Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.
It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,
either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all,
would you pray for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like
yourself? The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,
I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the Bible,
they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will
do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you are a
non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't
hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the
types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.
Father, we are very good at seeing specks in other people's eyes, and we are very poor at seeing logs
in our own eyes. And Father, we know that you desire us to be delivered from this as much as we can
until we see Jesus face to face. So we ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would fall with gentle power
upon us so that your Word and your Gospel will come home to us and come deeply to our hearts,
that we, Father, are so secure in Jesus and His finished work that we can begin to see those logs
in our own eyes. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
So for the first time in 2023, I got invited to speak on Parliament Hill to the Parliament Hill
Christian Fellowship. They meet Fridays at lunch. If you happen to know somebody who works on Parliament
Hill or in some ways, you should let them know there's a gathering of Christians on Friday at
around lunchtime. And so the deal is, they understand that when they ask me to speak,
they get a first draft or first go-through of my sermon on the following Sunday. And that's,
they have to be fine with it. It might be a little bit rough and unpolished. So I began my talk
on Sunday with them, or Friday, with them by saying that I was going to talk about something
that nobody on Parliament Hill could relate to. And then I paused and I said, betrayal.
Which, of course, they all chuckled about because it's something that people who work in Parliament
and work parties are very familiar with. But I did add two other things. Of course,
nobody who's been very involved in the church will also, everybody who's been very involved in the
church are also going to be very familiar with betrayal. And of course, it's a great human problem.
So we're going to look at that today. So if you would get your Bibles out and turn in them to Mark
chapter 14, verse 43, we're going to look at a story of Jesus that talks and touches on betrayal,
and also opens the door, well, to many wonderful things. But one of them is how when the gospel grips
your heart, there is a deep emotional beauty to the gospel as it becomes more real to your heart,
which is hard for people on the outside to see, but is hopefully something that grows in us as the
gospel becomes more real to our heart. So what's just happened before this, and I'm going to do,
some of you have heard, I've done this method sometimes of teaching before, I'm going to imagine
that this is maybe one of those British dramas, you know, that has eight episodes or six or ten or
whatever, a series, and you go from episode to episode to see the whole story, or, you know,
something on Netflix or Prime or whatever. And so we're looking at this as if we were writing a play
or the episode, this one episode, and the different scenes within the episode. And what's, in a sense,
if you don't press the skip recap button, what's just gone on before this is that Jesus has warned
the disciples that somebody's going to betray him. He said that anybody, the person who betrays him,
it would have been better if he'd never been born. Jesus institutes what we now know of as the Lord's
Supper or Holy Communion. And then immediately before that, the episode just before, Jesus is in the
Garden of Gethsemane. And it's this profound scene of the disciples not being able to stay awake and
pray with them. And Jesus just being overwhelmed with what was before him and asking the Father,
if possible, that he wouldn't have to die on the cross, he wouldn't have to drink the cup. And
that's immediately, that's just happened before that. And here we come, scene one. Scene one,
the best and the brightest. Scene one, the best and the brightest. And it goes like this, verse 43.
And immediately, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd
with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now, they're the best and
the brightest in two senses. The first one is about Judas. Notice that Judas is introduced as one of the
twelve. So why is that significant? I'll tell you a story. Some of you have heard this story before.
But before Louise and I married, there was a period where I knew her for several years,
and I was in love with her. But she wasn't in love with me. And there's this one season where she's
with, she's dating this other fellow, and we'll just call him Bob. And by coincidence, on a Sunday
night, I arrived at the same time as Louise and Bob at this thing where you'd hear folk music and
eat snacks and stuff like that. And I was friends with them, and I sat with them. And we left our
coats because it was cold, and we went, just Bob and I, to the little window to buy some food.
