Latest / HBCWestminster / 3.27.22 Luke 22:47-54 Pastor Danny Gardner

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3.27.22 Luke 22:47-54 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Luke 22, our text this morning is verses 47 to 54. As like Pastor Sam said, we are making our way to the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus. We continue our study of the gospel of Luke in verse 47. And if you're able to stand in honor of God's word as I read it, I would ask you to do that now. Verses 47 to 54. It says, while he was still speaking, there came a crowd and the man called Judas, one of the 12, was leading them.
• 0:31
  He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? One of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear, but Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs?
• 0:59
  When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me, but this is your hour in the power of darkness. Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we come with gratitude today for the painful suffering and derision you endured for our salvation. And Heavenly Father, we thank you for your long suffering as you watched your son be mistreated. And Holy Spirit, we thank you.
• 1:29
  for illuminating the profound impact that Christ's rejection now has on our lives. Lord, receive the glory this morning through the preaching of your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you, church. Well, in 1920, a hundred years ago, an Italian immigrant made a fortune off of lying to people. In fact, he was so good at deceiving people that he tricked thousands of New England residents into investing into a postage stamp speculation scheme.
• 2:01
  He promised investors that he could provide a whopping 50% return in just 90 days Each time a new investor gave him money. He used those funds to pay off earlier investors Creating the illusion that they were actually profiting from a legitimate business at the height of this huge scam He was raking in two hundred fifty thousand dollars a day That was in 1920
• 2:27
  The equivalent today would be between $3 and $4 million per day this guy was making. His days of scheming and scamming eventually caught up to him in August of 1920 when he, Charles Ponzi, was charged with 86 counts of mail fraud. His name, Ponzi, has been attached to con men and deception ever since. No doubt you've heard of Ponzi schemes.
• 2:53
  There have been schemers and connivers throughout history, and there have been liars and frauds. There have been con men and thieves, but all of them pale in comparison to the con man we are confronted with in this morning's text. When Christ was betrayed by one of his best and closest friends with a kiss. You'll recall if you've been with us for some time that the religious leadership in Israel had been looking for an opportunity to get rid of Jesus.
• 3:22
  we have summed up the passion week of christ the week between palm sunday and resurrection sunday with three words those three words summarizing the passion week are teaching hanging and plotting jesus we find was daily entering the city and teaching the people were hanging on his every word his enemies were plotting how to put him to death and in fact luke chapter 19 words it well when it says
• 3:50
  And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. Teaching, hanging, and plotting. Just a couple of chapters later, Luke 21, and every day he was teaching in the temple. But at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet, and early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death.
• 4:18
  for they feared the people teaching, hanging, and plotting. You may also recall a sermon from just a few weeks ago when Judas approached these same enemies of Jesus and offered to deliver him over. Luke 22 and verse 4. Judas went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Jesus to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him in the absence.
• 4:48
  Of the crowd. Remember, if you will, that word for consent in the Greek, exomologio, means to agree openly, to acknowledge outwardly or fully. It's a compound Greek word, exo, where we get external or exoskeleton. Logio, logos, words, speech, affirmation. It's been translated in some translations, Judas promised.
• 5:15
  to deliver Jesus over but often missed and what becomes the key here is that the Greek idea actually contains that idea of being thankful thankful you say well what does that mean it means that Judas promised to help betray Jesus and he was thankful to be rid of him he was grateful for the opportunity to betray him Judas we find was not doing the chief priests and officers a favor they rather were doing Judas a favor
• 5:46
  Judas could not wait to get rid of Jesus. And despite his three years with him, and despite the love and the mercy he had been shown, and despite the sermons he had heard, he was an eyewitness to the Sermon on the Mount. Despite the many miracles performed, that Judas was thankful to betray the Savior. Judas had walked with Jesus day after day.
• 6:14
  talked with him and laughed with him and he saw his majesty and yet that same judas john macarthur says violated jesus monstrously now i've broken the remainder of chapter 22 into three sections which we will cover this sunday and next so this sunday and next sunday we'll cover the remainder of chapter 22 if you enjoy outlines or taking notes and if those are helpful to you this week we'll look at jesus deserted the apostles
• 6:42
  who pledged their very lives to him, suddenly disappear when the chains come out. Next week, we look at Jesus denied three times by the Apostle Peter, and then Jesus despised as the trials began. But we pick up this morning in verse 47, and it says, while he was still speaking, the words of Jesus regarding sin.
