WEBVTT 00:00:00.660 --> 00:00:20.039 Father, your word sometimes frightens us, and your word also, Father, sometimes awakens in us or helps us to recognize longings that we have that we didn't recognize or maybe had forgotten that we had. 00:00:20.039 --> 00:00:48.200 We ask, Father, that these healing and saving words of Mark's gospel, that your Holy Spirit would bring them deep into our hearts, that they might speak into our hearts, that they might speak to our fears and speak to our longings, that we might know that Jesus is the Savior of the world and that his salvation and his lordship, Father, is only for our freedom and our great good. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:52.620 So, Father, please do this gentle but powerful work in our lives. 00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:56.920 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. 00:00:57.880 --> 00:00:58.719 Please be seated. 00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:08.560 I don't know what it is. I seem to have a bit of a frog in my throat. I don't know what it's from. 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:16.920 Some of you know this, or maybe you've forgotten, maybe you've heard it many, many times. 00:01:18.200 --> 00:01:28.640 I haven't told about that much, but if you speak to me after coffee time or if you have a meeting with me, one of the things that can throw people off is that just you're the one speaking to me. 00:01:28.740 --> 00:01:30.799 I stand like this a lot. 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:42.099 And in fact, if you were going for a walk with me and wanted to talk with me, I would stop you and make sure that you walked on my left. 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:50.719 And the reason is that this coming, I think it's July, it'll be three years ago this July, I got a bit of an ear infection. 00:01:50.959 --> 00:01:54.959 And being a guy, I just thought it would just go away by itself. 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:56.939 I didn't have to get anything for it. 00:01:57.819 --> 00:02:00.799 But then one day, I started to have a little bit of a vertigo. 00:02:02.059 --> 00:02:05.319 And those of you who would, vertigo is this, I don't know how many of you have experienced, 00:02:05.559 --> 00:02:12.719 it's this weird experience where you're standing completely and utterly still, but the room is moving like this. 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:20.199 And then shortly after that, I got it really, I got it so bad, I literally couldn't walk. 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:25.180 I literally could not stand up straight unless I was holding on to something. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:26.819 Like literally, I couldn't. 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:31.479 And the room is spinning very, very, very, very fast. 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:36.960 And of course, if you have that experience, another thing that goes along with it is nausea and the desire to vomit. 00:02:37.139 --> 00:02:39.879 And I won't go any further with these symptoms. 00:02:40.319 --> 00:02:42.180 You've got sufficient data. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:52.620 So at this point in time, even a dumb male like myself realizes I maybe should see a doctor about this and get some medicine. 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.180 So we get some Gravol first. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.300 So I don't want to be throwing up all of the time. 00:02:57.400 --> 00:02:59.219 We go to a walk-in clinic. 00:02:59.759 --> 00:03:02.039 This is during the COVID time. 00:03:02.300 --> 00:03:07.879 So, you know, they take my temperature and everything before they let me into the waiting room to make sure I don't have COVID, 00:03:08.219 --> 00:03:09.860 you know, the symptoms and all that screening. 00:03:09.860 --> 00:03:20.740 And the doctor listens, looks in my ear, gives me some medication and, you know, tells me it should all be cleared up in a couple of days. 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:25.340 Well, you know, a couple of days later, I'm still struggling with the vertigo. 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.460 It's not nearly as severe and it's now a little bit episodic. 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:33.980 But I still have these times when the room will just spin. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:41.879 And so I go back to him and tell him that the drugs didn't work. 00:03:43.019 --> 00:03:44.679 And he looks in my ear. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:45.620 It was a different doctor. 00:03:45.719 --> 00:03:48.019 He looks in my ear because it's the same walk-in clinic. 00:03:48.020 --> 00:03:51.580 And he looks in my ear and said, no, no, it's all cleared up. 00:03:52.580 --> 00:03:56.379 And then I said, but I'm still having, like, first of all, here's another thing. 00:03:56.520 --> 00:04:03.719 You have, like, right now, I don't normally notice it, but I always have a very, very, very loud ringing in my right ear all the time. 00:04:03.780 --> 00:04:04.600 Like, it's always there. 00:04:05.100 --> 00:04:07.400 Most of the time I'm not, but just, I don't think about it. 00:04:07.620 --> 00:04:10.260 So I said to him, I'm still having some vertigo problems, et cetera. 00:04:10.259 --> 00:04:28.060 And that's when I discovered that there's this very rare virus that will piggyback on an outer ear virus and penetrate into the inner ear and basically destroy part of the hearing and balancing mechanisms of your ear. 00:04:29.099 --> 00:04:37.879 And so he informed me that I was now, for the rest of my life, going to have severe hearing impairment in my right ear, which was a real shock. 00:04:37.879 --> 00:04:41.500 Severe hearing impairment in my right ear for the rest of my life. 00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:49.680 You go from having a good hearing to that in just, remember, that's maybe why I was thinking about that colic, for those of you who were here. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:54.459 A tiny little virus that you can't even see can change your life in an instant. 00:04:55.399 --> 00:05:06.800 He ended up telling me the good thing is about the way the brain works, that the eyes eventually can cover for the loss of, because basically my right ear is next to useless for balance. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:11.139 But the eyes take over the function and the brain gets rewired. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:12.819 And so I'm fine. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:21.199 But one of the things about the whole experience, and all of us have our own different health, many of us have different health things that happened. 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.720 We expect the world to be a certain way. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:33.420 And when that, the world isn't just a certain way, or we expect our bodies to be able to do, you know, certain types of things. 00:05:33.760 --> 00:05:39.340 And when those things just go from us, it really hits us at a very deep level. 00:05:39.460 --> 00:05:44.080 Like, it's not just that you're dealing with the fact that the room will spin all the time. 00:05:44.079 --> 00:05:48.439 And, like, you lose your confidence in the world. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:53.560 I, it took me a while to feel comfortable to drive a car. 00:05:54.579 --> 00:05:58.500 It took me vastly longer to feel comfortable to get on a bicycle. 00:05:59.300 --> 00:06:08.979 It took me a while to feel comfortable about exercising again, because you're just not sure if your body is going to just get completely and utterly, is going to let you down. 00:06:08.980 --> 00:06:23.080 Now, I mention all of this because, you see, I think one of the things about us human beings is that we have a longing that we're not conscious of having. 00:06:24.020 --> 00:06:27.500 We have some longings that we're not conscious of having. 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:33.819 And, and the Bible actually speaks to this longing all the time. 00:06:33.819 --> 00:06:40.339 But often when the Bible speaks to this longing and this need, it does so in a way that frightens us. 00:06:40.439 --> 00:06:44.279 Like, paradoxically, we get frightened when we see the doctrine in the Bible. 00:06:45.060 --> 00:06:56.279 But we need to understand that the Bible is opening us up to making us more fully human and, and to recognize that we have this longing and this need that we often don't recognize. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:06:59.180 Anyway, the Bible is just very wise. 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:05.620 So let's look at this story, and it's going to come to us in a very helpful way, in a way that's going to frighten us at first. 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:10.639 But actually, if we just spend some time looking at it, it's actually very wise and very helpful. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:12.220 And so let's look. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:18.800 So please turn in your Bibles, because we're preaching through the Gospel of Mark and the ancient biography of Jesus. 00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:22.379 It's Mark chapter 14, verse 12 to 21. 00:07:22.579 --> 00:07:25.319 And we're going to begin by looking at verse 12. