Latest / HBCWestminster / 4.3.22 Luke 22:55-71 Pastor Danny Gardner

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4.3.22 Luke 22:55-71 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Open to Luke 22 and verse 55. Allow me to read our text. If you would stand in honor of God's word as I do, we'll read and then pray and begin. Verse 55, And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, This man also was with him. But he denied it, saying, Woman, I do not know him. A little later someone else saw him and said, You also are one of them.
• 0:32
  But Peter said, man, I am not. And after an interval of about an hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. But Peter said, man, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. And the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.
• 0:58
  Now the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They also blindfolded him and kept asking him, prophesy, who is it that struck you? And they said many other things against him, blaspheming him. When day came, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes, and they led him away to their council and said, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you will not believe, and if I ask you, you will not answer.
• 1:24
  But from now on, the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said, Are you the Son of God then? And he said to them, You say that I am. Then they said, What further testimony do we need? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips. And Father God, you who are creator of heaven and earth, we open this morning your eternal word in anticipation of what you will accomplish in its hearing.
• 1:54
  We open our ears and we incline our hearts and we bend our knees to its truth. Guide us by your Holy Spirit to understand and teach us to love Christ more dearly. Make us your willing servants as we apply it to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, church. We can summarize the Passion Week of Christ very simply by saying that Jesus was daily entering the city and teaching.
• 2:21
  The people were hanging on his every word, his enemies were plotting how to put him to death, and this particular passage could also be summed up with three words. Last week, Jesus was deserted. This week, he will be denied and despised. We've already discussed that Jesus' apostles deserted him as soon as the chains came out. They turned out to be all talk. They were crusaders, willing to pick up arms and join the fight, but what Jesus wanted was martyrs.
• 2:52
  willing to bear witness by joining him on the road to the cross. We ended last Sunday by saying that it is not our job to fight against the world because the world is not our enemy. Rather, it is our job to lay down our lives after the pattern of Christ. And in the words of Jude, and this is how we left off last week.
• 3:12
  Building ourselves up in our most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit and keeping ourselves in the love of God and waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life and showing mercy on those who doubt and saving others by snatching them out of the fire and even to others, showing mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. We left off last week by asking, what do we do against a world
• 3:40
  who so vehemently hates the truth of God's word, we ended with building and praying and keeping and waiting and showing mercy and snatching people out of the fire and hating sin all the while. The passage before us describes the fall of the Lord's foremost apostle. I mean, this is Peter. This is the man. I mean, this is the guy, the chief of the apostles, the number one draft pick.
• 4:12
  who fell from such heights. At one point, John chapter 6, even declaring Jesus to be the Christ, proclaiming that Christ alone had the words of eternal life, pledging his life and death to him. In fact, you'll recall the time, and it was not that many days before this event, that the apostle declared with vehemence, he said, Matthew 26, even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you. Even if everyone else bails, Lord.
• 4:42
  I will follow you to the end. That was only a matter of days ago, and he fell from such heights to such depths, denying that they had ever even met. Church, do you care what people think about you? Does other people's opinion of you matter?
• 5:08
  to you and does it ever cause you as you consider what do people think about me or what's their impression of me does it ever cause you to act differently based on their impression do you ever change who you are or how you dress or how you talk based on others opinions of you i think that fear of others or wanting to impress people makes us do wacky things i had lunch this week with a very good friend a business owner and a member of highland
• 5:37
  And he told me about the time in the early 1990s that he bought one of the very first cell phones. Cell phones were around before then, but they were the size of a briefcase. But in the early 90s, you guys who were around then might remember that in the early 90s, they became much smaller, down to the size of about a brick. Do you guys remember those? Big antennas sticking off, right? And guys would walk around with these brick cell phones. And he said to me at lunch this week, he said,
• 6:06
  I bought the first one. I was the first guy. He said, I had the very first cell phone. He said, I owned a business. I thought, man, this is really going to help the business. But he admitted to me, I really just bought it because I wanted to look cool. I wanted to look cool. I wanted to be on the phone when people looked at me. I wanted them to think that I was important. But then he said, it didn't take me really very long to realize that I was the only one who owned one.
