Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / Denial, Distress, Deception, Desertion Msg 1421 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k)

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Denial, Distress, Deception, Desertion Msg 1421 - Pastor Chuck Swindoll Insight for Living (64k) · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: The wonderful message of the Church is just exactly what
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  Speaker 1: you heard sung a few moments ago. If you're not
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  Speaker 1: familiar with that message. It's a statement that Jesus made
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  Speaker 1: to a man who was searching for the truth. Because
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  Speaker 1: he represented a group of people who had turned against Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: he was uneasy about talking with Jesus in a place
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  Speaker 1: where he could be seen, so he came at night,
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  Speaker 1: and that dialogue is recorded in the Gospel by John
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  Speaker 1: where this man named Nicodemus, who was a member of
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish supreme court called this Sanhedrin, had come to
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  Speaker 1: see Jesus to find out what his message was about.
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  Speaker 1: And right in the center of Jesus' answer, he tells
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  Speaker 1: the Nicodemus of his father God, who so loved the
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  Speaker 1: world which included Nicodemus, that he God gave his only son, Jesus,
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  Speaker 1: so that whoever believed in him, believed in Jesus, would
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  Speaker 1: never perish but have everlasting life. The single verse John
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  Speaker 1: three sixteen is the crux of the cross. You see
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  Speaker 1: two dimensions when you look at the cross. You see
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  Speaker 1: our humanity on the horizontal, and you see God's love
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  Speaker 1: sacrifice for us on the vertical. We come to God
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  Speaker 1: just as we are. God meets us when we come
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  Speaker 1: to Him through faith in his son Jesus. If you
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  Speaker 1: have never done that in your life, that is the
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  Speaker 1: single most important decision you can make, More important than
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  Speaker 1: your choice of a spouse, more important than your choice
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  Speaker 1: of career, more important than your portfolio, more important than
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  Speaker 1: any other priority you can name. As you see yourself horizontally.
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  Speaker 1: The great gold before this day is over is that
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  Speaker 1: you realize that love envelops you and you can know
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  Speaker 1: God in a personal way. In our study of Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: we have come to the brutal part commonly called Christ's passion,
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  Speaker 1: that is, his suffering. The last Supper has ended, they've
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  Speaker 1: sung a hymn together, and Jesus with his eleven faithful
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  Speaker 1: disciples Judas having scurried out into the night, Jesus with
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  Speaker 1: his eleven faithful are now making their way toward the
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  Speaker 1: garden of gath Semite. That's where we pick up the story.
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  Speaker 1: So turn, if you will, to Matthew twenty six. I'll
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  Speaker 1: begin reading at verse thirty one, and because the passage
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  Speaker 1: is lengthy, down through fifty six, I'll take excerpts along
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  Speaker 1: the way. As we follow the theme of what took
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  Speaker 1: place between that last supper and when he was arrested
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  Speaker 1: in the garden. Once you find Matthew twenty six thirty one,
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  Speaker 1: please stand with one another for the reading of God's
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  Speaker 1: work on the way. Jesus told them tonight, all of
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  Speaker 1: you will desert me, for the scriptures say God will
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  Speaker 1: strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will
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  Speaker 1: be scattered. But after I had been raised from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet
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  Speaker 1: you there. Peter declared. Even if everyone else deserts you,
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  Speaker 1: I will never desert verse thirty nine or thirty six.
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  Speaker 1: Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called gethsemone,
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  Speaker 1: and he said, sit here while I go over there
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  Speaker 1: to pray Verse thirty nine. He went on a little
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  Speaker 1: farther and bowed his face to the ground, praying, my father,
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  Speaker 1: if it is possible, let this cup of suffering be
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  Speaker 1: taken away from me. Yet I want your will to
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  Speaker 1: be done, not mine verse forty two. Then Jesus left
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  Speaker 1: them a second time and prayed, my father, if this
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  Speaker 1: cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your
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  Speaker 1: will be done verse forty four. So we went to
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  Speaker 1: pray a third time, saying the same things again forty seven.
