WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.360 I've got a real love-hate relationship with Facebook. 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:06.459 It's mostly a hate relationship. 00:00:06.459 --> 00:00:11.359 I constantly find myself deleting my Facebook account only to reactivate it again, whether 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:14.919 it's a month later or a couple of weeks later or even 10 minutes later. 00:00:14.919 --> 00:00:17.440 Because I always find that there's something on it I need. 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:22.260 It's either a person's contact details that I just don't have anywhere else or there's 00:00:22.260 --> 00:00:26.179 some information about an event that I just don't seem to be able to access in any other 00:00:26.179 --> 00:00:27.179 way. 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.379 So I feel like I need to have this thing Facebook. 00:00:29.379 --> 00:00:33.299 If you're not in my generation and you've been lucky enough to miss Facebook, I feel 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:34.299 very envious of you. 00:00:34.299 --> 00:00:38.320 But for me, I keep ending up back on Facebook and it makes me angry. 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:42.939 I hate Facebook because I feel so much of it is a waste of my time. 00:00:42.939 --> 00:00:46.780 I feel like I end up at the end of the day just reading through the Facebook newsfeed. 00:00:46.780 --> 00:00:51.219 I feel like the word newsfeed is a mockery of the word news because most of what is on 00:00:51.219 --> 00:00:55.000 there is just it's not relevant, it's not interesting and it's not helpful, which is 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:57.539 I think what news is meant to be. 00:00:57.539 --> 00:00:59.460 I find this just utterly bizarre. 00:00:59.460 --> 00:01:04.680 The constant stream of just boring, pointless information that people want to put up. 00:01:04.680 --> 00:01:08.859 Every time I see a photo of someone, they put a photo up of the sandwich they're eating, 00:01:08.859 --> 00:01:10.939 or a cup of coffee they're drinking. 00:01:10.939 --> 00:01:14.460 I just want to just yell at the screen, why are you showing me this? 00:01:14.459 --> 00:01:16.379 What does your cup of coffee have to do with me? 00:01:16.379 --> 00:01:18.959 Why do you want me to see this? 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:22.599 The other sorts of posts which just frustrate me is the kind of ones that people put up, 00:01:22.599 --> 00:01:26.019 which is just the information without any of the information that matters. 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:29.959 So people say, like, you know, ah, what a frustrating day. 00:01:29.959 --> 00:01:32.259 And then you just want to say, what was frustrating? 00:01:32.259 --> 00:01:36.599 You've just given me some information without the information that I need to make anything of 00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:37.599 what you're doing. 00:01:37.599 --> 00:01:42.780 Or the other kind of posts which is just information about what they're doing and they do tell you 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:44.059 what's really going on. 00:01:44.059 --> 00:01:47.199 But again, you just want to ask, why do I need to know? 00:01:47.199 --> 00:01:49.979 When people say, oh, I'm going to the gym then studying after. 00:01:49.979 --> 00:01:55.599 You just feel like saying, okay, like, I don't know why you're communicating this to me. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:57.479 It's utterly bizarre. 00:01:57.479 --> 00:02:01.819 It's very different experience to when you see that you've been, you know, a photo's gone up 00:02:01.819 --> 00:02:03.639 and you're in it or something to do with you is there. 00:02:03.639 --> 00:02:04.899 You suddenly get very interested. 00:02:04.899 --> 00:02:06.139 You want to see what you look like. 00:02:06.139 --> 00:02:10.259 You want to see what people are saying about you, whether people like it or not. 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:12.979 But for the most part, Facebook is just boring. 00:02:12.979 --> 00:02:17.699 And boring is when it's just information that has nothing to do with you. 00:02:17.699 --> 00:02:21.579 And I wonder if we, as we've just kind of read that Bible passage, and as we come to 00:02:21.579 --> 00:02:24.340 church tonight, maybe you're feeling the same thing. 00:02:24.340 --> 00:02:28.340 Maybe it's your first time in church tonight and it's so awesome that you're here. 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:31.340 We love that you're joining us and thinking about this kind of stuff. 00:02:31.340 --> 00:02:34.300 And you're open to checking out this idea of Christianity. 00:02:34.300 --> 00:02:38.420 But you're quite skeptical because you're maybe just thinking to yourself, how could 00:02:38.420 --> 00:02:40.980 this really have anything to do with me? 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:46.379 How could this book, which was written 2,000 years ago, have any kind of effect on my life 00:02:46.379 --> 00:02:47.379 today? 00:02:47.379 --> 00:02:48.659 Why do I need to know this? 00:02:48.659 --> 00:02:50.219 Maybe you're even a Christian here. 00:02:50.219 --> 00:02:53.740 And as that was read, maybe even that same feeling, just thinking, oh, I've read this 00:02:53.740 --> 00:02:54.740 before. 00:02:54.740 --> 00:02:55.740 What does it matter? 00:02:55.740 --> 00:02:56.740 What's it got to do with me? 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:58.300 We know deep down that it should matter. 00:02:58.300 --> 00:03:00.860 We know deep down that, like, I guess it does have something to do with me. 00:03:00.860 --> 00:03:01.820 But we just don't feel it. 00:03:01.820 --> 00:03:03.820 And so it becomes boring to us. 00:03:03.820 --> 00:03:06.820 What does it have to do with me? 00:03:06.820 --> 00:03:11.900 My hope tonight is that as we kind of work through this passage that was read to us, we 00:03:11.900 --> 00:03:14.820 will all walk away knowing what this has to do with us. 00:03:14.820 --> 00:03:20.420 We'll all walk away seeing that this actually has profound importance to our lives today. 