Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

Todaywe're looking at Luke 24:25-35. Luke is the only gospel that tells us the storyabout these two men on the road to Emmaus. While they're walking, they'reconfused, troubled, sad, discouraged, and disappointed. Jesus did not fulfillthe expectations they had about setting up the kingdom and running out theRomans authorities. They had heard that Jesus had resurrected, but they did notbelieve. My friends, when we don't believe in the resurrection like we should,even as believers, we're going to be disappointed, discouraged, and sad. Sowhat is the answer to that?  Wefind it here in this passage. Jesus talked to them about the Scriptures, Moses,the prophets, and all the things in them concerning Himself. Then He acted asif He would go further when they got to the village of Emmaus. But theyconstrained Him and said, "No, it's getting evening. Stay with us."So He did, and what happened next, Luke say it best: “As He sat at the tablewith them, He took bread, blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. Thentheir eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight.They said to one another, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talkedwith us on the road and while He opened the scriptures to us?" So theyrose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and thosewho were with them gathered together, saying, "The Lord is risen indeedand has appeared to Simon." They told about the things that had happenedon the road and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.” Whata powerful message for you and me today. It was as they heard the scriptures,as Jesus talked and conversed with them and fellowshipped with them, theirhearts began to burn. Even though they didn't see Him exactly as He really is,the Son of God, the risen Savior, their hearts still burned from the Scriptures.Then as they sat at bread with Him and He broke it, their eyes were opened.  Myfriend, the answer to sad, discouraged, disappointed hearts is when you spendtime with Jesus. Spend time with Jesus in His Word, meditate upon Him, thinkabout Him, and listen to Him. Your heart will begin to burn, and that's when Heopens your eyes, makes Himself known to you in the scripture, and you have thatreal fellowship with the Lord. This is what we need, “Just a closer walkwith Jesus”, as the old hymn says. Spend that time with Him.  That'swhat you and I should desire more than anything else as we open up the Scripturein the morning, not just to read our devotional Scriptures, but to spend timewith Jesus in His Word. As they ran back the eight miles to Jerusalem to theUpper Room so excited that they couldn't wait to tell the other disciples whatthey had experienced. I'll guarantee you if every church member spent time withJesus during the week in the word of God, when they came together on Sundaymorning, they would not have a dead service.  Whenthey got back to the service, the other eleven and many of the other followersof Jesus were all excited about what had happened. They exclaimed that Simonhad also seen Jesus. They were all saying, "Jesus indeed is risen. He hasappeared." What a great service they had back then, rejoicing in the risenSavior. Would to God that would happen in all our churches each Sunday. I havea feeling that he crowds would come like they did on the day of Pentecost.  Haveyour experienced a “burning heart” recently? When was the last time that theHoly Spirit opened your eyes to see Jesus in the Word?  Godbless!

When the womencame to the tomb, they were perplexed because the stone was rolled away, butthere was no body. And the answer was that they needed to remember God's Word.Today, are you perplexed about the problems of life, the problems in yourfamily, and all the different difficulties or challenges that you're goingthrough? You're perplexed as to what is going to happen? What is going on? Oh,my friend, remember the promises of Jesus. He had promised His followers thatHe will rise again. “He indeed is risen as He said”.  NextLuke tells us of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and as they'rewalking, they're talking and questioning. In verse 15 says; “So it was whilethey conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.But their eyes were restrained so that they did not know who He was”. Hewas like a stranger. He begins walking with them and asked, "What are youtalking about”? “What things happened in Jerusalem?" Of course Heknew, but He wanted to hear them say it, and listen to them. They began to tellHim how disappointed they were because they thought that Jesus, the Messiah,would bring about His kingdom. How He had healed people and had done greatmiracles. And they were so disappointed and now they're discouraged because itdidn't turn out as they expected. And it says, their hearts were sad.  FinallyJesus speaks in verses 25-26. Canyou imagine this Bible conference? Oh, don't you wish you could have beenthere? Imagine the greatest Teacher explaining the greatest themes from thegreatest Book and bringing the greatest blessings to men's lives that openedtheir eyes to see Him and hearts opened up to receive the Word and lips openedto go back and tell others what Jesus had said to them. Wouldn't you have lovedthat?  Yearsago, as I was reading Morning and Evening devotional by Charles Haddon Spurgeonevery day, I came across the following devotional on January 18 in the eveningsection. And I thought I would share it today as we close our chat. Spurgeon wrote: "Thetwo disciples on the road to Emmaus had a most profitable journey. Theircompanion and teacher was the best of tutors; the interpreter one of athousand, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The LordJesus condescended to become a preacher of the gospel, and He was not ashamedto exercise His calling before an audience of two persons, neither does He nowrefuse to become the teacher of even one. Let us court the company of soexcellent an Instructor, for till He is made unto us wisdom we shall never bewise unto salvation. Thisunrivalled tutor used as His class-book the best of books. Although able toreveal fresh truth, He preferred to expound the old. He knew by His omnisciencewhat was the most instructive way of teaching, and by turning at once to Mosesand the prophets, He showed us that the surest road to wisdom is notspeculation, reasoning, or reading human books, but meditation upon the Word ofGod. The readiest way to be spiritually rich in heavenly knowledge is to dig inthis mine of diamonds, to gather pearls from this heavenly sea. When JesusHimself sought to enrich others, He wrought in the quarry of Holy Scripture. Thefavoured pair were led to consider the best of subjects, for Jesus spake ofJesus, and expounded the things concerning Himself. Here the diamond cut thediamond, and what could be more admirable? The Master of the House unlocked Hisown doors, conducted the guests to His table, and placed His own dainties uponit. He who hid the treasure in the field Himself guided the searchers to it.Our Lord would naturally discourse upon the sweetest of topics, and He couldfind none sweeter than His own person and work: with an eye to these we shouldalways search the Word. O for grace to study the Bible with Jesus as both ourteacher and our lesson!” God bless!

