Latest / HBCWestminster / 2.13.22 Luke 21:37-22:13 Pastor Danny Gardner

Transcript

2.13.22 Luke 21:37-22:13 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  If you have your Bibles open, Luke chapter 21 and verse 37, I would ask you to stand in honor of God's word as I read our text. Then we'll pray and begin. Verse 37, and every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. And early in the morning, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot.
• 0:33
  who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd. Then came the day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat it. They said to him, Where will you have us prepare it? He said to them, Behold.
• 1:03
  When you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished, prepare it there. And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And Lord, we are your sheep. And in that, Lord, we rejoice. But like sheep, we also go astray, each of us to our own way.
• 1:35
  But you, O Lord, are the good shepherd, the one who refuses to let any one of us get away. And so we ask you to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus so that we may interpret your word accurately and so be at peace. Amen. Amen. Thank you, church. I can sum up last week's sermon pretty quickly. The world will one day end and the Lord Jesus is coming back.
• 2:01
  There it is. That's pretty much it. The return of Christ, we said last Sunday, is the fixed point in the distance which helps us to navigate our lives. And you will remember that the Passion Week of Christ is pretty easy to understand. Jesus is teaching. His enemies are plotting his demise. And the people are hanging on his every word. In fact, the first few verses of our text, again, summarize it that way. Look at verse 37.
• 2:30
  And every day, it says, he was teaching in the temple. But at night, he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet, that is, the Mount of Olives. On the other side of the Mount of Olives, there was a small village called Bethany. No doubt, Jesus was retreating to the home of Mary, Martha, and the newly resurrected Lazarus, where he would stay the night and then return to the city each morning. The people, verse 38.
• 2:56
  are hanging on his every word. Early in the morning, it says, all the people came to him in the temple to hear him, and now here are his enemies plotting his demise. Verse 1, the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called the Passover. We'll talk about that in just a moment. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people. Teaching, plotting, and hanging. This morning, I want to tell you guys a story about a local girl,
• 3:26
  Power. It's a native of Colorado. There's her picture. She was born in Denver in 1949. Her parents were Catholic. Her father was a bank manager, her mother a nurse. Catherine earned a scholarship to a private all-girls high school called Marycrest Girls School, which was located on the corner of Federal and 53rd, just five miles from where we're sitting today. It's no longer there. I looked. Now it's a carpet place. All right, so if you need carpet, I guess you can go to that spot.
• 3:55
  While in high school, Catherine won the Betty Crocker Cooking Award. She began writing a regular column as a high school girl in the Denver Post. Eventually, she graduated as valedictorian of her class. She earned a scholarship to a university in Massachusetts where she became a sociology major and was on the honor roll. And then she met some new friends. She became involved with these new friends in the protests that were beginning against the war in Vietnam.
• 4:24
  With these friends, she decided to begin robbing banks in order to fund and arm the Black Panther Party. Catherine was the getaway driver. When they robbed their first bank on September 20, 1970, she was the getaway driver again for their second robbery just a few days later. It was during that second robbery that a Boston police officer was shot and killed. Within just a few days, three of her four accomplices were captured.
• 4:54
  She and one other remained at large. They eventually separated. Both of them ended up on the top 20 FBI wanted list. In fact, that is her picture from the FBI wanted list. She moved to Connecticut, then to Pennsylvania, then to Kentucky. She changed her name several times, but she ended up as Alice Louise Metzinger of Lebanon, Oregon. She settled back into normal life. She had a son.
• 5:20
  She began teaching cooking classes at the local community college. She became a writer for the local newspaper. She did this until 1993. She became so overcome with guilt that year that she finally turned herself in. Nobody knew her true identity, including her son, including the man that she was living with, her boyfriend. Nobody knew who she was. She was asked in 1993 why she finally confessed, and she said, it's time.
• 5:50
  people knew the truth. Now, if you'd have known Judas all those years ago, you'd have assumed that he was a good guy. In fact, you'd have probably assumed that he was the best guy, the most trusted. He would have been our vote to be least likely to betray Jesus. You can imagine the shock of Catherine Power's family, her own son.