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  Speaker 1: And even as Jesus said this, Judas, one of the
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  Speaker 1: twelve disciples, arrived with a crowd of men armed with
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  Speaker 1: swords and clubs. They had been sent by the leading
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  Speaker 1: priests and elders of the people. The trader Judas had
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  Speaker 1: given them a pre arranged signal. You will know which
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  Speaker 1: one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.
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  Speaker 1: Judas came straight to Jesus. Greetings, Rabi, he exclaimed, and
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  Speaker 1: gave him the kiss, Verse fifty five. Then Jesus said
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  Speaker 1: to the crowd, am I some dangerous revolutionary that you
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  Speaker 1: come with swords and clubs to arrest me? Oh? Why
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  Speaker 1: didn't you arrest me in the temple? I was there
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  Speaker 1: teaching every day. But this is all happening to fulfill
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  Speaker 1: the words of the prophets as recorded in the scriptures.
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  Speaker 1: At that point, all the disciples deserted him and fled.
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  Speaker 1: I would like for the veterans to remain standing, and
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  Speaker 1: the rest of you please be seated for a few
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  Speaker 1: moments of prayer. Before I pray, May I express the
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  Speaker 1: gratitude of all of us in this room and a
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  Speaker 1: nation of which we are a part, for your service
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  Speaker 1: your country. Thank you for following orders, for wearing the uniform,
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  Speaker 1: for not deserting even though you were in tough places,
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  Speaker 1: lonely places, and for many dangerous places. You who are
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  Speaker 1: combat veterans, are very special. Thanks for you, for all
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  Speaker 1: you endured, all you saw, and all the trauma that
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  Speaker 1: followed it. In our first morning service today we had
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  Speaker 1: a one hundred one year old veteran with his wife.
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  Speaker 1: They recently had celebrated seventy six years of marriage. And
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  Speaker 1: as we acknowledged the presence of that gentleman and his wife,
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  Speaker 1: we acknowledged his faithfulness, but not anymore than yours. Regardless
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  Speaker 1: of the amount of time you served, or where you served,
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  Speaker 1: or what you endured, you are to be commended, and
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  Speaker 1: today we give God thanks for each one of you.
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  Speaker 1: Please remain standing as we pray. Thank you, Dear Father,
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  Speaker 1: for giving us those of whom the world is not worthy,
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  Speaker 1: faithful men and women who put aside the comforts and
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  Speaker 1: pleasures and privacy of home and give themselves to the
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  Speaker 1: military organization of which they were apart. Thank You for
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  Speaker 1: their willingness to bear arms, to run toward the battle,
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  Speaker 1: not from it, and to stand and defend our constitution,
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  Speaker 1: our freedom, our great country. While not perfect, we acknowledge, Lord, Nevertheless,
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  Speaker 1: it is the finest, and we are extremely grateful to
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  Speaker 1: be a part of it. And on this day we
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  Speaker 1: honor those who help keep us free. Bless those families
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  Speaker 1: of which they are apart. May the linthdening shadow of
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  Speaker 1: their lives bleed over into those who are younger, so
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  Speaker 1: that they take up the torch of patriotism and heroism, discipline, faithfulness, courage.
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  Speaker 1: We commit to you, our Father, in the future of
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  Speaker 1: this church, that you would sustain us by your grace,
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  Speaker 1: Guard us from the clammy fingers of indifference, keep us
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  Speaker 1: from self satisfaction, from arrogance. Remind us over and over
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  Speaker 1: that we are here by your grace, and we are
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  Speaker 1: a part of this ministry by your mercy. Use our
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  Speaker 1: gifts today, Lord, to sustain this work, to broaden its vision,
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  Speaker 1: to minister to those we will never meet in places
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  Speaker 1: we will never go. We give by faith, and we
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  Speaker 1: do so joyfully and generously, even as these who were
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  Speaker 1: standing gave of their lives in the name of Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: We give and we pray and everyone said amen, please
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  Speaker 1: be seated. My aunt Ernest Stein was an accomplished artist.