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:26.240 Here's how it goes. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:39.240 Oh, and just in terms of the context of the story, the context of the story, it's now come to, you know, in a sense, you're now counting down the minutes almost before Jesus is going to die. 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:43.519 If you're reading the story for the first time, that's a spoiler alert. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:47.579 But those who are Christians know that it's now come down. 00:07:47.719 --> 00:07:51.000 You can almost count it in terms of minutes and hours and minutes. 00:07:51.899 --> 00:08:08.959 And just before this, to really set the stage, we know that the religious and cultural and intellectual and political and community elites have united around the fact that they had to get this inconvenient Jew murdered. 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:28.759 And the means of that murder has been presented to them because one of Jesus' closest friends, who's actually lived with him for three years, goes and agrees to betray him so that this inconvenient Jewish man by the name of Jesus will be crucified. 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:37.759 And that's what's just going on beforehand, as well as this weird, odd story that we looked at about the woman anointing Jesus' bodies for burial. 00:08:37.899 --> 00:08:38.879 So that's what's just happened. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:40.080 And now the story continues. 00:08:40.460 --> 00:08:41.220 Verse 12. 00:08:41.220 --> 00:08:55.980 I keep messing up that sentence. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:09:00.180 Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? 00:09:01.040 --> 00:09:02.700 So that's the question. 00:09:02.700 --> 00:09:11.259 Now, for some of us, maybe not in this room, maybe some of you watching online, we get a bit freaked out with the idea that the lamb's going to get killed. 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:13.920 I'll talk about that a little bit more in a moment. 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:21.200 It's just, I mean, one of the things, it's really, when I was in my rural parish, nobody would get freaked out over that because everybody killed their own animals to eat them. 00:09:21.800 --> 00:09:29.160 But in a country, like in a city like Ottawa, I don't know, I guess we just think factories produce ham and the chicken and the beef that we eat. 00:09:29.520 --> 00:09:31.020 But we'll return to it. 00:09:31.019 --> 00:09:34.179 But here's actually the bigger thing that's going on here. 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:35.720 It's a very, very common problem. 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:41.059 Two summers ago, we went to visit somebody who had a cottage. 00:09:41.620 --> 00:09:44.419 They'd rented a cottage way out past Calabogie. 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:50.899 Like way out, like, you know, half an hour, 40 minutes into nowhere beyond Calabogie. 00:09:51.539 --> 00:09:57.679 And as we're driving there and we're a bit late and everything like that, and so I'm frustrated with being a bit late. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:05.719 And the gas gauge somewhere along the way there hits the, you know, the warning light, the little light to say that the fuel is low. 00:10:05.739 --> 00:10:07.439 And I look, I don't know how much we can have. 00:10:07.459 --> 00:10:09.239 And I say, yeah, well, we'll make it there, no problem. 00:10:09.699 --> 00:10:10.679 And so we make it there. 00:10:10.819 --> 00:10:12.259 And we have a really, really good time. 00:10:12.319 --> 00:10:15.279 You know, swim and, you know, talk and eat and all of that type of stuff. 00:10:15.339 --> 00:10:16.659 Have supper, swim some more. 00:10:16.659 --> 00:10:20.839 And, you know, it's starting to get dark, you know, 9 o'clock or whatever, or 10 at 9.30. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:21.719 It's time to head home. 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:27.219 And then I mentioned to the guys that we were staying with about us, you know, where's a good gas station? 00:10:27.299 --> 00:10:29.439 And they said, gas station? 00:10:30.579 --> 00:10:30.980 Open? 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:32.360 Out here? 00:10:33.819 --> 00:10:35.179 At 9.30 at night? 00:10:35.659 --> 00:10:36.539 On a weekday? 00:10:36.539 --> 00:10:46.839 Well, there's 24-hour gas stations near where I live in Ottawa. 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:52.059 So we now have this anxious drive back. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:56.659 One of those anxious drives where you do a lot of prayer. 00:10:57.639 --> 00:10:58.279 You're searching. 00:10:58.599 --> 00:11:00.240 You're multitasking. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:08.519 I'm just, my main task is to drive slower than I usually do to maintain maximum gas mileage from the vehicle. 00:11:09.180 --> 00:11:10.620 And I worry and I pray. 00:11:11.139 --> 00:11:15.639 And Louise is searching on the phone for possible gas stations and all of that. 00:11:16.399 --> 00:11:17.799 And we're just worried. 00:11:18.580 --> 00:11:19.399 Just worried. 00:11:19.580 --> 00:11:21.360 Like, where are we going to find a gas station? 00:11:21.940 --> 00:11:22.759 Out here. 00:11:24.100 --> 00:11:27.600 And then we do, you know, probably on fumes. 00:11:27.600 --> 00:11:32.259 Jesus, maybe in heaven I'll find out that one of you folks was praying for me that night. 00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:36.180 And God miraculously added two liters of gas to the vehicle. 00:11:36.540 --> 00:11:39.980 Because it was quite a long way before we came to a gas station. 00:11:40.019 --> 00:11:42.139 We had to go way out of our way as well to get. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:46.519 Anyway, what's going on here in the story is a similar problem. 00:11:47.000 --> 00:11:53.160 And they even cover it up with their anxiety is that they're not actually, you know, we're not anxious for ourselves, Jesus. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:55.100 We're just anxious for you. 00:11:56.179 --> 00:11:58.799 Because they're in Jerusalem. 00:11:59.240 --> 00:12:07.559 And Jerusalem's population, because of this, like people from all over, the Jewish people from all over the Roman Empire would come to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. 00:12:08.079 --> 00:12:08.899 And so I don't know what it is. 00:12:08.959 --> 00:12:11.919 But the population is seven or eight times bigger than it normally is. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.539 Ten times bigger than it normally is. 00:12:13.539 --> 00:12:24.360 And so there now, it's like now just, we're supposed to be eating the meal, Jesus, in like eight hours, you know, ten hours. 00:12:24.439 --> 00:12:26.319 And we don't have a place to have the meal. 00:12:27.599 --> 00:12:30.539 And like where on earth are we going to find a place to have a meal? 00:12:31.360 --> 00:12:32.579 And so they're worried. 00:12:33.319 --> 00:12:34.019 They're worried. 00:12:34.099 --> 00:12:36.319 Because having this meal is a really, really big deal. 00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:37.759 And it's hard for them to imagine. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.759 Most people probably would have prepared for this a long time ago. 00:12:41.059 --> 00:12:44.100 And it's now just a couple of hours away, relatively speaking. 00:12:44.220 --> 00:12:45.639 And they ask this question to Jesus. 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:46.860 That's what's going on here. 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:48.259 They're worried. 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:51.039 And so what happens? 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.000 What does Jesus do? 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:55.059 Well, he's going to answer it in a very, very puzzling way. 00:12:55.179 --> 00:12:57.019 Look what happens in verse 13. 00:12:57.019 --> 00:13:02.120 And Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, 00:13:02.639 --> 00:13:03.879 Go into the city. 00:13:04.139 --> 00:13:07.120 They're just outside the city, about three kilometers away in Bethany. 00:13:07.620 --> 00:13:11.439 Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. 00:13:11.819 --> 00:13:12.439 Follow him. 00:13:12.980 --> 00:13:16.240 And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:21.939 The teacher says, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? 00:13:22.699 --> 00:13:25.620 And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:27.120 There, prepare for us. 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:32.360 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them. 00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:34.879 And they prepared the Passover. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.620 Now, this is a puzzling story. 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:39.820 And, you know, it's very interesting. 00:13:39.940 --> 00:13:41.159 I'm ancient of days. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:48.320 And on one level, modern people today have less problem with this than people would have 50 years ago. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.500 And part of the reason is that we've all watched Star Wars. 00:13:52.180 --> 00:13:54.500 And so we can just picture the force, right? 00:13:54.500 --> 00:13:55.340 You have the force. 