"...21 But we were hoping that it was He whowas going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third daysince these things happened. ..." Luke24 is one of the most exciting chapters in the Bible as it describes theresurrection of Jesus Christ. When you have a perplexed heart like the womendid at the cross because they found no body, the tomb was opened and Jesusrevealed Himself to Mary Magdalene, I am reminded that Jesus knows our name andreveals Himself to perplexed hearts. And oh, what a difference it makes. Todaywe're looking at verses 13 through 35, where we find two disciples on the roadto Emmaus. They had disappointed, discouraged hearts, and were sad until Jesusopened their eyes. Emmauswas a small village eight miles northwest of Jerusalem. The two men walkingfrom Jerusalem to Emmaus were disappointed and discouraged disciples who had noreason to be discouraged. They had heard the reports of the women that the tombwas empty and that Jesus was alive, but they did not believe them. They hadhoped that Jesus would redeem Israel (Luke 24:21), but their hopes had beenshattered. We get the impression that these men were discouraged anddisappointed because God did not do what they wanted Him to do. They saw theglory of the kingdom, but they failed to understand the suffering. Jesusgraciously walked with them and listened to their "animated heatedconversation" (Luke 24:17, Wuest). No doubt they were quoting various OldTestament prophecies and trying to remember what Jesus had taught, but theywere unable to put it all together and come up with an explanation that madesense. Was He a failure or a success? Why did He have to die? Was there afuture for the nation? Thereis a touch of humor in Luke 24:19 when Jesus asked, "What things?"He had been at the heart of all that had happened in Jerusalem, and now Hewas asking them to tell Him what occurred! How patient our Lord is with us asHe listens to us tell Him what He already knows (Romans 8:34). But we may come"boldly" ("with freedom of speech") to His throne and pourout our hearts to Him, and He will help us (Ps. 62:8; Heb. 4:16). Thelonger Cleopas talked, the more he indicted himself and his friend for theirunbelief. What more evidence could they want? Witnesses (including Apostles)had seen the tomb empty. Angels had announced that Jesus was alive. Witnesseshad seen Him alive and heard Him speak. The proof was there! "Faithcomes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Thisexplains why Jesus opened the Word to these two men as the three of them walkedto Emmaus. Their real problem was not in their heads but in their hearts (seeLuke 24:25 and 32, and note v. 38). They could have discussed the subject fordays and never arrived at a satisfactory answer. What they needed was a freshunderstanding of the Word of God, and Jesus gave that understanding to them. Heopened the Scriptures and then opened their eyes, and they realized that Jesuswas not only alive but right there with them! Whatwas their basic problem? They did not believe all that the prophets had writtenabout the Messiah. That was the problem with most of the Jews in that day: theysaw Messiah as a conquering Redeemer, but they did not see Him as a SufferingServant. As they read the Old Testament, they saw the glory but not thesuffering, the crown but not the cross. The teachers in that day were notunlike some of the "success preachers" today, blind to the totalmessage of the Bible. Maythe Lord help us to get into the Word and give Jesus and the Holy Spirit timeto open our eyes to the Truth! Remember Jesus parting words to His disciples: “…andlo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). Godbless!

Rememberwhat Jesus said in John 14:1, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Youbelieve in God, believe also in Me”. I love that because you see in thispassage that we have in Luke 24, there were many different kinds of responsesin the hearts of people concerning Jesus and as to what had happened. Verse 4tells us the first women at the tomb “were greatly perplexed”.They had perplexed hearts. But my friend, I'm telling you, the empty tomb andthe risen Savior is the answer for perplexed hearts. Inverses 1-7, that we read yesterday, the angel had said to the ladies that Jesuswould be delivered into sinful men, be crucified, and on the third day riseagain. “And they remembered His words” (v. 8). Then they returned fromthe tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. It wasMary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with themwho told these things to the apostles.  Itmust have been a good group of ladies that had gone to the tomb early thatmorning (v. 10). Their words to the disciples seemed to them like idle tales,and they did not believe them (v. 11). Only Peter arose and ran to the tomb, andafter stooping down, he saw the linen clothes lying by themselves (v. 12). Andhe departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.  Thispassage tells us that Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week.And it must have been very early. According to Matthew 28:2-4, a great earthquaketook place and an angel came and rolled the stone away. This was not done tolet Jesus out, but to let the witnesses in to see that the tomb was empty. Andof course, the message was and still is, “come and see” (Matthew 28:6).  Now,Mary Magdalene is the woman who had been specially helped by Jesus and was verydevoted to Him (Luke 8: 2). She had lingered at the cross and became the firstperson that Jesus appeared to (Mark 15:48). Luke mentions that she was thefirst at the tomb.  Then, we also read thatMary the mother of James, Joanna, and the other devout women also were at thattomb with her. They came to prepare the body of Jesus for burial. But theirlabor of love was transformed into gladness when they discovered that Jesus wasalive.  Theirmain concern on the way there, was who will roll this stone away, because theyknew that the Roman soldier would not allow someone to break the Roman seal,especially a group of mourning Jewish women. But God solved the problem forthem because the tomb was open when they got there, and there were two angels thatappeared to these ladies. Matthew and Mark also talk about the one angel thatgave them the message. The angel's message was a kind rebuke: “Rememberhow He spoke to you when you were still in Galilee, that He must die, He mustbe crucified, and He would rise again”.  God'sanswer for our perplexed hearts today is also to remember! We need to rememberthe word of God. To do that we need to read it and have it in our hearts. Itwas then they were told to go back and tell the other disciples, which ofcourse, they did. But it was Mary Magalene that came back to the tomb, andshe's still perplexed, but Jesus shows up and meets with her according to thegospel of John. She supposes Him first to be a gardener. But then when He saysher name and she recognizes His voice because: “My sheep hear My voice, andthey know My voice, and I know their name” (John 10:3-4). Everythingchanged for her at that point.  Myfriend, Jesus will change everything for you too when you hear His voice sayyour name. Today, He will speak to us through His Word if we will only listen.  GodBless!

The fact and the truth of theresurrection of Jesus cannot be underestimated! John Stott said,"Christianity is in its very essence a resurrection religion. The conceptof resurrection lies at its very heart, and if you remove it, Christianity isdestroyed." Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 15:17: “If Christ benot risen, then our faith is vain.  It isempty. It has nothing to it. And we are yet in our sins”. Yes, the Bibleteaches, and the gospels affirm, and the witnesses affirm, and history affirmsthat Jesus Christ indeed rose from the grave early that Sunday morning 2,000years ago after His crucifixion on the cross.  Theresurrection of Jesus Christ affirms to us that He is indeed the Son of God,just as He claimed to be Romans 1:4: “And declared to be the Son of God withpower, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead”. It also proves that His sacrifice forsin has been accepted and that the work of salvation is completed (Romans4:24-25). Those who trust Him can "walk in newness of life" becauseHe is alive and imparts His power to them (Romans 6:4; Gal. 2:20). Our Lord'sresurrection also declares to us that He is the Judge who will come one day andjudge the world (Acts 17:30-31). Itis no surprise, then, that Satan has attacked the truth of the Resurrection.The first lie that he spawned was that the disciples came and stole Christ'sbody (Matthew 28:11-15), but it is difficult to imagine how they could havedone this. To begin with, the tomb was carefully guarded (Matthew 27:61-66);and it would have been next to impossible for the frightened Apostles tooverpower the soldiers, open the tomb, and secure the body. But the biggestobstacle is the fact that the Apostles themselves did not believe that He wouldbe resurrected! Why, then, would they steal His body and try to perpetrate ahoax? Asecond lie is that Jesus did not really die on the cross but only swooned, andwhen He was put into the cool tomb, He revived. But Pilate carefully checkedwith the centurion to see whether Jesus was dead (Mark 15:44), and the Romansoldiers who broke the legs of the two thieves knew that Jesus had died (John19:31-34). Furthermore, how could a "cool tomb" transform Christ'sbody so that He could appear and disappear and walk through closed doors? Themessage of the Gospel rests on the death of Jesus Christ and His resurrection(1 Corinthians 15:1-8). The Apostles were sent out as witnesses of Hisresurrection (Acts 1:22), and the emphasis in the Book of Acts is on theresurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul put it plainly in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19: “Andif Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then theyalso which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only wehave hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.”Thisexplains why Luke climaxed his book with a report of some of the appearances ofJesus after He had been raised from the dead. He first appeared to MaryMagdalene (John 20:11-18), then to the "other women" (Matt. 28:9-10),and then to the two men on the way to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-22). At some time, Healso appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34) and to His half-brother James (1 Corinthians15:7).Thatevening, He appeared to the Apostles (Luke 24:36-43), but Thomas was not withthem (John 20:19-25). A week later, He appeared to the Apostles again,especially for the sake of Thomas (John 20:26-31). He appeared to seven of theApostles when they were fishing at the Sea of Galilee (John 21). He appearedseveral times to the Apostles before His ascension, teaching them and preparingthem for their ministry (Acts 1:1-12). Whenthe believers discovered that Jesus was alive, it made a tremendous differencein their lives. And it has transformed millions of lives since then like mineand yours! “Heis Risen! He is Risen Indeed!”