• 6:20
  To discover who she truly was? You can imagine the shock all those years ago, probably very similar, as Judas was discovered to be the enemy of Christ rather than his most trusted ally. You know, there are two names in history which have all but ceased to exist. Two names which parents never call their baby boys. One is Adolf.
• 6:49
  Right? There are no baby boy Adolphs ever, and for good reason. You'll meet little Johnnies and Joeys and Davies and Abrahams and Paul, but never once have I ever walked into a school, walked into a Sunday school class, and the little five-year-old there says, my name is Adolph. Never. The other name is Judas. Now, I've met Judas. I've met Judes.
• 7:19
  but I've never met a Judas. And we find out this morning why that is. In verse 3, we see the satanic possession of Judas Iscariot. Our text this morning spills onto two different days of the Passion Week. The first six verses of chapter 22 take place on Tuesday, whereas verses 7 to 13 skip ahead to Thursday. And you may be thinking, well, what about Wednesday?
• 7:47
  Some people call it Silent Wednesday for reasons I will discuss in just a moment. But let's pick up in verse 3. It says, Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. The casual reader may be tempted, based on this text, to give Satan at least some of the credit for the events which would lead to Jesus' crucifixion.
• 8:14
  After all, we might think, this divine death was accomplished by the use of the devil's secret agents. John MacArthur words it this way. He says, remember, Jesus had said of the religious leaders in Israel, you are of your father, the devil. He called him that. At one point, Jesus also called Judas a devil. He calls these 12 the apostles. And he says, but one of you is a devil. He says, didn't Satan want Jesus dead?
• 8:45
  After all, like, well, yeah, Satan wanted him dead. Did God therefore have to scramble to try to make something out of this satanic enterprise? Can you imagine our heavenly father looking down at all of these events and he sees the enemy of our souls plotting against his son and he thinks, man, I better do something. I got to scramble to try to figure something out.
• 9:07
  Because Satan has so much help. He has so much support. He's got so much going on. This plan is going to work. I better figure something out. Is that what was going on? No, that's exactly the opposite of the truth. Everything happened within the framework of God's will. Everything happened within the boundaries and parameters of God's divine purpose. Now, in case you didn't follow that, we've summarized it simply by saying that Jesus
• 9:37
  was the master conductor. He was faithfully following, kind of tracing the melody line of his earthly ministry through the Passion Week. And the orchestra were each playing their parts, but Jesus had the whole picture in mind. He wasn't distracted. Jesus was not waylaid. He said in chapter 19 and verse 10, he came to seek and to save that which was lost, and he never detoured.
• 10:07
  from that mission and so although we clearly see the devil at work in our text do not be deceived friends judas the chief priests and the devil all did their worst but the lord gets the glory jesus according to galatians chapter 4 and verse 4 came into the world the wording there galatians 4 came into the world in the fullness of time in other words at the exact
• 10:37
  Moment that his father had predetermined He came into the world at the exact right moment He was not a second early nor was he one second late and we are also told that the Heavenly Father foresaw the resurrection in Acts chapter 2 that our father foretold the suffering of the Christ in Acts chapter 3 and
• 11:02
  that the father actually predestined these events to take place in acts chapter 4 meaning not only did jesus come to earth in the fullness of time but he also departed the earth according to the father's perfect time in fact the redemptive plan of god was determined before the foundation of the world can you imagine that
• 11:32
  It's hard for us to imagine because we are so bound by time. We think in terms of sequence. And so it's hard to imagine what took place before there was time. Like our brains short circuit somewhere in there. It doesn't really work. But what the scriptures say is that before day one of creation, before in the beginning, it was already determined that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, would be the Redeemer.
• 11:58
  would die for the sins of mankind. In fact, 1 Peter 1 and verse 20 says that he, Jesus, was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but it was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you, who through him are believers in God. It was always God's plan, long before day one, long before the fall of man, long before your birth, that the Son of God would die for the sins of mankind. And not only that,
• 12:25
  It was determined when and where he would be born and to which parents. It was determined by the father where he would be raised, when he would be revealed, when he would be rejected, even when he would be crucified. Again, one pastor makes a really interesting observation as to the precision with which God works.
