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Transcript

Is it I, Lord? | Mark 14:10-21 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Me meeting in Mark chapter 14, please, as we begin together,
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  beginning in verse 10 of this chapter.
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  It's always a joy to hear your voices in song and now it's a
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  time to hear God's voice in his Word.
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  As you're aware, on more than one occasion the Lord Jesus told
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  his disciples that there was a time coming where he would die,
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  that he would be buried, that he would be resurrected.
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  But there's an important detail in those predictions, which
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  total number of three in the Gospel of Mark that he would be
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  handed over, He'd be delivered to the chief priests and the
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  scribes, and they would be the agents that would judge him and
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  condemn him to death. And what you and I have before
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  us in this text is the entry point of the realization of that
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  prediction. This is going to serve as the
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  beginning of the drama of Christ's atoning death and
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  resurrection. We are now going to unfold the
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  anticipated sacrifice that will serve as the provision for
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  humanity's redemption. And as we journey on this path
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  of discovering, rediscovering, reinforcing the story of our
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  salvation, there are wonderful inspirations and insights and
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  instructions that await to be harvested.
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  And that is the case with this particular portrait of Jesus's
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  life, where he is now ready to celebrate a unique Passover with
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  the 12. And there are indeed spiritual
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  pearls that await to be stringed together so that these truths
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  can be bound on our hearts and that they can be tied around our
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  necks like Proverbs speaks about.
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  And the way we're going to see these things is by considering
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  three important observations about this particular Passover
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  feast. The first thing is the
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  preparation for this Passover. The second thing will be the
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  proclamation during this Passover.
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  And lastly, we will look at the prophecies about this Passover.
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  And so I want us to read from verse 10.
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  Down to verse 21 in one sitting to get an idea of what we're
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  going to examine more carefully. Then Judas Iscariot, who was one
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  of the 12, went to the chief priests in order to betray him
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  to them. And when they heard it, they
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  were glad and promised to give him money, and he sought an
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  opportunity to betray him. And on the first Day of
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  Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
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  his disciples said to him. Where will you have us go and
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  prepare for you to eat the Passover?
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  And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the
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  city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you.
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  Follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the master of the
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  house. The teacher says, Where's my
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  guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
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  And he will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready.
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  There, prepare for us. And the disciples set out and
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  went to the city, and found it just as he had told them, And
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  they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening he came
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  with the 12th. And as they were reclining a
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  table and eating, Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, One of you
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  will betray me, one who is eating with me.
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  They began to be sorrowful and to say to him, one after
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  another, Is it I? He said to them, it is one of
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  the 12 one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.
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  For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him.
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  But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
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  It would have been better for that man if he had not been
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  born. Father, I admit my weakness.
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  We all admit our frailty. We ask that the word would work
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  in. US and Lord, as this word is
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  shared, that you would work through it.
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  We desperately need you to change us and it cannot happen
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  unless we depend on you in prayer.
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  So Lord, we do not assume that just because we have this room
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  that we sang some songs and that we have Bibles before us that
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  things will occur. We ask Lord, that you would
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  bless this time and that we would sense your blessing.
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  In Jesus name we pray, Amen. If you and I meditate on verse
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  12 alone, there are two sparks that will surely kindle our
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  hearts toward Christ. Let us consider firstly the
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  preparation for this Passover. We see here that Jesus is
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  approached by his disciples. Jesus is approached by this
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  whole group, and they are the ones who inquired about
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  preparing for this feast. It wasn't Jesus who initiated
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  it, it was in Jesus who brought them in and commanded them.
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  It was the 12 who are mindful and vocal about their
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  willingness to volunteer to meet this requirement.
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  And this already is truly admirable.
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  It's something that is worth seeing as inspiration.
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  You know, it's one thing as disciples of Jesus Christ to be
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  willing to serve the Lord. It's another thing to look for
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  opportunities to serve. As these men did, there's an
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  interesting place in one of the the short epistles.
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  It's it's a book of Titus and you don't have to turn there.
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  But Titus speaks about good works, good works, good works.
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  And they're in Titus three. He actually tells Titus to tell
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  his people to be careful to devote themselves to good works.
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  Later he actually says to learn to devote themselves to good
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  works. But before in Titus 214, he says
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  that Jesus Christ died for a peculiar people.
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  That they might be. Zealous for good works, zealous
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  for good works. So not just to devote yourself
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  to good works, but to be passionate about it.
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  If you're if you're zealous about anything, you're going to
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  pursue it with conviction, with excitement, with discipline.
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  And this is what the Spirit is saying to his people, be zealous
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  for good works. And that's modeled here, I
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  believe it with these disciples. There's a lot of things about
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  the disciples that disappoint us, But right here in this
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  snapshot, we should be moved that they approach the Lord and
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  they say, Lord, what do you want us to do now?
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  What is it that what? What's the next?
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  Mission. What's the next task?
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  You know, somebody made a very humbling observation about the
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  church at large. The church, he said, is often
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  like a soccer stadium. Where you have 11 people on the
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  field who are in desperate need of rest and thousands of people
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  in the stands who are in desperate need of exercise.
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  How true it is that that is the tempo.
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  That is kind of the environment of many local churches.
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  Maybe a handful of people who are excited to serve God, not
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  just attend, but serve God. And they're doing a lot, they're
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  caring a lot. And a lot of people are like at
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  a game watching. Who are in desperate need of
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  spiritual exercise may not be so of Maranatha Bible church in
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  Jesus name but at the same time though these.
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  Disciples came to the Lord and they volunteered their hearts
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  and their hands. You see Christ responding by
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  commissioning only two of them. Isn't that what we see in verse
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  13? And he sent two of his
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  disciples. Now the two are actually named
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  when you look at Luke's account, which you don't have to turn to.
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  But in Luke 22, verse eight, it was Peter and John.
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  He sent Peter and John to prepare this feast.
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  And there's application even in this.