Psalm 22 which has been called by many as “The Psalmof the Cross”. There are two passages I really want to encourage you to taketime over the next few days to look at, and that's Psalm 22 and also Isaiah 53.Both of these are Messianic passages that prophecy and tell us about thesufferings of Christ. Psalm 22 was written by David 1,000 years before thecrucifixion of Christ. The Bible calls him both a king and a prophet (Acts2:30). And here he looked ahead one-thousand years and clearly saw the LordJesus Christ dying on the cross. Davidbegins the psalm with these words, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?" Jesus quoted these very words on the cross (Matthew27:46; Mark 15:34). As you read through this psalm, you find that many versesare directly related to the cross of Jesus Christ. In verses 6 through 8, Jesuson the cross experienced this: "But I am a worm and no man, a reproachof men and despised by the people. All those who see Me ridicule Me. They shootout the lip. They shake the head, saying He trusted in the Lord. Let Him rescueHim. Let Him deliver Him since He delights in Him." This is fulfilled inMatthew 27:39-44 and what we just studied in Luke 23. Psalm22:16, "They pierced My hands and My feet." This was fulfilledin Matthew 27:35 when they nailed Him to the cross and pierced both His handsand His feet. Remember later in John 20:20-27, Jesus would say to Thomas, "Touchand see the scars in My hand and My side”. John 19:23 records the fulfilmentof Psalm 22:17, "They divided My garments among them and for Myclothing they cast lots." Ibelieve Psalm 22:12-18, describes the mental and spiritual sufferings of Christduring the three hours of darkness as the devil and the demons of hellattempted to destroy Him and God turned His back on His Son. David wrote, "Manybulls have surrounded Me. The strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. Theygape upon Me with their mouths like a raging and a roaring lion. I'm poured outlike water. All My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is meltedwithin Me." When you understand what took place in the crucifixion,literally the bones of Christ, when they put that cross into the ground with athud and He's hanging there, it's like it put all His bones out of joint. Hisheart is poured out like wax as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. AndHe says in verse 16, "For dogs have surrounded Me. The congregation ofthe wicked has enclosed Me. They pierce My hands and My feet. I can count allMy bones. They look and stare at Me." Jesus was flogged before thecross. And literally His bones actually could be seen as He was hanging on thecross. In verse 18 we read: "They divided My garments among them andfor My clothing they cast lots."  Jesus hung naked on the cross in shame andsuffering. Oh,my friend, some believe that Jesus possibly quoted this entire psalm on thecross at some time when He cried out, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?" Yes, we see both the darkness of the cross and the glory ofthe cross, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. I alsoencourage you to read Hebrews 2:9-18. It begins with: "But we see Jesuswho is made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death."Psalm 22 is quoted in Hebrews 2:12.  Hebrews2:14-15 describes the purpose of Christ death and suffering: “Inasmuch thenas the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared inthe same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death,that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all theirlifetime subject to bondage.” Todaywe should be so thankful for a Savior who suffered so much for you and I thatwe could be set free from the guilt and the penalty of our sins. Please meditateon these things. Godbless!

Todaywe'll be looking at the last verses of Luke 23:50-56. As we look at thispassage of scripture, we learn that Joseph of Arimathea was also one of theseven meetings that Jesus had in this chapter with other people. Remember Hemet with Pilate and He met with Herod. On the way to the crucifixion, He metwith Simon of Cyrene who helped carry His cross. It was then that He spoke tothe women of Jerusalem. He spoke to the thief on the cross saying, “Todayyou'll be with Me in Paradise.” And then of course there was His Fatherthat He conversed with while He was on the cross. Now,this chapter ends with Christ being taken down off the cross by a man namedJoseph of Arimathea. Only the Gospel of John tells us that there was anotherperson involved with the burial of Jesus, and that was Nicodemus. Johnintroduces him in John chapter 3. In John 7:50, Nicodemus speaks up for Jesusin one of the council meetings when they're trying to condemn Him. And ofcourse, we believe that neither Joseph of Arimathea nor Nicodemus was presentaccording to Mark 14:64 when “all the council” voted to condemned Jesusto death; they must not have been there because they were a part of thatSanhedrin, and they would not have voted to condemn Jesus. Accordingto the Gospel of John 19:38-42, we also notice that this tomb where they buriedJesus was in a garden nearby the place where He was crucified. We believe thatit's very possible that this is a tomb that Joseph had previously prepared forJesus. He and Nicodemus had read the Scriptures. They had studied the fact thatthe Christ would die He would rise again. And they knew it was only a temporaryplace to bury the body of Jesus. It was a borrowed tomb in a sense, but it wasspecially prepared by Joseph for Jesus nearby. Joseph would have prepared hisown tomb in his home city close to where he lived. So we believe Joseph ownedthis tomb and he prepared it for Jesus.  Andwe also know that this burial fulfilled the Scripture. We believe that it ispossible Nicodemus and Joseph had studied the Scriptures in Isaiah 53:9, andalso knew that it says that the Messiah “made His grave with the rich in Hisdeath”. And so they fulfilled that Scripture. When Jesus died, Joseph isready to go immediately to Pilate. Nicodemus is part of helping have everythingready. Because they would not have been able to go shopping for these items onPassover, Joseph and Nicodemus must have already purchased the things that wereneeded for the burial of Christ, the fine linen that they wrapped Him and the hundredpounds of myrrh and aloes to anoint His body (John 19:38-44).  Itwas very important that Jesus be buried by people that would know He was deadbecause His death and resurrection are the very essence of the Gospel. Theproof was evidenced by the fact that men like these, men of character andintegrity were the ones who took His body off the cross and buried Him. Ifthere were any doubt about His death or burial, that could affect the messageand the ministry of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-8). Italso might be interesting to remember that in Genesis 2:1-3, after six days, Godfinished the work of the “old Creation” and He rested. Now after six hours onthe cross, Jesus finished the work of the “new Creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17),and He rested on the Sabbath in Joseph's tomb.  And because Christ's resurrection, three dayslater, we know that we can experience this new life in Jesus Christ and alsofind our “rest and peace” in Him! ThankGod for people that stand up for Jesus like Joseph and Nicodemus and were partof this very powerful story of the death, burial, and resurrection of JesusChrist. God bless you as you meditate on these things today. Are you willing tobe identified with the resurrected Savior today? Godbless!