00:03:20.419 --> 00:03:22.379 That it matters. 00:03:22.379 --> 00:03:27.379 Because in seeing what this has to do with us, it's ultimately how we experience love. 00:03:27.379 --> 00:03:31.779 It's in this passage that we see just how much we're truly loved. 00:03:31.779 --> 00:03:34.259 So we're about to get into it now. 00:03:34.259 --> 00:03:37.219 I'm just going to pray, if that's all right, and ask that God would be with me as I speak. 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:40.659 Maybe you want to pray, whether you're here for the first time or you've been coming for 00:03:40.659 --> 00:03:45.060 years and years, just to pray that God would be showing you what this has to do with you 00:03:45.060 --> 00:03:45.459 tonight. 00:03:45.460 --> 00:03:49.300 So I'm going to pray. 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:56.180 Heavenly Father, we want to bring ourselves before you knowing that you are high above 00:03:56.180 --> 00:03:57.180 us. 00:03:57.180 --> 00:03:58.180 You are beyond our comprehension. 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:03.460 And the only way we're going to hear you speak is if you choose to speak to us. 00:04:03.460 --> 00:04:05.700 The only way we're going to hear your voice is if you speak. 00:04:05.700 --> 00:04:10.700 The only way we're going to have this hit us is if you do a work in our hearts. 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:17.300 So just, Lord, be with me as I speak, be with everyone here as we think about this passage, 00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:22.759 as we try to look at it with fresh eyes and see just what it reveals about you and the 00:04:22.759 --> 00:04:23.980 way you are towards us. 00:04:24.620 --> 00:04:25.759 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:26.459 Amen. 00:04:28.060 --> 00:04:29.899 So we've got Easter coming up next week. 00:04:29.980 --> 00:04:34.060 And this passage that we're looking at today is set just before Easter, the very first Easter. 00:04:34.539 --> 00:04:36.680 It's two days before the Passover. 00:04:36.680 --> 00:04:42.439 And as we go through this story, I just think maybe we can just not really be struck by the 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:42.819 weight of it. 00:04:42.860 --> 00:04:46.780 I really want us to be thinking and just thinking how weighty and heavy this passage is. 00:04:47.819 --> 00:04:49.379 Remember, this actually happened. 00:04:51.379 --> 00:04:56.579 It's two days before the Passover, which is the time when all of Israel remembered the 00:04:56.579 --> 00:04:58.860 way that God rescued his people from Egypt. 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:04.660 And the Jewish leaders, who we heard last week had a problem with Jesus' authority, are 00:05:04.660 --> 00:05:07.900 looking for a way to kill him when he's on his own. 00:05:09.220 --> 00:05:12.040 And Jesus is in the house of a guy called Simon the leper. 00:05:12.379 --> 00:05:15.560 And it's not a strange thing for Jesus to be in the house of someone who's known for 00:05:15.560 --> 00:05:16.540 the disease that they have. 00:05:16.620 --> 00:05:17.680 It's what Jesus did. 00:05:17.740 --> 00:05:22.060 He spent time with people who were just different to him and people that no one else wanted to 00:05:22.060 --> 00:05:22.540 be with. 00:05:22.540 --> 00:05:26.319 And while he's having dinner at Simon the leper's house, a woman comes in with a jar 00:05:26.319 --> 00:05:28.700 of perfume, expensive perfume. 00:05:28.939 --> 00:05:32.900 We know it would have cost around 300 denarii, which is about the same as a year's wage. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:34.319 And she gets this perfume. 00:05:34.400 --> 00:05:35.420 And what she does is ridiculous. 00:05:35.879 --> 00:05:41.040 She breaks this jar and she pours this expensive year's wage perfume all over Jesus. 00:05:42.280 --> 00:05:43.860 And everyone is just angry. 00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:46.080 What a waste that she's doing. 00:05:46.800 --> 00:05:50.840 Doesn't this woman realize just what could be done with perfume that's that valuable? 00:05:50.839 --> 00:05:54.259 Doesn't she know what she could do if she sold it and gave it to the poor? 00:05:54.419 --> 00:05:57.379 Surely that is more important than what she's done here to Jesus. 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.179 Surely she's doing a foolish thing. 00:06:03.099 --> 00:06:04.259 They rebuke her. 00:06:05.719 --> 00:06:08.719 And then Jesus turns to them and says, leave her alone. 00:06:09.579 --> 00:06:10.779 Why do you trouble her? 00:06:11.839 --> 00:06:13.519 She's done a beautiful thing to me. 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:15.379 For you'll always have the poor with you. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:17.479 And whenever you want, you can do good for them. 00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:19.699 But you will not always have me. 00:06:19.699 --> 00:06:22.079 She has done what she could. 00:06:22.219 --> 00:06:24.620 She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:31.740 And truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her. 00:06:33.039 --> 00:06:35.939 Now I think there's a lot of strange things in what Jesus just said there. 00:06:35.959 --> 00:06:40.659 But one of the strangest is the fact that he said that she has anointed him for burial. 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:49.640 Back in these times, the time when you get kind of perfume poured over you is when you're a corpse and you're about to be buried. 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:54.420 Jesus is saying he's pretty much the same as a corpse. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:55.980 He's getting ready to be buried. 