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  You see, although we might all want to be willing and even
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  eager and seek opportunity to serve, at the same time we have
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  to accept that the Lord will delegate and distribute
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  different opportunities to serve.
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  And we have to trust in His wisdom.
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  So as much as you might be excited, also know that you must
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  be trusting in his leading. Because I know that there are
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  other people who want to serve, who are looking for
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  opportunities to serve, but are also frustrated.
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  Frustrated perhaps because they want to serve in a particular
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  way. They want to exercise certain
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  gifts that they may not even have.
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  But I see also the submission of these disciples who though they
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  came collectively to the Lord Christ says, OK, I'm going to
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  select two of you now you go. And so be willing to serve and
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  be willing to even wait at times for the Lord to call you when he
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  needs to call you and providentially open the door for
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  you when He wants to. All you have to do is be like a
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  servant on your feet ready to be commissioned when the master
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  commissions. And that's one simple truth, but
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  the second truth from verse 12 alone.
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  Again, we are warming ourselves at the fire of meditation.
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  It's not from the disciples necessarily, but from Jesus
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  himself. When the disciples approach
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  Christ and asking to do what is necessary to prepare for the
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  feast, they're implying, and obviously it's implying to us
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  that they're going to eat this feast with who Jesus, that
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  they're going to observe and commemorate this Passover
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  together. Now you might miss this unless
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  you have an understanding of the Old Testament, because in the
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  Old Testament where this Passover was instituted, we're
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  not only told there when the Passover is supposed to be
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  observed. We're not only told how the
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  Passover is supposed to be recognized, we're also even
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  instructed with whom you're supposed to celebrate this feast
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  with. I want you to see it with your
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  own eyes in Exodus chapter 12 beginning in verse one, and see
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  how this reflects upon the heart of Jesus for His followers.
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  Exodus 12 beginning in verse one.
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  Remember that this was a feast created by the Lord Himself in
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  order to remember the. Exodus, and at the very time of
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  the original exodus out of. Egypt into the promised land.
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  This is what the Lord says in verse one of this text.
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  The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt.
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  This month shall be for you the beginning of months.
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  It shall be the first month of the year for you.
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  Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of
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  this month every man shall take a lamb according to their
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  father's houses, a lamb for a household.
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  And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and
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  his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of
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  persons, according to what each can eat.
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  You shall make your count for the lamb.
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  So you see here that the institution calls for the feast
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  to be honored by each household. And that's confirmed by verse
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  four that if that household was too small, then they can extend
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  the invitation to the nearest neighbor to eat of the lamb
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  together. And there are.
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  Awesome practical truths. Even in this, though, this feast
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  is not binding on us as Christians in the New Covenant.
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  There are principles here, surely, about family worship,
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  how to honor the Lord as a unit that share the same blood.
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  But more than that, I want us just to see how this points to
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  what Jesus is saying about his own. 12 Did Jesus have an
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  earthly family? He did have an earthly family.
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  But is there any indication at this point in Mark that Jesus
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  celebrated the the Passover with his earthly family?
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  No, Who is he celebrating it with the 12th?
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  What does that mean? I believe the explanation is
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  given to us in a different part of the Gospel of Matthew.
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  In Matthew we read here in chapter 12 verse 15.
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  You don't have to turn there, but listen to the words of Jesus
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  in Matthew 1250. For whoever does the will of my
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  Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
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  Do you see this? What is Christ saying about his
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  own, even in the way he's celebrating the Passover?
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  These 12 are my family because they're doing the will of the
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  Father. See, when you give your life to
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  Christ, you are not becoming a subject to His Kingdom.
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  Merely Jesus Christ goes a step further than that and He adopts
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  you into his family. He makes you one of his own.
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  He brings you to himself and I wonder how many people in this
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  room view their relationship with Christ in such a way.
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  It's very easy and understanding the sovereignty of God, yes,
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  even God and his sovereignty coming as a Savior,
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  understanding his love, but it's very.
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  Easy to see how the appropriate response would be to say I'm
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  your servant, you're my Lord. Whatever you asked me to do, I
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  will do. My life belongs to you.
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  That's, that's quite simple. What's more difficult to grasp
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  is that he calls you his son, his daughter, his friend.
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  That's what people wrestle with. That's what people find
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  hesitation to leap into and to enjoy and experience in their
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  Christian journey. And yet Christ in direct ways
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  and indirect ways, wants us to believe that, that you have that
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  kind of relationship with the living God.
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  And we have to understand it. And I'll tell you why I believe
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  that this is so important to the heart of Christ because he he
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  dispels something. In one of the first statements
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  he makes after his resurrection, Christ says something so
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  profound that is applicable to you and I and understanding, OK,
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  I'm studying who Jesus is, but who's Jesus now?
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  He's resurrected, he's ascended. Is there any indication of what
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  he's like now? And the Bible gives us plenty of
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  evidence. Mary.
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  Mary who went to the tomb and wanting to find Christ, bumps
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  into what she perceives to be the gardener, and it's in fact
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  Jesus. And she realizes that, and Jesus
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  says something to her. Jesus commissions her to go to
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  the disciples and to reveal that he is in fact alive.
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  And what does Jesus say to Mary? And John?
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  Chapter 20, verse 17, Let me read the words of Jesus to you.
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  He said here, Jesus said to her, do not cling to me, for I have
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  not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my who brothers, Not
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  my servants, not my subjects, not my ministers, not my
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  apostles. Go to my brothers, go to my
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  brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father, and your
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  father to my God and your God. Now it's moving enough to see
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  that Christ would use such familial language to mere
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  creatures. But what's more?
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  Moving is when you. Consider the timing of him
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  identifying the disciples as such.
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  Where? Were the disciples when he sent
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  Mary to fetch for them where? They were cowering in fear.
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  They denied him not too long ago, they distanced themselves.
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  They were in doubt, they were in unbelief.
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  And yet Jesus and understanding their current condition still.