Jesus justbreathed His last and had cried out, "Father, into Thy hands I commitMy spirit."  Now,there are three responses that Luke records here in these verses that happenwhen Jesus died. In verse 47, the centurion who was in charge of the executiontestified, "So when the centurion saw what had happened, he glorifiedGod, saying, certainly this was a righteous Man." Mark's Gospel describethis scene also: “So when the centurion, who stood opposite Him, saw that Hecried out like this and breathed His last, he said, "Truly this Man wasthe Son of God!"  (Mark 15:39). Heexclaimed that Jesus was an innocent, righteous Man, who is the Son of God.  Thiscenturion had observe Jesus for six hours as He was being crucified and as hewatch what took place and also heard the words of Jesus from the cross somethinghappens in his heart.  He had heard thewords of Jesus to the mockers, "Father, forgive them. They know notwhat they do”. He heard Jesus say to the murder being crucified with him, “Todayyou'll be with Me in paradise." He heard Jesus speak to John and Hismother Mary, "Behold your mother. Mother, behold your son." Thenthe three hours of darkness happen and he had heard Jesus cried out, "MyGod, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" And then shortly after that heheard Jesus cry out a shout of victory, "It is finished."  Andlast the centurion heard Jesus said, "Father, Into Your hands I commitMy spirit." Then he watched as Jesus' head dropped and breathed Hislast. Usually, people that were being crucified might have lingered for daysbefore they actually died. This centurion actually, personally observed Jesuslaid down His life. He felt the earthquake and watch the rock split and he wasso amazed and it says that “he glorified God”. As he had watched allthis, it came over him. There is no doubt that this Man indeed is the Son ofGod. He is the Savior. He is an innocent Man. He's a righteous Man. I believe itis very possible that we will see this centurion in heaven. Who knows? Maybe itwill be Cornelius who later called for Peter in Acts 10 to clearly hear the planof salvation. I guess we will find out when we get to heaven. Thenin verse 48, we see the other response as, “the whole crowd who cametogether to that sight, seeing what had been done, they beat their breast andreturned”. Remember not only did the darkness take place, but when Jesusgave up His life and laid it down, my friend, there was a great earthquake. Godshook the ground, and they all felt that, and they beat their breast. I'm notsure if they were repenting, if they were saying, "We wish we hadn't seena righteous Man die like this." We don't know. Maybe some of them gotsaved later and some of them maybe didn't. They were spectators, and they left.Like so many today and unchanged! Butthen there were His acquaintances in verse 49. And the women who followed Himfrom Galilee stood at a distance watching these things. They didn't leave. Now,isn't that interesting because women were mentioned last at the cross, and theywere mentioned first at His resurrection. Isn't that interesting? Oh, myfriend, God loves everyone. He loves the poor, the rich, as we're going to seewhen we talk about Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus loves the sinner. He loves thewicked. He loves you today so much.  Thecenturion proclaimed, “This Man is the Son of God”! My friend, that'sthe real question. Who is Jesus? Is He indeed the Son of God? Oh, if youbelieve that, you can believe that He is the Savior of the world, and He's theonly one who can save you from your sins. That's crucial. And so, I trust todaythat you'll trust Jesus to be your Lord and your Savior. And like thecenturion, you will proclaim Him as innocent, the Son of God, and you willreceive Him as your Lord and Savior. Godbless!

These verses cover the last three hours that Jesushung on the cross at Calvary. During the first three hours during the morning fromnine to twelve, Jesus made three statements: "Father, forgive them.They know not what they do." (Luke 23:34). To the thief, Hesaid, "Today you will be with Me in paradise." (Luke 23:43). Andin John 19:25-27, He turned to John the disciple and Mary His mother, who wereclose by, and said, "Woman, behold your son," and to John,"Behold your mother." He ensured His mother, whose husband Joseph hadpassed away, was taken care of as He was dying on the cross. TheBible tells us in Mark chapter 15 that at the sixth hour, darkness covered thewhole land until the ninth hour. For those last three hours, from noon tothree, what took place was between God and His Son. Remember Jesus had alwayscalled God His Father previously in all the Gospel accounts of His ministry.The last four statements of Christ on the cross, we believe, took place at theend of those three hours according to the Gospel of Mark 15:33-41. “When thesixth hour came, darkness covered the whole land until the ninth hour. At theninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lamasabachthani," which is translated, "My God, My God, why have Youforsaken Me?"  Webelieve this was the fourth statement Jesus made to His Father but notice He addressedHim as “God”. Then He said, "I thirst," in John 19:28, and inJohn 19:30, just before He gave up His spirit, He said, "It isfinished." I believe the work of salvation was complete on the crossof Calvary.  Thelast statement Jesus said was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit Myspirit." In His final statements, Jesus first said, "My God, MyGod, why have You forsaken Me?" Did you notice that in His first statementand His last saying on the cross He addressed God as His Father. Now, why didHe call Him “My God” instead of “My Father”? Because during those threehours of darkness God had turned His back on His Son and did not recognize Himas His Son any longer as He paid the full punishment for our sins. Jesus wasestranged and separated from God. That's what real death is. It means separationfrom God!  SomehowJesus became separated from God in their Father-Son relationship. How Jesus didthat while being God is a mystery. You might have noticed in the Gospels that Jesus'favorite phrase for God was "My Father." In the Gospels, Herefers to God as "My Father" some 61 times, and 34 times inthe Gospel of John alone. But now on the cross, He says, "My God, MyGod," the only time He does so. In the Old Testament, no one had arelationship with God as Father. No Old Testament saints addressed God as “MyFather”. The only times your find the title “Father” capitalized in the Old Testamentis in these verses, 1 Chronicles 28:6; 29:10; Psalms 89:26; Isaiah 9:6;Jeremiah 3:19; and Malachi 1:6; 2:10.  WhenJesus taught His disciples to pray in Luke 11:1-4, He said, "Pray likethis, Our Father which art in heaven." Interestingly, the term "OurFather" is only mentioned twice in the Gospels, here in Luke and in Matthew:6:9-15,where Jesus taught us what is called the Lord's Prayer.  Myfriend, this is so important. Something the Old Testament saints could not experienceor enjoy Jesus came to show us how we can now have a personal, intimaterelationship with God because of His payment for our sins on the cross and Hissending of the Holy Spirit to abide in us. In Romans 8:14-16, we learn that Godis our “Abba Father”, a special Father, a Daddy Father, that we canboldly come to because of what Jesus did for us on the cross, being separatedfrom God.  Ilove how the Word of God makes so much sense when we understand that Jesusintroduces us to God, not as a God of wrath, but as a God who loves us as aFather loves, cares for, and protects His children. This ought to speak to ourhearts today.