00:06:56.100 --> 00:06:57.260 He's getting ready to die. 00:06:57.259 --> 00:07:09.500 After this, Judas Iscariot, one of Jesus' closest friends, goes out, finds the Jewish leaders and agrees to hand Jesus over to them to betray him for money. 00:07:09.500 --> 00:07:12.959 It's then the next night. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:16.000 And Jesus has organized another dinner. 00:07:16.099 --> 00:07:18.139 This time it's in the capital city of Jerusalem. 00:07:18.339 --> 00:07:26.719 And they're going to eat the Passover meal, which is the meal where Jews remembered that thousands of years before, God rescued his people from Egypt. 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:39.120 And this meal is a stressful, tense meal. 00:07:39.220 --> 00:07:42.460 And the reason for that is that Jesus knows what Judas has done. 00:07:42.940 --> 00:07:45.860 He knows that just the night before, he's been betrayed. 00:07:46.060 --> 00:07:48.920 And so he turns to the 12 disciples who are there and says, 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:50.300 One of you will betray me. 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:52.740 One of you who is eating with me. 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:56.900 Who would betray Jesus? 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:00.860 Who would betray this man who has shown so much power? 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:06.620 Who would want to betray this man who has shown so much love and mercy to all people? 00:08:07.480 --> 00:08:10.340 This man who Peter has identified as the Christ. 00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:14.639 The one that God is sending into the world to heal all of the brokenness. 00:08:15.019 --> 00:08:18.400 To make all of the pain and the problem of this world go away. 00:08:19.480 --> 00:08:21.300 Who would betray a man like this? 00:08:21.300 --> 00:08:22.980 And so the disciples turn to each other. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:24.600 Is it I, they ask? 00:08:25.620 --> 00:08:26.840 Surely not I, Lord. 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:30.600 They can't conceive how someone could have betrayed Jesus. 00:08:30.699 --> 00:08:31.780 But he doesn't give them a name. 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:35.200 He simply says it is one who is eating from the very same dish. 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:39.659 Jesus knows what is about to happen. 00:08:39.659 --> 00:08:43.200 He knows he is about to be betrayed and he is soon to die. 00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:49.039 Then Jesus stands up in this meal and does something very unusual. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:52.860 He gets some bread in his hands and he breaks it. 00:08:53.799 --> 00:08:57.599 And he hands this bread to everyone there and says, this is my body. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:00.360 Then he gets a cup. 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:03.740 A cup of wine and hands it around and gives thanks for it. 00:09:04.299 --> 00:09:08.299 And says, this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many. 00:09:08.299 --> 00:09:13.459 This is an unusual thing for someone to say at the Passover. 00:09:13.939 --> 00:09:19.859 Normally what someone would say at the Passover is, this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:21.859 Let everyone who hungers come and eat. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.179 Let everyone who is needy come and eat the Passover meal. 00:09:25.179 --> 00:09:30.299 Jesus is saying that he is the bread of the Passover. 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:33.919 He is the ultimate answer to hunger and need. 00:09:36.759 --> 00:09:39.439 And why is he speaking about his blood being poured out? 00:09:40.479 --> 00:09:42.379 Again, he is speaking of his death. 00:09:43.719 --> 00:09:45.259 He is saying that he is going to die. 00:09:45.819 --> 00:09:48.239 What a meal to be at. 00:09:48.459 --> 00:09:51.039 A meal marked with betrayal and death. 00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.620 We can read over that too fast sometimes. 00:09:55.459 --> 00:09:58.759 Then leaving this meal, Jesus and his disciples, they go to the Mount of Olives. 00:09:59.500 --> 00:10:02.480 And Jesus explains that all of his friends are going to leave him. 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.459 They are going to abandon him, even his closest friend Peter. 00:10:06.259 --> 00:10:09.000 And they go on a bit further than to the Garden of Gethsemane. 00:10:09.339 --> 00:10:15.039 And here in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see something of Jesus that I don't think we see anywhere else to the same extent. 00:10:15.039 --> 00:10:18.740 We see Jesus' deepest emotions in this garden. 00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:26.279 Jesus tells his disciples to stay and wait for him while he goes to pray. 00:10:27.019 --> 00:10:32.319 He takes Peter, James and John a bit further on with him and then tells them to wait while he goes. 00:10:33.819 --> 00:10:37.799 And then we see that Jesus becomes greatly distressed and troubled. 00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:40.559 Why is he troubled? 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:44.299 He says to them, 00:10:44.299 --> 00:10:48.779 My soul is very sorrowful, even to the point of death. 00:10:51.179 --> 00:10:52.240 He's overwhelmed. 00:10:53.099 --> 00:10:55.279 He goes on further and he falls to the ground. 00:10:56.039 --> 00:10:58.539 He can no longer stand and all he can do is praise. 00:10:58.839 --> 00:11:00.459 And he prays a prayer of desperation. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:06.219 He asks that this hour would come past him. 00:11:06.219 --> 00:11:09.339 He asks that this cup which he's facing will be taken from him. 00:11:09.340 --> 00:11:13.379 What is this hour that he's speaking of? 00:11:14.600 --> 00:11:18.180 What is this cup that he doesn't want to face? 00:11:19.180 --> 00:11:22.980 We've seen through these passages, we've just walked through it, that Jesus speaks much of his death. 