00:13:55.980 --> 00:14:00.000 And, you know, the guy with the force just says to the guard, 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:01.519 You're not looking for this person. 00:14:01.620 --> 00:14:02.779 Or that person isn't here. 00:14:02.860 --> 00:14:05.519 And the person in the force just means they can't see or whatever. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.360 Or they're used to Harry Potter dealing with muggles. 00:14:08.500 --> 00:14:09.940 And you just wave your wand. 00:14:10.179 --> 00:14:11.240 And it all happens. 00:14:11.700 --> 00:14:13.240 Now, you know, what happened? 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:14.120 We don't know exactly. 00:14:14.320 --> 00:14:16.360 We don't know what it is that's going on here. 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:17.759 We don't know how much of it's providence. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:19.000 We don't know how much of it's miracle. 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:21.580 We don't know how much of it's just Jesus making his own arrangements. 00:14:21.580 --> 00:14:28.680 But there's two big ideas that you need to notice about how Jesus solves this. 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:29.540 There are three big ones. 00:14:29.539 --> 00:14:35.099 The first one is Jesus knows that his disciples are really anxious about this. 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.980 And he doesn't say, don't be anxious about this. 00:14:39.399 --> 00:14:43.740 Like, you know, don't be a puny little weakling worried about it. 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:44.620 He doesn't speak like that. 00:14:44.659 --> 00:14:45.480 He doesn't demean them. 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:49.379 They have a valid need and they have a valid worry. 00:14:51.259 --> 00:14:54.659 And Jesus doesn't look down his nose at him. 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.460 It's a very important thing for us Christians. 00:14:56.620 --> 00:15:00.720 I mean, one of the things that's hard for people outside the Christian faith to understand 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:05.680 is that for people who enter deeply into knowing the gospel and knowing Jesus, 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:09.779 one of the things that's hard for people outside of that to understand 00:15:09.779 --> 00:15:15.220 is how deeply emotionally satisfying and helpful the Christian faith is 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:18.539 to know that you have a Savior who cares for your needs, 00:15:19.059 --> 00:15:20.839 who doesn't despise them. 00:15:22.959 --> 00:15:25.759 The second thing which is important about this little story 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:30.799 is to help us to understand that Jesus is a believing, observant Jewish man. 00:15:30.799 --> 00:15:37.019 Now, we live in a society where anti-Semitism is on the increase. 00:15:38.439 --> 00:15:43.439 And there are many parts in the world that are anti-Semitism 00:15:43.439 --> 00:15:45.859 is a defining part of their culture. 00:15:46.979 --> 00:15:52.719 And it's very easy for us as Christians to want to downplay the Jewishness of Jesus, 00:15:52.899 --> 00:15:55.519 but we should never downplay the Jewishness of Jesus, 00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:57.839 just as we should never be anti-Semitic. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:05.840 But this story is very clearly showing that Jesus is a believing, observant Jewish man. 00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:11.700 And as a believing, observant Jewish man, he wants to keep this very important Jewish feast, 00:16:11.780 --> 00:16:15.060 which has been mandated by the Tanakh, by the Torah. 00:16:15.860 --> 00:16:16.860 He wants to do it. 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:18.300 And he does. He keeps it. 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:22.040 And the third thing, before we move on, 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:26.600 is that this shows, this is part of the general thing which is going on 00:16:26.600 --> 00:16:30.360 in these whole chapters to show that Jesus isn't afraid. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.100 And he's not like a pin, you know, a ball in a pinball machine. 00:16:35.240 --> 00:16:38.060 He's not just sort of being batted around by forces, you know, 00:16:38.120 --> 00:16:40.519 his disciples are batting him this way, 00:16:40.659 --> 00:16:45.019 and the disciples are, and the religious leaders are batting him this way, 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:47.060 and the Roman authorities are batting him this way, 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:48.420 and his fears are batting him. 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:49.420 No, no, no, no, no. 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:51.360 Jesus is on mission. 00:16:52.199 --> 00:16:54.819 Those of you with a military background, he's on mission. 00:16:55.860 --> 00:16:58.579 And he's not being distracted, and he's in control. 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:04.539 We're not told the mechanisms of his control, but he's very clearly in control. 00:17:04.960 --> 00:17:06.339 He's not frightened, pushed around. 00:17:06.420 --> 00:17:07.200 He's in control. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:16.400 And so he has this all worked out for them. 00:17:16.500 --> 00:17:19.100 And so the disciples go, and just so you know, 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.559 I mean, in the background, what this means is the two guys go, 00:17:25.660 --> 00:17:29.039 and they buy a lamb, and the lamb is sacrificed the appropriate way, 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:32.779 and then it's all, in a sense, butchered, and they cook it, 00:17:32.779 --> 00:17:36.920 and somebody else is buying all the grain and the food and the vegetables 00:17:36.920 --> 00:17:38.299 and all of that stuff. 00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:40.019 Somebody else is going off to buy the wine, 00:17:40.220 --> 00:17:42.879 and they're preparing the food that has to be prepared 00:17:42.879 --> 00:17:45.799 just while somebody's cooking the lamb, 00:17:46.099 --> 00:17:48.980 and they get the cooked lamb cooked by the right time, 00:17:49.039 --> 00:17:50.660 and the food is prepared by the right time, 00:17:50.700 --> 00:17:53.220 and the wine is prepared by the right time, 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:55.759 and it's all in a room that has the proper table and rugs, 00:17:55.819 --> 00:17:57.399 and it's all there waiting, 00:17:57.400 --> 00:18:01.800 and then that's exactly what happens very, very next, 00:18:02.600 --> 00:18:06.140 which is evening comes, and it's time for the feast. 00:18:06.259 --> 00:18:12.040 Look at what they say here in verse 17. 00:18:14.040 --> 00:18:16.640 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve, 00:18:17.960 --> 00:18:21.240 and as they were reclining at table and eating, 00:18:22.120 --> 00:18:24.900 now here it takes a very, very sudden and surprising turn. 00:18:24.900 --> 00:18:26.680 Jesus said, 00:18:27.300 --> 00:18:30.660 Truly I say to you, or verily I say to you, 00:18:30.740 --> 00:18:33.140 or Amen, I say to you, 00:18:33.840 --> 00:18:36.840 one of you will betray me, 00:18:37.640 --> 00:18:40.660 one who is eating with me. 00:18:43.560 --> 00:18:46.340 Now, there's a couple of things here 00:18:46.340 --> 00:18:48.080 that helps us to enter into the story. 00:18:49.740 --> 00:18:51.920 I don't know if any of you have had an opportunity 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:56.480 to go to Jerusalem in modern-day Israel, 00:18:56.620 --> 00:18:57.480 modern-day Jerusalem. 00:18:58.600 --> 00:18:59.960 And if you have, 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:02.259 and if you ever go to Israel, 00:19:02.380 --> 00:19:05.900 you need to be in Jerusalem on a Friday and a Saturday. 00:19:06.779 --> 00:19:07.940 You've got to be there. 00:19:08.100 --> 00:19:10.940 Don't go to see Jerusalem and miss Friday and Saturday 00:19:10.940 --> 00:19:12.140 because it's so stunning. 00:19:13.380 --> 00:19:17.220 There's this flurry of activity on Friday afternoon, 00:19:17.220 --> 00:19:20.559 and on Saturday, a Friday night, 00:19:21.059 --> 00:19:22.779 the whole city stops. 00:19:23.059 --> 00:19:25.720 Like, you could go to roads that the rest of the week 00:19:25.720 --> 00:19:28.900 have four lanes each way 00:19:28.900 --> 00:19:32.700 and are just busy with cars going as fast as they can 00:19:32.700 --> 00:19:34.299 and honking when people in front of them 00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:35.779 aren't going as fast as they can. 00:19:36.339 --> 00:19:39.259 And you could probably just go and play with those little kids 00:19:39.259 --> 00:19:41.360 and play catch in the middle of that road 00:19:41.360 --> 00:19:43.920 and not have to worry about anything happening 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:46.060 because the whole city sleeps. 00:19:47.600 --> 00:19:48.920 Now, I mention this 00:19:48.920 --> 00:19:52.080 because it happens quite suddenly at sundown. 