• 6:31
  So he said, I had no one to call. Nobody was going to call me from their cell phone, and I couldn't call anybody else's cell phone. But he said, I wanted to use it. I was so desperate to use it that I just started driving my work truck around town, holding it up to my ear. There was nobody on the other end. But he said, I just wanted people to see I'm a very important man, right? Assume that I'm probably on the phone with the president. He's the only other one who has one. Just assume that this is a very important call.
• 6:59
  Wanting to impress others makes us do wacky things. The passage contrasts the frailty of Peter. Despite the overwhelming confidence he felt only the evening before, one evening before, he contrasts that, Peter's frailty, with the strength of Christ. One stood before the ruling council of the Jews while the other stood before a child. One bore witness to his deity.
• 7:27
  One to his simple knowledge of the accused. One admitted coming from heaven while one refused to acknowledge even coming from Galilee. The passage before us gives us encouragement because we are all like Peter in many ways. We may look at this and say, well, I mean, if the foremost apostle failed, then surely I'm doing okay, right? There's encouragement there, but it also reminds us how quickly and easily we ourselves
• 7:58
  may stumble if not vigilant. If Peter can fall, then church, certainly we could too. In fact, J.C. Ryle says it this way, the best and highest saint is a poor and weak creature, even at his best times, even at our strongest. If we're honest, we would admit we are poor and weak. And I believe each of us carries with us a boundless capacity for sin. You know, on Thanksgiving sometimes, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.
• 8:27
  Right? And so you'll go through picking up food and you're like, man, I'm going to eat some of that and some of that and some of that. I'm going to fill up my plate. And then about halfway through, you think, no, I don't know if I can finish everything that I took. Right? Sometimes your appetite for physical food is deceiving a little bit. Listen, church, our appetite for sin will never be satisfied.
• 8:46
  it will never be satiated we can eat we can if you want to think of it that way devour sin and never stop in fact the more sin we eat the hungrier it makes us unless that spiritual hunger can be filled with a treasure that is better and more valuable and however good we may appear on the outside
• 9:08
  And however good we might genuinely be on the inside, by the grace and help of God, each of us we must recognize is only one step away from backsliding. Each of us is one step away, one bad night away from trashing our testimonies, from ruining our witness, from denying our Lord. One step away from returning to the sin that we hate so much, the way that a dog returns to its vomit.
• 9:39
  What a disgusting word picture that is from Proverbs 26. The way that a dog returns to its vomit so a fool returns to his folly. I think, man, why do dogs do that? Have you ever seen a dog do that? Like, I don't understand. And then we let them lick our faces? You know what I mean? Like, whoa! Not without some mouthwash. Like, if they make canine mouthwash or something, I don't... Like, that is so nasty.
• 10:09
  And that's what Proverbs says. That's what happens. Every time we circle back around to that sin, that sin that we hate, and honestly, right, the sin that really does taste like vomit. It's not satisfying. In fact, if I were to ask you, do you hate your sin? I think everybody in here would say, yes. I hate my sin. Why do we always go back to it?
• 10:29
  We go back to it. We go back to it. And the text this morning demands an answer to this question. Will we stand with Christ even if all others desert him? It asks, what are we going to do with this statement? Jesus makes this statement in Matthew chapter 10. He says, so everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. If you speak about me,
• 11:00
  He says, on earth, I will speak about you in heaven. But he says, if you're embarrassed of me, why would I be proud of you on that day? I mean, what do we do with that? The text this morning divides naturally into two sections. We'll notice Jesus is denied. We look at the fall of Peter. And then we see that Jesus is despised. It's a study of Christ's initial trial before the Sanhedrin. And so pick up with me, if you would.
• 11:26
  Verse 55, and it says this, when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. Now you'll recall that Peter followed Jesus at a distance. We find actually with another disciple that we presume to be John, that's John 18, we'll come to that. But they stood in the courtyard of the high priest's house and a large crowd had gathered. Remember last Sunday, there were more than 200 men that came to arrest Jesus.