00:11:23.820 --> 00:11:29.040 He knows that he's soon to be tortured and to be nailed to a Roman cross to die a slow, painful death of asphyxiation. 00:11:29.980 --> 00:11:31.899 And surely that would have been a terrifying thought. 00:11:31.899 --> 00:11:37.720 But many others have faced similar deaths quite calmly. 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:46.459 Many of Jesus' followers, in fact, have faced horrible deaths of executions and shootings and hangings and burnings and drownings and being fed to lions, 00:11:46.579 --> 00:11:50.079 many of whom are recorded of doing so with a song of joy on their lips. 00:11:51.139 --> 00:12:00.399 Polycarp, who was one of Jesus' early followers, was sentenced to be burned at the stake for refusing to burn incense to the emperor. 00:12:01.899 --> 00:12:08.279 And he was given one last chance by the magistrate to recant, to say, look, I'm no longer a Christian. 00:12:08.319 --> 00:12:10.159 That's all he had to do and he wouldn't be burnt. 00:12:11.179 --> 00:12:13.039 But Polycarp's response was, 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:17.079 The fire you threaten burns but an hour and is quenched after a little. 00:12:17.659 --> 00:12:19.299 So come, why do you delay? 00:12:19.659 --> 00:12:20.399 Do what you will. 00:12:22.319 --> 00:12:27.120 He boldly looked death in the face, calmly, ready for it. 00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:33.179 So are we to assume that Jesus' followers are braver than their leader? 00:12:34.980 --> 00:12:36.100 I don't think so. 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:39.759 I think there's something going on deeper in this passage. 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:43.679 There's something going on deeper than just physical death. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:49.099 The first readers of this would have known two passages in the Old Testament. 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:54.439 Ezekiel chapter 23 verses 32 to 34 and Isaiah chapter 51 verse 22, 00:12:54.659 --> 00:12:57.439 which both refer to the cup of God's judgment. 00:12:58.659 --> 00:13:03.679 The cup that Jesus is asking will be taken from him is the cup of God's wrath. 00:13:04.459 --> 00:13:06.779 The cup of punishment and anger. 00:13:06.779 --> 00:13:10.240 This is what Jesus is facing here. 00:13:10.299 --> 00:13:11.459 Not mere physical death. 00:13:12.419 --> 00:13:14.139 But he's facing the wrath of God. 00:13:15.059 --> 00:13:16.360 The anger of God. 00:13:17.799 --> 00:13:21.299 Now I'm very aware that we don't like to think of God as a God of anger and a God of wrath. 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:23.419 But frankly, it doesn't really matter what we think of God. 00:13:23.699 --> 00:13:25.059 The Bible says that he is. 00:13:25.620 --> 00:13:28.600 The Bible says God is a God of anger and wrath towards sin. 00:13:28.939 --> 00:13:30.939 And what sin is, is pretty much me saying, 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:32.159 I don't want you, God. 00:13:32.199 --> 00:13:32.939 I just want me. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.279 I want your stuff. 00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:34.679 I just want you to think of God as a God of anger. 00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:38.740 It's pretty much saying, look, God, there is more things that are important to you than you in my life. 00:13:39.179 --> 00:13:42.600 Whether it's me or whether it's some of my possessions or some other idea. 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:45.039 It's this coldness towards him. 00:13:45.100 --> 00:13:47.139 It's this rejection of relationship towards him. 00:13:47.199 --> 00:13:47.939 That's what sin is. 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:49.139 And God hates it. 00:13:50.100 --> 00:13:51.500 God is angered at sin. 00:13:52.699 --> 00:13:53.459 He's furious. 00:13:53.579 --> 00:13:55.679 And because he is just, he punishes sin. 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:03.419 And Jesus is getting ready to face that anger, that wrath. 00:14:04.279 --> 00:14:08.539 Jesus, the one who never sinned himself, is brought to a point where he cannot stand, 00:14:08.620 --> 00:14:10.199 where all he can do is pray in desperation, 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:16.220 because he knows he is one day away from coming face to face with the full anger of God. 00:14:20.039 --> 00:14:21.600 And this is because of sin. 00:14:22.819 --> 00:14:26.439 Not his sin, but your sin and my sin. 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:31.980 He didn't sin like we did, but he's about to become the full weight of it. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.800 The way that the Apostle Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5.21 is, 00:14:37.140 --> 00:14:40.240 he became sin, who knew no sin. 00:14:42.420 --> 00:14:44.780 That's what fills Jesus with sorrow. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:47.920 That's what troubles him and makes him filled with distress. 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:53.979 So the answer to the question, what has this got to do with me? 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:58.360 What has this passage about something that happened 2,000 years ago got to do with me? 00:15:00.199 --> 00:15:03.500 Well, it was my sin that put him there. 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:09.860 It was because of God's anger towards me that Jesus went to the cross. 00:15:09.860 --> 00:15:18.580 Jesus knew that he was about to come face to face with the anger that God felt towards you. 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:22.300 We need to let that sit for a minute. 