00:19:52.180 --> 00:19:53.680 And then the other thing to be there 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:57.420 is just shortly after sundown on Saturday, 00:19:58.779 --> 00:20:00.180 so just sundown on Saturday, 00:20:00.320 --> 00:20:01.279 all of a sudden, 00:20:01.860 --> 00:20:03.420 within like a half hour, 00:20:03.779 --> 00:20:05.660 it seems as the traffic is there, 00:20:06.300 --> 00:20:07.580 the tables are out, 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:09.860 the cafes and the bars are full, 00:20:09.860 --> 00:20:11.519 and the whole city wakes up. 00:20:11.580 --> 00:20:13.860 It's a really stunning thing to experience. 00:20:14.460 --> 00:20:15.420 So here's part of the thing, 00:20:15.460 --> 00:20:16.600 which is going to be really important 00:20:16.600 --> 00:20:17.560 to understand the text 00:20:17.560 --> 00:20:18.480 and understand the things 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:19.680 that are going to happen in the next weeks, 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.800 is that Jewish people do something, 00:20:21.960 --> 00:20:23.920 they don't have their day begin at midnight, 00:20:24.340 --> 00:20:25.960 and they're not like Canadians 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:27.259 who think of the day as beginning 00:20:27.259 --> 00:20:28.580 when they wake up in the morning. 00:20:28.740 --> 00:20:29.740 For Jewish people, 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:32.560 day begins with sundown. 00:20:33.820 --> 00:20:35.680 The day begins with sundown. 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:38.400 The day goes from sundown to sundown. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.200 That means that what you're going to see 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.220 from this moment on, 00:20:43.740 --> 00:20:47.559 right through to almost the end of chapter 15, 00:20:47.920 --> 00:20:49.880 all takes place in one day 00:20:49.880 --> 00:20:52.080 in how Jewish people understand the day. 00:20:52.620 --> 00:20:54.400 You're going to see the Passover meal. 00:20:54.819 --> 00:20:56.340 You're going to see going to the garden. 00:20:56.860 --> 00:20:58.920 You're going to see Jesus being captured. 00:20:59.319 --> 00:21:01.840 You're going to see Jesus being tried. 00:21:02.100 --> 00:21:04.240 You're going to see the Roman authorities 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:05.900 passing their judgment on him. 00:21:05.900 --> 00:21:07.279 You're going to see him being whipped. 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:09.740 You're going to see him being dragged through the streets. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.399 You're going to see him stripped naked and crucified. 00:21:12.819 --> 00:21:14.240 And you're going to see him die. 00:21:14.379 --> 00:21:17.299 And all of that happens on the first day of the Passover, 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:19.539 the way the Jewish people understand things. 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:23.660 All of that happens in one 24-hour period. 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:26.420 All of it. 00:21:26.539 --> 00:21:27.819 One 24-hour period. 00:21:27.819 --> 00:21:30.859 And the other thing to understand, 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:32.599 which is going to be very important, 00:21:32.740 --> 00:21:33.500 is that it's, you know, 00:21:33.879 --> 00:21:36.179 and maybe your families are different than ours, 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:36.919 but, you know what, 00:21:37.000 --> 00:21:37.839 in our family, I guess, 00:21:38.019 --> 00:21:40.519 you know, people would have gone to a Christmas service, 00:21:40.939 --> 00:21:42.500 but then quite a few hours later, 00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:44.240 usually, we have the Christmas meal, 00:21:44.359 --> 00:21:45.379 and, you know, we have family, 00:21:45.500 --> 00:21:47.220 and sometimes friends, and all over. 00:21:47.919 --> 00:21:49.359 You know, and the same thing with Easter. 00:21:49.500 --> 00:21:50.899 You know, most of my family, 00:21:51.099 --> 00:21:51.839 not all of them, 00:21:52.059 --> 00:21:53.720 you know, lamentably, 00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:55.700 because they're not all practicing Christians, 00:21:55.700 --> 00:21:56.580 believing Christians, 00:21:56.740 --> 00:21:57.660 but, you know, 00:21:57.700 --> 00:21:58.880 most of them will have gone to church 00:21:58.880 --> 00:21:59.600 or something like that, 00:21:59.620 --> 00:22:00.400 and then they come for the meal. 00:22:00.460 --> 00:22:01.480 But the meal is just a meal. 00:22:02.720 --> 00:22:04.519 The meal is just appetizers and a meal. 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:06.340 But this isn't the way 00:22:06.340 --> 00:22:07.940 that it's going to work for the Jewish people 00:22:07.940 --> 00:22:09.819 when they celebrate this Passover meal. 00:22:10.620 --> 00:22:13.799 The Passover meal has four stages, 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:15.259 and in a sense, 00:22:15.740 --> 00:22:17.240 intermingled with the meal, 00:22:17.360 --> 00:22:19.220 as some of the food is very, very symbolic, 00:22:19.940 --> 00:22:22.720 and part of the whole purpose of the meal 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:26.339 is to recount this wonderful, 00:22:27.240 --> 00:22:32.059 miraculous, powerful act of deliverance. 00:22:33.319 --> 00:22:34.640 And the other part of it 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:37.759 is looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, 00:22:38.019 --> 00:22:40.900 and it's all built into a series of readings 00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:43.420 and responses that are acted out 00:22:43.420 --> 00:22:45.779 during the course of each of the stages of the meal. 00:22:46.819 --> 00:22:48.339 And what they remember, 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:49.880 you know, if you think about it for a second, 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:51.280 like, you know, 00:22:52.580 --> 00:22:55.780 if you had been a slave, 00:22:56.800 --> 00:22:59.220 if you had been a slave, 00:23:00.100 --> 00:23:05.160 and one day you were set free from slavery, 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:09.180 you would probably remember that day 00:23:09.180 --> 00:23:10.860 that you were freed from slavery 00:23:10.860 --> 00:23:12.240 for the rest of your life. 00:23:14.100 --> 00:23:16.020 And you would tell your kids, 00:23:16.940 --> 00:23:18.680 and you would tell your grandkids, 00:23:18.680 --> 00:23:22.799 it was just recently 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:25.600 Holocaust Remembrance Day. 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:27.500 And of course now, 00:23:27.580 --> 00:23:30.259 there's not that many Jewish people left. 00:23:31.019 --> 00:23:33.320 They'd be very old who survived that. 00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:35.920 But if you meet Jewish people 00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:36.980 and you get talking to them, 00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:38.060 many of them will tell you 00:23:38.060 --> 00:23:39.240 about the family members 00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:40.900 that they had that they lost in the Holocaust. 00:23:40.900 --> 00:23:42.779 And some of them will tell you 00:23:42.779 --> 00:23:46.820 about the day they were freed from the camps. 00:23:46.819 --> 00:23:52.960 My very, very influential man in my life 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:53.919 as a young child, 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:54.599 like, you know, 00:23:54.740 --> 00:23:56.799 like 10 to 12 or 9 to 12 00:23:56.799 --> 00:23:57.639 or something like that, 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:02.240 was a really very, very, very, very fine man. 00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:05.679 I grew up in a suburb of Montreal. 00:24:06.419 --> 00:24:07.079 And I still, 00:24:07.159 --> 00:24:08.119 I've shared it with you before, 00:24:08.220 --> 00:24:10.259 but I still remember very clearly the day. 00:24:10.299 --> 00:24:11.559 I'm like 11 years old. 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:12.460 And you know, 11 year olds, 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:12.740 nothing, 00:24:12.939 --> 00:24:14.500 no offense to you young kids, 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:15.640 but we don't really know much, right? 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:18.299 And I'm in the front seat 00:24:18.299 --> 00:24:20.259 sitting right beside him and his wife, 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:21.339 in the middle of him and his wife. 00:24:21.420 --> 00:24:22.319 There's some kids in the back. 00:24:22.380 --> 00:24:23.599 They don't do things like this nowadays, 00:24:23.680 --> 00:24:24.900 but they did things back then. 00:24:25.279 --> 00:24:26.880 And I say to the man, 00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:29.579 why do you have those numbers tattooed 00:24:29.579 --> 00:24:30.900 on your hand? 00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:33.240 And the man, 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:35.000 a bit of a tear in his eye. 00:24:35.559 --> 00:24:36.319 And his wife said, 00:24:36.380 --> 00:24:38.119 that's the number he had from the camps. 00:24:39.339 --> 00:24:40.720 And he'd been in Auschwitz. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:44.740 Very, very fine man. 