning and walking away.
[9:12] We will remember what He did, that He sought out an opportunity to betray Him. Remember, as Christ was doing ministry, especially in Jerusalem, that the chief priest and the council were seeking to arrest Him and kill Him, right?
[9:30] Many times they sent people to go arrest Him, and one time they came back and said, never man spake like this. We couldn't take Him. Oftentimes, the people were so amazed at the words of Christ that the leaders of the Jews didn't want to take Him at those moments for fear that they would be attacked.
[9:48] But know this, that they were trying all along to find an opportunity to take Jesus so that they could kill Him. Judas knew that.
[10:02] And one time when they left town and they were getting ready to come back, he says, Lord, what are you doing? Don't you know they're seeking to kill you? Why would you go right back to Jerusalem? There's a strong probability they'll find you and arrest you.
[10:16] Judas was part of that. Judas heard those conversations. Judas knew that they wanted to kill Him. And so what did Judas do? In his betrayal, he went to those very men and said, what will you give me if I hand Him to you?
[10:31] What will you give me if I take you to Him and I put Him in your hands so that you can arrest Him and you can kill Him? Understand that the betrayal of Judas was a willingness to kill Jesus.
[10:45] Doesn't that amaze you? How is it possible being around Him and seeing Him that He would get to this place where He'd be willing to hand Him over in a manner of speaking to those who sought to kill Him?
[11:03] Well, there's two sides to this story. That is the betrayal of Judas. One side is the side of Judas. The other side is the sovereign side.
[11:14] That is from God's perspective. How is it possible that God would even foreknow or foretell or prophesy or let us know that this is coming?
[11:26] Look with me, if you will, in verse 18. Christ is speaking and He says, He quotes the Scripture. He quotes Psalm 41 and He says this.
[11:39] He says, He who ate my bread has lifted His heel against me. He who ate my bread has lifted His heel against me. Who is He referring to?
[11:50] He's referring to the betrayer. You know, this is prophesied that there's coming a time when one who is part of His inner circle, if you will, the twelve, is going to betray Him, is going to hand Him over to be killed.
[12:05] God knew ahead of time. God told us ahead of time. And Christ is doing the same. Christ is saying that He is going to lift His heel against me.
[12:20] He is going to betray me. We saw it as I talked about it early in verse 11. The one who is going to betray is Judas.
[12:32] And we could look at other places in Scripture. And we would see that Judas is the one who is going to betray.
[12:43] Christ talks about this more than once. For sake of time, I'll not turn to all those passages. But it begs a question, how is it possible? How is it possible that He would be willing to do that?
[12:56] And the passage this morning, it answers that question. Look at this. It says in verse 18, I am not speaking to all of you. Speaking about what, Jesus? It would go back to verse 12.
[13:09] He was washing the feet and He's saying, do you understand what I'm doing for you? Do you understand as I wash your feet? This is a demonstration of the forgiveness that I give you.
[13:21] That my death on the cross, my sacrifice in my life is sufficient for you that you would be cleaned, cleansed.
[13:33] But there's one who is not cleansed. It's this one that was foretold. It's this one that never received Christ, never understood Him to be the Messiah. And we see here in verse 18, I'm not speaking to all of you.
[13:47] I know whom I have chosen. Christ, what are you saying? Is there one whom you have not chosen? That's exactly what He's saying. Of the twelve, one is not chosen.
[13:59] One is not cleansed. John 17 says this. It says, While I was with them, this is a high priestly prayer, this is Christ.
[14:12] We get an inside view of Christ speaking directly to the Father. And here's what He's saying. While I was with them, that is the twelve, the disciples, I kept them.
[14:23] In your name, which you have given me, I have guarded them. Isn't it a beautiful picture that Christ has kept and guarded His apostles, His disciples? And none of them has been lost except the Son of Destruction.
[14:38] In His prayer to the Father, He acknowledges that Psalm 41, the fulfillment of Psalm 41 happens in the person of Judas.
[14:49] Does that mean that Judas was forced to betray Him? No, not at all. Judas did it of His own will. So we see two sides of this great betrayal. It's the side of Judas choosing to betray Him, choosing to go to the priest and say, What will you give me if I betray Him, if I hand Him to you?