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:27.300 Have you ever stopped to look at yourself and see yourself as the reason for Easter? 00:15:27.820 --> 00:15:29.680 You are the reason that Jesus went to die? 00:15:31.460 --> 00:15:33.700 John Stott says this great quote, which is, 00:15:34.139 --> 00:15:37.440 before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:40.280 we have to see it as something done by us. 00:15:41.300 --> 00:15:44.740 Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, 00:15:45.140 --> 00:15:47.560 we have to see it as something done by us. 00:15:49.480 --> 00:15:54.480 It's not because Jesus was some political or religious threat to the Romans or the Jews that he went to die, 00:15:54.540 --> 00:15:56.280 but because of our sin. 00:15:57.580 --> 00:15:58.860 That's why Jesus died. 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:02.960 This isn't normally how I view myself and my sin. 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:06.580 I know that if I thought about this more seriously and more frequently, 00:16:06.580 --> 00:16:09.220 that every time my heart runs after things other than God, 00:16:09.280 --> 00:16:11.820 every time I feel with bitterness or lust or greed, 00:16:12.060 --> 00:16:13.620 that is what put Jesus on the cross. 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:16.040 I don't think I'd be as content with the sin in my life. 00:16:17.060 --> 00:16:18.200 I don't think I could possibly be. 00:16:18.340 --> 00:16:20.700 I certainly couldn't love it the way that I so often do. 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:27.540 So often as Christians, I think we can get to a point where we're just content with sin in our life. 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:30.560 There's no room for that given this passage. 00:16:30.780 --> 00:16:32.800 Sin is what drove Jesus to the cross. 00:16:32.799 --> 00:16:37.679 Brothers and sisters, don't become content with it or fine with it to remain in your life. 00:16:38.679 --> 00:16:42.500 There is nothing in the world as serious as sin, because sin is what killed Jesus. 00:16:43.339 --> 00:16:44.719 Your sin and my sin. 00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:48.219 We are the need for Jesus to die. 00:16:48.220 --> 00:16:56.180 And maybe you've heard all this, everything I've just said so far, 00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:58.639 and you're just really thinking, that does not sound nice at all. 00:16:59.399 --> 00:17:00.639 We've talked of blood. 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:01.639 We've talked of wrath. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:02.560 We've talked of sin. 00:17:02.639 --> 00:17:03.700 We've talked of anger. 00:17:04.700 --> 00:17:07.100 We've talked of death and punishment. 00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:09.539 I just want a God of love. 00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:13.460 I just want a God who loves and who is kind and generous and merciful. 00:17:13.559 --> 00:17:14.660 I don't want that God. 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:16.600 Maybe that's what you're feeling. 00:17:16.740 --> 00:17:18.640 That's what I'm feeling a little bit of. 00:17:20.779 --> 00:17:28.240 But what I think we see in this passage is that unless we first see this idea of wrath and this idea of God's judgment, 00:17:28.380 --> 00:17:30.360 we're never going to understand just how much God loves. 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:33.820 How do you measure how much you're loved? 00:17:33.960 --> 00:17:36.480 How do you measure someone in your life, how much they love you? 00:17:38.040 --> 00:17:39.540 Is it by their words? 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:42.660 I don't think that's a very good measurement a lot of the time. 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:44.759 It's not hard to say the words that I love you. 00:17:45.560 --> 00:17:49.220 Husbands can tell their wives they love them while cheating on them, and it means very, very little. 00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:55.080 Do you measure love by people being in a relationship and standing by you when times are easy? 00:17:55.980 --> 00:18:00.600 Again, there's a lot of reasons other than love why people might choose to stand by you when nothing's going that wrong. 00:18:01.840 --> 00:18:05.180 I think the way that we measure love is by how much it costs. 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:07.700 That's the way we normally measure it. 00:18:07.700 --> 00:18:15.840 So in terms of gifts, I know I'm going to feel more loved if I get a gift which has either taken a lot of thought or a lot of effort and time, 00:18:15.940 --> 00:18:20.559 or even a lot of money more than a gift which is, like I got it one time from my auntie. 00:18:21.100 --> 00:18:23.920 It was a key ring torch that said Australia Post on it. 00:18:24.120 --> 00:18:26.279 So I even knew she just got it from the post office, right? 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:27.819 It just meant very, very little. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:29.600 Sorry, sorry, auntie. 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:33.879 But when someone puts thought into it, it makes a big difference. 00:18:34.159 --> 00:18:36.240 But I think even then, gifts can still be superficial. 00:18:36.459 --> 00:18:41.399 I think for me, the times I felt most loved is when it's cost a lot relationally. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:47.480 So for example, a few years ago, I had depression really, really bad, and what that meant was that I wasn't that fun to be around. 00:18:48.059 --> 00:18:51.119 I didn't have very much energy to give back to people I was friends with. 00:18:51.859 --> 00:18:56.139 I became very kind of inward-looking and self-centered and just not that pleasant. 