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:49.680 And so you see, 00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:50.360 what Passover, 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:52.759 what this Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, 00:24:52.920 --> 00:24:55.299 is it's the Jewish people remembering, 00:24:55.420 --> 00:24:57.240 now many, many, many centuries later, 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:00.279 how they were in bondage, 00:25:00.579 --> 00:25:01.400 in slavery, 00:25:02.039 --> 00:25:02.839 in Egypt. 00:25:03.720 --> 00:25:04.680 And God, 00:25:05.019 --> 00:25:07.279 in his grace and favor to them, 00:25:08.120 --> 00:25:10.160 did a mighty act of deliverance. 00:25:10.160 --> 00:25:13.100 And his act of deliverance was on one hand, 00:25:13.320 --> 00:25:14.680 an act of judgment, 00:25:15.259 --> 00:25:17.060 against the slave owners. 00:25:19.140 --> 00:25:21.200 It was an act of judgment, 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:23.080 on the slave owners. 00:25:24.460 --> 00:25:25.660 And the way, 00:25:26.040 --> 00:25:27.940 that the Jewish people would be spared, 00:25:28.140 --> 00:25:30.380 that general judgment on the slave owners, 00:25:30.480 --> 00:25:31.460 was very simple. 00:25:32.300 --> 00:25:34.300 They were to take an innocent lamb. 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:37.860 They were to put their hands upon the lamb's head, 00:25:37.940 --> 00:25:39.580 so that the lamb represented them, 00:25:39.579 --> 00:25:41.399 and not just the householder would do it, 00:25:41.439 --> 00:25:42.599 for the entire family, 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:43.379 and for the neighbors. 00:25:43.980 --> 00:25:46.460 And then that lamb was to die in their place. 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:48.960 And some of the blood of the lamb, 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:50.599 that has died in their place, 00:25:50.659 --> 00:25:52.960 is put on the lintel of the door, 00:25:53.059 --> 00:25:53.980 on the door frame. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:56.000 And the story goes, 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:58.079 that as the angel of God's judgment, 00:25:58.240 --> 00:25:59.619 passes over Egypt, 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.279 to exercise judgment over the Egyptians, 00:26:02.279 --> 00:26:04.419 when he sees the blood on the door, 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:06.400 he passes over, 00:26:06.840 --> 00:26:08.920 and they are spared. 00:26:10.120 --> 00:26:10.820 And the next, 00:26:11.340 --> 00:26:12.539 even that night, 00:26:13.340 --> 00:26:16.279 as the wailing goes throughout the land of Egypt, 00:26:16.600 --> 00:26:18.580 as they are judged for their cruelty, 00:26:18.580 --> 00:26:19.640 of their slavery, 00:26:20.380 --> 00:26:21.640 the cry goes out, 00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:23.840 to send those Jewish people away. 00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:25.880 And God, 00:26:26.019 --> 00:26:27.800 by a mighty act of deliverance, 00:26:28.300 --> 00:26:29.800 takes his people, 00:26:29.799 --> 00:26:31.399 and in grace and mercy, 00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:34.419 they are delivered from slavery into freedom. 00:26:35.059 --> 00:26:38.180 And that is what the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 00:26:38.579 --> 00:26:39.500 is all about. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:40.960 For seven days, 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:41.879 they remember this. 00:26:42.159 --> 00:26:44.039 It's told in story form, 00:26:44.099 --> 00:26:45.059 on Friday night. 00:26:46.659 --> 00:26:48.139 And it would still be present, 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:49.299 in all their minds. 00:26:49.399 --> 00:26:50.519 While all of the things, 00:26:50.680 --> 00:26:51.659 in this story now, 00:26:51.759 --> 00:26:53.200 to the end of chapter 15, 00:26:53.339 --> 00:26:54.819 the betrayal of Jesus, 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:55.839 the death of Jesus, 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:56.680 upon the cross, 00:26:56.680 --> 00:26:57.640 all of these things, 00:26:57.720 --> 00:26:59.320 it's all part of their story, 00:26:59.420 --> 00:27:00.539 their mental imagery, 00:27:00.940 --> 00:27:02.820 as Jesus dies upon the cross. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:07.259 And what we see here with this, 00:27:07.560 --> 00:27:07.920 remember, 00:27:08.080 --> 00:27:09.539 the question is about the betrayal. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:10.519 What we see here, 00:27:10.799 --> 00:27:12.700 is that they are in the third part of the meal. 00:27:13.900 --> 00:27:15.759 The story of the deliverance, 00:27:15.880 --> 00:27:17.560 has now been primarily told. 00:27:17.840 --> 00:27:18.460 After this, 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.480 is going to primarily be a brief time, 00:27:20.480 --> 00:27:21.600 of longing, 00:27:22.340 --> 00:27:23.480 for the Messiah, 00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:24.940 to come. 00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:28.680 longing, 00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:30.140 for the Messiah, 00:27:30.620 --> 00:27:31.279 to come. 00:27:33.100 --> 00:27:35.140 And there he is in Jerusalem. 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:40.140 Poor, 00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:41.620 that he has to borrow, 00:27:41.840 --> 00:27:42.980 another man's room, 00:27:44.120 --> 00:27:45.799 to celebrate the Passover. 00:27:45.799 --> 00:27:54.139 And he says, 00:27:54.559 --> 00:27:56.859 one of you will betray me, 00:27:57.059 --> 00:27:58.139 who is eating with me. 00:28:01.579 --> 00:28:03.180 So how does the room respond? 00:28:03.659 --> 00:28:04.359 Well, let's see. 00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:06.819 Verse 19. 00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:11.279 They began to be sorrowful, 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.639 and say to him, 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:14.180 one after another, 00:28:14.180 --> 00:28:15.860 is it I? 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:21.560 They could tell by the way, 00:28:21.660 --> 00:28:22.580 that Jesus said it, 00:28:23.120 --> 00:28:23.960 he must have said it, 00:28:24.039 --> 00:28:24.759 with some emotion, 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:25.779 it wasn't flippant, 00:28:25.840 --> 00:28:26.660 it wasn't a joke. 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:31.480 You know, 00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:32.660 it's not like maybe one of us say, 00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:34.019 I think I'm going to out and kill myself. 00:28:34.120 --> 00:28:34.360 And we know, 00:28:34.560 --> 00:28:36.200 we normally think that's not going to, 00:28:36.380 --> 00:28:37.299 people don't mean it literally. 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:38.740 They obviously realized, 00:28:38.860 --> 00:28:40.620 in the solemnity of the moment, 00:28:40.820 --> 00:28:41.180 that this, 00:28:41.259 --> 00:28:41.900 he means it. 00:28:41.900 --> 00:28:43.720 One of you are going to betray me. 00:28:43.780 --> 00:28:44.360 And so they say, 00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:44.940 is it I? 00:28:45.040 --> 00:28:45.560 Is it I? 00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:46.220 Is it I? 00:28:47.060 --> 00:28:47.759 Is it I? 00:28:47.759 --> 00:28:47.780 Is it I? 00:28:47.779 --> 00:28:55.660 And now we bump to get against this part. 00:28:55.720 --> 00:28:56.879 Remember I began by saying, 00:28:57.000 --> 00:28:58.940 that the Bible has this very, 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:01.519 it's not just this story, 00:29:01.619 --> 00:29:03.420 but it's part of the whole fabric of the Bible, 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:05.279 and part of the whole fabric of the gospel, 00:29:05.420 --> 00:29:07.379 a very wise way of understanding, 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:09.339 that we have longings that we don't recognize, 00:29:10.139 --> 00:29:11.599 needs that we don't recognize, 00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:12.940 that we're not thankful for, 00:29:12.940 --> 00:29:13.259 that, 00:29:13.259 --> 00:29:13.779 that, 00:29:13.779 --> 00:29:14.100 that, 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:16.100 but often when we meet it in the Bible, 00:29:16.100 --> 00:29:16.480 we, 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:18.400 we find it off putting. 00:29:18.559 --> 00:29:18.700 Well, 00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:19.960 look what happens. 00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:21.440 Verse nine, 00:29:21.539 --> 00:29:22.200 verse 20. 00:29:23.700 --> 00:29:24.759 He said to them, 00:29:25.299 --> 00:29:26.600 it is one of the 12, 00:29:27.180 --> 00:29:30.080 one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:31.320 And just sort of pause here. 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:34.920 One of the things that you see in this is that Jesus, 00:29:35.360 --> 00:29:37.420 the room that Jesus separated the last supper with, 00:29:37.500 --> 00:29:38.900 wasn't just with him in the 12. 00:29:38.900 --> 00:29:40.500 I mean, 00:29:40.560 --> 00:29:42.340 if you go back and you look at what the Torah, 00:29:42.560 --> 00:29:43.700 the Tanakh says about it, 00:29:43.740 --> 00:29:44.880 is you're to invite your neighbors. 