WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:27.800 Mark chapter 14 and we're going to read from verse 32 to 42. 00:00:27.800 --> 00:00:32.320 They went to the olive grove called Gethsemane and Jesus said, 00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:35.719 Sit here while I go and pray. 00:00:35.719 --> 00:00:42.120 He took Peter, James and John with him and he became deeply troubled and distressed. 00:00:42.120 --> 00:00:48.359 He told them, My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. 00:00:48.359 --> 00:00:52.439 Stay here and keep watch with me. 00:00:52.439 --> 00:00:56.960 He went on a little further and fell to the ground. 00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:03.359 He prayed that if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:08.280 Have a father, he cried out, Everything is possible for you. 00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:11.920 Please take this cup of suffering away from me. 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:18.240 Yet I want your will to be done, not mine. 00:01:18.240 --> 00:01:21.280 Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:24.120 He said to Peter, Simon, Are you asleep? 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:27.520 Couldn't you watch with me even one hour? 00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:31.960 Keep watch and pray so that you will not give in to temptation. 00:01:31.960 --> 00:01:36.600 For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. 00:01:36.600 --> 00:01:41.800 Then Jesus left them again and prayed the same prayer as before. 00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:46.520 When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn't keep their eyes 00:01:46.520 --> 00:01:51.800 open and they didn't know what to say. 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:55.840 When he returned to them the third time, he said, Go ahead and sleep. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:57.239 Have your rest. 00:01:57.239 --> 00:01:59.920 But no, the time has come. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:02.920 The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 00:02:02.920 --> 00:02:04.920 Up, let's be going. 00:02:04.920 --> 00:02:09.000 Look, my betrayer is here. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:10.759 Amen. 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:19.000 This is God's word and we pray that he would bless it to us all. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.919 In a moment, Derek is going to come up to lead us into God's word together. 00:02:22.919 --> 00:02:25.240 Before he comes, we're just going to pray for a moment. 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:28.240 Let's pray. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:34.719 Dear God or Father, we thank you that we can come to you and pray just as we are, knowing 00:02:34.719 --> 00:02:41.639 that even before we speak, you know us, you know our situation and you know our needs. 00:02:41.639 --> 00:02:45.439 We want to especially pray tonight for people who are hurting. 00:02:45.439 --> 00:02:51.479 We know that everybody coming in here tonight will be carrying different burdens. 00:02:51.479 --> 00:02:59.639 Maybe pressure at work, maybe worries at home, maybe concerns about health and maybe the 00:02:59.639 --> 00:03:02.919 pain of the loss of our loved one. 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:08.079 We pray for everyone who's hurting and for everyone who's struggling and we come to you, 00:03:08.079 --> 00:03:14.599 Lord, because we really need you and we really need you in every part of our lives. 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:22.319 We pray also for the people around us in this city and in our whole nation who are hurting, 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:32.319 people who have been let down by others, people who've been treated badly, people who've 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:37.000 found themselves in desperate situations, people who are gripped by addiction, people 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:46.639 who are homeless, people who feel lost and people who feel like they're worthless, people 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:55.520 who struggle with their own mental health, people who carry physical pain and suffering. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:00.639 We pray for our hurting world and ask that you have mercy. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.840 And we remember also people across the nations of the world, places of suffering and pain 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:13.120 and sorrow, places of war, places of chaos. 00:04:13.120 --> 00:04:23.480 We think of the Middle East, we think of Venezuela, we think of so many of the nations in Africa. 00:04:23.480 --> 00:04:29.680 And even our own towns and cities, our schemes, places where there's so much brokenness and 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:30.680 hostility. 00:04:30.680 --> 00:04:36.480 We just want to pray for people who are hurting. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:44.800 And as we turn to your word now, we pray that you would just give us ears that can hear 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:51.000 what you're saying, give us minds that understand it and that can apply it to your lives and 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:56.360 give us hearts that will burn with love for you. 00:04:56.360 --> 00:05:04.400 And so we ask that you would just be with Derek as he opens up your word now and be 00:05:04.400 --> 00:05:10.639 with us all so that our hearts would be open to hear what you're saying. 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:13.040 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:05:13.040 --> 00:05:14.040 Amen. 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:15.040 Derek. 