• 11:55
  And no doubt many of those guys stuck around to see what would happen. They wanted to see the fireworks Now we see some additional information in John's Gospel, which Luke leaves out It says this John 18 Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did another disciple. There it is. We assume that to be John Since that disciple John was known to the high priest. He actually knew the high priest
• 12:18
  He entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, but Peter stood outside at the door. So John got in, everybody following? Peter got stuck outside. So the other disciple, John, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept watch at the door. He went and talked to the door attendant and brought Peter in. He said, listen, I'm in here. And she says, oh, hey, John. Oh, hey, whatever her name was. He says, I've got a friend outside.
• 12:45
  He's stuck outside the door. Would you let him in? And so the servant girl says, yeah, I'll let your friend in. And it was this servant girl who made the first accusation. Look at verse 56. Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light, looking closely at him, said, this man also was with him. But he denied it, saying, woman, I do not know him. All four gospels include this account.
• 13:12
  If you were to harmonize those gospels, meaning to interweave the four gospel accounts to create one story, his first denial would read this way. Woman, I don't know him. I'm not the man you think I am. I either know nor understand what you're saying, and you have no idea what you're talking about. Those are all four of the first denials kind of weaved together. You're like, why so defensive?
• 13:43
  Wow, did she ever strike a nerve. This young lady must have been of some import. I mean, who was this servant girl that he would become so defensive when confronted by her? And the answer is she was a nobody. She's never named. Her office is never given. Her title is never mentioned. I mean, she was a nobody. She was a maid. She was a servant. Her job was to answer the door.
• 14:15
  And yet look at how quickly Peter became threatened. Peter, the foremost apostle. I mean, Peter, who some Christian traditions say became the first pope. He becomes so defensive because of the accusation of this little girl. Beloved church, what or who would it take for you to deny knowing Jesus? Who would have to ask you a question before your courage ran thin? R.C. Linsky said it this way, it took only a medial maid.
• 14:50
  to fell the chief of the twelve wow you know i think if you'd asked him the night before he never would have guessed that this would have happened just some little girl i'm going to be embarrassed about my association with christ because of some girl he said gone were all of his high and heroic protestations to jesus gone all the spurious courage from his heart and from the hand that had snatched out the sword in gethsemane
• 15:17
  That was hours before he had yanked out that sword and started hacking. Where's that guy? Here stands the errant coward who is unable to confess his heavenly Lord and cringes in lying denial. That foremost apostle turned out to be a cowardly sap. Anyone else glad your name isn't written in the Bible? You ever read those lists of names?
• 15:47
  You're like, man, it'd be cool to have my name listed in there. Wouldn't that be cool? Like, it'd be cool, you know, the Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11. Man, I'd love to be listed among them. And then you think, oh wait, what if my name really was listed? And what if all of those shameful things I've done were listed too? And what if my most embarrassing moments, what if your most embarrassing moment was written?
• 16:12
  chronicled in the eternal word of god for every generation to read can you imagine i at times i read that i think about that and i'm like man i'm glad my name was never in there lord never i'm glad my name is in the lamb's book of life can i get an amen that's the book that i want to be in i don't want to be listed in this book because even the best even the very best we find were failures hallie and i had coffee with a woman from our church just a couple of months ago
• 16:43
  She's new to the faith. She's new to the church. In fact, and I don't know when she would say she came to Christ, but I know the Lord did something in her this last summer. Changed her heart. I believe her eternal status transferred from death to life. Just this last summer, she began coming to the church, and at the end of the year last year, you'll recall if you were with us, that we challenged the church to read through the Bible together.
• 17:07
  We're going to read through the Read Scripture app. And everybody's been doing that since. January 1, we all as a church started the book of Genesis. And she was brand new to the faith and brand new to the church. And so she didn't know that that was actually optional. That you could be a Christian and yet never touch your Bible. She didn't know that yet. We hadn't yet.
• 17:27
  I'm going to say it delicately this way, but we hadn't yet negatively discipled her in that way. Like I've been a Christian for 40 years, never even touched the thing. You know, that hadn't even occurred to her yet. So she's like, well, I'm a brand new Christian, a brand new to the church. Pastor Danny said, we're all going to read our Bible. So she opened to Genesis chapter one. She begins to read. She asked Hallie. Hallie's been meeting with her regularly every couple of weeks. They meet for coffee and just discipling her and teaching her how to be a godly woman. And at one point she says, Pastor Danny, would you mind joining us for coffee? Because I've been reading the book of Genesis.