And I ordered my, whatever it was, coffee probably, and some food. And then Bob comes up, and it's his
turn, and he says, he's looked at the menu, and he says, Louise would like this and this. That's what
I'm going to get for her. And when he said that, it was like a dagger went into my heart because I knew
that I didn't have the vaguest idea in the world what Louise would like. It was a sign of their intimacy
with each other and his knowledge of her that I didn't have. So when Judas is introduced as one of the
12, what it's saying is, imagine that Lisa, Maureen, and myself, and Shannon, and I don't know, and Hudson,
we're with Jesus, and we go to the market because Jesus has come to, he's going to do some speaking
that night, and we've gone to the market to get some food. And we all pick out the things we like.
And then Judas says, I'm going to get those olives because those are the type that Jesus likes.
And I'm going to get that cut of meat, that cut of meat, because that's the type of meat that Jesus
really likes. And the four of us just are looking. Like, we don't have the vaguest idea what olive or
what cut of meat that Jesus would like, but Judas does. He's intimate with Jesus.
And the others, they, Mark doesn't write their title, but what he does is he breaks it down to
who they are. And so how we are to understand that is that they are the best and the brightest. You
imagine Canada, you've heard this before, imagine you get the true elite, like the best of the best
of the best in law, the best of the best of the best in culture, the best of the best of the best in
society, in education, in government, in education, in business, and even in the land. You get the best
of the first nations people who love the land. And you bring all of them together as a group. And
they're the best of the best of the best in Canada. They're the people who most Canadians, we just, if we
needed really good insight or advice about this, that's where we go. They have the training, they have
the knowledge, they have the experience, they have the commitments, they have the social, these are
where we go for that, for these types of just the smartest, wisest, best way forward. And that's who he
has just listed. So in other words, he's just listed the best and the brightest. But you look, and look at
verse 43, they're coming with swords and clubs. Now, one of the things I tell people when I'm trying to
help them to learn how to preach, is that when you come to a narrative, never assume that the next
step of the narrative is necessary. Like, look at what happens next. You see, what happens is, you
know, if you're preparing the talk, you've read the story 20, 30, 40 times, like it's very obvious to
you. And for Christians who've heard this story many times, it's obvious to you. And on one level,
from the point of view of how the gospel describes human sin and power and how the gospel is described,
on one hand, you look at it and there's an internal logic as to why the next thing is going to happen.
But on the outside, it's not obvious that that's the next step. I mean, you know, those of us who
watch certain types of movies and read certain types of books, it could very well be that Judas has
been warned that, in fact, the story where Jesus says that whoever betrays me, it'd be better if
they had never lived, that it's very possible, if there was a modern filmmaker making this story,
that that cuts them to the heart, that they get convicted. And so what they're doing is they're
doing some type of double cross with the chief priests and the scribes. Or maybe that they've now,
he's convicted them of the errors of their ways and they've come to protect Jesus. It's not obvious
what's going to happen next. Like, not really obvious. So what does happen next? Well, let's look.
The next scene, scene two. The mask begins to slip. The mask begins to slip. Verse 44. Let's look.
Now, the betrayer had given them a sign. Actually, more literally would be a signal. The betrayer had
given them a signal, saying, the one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.
Now, here's a, what the thing which is very interesting about this is that Judas has now had a
second introduction. He's introduced first as one of the 12. The guy, as I said, that if, you know,
we were going to the market, he'd know the olives that Jesus would like better than other olives.
By the way, Jesus would have had favorite types of olives. He would have probably said that his mom
made the best pita bread. I mean, he was human. That's just how it works, right? And so, but so
first he's introduced as one of the intimate ones who knows Jesus really well. And now he's introduced
as the betrayer, as the betrayer. And he gives a signal about how they're going to seize Jesus.
Now, here's the thing which is very interesting. Probably every single one of us has been betrayed.
And many of us have probably been betrayed many times.
And in fact, if I was just to say, this was maybe a retreat, we're going to take a couple of minutes.
I'd just like you to write down on a piece of paper, I know it might be hard,
write down a time that involves you in betrayal.
So something is happening here to Jesus, which is deeply, deeply human.
But there's also something happening here in the story, which if we're attentive,
is going to pierce our hearts.
What is that?