• 12:51
  When he says that the Gospel of John records Jesus as saying, this is John 12 and verse 23, Jesus even says that the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, referring to his crucifixion. The hour has come. And he says, note, he doesn't say the day has come, or the week has come, or the year has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Rather, he says the hour.
• 13:19
  The time of Jesus' sacrifice had been determined down to the very hour. We actually see this referred to in next week's text. If you look at verse 14, it says, and when, what word is used? You guys all have your Bibles, right? Look at verse 14. And when what? The hour came. You're like, the hour for what? The hour for the Passover? Yes, but I think it's much more than that.
• 13:49
  Imagine how many times in Jesus' earthly life he probably should have died and didn't. King Herod, who was the king of the Jews at the time of Jesus' birth, tried to murder him in his infancy. Right? A king versus a baby. And which one won? The baby.
• 14:12
  Well, that doesn't make any sense at one point when Jesus was an adult he goes back to his own hometown This is Luke chapter 4 He goes into his home synagogue of Nazareth and begins to preach and he actually calls himself the Messiah Today in your midst is this scripture fulfilled? He's referring to himself they get so ticked off They try to bring him out to a cliff and throw him off it get rid of this blasphemer And that it says he passes through their midst
• 14:39
  His disciples wake him up one evening in the back of a boat. He's asleep during this massive storm and his disciples were just sure that the storm would overwhelm their little skiff. They would all be plunged into the raging sea and yet he wakes up and calms the storm. His enemies among the religious leaders have now in the Gospel of Luke been scheming for many weeks, even months.
• 15:08
  Ever since he raised Lazarus from the dead, trying to find a way to put him to death, and yet they never found an opportunity. Why? Well, the answer is because his hour had not yet come. And beloved friends, may we never for a moment picture Christ as unsuspecting and unwitting. Jesus' life was not taken. It was willingly laid down.
• 15:37
  Now, that doesn't mean that the chief priests and Judas and Satan have no culpability. It's not like they don't bear any of the responsibility. What it does mean is that they don't get any of the credit. The crucifixion of Christ was God's plan, not the devil's. And therefore, the crucifixion, which would lead ultimately to the salvation of mankind, they can be blamed for. They just don't get the glory for it.
• 16:08
  In fact, as we get closer and closer to Christ's crucifixion, no doubt the devil was putting together what was coming. He was connecting the dots as we're getting closer and closer and closer to the crucifixion. His end goal, which was to kill the Son of Man all of his life. He's been trying to kill Jesus. Now suddenly it occurs to him that Jesus might have come in order to be killed. Like, whoa, wait a minute. It wasn't my plan all along. It was his.
• 16:37
  He's been doing this, and so now suddenly we see some attempts here for Satan to start pumping the brakes. Like, whoa, wait a minute, Jesus is now on a collision course with the cross, and I've got to put an end to it. You can remember when Jesus predicted his own death, saying at one point that he would suffer many things.
• 16:59
  that he would be handed over to the hands, right, into the hands of the Gentiles, that he would be killed and buried and on the third day be raised. He said that multiple times to his apostles, but one time in Matthew chapter 16, Peter speaks up. He has just said, I'm going to be crucified. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Like, wait.
• 17:24
  Never, Lord. Can you imagine? Peter taking him aside. Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you. What are you talking about? You're not going to be crucified. No, you're not. Remember what Jesus said? Get behind me, Satan. Like, wait, Peter, you may be very well-meaning. And no doubt, because of our friendship, you don't want me to go to the cross. But if I don't go to the cross, if you hinder me, guess whose work you're doing?
• 17:55
  It's the devil's. You're not helping me. He says, you are a hindrance. You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. The Lord's ministry began when Satan led him into, well, it was really the Holy Spirit, who led him into the wilderness in order to be tempted by Satan three times.