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:27.200 Thanks, Thomas. 00:05:27.200 --> 00:05:30.840 Over the next few weeks we're doing this series, unbelievable. 00:05:30.840 --> 00:05:34.640 It's a great graphic. 00:05:34.640 --> 00:05:36.040 Take a look at the shadow. 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:37.720 It's good. 00:05:37.720 --> 00:05:42.120 And we're doing different themes in the morning and in the evening. 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:46.680 And Thomas this morning looked at the question of, is Jesus real? 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:54.160 Which was a great study into the person of Jesus and a great challenge to us. 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:57.000 And this evening I'm looking at the theme of, are you hurting? 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:01.000 So next week we're looking at, is Jesus a bigot? 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:02.920 And then the evening, are you empty? 00:06:02.920 --> 00:06:07.720 And then on Easter Sunday we're looking at, is Jesus good? 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:09.439 And in the evening, are you hopeless? 00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:13.800 So there's a kind of a balance between what we're doing. 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:21.160 And I'm going to look at the passage in a little while that we read, that Thomas read 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:22.959 to us earlier. 00:06:22.959 --> 00:06:28.120 But I just want to put it into context and why we're doing that because we really do 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:32.000 want to introduce people to Jesus. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:33.000 We are Christians. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:35.759 We come together to worship every Sunday. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:37.000 We are community believers. 00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:43.160 And we really want other people to know who Jesus is and to share in the good news that 00:06:43.160 --> 00:06:45.439 we have come to know for ourselves. 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:52.199 Now, most of the guys here in the church know that I'm a bit of, I'm a football man. 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:59.360 But generally rugby seems to be a good, seems to provide a good illustration for life, I 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:00.360 think. 00:07:00.360 --> 00:07:07.280 There's lots of bruising encounters and there's a great deal of seemingly meaningless pain. 00:07:07.280 --> 00:07:10.639 It's a strange game. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:15.080 And it's a long, long time since I've been at Murrayfield, which is the home of Scottish 00:07:15.080 --> 00:07:16.080 Rugby. 00:07:16.080 --> 00:07:20.040 In fact, the last time I was in Murrayfield was in 1995. 00:07:20.040 --> 00:07:25.400 And that was, actually not for a rugby game, it was where a very different kind of hurt 00:07:25.400 --> 00:07:26.400 was the theme. 00:07:26.399 --> 00:07:35.000 It was an R.E.M. concert and obviously one of their greatest songs has this introductory 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.879 verse, when your day is long and the night is yours alone and when you're sure you've 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:45.239 had enough of this life, well, hang on, don't let yourself go. 00:07:45.239 --> 00:07:50.919 Because everybody cries and everybody hurts sometimes. 00:07:50.919 --> 00:07:52.679 I wasn't going to sing that, okay. 00:07:52.680 --> 00:07:57.519 But it sounds really terrible when you just read it, but it's a great song. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:03.360 So in this series of talks, really what we're wanting to do is to invite you to consider 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:08.280 the Savior, Jesus Christ, who we've come to know and love as our Savior. 00:08:08.280 --> 00:08:14.199 And we really want to do that by explaining the Jesus of the Bible and letting Him to 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:16.240 speak for Himself. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:25.800 We kind of themed these set of sermons for skeptics or for maybe people who are doubting 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:30.000 or for people who are not Christians, who are maybe thinking about Christianity or maybe 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.039 interested in Christianity or who are maybe not. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:37.639 But whoever you are this evening, if you're visiting with us this, we're so delighted to 00:08:37.639 --> 00:08:38.639 have you. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.159 It's really great that you're here this evening. 00:08:41.159 --> 00:08:44.799 And I hope you haven't been made to feel too uncomfortable by anything that we've done 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.039 so far in our worship. 00:08:47.039 --> 00:08:50.959 But Jesus Christ is someone who's changed our lives forever. 00:08:50.959 --> 00:08:57.839 And we do recognize, we know that often He's misrepresented in the media or the press or 00:08:57.839 --> 00:08:59.559 generally in society. 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:04.000 We probably also have misrepresented Him ourselves at different times by what we've 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:06.799 done or what we haven't done. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:12.199 But we also know that Jesus speaks for Himself. 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:16.240 We believe He's a living Savior that He rose again on the third day that He's in heaven. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:22.480 But that His Word is living and that He, through His Spirit, can come and He speaks to us. 00:09:22.480 --> 00:09:24.280 His claims are radical. 00:09:24.280 --> 00:09:26.120 They're very strong. 00:09:26.120 --> 00:09:31.280 And they challenge and have challenged our thinking to its very core. 00:09:31.280 --> 00:09:38.800 He claims to be the author of life, the just and the loving one, to whom we're all accountable 00:09:38.800 --> 00:09:39.800 as God. 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:44.679 And that's a really uneasy, uncomfortable truth. 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:50.879 And so often God talk is a conversation stopper, isn't it, for people? 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:55.559 People don't like when we start talking about God and they get uncomfortable unless maybe 00:09:55.559 --> 00:09:59.519 sometimes it's to criticize or to blame and to reject. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:00.679 I mean, I get that. 00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:03.759 I get why people feel like that. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.599 Just, you know, if you're getting your, I know this might sound strange, but because 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.800 it doesn't look like I ever do that. 00:10:09.800 --> 00:10:16.120 But if you ever go and get your haircut and the hairdressers always like to make conversation, 00:10:16.120 --> 00:10:19.960 if you want to stop that conversation when they ask you what you've done at the weekend, 00:10:19.960 --> 00:10:23.759 just say that you've gone to church or you've read your Bible. 00:10:23.759 --> 00:10:27.200 And that'll generally be a real good conversation stopper. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:29.840 And they'll probably not speak to you for the rest of the time that you're getting your 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:32.040 haircut. 00:10:32.039 --> 00:10:38.480 But you may be someone who's genuinely questioning matters of life and death, and you may be 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:43.759 questioning, especially when we talk about a God of love or a God who loves people. 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:46.039 You know, why then is there so much pain? 00:10:46.039 --> 00:10:51.000 We've talked a lot about pain because the theme for this evening is suffering, or, you 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:56.919 know, this is a, you know, if you're hurting this evening, why is there so much hurt? 00:10:56.919 --> 00:10:58.480 Why is that the case? 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:04.279 If God is sovereign and powerful, if God is loving, as we say, is, then why is there so 00:11:04.279 --> 00:11:05.279 much hurt? 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:11.560 And it may be not so much for you a kind of philosophical question about the meaning 00:11:11.560 --> 00:11:14.840 of life, but maybe much more personal for you. 00:11:14.840 --> 00:11:21.560 There may be a great deal of emotional hurt or hurt in relationships or because of illnesses 00:11:21.559 --> 00:11:30.159 you were being told earlier on, or it may be through isolation or difficulties at work 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.759 or being let down. 00:11:32.759 --> 00:11:36.839 And if there is a God, you're saying, well, if there's a God, well, what's the game? 00:11:36.839 --> 00:11:38.639 You know, why is this happening? 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:40.159 Why is that the case? 00:11:40.159 --> 00:11:42.639 Why is there so much hurt in my life? 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:44.079 You say He's a God of love. 00:11:44.079 --> 00:11:46.199 You say He's a God who's powerful. 00:11:46.199 --> 00:11:50.759 If He's loving, He's a Father and He's powerful, why would you let anything like this happen 00:11:50.759 --> 00:11:51.759 to His children? 00:11:51.759 --> 00:11:52.759 Why? 00:11:52.759 --> 00:12:00.240 Well, can I just throw it, throw in a little wobbly here, maybe a little mischievously, 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:10.240 and say, if there isn't a God, then is it the case that that question is redundant? 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:16.399 If there's no God at all, then can we even ask that question? 00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:21.039 Then we look, in other words, for any answers to the why questions. 00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:27.319 If there is no ultimate meaning, or if there is no purpose behind life of God, isn't the 00:12:27.319 --> 00:12:29.279 Creator of the world. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:34.959 If the universe, Thomas was mentioning this morning, if the universe is simply material, 00:12:34.959 --> 00:12:41.519 what we see, the things we see, if everything has happened, has happened just through chance 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:48.079 and random choices, then really, can we ask any of these why questions? 00:12:48.079 --> 00:12:55.600 Because there is no ultimate reason, and there is no purpose behind life. 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:57.079 But we do ask these questions. 00:12:57.079 --> 00:13:00.720 We relentlessly ask the why questions. 00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:08.879 And this evening, if there might be a God, can I ask you to consider wrestling both with 00:13:08.879 --> 00:13:15.720 the comfort of that, and also the challenge of that, the challenge that there is a God 00:13:15.720 --> 00:13:24.759 and that there is suffering, and that there is an answer to that suffering in the Gospels. 00:13:24.759 --> 00:13:29.519 So we say that hurt is our common experience, okay? 