00:18:56.140 --> 00:19:01.300 And so after a while, a lot of my friends kind of stopped bothering to call me and spend time with me, 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:04.140 and that's just kind of what happens when that goes on. 00:19:04.340 --> 00:19:08.060 But I had a few friends that did, and they stuck with me for months and months and months, 00:19:08.280 --> 00:19:10.120 even though they weren't really getting much out of it. 00:19:11.240 --> 00:19:12.680 And that made me feel loved. 00:19:13.220 --> 00:19:15.200 I felt loved that they'd be doing that just for me. 00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:18.220 There was no other motive, nothing in it for them, but they just loved me. 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:22.680 Real love is costly love. 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:27.240 And when the Bible speaks of God's love, that's what it's talking about. 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:28.700 It is a costly love. 00:19:33.019 --> 00:19:34.900 Without cost, love is just superficial. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:36.140 It's meaningless. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:42.400 If there's no price to pay, there's really no particular evidence of God's love. 00:19:43.700 --> 00:19:46.960 And so what we see in this passage is a guarantee of how much we're loved. 00:19:47.140 --> 00:19:51.840 If you've got a Bible in front of you, we're going to rewind a little bit back to verses 22 to 25, 00:19:51.839 --> 00:19:54.439 back before the garden, back at this Passover meal. 00:19:54.919 --> 00:19:57.599 And I want us to see what it cost God to love us. 00:19:58.859 --> 00:20:00.740 Jesus gives the disciples something here. 00:20:01.439 --> 00:20:02.439 I wonder if you can see what he gives them. 00:20:02.939 --> 00:20:07.159 Physically, he hands them some pieces of bread, and he hands them a cup full of wine. 00:20:07.619 --> 00:20:10.039 But what he's actually giving them here is far more significant. 00:20:10.179 --> 00:20:11.699 This is just symbolic for something else. 00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:13.319 He's giving them himself. 00:20:14.619 --> 00:20:16.019 He gives his body. 00:20:16.019 --> 00:20:23.359 He gives his blood, which the next day will quite literally be flowing from his hands and feet as he's nailed to the cross. 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.039 From his head as a crown of thorns is placed on it. 00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:29.420 From his back, from the wounds, from the whips that he's endured. 00:20:29.639 --> 00:20:31.920 From his side as a spirit is thrust through it. 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:33.259 His blood will flow. 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:35.720 And that is what he's giving his disciples. 00:20:36.099 --> 00:20:37.440 He is giving his very self. 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:39.420 And this blood is the blood of the covenant. 00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:41.139 And a covenant is a guarantee. 00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:43.700 It's a guarantee of his love for them. 00:20:44.080 --> 00:20:44.860 That's what he gives. 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:47.860 He gives his body and his blood as a guarantee of his love. 00:20:51.840 --> 00:20:56.600 In taking the cup of God's wrath, as he dies, he's paying a price. 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:59.900 And the price he's paying is the greatest price that could ever be paid. 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:03.600 The son of the eternal God comes and dies for us. 00:21:05.620 --> 00:21:09.960 We are present in this story as the reason that Jesus had to die. 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:12.539 But we're present in this story in another way. 00:21:12.539 --> 00:21:16.960 We are present in this story as the recipients of God's love. 00:21:19.639 --> 00:21:21.819 Do you understand how loved you are? 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:26.940 You are loved to the extent of the price that was paid for you. 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:30.379 So far as you have sinned, that is how much you are loved. 00:21:31.119 --> 00:21:34.139 You might be here tonight just feeling, I am too sinful to be loved. 00:21:35.379 --> 00:21:37.759 Maybe even this weekend you've got reason to know that. 00:21:37.759 --> 00:21:43.240 Maybe even this weekend you've been filled with bitterness and anger towards someone that you know that you should love. 00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:48.960 You've been holding something in your life far more important than God and you know it and you know that he knows it. 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:53.799 Maybe even this very weekend you've jumped into looking at porn again. 00:21:53.940 --> 00:21:56.240 Or you've been greeting and withholding of your money. 00:21:56.500 --> 00:21:58.640 Or you've ignored Jesus when you should have listened to him. 00:21:59.059 --> 00:22:01.799 Or said that you don't know him when you should have stood up for him. 00:22:01.960 --> 00:22:05.400 There's something here in your life that you just know, God couldn't love me because of this. 00:22:06.460 --> 00:22:07.819 God could never love me. 00:22:07.819 --> 00:22:15.599 What you witness in this passage tonight is Jesus saying, I love you this much. 00:22:15.740 --> 00:22:16.700 Do you know how much I love you? 00:22:16.879 --> 00:22:19.579 I love you so much that I'd give my very self for you. 00:22:20.419 --> 00:22:21.339 For your sin. 00:22:23.579 --> 00:22:25.220 I know that my sin is massive. 00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:28.460 None of you in this room have any idea how sinful I am. 00:22:29.159 --> 00:22:30.519 I am so, so sinful. 