• 18:17
  All three of those times were unsuccessful. And here it ends, the ministry of Jesus, with a desperate attempt by the devil to actually keep him from the cross. Now, don't get me wrong. Did the devil want him arrested? Yes. Did the devil want him killed? Yes. He just didn't want it according to the plan of God.
• 18:44
  Over the final days of the Passion Week the enemy will unleash every temptation at his disposal He is hoping against hope that he can convince Jesus to pray Let this cup pass from me Without the addendum of nevertheless not my will yours be done He's hoping he could get Jesus to say I am NOT willing to go to the cross and never to add but
• 19:14
  Father, your will, not mine. What is seen clearly in Christ's final week is that the Lord's will will be accomplished. And this is maybe why we call it the Lord's will. And we don't call it the Lord's won't. The Lord's will will be accomplished. We pick up in verse 4. Judas went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.
• 19:45
  They were glad. You can imagine. They're like, yeah, great. They agreed to give him money to do it. Jesus, we've said, was on this head-on collision course with the cross. His adversary wanted him stopped. And so the devil possessed Judas, who agreed to betray Jesus in the hopes that he would either be tempted beyond what he could bear or that he would be killed in obscurity rather than crucified for...
• 20:12
  Humanity now our text here doesn't include this little bit of information, but let me ask you a question That you all know the answer to right? It's not included But I guarantee you know the answer how much money did Judas receive in order to betray Jesus? Judas gets 30 pieces of silver now if you've been doing your Bible reading with us going through that read Scripture app
• 20:40
  Not long ago, just a couple of weeks ago, you read Exodus 21, verse 32. It might not have stood out to you at the time, but let me bring it back up. Exodus 21, verse 32. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner of the ox shall give to the master of the slave, how much money? 30 pieces of silver. And the ox will be killed. Judas, we find.
• 21:09
  agreed to give jesus over for the price of a slave 30 pieces of silver would have been the equivalent of about four months wages now consider this judas had been following jesus for three and a half years right that's 42 months he thought that jesus was going to be king
• 21:36
  He's been hailed as king. Judas really thought that he would rule with Jesus in that inner circle. Judas imagined himself being a prince in Jesus' royal court. And in the last several months, Judas is beginning to realize that his 42 months have been a waste. He was never going to be a prince. He was never going to get paid. And so he sought the only restitution he could get. Four months severance.
• 22:07
  For three years wasted. You look at verse 6, so he consented. Other translations say promised. So he promised and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of the crowd. The Greek word, therefore, consent is two Greek words smushed together. Exo and logio. Exomologio means to agree openly or to acknowledge outwardly or fully. Now, exo, that first part, means external.
• 22:35
  Like exoskeleton, we use that word still today. External, on the outside. Logio comes from logos, speech, words, affirmation. Often missed in that translation, whether it's consented or promised. Either one, often missed. And what becomes really the key here, church, is that that Greek idea, exomologio, contains the idea of being thankful as well. It's a promise, it's consent, but it's consent.
• 23:05
  With gratitude. Now, what does that mean? It means that Judas promised to help betray Jesus and that he was thankful to do it. So filled with hatred and malice was Judas toward Jesus that he couldn't wait to get rid of him. He hated him.
• 23:35
  And so when you imagine Judas coming to the chief priests and they make this agreement, don't think that it was Judas doing them a favor. They were doing Judas a favor despite his three years with Jesus and despite the love and the mercy he had been shown and despite the sermons he had heard and the miracles he had both seen and even performed.
• 24:07
  Judas was thankful to betray the Savior. Perhaps the only rival in terms of sinful atrocity, like blatant and heinous rebellion in the face of love and friendship. Maybe the only other person in Scripture who literally saw God, walked with God, and yet betrayed Him to His face was Adam. Adam and Judas both walked with God day after day.
• 24:39
  Talked with him. They laughed with him. They saw his majesty. And yet, one pastor words it this way, both Adam and Judas violated God monstrously to his face. Thus concluded Tuesday. Now I mentioned that I believe in a silent Wednesday. One day during the Passion Week where scripture is silent. No details are given. No sermons are recorded. No miracles performed. But we know in all likelihood what was taking place that day.