Forthe first three hours, Jesus hung on the cross, the people mocked Him, theymade fun of Him, they laughed at Him, and they yelled at Him. Thenat the sixth hour, which would have been noon, verse 44 says there was darknessover all the earth until the ninth hour. The three hours of darkness was amiracle. It was not an eclipse because that would have been impossible duringPassover because it was the season of a full moon. It was a God-sent darkness, recognizingand also amplifying the fact that the whole world was in darkness, in sin andshame, and men were loving that darkness. Even when Jesus began His ministry, Matthew4:16 tells us: “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to themwhich sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up”. Andnow when this darkness takes place, remember it is the time of the feast of thePassover. This reminds us of Exodus 10:21-22 which tells us of the last plague whichwas a darkness that was sent over all the land of Egypt for three days. Thiswas just before the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was applied to thedoorpost in Exodus 12. When Jesus was on the cross, three hours of darknesspreceded the death of God's Passover Lamb for the sins of the world (John1:29).  Nowfor three hours, the earth is shrouded in darkness as God made His Son tobecome sin for us who knew no sin, as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21. It was asthough all nature was sympathizing with the Creator as He suffered and died.  And so we see that Jesus was on the cross,dying on the cross as the Lamb of God in these three hours of darkness. Nowalso we believe that on the cross, Jesus, at this time, somewhere during thesethree hours of darkness, according to Matthew 27:45-46 and Mark 15:33-34, criedout, quoting from Psalm 22:1, "My God, My God, why have You forsakenMe?"  Tomorrow,I'm going to take more time to talk about how many times Jesus called HisFather. In fact, this last three hours on the cross ended when Jesus' lastprayer on the cross was, "Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit."But during these three hours of darkness, I can't explain it totally. I cannever understand it completely, but as far as I'm concerned, as I've looked atand studied it over the years, it was during these the three hours of darkness thatJesus suffered an eternity of outer darkness, an eternity of hell.  TheBible says that hell is a place of outer darkness. Jesus went into outerdarkness. There in these three hours, the wrath of God was poured out on Him.He was bruised by God (Isaiah 53), as we talked about yesterday, for our sins.He suffered. He was separated from His Father. His favorite reference, the mostused word in the Gospel of John, is the word Father. Jesus loved His Father.His Father loved Him. But now His Father turned His back on His Son and pouredout His wrath upon Him to be crucified, to die, to shed His blood for my sinsand your sins.  Myfriend, what great love that God had. And that's why Jesus cried out, "MyGod, My God," somehow God turned His back on His Son. Again, I don'tunderstand it, but He did according to the Scripture. And then it says in verse45 that “the veil of the temple was torn in two”. The Gospel accounts ofMark and Matthew add, “from top to bottom”. My friend, this is becauseGod from heaven miraculously tore that veil that separated “The Most Holy Place”from everyone except the High Priest once a year.  Thismiracle announced to the priests and people that the way into God's presencewas open for all who would come to Him by faith through Jesus Christ (Hebrews9:1-10:25). No more do sinners need earthly temples, altars, sacrifices, orpriests, for all had now been fulfilled in the finished work of the Son of God. Areyou experiencing and enjoying this open access to our Father in heaven today? Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke 23. In the passage we'reexamining, Jesus has been on the cross for three hours. In verses 44 through46, we read about the last three hours of the cross. Aswe look at this passage, Jesus had just spoken to the thief on the cross,telling him, "Today, you will be with Me in paradise." Even asJesus is dying on the cross, paying the price for our sins, He is thinking ofothers and has compassion on the sinners all around Him. Going back to verse27, we need to remember that as Christ was being led to His crucifixion, "agreat multitude of the people followed Him as He was carrying His cross toCalvary." Many of us believe, that Jesus was crucified somewhereright outside the Damascus Gate, across the road, next to a hill with the underlyingrocks that seem to form the face of a skull.  Justoutside the Damascus Gate in ancient Jerusalem, there were three roads that cometogether: one that comes from Damascus, one from Jericho, and the other fromJoppa. This was one of the busiest places in the city, a great marketplacewhere people came together, a place of transportation. Even today, it remains amajor transportation hub for different parts of Israel and still one of thebusiest places next to Old City Jerusalem. It makes sense that the Romansoldiers would execute criminals where the biggest multitude of people wouldgather and pass by, to put fear into those who committed crimes. Wemust also keep in mind that what our Lord accomplished on the cross was aneternal transaction between Him and the Father. We could call this chat, "TheOther Side of the Cross" because the cross was as much for God asit was for us. We see it from the street level, from our need and perspective,as He died for us. But God sees it from the other side as Jesus died to satisfythe wrath of God for sin. We need to remember that God is holy, righteous, andjust and He cannot forgive us just because He loves us.  Godis a God of love, but the only answer for Him to grant us forgiveness for oursins was that a payment had to be made for our sin. You will see this clearlyin the prophecy of Isaiah 53, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. Noticeparticularly these verses: “Surely He has borne our griefs And carried oursorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But Hewas wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; Thechastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah53:4-5). It says, the Jesus was “smitten by God…”.  Thelast verses of the Isaiah 53 are very clear that God was involved in the deathof His Son: “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief.When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shallprolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. Heshall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge Myrighteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. ThereforeI will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil withthe strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered withthe transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for thetransgressors” (Isaiah 53:10-12). Asyou read these verses and you realize that God was looking down upon the crossthat day two-thousand years ago. The only place our sins and the sins ofhumanity could be paid for was right there, as Jesus, the perfect, sinless,stainless Lamb of God, died and bore the bruising of God upon Him. This is whatthe Apostle John was writing about in 1 John 2:2: “And He Himself is thepropitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.”This means God's just wrath was satisfied with Christ sacrifice! Praise theLORD! Haveyou thanked the Lord for your great salvation today?

Welcometo Pastor's Chat as we continue to look at Luke 23. Jesus is on the cross inthe passages we've been reading and discussing. Today, in verse 43, Jesus spoketo the thief on the cross next to Him who had repented, who had recognized thatJesus Christ is the Son of God, sinless, stainless, blameless and who believedthat Jesus was dying not for any guilt of His own, but for the sins of theworld. It is apparent that the thief believed Jesus was the Messiah because hesaid, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."  Hereis a man who didn't have a chance to go to church, get baptized, or do anythingfor Jesus. Yet, he received God's full pardon for the guilt of his sins and receivedsalvation. Jesus responded to his request in verse 43, saying, "AssuredlyI say to you, today you will be with Me in paradise." Then, in verse44, Luke points out that it was about the sixth hour (noon), and there wasdarkness over all the earth until the ninth hour (3pm). Midway through the sixhours of Christ on the cross, right before that sixth hour, this thief receivesChrist and the assurance that he will be with Him in paradise.  Letme explain something about Paradise. I believe the Old Testament and NewTestament together teach that when people died in the Old Testament and up tothe resurrection of Christ, they went to a place called Sheol, which had twocompartments and was located somewhere in the heart of the earth. Jesusexplained this in Luke 16:19-31. When the rich man died, he went to hell, “andin hell, he lifted up his eyes in flames of fire, being in torment, saying,"I'm tormented in this flame." The poor man, Lazarus, went toa place called Abraham's bosom (Paradise), where he was comforted. The man inhell could see across to Paradise and saw Lazarus being comforted. He cried outfor relief for himself and asked for Lazarus to be sent to dip his finger in waterand cool his tongue. He also wanted someone to warn his brothers not to come tothis terrible place.  Jesusresponded that there is a great gulf fixed between them. So, it appears that inthe heart of the earth, there is a place called Sheol with a hell side, a flameside, a great gulf, and a paradise side. I believe Scripture shows the same dayafter Jesus death on the cross and He was buried in the grave, Jesus went tothe Paradise side and took everyone from there to what is called the “thirdheaven”. Why do we believe this? Because we believe paradise was emptiedout. That day, Jesus went to paradise because He said to the repenting criminal,"Today you'll be with Me in paradise."  Whilethe body of Jesus was in the grave, Jesus met this thief in Paradise, who hadgone there when he died. From there, Jesus then took everyone to the thirdheaven, where the throne of God is. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 12:3, said,"I knew a man who was caught up to the third heaven." Rememberthat Jesus also said in John 14:2-3, “ I go to prepare a place foryou.  Jesuspromised the disciples a new place which He called “My Father's house”,which we believe is the “third heaven”, where today He is seated at theright hand of God. Interestingly, also we might note that when Stephen wasbeing stoned to death in Acts 7:54-56, that it says that, "he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standingat the right hand of God"  2Corinthians 5:8 says, "To be absent from the body is to be present withthe Lord." Why? Because the Lord is in the third heaven, where He tookthose from Paradise. But today, people who die without Christ still go to aterrible place called hell located in “Sheol”. And one day in the future,according to Revelation 20:13-14, those in hell will stand before the greatwhite throne judgment and be cast into the lake of fire, a place of outerdarkness where the beast, the false prophet, and Satan will be for eternity.