00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.299 It boggles my mind that God could love me. 00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:38.599 And I wonder for you, it might well be the same. 00:22:39.339 --> 00:22:44.859 Imagine if everyone in this room could see every thought you've ever thought, every deed you've ever done. 00:22:45.500 --> 00:22:47.960 You might think, there's no way anyone here would love me. 00:22:49.019 --> 00:22:50.059 God knows you. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.139 He has seen everything you've done and everything that you've thought. 00:22:53.819 --> 00:22:58.099 And here he shows by his blood that he loves you nonetheless. 00:22:59.419 --> 00:23:00.419 It's incredible. 00:23:00.420 --> 00:23:07.940 If you have never experienced this love, you find it hard to, it doesn't make sense, or something like that, 00:23:08.300 --> 00:23:13.600 don't miss tonight as an opportunity to come and speak to me after, or to Sam, or to someone else from SMBC, 00:23:13.779 --> 00:23:15.580 or someone who brought you, whoever it is. 00:23:16.100 --> 00:23:17.640 Knowing this love is incredible. 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:19.840 There is no love like it. 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.340 There is no love that is proved so severely. 00:23:23.380 --> 00:23:27.180 Despite everything we are, that we would be loved by Jesus. 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:31.759 So what does this mean for us? 00:23:33.140 --> 00:23:39.220 We've seen that this passage isn't just some weird Bible text from 2,000 years ago, but this has everything to do with us. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:43.500 Our sin is the reason Jesus had to die. 00:23:44.259 --> 00:23:47.100 And his love for us is the reason that he chose to. 00:23:47.099 --> 00:23:51.579 So surely that's going to affect how he responds. 00:23:52.740 --> 00:23:57.799 At the very start of this story, so rewinding back even further, we see two responses to Jesus. 00:23:58.899 --> 00:24:01.879 We see Judas, who in verse 10 goes and betrays him. 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:03.740 He chooses money instead of Jesus. 00:24:04.619 --> 00:24:06.839 Before that, we see something, we see another response. 00:24:06.839 --> 00:24:36.819 Jesus says, 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:47.779 It's hard to know to what extent she saw Jesus as valuable, but we know it was a lot. 00:24:47.879 --> 00:24:55.059 But how much more for us, having seen what Jesus has done in going to the cross and dying and taking the cup of God's judgment for us, 00:24:55.939 --> 00:24:57.179 do we know that he's valuable? 00:24:57.579 --> 00:25:00.879 Do we know that he is worthy to be treasured and to be loved more than anything? 00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:09.980 The reason I'm talking about what this woman did after the other two kind of scenes, even though it happens first chronologically, 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:16.340 is because we need to understand that the only way we're ever going to love God is if we first understand how much he has loved us. 00:25:16.620 --> 00:25:21.960 The most common mistake I make is to think that if I'm not really loving God enough, then he mustn't be loving me. 00:25:22.600 --> 00:25:27.720 That if I'm not devoted to God enough, he must not really have any time or energy left for me. 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:33.220 But that's ridiculous in light of this passage, because we see that Jesus, I know that Jesus died for me when I was still dead, 00:25:33.299 --> 00:25:36.579 when I was still sinful and wretched and poor and broken. 00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:39.600 There was nothing I could ever do to make God love me. 00:25:40.259 --> 00:25:41.500 But he loved me first. 00:25:42.100 --> 00:25:45.799 And so the only response that now fits to that is that I would go about loving him back. 00:25:46.400 --> 00:25:50.220 Not to earn anything, but because it's just the only response that fits. 00:25:50.220 --> 00:25:56.620 I loved the week I've spent here at this church, and one of the things I just love most about it is the second part of the vision, 00:25:56.740 --> 00:25:57.900 which is treasuring Jesus. 00:25:58.660 --> 00:26:02.539 I love that that's in there, and it's right smack bang in the middle, because it doesn't really make any sense 00:26:02.539 --> 00:26:06.360 just to kind of know things about Jesus and not have it affect us on any deeper level. 00:26:07.559 --> 00:26:08.579 Jesus is a treasure. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:11.120 He's a treasure worth more than anything. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:19.079 And we see that most clearly at Easter time, and we see the fact that he died for us and gave of us his body and his blood as he died 00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:20.599 and took the cup of God's wrath. 00:26:21.379 --> 00:26:22.079 He's a treasure. 00:26:24.359 --> 00:26:27.899 This woman sees Jesus for who he is, and it changes everything. 00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:35.079 Our world is fine with us devoting ourselves to anything other than Jesus. 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:40.299 You can throw yourself into pursuing a relationship or a family or a career or making lots of money 00:26:40.299 --> 00:26:45.000 or getting really good at music or at sport or at art or anything else, and no one's going to call you crazy. 00:26:45.919 --> 00:26:50.519 The one thing our world has a problem with is if you devote yourself and everything you are to Jesus. 00:26:51.399 --> 00:26:52.240 You'll be called radical. 00:26:52.379 --> 00:26:54.199 You'll be called a fanatic or over the top. 00:26:55.419 --> 00:27:00.399 When Christians have gone to other countries to tell people about Jesus and they've been killed for it, 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:02.299 people say, oh, they wasted their life. 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:04.579 It's not true. 00:27:04.579 --> 00:27:07.519 Nothing is a waste when given in the service of Jesus. 