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  Calls them my brothers. You know what that means for you
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  and I failing, stumbling Christian, listen to this.
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  Christ is committed to you. He's committed to you.
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  I know that might be hard to believe, but that's why you need
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  to get to the word and see the heart of Jesus.
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  He calls them my brothers, even though they have failed him
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  after 24/7 attendance before Christ, they they come to this
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  point we're even on the night of his betrayal, they boasted we're
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  willing to die with you. Oh really?
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  And so he sends a woman as a witness.
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  She's going to tell him, Jesus said, tell my brothers that.
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  That's the grace of Christ. That's what you have to put your
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  hope and day in and day out, not just when you you feel good in
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  your walk with the Lord, but even like these disciples, when
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  your head is down and your heart is sinking and you're wondering,
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  where did I go wrong? Tell my brothers.
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  And the Lord gives Peter and John back in Mark 14 somewhat
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  strange instructions. Let's go back to our text and
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  read it again in verse 13 down. And he sent two of his disciples
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  and said to them, Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar
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  of water will meet you. Follow him and wherever he
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  enters, say to the master of the house, The teacher says, where's
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  my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?
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  This seems to be intentionally vague.
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  So he recruits these two, He launches them out and he gives
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  them a set of instructions. And it seems to be like this
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  undercover mission. And one of the first things that
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  he tells them to do is, is to go and look for this man with a jar
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  of water. And he's going to lead you and
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  you're going to find this place, and that's the place where it's
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  going to be. But why is Christ being so
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  cryptic? Like many of Jesus's
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  instructions, he does not provide much explanation, right?
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  Because he wants faith from you and I.
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  But if you want to know answers to what seems to be a mysterious
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  thing in one of your readings of the text, always do this.
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  This is what you always have to do, and you always come to a
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  closer place of finding an answer.
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  Look at the context. Look at the context.
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  That's the key. What happened right before Jesus
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  was approached by the disciples and Jesus sent two of them in
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  this way? Go back to verse 10.
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  What do we read? Judas Iscariot, who was one of
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  the 12, went to the chief priests in order to betray them,
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  to betray him to them. So what we see here is that
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  Judas, we learn now Judas is ready to at any moment report
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  where Christ is at the right opportunity and have the
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  authorities arrest the Lord. And you know who was aware?
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  Of that the Lord. Jesus knew what Judas was up to.
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  And, and Jesus here at this time and giving these instructions in
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  this way was to conceal the details of his next location in
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  order to blind Judas and to prevent him from doing this evil
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  thing. It wasn't time.
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  Do you understand that Jesus was not only in control of His
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  passion, He was absolutely sovereign over every single
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  second of it? He would be betrayed later that
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  night, but not at that time of the night.
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  Why? Because Christ had to do a few
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  things, share a few things, teach a few things to his own
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  before he would be betrayed. Christ, as we're going to learn
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  in the weeks to come, is going to institute the Lord's Supper
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  at this Passover feast. Christ, according to John 13 to
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  John 17, is going to pour out precious and powerful truths for
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  the 12 and for disciples to come.
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  And so when he gives these instructions, surely Judas was
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  in attendance and was listening very carefully.
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  But what Christ did was leave out the necessary details, to
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  leave him in the dark, all the wisdom of Jesus.
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  All the brilliance of the mind of Christ, you and I just a
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  moment ago didn't understand why he only sent two and not all of
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  them. Now you know.
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  We didn't understand, perhaps at first why he's, he's giving
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  these mysterious plans. Now we know.
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  Can I tell you something, please?
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  Would you trust Christ? Always, Always.
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  If you're in the dark at any point, don't you dare fall into
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  the temptation of criticizing his wisdom or doubting his
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  heart. He knows.
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  He always knows. Cling to him, obey him, worship
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  him and watch him lead you perfectly, perfectly.
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  And so he says, go enter into the city and you're going to
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  find a man with a jar of water. You have to remember that this
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  was what, during the Passover, hundreds of thousands of people.
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  Were cramming the streets. The hustle and the bustle, the
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  noise, the purchasing, the planning, the last second
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  arrangements. You can imagine how crazy it
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  was. How is identifying a man with a
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  jar of water going to be significant evidence to identify
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  the person who's supposed to lead them?
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  Unless you understand that it was not common for a man in the
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  public to carry a jar of water. Because that's what the
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  Scriptures tell us, that this task was designated exclusively
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  generally for woman. And you get hints of that in the
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  scriptures. You see it in Genesis 2411 with
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  Rebecca, that when Abraham's servant is looking for a wife
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  for his son, he goes to the well at the time where the woman come
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  out and draw water. You see it in the New Testament
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  with the woman at the well in John chapter four.
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  It was a custom for a woman to go fetch, deliver water.
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  Men did not do that chore. And so now it makes a little bit
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  more sense. This man will stand out surely
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  to the disciples. But before we move on too
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  quickly, what does that say about this man?
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  Because evidently Christ and giving this plan to these two
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  disciples pre arranged these things.
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  He pre arranged them the, the man with the the room had it
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  ready. So whether he did so naturally
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  or supernaturally, we're not told.
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  But he did pre arrange these things.
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  And so here's what I learned about this man with a jar of
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  water. He was willing to obey Christ no
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  matter how it made him look in public, that he was willing to
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  play even a small part in this greater drama of redemption.
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  And what was his part? To carry A jar of water so that
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  two of the 12 disciples can say. That's the guy.
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  Let's follow him. And so I see something about
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  humility. I see something about
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  inspiration from this unnamed soul who loved Christ enough to
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  do his bidding, as small as it may have been.
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  But the inspiration doesn't stop there.
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  Never mind the man with the jar, that's one thing.
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  What about the man who owned the house?
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  No name given. And again, this is intentional.
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  Judas didn't need to hear names. He didn't need to hear addresses
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  or street names. He didn't need any of that.
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  But this man who owned the house, this man with the jar
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  would lead him to this specific abode.