00:29:45.080 --> 00:29:47.380 And we know that from other parts of Mark's gospel, 00:29:47.500 --> 00:29:49.340 that there were women who accompanied Jesus. 00:29:49.580 --> 00:29:54.620 And so we don't know if there were 20 or 30 or 50 or 80 people in the room, 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:56.000 but there's lots of people in the room. 00:29:56.080 --> 00:29:57.000 There's probably kids. 00:29:57.120 --> 00:29:59.540 Kids played a very important part in the Passover meal. 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:02.180 And Jesus welcomed children. 00:30:02.340 --> 00:30:04.060 So there were probably maybe some neighbors. 00:30:04.220 --> 00:30:08.140 Maybe they came across some people who didn't have a place to celebrate the Passover. 00:30:08.140 --> 00:30:09.259 And they were very worried. 00:30:09.380 --> 00:30:09.660 And they said, 00:30:09.820 --> 00:30:10.580 come and join with us. 00:30:10.700 --> 00:30:10.800 You know, 00:30:10.860 --> 00:30:11.320 bring your kids. 00:30:11.340 --> 00:30:11.500 Yeah, 00:30:11.620 --> 00:30:12.200 bring your kids. 00:30:12.500 --> 00:30:15.020 But we're looking forward to have kids ask some of the questions. 00:30:15.800 --> 00:30:16.780 And so the whole room, 00:30:16.920 --> 00:30:17.040 you know, 00:30:17.060 --> 00:30:18.880 whether it's 30 people or 50 or 80, 00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:20.900 they're all bothered by Jesus's question. 00:30:21.020 --> 00:30:22.460 And now Jesus narrows it down. 00:30:22.520 --> 00:30:22.640 No, 00:30:22.660 --> 00:30:22.759 no, 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:22.860 no, 00:30:22.860 --> 00:30:23.020 no. 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:23.840 It's not, 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:24.700 it's not you, 00:30:24.800 --> 00:30:25.020 Mary. 00:30:25.860 --> 00:30:26.160 You know, 00:30:26.180 --> 00:30:26.700 it's not you, 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:27.200 Salome. 00:30:28.680 --> 00:30:29.580 It's not you, 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.740 cute little kid who's going to betray me. 00:30:31.860 --> 00:30:35.240 Maybe they're thinking of kid will say something that will get the Romans on them. 00:30:35.240 --> 00:30:35.640 He says, 00:30:35.700 --> 00:30:36.960 it's going to be one of the 12. 00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:38.539 In fact, 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:40.079 it's this very, 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:41.059 you know, 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:42.160 right? 00:30:42.299 --> 00:30:42.500 It's, 00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:42.819 you know, 00:30:43.059 --> 00:30:50.680 it's like they have a common bowl of hummus and a common bowl of tabbouleh and a common 00:30:50.680 --> 00:30:52.779 bowl of lamb shish kebab. 00:30:52.779 --> 00:30:57.440 And they have pita bread to scoop it up. 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:05.960 And it's one who's so close to Jesus that there he's in there using him and Jesus are scooping from the same hummus bowl. 00:31:05.960 --> 00:31:08.079 That's how close it is. 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:09.079 The betrayer. 00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:16.819 It is one of the 12, 00:31:16.900 --> 00:31:17.400 verse 20, 00:31:17.900 --> 00:31:20.720 one who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:37.579 Read verse 21 again. 00:31:37.579 --> 00:31:41.259 For the son of man goes as it is written of him. 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.159 But woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. 00:31:45.359 --> 00:31:49.799 It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. 00:31:49.799 --> 00:31:51.859 Judas is there. 00:31:53.339 --> 00:31:54.279 We know that from, 00:31:54.980 --> 00:31:58.519 this is recounted in all four of the ancient biographies that we, 00:31:58.619 --> 00:32:00.579 eyewitness biographies that we have of Jesus. 00:32:00.779 --> 00:32:01.180 And we know, 00:32:01.700 --> 00:32:02.960 if you look at all four of them together, 00:32:03.099 --> 00:32:04.480 that Judas is there for this bit. 00:32:04.619 --> 00:32:05.519 Judas asks, 00:32:05.680 --> 00:32:06.200 is it I? 00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:07.779 Judas is sorrowful. 00:32:08.759 --> 00:32:10.940 And Judas is the betrayer. 00:32:10.940 --> 00:32:16.320 The first thing you see here 00:32:16.320 --> 00:32:21.299 is that this is actually a moment 00:32:21.299 --> 00:32:25.779 where Jesus offers Judas an opportunity to repent. 00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:32.720 Jesus doesn't out him, 00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:35.360 doesn't try to shame him into it. 00:32:36.140 --> 00:32:37.900 Judas' freedom is preserved. 00:32:39.320 --> 00:32:40.600 But there's this moment 00:32:40.599 --> 00:32:42.759 with a very solemn thing 00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:44.219 that the man who betrays me, 00:32:44.419 --> 00:32:45.500 what is it he says again? 00:32:46.259 --> 00:32:47.480 Woe to that man. 00:32:48.599 --> 00:32:50.159 It would have been better for that man 00:32:50.159 --> 00:32:51.240 if he had not been born. 00:32:52.719 --> 00:32:52.939 You know, 00:32:52.959 --> 00:32:55.740 when Judas appears before the judgment seat of God, 00:32:55.740 --> 00:32:58.039 he can't say that he didn't realize 00:32:58.039 --> 00:32:59.339 he was betraying Jesus. 00:32:59.599 --> 00:33:01.859 He can't say that he didn't realize it was serious. 00:33:03.039 --> 00:33:04.379 He will have no excuse. 00:33:05.879 --> 00:33:06.599 He was warned 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:08.679 and offered a chance to repent. 00:33:10.599 --> 00:33:13.639 Another thing you see here in this text 00:33:13.639 --> 00:33:15.240 is this mystery of evil. 00:33:17.459 --> 00:33:17.899 You know, 00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:19.119 I've talked about it before, 00:33:19.279 --> 00:33:21.419 but it doesn't get talked about in our culture. 00:33:21.539 --> 00:33:24.759 Our culture is all mixed up and wrong about this. 00:33:25.459 --> 00:33:27.519 It's just all mixed up and wrong. 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:29.539 And in fact, 00:33:29.940 --> 00:33:30.180 you know, 00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:34.039 only the Bible understood in light of the gospel 00:33:34.039 --> 00:33:36.420 and only the gospel understood in light of the Bible 00:33:36.420 --> 00:33:38.740 actually talks about the reality 00:33:38.740 --> 00:33:42.000 that human beings choose evil. 00:33:42.900 --> 00:33:46.379 And that is a feature of what it means to be human. 00:33:46.519 --> 00:33:47.900 It's a feature of reality. 00:33:48.599 --> 00:33:51.279 It's a feature that can't be explained, 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:53.879 but that explains other things. 00:33:53.880 --> 00:33:55.080 In our culture, 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:56.680 we're all confused about that. 00:33:56.820 --> 00:33:57.260 We say, 00:33:57.340 --> 00:33:57.440 well, 00:33:57.480 --> 00:33:57.640 you know, 00:33:57.680 --> 00:33:59.460 it's because his mother didn't love him enough, 00:33:59.540 --> 00:34:01.460 or it's because his dad worked too hard, 00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:04.840 or because his dad died when he was too young, 00:34:05.100 --> 00:34:05.960 or it's, 00:34:06.020 --> 00:34:06.300 you know, 00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:09.400 it's because he's working class, 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:12.099 or it's because he's of this social class, 00:34:12.140 --> 00:34:14.119 or it's because he doesn't have enough money, 00:34:14.460 --> 00:34:16.360 or it's because he has too much money, 00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:18.059 or it's because he's not educated, 00:34:18.300 --> 00:34:21.019 or it's because he's been educated the wrong way, 00:34:21.019 --> 00:34:23.460 or it's because his dad spanked him, 00:34:23.559 --> 00:34:25.440 or it's because his dad didn't spank him, 00:34:25.759 --> 00:34:26.019 or, 00:34:26.300 --> 00:34:28.780 and you can keep going and going and going and going, 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.019 and our culture is fundamentally confused 00:34:31.639 --> 00:34:33.860 and mixed up about the fact 00:34:33.860 --> 00:34:36.559 that human beings choose evil. 00:34:37.280 --> 00:34:41.619 I choose to do wrong things. 00:34:43.079 --> 00:34:43.960 And yes, 00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:44.880 you can say, 00:34:45.039 --> 00:34:45.259 well, 00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:45.699 George, 00:34:45.759 --> 00:34:47.679 one of the reasons you're getting really angry 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:49.079 is because you're hungry. 00:34:50.079 --> 00:34:50.480 Hangry. 00:34:50.619 --> 00:34:51.759 I get hangry. 00:34:51.940 --> 00:34:52.839 Some of you do too. 00:34:53.379 --> 00:34:54.079 But that doesn't, 00:34:54.319 --> 00:34:56.019 that might explain a couple little things, 00:34:56.099 --> 00:34:57.559 but it doesn't explain the fact that I choose. 00:34:57.639 --> 00:34:57.960 It doesn't even, 00:34:58.219 --> 00:35:01.219 that I allow the hunger to make me more angry. 00:35:04.219 --> 00:35:05.599 There's just this mystery. 