[15:11] What will you give me? And they agreed to give Him thirty pieces of silver. Listen, for the sake of money, for the sake of money, He was willing to betray Jesus.
[15:24] You know, the Scripture does indicate that He had the money bag. Even in our passage, He was the one that carried the money bag so when they had a need for food, they would go to Judas, Can you go and get us the food we need for our group?
[15:37] Or go give money to the poor, whatever was the purpose of the moment. But the Scripture indicates that often He would pilfer out of the bag. He would reach His hand in.
[15:48] He would grab the money. He would use it for Himself. You know what we see in Judas is an extreme selfishness. That He would be willing to betray another, someone that had loved Him and cared for Him.
[16:05] He was willing to betray Him. Why? Because of His selfishness. That He, we see in His life this picture of Him living for Himself. This great betrayal.
[16:17] how is it possible He could live and not understand that Jesus is the Messiah? And then I want you to look at the second point is great love.
[16:32] So we see great betrayal in the life of Judas. Something that we can't understand. And I'm reminded of an illustration I want to share with you in reference before we look at this great love of Christ.
[16:44] I want to remind you of, I want to just share with you a little quick story. So I'm sitting recently, within the last year I'm sitting in a restaurant and I got a guy that's a friend of mine who's in his 30s and he's sharing with me, he's opened his heart to me, he's saying, man, I think I've finally found the girl that I want to marry.
[17:03] He said, here I am in my 30s, mid-30s, and I've just not been the type of guy that wanted to settle down. I wanted to do my own thing, but I think I've found the girl. I really believe I have.
[17:14] And he was sharing with me that he was, the very weekend we were sitting at a restaurant together and he was sharing with me that he was intending to ask her to marry him that very weekend.
[17:27] And I'm sitting on the past tense. He's sharing with me the story of his intention. He said, but this weekend after I got home from a trip, I came back and she didn't return my call.
[17:39] I texted, she didn't return my text. We were supposed to meet and she didn't show up. It's like, what is going on? And it turns out that he found out that she was with another guy, hugging on another guy, kissing on another guy, spending time with another guy after they had talked about marriage over an extended period of time.
[18:01] And that very weekend, he was intending to ask her to marry him and it all fell apart. You can imagine the pain that he was carrying as we sat at the table together. It's a betrayal, isn't it?
[18:12] It's a picture of a betrayal. One whom indicated that yes, I love you, yes, I'm willing to marry you and was heading down that road only the very weekend he was intending that she turned to another guy and left him.
[18:27] It's painful. I walk with him through that process. The picture of betrayal in the life of Judas is painful. It's hard to understand.
[18:38] But let me just say this. You know we're all capable of that same thing? Do you realize that in a manner of speaking, that's us?
[18:55] Lest we think that we're not capable of that, I would caution you to consider who we really are, to really look deep and see who we really are, what we're really capable of apart from Christ.
[19:10] Now let's look at Christ, this incredible great love that we see pictured in Christ. We've seen this through the book as we've walked through John.
[19:21] I won't spend a ton of time here, but I do want to highlight the beauty of what Christ is willing to do for us. We see here in verse 31, when he had gone out, Jesus said, now is the Son of Man glorified.
[19:37] What does he mean? Now is the Son of Man glorified. You know what he's saying? Is that it is time, now is time. And I will be betrayed this very night.
[19:49] And I will be taken captive this very night. And I will be killed and crucified tomorrow. Now is the time when the Son of Man is going to be glorified.
[20:01] God is going to be glorified in and through the Son as he gives his life away. For our sakes, right? We understand what he did here. We understand what his death meant.
[20:16] Listen to what John 15 says. It says this, greater love has no one than this that someone would lay down his life for his friends. Greater love has no one than this that he would lay down his life for his friends.
[20:31] You know that's what Christ has done for you and me. He has laid down his life for you and me that we might have life. You realize, and I'm confident that most if not all of you understand that we can't ever earn eternal life.
[20:49] We can't ever earn salvation apart from one who is perfect that would die on our behalf. We had no hope and that perfect one was Jesus. And he was willing to die a cruel, painful death that you and I might have life.
[21:06] We look in the Word at some powerful passages in 1 Peter 2. It says this, it's that he, Jesus, bore our sins in his body on the tree, meaning the cross, the wooden cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
[21:23] It says, listen, this is an echo of Isaiah 53. By his wounds you have been healed. By the spear that pierced his side, by the hanging on the cross, the death, the grueling death, the agony of death that Christ experienced.