My guess is that if I was to ask you to write down, that had that exercise,
write down betrayal, something involving your life and betrayal,
98% of us would put down a time that we'd been betrayed.
But the fact of the matter is that almost definitely everyone here is also betrayed.
We have betrayed others, betrayed the truth, betrayed a confidence.
What does it say about our heart that when we think of betrayal,
we think of ourselves as victims and not as sinners?
We think of ourselves as victims, passive, and not our active acts of betrayal.
Now I said 98%, several of us, I mean partly that's why there's counseling,
are struggling, maybe we've come here this morning,
just struggling because it's been so hard for us to get over the fact that we've betrayed
something or someone deeply and it's caused lots of trouble and it's hurt us.
But this story, you see, you know, there's a verse in the Bible,
it's not going to be on your screen, I'm just going to say it by memory,
it's Psalm 36, 2.
And, you know, you can take all of the depth psychology that's been developed
over the last hundreds of years.
And obviously there's insights in that.
I'm not anti-reading, I'm not anti-knowledge,
but very few of them can surpass Psalm 36, verse 2, that says,
we flatter ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin.
We flatter ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin.
That is a profound insight about human nature.
So if you could put up the first point,
the event that just happened before this,
which you can listen to last week's sermon,
I'm not going to rehearse the whole thing,
is Jesus overcome with anguish and sorrow,
and so overcome that he collapses on the ground,
calling out to God.
And I didn't go into it, and it's a topic for some other day.
This is a prayer that Jesus prays where the Father says no to him.
And Jesus says,
Abba, Father, all things are possible for you.
If possible, may this cup be taken from me.
And he's talking about the fact that on the cross,
he's going to bear the sin and the shame of all of humanity,
every human being that's ever lived.
He's going to have that be on him.
He's going to taste that.
He's going to drink it down into himself.
And the Father says no.
I mean, it's just obvious it says no.
And Jesus, it's obvious as the story goes on,
is fine with the Father's no.
But here's the first point.
It is because Jesus did not betray love and justice
that betrayers and the betrayed
can be made right with the triune God.
See, in a sense, if Jesus has said,
You know what?
The heck with this.
You know, the betrayers and the betrayed sucks to be you.
I'm not going to go through this.
If he had betrayed, in a sense, who he was,
his whole mission, his whole purpose,
and his whole mission and purpose is a mission of love
and a mission of justice.
It is because Jesus did not betray love and justice
that betrayers and the betrayed
can be made right with the triune God.
Now, I talked about the fact that
once you're inside the gospel,
you start to understand its deep emotional power.
And I'm going to get to that in a moment.
So first of all, you see that this story,
we see Jesus is betrayed by an intimate friend,
and he's betrayed by the best and the brightest.
And that would be a deep wound for every single one of us.
But there's also another deep wound
that comes from his intimate friend
and ultimately from the best and the brightest.
Let's look and see what it is.
It's scene three.
Scene three, and it's entitled,
Mocked and Seized.
Scene three, verses 45 and 46.
Here's how it goes.
And when Judas came,
he went up to him at once and said,
Rabbi!
And Judas kissed Jesus,
and they laid hands on him and seized him.
Now, the first thing here is just a bit of a,
I have to bring this up as an aside.
You know, basically what this is showing,
it's really showing us something about Jesus,
is that the normal way he was greeted
was by somebody coming up
and putting their hands on his shoulders,
and he puts his hands on theirs,
and they do a kiss.
Jesus isn't sort of an austere,
an austere, patrician, aristocratic person
who just needs to be, you know,
don't touch me.
He hugged.
I'm not a hugger.
It's a bit of a challenge to me.
But Jesus is a personable guy.
He's with people.
He's with you.
If you were with him back then,
you could have done that with him.
That's who Jesus was.
But what's going on,
it's not obvious in the English.
It's obvious in the original language.
And that is that in the rabbi
is said in a way
which is lavish and showy.
So what he's really doing is mocking.
It would be as if
on Saturday Night Live,
they wanted to bring out
somebody dressed like Trump,
and they'd say,
the next president
of the United States of America!