• 17:59
  She said, and I've got some questions. I was like, I'll bet you do. I said, I start writing them down. We'll just go through your questions, right? I would love to. Let's go through your questions. So we get together for coffee, Hallie and I and her. And she said, and she really did. She just pulls out her phone. She starts asking me these questions. She said, listen. She said, Danny, I thought I was going to read the Bible. I mean, it was going to be a bunch of nice Sunday school stories and feel good lessons. But wow. She said, it's so violent.
• 18:29
  It's so sexual. It's so vengeful. She said, I had no idea. I thought it was going to be this nice, like how to get along with people kind of book. But she says, man, everybody in there is so twisted and vile. What is the deal? And I said, man, that's really good observation. That's also how you know the Bible is true. You want to know how we know the Bible is true? Because it doesn't sugarcoat anything.
• 18:59
  You want to know how man didn't have their fingers in the pie of scripture writing? Because it's honest about its foremost characters. It will tell you what Abraham really did. It will tell you what Moses was really like. All of these champions that you'd think would be superheroes, sinless. It'll be honest about them. Even its foremost apostle. It will tell you the man was a coward. He was a coward.
• 19:29
  And it really was only by the grace of God that he was used at all. And I just encouraged her. I said, that's how you know it's real. That's how you know it's true. Because of its honesty about the human condition. In fact, J.C. Ryle says it this way. This, this passage before us, supplies the strongest proof that the Bible is inspired and Christianity is from God.
• 19:53
  If the Christian religion had been the invention of uninspired men, its first historians would never have told us that one of the chiefest apostles denied his master three times. They'd have never included this story. If this were man-made, then this event would not have been chronicled because they would have wanted to cast Peter in a really positive light, right? He's going to be the leader of that brand new baby church. They never would have said, and by the way, he's an absolute coward. They never would have included.
• 20:22
  the truth now mark's gospel says that immediately following that first denial peter went out onto the porch as soon as he did the rooster crowed no doubt unnerved peter determined to leave but as he did a second accusation came and this time by a man who noticed him trying to escape look at verse 58 it says a little later someone else saw him and said you also are one of them but peter said man i am not
• 20:51
  Peter quickly denied any knowledge of or association with Christ. Verse 59, after about an interval of another hour, still another insisted, saying, certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean. Now again, there is benefit in the gospel harmony. Matthew's account uses the feminine form of the word another, meaning another woman, another servant girl.
• 21:17
  Mark includes that the original servant girl showed back up and added her accusation again So you can imagine Peter trying to escape a woman coming along and said wait weren't you with Jesus? Original servant girl says I told you I mean they yes, that's the guy right definitely
• 21:34
  All the while, Luke says that a man chimes in, saying, everyone can see that you're a Galilean. In fact, why else would you be here unless you were with Jesus? And then don't miss this, John's gospel includes, John 18 and verse 26, one of the servants of the high priest. What's the next part say? A relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. Do you remember Malchus from last Sunday?
• 22:02
  loses his ear jesus bends down picks up the ear sticks it back on his cousin shows up and says listen you were definitely in the garden i'm not gonna forget the face of the man who cut my cousin's ear off there's no denying this you're the guy you're definitely him peter was anxious he became even afraid maybe a little bit alarmed
• 22:29
  Luke's gospel says that Peter denied again any knowledge of Christ. Matthew's gospel actually adds that even his denial betrayed him. I'm telling you, I'm not. And as soon as he spoke that, everybody was like, I knew it. It's definitely him. Certainly, you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you. He spoke like a Galilean. I don't know what the Galilean accent sounded like, but to a Judean, it was obvious. It rang like a bell. You're definitely not from around here.
• 22:57
  He began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know the man. He begins using profanity, which the gospels don't record, right? And probably for good reason. But he begins calling down curses on himself. I swear on the graves of my family. I swear on heaven and earth. I mean, if he were a little kid, he'd be saying, I pinky promise.