[21:40] By his wounds we have been healed. By his death we have been made righteous. It's the great exchange, right? Our sins were placed on him and his righteousness was placed on us that we might be accepted by the Father.
[21:57] He was willing to die on our behalf. Romans 5 says it this way, but God shows his love for us. Do you realize that our salvation is an expression of God's love?
[22:10] He shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for you and me. This great love, one who would be willing to go to the cross for you and I.
[22:23] Do you see the extremes here? This incredible betrayal that is self-focused. It's hard to imagine someone who is more selfish than he'd be willing to cause another man to be put to death.
[22:41] He would betray one who he is in friendship with. It just is crazy to think that he'd be willing to go to that level of selfishness that is all about him, all about what he can get, the money that he would receive, and yet you look at the selflessness of Christ.
[23:01] You see the extremes? The selfishness of Judah and the selflessness of Christ, that he would be willing to die. The beautiful picture of love, what does it look like, a willingness to die?
[23:15] Now let me ask us this question. And it gets real as I ask this question. Do you see yourself as more like Judas or more like Jesus?
[23:29] Do you see yourself as more like Judas or more like Jesus? You know, until we recognize that we're capable of doing exactly what Judas does, until we recognize that we don't have the capacity to honor God.
[23:47] You know, the truth is that the Word of God says we're enslaved to sin in our natural state before we're redeemed, before we're born again, that we don't have the genuine capacity to love selflessly.
[24:00] You know that all of us are selfish by nature? Romans 6 said it this way, we're enslaved to sin. Brothers and sisters, I want us to see that we, in our natural state, are a whole lot more like Judas than we are Jesus.
[24:22] Jesus. We don't want to believe that. We want to believe there's a lot of good in us. And there's no way we would ever go to that extreme.
[24:37] You know, perhaps we never would betray someone to their death. Perhaps we wouldn't be as bad as we could be, but you know what the Word of God says about us in our natural state?
[24:48] There's nothing good in us. We're slaves to sin. All we do is sin. It might have a different picture than betrayal, but nonetheless, it's offensive to a holy God.
[24:59] And until God does a work in our life and changes us, we will never be like Jesus. That we're like Judas. And until we understand the depth of our sin, we don't need a Savior.
[25:15] At least we think we don't need a Savior. If we feel like we're mostly good, then our mostly goodness might earn our way into heaven. You know that's not biblical. There's nothing you can do that has any spiritual value, that has any credit to your account, that has any effect in God accepting you as His child.
[25:39] Apart from the gift of salvation on our behalf, we would never be in His kingdom. We're just like in many ways, Judas.
[25:52] Brothers and sisters, I hope that we will acknowledge the depth of our sin as God continues to reveal it. In Sunday school this morning, we talked about, you know, we know a lot because God's revealed it, but you know it's a whole lot deeper than we think.
[26:07] Paul even said, I'm the chief of sinners. As I've sought Him and I've pursued Him, I've recognized in comparison to His holiness, I've seen my sin now that it's darker than I ever thought, it's deeper than I ever thought.
[26:25] So, this, the third point I want to share. First point is great betrayal, the second is the great love of Christ. The third is a new commandment.
[26:37] Read with me if you will. In verse 34, this is Christ speaking to His disciples and He says this, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you.
[26:50] A new commandment I give you. What is that commandment, Christ? What are you asking us to do? And Christ says, to love one another. But I want you to notice the phrase here, just as.
[27:05] Don't miss the just as. Bill, He wants you to love just as He loved.
[27:17] The same way that He loved, His commandment is that you would love the same way. All of us. I'm not picking on Bill. I just happened to look back there and see him in the corner. He was almost going to sleep and I had to wake him up.
[27:30] So, I got his attention. He's awake now. Bill, He's called us all to do that. To love just as Christ loved. Let me ask this, what did that love look like? You know what's selfless?
[27:46] Do you find that in your life that you're crucifying self? Do you find that you treat people in a selfless way? You know, if we were to read 1 Corinthians 13 about love and what it looks like, it's not self-focused, is it?