• 7:03
  were still on his lips you guys recall from last sunday jesus talked about temptation and we described temptation as this deadly viper like a cobra if a cobra had gotten loose in the sanctuary how would we treat that snake what would we do and that's how he describes this temptation he said last week to pray against temptation fuse we said your aluminum foil to god's aluminum bat
• 7:31
  Link your arms together with the Lord and start your Red Rover chant. All of that from last Sunday. Pray against it. Then we said submit to the will of God during temptation. God's plan for your life is better than your plan for your life anyway, right? I mean, that's what we said. And you recall the prayer of Jesus when he said, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, and this is the key, nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.
• 7:59
  submit to the will of god during temptation and then finally stay awake and on the lookout for temptation we said constant vigilance is our only chance for success and those final words of jesus prior to his arrest were still ringing in the apostles ears when in verse 47 there came a crowd and the man called judas one of the 12 was leading them he drew near to jesus to kiss him but jesus said to him judas would you betray the son of man with a kiss
• 8:30
  The other apostles at this point still had no idea what was going on. This crowd just all of a sudden appeared. And you can imagine their dismay when they see a band of soldiers now standing in the garden with them. You can imagine their confusion when they realized Judas, a man they knew, was at the head of that detachment of soldiers. Like, Judas, what are you doing here? Now, we know that kisses are intimate.
• 8:57
  They're the closest physical sign of affection we have. They indicate how we feel about the other person. For instance, we shake hands with strangers and acquaintances. When we meet somebody new, we extend our hand and we say, it's nice to meet you. Never do we reach up with both hands and grab them by the cheeks and plant a big wet one on them.
• 9:22
  It's nice to meet you. Like, what? I was a little iffy on the handshake, to be honest with you. Like, I wasn't even sure about that. But definitely not a kiss. Not between strangers. We hug our friends. Somebody we haven't seen in a long time. We embrace them. Man, it's so good to see you. How have you been? We kiss family members. This is why the Scriptures say to the early church, which is God's family,
• 9:51
  greet one another with a holy kiss romans 16 16 says i would humbly point out the word holy in that phrase holy if one of you guys comes up and tries to kiss me after the service i can promise you what will follow will not be holy all right but kisses today kisses today and in the ancient world were an expression of familial love it's what family members did but judas's kiss was a pretext
• 10:20
  It was phony. In what was normally the greatest display of love and affection, Judas perpetrated the most heinous deception. He delivered Christ over into the hands of his enemies. And he made a very public show of his affection for Christ, but in the end, he turned out to be Christ's betrayer. And beloved church friends, don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the show that is often made in public.
• 10:49
  in order to garner popularity or money or influence, even votes. People love to talk about their faith publicly when it suits them. They love to talk about their upbringing in the church when they feel like it will increase their support. Sometimes the very enemies of God love to invoke His name, but some of them are Judas's, who would praise Him in public, kiss Him in public.
• 11:18
  but then sell him to his enemies when the crowds disperse. J.C. Ryle has said it this way, to betray Christ at any time is the very height of wickedness, right? There's never a good time to betray Christ, but to betray him with a kiss proves a man to have become a very child of hell. He says there's nothing worse than that. That is the path to destruction, to praise him publicly, but then to deny him privately. And church, there's a lesson in this for us as well.
• 11:50
  May we be the same type of people in private that we are in public. May we not be the kind of people who praise Him with our lips, but then our hearts are far from Him. May we be the same, no matter where we are. It reminds me of the man who said, what you are on your knees before God, that you are and nothing else.
• 12:13
  What you are on your knees before God, in the privacy of your own home, in your prayer closet. What you are in your prayer closet when nobody else can see. That you are, he said, and nothing else. When those who invoke his name then turn around and flagrantly disobey his word, they show themselves to be who they truly are. Kissing him in public, but betraying him when no one is watching.