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  Now if this man had a family. And I'd like to think he did.
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  Then he obviously in wanting to honor the law had to what,
• 24:33
  prepare for his own Passover feast.
• 24:36
  And you know what it's like in festive days, right?
• 24:38
  In festive seasons, they're running around the last second
• 24:41
  things and Christ selected his home and he says I would like to
• 24:45
  have my disciples and myself celebrate in one of your guest
• 24:49
  rooms. And what does the man do?
• 24:51
  He. Complies, he complies.
• 24:55
  Was it convenient timing wise? Probably not.
• 24:58
  But you know what this man teaches me?
• 25:02
  Nah. He wasn't too busy to serve
• 25:04
  Jesus. He wasn't too preoccupied with
• 25:08
  other things, even good things, to serve the Lord.
• 25:12
  Are you too busy to serve Jesus? Are you too dizzy by everything
• 25:20
  around you? I see a man here who says, come
• 25:26
  yes, Lord, come to my home. And timing wasn't the only
• 25:33
  potential excuse for this man to step away from accepting Christ
• 25:39
  inviting himself into his home. Do you remember what happened
• 25:44
  right before John chapter 12 where Mary of Bethany anoints
• 25:47
  Jesus? I want to remind you what
• 25:50
  happened in John Chapter 11, verse 57.
• 25:53
  Listen to these words. Now the chief priest in John
• 25:55
  1157 and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where
• 26:01
  he was being Jesus, He should let them know so they they might
• 26:05
  arrest him. So there was this public call.
• 26:09
  If anybody knows where this Jesus of Nazareth is, let us
• 26:13
  know, because we're looking for Him.
• 26:18
  So timing wasn't the only issue here.
• 26:22
  Trouble was, it's not just inconvenience for the master of
• 26:27
  this house, but serious danger hosting Jesus at this time where
• 26:35
  the most powerful people apart from Rome were looking for him.
• 26:39
  And yet this anonymous individual says, you're having
• 26:42
  it in my home. Christ is worthy.
• 26:46
  Christ is worthy of our time. Christ is worthy of any risk.
• 26:51
  And what do you read? Look at verse 16.
• 26:55
  And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it,
• 26:58
  just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
• 27:01
  Don't you love that phrase? They had found it just as he had
• 27:06
  told them. When you obey the Lord.
• 27:10
  Even if His instructions may seem to be difficult to grasp or
• 27:14
  understand, or even dangerous to pursue, you will, if you honor
• 27:20
  His wishes, walk into a fascinating realization of His
• 27:24
  faithfulness. Exactly the way Christ said it
• 27:28
  would happen, happen exactly what He said would would come to
• 27:30
  transfer it to transpire exactly what He said.
• 27:34
  It is a greater risk not to obey the Lord than to obey the Lord.
• 27:38
  Remember that no matter what fears you face as you stand at
• 27:42
  the threshold of trusting Jesus Christ, always remember that it
• 27:46
  is a greater risk to step away and disobey than to thrust
• 27:51
  yourself and to obey Him always. They found it exactly as He said
• 27:57
  they would find it. But we come now from the
• 28:01
  preparation to the proclamation, the proclamation at this
• 28:04
  Passover. And what do we discover?
• 28:07
  Verse 17 And when it was evening, he came with the 12 and
• 28:12
  as they were reclining a table and eating, Jesus said, truly, I
• 28:15
  say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating
• 28:19
  with me. They began to be sorrowful and
• 28:22
  say to him one after another, is it I So at some point in the
• 28:28
  celebration, they're all reclining.
• 28:29
  They're honoring the feasts and the traditions surrounding it.
• 28:32
  And the Lord uttered this heart sinking statement.
• 28:37
  You can just imagine how tension filled that room in that very
• 28:42
  moment. You can imagine the silence.
• 28:46
  You can imagine the heartbeats of these disciples that were
• 28:48
  pounding against their chest when Jesus, who has never been
• 28:52
  wrong about anything that he had said, made this claim.
• 28:56
  One of you is going to betray me.
• 29:02
  And you have to recall that Christ on more than one occasion
• 29:06
  told the very same 12 I'm going to die, I'm going to be buried,
• 29:11
  I am going to raise from the dead.
• 29:13
  And two out of those three times he said I will be delivered up.
• 29:18
  And at this point, now he is closing in on the culprit, the
• 29:23
  one who is actually going to commit this inconceivable crime
• 29:28
  of giving the Son of God over to vicious, evil, wicked men.
• 29:35
  And as Jesus says this, you might be wondering why.
• 29:40
  Why is the Lord sharing this publicly?
• 29:42
  Why is he telling the disciples? And I believe the main reason is
• 29:46
  so that he can reveal his omniscience yet again.
• 29:50
  He's done it on different occasions, and he's doing it
• 29:52
  once more here, providing further evidence that Jesus.
• 29:55
  Christ did not get surprised at any point of him surrendering
• 30:00
  his life. Not once.
• 30:02
  What is Christ showing here? I know exactly the horrific
• 30:06
  plans that are made against me, and I willfully am walking into
• 30:10
  them. I'm not.
• 30:12
  I'm not here unwilling to be apprehended.
• 30:15
  I'm here laying down my life and I'm telling you now I know which
• 30:18
  one of you is actually going to betray me.
• 30:20
  Now think about this. If for whatever reason, you've
• 30:22
  been given divine inspiration that one person in your friend
• 30:27
  group is going to betray you to people who want to murder you,
• 30:29
  what would you do with that knowledge?
• 30:32
  Run, escape, not have dinner with the guy And what, what does
• 30:39
  Christ do? He is conveying to the I know
• 30:42
  which one of you are going to do and I'm still here because this
• 30:45
  is this is a part of a greater thing.
• 30:48
  And so that the disciples would know and that the disciples like
• 30:51
  us would know for generations to come that Christ came into this
• 30:54
  world and embraced his mission. He didn't cower from it.
• 30:59
  He didn't flee from it. He didn't second guess it.