00:27:08.500 --> 00:27:11.619 It is impossible to love Jesus too much or more than he deserves. 00:27:11.980 --> 00:27:14.460 It is impossible to give too much up for the sake of him. 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:17.899 Even those who give their entire lives for him will find them. 00:27:18.159 --> 00:27:23.019 The reason Polycarp, who I mentioned earlier, was able to be joyfully burned at the stake for Jesus 00:27:23.019 --> 00:27:26.799 was because he knew even if he lost everything he had, even his life and his body, 00:27:27.059 --> 00:27:29.000 he would have something more valuable than all. 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:32.519 He had Jesus, and Jesus is going to be with him for eternity. 00:27:32.519 --> 00:27:39.000 That cannot be taken, and it is better than any life or any possession or any relationship or any success. 00:27:39.240 --> 00:27:40.579 He's better than everything. 00:27:40.579 --> 00:27:48.480 So if you're a believer here today, just be encouraged to keep giving to Jesus. 00:27:49.960 --> 00:27:53.079 Give to him your time and service here at church. 00:27:53.519 --> 00:27:59.439 Give yourself to him in living out in the world in a way which honors him and glorifies him and loves other people. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:05.400 Let his love for you affect how you spend your money or your gifts or your skills. 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:12.320 Give yourself to him in prayer, knowing that he is worthy of that relationship, that that relationship is valuable. 00:28:13.420 --> 00:28:14.940 Give yourself to him in worship. 00:28:15.660 --> 00:28:19.620 As you go out into the world and by word and deed, live in a way which honors him. 00:28:19.820 --> 00:28:20.700 Worship him in that way. 00:28:21.180 --> 00:28:25.819 As you gather as a church, as we sing in a moment, give yourself to worship in him there. 00:28:26.539 --> 00:28:28.940 It's impossible to be over the top in our response to Jesus. 00:28:29.080 --> 00:28:29.700 It really is. 00:28:29.940 --> 00:28:31.980 He has done an incredible thing for us. 00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:34.799 There's nothing we can do which is over the top. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:40.340 So let us worship him and rejoice and be glad that he has died for us and he has loved us. 00:28:40.339 --> 00:28:47.500 If you're someone here though today who's, like we said before, still checking out the whole Christianity thing, 00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:50.119 again, it is great to have you here. 00:28:51.059 --> 00:28:55.240 And you may still have a bunch of questions that need answering, things that don't quite line up. 00:28:55.379 --> 00:28:58.959 But one thing to reflect on might be, what is it that you are giving everything to? 00:28:59.079 --> 00:29:02.819 What are you totally devoted to and that you treasure more than anything? 00:29:04.139 --> 00:29:05.659 And then ask, is it worth it? 00:29:05.660 --> 00:29:08.279 Is your career worth it? 00:29:08.700 --> 00:29:10.440 Or the relationships that you have? 00:29:10.540 --> 00:29:12.600 Or the skills that you're trying to amass? 00:29:14.800 --> 00:29:17.860 Can travel save you from the wrath of God? 00:29:19.560 --> 00:29:24.759 Can a good job and money love you unconditionally for everything that you are? 00:29:26.460 --> 00:29:27.259 Jesus can. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:30.340 Jesus can save you from the coming judgment of God. 00:29:30.339 --> 00:29:37.019 Jesus promises that anyone who accepts him, trusts in him, eats of him, metaphorically, 00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:40.139 he will love forever with a covenant of love. 00:29:43.220 --> 00:29:45.759 We've seen that this has everything to do with us. 00:29:47.419 --> 00:29:50.459 It is us that drove Jesus to this point of despair because of our sin, 00:29:50.539 --> 00:29:55.599 but we see that he did it willingly, lovingly, and has loved us more than anything. 00:29:57.399 --> 00:29:59.399 I'm looking forward to responding to this in song in a minute. 00:29:59.400 --> 00:30:00.280 I'm going to pray now. 00:30:05.960 --> 00:30:08.180 Heavenly Father, your word is rich. 00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:12.120 This story is rich with the weight of how bad sin is, 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.920 and we may be feeling struck by that. 00:30:15.040 --> 00:30:18.519 We may be feeling aware that we are guilty, 00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:20.320 and we're the reason that drove your son to die. 00:30:21.040 --> 00:30:22.820 But Lord, your love is greater. 00:30:23.980 --> 00:30:26.300 Your blood poured out shows us that no matter who we are, 00:30:26.320 --> 00:30:27.720 what we've done, what mistakes we've made, 00:30:27.720 --> 00:30:30.079 how cold we've been, how much we've ignored you, 00:30:30.140 --> 00:30:32.759 even this weekend, you love us. 00:30:32.860 --> 00:30:36.019 And it is a good thing that it's not up to us to be worthy of your love, 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:38.180 but that you choose to love us. 00:30:39.120 --> 00:30:42.700 I pray that we'd go out wanting to live a life in response to this, 00:30:42.740 --> 00:30:46.000 not to earn your love because it's already been bought for us by the blood of Jesus, 00:30:46.160 --> 00:30:48.920 but it's to respond because that's the only thing that makes sense. 00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:51.519 The only thing that makes sense when we've seen your love is to love you back. 00:30:51.519 --> 00:30:53.299 So fill us with a love for you. 00:30:53.420 --> 00:30:54.220 Fill us with a devotion. 00:30:55.019 --> 00:30:57.039 Help us treasure you more than anything in our lives. 00:30:57.819 --> 00:31:00.319 And we ask this in Jesus' name, whose blood was poured out for us. 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:01.019 Amen.