Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 273 | Conversation - Walking to Easter - Friday

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273 | Conversation - Walking to Easter - Friday · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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Music.
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Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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well in John chapter four.
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Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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or on our website at watwm.org,
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we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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about God and to strengthen Your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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Living her life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
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Music.
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She's a happy girl.
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In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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In today's conversation, we find ourselves in the 40 days before Easter and
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continue a series of conversations about the week leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection.
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Join us as we look at these events and their message for our lives.
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Well, thank you all so much for joining us today.
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We are continuing our series of conversations about the days leading up to Jesus'
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crucifixion and then his rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.
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And we have been sort of marching through the week over the last few weeks of
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our Wednesday podcasts.
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And today we find ourselves on Friday. We're looking at the Friday of Holy Week.
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And Friday was a horrific day.
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And the only reason that many of us call it Good Friday is because it was on
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this day that Jesus, as the Lamb of God, was sacrificed to make atonement for our sins.
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Hebrews 9.22 says that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.
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And it was on Friday that Jesus shed his blood for our own forgiveness.
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Now, on his way to the cross, He was subjected to three different religious
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trials, one before Annas, the former high priest, one before Caiaphas,
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the acting high priest, and then one before the full Sanhedrin court.
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He was then put through three Roman trials, one before Pilate,
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the Roman governor, one before Herod, the Galilean king, and then back again to Pilate.
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So in a moment, we will pick up our story with Mark's summary of those Roman trials.
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But first, we're going to take a moment to consider all of the drama that played
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out during those religious trials.
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While Jesus was being slapped and spit upon and mocked inside the palace of
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the high priest, many things were actually also occurring outside the palace.
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We'll pick up our reading in Matthew chapter 26, beginning in verse 69 and going through 75.
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Now Peter sat without in the palace, and a damsel came unto him,
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saying, Thou also was with Jesus of Galilee.
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But He denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
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And when He was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him,
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and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
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And again He denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
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And after a while came unto Him they that stood by and said to Peter,
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Surely thou also art one of them, for thy speech bereath thee.
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Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man.
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And immediately the cock crew.
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Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow,
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thou shalt deny me thrice.
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And he went out and wept bitterly. I want to take a moment for us to think about
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this in its entirety before we start giving Peter the business.
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First of all, I want you to see that Peter was a true man of God.
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We know this from the scriptures.
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Yet Peter, when put under great pressure, folded. But the first thing that you
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see that happens when Peter folds because of this great pressure is that he
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feels bad about it. He has conviction about it.
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And my friend, I want us all to know that that is the praising power of the
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Holy Spirit in us that jerks us back in line.
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And praise God, we have 1 John 1, 9 that says, if we confess our sins,
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he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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I also want you to know that all of us.
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At some point, deny the power of Jesus that's in us.
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The Bible says in Ephesians 3.20 that we can do exceeding abundantly above all
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things that we think according to the power that works in us.
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And some of us don't have enough power to blow our nose. Other people could blow up Mount Everest.
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But the power of Jesus is the same. It just depends how much of us we give Him to use.
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So those of us who believe have been transformed by the washing of our sins,
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by the sinless, spotless blood of the Lamb of God.
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Yet some of our actions and our faults in our lives just don't demonstrate the
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new creation we are in Christ Jesus.
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But if we are convicted, we repent and we sin no more because Jesus is our all in all.
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We can't reach perfection, but we strive towards the prize of the high mark.
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And Peter felt horrible. He felt conviction. He was sorry. He had true repentance.
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Now, those who say they are Christians and they habitually sin over and over
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and they don't have any problems with it, my friend, their problem is they are
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not plugged into the power of Jesus Christ.
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They probably do not know him as Savior because he says in 2 Corinthians 5,
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17, that old things are passed away and all things have become new.
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We have to check our faith.
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And when the Holy Spirit's whispering, hey, don't do that. Danger,
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danger. Oh, you did the wrong thing.
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That lets you know that you're different than the world because the world doesn't
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have a problem when When they go against Jesus.
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Friends, you can't be perfect.
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But you can strive for the perfection that his righteousness puts in you by following him.
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Let's pick up and take a look at Mark's account of this day.
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We're in Mark chapter 15, and we're going to read verses 1 through 22.
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And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the
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elders and scribes and the whole council, and bound Jesus, and carried Him away,
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and delivered Him to Pilate.
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And Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? And He answering said unto him, Thou sayest it.
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And the chief priest accused Him of many things, but He answered nothing.