• 12:43
  You pick up in verse 49, when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, Lord, shall we strike with the sword? And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. At last, the remaining 11 apostles realized what was going on. Now, according to John 18, they had also witnessed Jesus' glory break through again. John 18 and verse 4 says this,
• 13:08
  Knowing all that would happen to him came forward and said to them so he actually confronts the crowd He says whom do you seek? They answered him Jesus of Nazareth Jesus said to them I am he Judas who betrayed him was standing with them when Jesus said to them I am he they drew back
• 13:27
  fell to the ground now Luke's Gospel doesn't record it but John's Gospel does apparently what happened is Jesus comes to the front and says who are you guys looking for they say Jesus of Nazareth he says that's me as soon as he says that they fall on their faces scripture doesn't elaborate what was what was going on or what happened maybe there was a small earthquake knocks them all down maybe there is this
• 13:51
  flash of brilliant and heavenly glory maybe jesus pulled back the veil on his humanity just for a moment to allow them to see the glorified son of god and in their response they hit the deck just like isaiah when isaiah saw the throne and him who was seated on it high and exalted and he in that moment was so humiliated by his own sin that he just tried to get as low as he could as fast as he could
• 14:21
  woe is me maybe that's what happened scripture doesn't say but he just says i am he and they drew back and fell to the ground and so we forced them basically to bow they all stood back up and he said well i'll ask you again who are you looking for they said well jesus of nazareth and he said i've already told you that's me if you've come to arrest me let's get it on let's get it over with right let's okay do it if you've come to arrest me then let's go i am he they drew back and fell to the ground now you recall from two sundays ago
• 14:52
  that the apostles carried with them two swords, right? In verse 38, look, Lord, here are two swords. And he said to them, well, that's enough. Two swords is enough. And it was the apostle Peter who drew one of those swords and swinging, we suppose, we assume with his left hand. It's assumed that Peter was probably left-handed. He was a lefty because he cut off the right ear of the high priest's servant.
• 15:19
  he cut off his right ear now think about this if you're holding a sword in your right hand and you take a swing at a guy with that sword using your right hand and the man is facing you then in order to cut off his right ear you also have to cut off his left ear right you got to cut off both you're taking everything with it right and so the assumption maybe is that peter was actually holding the sword with his left hand and the guy kind of dodged and peter takes this swing and it cuts off the guy's
• 15:48
  Right ear and so we assume that he was maybe left-handed But we do know from John 18 that the servants name was Malchus Malchus May very well have been standing next to the high priest. It doesn't say When Peter launched his one-man assault Peter's intention may have been to chop off the head of the high priest himself We find that Peter swung a sword like a fisherman not like a soldier
• 16:14
  Man wasn't trained with a sword. He grabs this thing and just takes this mighty hack and ends up chopping off the guy's ear. And I love the Lord's rebuke. Look at verse 51. But Jesus said, no more of this. And he touched his ear and healed him. Another gospel says that he picked up the man's ear, stuck it back on. And Jesus very clearly did not call his followers to fight.
• 16:45
  Rather, he called them to die. I'll talk more on that in just a moment. Look at verse 52. And Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who would come out against him, have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you didn't lay hands on me. But this is your hour in the power of darkness. The crowd we find consisted of several different types of men, several groups. The first we see is the chief priests.
• 17:14
  The chief priests were the men who ran the temple enterprise. They were not concerned, we know, with worship of God rather than profiting off of the people's worship. They were the ones who made money by shearing the sheep of Israel. They were those who lost money when Christ cleansed the temple twice. Twice, it says, Jesus goes up to the temple and sees rather than...
• 17:39
  These people being allowed to come in and worship the Lord rather than being stopped and forced to pay money for sacrificing, for offerings. These people were making money off of God's worship. And so twice, once at the beginning of his ministry and then once again at the end of his ministry, Jesus puts together this whip. He braids a cord together. He starts beating these guys. It was them, it was the chief priests whose tables were turned. And so it was them who both of those times were...
• 18:08
  losing money because of jesus's devotion to the purity of god's worship both of those times it says that they dedicated themselves to jesus's death but not only the chief priest we see that the officers verse 20 52 says the officers of the temple were also there that officers of the temple were like temple security they were temple cops
• 18:33
  who enforced the bidding of the chief priests. Think of them like the temple muscle, okay? The chief priests show up, they bring their bodyguards. It goes on to say the elders were there. Now, the elders were members of the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was a Rome-appointed religious ruling class made up of Pharisees and Sadducees. And this was brilliant. Imagine yourself in first century Palestine being a very high-ranking Roman official.
• 19:00
  You've got this almost global Roman Empire. It's massive. It's all of Europe, both east and west. It's the Middle East and it's northern Africa. And now your job is to try to oversee all of that, to administrate all of that. And you've got this one little group of people, the Jewish people, living in this one little spit of land, Israel, which connects these three continents. And man, are they passionate about religion.