And if they did that,
everybody would laugh and howl
because they're mocking Trump.
Just to be politically neutral,
it would be as if
just over a year ago
with the trucker's convoy,
Trudeau decided
he would actually go out
to see them.
And the organizers said,
Justin Trudeau,
the Prime Minister of Canada!
And he'd be mocking him,
wouldn't they?
They'd be mocking him.
And that's what Judas does to Jesus.
Judas mocks Jesus.
And if you watch any of those
coming-of-age movies
where the kids are bullied,
and somebody makes fun
of the kid,
and the kid has their
one or two weak,
wimpy,
skinny,
nerdy friends,
and the mocker
is surrounded
by the football team,
the basketball team,
the rugby team,
and every other team,
or all the mean girls,
they're not only mocked,
but they're mocked
in the presence of people
who can overwhelm them
and also don't like them.
And that's what happens
to Jesus.
And being mocked
is deeply wounding.
There is not a single one
of us here
who has not been mocked.
And it is deeply wounding.
And there's also
no one here
who has not mocked others.
And we have flattered
ourselves too much
to detect or hate
our own sin.
But you see,
here is where we
start to have
a bit of a glimpse
of the deep emotional
power and beauty
of those
for whom the gospel
becomes real.
And the gospel
is the good news
of who Jesus is
and what he's done
for you.
And how
he desires you
to be his child,
his friend,
his disciple,
and he will never
abandon you
or forsake you.
And that when you
put your trust in him,
he is the one
who does everything
that needs to have
been done
to make you right
with the creator
and sustainer
and the completer
of the entire universe.
And he has done it
all for you
in your place.
And you put your faith
and trust in him
and you become
his child forever
as the Holy Spirit
indwells you.
You're given the gift
of new life.
But what flows
out of that
is this potential
for deep emotional
connection
and blessing.
You see,
if you think about it
for a second,
in a sense,
in our culture,
there's three primary
rivals to the gospel.
And one of them,
of course,
is Buddhism.
Buddhism.
But what is the
primary image of Buddha?
What is the image
of Buddha you see
in gardens?
You see a well-fed
man with a look
of, in a sense,
peace and indifference
to the world
who has transcended
desire.
Islam.
And when you think
of Islam,
the heart of Islam
is that everything
has been
decided in advance.
And you just need
to accept your fate.
And in the type
of basically
the soft agnosticism
of secularism,
when you've been
mocked and betrayed
and if you have
no friends
because you've been
mocked and betrayed
by your friends,
where do you go
for solace?
Where do you go
for comfort?
But for a Christian,
when you are struggling
with betrayal
or with mockery,
you can pour out
your heart
to Jesus
who has been
betrayed and mocked.
If you could put up
the second point,
Claire,
when you are
betrayed and mocked,
you can pour out
your sorrows
and your fears
to the one
who knows
the full sting
of being mocked
and betrayed,
Jesus.
That is part
of the deep
emotional beauty
and power
once the gospel
becomes more real
to your heart.
Now,
the next part
is surprisingly
relevant.
We live
in a weaponized
country.
Now,
I am not talking
about our military,
which seems
to have procurement
problems
and has
for many decades,
but we all know
that there are
certain topics.
I was just talking
to a fellow,
a non-Christian fellow
on Saturday,
and he knows
that if he wants,
he's now discovered
there are certain things
he can discuss with me
and I won't get mad
at him
and call him names.
And when he talks
about them,
he looks around
and he whispers.
He talks very quietly.
And we all know
that there are
certain types of
truths,
cultural truths
in our country
right now
that if you challenge
them,
you will be
canceled.
That, in a sense,
is that certain
opinions
have been
weaponized.
And interestingly
enough,
these next two
scenes
deal
with
weaponizing
statements.
Let's look
at the first one.
It's scene
number four.
It's
verse 47,
weaponizing
Jesus
with a question
mark.
Hopefully,
you can see
it up there.
Weaponizing
Jesus
with a question
mark.