[28:01] It's others focused. Genuine love is selfless. And apart from being in the kingdom, apart from receiving the new life that he gives us, apart from being born again, apart from genuinely having the Holy Spirit indwelling us, you know what chance we have of being selfless?
[28:22] None. You think about the high call that he's given us here. Dick, he's calling you to be selfless.
[28:34] He's calling us to love in this way. And what does that love look like? It looks just like Jesus. He was fully selfless. And what did he do? He died on our behalf.
[28:46] He died on the behalf of others. He never did a selfless act. Now let me ask this, can we live perfectly and live like Jesus? You know what we think with this, we think in these ways is that I know my history, I know the way I've lived, I know more sins than I've ever told anybody.
[29:04] I know God knows them, but I'm not able to do that. Why is he asking me to do something that I know from history in my life that I can't do? God, what are you saying?
[29:17] That I need to live just like Jesus? That's the command to love in this way, to have a life of selflessness, to love and care for others. God, that's too high. We can't do it.
[29:27] God, that this is not something possible? Praise God, as the natural man, it's not possible. Left to your own ability, it's not possible.
[29:38] We can't do it. You know what God did? He transformed us when he made us new. it's interesting, if we turn, I'll turn, you'll have to turn, but going back to John 15, where he said, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[29:58] You know what verse is before it? Listen to the verse. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And he says, you know what that looks like?
[30:10] It looks like this. that a man would lay down his life for his friends. You know what he's saying to that inner circle, to the apostles? He's saying, this is my commandment for you, that you love one another like I have loved you, that you love in a selfless way, that you lay down your life for others.
[30:35] How is it possible that he would ask us to lay down our life? Is he asking us to jump in front of the bullet and take it? For another person? Is that what he's asking us to do? Perhaps?
[30:46] You know, we've seen movies where there's one lifeboat and too many people defend in the lifeboat and the decision has to be made who goes in the lifeboat. And the honorable man would be the man that takes his wife and puts his wife in the boat and he perishes because there's not room enough in the boat.
[31:03] That would be a picture in a sense of taking the bullet or really being willing to give our lives away at that moment for another person. Is that honorable? Amen. Yes, it's honorable. It's selfless if we genuinely do that because we care for the other.
[31:16] But you know what Christ did? He gave his life away every single day. Every moment of every day he chose not to sin. He didn't do selfish things.
[31:28] He was selfless every minute of every day. So Christ, are you giving us this commandment to be selfless every single day? Yes and amen. If you want to hear the high call of God you just heard it.
[31:40] A new commandment I give you to love like I love that means to die every single day to self and to live for me. Matter of fact, Paul says I crucify my flesh and I make it my slave.
[31:52] He talks about taking every thought captive that we might walk in this obedient life. That we would not live according to the flesh but we live according to the spirit. That we would walk in step with the spirit.
[32:02] That we would abide in Christ. John 15. Abide in me and I and you. You can't do anything with any spiritual benefit unless I do it through you. Apart from me you can do nothing.
[32:14] Do you hear the high call? Paul says the high call of God in Christ Jesus. The high call of God in Christ Jesus as we trust in him to do through us what we can't do.
[32:26] The Holy Spirit is willing to live through us in this way that's amazing. Philippians 3 even talks about it like this.
[32:39] If I can get there. Paul says these things I used to count no no Philippians 2 sorry it said I'm doing this by memory because my tab was in the wrong place.
[32:52] You know when you put these tabs in it's a quick way to turn but I messed up. He talked about Christ he says Christ even though he was very God did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but he humbled himself and he made himself a servant for the sake of others.
[33:09] He lived selflessly and in that same passage he said that we should count others as more important than ourselves. Do we live like that? Do we count others as more important than ourselves?
[33:23] Do we have the life of a servant? You know that's the call the high call of God but I want you to see where we really are. you know it's interesting as this passage goes on he gives us this example of Peter so John shows us an inside view of what went down with Peter and here's what he says in 36 Lord where are you going that I can't go?
[33:51] He says where I'm going you can't go now wait a minute I'm willing to go anywhere with you he says I'll even lay down my life for you and Jesus says really?
[34:06] Peter the heart is willing but the flesh is weak and he says here I will lay down my life for you and Jesus says truly truly I say to you this night the rooster won't crow before you deny me three times you know what Peter was relying on?