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:35.360 Even the people you might be tempted to ignore or to dislike, they're probably going through 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:38.000 a lot of hurt as well. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:39.799 There's a commonality about it. 00:13:39.799 --> 00:13:46.320 They just call another musician, some of you will know him here. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:49.600 He actually worshipped with us for a while when he was in Scotland. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:54.919 He's an American kind of alternative country rock singer, Drew Holcomb. 00:13:54.919 --> 00:13:58.080 And he's got a song called Another Man's Shoes, and he says, everyone's got their own set 00:13:58.080 --> 00:13:59.080 of troubles. 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:01.679 Everyone's got their own set of blues. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:04.039 Everyone's got their own set of struggles. 00:14:04.039 --> 00:14:06.720 Walk a mile in another man's shoes. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:12.360 And it's that sense of a commonality that we all recognize and we all see and we all 00:14:12.360 --> 00:14:13.639 suffer. 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:18.080 And I do wonder sometimes when thinking about the society we live in, the world we live 00:14:18.080 --> 00:14:20.879 in, whether we share a common sympathy. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:27.040 I'm not sure if you sense or not that maybe in the last few years, people are hurting just 00:14:27.040 --> 00:14:31.480 as much as they ever were really in their communities and their societies and their 00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.320 families among our friends. 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:38.280 But I wonder whether the community and the society as a whole cares less. 00:14:38.280 --> 00:14:43.120 You know, despite all the talk that there is about inclusion and about respect and diversity 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:49.160 and commonality, I wonder if the society in which we're living is becoming more polarized, 00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:55.320 more isolated, more hurt and more segregated than it ever has been. 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:58.160 I grew up here in Edinburgh. 00:14:58.160 --> 00:15:00.400 I went to school here. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:06.840 My dad was a minister here and obviously I grew up going to church. 00:15:06.840 --> 00:15:13.240 I would like to think I was not an unpopular child in school, but I was always ribbed for 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:16.919 going to church and for being a Christian. 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:21.919 So much so that I would kind of avoid telling people what I'd done at the weekend or what 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:28.480 my dad did for a job, because the reaction was usually laughter, sometimes shock and 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:29.480 a little bit of disbelief. 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:32.360 And that hasn't really changed that much. 00:15:32.360 --> 00:15:38.680 Still have that response and that reaction to the profession that I'm part of. 00:15:38.680 --> 00:15:41.320 Definitely a conversation stopper. 00:15:41.320 --> 00:15:46.080 And that sometimes would make you feel a little bit on the outside and a little bit hurtful. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:51.440 But generally speaking, I don't remember it being particularly malicious in any way. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:58.720 But I do sense today a much deeper malevolence and menace towards particularly the Christian 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.080 faith. 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.759 There's a more powerful intolerance in the society in which you live. 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:07.720 Whose hurt is more meaningful? 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.560 Whose offense is more justifiable? 00:16:10.560 --> 00:16:16.240 Can we justify ignoring some people's hurt and caring about others? 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:22.160 And it seems that personal offense is trumping all other kinds of hurt, because we live in 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:29.240 a society which is suffering in old age, suffering in loneliness, suffering in illness, and suffering 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:31.360 in loss. 00:16:31.360 --> 00:16:34.279 And yet there seems to be less concern. 00:16:34.279 --> 00:16:36.159 Who's to blame? 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.480 Do we blame other people for that? 00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:40.079 Of course that's easy to do. 00:16:40.079 --> 00:16:44.620 Do we blame God even when we don't believe in Him? 00:16:44.620 --> 00:16:46.919 Do we blame religion? 00:16:46.919 --> 00:16:47.919 Religion? 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:53.439 Can we still blame religion in this secular society when only one, two, three percent 00:16:53.439 --> 00:16:57.959 of people maybe even go to church in our city? 00:16:57.959 --> 00:17:06.680 Do we blame life itself in a kind of giving it a moral responsibility? 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:10.359 Whoever we blame or whatever we're blaming or thinking about, there seems to be that 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:19.319 dissatisfaction with regard to the why question, these why questions still plague us. 