 My friend, when you look at the details of whathappened on the cross and one of these thieves coming to faith in Jesus Christand the promise He received from the mouth of the crucified Savior, you oughtto have hope. There is no reason anyone, anytime, anywhere, in any conditionshould not receive Jesus Christ and have the hope of eternal life. It doesn'tmatter who you are, how far you've gone into sin, or what types of crimes you'vecommitted.  Pleasecarefully read the above verses. "For there were also two others,criminals, led with Him to be put to death. And when they had come to the placecalled Calvary, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the righthand and the other on the left." The next several verses through verse38 describe how everyone mocked Him, saying, "You saved others, saveYourself." Even one of the thieves in verse 39, one of the criminals who wasbeing executed with Jesus, blasphemed Him, saying, "If You are the Christ,save Yourself and us." So, he joined with the crowd.  Ifyou study the other Gospels, you'll find that initially both thieves railedupon Him. As they're being crucified, hanging in tremendous suffering and pain,they both are crying out, saying, "If you are the Christ. Saveus." But then something happened, and we can't explain it, but Ibelieve it was a miracle of God. It was the grace of God, a message of God forthe world.  Let'sgo back to Genesis 3:19, when God created the Garden of Eden. It says that thetree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledgeof good and evil. In the old King James Version of this passage ofScripture, it says in the Gospel of John, that “Jesus was in the midstbetween these two thieves”. Jesus in the midst. The tree of life wasin the midst of the garden. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was inthe midst of the garden.  WhenJesus is crucified on the tree—that's often what the cross is called by theapostles in their epistles, the tree—the tree of life, the tree of theknowledge of good and evil. The Goodness of God and the evil of man and also eternallife are all displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ. Christ is in the midst.He's in the middle. My friend, He stands between you and heaven and hell. Hestands between you and an eternity away from God.  Thereis no reason today, when you look to the cross and hear the words of the Saviorthat He gave to the thief, to lose hope. The one thief said, rebuking the othersaid, "Do you not even fear God, seeing that you're under the samecondemnation, and we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds?But this Man has done nothing wrong." Then he said to Jesus, "Lord,remember me when You come into Your kingdom." And Jesus said to him,"Assuredly I say to you today, you will be with Me in paradise." Wewill talk about what paradise in another chat later. But my friend, this meansJesus went to paradise that day, and there this thief met Him when he died.Jesus was there and said, "Welcome home, son." The man foundforgiveness of sins. He didn't have time to go to church, get baptized, or doany good deeds. He went to paradise, to heaven, simply because he put his faithand trust in Jesus Christ, recognizing Him as sinless and innocent. Jesusdidn't deserve to die, but He died in the man's place. The man believed thatJesus was going to come into His kingdom. He believed in the hope of the futurethat Jesus had promised.  Maybehe had heard that message from someone, or maybe he was standing on the side ofthe crowd when Jesus preached somewhere. I don't know. But now he believed andput his faith in Christ, even as he was dying, and God promised him eternallife.  Youcan too. Whoever you are, wherever you're at, would you trust Jesus today? Jesusis in the midst. He stands between you and eternity. Would you trust Himtoday to be your Savior? Godbless!

 Some interesting things in thispassage of Scripture also show up in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel ofMark. Today, I want to take time to look at all three of these passages becauseit's in these passages that we read this statement repeatedly: "Hesaved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen ofGod."  (The Luke passage is above.) Matthew27:35-44 reads: “Then they crucified Him, and divided His garments, castinglots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet: "Theydivided My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots." Sittingdown, they kept watch over Him there. And they put up over His head theaccusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then tworobbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. Andthose who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, "Youwho destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You arethe Son of God, come down from the cross." Likewise the chief priestsalso, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, "He saved others;Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come downfrom the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Himnow if He will have Him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.' " Even therobbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.” Mark15:25-32 reads: “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him. And theinscription of His accusation was written above: THE KING OF THE JEWS. With Himthey also crucified two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left. Sothe Scripture was fulfilled which says, "And He was numbered with thetransgressors." And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging theirheads and saying, "Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in threedays, save Yourself, and come down from the cross!" Likewise thechief priests also, mocking among themselves with the scribes, said, "Hesaved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel,descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Even those whowere crucified with Him reviled Him.” Atleast three times in the Gospels, the Holy Spirit seems to impress upon us thisstatement: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save." This iswhat they mocked Jesus with. My friend, my main point today is that if Hehad saved Himself, He could not have saved others. He came to seek and tosave that which was lost.  Jesusset an example for us as He humbled Himself and was obedient even to the deathof the cross. God foreordained in eternity past that He is the Lamb slain fromthe foundation of the world. The only way of salvation for mankind was forthere to be a perfect lamb substitute, and that Lamb was Jesus. Peterwould write later in 1 Peter 1:18-20: “Knowing that you were not redeemedwith corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conductreceived by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordainedbefore the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times foryou.”  Yes,my friend, if Jesus had saved Himself that day, and He could have come downfrom the cross. He could have called legions of angels, but He didn't becauseHe came to save you and me. What a Savior! We should be so thankful that He didnot save Himself so that He could save you and me with His death, His bloodatonement, His redemption on the cross of Calvary.  Thisshould also teach us that if we seek to save our lives for ourselves then wecannot save others. But when we lose our lives for Christ and the sake of the Gospelwe actually find it! (Mark 8:35).  Todayare you willing to lose your life, like Christ, and save others? Godbless!