• 25:11
  Jesus, the remaining 11 apostles, began making preparations for the Sabbath for the Passover. All the while, Judas began plotting with the Lord's enemies that silent Wednesday, I believe, was even necessary for Judas to make his plans. Late in the evening on Tuesday, he conspires with the chief priest to do away with Jesus. He takes Wednesday to try to figure out how to do that. We pick up in verse 7 with Thursday.
• 25:39
  Then, verse 7 says, came the day of unleavened bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. The depth and the magnitude of that statement cannot be overstated when it says the Passover upon which the lamb had to be sacrificed. Now, when Jesus began his public ministry three years prior, his own cousin, John the Baptist, do you remember this? Pointed at him from the Jordan River and declared what? Behold, what does he say?
• 26:09
  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Do you guys remember that? John the Baptist, in the drink, is looking up at Jesus, right, on the bank, and he says, behold, the Lamb of God. And here we find that statement's fulfillment. No better day than Passover existed for the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. The celebration of Passover began in ancient Egypt when the Israelites were enslaved.
• 26:38
  The Lord demanded from Pharaoh their freedom. Nine divine plagues were poured out on the Egyptians. Each one, one after the next, met with hardness of heart until the final and tenth plague, when every Egyptian family, in fact, even every Egyptian animal, lost their firstborn son.
• 27:03
  Moses warned that the only people who would be spared would be those Israelites who would kill a lamb and then sprinkle its blood over the threshold of their homes. When the destroying angel of God was sent, he would see the blood of the lamb and pass over that home.
• 27:22
  The lamb's blood would spare the lives of those who lived within. And the story goes that Pharaoh, upon losing his own son, demanded that the Jews depart because of how angry he was. And the people left in such a hurry that they couldn't wait for the dough to rise. And so they baked it before the yeast could set. Their bread remained flat, unleavened. And so we come to the evening before Christ's crucifixion.
• 27:51
  the evening before the Passover, when the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, had to be sacrificed. In fact, every year on the anniversary of that event of the Passover, the Jews were commanded to sacrifice a lamb without blemish. And the Old Testament even says, it's very specific, not only on the day that the lamb had to be sacrificed, but even gave specifics regarding the time. It said you had to go on the Passover during a certain time from
• 28:21
  3 p.m. to sundown. Now we know that the Passover takes place in the spring. Normally the sun sets 5.30, 6 p.m., right? In the spring. And so sometime between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., there is a three-hour window when all of these Passover pilgrims had to bring these lambs, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of lambs are being sacrificed in mass during that window.
• 28:50
  I don't want to spoil the ending here. You guys know that Jesus dies at the end, right? Everybody's already aware of that point. If you didn't, I'm so sorry. I just spoiled the whole thing. If you've been going with us for three years and you don't know yet through the Gospel of John these last couple of years that Jesus dies, through the Gospel of Luke, that Jesus dies at the end, then I'm really sorry and then I have not yet been doing a good job sharing the Gospel. Because if I made you wait that long, everybody knows there's the spoiler. Jesus dies.
• 29:20
  Now according to scripture, Jesus dies on the Passover, but it doesn't just say he dies on the Passover. It actually says the time that he breathes his final breath. Guess what time it is? It's three o'clock in the afternoon. At three o'clock, he commends his spirit into the hands of his father.
• 29:46
  He breathes his last. And you guys, if you're ever able to go to Jerusalem, where he died is maybe 200 or 300 yards from where those other lambs were being sacrificed. It was at the same time tens of thousands of these lambs are being killed at the very moment that Jesus is dying on the cross. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 27 says it this way, Jesus has no need.
• 30:14
  Like those high priests offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people. Since he did this, what does it say? Once for all, when he offered up himself, they were to continue year after year after year to keep that sacrificial tradition, these Passover lambs, until the one who would make a sacrifice once for all had come. And this is exactly what Jesus.