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  Speaker 1: She did beautiful work in oils on canvas, and my
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  Speaker 1: maternal grandparents' home had a number of framed pictures that
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  Speaker 1: she had painted here and there in various rooms. I
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  Speaker 1: was intriggued by her artwork. I remember my little fingers
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  Speaker 1: ruined several pieces that she was painting as I would
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  Speaker 1: visit her studio and ask about this, and later realized
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  Speaker 1: that I just ruined about eight hours of work on
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  Speaker 1: her beautiful piece of art. However, there was one piece
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  Speaker 1: in the living room that always intrigued me. I was
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  Speaker 1: about three or maybe four years old. We had gone
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  Speaker 1: to my maternal grandparents' home again for a holiday down
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  Speaker 1: in the little town of El Campo, Texas. When you
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  Speaker 1: walk in the living room of that home, hanging over
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  Speaker 1: the fireplace was my aunt Ernestine's painting. I was drawn
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  Speaker 1: to it because it represented a mystery to me. I
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  Speaker 1: remember standing as a little boy at the front of
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  Speaker 1: the fireplace looking at this painting, thinking I was not
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  Speaker 1: seeing what was actually there. It looked like blood on
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  Speaker 1: this man's face, which didn't seem to fit the pose
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  Speaker 1: of the man who was obviously praying. Large boulders were there.
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  Speaker 1: He was resting his arms on him, his hands were
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  Speaker 1: folded quietly. He was looking up. The clouds were ominous
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  Speaker 1: dark on this moonlit night. I pulled a chair over
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  Speaker 1: so I could get up closer to the painting. Sure enough,
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  Speaker 1: there was blood on this person's forehead. I had no
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  Speaker 1: idea why. My first thought was perhaps it was the
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  Speaker 1: story of a man who was lost in the forest
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  Speaker 1: and while trying to find his way through low lying branches,
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  Speaker 1: swept across his face and brought blood. Or maybe there
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  Speaker 1: was some enemy that had struck him. But blood was there,
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  Speaker 1: in fact part of it. The blood was running down
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  Speaker 1: his face. A little later that afternoon, my grandfather was
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  Speaker 1: near Granddaddy Lundi and I I asked him, I said, Granddaddy,
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  Speaker 1: what is that? Who is that? Always having time for me?
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  Speaker 1: I remember it like last week. He picked me up
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  Speaker 1: in his arms and held me shoulder high so I
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  Speaker 1: could be right about the height of the painting, and
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  Speaker 1: he said, this is a a picture your aunt Ernestine
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  Speaker 1: painted of Jesus. He's in a garden, and it's the
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  Speaker 1: garden of Gethsemone and it's just before he was arrested
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  Speaker 1: and nailed to the cross for our sins. Here let
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  Speaker 1: me show you, and we sat down on the sofa.
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  Speaker 1: He opened his well worn Bible to Luke twenty two,
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  Speaker 1: verse forty four, which read and being in agony, he
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  Speaker 1: was praying very fervently, and his sweat became like drops
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  Speaker 1: of blood falling down on the ground. And then my granddaddy,
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  Speaker 1: wanting to be absolutely accurate, said, I don't know if
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  Speaker 1: it was actually blood or not. It says it was
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  Speaker 1: like drops of blood. And he said, you know, when
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  Speaker 1: you bleed, the drops are thicker, they're like little globs.
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  Speaker 1: But when you sweat, it's usually running, it's usually a
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  Speaker 1: little more like water. But his sweat was thick like blood.