Let's look
and see
what the
Bible says.
Verse 47.
But one
of those
who stood
by
drew
his sword
and struck
the servant
of the high
priest
and cut
off
his ear.
Now,
those of you
who are really
familiar with
the Bible,
you're probably
wondering,
why doesn't
it talk
about Peter?
Why doesn't
it talk
about the
name of
the servant?
Why doesn't
it talk
about what
Jesus does?
And all
of that.
And just
the way
that Mark
chose to
write his
gospel,
often what
Mark does,
the way he
writes,
is he's
less,
in a sense,
preachy.
He's more
the type
that just
puts two
things together.
And those
who really
are seeking
the truth
will see
the contrast
of the two
things.
He doesn't
sort of draw
all sorts
of arrows
to it
and frowny
faces or
something,
thumbs up
emojis,
you know,
and the
other ones
with smiley
faces and
all on the
next one.
He just
sort of
puts the
two of
them together
and in
a sense,
if we're
seeking the
truth,
if we put
the two
stories,
we can
just see
what he's
doing.
And so he
doesn't go
into all of
this stuff.
He just
has this
one incident
of this
guy taking
out the
sword to
defend Jesus
and his
mission.
And then
we see the
second story,
how Jesus
reacts and
what Jesus
does.
It's scene
number five,
verses 48 to
49, and
its title is
The Patient
Speaking of
the Truth.
Right?
Scene four is
weaponizing Jesus
in quotation
marks.
Scene five is
the patient
speaking of
the truth.
Verses 48 and
49, look what
happens in the
Bible.
And Jesus
said to them,
have you come
out as
against a
robber with
swords and
clubs to
capture me?
Day after day
I was with
you in the
temple teaching
and you did
not seize me,
but let the
scriptures be
fulfilled.
Now, some of
your translations
say different
words.
They might have
revolutionary,
they might have
some other word
than robber,
and basically
in English
there's no
really good
word to
translate it.
what links
all of them
is that this
is a person
of violence.
So it's not
the people
trying to get
you to give
them your
password and
your information
by scamming
you with
messages or
emails or
something like
that.
This is the
heart of the
image, whether
you use robber
or brigand
or revolutionary,
it's a person
of violence.
A person of
violence.
So once again,
hear what
Jesus says,
verse 48,
and Jesus
said to them,
have you come
out as against
a person of
violence,
with swords
and clubs
to capture
me?
Day after day
I was with
you in the
temple teaching,
and you did
not seize me,
but let the
scriptures be
fulfilled.
So in a sense,
what we see
here is that
in a sense,
Jesus is looking
at Judas and
says,
Judas,
like,
was I taking
you out into
the desert to
show you how
to fight with
a sword,
and how to
use a bow
and arrow,
and how to
use shields,
and how to
use spears?
Like,
were we robbing
Romans,
and have I been
setting up like a
place in a cave
somewhere where
we've been
stockpiling weapons?
Do you think
that when you
come to me that
I have a sword
and a dagger
and a shield
and who knows
what else,
ninja things
to throw at
people?
And he's
saying the
same thing
to the
chief priests
and the
scribes,
and all
those other
people.
He said,
listen,
you know I'm
not a man
of violence,
and you know
that I haven't
been just
lurking out
in the
wilderness
trying to
hide from
people while
I stir up
rebellion and
revolution.
I sit at
the teacher,
my teaching
is public.
It's open
to everybody.
It's an
open secret.
I just tell
people my
heart.
I just speak
what the
scriptures say.
The scriptures
that you,
the best and
the brightest,
you're supposed
to know these
scriptures.
You're supposed
to be expert
in them.
You're supposed
to, your whole
vow of your
life is that you
will study them
and that you
will put them
into practice
and that you
will guide us
and you're
supposed to
know those
things and
all I've done
is all I've
done, all I've
done is say
time and time
again, let the
scriptures be
fulfilled.
Here are the
scriptures, let
them be fulfilled,
let them be
lived, let them
be for us
now.