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:26.199 So as Christians, our hearts and our minds have been transformed by the person and the 00:17:26.199 --> 00:17:29.359 work of Jesus Christ, God the Son. 00:17:29.359 --> 00:17:33.679 Now it's not the case that we have all the answers, and we still have to say in a lot 00:17:33.679 --> 00:17:37.079 of things, well we don't know. 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:38.559 We still suffer. 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:44.159 We still face inexplicable, evil, hurt, and we struggle with all kinds of failure and 00:17:44.159 --> 00:17:45.159 doubt. 00:17:45.159 --> 00:17:52.960 But we have definitely come to know His love and His forgiveness and experience a perspective 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:58.639 and a hope and a meaning that's changed everything, even the hurtful and difficult things we go 00:17:58.639 --> 00:17:59.879 through in life. 00:17:59.879 --> 00:18:04.839 And just for a moment I want to share what we know, a little bit of what we know about 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:11.399 Him, because I believe that's for every person, not just for Christians, not just for people 00:18:11.399 --> 00:18:17.319 who go to church or have that culture or background, but there's a reality that Jesus has come 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:25.159 and is effective and significant and important for every single human being. 00:18:25.159 --> 00:18:27.679 But is it all unbelievable? 00:18:27.680 --> 00:18:35.240 Is it all unbelievable, I hope, and pray that you recognize that that's not the case? 00:18:35.240 --> 00:18:39.120 I want to say two things about Jesus, just from this story about Jesus. 00:18:39.120 --> 00:18:45.560 This story was written, it was recorded very shortly before Jesus was crucified. 00:18:45.560 --> 00:18:51.160 So it's coming in, this is coming into Easter, towards Easter in the next couple of weeks. 00:18:51.160 --> 00:18:58.000 And Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane very shortly before He went to His crucifixion. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:04.160 So it's really part of the Passion Week narrative and the events leading up to His crucifixion. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:07.240 I just really want to say two things about this story. 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:13.240 First is He knows and understands your heart, and Rowan made reference to that. 00:19:13.240 --> 00:19:17.240 And then in His suffering and in His death, He rescues our heart. 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:20.560 So I just want to say these two things about it. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.480 He knows your heart. 00:19:23.480 --> 00:19:27.319 Because when we're hurting in life, when we're going through difficulties and trials and 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:33.119 suffering and sadness, one thing that's very important is empathy, isn't it? 00:19:33.119 --> 00:19:38.559 Empathy is a very important thing to know that somebody else understands or appreciates 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.799 or is sympathetic or empathetic towards us. 00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:48.480 Indifference and apathy is grim, isn't it, when we're going through these times? 00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:54.319 And what we do recognize and know that that is something God is often accused of, whether 00:19:54.319 --> 00:19:58.799 suffering or difficulties or trials or hurt, where is God? 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:00.039 Why doesn't He care? 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:05.599 Why isn't He answering my prayers or why doesn't He change things for me? 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:11.240 So what we recognize here that in this account of Jesus Christ, it's a kind of window, it's 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:15.480 a picture into who He was. 00:20:15.480 --> 00:20:20.279 We believe in His claims to be the unique person that Thomas was speaking about this 00:20:20.279 --> 00:20:23.640 morning, both a human being but also God. 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:25.640 This is God in the flesh. 00:20:25.640 --> 00:20:32.400 In other words, when we see Jesus, we see God in a way that helps us to understand Him. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:36.839 And that's really very important because a lot of people will say, well, who is God 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:40.279 and what's He like and how can we ever know Him? 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:46.519 Well, we begin to see who He is in the person of Jesus Christ, and that's really great 00:20:46.519 --> 00:20:55.359 because God as God, as the Creator, God is very difficult and almost impossible to grasp 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:57.639 or understand. 00:20:57.639 --> 00:21:03.759 So and when we see Jesus here, particularly and on towards the cross, we recognize that 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:10.279 He does understand and appreciate and has experienced the deepest hurt Himself. 00:21:10.279 --> 00:21:11.480 He's been there. 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:18.879 He's suffered incredible pain, particularly heading towards His crucifixion. 00:21:18.879 --> 00:21:24.359 And it does seem very paradoxical for us when we think about Jesus and we think about who 00:21:24.359 --> 00:21:27.879 He is as God in the flesh. 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:33.920 We're told in verse 33 there that He was deeply troubled and distressed. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:38.200 In one of the other accounts, in one of the other gospels, we're told that at this point 00:21:38.200 --> 00:21:44.800 the distress and the trouble was so deep that He was sweating drops of blood. 