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  Speaker 1: And I said why, and again patiently, he said because
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  Speaker 1: of the agony he was going through, knowing what was
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  Speaker 1: ahead of him when he took our sins and was
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  Speaker 1: nailed to the cross for our sins. As I recall,
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  Speaker 1: I began to cry. I must have had several more questions,
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  Speaker 1: because my grandfather grew weary before I did, and I
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  Speaker 1: couldn't put it all together. I still can't, nor can you. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I see what the words say I can trace the
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  Speaker 1: story through the gospel accounts just as you can. But
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  Speaker 1: every time I go to the passion scene and walk
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  Speaker 1: that like a sacred path with him, I sit in
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  Speaker 1: awe in silence as I try to take the wonder in.
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  Speaker 1: There's no way I could even imagine the depth of
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  Speaker 1: anguish he withstood there at gets simone gets smoe means
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  Speaker 1: wine means oil press, oil press. The garden of Gethsemone
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  Speaker 1: is a walled olive orchard small along the western slope
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  Speaker 1: of the Mount of Olives. When you visit Israel and
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  Speaker 1: you go to the mount, you are allowed to go
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  Speaker 1: into the garden, and you will immediately realize how small
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  Speaker 1: it is. There. There must have been olive presses in
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  Speaker 1: several locations, no doubt owned by a rich man who
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  Speaker 1: allowed Jesus a friend to use the garden whenever he
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  Speaker 1: wished to be in a quiet place, which had to
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  Speaker 1: have been often, certainly this night. And when you go
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  Speaker 1: into the garden of Gethsemone, you realize it's small enough
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  Speaker 1: to toss a ball across from one side to the other,
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  Speaker 1: and is filled with gnarled, old, large olive twisted olive trees,
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  Speaker 1: their trunks are twisted, and their branches are twisted. Jesus
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  Speaker 1: is in that garden going through the greatest anguish of
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  Speaker 1: his life. Let me clarify something. Chances are good you
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  Speaker 1: would think his greatest suffering was while on the cross. Physically, yes,
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  Speaker 1: but not emotionally. Not mentally, his greatest mental and emotional
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  Speaker 1: anguish right here at gets simony. It is here the
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  Speaker 1: full brunt of the cup that he was to drink,
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  Speaker 1: symbolic of the sins he was to bear on our behalf,
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  Speaker 1: when all of that lands on him with enormous weight.
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  Speaker 1: As one writer puts it, it is where he underwent
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  Speaker 1: a stress of cosmic dimensions, the greatest in the chronicles
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  Speaker 1: of the universe. I love the way that reads. He
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  Speaker 1: underwent a stress of cosmic dimensions, the greatest in the
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  Speaker 1: chronicles of the universe, realizing the intensity of his mission,
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  Speaker 1: for this was in fact the reason he was sent
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  Speaker 1: to Earth, realizing that there was no further time to
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  Speaker 1: put this off. He was now there, in the ever
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  Speaker 1: present now of his mission. Interestingly, as they enter this garden,
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  Speaker 1: Verse thirty one of Matthew twenty six tells us of
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  Speaker 1: a statement he makes not meant to be insulting, but
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  Speaker 1: a prediction with a severe warning. Tonight, he says to
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  Speaker 1: his faithful eleven, all of you will desert me. For
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  Speaker 1: the scriptures say, and here he quotes from Zechariah, God
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  Speaker 1: will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock
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  Speaker 1: will be scattered. But after I've been raised from the dead,
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  Speaker 1: I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet
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  Speaker 1: you there. And they didn't hear that part of it.
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  Speaker 1: If you've ever been under intense pressure, you usually don't
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  Speaker 1: hear the counsel of the other person, or you don't
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  Speaker 1: hear all of it. They never did get the resurrection
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  Speaker 1: until the morning of the resurrection, and even then only partly.