00:35:05.839 --> 00:35:06.879 Why did Judas do it? 00:35:07.940 --> 00:35:08.339 Well, 00:35:08.379 --> 00:35:09.119 I don't know. 00:35:10.539 --> 00:35:11.219 Because you see, 00:35:11.279 --> 00:35:13.579 the fact is that human beings choosing evil 00:35:13.579 --> 00:35:14.980 is what explains other things, 00:35:14.980 --> 00:35:16.740 and other things don't explain the fact 00:35:16.740 --> 00:35:18.219 that human beings choose evil, 00:35:18.360 --> 00:35:19.900 but human beings choose evil. 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:21.000 Not all the time, 00:35:21.059 --> 00:35:22.539 not everything we choose all the time, 00:35:22.579 --> 00:35:23.039 but we do. 00:35:24.840 --> 00:35:25.679 And you know what? 00:35:26.139 --> 00:35:27.480 To our Muslim friends, 00:35:28.079 --> 00:35:28.940 Islam doesn't, 00:35:29.740 --> 00:35:31.539 the Koran does not explain this. 00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:33.980 It doesn't deal with it. 00:35:34.980 --> 00:35:37.199 To our Buddhist and Hindu friends, 00:35:38.039 --> 00:35:40.400 your scriptures do not really deal with this 00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:41.240 and explain it. 00:35:41.239 --> 00:35:45.139 The only system that deals with it 00:35:45.139 --> 00:35:46.500 and explains it 00:35:46.500 --> 00:35:48.639 and has hope for it 00:35:48.639 --> 00:35:51.579 is the Bible understood in terms of the gospel 00:35:51.579 --> 00:35:53.559 and the gospel understood in terms of the Bible. 00:35:54.500 --> 00:35:56.339 That's the way human beings are. 00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:02.039 But there's something else which is going on here. 00:36:03.699 --> 00:36:05.739 You'll see this wonderful phrase, 00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:09.039 for the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, 00:36:09.039 --> 00:36:12.519 but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. 00:36:12.800 --> 00:36:15.119 It would have been better for that man 00:36:15.119 --> 00:36:16.119 if he had not been born. 00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:21.440 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him. 00:36:23.340 --> 00:36:25.420 One of the things that we see happening here 00:36:25.420 --> 00:36:30.739 is this ancient, powerful river of God's love, 00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:32.400 unstoppable, 00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:36.200 is bringing to this moment 00:36:36.200 --> 00:36:38.960 where God's love is going to provide 00:36:38.960 --> 00:36:46.900 one who will stand in our stead 00:36:46.900 --> 00:36:49.619 so that the evil that we have done 00:36:49.619 --> 00:36:51.320 that should be judged, 00:36:51.820 --> 00:36:53.380 that he will be judged 00:36:53.380 --> 00:36:55.940 and suffer the penalty in our place. 00:36:56.820 --> 00:36:58.420 And Jesus is in control. 00:36:58.559 --> 00:36:59.780 He's not being forced to do it. 00:36:59.780 --> 00:37:01.640 On one hand, we have this river of love 00:37:01.640 --> 00:37:02.780 that comes from Jesus, 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:04.440 that that's what he's moving to do. 00:37:04.940 --> 00:37:06.540 But he's not just doing it on his own 00:37:06.540 --> 00:37:08.200 because he decided it needed to be done, 00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:10.480 that there's this ancient river of love, 00:37:10.940 --> 00:37:12.720 this ancient river of truth 00:37:12.720 --> 00:37:14.680 that's coming to this moment 00:37:14.680 --> 00:37:17.480 where God, in his sovereign purposes, 00:37:18.060 --> 00:37:20.680 from the ages and ages and ages to go, 00:37:20.820 --> 00:37:21.519 is acting, 00:37:21.760 --> 00:37:23.780 and he's not been deflected, 00:37:23.820 --> 00:37:24.860 he's not been stopped, 00:37:24.940 --> 00:37:26.960 he's not just acting like a pinball machine, 00:37:26.960 --> 00:37:28.760 he's not acting on a whim, 00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:30.659 that this is part of the deep, 00:37:31.139 --> 00:37:34.300 sovereign love and truth and purposes of God, 00:37:34.420 --> 00:37:35.079 and that Jesus, 00:37:35.380 --> 00:37:37.780 in his full power of his freedom, 00:37:37.980 --> 00:37:39.579 is also at one with this, 00:37:39.659 --> 00:37:41.179 and it's God's mighty, 00:37:41.400 --> 00:37:44.079 eternal act to save us. 00:37:44.579 --> 00:37:46.659 Remember, it will be on all of the minds 00:37:46.659 --> 00:37:48.740 that what has delivered human beings, 00:37:48.960 --> 00:37:49.760 Jewish people, 00:37:49.860 --> 00:37:50.579 from slavery 00:37:50.579 --> 00:37:52.340 is the slaying of a lamb, 00:37:52.340 --> 00:37:57.380 and it is Jesus dying on that day of holy remembrance, 00:37:58.780 --> 00:38:01.019 that Christians throughout the ages would understand 00:38:01.019 --> 00:38:02.519 that he is the lamb of God 00:38:02.519 --> 00:38:04.340 who takes away the sin of the world, 00:38:04.440 --> 00:38:05.760 not just for Jewish people, 00:38:06.120 --> 00:38:09.140 that he is God's provision for all human beings 00:38:09.140 --> 00:38:10.240 in slavery, 00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:13.420 both in slavery to economic powers, 00:38:13.600 --> 00:38:14.900 to political powers, 00:38:15.220 --> 00:38:15.940 to addiction, 00:38:16.400 --> 00:38:18.800 and most of all to sin and to death, 00:38:18.800 --> 00:38:21.780 that he is the one who is God's provision 00:38:21.780 --> 00:38:25.400 to deliver us from slavery into freedom. 00:38:29.240 --> 00:38:30.180 It is him. 00:38:34.300 --> 00:38:36.580 You see, we have this wonderful interplay. 00:38:37.080 --> 00:38:38.140 See, what do we desire? 00:38:38.700 --> 00:38:40.539 We don't just, you know, in our culture, 00:38:40.660 --> 00:38:41.240 what we desire, 00:38:41.340 --> 00:38:41.800 we don't say, 00:38:41.980 --> 00:38:44.700 I desire the world to be more fixed. 00:38:44.699 --> 00:38:47.119 No, nobody says that. 00:38:47.659 --> 00:38:49.179 We want to be more free. 00:38:49.980 --> 00:38:52.500 But if you just have freedom in a world that's not fixed, 00:38:52.559 --> 00:38:54.219 it would be like some black mirror. 00:38:54.339 --> 00:38:56.980 Those of you who are familiar with that British series, 00:38:57.099 --> 00:38:58.199 some black mirror, 00:38:59.039 --> 00:39:00.019 horror, 00:39:00.539 --> 00:39:00.899 hell, 00:39:01.639 --> 00:39:05.819 where you never know if things are just going to change 00:39:05.819 --> 00:39:08.659 or the direction of gravity is going to change 00:39:08.659 --> 00:39:10.699 or gravity is just going to stop or whatever. 00:39:11.179 --> 00:39:13.559 You know, some of us might like, 00:39:13.559 --> 00:39:14.840 excuse me, 00:39:14.880 --> 00:39:16.239 the freedom of being able to dance 00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:17.320 when there's nobody at home. 00:39:19.500 --> 00:39:20.699 Not very good dancers, 00:39:20.880 --> 00:39:22.699 but we like singing or we like dancing. 00:39:24.360 --> 00:39:26.119 And if we ever thought somebody came home, 00:39:26.179 --> 00:39:27.480 we'd quickly stop, right? 00:39:28.019 --> 00:39:30.960 But we love the freedom of it. 00:39:32.039 --> 00:39:33.400 But we wouldn't love the freedom 00:39:33.400 --> 00:39:35.059 if every time we took a leap, 00:39:35.199 --> 00:39:37.400 we didn't know if gravity was going to continue to work. 00:39:39.340 --> 00:39:43.000 I don't realize how much I need the world to be fixed 00:39:43.000 --> 00:39:48.039 until I get a minuscule microscopic virus 00:39:48.039 --> 00:39:51.039 that destroys my right inner ear 00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:54.239 and causes the room to twirl all the time. 00:39:55.420 --> 00:39:58.159 And then I realize part of what I desire 00:39:58.159 --> 00:40:00.659 is something fixed. 00:40:00.659 --> 00:40:04.980 And it's only when there's something fixed 00:40:04.980 --> 00:40:07.359 that I can be free. 00:40:09.839 --> 00:40:11.759 And that's what the gospel provides. 00:40:11.859 --> 00:40:13.420 There's this sovereign, 00:40:13.980 --> 00:40:16.259 unstoppable 00:40:16.259 --> 00:40:19.559 river of God's love 00:40:19.559 --> 00:40:20.519 and of God's truth 00:40:20.519 --> 00:40:21.679 and of God's promises. 00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.119 And it is within that 00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:25.579 that I am free. 00:40:26.759 --> 00:40:28.239 He provides the freedom 00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:29.559 in the person of the Son, 00:40:30.259 --> 00:40:31.199 the Lamb of God 00:40:31.199 --> 00:40:32.639 who takes away the sin of the world, 00:40:32.759 --> 00:40:34.859 the one who stands in my place 00:40:34.859 --> 00:40:36.480 to be that Lamb. 00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:38.279 And his innocence comes to me 00:40:38.279 --> 00:40:40.339 and my guilt goes on him. 00:40:40.399 --> 00:40:41.519 And he is that one 00:40:41.519 --> 00:40:43.819 whose blood means that God's wrath 00:40:43.819 --> 00:40:45.259 is set aside. 00:40:45.260 --> 00:40:52.200 It's within that 00:40:52.200 --> 00:40:52.880 that I am free. 00:40:56.140 --> 00:40:57.440 We need the fixed 00:40:57.440 --> 00:40:59.140 and we need freedom. 00:40:59.820 --> 00:41:01.600 And it's only the solid and the fixed 00:41:01.600 --> 00:41:02.500 that can give freedom 00:41:02.500 --> 00:41:05.720 just as it's only God's sovereignty 00:41:05.720 --> 00:41:06.940 that gives us freedom. 