• 19:26
  It's a religion you don't know anything about, and it's a religion you don't care anything about. If you're one of these Roman officials, high-ranking Roman officials, the only thing you care about is that they pay their taxes. Just give us the money. And as long as you give us the money, we don't care what God you serve. But every time they turn around, these people are rioting again over some religious thing.
• 19:53
  And so rather than deal with those religious laws, they appointed a group of about 70 men whose job it was to oversee everything religious. Don't ever bring us anything religious. If you've got a problem with what's going on in the temple or what's going on in your scrolls or what's going on in the synagogues, those things let the Sanhedrin handle as long as you pay your taxes.
• 20:19
  The elders were the Pharisees and Sadducees who made up that Sanhedrin. In fact, these are the guys who Christ would stand trial in front of in just a few hours the next morning. These are the guys who would condemn him to be worthy of execution. One of them became famous. In fact, one of them, his name you probably know. He was Joseph of Arimathea, was one of these Sanhedrinists.
• 20:46
  who ends up becoming a follower of Jesus. Joseph of Arimathea is the guy who gave, he donated his brand new family tomb so that Jesus could be buried, became a follower of the Lord's. Now Mark's gospel in chapter 14 includes another group called the scribes, named the scribes. These were experts in the law. John's gospel in chapter 18 says that there was also a band of Roman soldiers.
• 21:11
  A detachment of soldiers from the Roman cohort had been dispatched. John even includes that their captain accompanied them, which means that that band of soldiers was probably pretty large, maybe in the neighborhood of 200 men. So imagine this for just a minute. You're Jesus. You're praying in the garden. You're one of the apostles. You're praying or sleeping alongside him. It's quiet. It's dark. And all of a sudden,
• 21:39
  All of these guys, the chief priests, the officers, the elders, the scribes, and 200 Roman soldiers show up carrying torches, clubs, spears, swords. Makes Jesus' statement in verse 52 make sense. Have you come out against a robber with swords and clubs? What did you think I was going to do? Jesus had never committed any crime.
• 22:05
  He'd never broken any laws. And yet when he looked around, he saw what looked like a mob with a bunch of pitchforks coming to kill Frankenstein. Like, what do you guys think? He even says, I've been with you every day. I've been in the temple teaching every day and you didn't lay hands on me then. But now I know what you're here to do. He says, this is your hour.
• 22:30
  and the power of darkness. I see what you're coming to do. You're coming to remove the light of the world. You're coming to turn the lights off. Verse 54 says, then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. We're going to talk about this verse for a few minutes because there's one word in this verse which doesn't make any sense to me, and it's the fourth word in.
• 22:59
  count in verse 54 what's that fourth word you guys all see it it's the word him that word makes no sense to me it should read then they seized them jesus wasn't alone in the garden there were 11 other guys with him in fact one of them was standing there holding a sword what about peter where'd everybody else go then they seized him it says and led
• 23:30
  him away how quickly we see the zeal of man dissipate in the face of persecution peter christ's foremost apostle i mean the disciple with the most zeal the disciple who had only moments ago unsheathed his sword to draw blood vanished only to follow at a great distance and where was his brother where was andrew where was philip and bartholomew where were matthew and simon where were james and john are they the son
• 24:01
  thunder i mean if there was ever a time for some thunder right i mean it was only days before that they were asking jesus can we just call down fire from heaven and consume an entire town where were those guys doesn't even mention them they disappeared they scattered like roaches when the lights go on it turns out they were all talk there's a word i want us to focus our attention on for just a moment it can be found in acts chapter 8 acts chapter 1 and verse 8
• 24:34
  It says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be my witnesses. There's that word, witnesses, in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. The word translated witnesses is the word martus, from which we get the English word martyr. As we know, a martyr is one who, yes, bears witness, but bears witness by their death. That's a martyr. The actual translation of the same verse could have read this way. You will be my...
• 25:06
  martyrs in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth. When I was young, I had a friend in ministry who loved street evangelism. I think that's a special calling, just to walk up to strangers and share your fate. He would go door to door, just knocking on doors, sharing the gospel. He would hand out tracks in the Walmart parking lot. He would ride the city bus with no destination in mind. In fact, he bought a city bus pass.