That's all I've
done.
See, what's
going on here
is Jesus just
speaks the truth
patiently.
But Judas
and the best
and the brightest
have believed
lies.
They have
believed lies.
And everything
about this
story shows
the very nature
of the lie.
You see, people
of the lie
love darkness,
not light.
People of the
lie know that
because there's
nothing underneath
a lie that
you need to
control the
narrative.
You need to
have force.
You need to
weaponize lies.
You need to
have no witnesses.
You need to
control the
narrative.
You need to
multiply lies.
You need to
set inquiries
which just
boldly,
bold-facedly
lie.
You need to
scream your
lies.
The truth can
be whispered.
lies must
shout you
down,
must badger
you,
harass you,
frighten you
into agreeing
or being
silent.
If you could
put up the
third point,
Claire.
When you
put your
trust in
Jesus to
be your
Savior and
Lord,
he saves
you from
the people
of the
lie and
makes you
a citizen
of the
realm of
truth.
When you
put your
trust in
Jesus to
be your
Savior and
your Lord,
he saves
you from
the people
of the
lie and
makes you
a citizen
of the
realm of
truth.
This is
all the
Old Testament
teaching.
This is
going right
back to
Genesis
chapter 3.
Did God
really say?
Did God
really say?
And even
Adam said,
yeah, you
know, did
God really
say?
I think
that looks
like a,
he just
doesn't want
me to be
like a
God.
That's a
good path
to go.
And no,
I didn't
eat.
And no,
I didn't
do that.
And it's
not my
fault.
It's their
fault.
I'm not
being
imperialistic
with this
because in
fact the
message of
the gospel
is that
every human
being is
born as
a citizen
of the
people of
the lie.
Every
human being.
It's not
that I'm
only a
person of
the truth.
I was
born a
citizen of
the people
of the
lie.
Part of
God's
common
grace to
humanity
is that
the lie
doesn't
overwhelm
you.
I think
that probably
for those
of you who
are Christians
and you
know that
the
unforgivable
sin,
I think
what the
unforgivable
sin is
describing is
a person
who so
consistently
closes their
mind and
their heart
and their
affections
to the
truth and
so completely
and utterly
believes the
lie and
multiplies the
lie that a
time comes
when they
can no
longer know
the truth.
They just
can't.
It is
lost to
them.
But most
of us and
those of you
watching are
not in that
place and
God in his
common grace
keeps us that
we both believe
lies but also
seek the
truths and
wrestle with
them.
And it's not
saying that
Christians are
all now
perfectly
virtuous and
only seek
the truth
because the
fact of the
matter is
that we
don't.
We Christians
live in what's
called the
already and
not yet.
On one hand
when I give
my life to
Christ the
Holy Spirit
indwells me.
Jesus makes
me born again
but I'm still
a sinner.
I still have a
big part of
me which is
part of the
people of
the lie.
But here's
the thing.
Here's the
thing.
that the
gospel forms
me to be
a person of
the truth.
And that
doesn't just
mean knowing
the truth of
the scriptures.
It means
knowing the
truth of
the world.
It means
knowing the
truth of
how economics
works.
It means
knowing the
truth of
how science
works.
It means
in a sense
that we
should not
just use
evidence-based
science which
by and large
in the media
means they're
about to
lie to us.
Generally
speaking in
the media if
you see
evidence-based
policy or
science it
usually means
they're going
to lie.
Sorry.
Maybe we're
going to get
banned from
YouTube.
But really
believe it.
That you want
evidence.
Like the
truth is your
friend.
Jesus is your
friend.
He's the
truth.
Clarity is
your friend.
And we want
to know the
truth about
things that are
going on in
our neighbors,
in our own
life, our own
heart.
It's emotional
truth.
It's aesthetic
truth.
It's moral
truth.
It's scientific
truth.
It's economic
truth.
It's administrative
truth.
It's philosophical
truth.
It's religious
truth.
It's truth.
And the
gospel forms
us to be
people of the
truth.
How does the
story end?