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And Pilate asked Him again, saying, Answerest thou nothing? Behold,
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how many things they witness against thee.
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But Jesus yet answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled.
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Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
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And there was one named Barabbas, which lay bound with them that had made insurrection
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with him, who had committed murder in the insurrection.
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And the multitude, crying aloud, began to desire Him to do as he had ever done unto them.
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But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the king of the Jews?
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For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him for envying.
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But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.
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And Pilate answered and said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall
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do unto Him who ye call the king of the Jews?
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And they cried out again, Crucify him.
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Then Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath He done?
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And they cried out the more exceedingly, Crucify him.
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And so Pilate, willing to content the people, released Barabbas unto them and
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delivered Jesus when he had scourged Him to be crucified.
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And the soldiers led Him away into the hall, called the praetorium,
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and they called together the whole band.
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And they clothed Him with purple, and plaited a crown of thorns,
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and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews.
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And they smote Him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him,
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and bowing their knees worshipped him.
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And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him,
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and put his own clothes on him, and led Him out to crucify him.
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And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country,
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the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
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And they bring Him unto the place Golgotha, which is being interpreted the place of a skull.
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What a passage of scripture to lay out what is happening awakening as Jesus
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is making his way to the cross, to understand how he's put on the cross.
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But I want to bring in your hearing a couple of things, and one of those is
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that it happened very early in the morning that the chief priests and the elders
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and the teachers and the whole Sanhedrin were making their plans.
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Those who devise to do wrong, they're not sleeping,
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they're not lazy, they're not
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hanging back no they're up
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early making their plans and that
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should really shake some of us to the core we're
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lazy with the truth of Jesus Christ we're lazy with the power that he gives
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us we just hold on to it and just kind of come and go as we please we're not
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strategizing by looking the devil in the eyes and saying,
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you don't have any control of me.
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We're not getting up early in the morning and reading his word and getting our marching orders.
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We're not planning what we're going to do for Jesus. We kind of do it.
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We'll do whatever happens. Or we might be in a rut and we do something just because it's habitual.
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Maybe we go to church regularly, regularly, but we don't go to church to praise
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and worship the Lord. We're just simply doing what we do.
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This scripture always reminds me that those who were doing wrong,
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those that were devising evil, they were up early.
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It also reminds me that Jesus was bound for us to make bonds easy for us.
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We have been bound with Jesus. And it's the only time you're going to be bound that you're free.
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Because we've been bound with him. And He makes us free.
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When we look at this account, we see how absolutely eager the prosecutors were
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when they were prosecuting Jesus.
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And they had no proof.
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Their proof was so slim.
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It wasn't his guilt. He wasn't guilty of anything, but it was his goodness that.
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They used as basically as a proof against him.
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Right. It wasn't that He had done anything, anything scandalous like another
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criminal, but something that was so good, the goodness in Him that provoked them to prosecute him.
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And they prosecuted Him with passion.
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With nothing to base it on. They just wanted rid of him. And you know,
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sometimes the Jesus in us aggravates the devil and other people.
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And I think it's incredibly important for us to remember that and know that.
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Sometimes your presence, which ushers Jesus in because He lives in you,
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is enough to cause people to have a problem.
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I think it's really important, too, when we look at this passage to see that
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one sin led to another sin, which happens in all of our lives.
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But the crowd convinced Pilate to scourge Jesus, even though Pilate himself
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thought that Jesus was innocent.
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And then that crowd was very quickly able to convince Pilate to crucify him.
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One decision led to another bad decision. decision.
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Sins multiply, sins compound.
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That means that we have to be
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diligent. We learn lessons for what we have seen these people do, right?
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We have to be diligent to keep ourselves holy.
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We have to understand that just like we see with Pilate, one sin in our life
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can lead to another sin in our own lives because it just takes us down a road.
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Our goal should be to separate ourselves from the sins of this world,
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to separate ourselves from the way that the world works,
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all the while with that goal of reaching the world for this Jesus that we read
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about, that we celebrate, even in this dark, dark account of this day.
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We're going to pick up our reading in Luke chapter 23, verses 32 through 34.
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And there were also two other malefactors led with Him to be put to death.
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And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary,
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there they crucified Him and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
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Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
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And they parted his raiment and cast lots.
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And the people stood beholding, and the rulers also with them derided him,
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saying, He saved others, let Him save himself, if He be Christ, the chosen of God.
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And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to Him and offering Him vinegar,
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and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyselves.