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  Speaker 1: They are so distraught to think he's going to leave
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  Speaker 1: them that they are missing some of the things being said. Now,
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  Speaker 1: admittedly they're not the brightest bulbs in the hallway. Admittedly
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  Speaker 1: the brightest of the group has left them Judas. But
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  Speaker 1: even though they may not have been that bright, there's
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  Speaker 1: something in their emotions that has been preoccupied. And what
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  Speaker 1: is that. I am going to leave you. I'm going
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  Speaker 1: to send my spirit to take my place. I will
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  Speaker 1: be gone, but he will be here. Wait wait, wait, no, no, no, no, no, wait, wait, no,
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  Speaker 1: I'm going to rise from the dead. They never really
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  Speaker 1: heard that I'm going to meet you, and Galilee went
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  Speaker 1: right past them. All they remembered was every one of
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  Speaker 1: you will desert me. That did it for Peter. No,
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  Speaker 1: you'll read it right here, verse thirty three. Peter declared,
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  Speaker 1: if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you,
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  Speaker 1: and Jesus, perhaps with that long index finger pushed against
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  Speaker 1: his sternum, said to Peter, I'll tell you the truth, Peter,
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  Speaker 1: this very night, before or the rooster crows. You will
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  Speaker 1: deny me three times before it's dawn, three times Peter,
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  Speaker 1: and in characteristic simon, Peter fashon, No, there's no way
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  Speaker 1: over my dead body when I desert you, Lord, I
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  Speaker 1: will never desert you. And you will notice at the
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  Speaker 1: end of verse thirty thirty five, all the other disciples
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  Speaker 1: vowed the same. No, no, no, that's true. We won't either.
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  Speaker 1: Where we're here, I mean, we're with you all the
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  Speaker 1: way whatever this is going to include, we're right there.
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  Speaker 1: They didn't have a clue what they were saying because
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  Speaker 1: they didn't realize fully the truth of his words. Notice
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  Speaker 1: he doesn't argue with it he came to the place
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  Speaker 1: where the dialogue was to stop and prayer was to begin.
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  Speaker 1: So Jesus takes Peter and Zebede's two sons Verse thirty seven,
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  Speaker 1: James and John, his three closest Peter, James, and John,
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  Speaker 1: and he slips away with them to a place some
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  Speaker 1: distance from where the others are to wait and pray
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  Speaker 1: and to keep watch with him. You see what is
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  Speaker 1: difficult for us, and the reason I say I don't
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  Speaker 1: grasp it fully this is the most obvious recognition of
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  Speaker 1: his humanity. We love the divinity part of Jesus. He's
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  Speaker 1: the god Man. We love the strength of stilling a
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  Speaker 1: storm and silencing of the of the rough seas. We
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  Speaker 1: love the healing of the of the lame. We we
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  Speaker 1: love it when sights given to the blind, when when
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  Speaker 1: death is the those who can't hear the death or
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  Speaker 1: given hearing, and and UH the enormous miracle of raising
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  Speaker 1: Lazarus from the dead. We love all that. That's all
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  Speaker 1: about his his uh, divinity, his deity. But he's the
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  Speaker 1: god Man, undiminished deity, true humanity mixed in one person. Forever.
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  Speaker 1: That's Jesus. This is his humanity. This is why the
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  Speaker 1: struggle is so rugged. This is why he takes three
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  Speaker 1: men with him to pray. He needs it, just as
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  Speaker 1: you do. When you're in a tough place. You want
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  Speaker 1: to know that there are others around you, standing or
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  Speaker 1: praying with you. So he takes them, and he says,
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  Speaker 1: you stay here and keep watch. By the way, I
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  Speaker 1: don't want you to forget Jesus' words to them earlier. Tonight,
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  Speaker 1: all of you will desert me because they deny it.
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  Speaker 1: And it isn't long before they begin to drift off
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  Speaker 1: into sleep. They're already phasing out. And then we read.
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  Speaker 1: He went a little further. Now walk carefully through this.