[34:24] he was relying on his own ability you know what he needed? you know what Peter needed? truly needed? he needed what Luke 22 talks about this is another view that we have through the eyes of Luke and he says this Simon Simon behold Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like weak but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail notice what he says here Simon the enemy is in pursuit of you to destroy you he didn't say I've rescued you out of his hand I've kept him from doing what he wanted to do you know what he said I prayed for you that when this thing happens that you might not fall away that your faith may not fail what is happening here this is a pruning process did
[35:29] Peter need to be pruned Peter in his pride said I can do this Peter thinks he's capable of loving in this way I'm willing to die for you but was he what did he do in the moment of crisis what did he do he ran he protected self and if we read in the passage in Mark and we would read for sake of time I won't read but in Mark it goes through exactly the process he follows at a distance he sees Christ being taken into the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas place and he's outside the gate and he's looking and John had a relationship so John allowed him to get in so he's inside the gate and as he's walking inside the gate there's this servant girl saying wait a minute weren't you with him and she's pointing to Jesus you're one of his right and he goes no I don't know what you're talking about listen left to ourselves you guess what we do the same thing and he goes on and he walks up to the circle where they're warming themselves around the fire and somebody says hey you're one of them you're his you're a
[36:45] Galilean right no no no and finally says he curses and says curses me in a sense he said no I don't know the man shut up why you keep talking about this left to ourselves guess what we do we protect you know the beautiful thing that happened afterwards is that after Christ had been resurrected and he spent 40 days appearing in various scenarios he appeared to Peter and he said to Peter Peter do you love me how powerful is this that in our weakness and in our failure he still loves us and he ministers to Peter when Peter has been broken because of his own sin his own self protection his own denial of the words he said he would never do
[37:54] I'm willing to die for you in the very night he didn't do it you know we need the power of the Holy Spirit to be faithful he went to him and said do you love me do you love me do you love me yes Lord you know I love you you know I love you you know I love you he says feed my sheep you know what each of us needs we need to be broken if we're not broken you know what happens is we live for self we protect self you know James talks about this way that we're to be thankful for the trials that come in our life why because you know what the trials do they're pruning us you know the silversmith when he's when he's taking the ore and he's refining the silver you know what he does he continues to scrape off the dross and he heats it hotter and he scrapes off the dross and he heats it just right and what happens all the impurities rise to the surface and what does he do he scrapes off the impurities and when is he through refining the silver y'all probably all heard this when he looks at and he can see his perfect reflection in the silver then the refining process is done you know what he is doing that in our lives you realize that he is he is he is causing the dross to rise through trials that come in our life he's doing it on purpose in order that we might be purified in order that we might know him in this deep intimate way and
[39:29] Peter went through a process of brokenness brothers and sisters you know we need to be broken so that we wouldn't continue to live for self Oswald Chambers many of y'all know his name he has this phrase that has become well known and the phrase says this before God can use a man greatly he must wound him deeply and that resonates with me there's a need for us to be wounded that is our self to be broken in order that we quit living in our own strength and we begin living in Christ we begin living through his power you know what he told the apostles he says don't leave Jerusalem but wait here until when until Acts 1 8 until Pentecost you know what happened in Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and empowered them in an amazing way brothers and sisters we need to be broken in order that we won't be living like we can't live like
[40:33] Jesus you know the only way to live like Jesus to be broken and to quit living for self empowered by self with our own ability but to say God I'm not able I'm weak and I finally see my weakness I ask you to use me in any way you want to I offer myself as a living sacrifice to you use me for your glory and your weakness are you at a place in your life where you would say to him God I know I recognize I see my weakness I know there's more show it to me I don't want to live that way I want to live for your kingdom and your righteousness God do a work in my life that brings you glory let's pray father apart from your power in our lives we continue to our lives it would take us to this deeper place father we hear your high call to love lord jesus to love like you love to be willing to die daily to self lord
[41:46] I pray that you would do that work in each of our lives that father we would as a church as individuals in this church we want to god we desire to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice but even then we were scared about what that might look like god i pray that you would take away the fear and replace it with this reverent all of you and that we would not fear to protect ourselves but father we would be willing to surrender ourselves we be willing to die for your kingdom god do that incredible work that we can't do i ask that you do it in each of our lives and i ask in jesus name amen