• 31:03
  He would joy chest out, walked into it.
• 31:11
  But what I find amazing here is how this announcement disturbed
• 31:13
  the consciousness of all these disciples.
• 31:15
  Did you catch? It it says here that they were
• 31:19
  sorrowful. In verse 19 they began to be.
• 31:21
  So this is talking about deep grief, significant pain.
• 31:25
  They began to be sorrowful and one after the next began to say
• 31:30
  is it I, is it me, is it me? Notice I didn't say I think it's
• 31:39
  him, not once. And it makes you wonder also, is
• 31:45
  this self examination something to be praised or concerned
• 31:50
  about? And I think the self examination
• 31:54
  taking place at this moment is honorable.
• 31:58
  It's honorable because hearing the words of Christ concerning
• 32:01
  the capability of our sin should always encourage reflection.
• 32:08
  And no matter how strong you think you perceive yourself to
• 32:11
  be, it is a dangerous thing to be in a place where you feel
• 32:17
  like you will never fall. Paul warns about that in First
• 32:20
  Corinthians 10. And So what you see with these
• 32:23
  disciples is that they're doing some soul searching, not to the
• 32:27
  point of condemnation, and that should never be the case for
• 32:29
  you, but this soul searching when you hear a strong word,
• 32:32
  when you come to the word of God for yourself, when you begin to
• 32:35
  feel conviction in your conscience, or when you hear of
• 32:37
  a failure of another. And it causes you in a holy way
• 32:40
  to be like Lord. May it never be of me.
• 32:42
  That's exactly what it should produce, not condemnation, but
• 32:45
  clinging to the Lord with a greater grip.
• 32:50
  Lord, I don't want to fail you. Lord, I don't want to deny you.
• 32:52
  I, I pray that it would never be true of me.
• 32:57
  So you can applaud the fact that these disciples are asking about
• 33:00
  themselves and they're not scrutinizing one another.
• 33:05
  But I'm also convinced here because what's so interesting is
• 33:08
  that they didn't suspect Judas. In fact, I, I believe that the
• 33:13
  disciples, if they had to make a list of who is most likely to
• 33:16
  betray Christ, Judas would be on the bottom, at least the lower
• 33:20
  tier. Do you know why?
• 33:22
  Because he was trusted enough to be made the manager of the, the
• 33:26
  ministry finances. That's John chapter 12, verse
• 33:30
  six. You have to trust somebody to
• 33:32
  deal with the ministry finances and funds.
• 33:35
  And, and Judas was selected and he held that position for that
• 33:39
  three-year tenure. So there was something about him
• 33:42
  that was winsome disarming. There was no suspicion about him
• 33:48
  necessarily, but I'm convinced that if the disciples paid a
• 33:55
  little bit more attention as each one began to ask the Lord,
• 34:02
  is it I, they might have suspected something of Judas.
• 34:06
  I don't want to prove that to you because you don't see it
• 34:08
  here in Mark, but you do see it in Matthew.
• 34:11
  So go to Matthew with me in chapter 26 and I want you to
• 34:14
  look at how Matthew depicts this very same scene in Matthew 26
• 34:19
  and verse 22. And they were very sorrowful and
• 34:37
  began to say to him, one after another, Is it I, Lord?
• 34:41
  What does Matthew add? Lord?
• 34:43
  They said, Lord, each of these disciples said, Is it I, Lord?
• 34:49
  He answered, He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me
• 34:52
  will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is
• 34:56
  written of him. But woe to that man by whom the
• 34:58
  Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for
• 35:01
  that man if he had not been born.
• 35:02
  Now look at verse 25. Judas, who would betray him,
• 35:07
  answered, Is it I Rabbi? Is it I Rabbi?
• 35:15
  He said to him, You have said so.
• 35:17
  Ha, so the 11 said, Is it I Lord?
• 35:24
  When it came down to Judas, he didn't call him Lord.
• 35:32
  Judas was making an attempt, right?
• 35:34
  Because Christ here is being ambiguous on purpose.
• 35:38
  And like the past three years, Judas is trying to camouflage
• 35:41
  himself at this critical moment. And so as these disciples are
• 35:46
  saying, one after the other, is it I Lord?
• 35:48
  Is it I Lord comes down to Judas turn?
• 35:50
  He wants to try to blend in, but even in his attempt to try to
• 35:55
  blend in, he can't help but cough up the word rabbi, which
• 36:00
  means teacher. Why didn't he echo the
• 36:04
  disciples? Why didn't he say, Is it I,
• 36:07
  Lord, I'm persuaded because he could not.
• 36:12
  He could not. His heart had determined to
• 36:15
  betray him, and to even. Use the word Lord was too heavy
• 36:18
  on his lips. It was a weighty thing.
• 36:24
  And so he says, Rabbi, you know what's interesting?
• 36:27
  In the Gospel of Matthew, you have two instances where you
• 36:30
  have the recorded words of Judas.
• 36:33
  You have it here, and then you have it in the same chapter in
• 36:35
  verse 45. Look at verse 45, when Judas
• 36:38
  finally brings the band of murderers behind him to find
• 36:42
  Christ in the garden. Notice what Judas says here in
• 36:45
  verse 49. And he came up to Jesus at once
• 36:50
  and said, greetings. What rabbi?
• 36:54
  Greetings, Rabbi. And he kissed him.
• 36:59
  Never called him Lord. At least at this point, he
• 37:03
  couldn't listen very carefully. Judas serves as a sobering
• 37:07
  reminder for those who think that they can live successfully
• 37:10
  in compromise. No matter how clever you think
• 37:15
  you are, no matter how successful you've been over the
• 37:17
  years, Judas proofs to us that exposure is bound to come.
• 37:26
  You might reveal it yourself, others might discover it about
• 37:31
  you, or the Lord of Glory himself will unmask it.