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  Speaker 1: Learn to read your Bible with emotion. Learn there are
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  Speaker 1: places that you do not hurry, And on occasion you
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  Speaker 1: must read those words aloud though you are alone, so
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  Speaker 1: you can hear the significance of what you were reading.
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  Speaker 1: He went on a little further and bowed with his
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  Speaker 1: face to the ground, praying, Father, my father, if it's possible,
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  Speaker 1: let this cup of suffering be taken away from me.
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  Speaker 1: Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.
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  Speaker 1: Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep,
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  Speaker 1: and he said to Peter, look at Peter Peter already asleep. Peter, Peter,
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  Speaker 1: couldn't you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch
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  Speaker 1: and pray so that you will not give into temptation.
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  Speaker 1: The spirit is willing, but the body is weak. Then
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  Speaker 1: Jesus left, and when a second time, my father, my father,
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  Speaker 1: and his cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it.
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  Speaker 1: Your will be done, Your will be done by the way.
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  Speaker 1: Let me help you into this scene a little better,
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  Speaker 1: a little deeper. Most of the verbs in this section
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  Speaker 1: as Matthew records him, or in the imperfect tense. In
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  Speaker 1: the original language. The imperfect tense is continued action in
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  Speaker 1: the past. Something is continually going on. It's continually happening.
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  Speaker 1: It is repeatedly happening. Jesus is not as my ad
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  Speaker 1: Ernestine pictured him, quietly and serenely, resting on the rock,
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  Speaker 1: praying and looking up into the sky. No, no, a
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  Speaker 1: thousand times. No, he is on his knees, he's back
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  Speaker 1: on his feet. Then he's falling on his face, and
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  Speaker 1: he's praying, Lord, let this cup be taken from me. No,
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  Speaker 1: not not my will, but yours be done. But oh,
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  Speaker 1: if it's possible, if there's some other way. Let's go
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  Speaker 1: the other way. Let me know what that other way.
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  Speaker 1: There is no other way. Father ANDed he falls back down,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and he gets back up. So he's moving through a
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: part of the garden, and you could hear him a
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: time almost shriek in his prayer. Then you've got the idea.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Listen to Kent Hughes describe it. It was a cup
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: full of sin. He saw all the brutality of a
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: thousand killing fields, all the horring of earthly civilizations, blasphemy, profanity,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: a cup brimming with jealousy, hatred, and coveteousness, which he
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: must drink. And Jesus recoiled. Second he saw that it
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: was a cup full of wrath. As sin bearer, he
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: became the object of the Father's holy wrath against sin.
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: God made him, who had no sin, to become sin
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: on our behalf. Gazing into the cup. Hear this. Gazing
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: into the cup, Jesus saw hell open for him, and
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: he staggered. It is no wonder that we see the
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: bloodlike sweat in the tears, that we hear him crying
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: out for deliverance. It is no wonder, as we read
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: in Luke, that the Father sent an angel to strengthen him.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: What an amazing, terrifying, awesome revelation. In all of this anguish,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: there was finally, ultimate, unconditional surrender, And as as silent
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: as all of us are at this moment, he willingly
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: accepted the cup, and he took it for you and
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: for me. And he returned and found them sound asleep,
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  Speaker 1: all of it. So he says to them, take your rest.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: You know what, I believe, the fight is over, the
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: battle is done.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: In no way can identify, can I identify with anything
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: near this anguishing. But I remember a time in my
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: own life when our children were very small, and we
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: were really up against it, and Cynthia was ill, and
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: we had no money, and I remember going out in
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: the little alley behind our house and I just I
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: just poured my heart out to God. A sick wife
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: at home finally got the kids down, they were all asleep,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: and I just said, Lord, if you don't come through,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I can't make it. I can't go on. I was
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: engaged at that time as an assistant pastor to a
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: very fine man, and a few people knew what we
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: were going through. And I remember walking that alley as
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: I just remember it so vividly. There were no lights
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: in the alley. I walked past a little intersection and
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: I got about half of maybe four or five houses further,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: and suddenly it was like road lifted. I heard nothing,