• 25:34
  Just an unlimited one. And he would go for hours at a time. He'd get on some bus, no destination in mind, and he would just ride that thing around the city in circles. And whoever got on, he would go sit with them and talk to about Jesus, and he called it witnessing. He would often walk by my office and say, Hey, Danny, I'm going witnessing. And I had learned this word not long before that. I'm going witnessing, to which I would reply with, Man, I'm sorry to hear it. I wish we'd had more time together.
• 26:04
  There are so many things we've left unsaid, right? You know what I'm witnessing? You're going to be a martyr for your faith. J.C. Ryle words it well, I think, when he says this. He says, crusaders will always be found more numerous than martyrs. Crusaders, those willing to fight. You'll always find more people who are willing to fight than people who are willing to die. And church, what about you?
• 26:35
  Are you a crusader, willing to fight, willing to throw blows, willing to take your stand, very devoted until the lights turn on, until the heat cranks up, very passionate until it times to get skin in the game, and then suddenly you're nowhere to be found? Or are you a martyr? Are you really, truly, honestly ready to forsake the world and follow Christ?
• 27:04
  Will your faith withstand the persecution that is likely coming? This is where I usually start getting emails. Pastor Danny, do you really think persecution is coming to the American church? You said on Sunday, the persecution that is likely coming. Do you really think persecution is coming to the American church? Now, I will admit that generally speaking, I'm a glass is half empty kind of guy. I know that about myself.
• 27:34
  My friends might call me a bit of a pessimist. I would call me a bit of a realist. I'm not at all trying to call down rain clouds on this beautiful and sunny day. But it doesn't take a prophet, I think, to read the writing on the wall. A man is this year's NCAA women's swimming champion. In case you've been living under a rock, allow me to enlighten you. NBC is calling him the Jackie Robinson of women's swimming. Can you imagine that? Wow. Their headline.
• 28:06
  And I quote Leah Thomas. He switched his name to a woman's name. Leah Thomas's NCAA championship performance gives women's sports a crucial opportunity. I read that and I thought, opportunity for what? To cease to exist? We're all watching March Madness right now, right? NCAA basketball, men's and women's basketball. What will happen next year in the NCAA women's college basketball championship if a man decides to play?
• 28:37
  I imagine the physical disparity between the two. I thought it's an opportunity. It's an opportunity to destroy women's sports. That's what it is. Their subcaption says, anyone who cares about the advancement of sports, and women's sports in particular, should celebrate. They use the word her, should celebrate her win. A man is one of this year's USA Today Women of the Year. A man.
• 29:07
  Rachel Levine, again, switched his name to a woman's name, is actually biologically a man. He was last year appointed the Assistant Secretary for Health of the United States. He was also recently this year given a four-star Admiral Commission in the U.S. Health Commission Corps, making him what they're calling, and I quote, the first female four-star Admiral in the United States Uniformed Services. It's a dude. The Disney Corporation. You're like, whoa. I know I'm treading on holy ground here.
• 29:37
  The Disney Corporation has launched a full-scale assault on biblical values regarding gender, sexuality, and marriage. Soon-to-be-released prequel to the Toy Story anthology called Lightyear includes a same-sex kiss for the express purpose of standing against biblical values. That's what the CEO of Disney said. The list goes on. I mean, the latest Supreme Court justice nominee who's being tried this week, right, questioned this week, being interviewed this week, asked a simple question. What is a woman? Her response, I can't answer that.
• 30:09
  I thought if a Supreme Court justice can't answer that, then who can? China has reported an alarmingly diminishing population the last couple of decades there. They have more deaths than births. Those who are old enough will recall that China implemented what they called a one-child policy. Do you guys remember that? One-child policy for many years in an effort to stem what they believed was an imminent population explosion. They thought their population was going to get out of control.
• 30:38
  And so they limited parents to one child. And so these Chinese parents began aborting pregnancies by the millions. And because of their desire to maintain their family names, parents chose to have sons. They often aborted their daughters. You fast forward 30 years to today. The Chinese population right now is under serious threat of extinction. And don't get me wrong, there are still a billion of them. But the young men who are ready to get married today have no young women to marry.
• 31:08
  There is a generation of Chinese men right now between the ages of 2035 who have no suitable partners. You say, well, don't worry though. We just realized that men can get pregnant. We're supposed to accept that statement without any objection. We're supposed to accept that children can be sterilized and given hormone treatments in elementary school without even notifying their parents. We're supposed to live in a world of make-believe.