• 23:27
  If I'm lying, I'm dying. I do not know him. Peter said in verse 60, I do not know what you're talking about. And immediately while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. His words were still echoing slightly in the courtyard when the rooster crowed for the third and final time. And then Luke's gospel is the only one who records this statement in verse 61. It's the only one. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. In that moment, you can imagine this. Peter.
• 24:00
  The Lord's best friend on earth is swearing, spitting, calling down curses, using profanity. He is, I mean, he's telling people off. You don't know what you're talking about. As the word, I do not know him. I am not associated with him. And as he's speaking, he looks up and across the courtyard, Jesus catches his eye. The last earthly words.
• 24:30
  that Jesus ever heard his friend Peter spoke before the crucifixion were, I don't know the man. He is not my friend. I can't imagine a more painful moment in Peter's life than making eye contact with the Savior in that moment. The Bible never records the Apostle Peter's death. The closest it gets is a prophecy from Jesus after the resurrection in John chapter 21. When Christ said, truly, truly, I say to you, when you're young,
• 25:02
  When you were young, he's talking to Peter, you used to dress yourself, you walked wherever you want. But when you're old, you will stretch out your hands, making reference there to a crucifixion. You'll stretch out your hands and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. And this he said to show by what kind of death Peter was to glorify God. Church history records that Peter was executed by crucifixion in Rome in AD 64.
• 25:27
  but that he was so vehement in his refusal to be killed in the same way as Christ, refusing to be crucified the way that his Lord was that he demanded to be crucified upside down, feet on the top. And yet, I would bet that those nails were not as piercing as the eyes of his friend and master Jesus, who saw Peter's final cursing denial as he himself was being led away.
• 25:57
  To the cross and so verse 62 simply says and he went out and wept Bitterly and I would think so, you know, it's interesting for the remainder of the crucifixion and burial record all the way through chapter 23 The only Apostle ever mentioned is John Peter has not mentioned a single time in the rest of chapter 22 and the whole of chapter 23 the Apostle Peter was called in Luke chapter 4 Luke 4
• 26:29
  And ever since that call, in every chapter, Peter has been with the Lord. Every time Jesus looked up, no matter what he was doing, if he was preaching or feeding or healing, even the time when Jesus was walking on the water, the apostle who was with him was who? It was Peter. Every time, no matter what Jesus was doing, every time he looked up, no matter what Jesus was doing, Peter was with the Lord. It was Peter's face he would see until now.
• 27:01
  Jesus would walk the remainder of his journey to the cross without the man who had sworn he would never leave his side. It's reminiscent of Adam when he disappeared after having sinned in the garden, right? And God in the cool of the day would walk through the garden and after the sin, after the fall, looked around and said, Adam, where are you? Why are you hiding? And Peter, in like manner, hid himself in shame. And church, I wonder if your name will be mentioned.
• 27:33
  in every chapter of your own story for the remainder of your days if your name will be mentioned alongside of jesus's name in every chapter of your story for as god as long as god grants you life every chapter since the lord called you whenever that was whatever date that was for me february 1st in 1990 the year before the brick cell phone that's when i gave my life to christ
• 27:59
  And I wonder if my name will be mentioned alongside of Jesus' name in every chapter for the remainder of my days. Every time the Lord looks up, I want Him to see my face. Every time the Lord looks up, I want to be able to say, I was there. I did not desert you. I did not deny you. I was with you to the very end. And the Lord save us from the chapter 23s in our lives where we're just nowhere to be found. Where we, in a moment of cowardice and failure,
• 28:29
  hide ourselves in a hole of the ground and weep. Lord, save us even from the periods in our lives when we are spiritually absent. We pick up in verse 63. It says the men who were holding Jesus in custody were mocking him as they beat him. They blindfolded him. They kept asking him, prophesy, who is it that struck you? So they're mocking. They said many other things against him, blaspheming him. It's while Peter was filled with shame that our Lord endured shameful treatment.