00:21:44.800 --> 00:21:51.100 The capillaries were bursting inside His forehead with the strain and the press mixing 00:21:51.100 --> 00:21:57.160 with His sweat to make it look as if He was sweating drops of blood. 00:21:57.160 --> 00:22:03.400 This is God that we have here, described going through this great hurt. 00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:14.040 Sad within an inch of His life, He said, I'm crushed with grief, with grief to the point 00:22:14.040 --> 00:22:15.040 of death. 00:22:15.040 --> 00:22:22.279 I'm not sure if any of us have ever been crushed with grief to that point where, to within 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:24.160 an inch of His life. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.200 This is God, the author of life. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:32.640 He prays here as it were into the darkness. 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:35.920 Please He says, Abba, Father, He says, everything's possible. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:41.560 Please take this cup of suffering away from me, yet not your will be done but mine. 00:22:41.560 --> 00:22:48.840 The complexity and the confusion and the fear of what lay ahead for Him as He prayed into 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:55.359 the darkness, into the suffering and into the hurt that He was experiencing. 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:59.079 And through all His friends just didn't get it. 00:22:59.079 --> 00:23:04.359 There wasn't much empathy or sympathy from them. 00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:08.679 Each time He went to pray, they all just fell asleep. 00:23:08.679 --> 00:23:12.119 And the third time He comes back to them and said, look, just go ahead and sleep. 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:13.879 Have your rest. 00:23:13.879 --> 00:23:15.679 My time has come. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:20.320 So there was this great letdown from those who had been closest to Him for such a long 00:23:20.320 --> 00:23:25.799 time that He was going through this intense suffering. 00:23:25.799 --> 00:23:32.560 But they didn't seem to understand and didn't seem to be terribly bothered by it. 00:23:32.560 --> 00:23:37.880 And this is God that we have in the picture of God here in Gethsemane. 00:23:37.880 --> 00:23:43.160 And He's about to be betrayed to His death on the cross. 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:44.160 And this is God. 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:48.240 Why would He allow Himself to get into that situation? 00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.800 Why would He experience such hurt? 00:23:50.800 --> 00:23:54.000 And why would He go through what He was going through, whether it was physical and it was 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:00.240 about to get much worse with crucifixion, whether it was relational or situational and 00:24:00.240 --> 00:24:01.240 spiritual? 00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:04.560 There was hurt in the deepest intensity. 00:24:04.560 --> 00:24:10.000 There's an Old Testament prophecy of Jesus that says He was a man of sorrows and He was 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.720 familiar with suffering. 00:24:12.720 --> 00:24:18.279 And so the picture we have of Jesus is not of a distant Creator God or of God in Jesus, 00:24:18.279 --> 00:24:24.720 not a distant Creator God who kind of wound up the universe and has let it just unfold 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:36.839 with all the chaos that has transpired, nor of a disinterested or a distanced God who 00:24:36.839 --> 00:24:39.319 is powerless to change anything. 00:24:39.319 --> 00:24:47.079 What we do see is a God who intervenes in our situation and is interested in our situation 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:51.240 and comes into our situation and experiences our hurt. 00:24:51.240 --> 00:24:57.240 We can't, whatever else you may be tempted to accuse Jesus, our God of it, isn't disinterest 00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:59.399 and isn't distanced. 00:24:59.399 --> 00:25:05.359 But if He is God, oh, why on earth would He do this? 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:11.479 That is the point of what He goes through in Gethsemane, but more than that, in His life 00:25:11.479 --> 00:25:15.359 that He lived for thirty-three years and the death He died. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:20.479 And that leads us to the second point that I want to make briefly, which is in His suffering, 00:25:20.479 --> 00:25:25.759 His hurt, suffering, and on into His death, which is very much a theme of Easter for us, 00:25:25.759 --> 00:25:29.159 He rescues our hurt. 00:25:29.159 --> 00:25:33.919 So He takes and He rescues our hurt. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:40.680 The story of the gospel is that God and Thomas explained this very beautifully this morning. 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:44.240 God Himself has been wronged. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.080 We have withdrawn ourselves from Him. 00:25:47.080 --> 00:25:48.960 We've turned our backs on God. 00:25:48.960 --> 00:25:55.080 The Genesis, the very beginning of hurt and darkness and pain and evil and death comes 00:25:55.080 --> 00:26:01.200 from that, a broken relationship between ourselves and God. 00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:03.720 All our hurt comes from that. 00:26:03.720 --> 00:26:09.559 The reality of all the dark things that we experience and know, it stems from that. 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:15.440 And from our end, it's an unbridgeable gap. 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:20.279 We can't reach up to God and put that right. 