• 37:38
  Judas did pretty good up to this point, but upon close and
• 37:42
  careful investigation, he wasn't who he said he was and he even
• 37:48
  stood out from the true disciples.
• 37:52
  Why? Why did Judas betray Jesus?
• 37:58
  The general answer that people tend to give is because he loved
• 38:00
  money. He did love money.
• 38:02
  He stole from the ministry funds.
• 38:05
  He did love money, but he loved money all along.
• 38:08
  Why at this point did he betray Christ?
• 38:11
  Again, when you look at the context, you have the best key
• 38:14
  of unlocking Revelation. What happened right before Judas
• 38:19
  chose to collaborate with the Pharisees and the chief priest?
• 38:24
  What took place that triggered that moment?
• 38:26
  Go back to Mark 14 and you'll see it for yourself.
• 38:35
  We read it in verse three of Mark 14, that while he was at
• 38:41
  Bethany in the House of Simon the Leper, as he was reclining a
• 38:44
  table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of
• 38:46
  pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it
• 38:50
  over his head. Who was in attendance?
• 38:52
  Judas. In fact, he was the one who
• 38:57
  began the criticism and the disciples followed.
• 39:00
  You could have sold this for 300 denari.
• 39:02
  We could have given this to the poor.
• 39:04
  He was offended by this ultimately because he thought I
• 39:08
  could have stuffed my pockets. More if we we sold this, this
• 39:12
  was a donation I would have I would have made more money for
• 39:14
  myself. But something happens.
• 39:18
  Jesus in defending Mary says she did this for what?
• 39:20
  My burial. She's paying tribute to my
• 39:24
  death. And I am convinced that at that
• 39:28
  moment it dawned on Judas, he, he's not here to establish a
• 39:35
  Kingdom. He's, he's going to die.
• 39:42
  He's he's saying it. And I wonder if all the past
• 39:45
  times where Jesus said I'm going to die, I'm going to be buried,
• 39:48
  I'm going to raise, I wonder if that crashed into his thinking
• 39:50
  right there and then as well. Whether it did or not doesn't
• 39:53
  matter at this moment. Judas understood that this Jesus
• 39:57
  of Nazareth is not going to be establishing a government.
• 40:02
  He's talking about his death. I didn't sign up for this.
• 40:09
  I signed up when I realized that I was chosen, among others, a
• 40:12
  band of men who are going to have the most prominent
• 40:14
  positions in this Kingdom. And now he's talking about
• 40:16
  dying. And now this woman's anointing
• 40:19
  him because he's going to be dying, evidently very soon.
• 40:23
  I'm jumping this ship because it's the sinking one.
• 40:27
  But you know what? I'm not going to leave here
• 40:29
  without something in my hands. So I'll sell him.
• 40:34
  If he's going to die, let me make something out of it.
• 40:37
  Do you see what Judas is thinking?
• 40:41
  So he goes to the chief priest and he says, what's the price?
• 40:44
  I'll give him over to you. I realized that this man has a
• 40:47
  tendency to whatever he says about himself or events or
• 40:50
  people is always right. 100% he's talking about dying.
• 40:56
  I'm abandoning this cause, but I'm not leaving here empty
• 40:59
  handed. So what's the price?
• 41:00
  30 pieces of silver. Perfect.
• 41:04
  So it's the timing. It dawned on him that things are
• 41:09
  going to change. Things are not what I thought
• 41:10
  they would be. And so he's going to betray the
• 41:13
  Master. But this isn't catch Christ by
• 41:19
  surprise because now we come to the prophecies about this
• 41:22
  Passover. We talked about the preparation
• 41:24
  for it, the proclamation during it.
• 41:26
  But now we come to the prophecies about this Passover.
• 41:31
  What does Jesus say in verse 20 of Mark 14?
• 41:33
  He said to them, It is one of the 12, one who is dipping bread
• 41:37
  into the dish with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is
• 41:40
  written of him. But woe to that man by whom the
• 41:42
  Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for
• 41:44
  that man if he had not been born.
• 41:45
  Notice again in verse 21. For the Son of Man goes as it is
• 41:51
  written. Christ didn't know about Judas
• 41:55
  merely because of His omniscience.
• 41:58
  Christ also knew about Judas because it was declared hundreds
• 42:01
  of years ago, thousands of years ago, Not just about Christ's
• 42:06
  death, burial, and resurrection, but even his betrayal has been
• 42:09
  foretold by the prophets. And one of the clearest passages
• 42:14
  as we come to a close in this message is found from the lips,
• 42:18
  or the pen rather, of the psalmist of Israel.
• 42:21
  David, look at this with your own eyes in Psalm 41.
• 42:25
  And I want you to see how even this moment has been told, and
• 42:31
  we've been prepared for it by the Spirit of God.
• 42:36
  Psalm 41 beginning in verse 9, Jesus alludes to the words of
• 42:42
  David in his own experience of treachery, and it's found here
• 42:46
  in this verse of Psalm 41, verse 9, David writes, Even my close
• 42:54
  friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread has lifted his heel
• 43:00
  against me. You know what it means to lift
• 43:03
  your heel against someone? It's to lift up your foot and to
• 43:06
  deliver a crushing blow. And David says, a friend of mine
• 43:12
  whom I trusted, who ate with me. You know, that's it's even more
• 43:18
  painful when you've had some meals with a person and you
• 43:21
  enjoy that experience with someone and yet that person
• 43:24
  turns around to kick you in the face.
• 43:28
  Where did David had that experience with his own son
• 43:31
  Absalom, with one of his most trusted advisors, a heathful
• 43:36
  this was fulfilled in David's experience with the Holy Spirit
• 43:39
  uses this to show a greater fulfillment in the greater son
• 43:43
  of David with Judas and Christ. But the prophecy doesn't end
• 43:49
  there. We continue in verse 11:50 and
• 43:52
  we realize that there's more to it.
• 43:55
  But you, David says. But you, O Lord, be gracious to
• 43:58
  me and raise me up that I may repay them.