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: I saw nothing, There was no flash in the sky.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: It was in the dead of night, maybe twelve thirty
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: one o'clock in the morning. And the battle ended. Even
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: though we had some tough, tough days ahead of us,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: my fighting through it that stopped. I will never forget
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: walking back to our little home and opening the back door,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: closed the door, and just slid down my back against
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: the door. I slid down the cell on the floor,
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: and I just broke into sobs as I thank the
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: Lord for whatever he planned to do, and for relieving
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: me of this battle, this fight. I think when Jesus
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: returns to them, he's there you will never find again.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: From here all the way to the Resurrection, a fighting reaction. Oh.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: He answers questions when he is interrogated by Pilot, Yes, yep,
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and he makes statements that are strong. But the struggle
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: of the bearing of the cop, the drinking of the
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: cop done happened in gethsemone. Don't ever forget death simone,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: disciples slip through it. They are not ready for what's ahead. Jesus.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: Is a matter of fact, while I was knee deep
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: in my study, I suddenly had a flashing thought of
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: a statement written by the prophet Jeremiah. Listen to it
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: because it fits the disciples perfectly. Jeremiah twelve five states,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: if you have run with the footmen and they have
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: wearied you, how could you contend with horses and live
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: in the land of peace wherein you trusted they wearied you?
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: What will you do in the jungle of the Jordan.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: You hear that cold, and I know you must wonder
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: why in the world would I interrupt this man. It
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: isn't an interruption. It fits. Jeremiah has come to a
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: difficult place, and he looks at his fellow Jews, realizing
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: that they have compromised their lives and given in to corruption,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and he is saying to them hard times are coming.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: They're not now, but they will soon be here. So
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: let me put it in today's terms. If you have
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: been fighting on foot with the infantry, and you weary
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: on foot, what will you do when the cavalry comes,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: strong man on strong horses with their swords and clubs.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: And if, in this relative time of peace you find
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: yourself weakening, what will you do when jungle fighting happens,
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: when there is an acceleration of persecution and resistance. The
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: reference to jungle is perfect. The Hebrew word is jungle
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: in the jungle of the Jordan, and I checked it.
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: The jungle is an environment marked by intense, often ruthless
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: opposition or struggle for survival. That's our future. It isn't
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: getting easier. The stories become increasingly more treacherous. And if
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: in this time of relative peace for most alms are
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: comfortable and lives are somewhat satisfied, and that fluence takes
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: the place of courage and compromise plays its subtle role
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: stealing away our commitment. What will we do when our
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: environment is marked by intense, ruthless opposition or struggle for survival?
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: My dear, dear disciples implies, Jesus, take your rest. What
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: you have before you, for most of you a martyr's
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: death right now. You have no idea. He's finished the battle,
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: he's responded now to the Lord God. He's drunk the cup.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: If you will, He's ready for whatever, and wouldn't you
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: know it. That slithering snake named Judas comes out of
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: the darkness with that deceptive smile, ready for a kiss,
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: and Jesus doesn't even slap his face or punch him
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: in the nose. He doesn't even hold him back. Judas
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: says greetings, Rabbi and kisses him. He doesn't mean it
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: his affection. It's the sign for those with clubs and
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: swords to make their moves. Here's your man. They grab him,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: there's a little skirmish. One of them in the flesh
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: lops off one of the soldier's ears, and Jesus looks
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: at him like, please, please, We're no longer fighting with
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: clubs and swords. I have the weight of the world
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: on my shoulders. Get out of the way. I've resigned
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: myself to that. So he says to then go ahead
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: and do what you come for. They arrest him. Don't
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: miss the end of verse fifty six. I told you
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: to remember it. Look at the end of verse fifty
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: six when they came and took him. At that point,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: all the disciples deserted him like rats on a sinking ship. Everyone,
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: even John the Beloved, even Peter the chest pounding super arrogant,
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: overstating Peter.