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:27.400 We can try, we can do our best, we can be good, we can be religious or whatever it happens 00:26:27.400 --> 00:26:35.000 to be, but none of it can bridge the gap that exists between ourselves and God because of 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:37.040 what the Bible calls sin and what we've turned away from. 00:26:37.040 --> 00:26:38.040 We're powerless. 00:26:38.040 --> 00:26:42.400 A hugely, a really hugely uncomfortable truth. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:45.320 The worst thing to feel, isn't it, is powerless. 00:26:45.320 --> 00:26:48.120 I really hate feeling powerless. 00:26:48.120 --> 00:26:54.280 But that's what sin, that's what the Bible says, that we're powerless to reach up and 00:26:54.279 --> 00:27:00.559 again be in relationship with God, but the remarkably unique thing about the gospel and 00:27:00.559 --> 00:27:08.000 about Jesus Christ is that God has come down to reach out to us, that we don't need to 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:14.879 reach up to Him, that we don't need to earn that right to be friends with Him again and 00:27:14.879 --> 00:27:18.639 to deal with the hurt, the pain and the sin and death and the separation. 00:27:18.639 --> 00:27:22.920 He has come down Himself to put the problem right. 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:27.440 And that's really the message of Easter and the message of the gospel and the Bible is 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:33.560 that in His love and in His grace and in His concern for the people of this world that 00:27:33.560 --> 00:27:41.279 He has made, He is the one who takes the consequence and the guilt of our rejection of God, the 00:27:41.279 --> 00:27:43.840 Father, He takes on Himself. 00:27:43.840 --> 00:27:45.920 He makes the move. 00:27:45.920 --> 00:27:47.840 He's the one who does it. 00:27:47.839 --> 00:27:54.159 And the Son is the one who bridges the gap by paying the price. 00:27:54.159 --> 00:27:58.919 And it's a really challenging thing because even sometimes I'm not sure if I fully understand 00:27:58.919 --> 00:28:04.480 that, I'm not sure if I grasp that, I'm not sure if I think that's just that He's paying 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:08.959 the price and I get to be forgiven. 00:28:08.959 --> 00:28:15.279 The claim of the gospel is that's what God says is the only way and that's what He's 00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:19.359 come to do and He pays the price. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:21.359 He's motivated by love for us. 00:28:21.359 --> 00:28:28.039 He says this is the only way and He rises on the third day to show us great victory over 00:28:28.039 --> 00:28:36.440 sin and grave and death and hurt, ultimately, that it will go. 00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:43.799 It will be gone in eternal life when we go to be with Him. 00:28:43.799 --> 00:28:51.480 He made us, He made you, He wants you back and He says this is the only way. 00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:55.440 Says it's like coming home. 00:28:55.440 --> 00:29:02.399 And there's something very special about coming home, isn't there? 00:29:02.399 --> 00:29:05.879 If not in reality for us, certainly in our dreams. 00:29:05.879 --> 00:29:12.480 The whole idea of coming home is hugely significant, especially when you're not well, especially 00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:14.360 when you're ill, you're hurting. 00:29:14.360 --> 00:29:20.039 I just want to finish with this, which is that three years ago, those of you who are 00:29:20.039 --> 00:29:23.039 in the congregation will know this story because you were all involved in it, but three years 00:29:23.039 --> 00:29:27.200 ago we were in Holiday Abroad in Lanzarote in Katrina. 00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:32.240 My wife had a brain hemorrhage when we were there. 00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:39.000 And there's nothing worse, well, there's very little worse than that anyway, but there's 00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:44.160 nothing worse than experiencing that when you're not at home, when you're away from 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:50.400 home, you're in a foreign country, you don't know the language, you don't know what lies 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:57.960 ahead, you don't know how to put the problem right, and you're in hospital and you don't 00:29:57.960 --> 00:29:58.960 know what they're saying. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:03.519 And worst thing of all, of course, was that for whatever reason we'd forgotten to get 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:04.519 insurance. 00:30:04.519 --> 00:30:11.879 So, yeah, the thought of this massive, massive bill in the days that lie ahead to pay the 00:30:11.879 --> 00:30:15.720 price to maybe be made better again. 00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:21.599 So amazingly, with a huge army of people praying as well, we managed to get Katrina 00:30:21.599 --> 00:30:29.639 home to A&E in Edinburgh, the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh. 00:30:29.640 --> 00:30:37.640 And even to get there, you felt like you were home, and you felt things weren't nearly 00:30:37.640 --> 00:30:39.440 quite so bad. 00:30:39.440 --> 00:30:51.640 And God bless the NHS, because the treatment was free at the point of contact. 00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:56.680 And that was hugely significant, because there was a massive amount of brain surgery to be 00:30:56.680 --> 00:30:57.680 done. 00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:03.759 And yet for us, the point of contact in our home country, it was free. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:07.080 Now, it's not that it didn't cost. 00:31:07.080 --> 00:31:09.000 It costs a great deal. 