00:41:09.400 --> 00:41:10.040 And you know, 00:41:10.060 --> 00:41:11.180 when we understand this 00:41:11.180 --> 00:41:12.260 as it becomes more deep 00:41:12.260 --> 00:41:13.220 and real to our heart, 00:41:13.340 --> 00:41:14.900 it encourages us to pray. 00:41:15.260 --> 00:41:16.840 We have this freedom to pray. 00:41:16.980 --> 00:41:19.220 It's part of the dignity of causality 00:41:19.220 --> 00:41:20.280 that God has given us 00:41:20.280 --> 00:41:21.060 that we can pray 00:41:21.060 --> 00:41:22.880 to our Heavenly Father in Heaven 00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:23.300 and say, 00:41:23.640 --> 00:41:25.480 watch over my child as he drives 00:41:25.480 --> 00:41:28.300 or help me with my financial problems 00:41:28.300 --> 00:41:30.580 or help me with my health problems 00:41:30.580 --> 00:41:32.220 or grant me wisdom 00:41:32.220 --> 00:41:33.680 and direction for this. 00:41:34.260 --> 00:41:35.280 And we can pray 00:41:35.280 --> 00:41:36.940 knowing that God is sovereign, 00:41:37.120 --> 00:41:38.240 that there's something fixed 00:41:38.240 --> 00:41:39.740 and it's within that context 00:41:39.740 --> 00:41:40.820 of him being sovereign 00:41:40.820 --> 00:41:41.720 and powerful 00:41:41.720 --> 00:41:42.920 and in control 00:41:42.920 --> 00:41:44.780 that we can pour out our hearts to pray. 00:41:45.260 --> 00:41:47.140 Knowing that our sovereign God 00:41:47.140 --> 00:41:48.840 hears our prayers 00:41:48.840 --> 00:41:50.300 and takes them into account. 00:41:51.380 --> 00:41:53.040 It's within this context 00:41:53.040 --> 00:41:54.520 of the sovereignty of God 00:41:54.520 --> 00:41:55.640 and the freedom that comes 00:41:55.640 --> 00:41:56.420 from the gospel 00:41:56.420 --> 00:41:58.700 that we can face hard things 00:41:58.700 --> 00:41:59.540 about ourselves, 00:41:59.700 --> 00:42:01.160 that we can do hard things 00:42:01.160 --> 00:42:01.900 in the world. 00:42:02.660 --> 00:42:04.100 It is within this context 00:42:04.100 --> 00:42:06.660 that we can share the gospel. 00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:09.380 Knowing that all I can do 00:42:09.380 --> 00:42:11.060 is just tell people about Jesus 00:42:11.059 --> 00:42:13.119 and it's God's sovereign purposes 00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:14.400 that work in their soul 00:42:14.400 --> 00:42:15.900 to bring them to a saving faith 00:42:15.900 --> 00:42:16.420 in Christ. 00:42:20.980 --> 00:42:22.139 Thank you to stand. 00:42:32.139 --> 00:42:33.320 Bow our heads in prayer. 00:42:33.320 --> 00:42:37.360 Father, we thank you 00:42:37.360 --> 00:42:40.880 that it is part of your sovereign rule 00:42:40.880 --> 00:42:41.640 over the world 00:42:41.640 --> 00:42:42.840 that you have created us 00:42:42.840 --> 00:42:43.440 to be free. 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:46.039 We give you thanks and praise 00:42:46.039 --> 00:42:47.980 that our freedom is real. 00:42:48.200 --> 00:42:49.980 Our moral responsibility is real. 00:42:50.539 --> 00:42:51.940 We give you thanks and praise, 00:42:52.140 --> 00:42:52.340 Father, 00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:54.559 that when we used our freedom 00:42:54.559 --> 00:42:57.940 to choose evil 00:42:57.940 --> 00:42:59.280 and to choose pride 00:42:59.280 --> 00:43:00.460 and self-centeredness 00:43:00.460 --> 00:43:03.019 that you did not turn your back on us 00:43:03.019 --> 00:43:03.659 but that you, 00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:05.720 even back in the very, very depths 00:43:05.720 --> 00:43:06.760 of human history 00:43:06.760 --> 00:43:08.820 and the beginnings of human life, 00:43:08.920 --> 00:43:09.460 that you promised 00:43:10.179 --> 00:43:11.320 that there would be a way, 00:43:11.420 --> 00:43:12.360 that you would do 00:43:12.360 --> 00:43:14.260 what we could no longer do ourselves 00:43:14.260 --> 00:43:15.800 because we had chosen evil 00:43:15.800 --> 00:43:16.460 and changed ourselves 00:43:17.019 --> 00:43:19.760 so that now the choosing of evil 00:43:19.760 --> 00:43:21.559 at times is a fixed part 00:43:21.559 --> 00:43:22.179 of our nature 00:43:22.179 --> 00:43:24.639 that cannot completely be erased 00:43:24.639 --> 00:43:26.159 on this side of the grave. 00:43:26.280 --> 00:43:26.699 That you, 00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:28.820 in your love and mercy sauce, 00:43:28.820 --> 00:43:30.740 that you provided a means 00:43:30.740 --> 00:43:32.019 in the person of your Son 00:43:32.019 --> 00:43:33.680 after centuries of promise 00:43:33.680 --> 00:43:35.280 that he would be the one 00:43:35.280 --> 00:43:36.440 who would be in our stead, 00:43:36.880 --> 00:43:37.960 that he would be the one 00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:38.640 to deliver us 00:43:38.640 --> 00:43:40.160 from slavery and bondage. 00:43:40.480 --> 00:43:41.880 We give you thanks and praise 00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:42.680 that you have led us 00:43:42.680 --> 00:43:44.220 to a faith and trust in Christ. 00:43:44.620 --> 00:43:45.019 And, Father, 00:43:45.120 --> 00:43:46.180 if there are those here 00:43:46.180 --> 00:43:46.980 who do not know 00:43:46.980 --> 00:43:48.039 that they know Jesus 00:43:48.039 --> 00:43:49.100 as Savior and Lord 00:43:49.100 --> 00:43:50.840 but feel the attraction 00:43:50.840 --> 00:43:52.380 that wish that this would be true, 00:43:52.500 --> 00:43:53.340 may your Holy Spirit 00:43:53.340 --> 00:43:54.620 move and work in their hearts 00:43:54.620 --> 00:43:56.400 that they might turn to you 00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:57.639 and call out to Jesus 00:43:57.639 --> 00:43:59.099 to be their Savior and Lord. 00:43:59.519 --> 00:43:59.960 And, Father, 00:44:00.039 --> 00:44:01.260 for us who know Jesus 00:44:01.260 --> 00:44:02.420 as Savior and Lord, 00:44:02.780 --> 00:44:03.639 we ask, Father, 00:44:03.720 --> 00:44:04.420 that you bring 00:44:04.420 --> 00:44:06.519 these great profound truths 00:44:06.519 --> 00:44:07.220 of your word 00:44:07.220 --> 00:44:08.139 deeper and deeper 00:44:08.139 --> 00:44:09.000 into our hearts 00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:10.139 so that we might desire 00:44:10.139 --> 00:44:10.780 to pray, 00:44:10.960 --> 00:44:12.119 that we might know 00:44:12.119 --> 00:44:13.079 that in you 00:44:13.079 --> 00:44:14.059 we have the strength 00:44:14.059 --> 00:44:15.200 to do hard things 00:44:15.200 --> 00:44:16.619 and face hard questions 00:44:16.619 --> 00:44:17.840 and that there are 00:44:17.840 --> 00:44:19.280 no little people 00:44:19.280 --> 00:44:20.800 or little concerns for you 00:44:20.800 --> 00:44:21.700 that we can pour out 00:44:21.700 --> 00:44:22.480 our heart in prayer 00:44:22.480 --> 00:44:23.539 and do things 00:44:23.539 --> 00:44:24.599 for your honor and glory 00:44:24.599 --> 00:44:26.199 and to share the gospel 00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:26.779 for others. 00:44:26.880 --> 00:44:27.639 And we ask, Lord, 00:44:27.699 --> 00:44:28.319 that you would bring 00:44:28.319 --> 00:44:29.259 these truths deeply 00:44:29.259 --> 00:44:30.059 home to us. 00:44:31.079 --> 00:44:32.279 And we thank and praise you, 00:44:32.440 --> 00:44:32.639 Father, 00:44:32.739 --> 00:44:34.259 that your desire for us 00:44:34.259 --> 00:44:35.699 is to so know 00:44:35.699 --> 00:44:36.619 that you are Savior, 00:44:36.759 --> 00:44:37.579 that you are Lord, 00:44:38.019 --> 00:44:39.460 and that Jesus is our Savior, 00:44:39.619 --> 00:44:40.679 that we grow in freedom. 00:44:41.339 --> 00:44:42.159 We give you thanks 00:44:42.159 --> 00:44:42.980 and praise, Father, 00:44:43.059 --> 00:44:44.239 that that is your desire 00:44:44.239 --> 00:44:45.639 for us, 00:44:46.059 --> 00:44:46.860 for each one 00:44:46.860 --> 00:44:47.759 who knows Jesus 00:44:47.759 --> 00:44:48.759 as Savior and Lord 00:44:48.759 --> 00:44:49.960 and now has you 00:44:49.960 --> 00:44:51.019 as our Father in heaven. 00:44:51.159 --> 00:44:52.739 Is it your desire for us 00:44:52.739 --> 00:44:54.279 is greater freedom, 00:44:54.599 --> 00:44:56.440 not just freedom from, 00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:58.099 but freedom to, 00:44:58.719 --> 00:45:00.139 freedom to be generous, 00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:01.639 freedom to forgive, 00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:04.000 freedom to do hard things, 00:45:04.599 --> 00:45:05.940 freedom to show compassion, 00:45:06.519 --> 00:45:08.659 freedom to seek justice, 00:45:09.759 --> 00:45:10.099 freedom. 00:45:10.679 --> 00:45:11.019 Father, 00:45:11.079 --> 00:45:11.819 we give you thanks 00:45:11.819 --> 00:45:12.380 and praise 00:45:12.380 --> 00:45:13.400 that your heart for us 00:45:13.400 --> 00:45:14.400 is freedom from 00:45:14.400 --> 00:45:15.219 and freedom to. 00:45:15.980 --> 00:45:17.119 And we ask and thank 00:45:17.119 --> 00:45:17.920 all these things 00:45:17.920 --> 00:45:18.960 in the name of Jesus, 00:45:19.420 --> 00:45:20.039 your Son, 00:45:20.400 --> 00:45:21.079 and our Savior. 00:45:21.920 --> 00:45:22.279 Amen. 00:45:24.599 --> 00:45:26.619 Amen. 00:45:26.619 --> 00:45:26.779 Amen. 00:45:26.860 --> 00:45:27.059 Amen. 00:45:27.059 --> 00:45:27.239 Amen. 00:45:27.259 --> 00:45:27.559 Amen. 00:45:27.559 --> 00:45:27.860 Amen. 00:45:27.860 --> 00:45:28.559 Amen. 00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:28.699 Amen. 00:45:28.699 --> 00:45:29.920 Amen. 00:45:29.920 --> 00:45:30.119 Yep. 00:45:30.119 --> 00:45:30.360 Amen. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:32.679 Amen. 00:45:32.679 --> 00:45:33.500 Amen. 00:45:33.519 --> 00:45:34.099 Amen. 00:45:34.099 --> 00:45:35.259 fungi to out. 00:45:35.940 --> 00:45:36.759 Amen. 00:45:36.759 --> 00:45:36.779 Amen. 00:45:36.779 --> 00:45:37.500 Amen. 00:45:37.500 --> 00:45:40.380 Amen. 00:45:46.380 --> 00:45:46.719 Amen. 00:45:46.719 --> 00:45:48.639 Amen. 00:45:48.639 --> 00:45:52.940 Amen.