Todaywe're continuing in Luke 23:32-34. These three verses introduce us to Jesusbeing on the cross at Golgotha. This is one of the most special passages ofScripture in the Bible. All the Bible in the Old Testament points to this time,and all the time after this, points back to this time. This is the center andfocal point of eternity. This is where God Himself, who has taken on humanflesh, dies on a cross for all humanity. Jesus, God manifest in the flesh, camefor this very purpose and hour. Even while Jesus is suffering one of the mostcruel and painful deaths a human can experience, He is expressing compassionfor other Ithad been prophesied in Isaiah 53:12 that the Suffering Servant would be "numberedwith the transgressors". Jesus Himself mentioned this passage on Hisway to the cross in Luke 22:37. This is fulfilled by the fact that twocriminals were crucified with Jesus, men who were robbers according to Matthew27:38. The Greek word means "one who uses violence to rob openly," incontrast to the thief who secretly enters a house and steals. These two men mayhave been guilty of armed robbery involving murder. Lukepoints out in verse 33 that Jesus “was crucified in a place called Calvary”.The name Calvary comes from the Latin calvaria which means "askull." (The Greek is kranion, which gives us the English word cranium,and the Aramaic word is Golgotha.) The name is not explained in the NewTestament. The site may have resembled a skull, as does "Gordon'sCalvary" near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem. Or perhaps the namesimply grew out of the ugly facts of execution. There are many who believe thatJesus was crucified and buried in a place in Old City Jerusalem that today is knownas the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre”, which is one of the most visited touristsites in all the world. At Gordon's Tomb, the guides always remind us that thewhether the place is there or at the church site, the main thing is that Jesuswas crucified. OurLord was crucified about 9 a.m. and remained on the cross until 3 p.m.; andfrom noon to 3 p.m., there was darkness over all the land (Mark 15:25, 33).Jesus spoke seven times during those six terrible hours: "Father,forgive them" (Luke 23:34). "Todayyou will be with Me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). "Woman,behold your son" (John 19:25-27).(Thenthe three hours of darkness when Jesus is silent) "MyGod, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" (Matt. 27:46) "Ithirst" (John 19:28). "Itis finished!" (John 19:30) "Father,into Your hands I commit My spirit" (Luke 23:46).  Lukerecorded only three of these seven statements, the first, the second, and thelast. Our Lord's prayer for His enemies, and His ministry to a repentant thief,fit in well with Luke's purpose to show Jesus Christ as the sympathetic,compassionate Son of man who cared for the needy. Whilethey were nailing Him to the cross, He repeatedly prayed, "Father, forgivethem; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Not only was Hepracticing what He taught (Luke 6:27-28), but He was fulfilling prophecy andmaking "intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). Wemust not infer from His prayer that ignorance is a basis for forgiveness, orthat those who sinned against Jesus were automatically forgiven because Heprayed. Certainly, both the Jews and the Romans were ignorant of the enormityof their sin, but that could not absolve them. The Law provided a sacrifice forsins committed ignorantly, but there was no sacrifice for deliberatepresumptuous sin (Ex. 21:14; Num. 15:27-31; Ps. 51:16-17). It is possible thatit was our Lord's intercession that postponed God's judgment on the nation foralmost forty years, giving them additional opportunities to be saved (Acts3:17-19).  Christ'slove and compassion is still being expressed today giving us ample time torepent and be saved. Godbless!

Aswe study Luke 23, a good way to recall the events of this chapter is to rememberthat Jesus had seven encounters or conversations with at least seven people orgroups. There was Pilate (vv. 1-25); King Herod (vv. 7-12); Simon the Cyrenian(v. 26); the Jerusalem women (vv. 27-31); the two criminals (vv. 32-43); HisFather (vv.44-49); and Joseph of Arimathea. Whenwe arrive at Luke 23:27-31 Jesus has already gone through terrible beatings andsuffering. At this point, on the way to Golgotha, He is not able to carry Hiscross and Simon of Cyrene is carrying it for Him.  It is now that He has a word for the women ofJerusalem.  Lukeinforms us that “a great multitude of the people followed Him” (v. 27). Publicexecutions drew crowds of spectators, and one involving Jesus would especiallyattract attention. Add to this the fact that Jerusalem was crowded withpilgrims, possibly over a million people could have been in the city at thetime of Passover, so it is not difficult to believe that a "greatmultitude" was following the condemned Man to Calvary. Inthat crowd was a group of women who openly wept and lamented as theysympathized with Jesus and contemplated the terrible spiritual condition oftheir nation. It has been pointed out by Bible commentators, that as far as theGospel records are concerned, no woman was ever an enemy of Jesus. Nor wasJesus ever the enemy of womankind. His example, His teachings, and most of all,His redemption have done much to dignify and elevate women.  Ifyou remember, the news of His birth was shared with a Jewish maiden, His deathwas witnessed by grieving women, and the good news of His resurrection wasannounced first to a woman who had been demon-possessed. Jesusappreciated their sympathy and used it to teach them and us an important lesson(vv. 28-31). While they were weeping over the injustice of one man's death, Jesuswas looking ahead and grieving over the terrible destruction of the entirenation, a judgment that was wholly justified. Jesus had told His disciplesabout this judgment in Luke 19:41-44: “Now as He drew near, He saw the cityand wept over it, saying, "If you had known, even you, especially in thisyour day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden fromyour eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build anembankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and levelyou, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave inyou one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of yourvisitation."  Jesuslooking ahead, even on His way to the cross, knew it would be the women andchildren who would suffer the most, a fact supported by history. Just fortyyears later in 70AD, when Titus and the Romans army surrounded Jerusalem, they attemptedto starve the Jews into submission. It has been noted by historians that hungrymen, defending their city, took food from their suffering wives and childrenand even killed and ate their own flesh and blood to keep enough strength tofight. It was a terrible terrible time of judgment that Jesus was speaking of. Thenation of Israel was like a "green tree" during the years when Jesuswas on earth. It was a time of blessing and opportunity, and it should havebeen a time of fruitfulness. But the nation rejected Him and became like a"dry tree," fit only for the fire. Jesus often would have gatheredHis people together, but they would not (Matthew 23:37-39). In condemning Him,they only condemned themselves. Wemight paraphrase His words: "If the Roman authorities do this to One whois innocent, what will they do to you who are guilty? When the day of judgmentarrives, can there be any escape for you?" Myfriend, Jesus has also warned us of another day of judgment coming. Will you beprepared? Godbless!

Jesusis finally condemned by Pilate and sent to be crucified on Golgotha. Accordingto John's Gospel, Jesus is forced to bear His cross. “And He, bearingHis cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called inHebrew, Golgotha" (John 19:16-18). (By the way, Johnis the only Gospel that does not mention Simon of Cyrene by name.) Matthew'sGospel tells it this way: “Now asthey came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. " (Matthew 27:31-33). Mark'sGospel gives us some additional information about Simon of Cyrene. “And whenthey had mocked Him, they took the purple off Him, put His own clothes on Him,and led Him out to crucify Him. Then they compelled a certain man, Simon aCyrenian, the father of Alexander and Rufus, as he was coming out of thecountry and passing by, to bear His cross. And they brought Him to the placeGolgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull” (Mark 15:20-22) Historyalso gives us some information about the country of Cyrene where Simon wasfrom: Jews began migrating to Cyrene as early as the 3rd century BCE, primarilyunder Ptolemy I's policy to strengthen Cyrenaica, with further migrationsoccurring during the Roman period. The reasons for migration included politicalstrategies (Ptolemaic resettlement), economic opportunities (Cyrene'sprosperity and trade), religious connections (ties to Jerusalem), and, in laterperiods, escape from persecution or instability in other regions. By the timeof Simon of Cyrene in the 1st century CE, the Jewish community in Cyrene waswell-established, influential, and closely linked to Jerusalem, as evidenced bytheir synagogue and presence at major Jewish festivals. Cyrene was located inpresent day Libya next to Egypt. Itwas a part of the prisoner's humiliation that he carry his own cross to theplace of execution, so when Jesus left Pilate's hall, He was carrying eitherthe cross or the crossbeam (John 19:17). Apparently, He was unable to go on,for the soldiers had to "draft" Simon of Cyrene to carry the crossfor Him. (This was a legal Roman procedure. See Matt. 5:41.) When you considerall that Jesus had endured since His arrest in the Garden, it is not difficultto imagine Him falling under the load. But there is something more involved:carrying the cross was a sign of guilt, and our Lord was not guilty! Thousandsof Jews came to Jerusalem from other nations to celebrate the feasts (Acts2:5-11), and Simon was among them. He had traveled over 800 miles from Africato celebrate Passover, and now he was being humiliated on a most holy day! Whatwould he say to his family when he got home? But might have looked to Simon like a catastrophe turned out to be awonderful opportunity, for it brought him in contact with Jesus Christ. Simonprobably had come into the city of Jerusalem to attend the 9 a.m. prayermeeting in the temple, but got caught up in the crowd following Jesus to Hiscrucifixion. But God's providence place him in the right place at exactly theright time. It was then that the soldiers “compelled” him to carry the cross ofJesus.  Wehave good reason to believe that Simon was converted because of this encounterwith Jesus. Mark identified him as "the father of Alexander andRufus" (Mark 15:21), two men that Mark assumed his Roman readers wouldknow. A Christian named Rufus was greeted by Paul in Romans 16:13, and it ispossible that he was the son of Simon of Cyrene. Apparently Simon and his twosons became well-known Christians who were held in honor in the church. BeforeSimon met Jesus, he had religion and devotion; but after he met Jesus, he hadreality and salvation. He did both a physical and spiritual "aboutface" that morning, and it transformed his life. God can still useunexpected and difficult situations, even humiliating situations, to bringpeople to the Savior. What is your story?