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:13.799 But to us, at the point of delivery, it was free. 00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:19.240 And we felt at home at that level, and safer. 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:23.560 And it's a little, I think maybe not a very good illustration, but it's a little illustration 00:31:23.559 --> 00:31:29.079 of the beauty of the gospel, is that when we come to Jesus Christ, we recognize that 00:31:29.079 --> 00:31:33.159 He simply asked us to put our trust in Him. 00:31:33.159 --> 00:31:34.720 We don't pay anything. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:35.720 There's no cost. 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:38.519 We don't have to make ourselves right with God. 00:31:38.519 --> 00:31:42.440 We simply accept what He's done freely offered to us, because it was great love and it's 00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:44.159 great grace. 00:31:44.159 --> 00:31:47.599 But we know behind it, there is a great cost. 00:31:47.599 --> 00:31:54.039 It was great cost to providing the salvation which is free to us at the point of delivery, 00:31:54.039 --> 00:31:55.039 as it were. 00:31:55.039 --> 00:32:03.359 It was the cost of His own life, the cost of unspeakable separation within the trinity 00:32:03.359 --> 00:32:06.199 of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:32:06.199 --> 00:32:12.679 And a great cost is He bore the wrath of God and bore the punishment, the just punishment 00:32:12.679 --> 00:32:13.679 for our sins. 00:32:13.679 --> 00:32:16.359 Great cost that He takes. 00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:21.519 But for us, He simply wants us to trust because it's an effective salvation that He's worked 00:32:21.519 --> 00:32:23.319 and it's free to us. 00:32:23.319 --> 00:32:28.839 And we, in our hurting, can go to Him. 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:30.959 We can recognize that He strengthens. 00:32:30.959 --> 00:32:34.799 As Rowan was saying so much, it's not random. 00:32:34.799 --> 00:32:37.599 There's reason behind these things. 00:32:37.599 --> 00:32:43.240 We entrust Him to know that our hurting and our pain is not meaningless, but also that 00:32:43.240 --> 00:32:48.680 it will come to an end one day as we go to be with Him forever. 00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:51.720 And we recognize that and we see that. 00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:56.079 And we rejoice that He is one, the victory over death and the grave. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:33:02.000 And that when He returns, as He says He will, He will usher in a world that's free of hurt 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:07.039 as He says Himself a day when He will wipe away every tear. 00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:10.640 So we have experienced that as Christians. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:18.600 It's not that our lives are hurt free or pain free or that we don't care or think it doesn't 00:33:18.600 --> 00:33:22.680 matter that there's suffering and pain and hurt and sorrow. 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:29.120 But we do recognize where that is channeled and we recognize the greatest suffering and 00:33:29.120 --> 00:33:33.520 the greatest pain that this world has ever seen has been inflicted on Jesus Christ on 00:33:33.520 --> 00:33:34.520 our behalf. 00:33:34.520 --> 00:33:40.080 And that it is through the perspective of seeing and knowing and understanding Jesus. 00:33:40.079 --> 00:33:47.599 And trusting in Him for our own forgiveness and hope and future that our lives are transformed. 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:52.639 I do hope that you'll consider and think about some of these things we've been saying. 00:33:52.639 --> 00:33:57.439 There's also lots of little booklets at the back which we'd love you to take away, which 00:33:57.439 --> 00:34:02.559 explain better and explain in more detail some of the things that we'll be talking about 00:34:02.559 --> 00:34:04.480 leading up to Easter. 00:34:04.480 --> 00:34:08.960 So I'm just going to pray very briefly and then we're going to sing our last song together. 00:34:08.960 --> 00:34:14.320 Lord God, we thank You for the gospel of Jesus. 00:34:14.320 --> 00:34:22.800 We thank You for the fact that we have this amazing written record, which is not just 00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:29.320 a dry and dusty account, but a living and relevant word that speaks into our own hearts 00:34:29.320 --> 00:34:36.920 like a mirror that shows us what we're like and what we need and is honest and realistic 00:34:36.920 --> 00:34:43.240 and sometimes challenging and frightening, but also amazingly comforting and redeeming 00:34:43.240 --> 00:34:49.119 and full of good news as we think about Jesus Christ and what He has done for us, how much 00:34:49.119 --> 00:34:56.280 He loves us, the extent of His love that He would do this, even though very often we don't 00:34:56.280 --> 00:35:03.960 think about you or appreciate you or consider the amazing gifts of life that you've given 00:35:03.960 --> 00:35:04.960 to us. 00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:09.639 So pray and ask that you would bless us as we've thought about today, about Jesus being 00:35:09.639 --> 00:35:16.720 real and also Jesus speaking into our lives when we are hurting so often and that you're 00:35:16.720 --> 00:35:26.280 not a distant, careless God who is far away, but you're a God who has come to us and into 00:35:26.280 --> 00:35:33.280 our experience in order to redeem us and to rescue us and to give us new hope and forgiveness. 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:40.519 So bless us, we pray and help us as we sing together to be able to praise you in song 00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:41.519 for Jesus' sake. 00:35:41.519 --> 00:36:03.519 Amen.