• 43:27
  Speaker 3: Ran and now he is like a mouse in the
• 43:37
  Speaker 3: mouth of a big cat.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: When Caiaphas and his crowd get their hands on it,
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: that's later. Can you find yourself here? We go through
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: a passage like this simply to relive it, but to
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: see the mirror. Are you among the self assured sitting
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: listening today thinking well, that would never be me. Don't
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: even look at me like you think I would be
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: one who would turn to what? Never? Or how about
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: even more arrogant? Though all the others around, the others
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: in my Bible study, the others in my home class,
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: the others in my adult phollow it. They may walk them,
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: not me. I'm here for the long haul. Bring it on.
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: Or you may be in the struggle because you're facing
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: something like I faced in the alley, and you're struggling
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: with God's will or yours, what he wants or what
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: you want, Lord, not my will but yours. How about
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: among those who are falling asleep or in your own flesh,
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: lopping off ears of others, trying to make your point
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: about Jesus, You're somewhere in here, man, I confess to
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: you that there is something I face toward the conclusion
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: of every message I deliver. I rarely share this, but
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: it's always on my mind. How can I help everyone
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: remember what they've heard? How can I help you when
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: you come to the word jethsemone to remember remember what happened?
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: What can I say that will help you understand the
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: agony of his soul when he finally said to the Father,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: not my will, but yours be done. It was while
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: I was wrestling with that, late in the preparation of
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: my message, that God brought to my mind a hymn
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I learned years ago, written by a woman who was
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: a Quaker back in nineteen twenty one. She too was
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: concerned about the passivity of her religion, and she was
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: afraid that somehow this sense of passivity would come over
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: her and she would not be the woman of God
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that she longed to be, a woman with gristle and
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: guts and determination and discipline in her world. That was
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: a drift. God gave her words that she put into
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: into print, and then a melody was added to it,
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: and it has been a part of our hymnity of
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: the Church for years. One of the reasons I love
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: it that we stay with the hymns is because of
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: history like this that can't be duplicated in yesterday's song
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: or last weeks a poem. I want to end this
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: message in a different way, in hopes that it rivets
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: these things into your mind. Find your hymnal, please pull
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: it out, turn to him three one oh, three hundred
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: and ten. You will see in the stanza that she writes,
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: lest I forget get semone, lest I forget that agony.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: Let's I forget that love for me, Lead me to Calvary.
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: I don't want us to sing this. I think it
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: will mean more if we read it. But I caution
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: you in your reading. Your tendency will be to move
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: too quickly, and a quickly sung song is a wasted song. Linger. Pause.
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: These words were thought through carefully. Let's read them carefully.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: First stanza, then the chorus, and then we pause again,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: and last stanza and the chorus, beginning together. King of
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: my life, I crown thee. Now thine shall the glory be?
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Lest I forget thy foreign crowned brow. Lead me to Calvary.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: Lest I forget getsemine, lest I forget thine agony. Lest
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: I forget thy love for me. Lead me to Calvary.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: May I be willing Lord to bear daily my cross
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: for thee even thy cup of grief to share Thou
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: hast borne all for me. Let's I forget geest simony,
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: lest I forget thine agony, lest I forget my love
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: for me. Lead me to Calvin on this day, our Father.
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: In the hours that pass, as we move from one
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: event to another, bring to our minds these scenes where
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: our Savior released his will and accepted yours. Take us
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: on those quiet moments in days ahead, back to gethsemone.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: And as times of pressure mounts and hard times return,
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: maybe we remember yessemony, his agony, his love for me,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: and then take us all to the cross and leave
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: us there. I asked us in the name of Jesus,
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: and all his people said amen. The preceding message, Denial, Distress,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: Deception Desertion was copyrighted in twenty seventeen and twenty twenty one,
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: and the sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twenty one
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.