• 44:01
  By this I know that you delighted me.
• 44:03
  My enemy will not shout in triumph over me, but you have
• 44:10
  upheld me because of my integrity and set me in your
• 44:14
  presence forever. That's David speaking.
• 44:18
  Yes, that's David. By the Spirit disclosing to us
• 44:21
  the reality of eternity and resurrection, I'm going to be in
• 44:24
  your presence forever. But what is David speaking about
• 44:30
  here? Vindication.
• 44:32
  Yes, my closest friend would betray me, but I'm asking you, O
• 44:35
  Lord, to not let him have the triumph over me.
• 44:39
  Vindicate me, O God. And God did vindicate David.
• 44:42
  But again, we have to connect us to Christ and the unthinkable
• 44:46
  loyal disloyalty of Judas that God vindicate the Son of God
• 44:50
  absolutely. It did not end with Judas's
• 44:52
  betrayal. He was brought forth and raised
• 44:57
  up into the presence of the Almighty.
• 44:59
  Forever and ever and he sits at his right hand to this day.
• 45:04
  So if there is anyone to be pitied in this, in this scene,
• 45:08
  this sombering scene here, it wasn't the Lord Jesus Christ,
• 45:12
  it's Judas. Because Judas is not coming out
• 45:16
  victorious. He's not even to come out
• 45:18
  prosperous, even temporarily. He's going to end his own life,
• 45:21
  unfortunately. And that's why Jesus pronounces
• 45:26
  a woe against them. He says, what?
• 45:28
  Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed.
• 45:34
  And this is how he ends. It would have been better for
• 45:36
  that man if he had not been born.
• 45:38
  Can I tell you what that means? Here's what it means.
• 45:41
  Judas's non existence would have been better than his eternal
• 45:47
  existence in torment. Judas so horrific will the
• 45:56
  punishment and the divine wrath be against Judas for what he did
• 46:00
  against the Son of God. That would have been better if
• 46:02
  he was not born. This might be a little bit of an
• 46:07
  awkward way to end a message like this, but maybe somebody
• 46:11
  needs to hear it. Hell is a real place.
• 46:16
  You don't hear the word often unless it's used as a cuss word
• 46:19
  or derogatory in a derogatory way.
• 46:23
  And I think that's Satan's tactic of making hell seem like
• 46:25
  a joke. It's not a joke, it's real, and
• 46:32
  there will be people going there and they're not going to have a
• 46:36
  second chance. The only chance you have of
• 46:40
  making sure that you have eternal life is if with the
• 46:42
  breath you still have in your lungs, you admit that you've
• 46:45
  sinned against a holy God, but you also receive this holy God's
• 46:49
  love in the person of Jesus Christ who wants to rescue you
• 46:52
  from the wrath of God. So what is it in your mind
• 46:58
  that's causing you to delay and accepting that?
• 47:01
  Is it money? There will be many people in
• 47:04
  hell because they served money in their 7080 years of life.
• 47:07
  Many people, you know, some people, it's a disappointment, a
• 47:16
  misunderstanding of who God is, like Judas.
• 47:21
  And that was enough to deter them and to cause them to live
• 47:23
  in rebellion against him. You know, Judas would realize he
• 47:27
  would experience a deep sorrow. He never experienced true
• 47:29
  repentance. And I am among those who believe
• 47:31
  that if Judas repented, God would have forgiven him.
• 47:35
  He didn't repent. He was, he was broken, but he
• 47:39
  didn't confess. He didn't flee to Christ.
• 47:44
  He killed himself in the shadow of despair.
• 47:48
  Do you know Jesus Christ? Do you have the guarantee that
• 47:55
  you have eternal life is Christ Lord, was there a moment that
• 48:03
  you remember where you said save me Lord Jesus, save me, forgive
• 48:07
  me for my foolishness, forgive me for my waywardness.
• 48:11
  I now stop and realize that you've done all that you could.
• 48:14
  The unimaginable you came and you died in my place so that I
• 48:17
  would have a place with you forever.
• 48:20
  Has that has that thought ever dawned on you to the degree that
• 48:23
  it caused you to bend your knee and to say, I want to live for
• 48:27
  this Christ? I want to let you know that your
• 48:32
  woe can turn into a win. And all that is required of you
• 48:37
  is to realize that He is the Lord and He is your Savior.
• 48:42
  So why delay a moment? Why delay another second?
• 48:47
  Why not at this very second you forget everything around you.
• 48:53
  You realize that in this past 50 minutes you have tasted
• 48:57
  something of the beauty of Jesus and He can become your Savior.
• 49:03
  And here's here's where I'm ending.
• 49:05
  This will result more than just you going from hell to heaven.
• 49:12
  That's wonderful, that's glorious.
• 49:14
  I love that. But I'll tell you why it's
• 49:17
  better than that. He takes you from enemy to a
• 49:21
  son, from a rebel to a daughter, from a foe to a companion.
• 49:29
  And you don't experience that only way when you pass on from
• 49:33
  this life, the moment you are justified, you are brought into
• 49:37
  his heart and you walk with him day by day by day, and he does
• 49:43
  things in you and he just does things through you.
• 49:46
  And you accumulate these testimonies until it it climaxes
• 49:50
  where you meet him face to face. That's what the Christian life
• 49:53
  looks like. Do you want that?
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  What do you have that's that's better than that?
• 49:58
  Please meet me at the door and tell me.
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  I'm very curious. Oh, your business.
• 50:07
  Oh, your properties. Oh, you chasing one girl that's
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  satisfying you. That's why you keep running
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  around. You know down deep inside that
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  what you're doing in your own efforts, in your own
• 50:19
  imagination, with your own lust is only temporary and it always
• 50:23
  fails you. So why'd you keep going back to
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  it? Why don't you just bring your
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  sin to the foot of the cross, let Christ deal with the record
• 50:32
  of debt, and then give you a new heart so that you can live out
• 50:36
  the way you were created to live.