I have to wrap
up.
Well, it ends
with a cliffhanger.
Scene six is a
cliffhanger.
Look at what it
is.
Scene six is
carried, verses
50 to 52,
carried off by his
enemies, carried
off by his
enemies.
Look, it
happens in
verses 50 to
52.
And they all
left him and
fled.
And a young
man followed
Jesus with
nothing but a
linen cloth about
his body, and
they seized him,
but he left the
linen cloth and
ran away naked.
They flee to the
point of
nakedness.
To bring it to a
close, if you
could put up my
fourth point.
What is the
gospel?
I have already
said that one
way to understand
the gospel is
that because
Jesus did not
betray love and
justice, he is
the one who can
make betrayers and
betrayed right with
the triune God.
It's also to
understand that when
Jesus died, it was
the humble one
dying for the
proud.
It was the
faithful one dying
for the betrayers.
And it was truth
himself dying for
the followers of
the lie.
That is the
gospel.
The truth
himself dies for
those of us who
love lies.
The humble one
dies for those of
us who are proud.
The faithful one
dies for those of
us who are
betrayers.
That gripped by
who he is and
what he's done, we
might begin that
walk towards
humility.
That we might
begin that walk
towards being
people who are
known by our
faithfulness.
to being ones who
are known by our
pursuit of truth,
are willing to be
corrected, are
looking for
information, our
willingness to
change our minds
as we hear
arguments, not
weaponized threats.
In the face of
weaponized threats, we
might be silent, but
we say that is a
lie.
four things are
going to be very
brief, but you can
take pictures of
them if you want.
If you put up number
A or letter A, ask
the Lord to make the
gospel so real to your
heart that in every
facet of your life, you
will recognize and
reject lies.
ask the Lord.
Could you put up B?
Ask the Lord to make
the gospel so real to
your heart that in
every facet of your
life, you will humbly
seek to know the
truth, believe the
truth, and speak the
truth.
Ask the Lord for
this.
C.
Ask the Lord to make
the gospel so real to
your heart that you
will stop flattering
yourself too much to
detect or hate your
own sin.
Ask the Lord for
this.
First, the gospel
becomes real, and
then in the security
of the gospel, you
can look at the state
of your own heart.
And finally, D.
Ask the Lord to make
the gospel so real to
your heart that you
will not be so quick to
condemn the weakness
and failure of
others.
the disciples all
fled.
And it's easy for us
to condemn them.
But we don't know what
we would do in that own
case.
It doesn't mean that what
they did, I'm not saying
it wasn't wrong, but
there's a very powerful
part of us to condemn
others when we see
weakness in their lives.
So ask the Lord to make
the gospel so real to
your heart that you will
not be so quick to
condemn the weakness and
failure of others.
and please pray for me
that these four truths
would be real in my
life.
Invite you to stand at
this time.
Please stand.
Let's bow our heads in
prayer.
Father, we ask that the
gospel would become more
real to our hearts.
Father, if there are
there, those here or
those watching for whom
they have not yet come to
a point of putting their
trust in Jesus and knowing
him as their Savior and
Lord, Father, we ask that
the Holy Spirit would help
them to turn them to you.
help them to say that that
is what they know they
now need.
Maybe, Father, for some of
us who have been away from
the Lord for a long time,
we thank and praise you
that you have not been
away from us and that you
have never abandoned us
or let us go and that you
delight in the repentance
and return of your people.
And, Father, for all of us,
we ask that the gospel would
be more and more real to our
hearts, that we would
reject lies, that we would
pursue the truth, that we
would be very slow to
condemn and that we would
be open to the illumination
of your word and the
illumination of the Holy
Spirit to see those ways,
those devices and desires
within our own heart
whereby we flatter
ourselves too much to
detect our lies, our
betrayal, our mocking,
our lack of forgiveness,
our lack of generosity,
our lack of just, Father,
make the gospel real to our
hearts.
And we ask this in the name
of Jesus, your Son and our
Savior.
Amen.
theme, Amen.
Amen.