• 30:45
  Hebrews 10 and verse 10 says it again. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. Christ's sacrifice made the Passover that we are reading about right now. Catch this, church. Christ's sacrifice made this Passover the last legitimate Passover.
• 31:09
  Because Christ would transform this Passover into the Lord's table, what we call communion. He will take the unleavened bread, which they ate at Passover, and he will call it his body. He will take the wine, which they drank at Passover, he will call it his blood. We, his people, are no longer called to remember the Lord's deliverance from Egypt. Rather, we remember through communion the Lord's deliverance from sin and hell. Can I get an amen?
• 31:39
  That is a good spot for one. And if you're not yet coming on Wednesdays for Thrive, we're going through these exact things, the book of Hebrews. If you're not yet coming on Wednesdays, remedy your calendars. See if you can make it work. We would love to have you. Now, we're going to study the Passover meal itself next week. But this morning, we're going to look at how the Lord prepared. This is yet another text, I believe.
• 32:02
  which demonstrates Christ's deity. We have said so many times that Christ orchestrated the events surrounding his own crucifixion. And even in his preparation for that symbolic Passover meal, we see his sovereignty on display again. Look at verse eight. It says, so Jesus sent Peter and John saying, go and prepare the Passover for us that we may eat it. And they said to him, where will you have us prepare it?
• 32:27
  And so while Judas is conspiring, the other apostles were following very specific instructions. Jesus knew that from this point forward, he had to remain incognito. He knew that Jesus would take any opportunity away from the crowds to have him arrested, and the Passover meal would have been perfect. And so the Lord arranged. Now, whether that was naturally or supernaturally, it doesn't really matter.
• 32:53
  But the Lord arranged to celebrate the Passover with his disciples in an undisclosed location. You notice there are no names spoken. There are no addresses given. Look what he says in verse 10. Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters and tell the master of the house, the teacher says to you, where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
• 33:20
  And he will show you a large upper room furnished prepare it there and they went and found it just as he had told them And they prepared the passover You hear jesus like lord, where are we supposed to go? Follow a guy carrying a pitcher like what? When he walks into a house Go to the owner of the house that he walks into ask the owner about a room The man will take you upstairs. He will show you the room which has been prepared
• 33:47
  It's like you almost anticipate Jesus saying, when someone asks you for the password, tell him the Persephone flies at midnight. And he'll respond with, open sesame. And then you respond with, my voice is my passport. And then he'll say, rosebud. And all will be finished. You're like, what's with the cloak and dagger? It actually makes a lot of sense. If Jesus had publicly used names and addresses.
• 34:17
  No doubt Judas and his thugs would have shown up and Jesus would have been arrested too early He hadn't yet instituted the Lord's Supper communion. He wouldn't have been able to give his final instructions recorded in the upper room discourse That's John 14 to 17 which include by the way Jesus saying I'm gonna depart But I'm sending the Holy Spirit. He hadn't said that yet
• 34:42
  John's Gospel records that it was at the conclusion of that Passover meal that Judas figures things out. He departs to betray the Lord, knowing that the apostles would eventually make their way to a garden, the Garden of Gethsemane, because that's what Jesus always did. And so it is at the conclusion of that meal that Judas figures it out. He figures out a time when he can betray him. Now, maybe...
• 35:08
  If you've been kind of paying attention, maybe you've noticed that there is a timing issue in this text. How could Jesus both celebrate the Passover and die on the Passover? And this is where we will pick up next Sunday. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the clarity with which it speaks. And God, I pray that we would be a people.
• 35:39
  who know and understand that you have all things in control, that you are the master conductor. And Lord, that didn't end with your son's crucifixion and resurrection. You are still tracing the melody line, seeking and saving those who are lost. And Lord, thank you for pulling back the veil.
• 36:03
  so that we could see here in this text the spiritual warfare that was going on. And Lord, may we not forget that there is a spiritual battle raging around us now in which each of us are embroiled even unwittingly. Lord, help us when we fear to remember that you have all things in control, that the battle belongs to you. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.