• 28:58
  They held him, it says, they mocked him, they beat him, they blasphemed him, they literally added insult to injury. Not only were they wounding him, they were making fun of him while they did it. J.C. Ryle reminds us that of the savage malice, he says, the excesses of savage malice to which unconverted men will sometimes go.
• 29:21
  The fierce delight with which they will sometimes trample on the most holy and the most pure. Almost justify the strong saying of an old divine when he said, man left to himself is half beast and half devil. Want to know what we're like without Jesus? That's it. Half beast, half devil. The unconverted hates God and all who bear anything of God's image about them. That's why they treated Jesus so shamefully. For them, he represented righteousness. He was represented the God who they hated.
• 29:51
  It reminds me of 2 Corinthians 2 and verse 14. It says, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads. This is such a great picture. The fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. Through us, the smell of Jesus permeates the world. It actually says we are the aroma of Christ to God. When you come to Christ, it actually says you smell like Jesus. Now, I don't know that, I don't think he's talking there about a literal sense.
• 30:21
  right? We praise God for that, right? But there is a smell about it. There's an atmosphere. There's an aura about the people of God, which is unique when we come to Christ. And among those who are being saved, it says, we are the fragrance from life to life. But among the perishing, we are the fragrance from death to death. Among the saved, you guys, is this not true? You come to church, like, man, it's good to be with the people of God.
• 30:52
  And man, this is life-giving. It's invigorating. I'm so blessed to be part of the family of Christ. And you come into a believer's home, you go to Connect Homes, and you go into somebody's home, and they love the Lord, and there is an atmosphere there that you just want to kind of suck in. Like, man, you just, oh, that's good. But it doesn't feel that way or smell that way to everybody. To those who are perishing, that's the smell of death and Jesus to them. Jesus is the author of life.
• 31:23
  smelled like death to the perishing. Beloved friends, how do you smell? How do you smell? Do you have that aroma of Christ? We pick up in verse 66, and I got to kick it into high gear here because I got to end, but it says, when day came, that's early Friday morning, the assembly of the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. They led them away to their council. That is that Sanhedrin we talked about last week. And they said, now they're going to ask him a question.
• 31:53
  And he's going to make some statements which, if you're not sure what he means, they can be a little bit misleading. So I'll just explain them. They say, if you are the Christ, tell us. But he said to them, if I tell you, you're not going to believe me anyway. If I ask you, you will not answer. If I ask you, you will not answer. Now it was standard practice that a defendant would get to defend themselves. The accused would have an opportunity to make their own defense, and oftentimes that would come in the form of question asking.
• 32:22
  which the accused would hope would logically lead to a declaration of innocence. And Jesus says, if I began asking you questions like, where did the Old Testament say the Messiah would be born? Bethlehem. And where was I born? Bethlehem. And to whom did the Scriptures say the Messiah would be born? Well, to a virgin. And to whom was I born? Well, yeah, to a virgin. And what did the Scriptures say the Messiah would do? What miracles would he perform? What message would he preach? What have I done?
• 32:54
  What miracles have I performed? What message have I preached? Jesus is saying, even if I ask you these questions, you're not going to give me an honest answer. You have already resolved, whether right or wrong, to detain me in bonds and take me away to death. You pick up in verse 69. But from now on, he says, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. So they all said, oh, right, he's admitting to be the Son of Man. A reference there to Daniel chapter 7, talking about his deity.
• 33:22
  okay so you're saying you're the son of man verse 70 are you also saying you're the son of god and he said you say that i am in other words what you say is correct you have answered rightly and so they said what further testimony do we need we have heard it ourselves from his own lips no no further testimony was needed in their minds they just struck gold that hit a jackpot jesus had given them all the ammunition they needed he had condemned himself
• 33:50
  by having the audacity to claim himself to be equal with God. And that is where we pick up next Sunday. God, we love you and are thankful for your word. God, thank you for the truths that it contains. And Lord, as we have been marching our way to the cross, which we will celebrate in just a couple of weeks, and the resurrection, Lord, which we will rejoice in, God, may we be humbled.
• 34:19
  by the truths of passages like these, of the reminders that even the strongest among us may fail, that we even may fail, but you are a God who restores and a God who offers grace upon grace. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.