• 50:37
  And that's for Him. So I, I end this message about
• 50:43
  Jesus celebrating the Passover with an invitation for you to be
• 50:49
  saved. Believe you if you're saved,
• 50:53
  just praise him more today. Give him thanks that you belong
• 50:56
  to him and that he has a purpose for you.
• 50:59
  Can we pray? Let's pray.
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  I want you to think about maybe one or more than one thing that
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  touched your heart and then translate that into prayer.
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  Respond to the word of God with your own words and and commune
• 51:28
  with the Lord. And if you're a person here who
• 51:29
  doesn't know the Lord, the Bible tells us that if you confess
• 51:33
  with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in
• 51:36
  your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be
• 51:40
  saved. Confess with your mouth and
• 51:44
  believe in your heart not just that Christ died, but that he
• 51:48
  rose and that he's living and he beckons you to come to him.
• 51:52
  And as you're praying there silently, I'll ask the priest
• 51:54
  team to come and join us and prepare for us to respond in
• 51:57
  song. But just there's so much noise
• 52:00
  today just in, in a. Brief moment of silence.
• 52:02
  Let each of us just seek the Lord and then we will sing to
• 52:05
  him together, shall we? Well, we ask that these words
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  would in fact live in us. We want to be changed.
• 52:51
  We want to know you, live for you, glorify you for the rest of
• 52:54
  our days. We thank you for what you've
• 52:56
  said to us. Now we respond to you with these
• 52:58
  words of love in Jesus name, Amen.
• 53:02
  I had an interesting time studying the Word yesterday, as
• 53:06
  I usually do for Sunday, as you know, studying about the Last
• 53:10
  Supper. And I'm sure most of us in here
• 53:14
  received a text or stumbled upon a clip on the Internet of how
• 53:18
  the opening ceremony of the Olympics in France included a
• 53:23
  blasphemous display of drag Queens who were mocking that
• 53:28
  very scene that we uphold and Revere and adore Christ for.
• 53:33
  And as obscene as devilish as that was, late last night, I
• 53:39
  pulled out my phone and had trouble sleeping.
• 53:42
  But I watched Living Waters Ray Conference Ministry because
• 53:46
  they're out there in Paris now doing some evangelism work.
• 53:48
  And they responded quickly to that, that whole ordeal.
• 53:52
  And they began to interview people about what they thought,
• 53:55
  did anybody see this, what they thought about what happened at
• 53:59
  the opening ceremony? And I don't know what broke my
• 54:03
  heart more, what that thing was or how the people responded to
• 54:09
  it. Things along the line of, yeah,
• 54:13
  it's art or why, you know, And I mean, any other religion, Paris
• 54:19
  would be on fire, right? I don't remember the last time.
• 54:25
  A lot of things that made me feel different ways in the past
• 54:28
  few years, but this this one made me emotional after seeing
• 54:33
  that that interview with different people and though it
• 54:37
  made me broken and grieved. I felt something I don't know if
• 54:41
  you sense that to this holy boldness, this boldness in what
• 54:47
  sense if the world is only intensifying in their blasphemy.
• 54:53
  My prayers since last night was, Lord, amplify my life to be
• 54:57
  unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• 55:00
  Unashamed. No crack in your voice, no
• 55:03
  hesitation to say it. No, no, no set back on calling
• 55:07
  sin sin. If there was a time to be bold,
• 55:10
  it's today. It was.
• 55:12
  If there's a time to be vocal and to to share the good news of
• 55:16
  Jesus Christ, it's now. It's now.
• 55:19
  We don't respond to wickedness and even blasphemy by protesting
• 55:23
  or threatening. Or rampaging or looting.
• 55:25
  We don't do that. But the way we do it is we go
• 55:28
  out and we give more light. More truth in the power of the
• 55:32
  Holy Spirit. And so I just thought it was
• 55:34
  interesting timing, at least for me, studying about the Last
• 55:36
  Supper, and this blasphemous thing shows up on my phone.
• 55:40
  So don't allow your righteous indignation to just remain as a
• 55:44
  motion or to cause you to act carnal.
• 55:47
  Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom to protest with the truth
• 55:51
  of Jesus Christ. And if they're going to shove
• 55:53
  this in people's faces, they may we, by the wisdom of God, give
• 55:57
  this gospel to as many people as possible.
• 56:00
  To allow these things every event it just seems like the
• 56:02
  birth pains are getting more intense so let's be more intense
• 56:08
  by the spirit as he energizes us and I just if anything, I.
• 56:12
  Want to see the church explode in revival in these days?
• 56:15
  That's been my prayer and I hope it's your prayers.
• 56:17
  Well, why don't we pray together?
• 56:19
  But we thank you. You told us, Lord, that if they
• 56:23
  call the master of the House Belzebul, how much more that
• 56:28
  servants, so that we are not completely shocked at the evil
• 56:33
  around us and the evil that will come our way, not just for your
• 56:37
  name, but even for those who bear your name.
• 56:40
  Make us bold, Lord. Fill us with faith, Lord.
• 56:44
  Fill us with the knowledge of your words, that we can give an
• 56:47
  appropriate defense for the hope that we have.
• 56:50
  We pray, Lord, that what we're seeing around us would only
• 56:53
  cause the Church to be more alive than ever.
• 56:55
  May the Holy Spirit not be grieved among his people.
• 57:00
  May He be pleased. May you be pleased by what you
• 57:02
  see here with every ministry represented here.
• 57:05
  Lord, we, we want to walk out of this place with a strategic
• 57:09
  mindset, a missional mindset that the gates of hell will not
• 57:14
  prevail. We will succeed, we will win in
• 57:16
  the end. And we want to be part of that
• 57:18
  plan to see people come to the Kingdom of God.
• 57:21
  So we do ask that you go before us.
• 57:23
  Keep your hand on our minds and our hearts and may we Lord be
• 57:26
  your vessels for your glory. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and
• 57:30
  Amen.