• 31:38
  where everyone can do anything they want. They can be anything they want to be. They can do anything they want to do without any consequence. And I hate to be the guy who always has to call things the way they are, but men still cannot get pregnant. Women still cannot dunk a basketball. If you see that next year in the NCAA Women's Championship, then you should raise your eyebrows. Like, wait! This has never happened before. We should be suspect and beloved friends. Who will stand against these things if not the church?
• 32:10
  Who's going to stand for biblical values if not those who actually care what the Bible says? Who's going to speak the truth to these lost and confused people who are being encouraged in their sin, who are being led astray from their youth? I mean, church, it's us or it's nobody. And yes, as we take our stance for the sake of the coming generations whose minds and hearts will be warped and twisted by such indoctrination, and that's what it is, yes, we will be persecuted. And probably in small ways at first. Zoning laws, building permits.
• 32:43
  The ability to attend certain social gatherings or events. The financial freedoms that churches have enjoyed in terms of tax-exempt status, that will no doubt be taken away. I actually don't think we're far from that. Our ability to gather in mass without fear of condemnation will no doubt be threatened. As we take our stand, the world will have less and less room for us. And church, listen, I don't know what the Lord will do.
• 33:10
  Maybe America will experience a massive spiritual revival and tens of millions will come to Christ and I will be the first on that day to proclaim to God be the glory. But if that doesn't happen, then one of two things is coming. Either there will be widespread compromise in the church and like the Apostle Peter who suddenly disappeared when it was time to be arrested with Christ, the church will bow to the culture. Or...
• 33:42
  The church will remain unmoved and widespread persecution will follow. And so I would say prepare your hearts and prepare your minds and prepare your families. We've got a lot of crusaders, but on that day, we will need people who are ready to be martyrs. You may hear all of that and you say, okay, Pastor Danny, what do we do? What do we do? And by way of conclusion, allow me to turn our attention to the book of Jude.
• 34:12
  What the church will need and what do we do is to heed Jude's advice. The church will need men and women who will, with their battle armor on, do what Jude describes beginning in verse 17. And it says, remember beloved, the predictions of the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you in the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions.
• 34:39
  Worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, but you beloved. Now listen to all of these imperatives. He's giving us here, what do we do? When that's going on, these scoffers, divisive, worldly, ungodly people, when that is going on, what should the church be doing? Build yourselves up in your most holy faith. Pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God. Wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
• 35:09
  How are we then supposed to respond to the world who is going down that road, this path to destruction? He says this, and have mercy on those who doubt. Listen, church, we're not called to go to war with them. We're not called to do that. We're not called to fight with them. You say, well, why not? Because they're not our enemies. Those are not our enemies.
• 35:31
  They could be our future brothers and sisters in Christ, and that's what we would pray. Have mercy on those people who doubt. Have mercy on them who are confused. Don't forget the apostle Paul said, but by the grace of God, I would go down the same roads. I mean, in a different context, you guys, Pastor Danny would struggle with the same things. I'm not above any of those things. Have mercy on them. Save others, he says, by snatching them out of the fire. Wow, what a great picture that is. Reach into the fire.
• 36:03
  and grab people out. You say, well, won't I get burned? Yeah. To others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. What should we do? Well, we should become men and women who are willing to do those things. Building ourselves up, praying in the Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ that leads us to eternal life, having mercy on those who doubt, saving others by snatching them out of the fire.
• 36:34
  showing mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. It's not compromising on these things. Church, we cannot applaud. We cannot applaud the things we know lead to destruction. We can't applaud the things that we know Jesus came to die for. We can't applaud those things. Rather, standing for the truth. But not in an obstinate and even wicked and annoying way. Rather, speaking the truth.
• 37:06
  in love. Lord, we thank you for the truth of your word, which is so clear. God, anybody who thinks that your word is obsolete or irrelevant or archaic has clearly never been confronted with it. It speaks into the issues of our day, even today. And God, give us strength and courage to stand for the truth. But Lord, give us strength and courage to do that without a fight, even if it means our own demise. Lord, may we be willing to lay our lives down the way that you did.
• 37:46
  for a world that does not know you. And God, as we consider the power of the enemy and maybe are a little bit overwhelmed and even discouraged by it, Lord, may we turn our eyes and consider even to a greater degree the power of the cross. Because the power of Jesus, the cross is the power of Jesus for the salvation of all who believe. That's the gospel we believe. It can save anybody. And so, Lord, I pray that that message, message of love would ring out from us. In Jesus' name, amen.