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And a subscription also was written over Him in letters of Greek and Latin and
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Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
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And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying,
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If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
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But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God,
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seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
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And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds,
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but this man hath done nothing amiss. and He said unto Jesus,
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Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
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Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt thou be with me in paradise.
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He was crucified. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross.
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As it was laying on the ground, they put Him on there And then they lifted it up.
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This is a painful and shameful death.
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On either side of Him were two known thieves. The people knew who they were.
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They knew what they had done.
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They were of the worst criminal kind.
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They took his clothes and they cast Him for lots as some kind of trophy.
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He was mocked and He was treated beyond what our imagination and understanding can possibly fathom.
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Yet we as Christians, when we get in a crowd of people who aren't saved,
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and they might laugh a little bit at us or look at us a little funny, it shuts us down.
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Look what He went through to give us our salvation.
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And the Bible says that He said He counted it joy because of his love for us.
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And what I want you to know that they wrote above his head, this is the king
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of the Jews, and they did it in mockery, but God intended it for a declaration of what He really was.
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He is the king of the Jews, and his cross is the way to the crown.
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They wrote it in Greek, Latin, and Hebrew, and those who knew knowledge,
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those who were learned, They were the ones who knew these three learned language.
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And let me tell you, they need to know who Christ is.
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Christ is for everyone, the learned, the unlearned, the rich, the poor.
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It was for all men, for everyone. That's why it was written in all the languages.
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The gospel of Christ is for all people and should be preached to all nations.
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Jesus loves me, this I know, and the scriptures tell me so.
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Let's continue this account in the book of John. In John 19, verses 25 through 27,
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we read, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's
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sister Mary, the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.
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When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple standing by,
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whom He loved, He said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son.
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Then saith He to the disciple, Behold thy mother.
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And from that hour that disciple took her into his own home.
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Luke 23, 44-35.
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And it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
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And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.
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And then Luke 19, 28 through 30. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things
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were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.
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Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar,
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and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth.
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When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished,
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and bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
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That was John 19, 28.
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Through 30. Luke 23, 46 through 47.
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And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, He said, Father,
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into thy hands I commend my spirit.
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And having said thus, He gave up the ghost.
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Now when the centurion saw what was done, He glorified God, saying,
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Certainly this was a righteous man.
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And back to John chapter 19, verses 38 through 42.
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And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus,
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but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the
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body of Jesus, and Pilate gave Him leave.
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He came therefore and took the body of Jesus.
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And there also came Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night and
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brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pound weight.
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Then took they the body of Jesus and wound it in linen cloths with the spices,
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as the manner of the Jews is to bury.
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Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden
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a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid.
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There laid they Jesus, therefore because of the the Jews' preparation day,
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for the sepulcher was nigh at hand.
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Luke 23, 55 and 56.
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And the women also which came with Him from Galilee followed after and beheld
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the sepulcher and how his body was laid,
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and they returned and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day
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according according to the commandment.
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And now we're going to go back to Isaiah 53.
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Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
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For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground.
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He hath come no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him,
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there is no beauty that we should desire him.
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He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
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And we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
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He was despised and we esteemed Him not.
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Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
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Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
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But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
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The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed.
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His generation. For He was cut off out of the land of the living,
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for the transgression of my people was He stricken.
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And He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.
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Because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
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Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put Him to grief.
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When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see his seed,
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he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
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He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.
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By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.
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Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the
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spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out his soul unto death.
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And He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bared the sin of many,
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and made intercession for the transgressors.
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Oh, what a sacrifice!
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Heaven's best!
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Was given for us. Jesus gave his very best, his own life, to buy our pardon and our freedom.
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Surely the least we can do is live a life devoted to him.
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I just have to say thank you, Jesus, for loving me and making me part of your
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family through the shedding of your sinless, spotless blood that covers my sin.
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And you, my friend, too, can be thankful and grateful.
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If you know Him as personal Savior, then today reflect on Good Friday and take
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time to thank God for giving you Jesus.
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If you don't know Him as personal Savior, today is the day to call upon the name.
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For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son,
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that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
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If you have any questions about how to make Jesus your Savior,
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feel free to contact us at Woman at the Well Ministries.
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If you have any questions about how to live a life more devoted and dedicated to Him,
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it is our honor and our pleasure to work with you through the Holy Scriptures
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to develop an amazing personal relationship with the King of Kings and the Lord
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of Lords. Remember, you are loved.
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Jesus loves you.
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Music.
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Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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Remember that God loves you.
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Music.