Up tothis point Jesus had three unfair trials before the Jews; before Annas, thefather-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, and also Caiaphas at his house, andthen before the Sanhedrin. Now, in the early morning hours between six and nineo'clock on Friday morning, Jesus is taken before Pilate. Pilate has his firsttrial with Jesus and finds no fault in Him after questioning Him personally inthe Praetorium. Pilate sent Jesus to King Herod Antipas where Jesus is againquestioned, mock and ridiculed. Jesus is silent and does not respond to Herod whothen sends Him back to Pilate (v. 11). Inthese verses, 13-25, Pilate proves to be a coward. It is interesting to note thatmany Christian sources describe Pilate as “the model of a coward” who knew thecrucifixion was wrong but acted out of fear of political repercussions, such aslosing favor with Emperor Tiberius or inciting a riot. C.S. Lewis is referencedin these sources, suggesting Pilate represents “men without chests”—peopleunwilling to pursue truth, leading to cowardice and injustice. The fact thatHerod backed Pilate's decision would not have impressed the Jews very much,because they despised Herod almost as much as they despised the Romans. WhenJesus is returned to Pilate he again meets with the Jewish leaders andannounced for the second time that he did not find Jesus guilty of the chargesthey had made against Him (vv. 13-15). Since it was customary at Passover forthe governor to release a prisoner, Pilate offered the Jews a compromise: hewould chastise Jesus and let Him go. He had another prisoner on hand, Barabbas,but Pilate was sure the Jews would not want him to be released. After all,Barabbas was a robber (John 18:40), a murderer, and an insurrectionist (Luke23:19). He may have been a leader of the Jewish Zealots who at that time wasworking for the overthrow of Rome. Severaltimes Luke notes that it is the chief priest and rulers of the people that aredemanding that Christ is guilty and should be crucified. We must not think thatthe general populace of the city was gathered before Pilate and crying out forthe blood of Jesus, though a curious crowd no doubt gathered. It was primarilythe official religious leaders of the nation, the chief priests in particular(Luke 23:23), who shouted Pilate down and told him to crucify Jesus. To saythat the same people who cried "Hosanna!" on Palm Sunday ended upcrying "Crucify Him!" on Good Friday is not completely accurate. Finally,after vacillating back and forth and at least three times proclaiming Jesus tobe innocence, Pilate realized that his mishandling of the situation had almostcaused a riot, and a Jewish uprising was the last thing he wanted duringPassover. So, he called for water and washed his hands before the crowd,affirming his innocence (Matt. 27:24-25). Pilate proves to be a compromiser anda coward, who was "willing to content the people" (Mark 15:15).Barabbas was released and Jesus was condemned to die on a Roman cross. Pilatewas a complex character. He openly said that Jesus was innocent, yet hepermitted Him to be beaten and condemned Him to die. He carefully questionedJesus and even trembled at His answers, but the truth of the Word did not makea difference in his decisions. He wanted to be popular and not right; he wasmore concerned about reputation than he was character. What a sad state to bein! We must be careful that we don't follow in his footsteps.  Itwould also be good for us to remember what Jesus said in Mark 8:35-38, “Forwhoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life forMy sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if hegains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give inexchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in thisadulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamedwhen He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." 

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. We're continuing to look at Luke 23, and today we'refocusing on verses 6-12. Jesus had three unfair trials before the Jews; beforeAnnas, the father-in-law of the high priest Caiaphas, and also Caiaphas at hishouse, and then before the Sanhedrin. Now, in the early morning hours betweensix and nine o'clock on Friday morning, Jesus is taken before Pilate. Pilatehas his first trial with Jesus and finds no fault in Him after questioning Himpersonally in the praetorium.  WhenPilate hears that Jesus is from the region of Galilee, he knows that's Herod,King Herod's jurisdiction. King Herod Antipas, who murdered John the Baptist,had longed to see Jesus because he had heard of the miracles Jesus had done andwanted to see Him perform a miracle, like a trick. When Pilate heard ofGalilee, he asked if the Man were a Galilean. I love the scripture here becauseit capitalizes the "M" in the Man Christ Jesus. Yes, there was no manlike this Man, the Man Christ Jesus.  Assoon as Pilate knew that He belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent Him toHerod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. When Herod saw Jesus, he wasexceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he hadheard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. Thenhe questioned Him with many words, but He answered him nothing.  Thechief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused Him. You can imaginethis crowd of chief priests, scribes, and Sanhedrin following Jesus to whereHerod was in Jerusalem. I can imagine Herod waking up this morning, having hisbreakfast, and suddenly all this is going on. Here comes this crowd ofPharisees, chief priests, and Sanhedrin, bringing Jesus with them. Herod,with his men of war, treated Him with contempt, mocked Him, arrayed Him in agorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate. That very day, Pilate and Herodbecame friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity witheach other. Both Pilate and Herod had the opportunity to try Jesus. What'sinteresting is that Jesus was not truly on trial before Pilate and Herod;rather, Pilate and Herod were on trial before Jesus. Obviously, they failed thetest. They did not receive Jesus as the Christ. Neither did they find Himguilty, as Pilate later said that even Herod found no fault in Him (v. 15).  Eventhough Herod mistreated Jesus and had his men mock Him as a the King of the Jews,Jesus the Man did not respond to them. I believe they did this because Herodand his crowd hated the religious hypocrites, the Pharisees. Even the lostworld doesn't like religious hypocrites. They mocked Jesus because He wassupposedly the King of the Jews, putting a beautiful robe on Him to make Himlook like a king.That day two men became friends because they had a commonenemy, the Jews, and a common purpose: Jesus needed to be condemned, and theJews wanted Him condemned and it was an opportunity to show distain for thereligious hypocrites.  Today,what stands out to me the most is that Jesus is the Man, the Christ Man, theGod Man. Oh, my friend, He's the Man who took on flesh so that through death Hecould become our sin on an old rugged cross. Romans 8:3 tells us: “For whatthe law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sendingHis own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemnedsin in the flesh.” I love how Hebrews 2:14 puts it: “Inasmuch then asthe children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared inthe same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death,that is, the devil”.  Iinvite you today to trust Jesus, to put your hope in this Man. There's no manlike this Man, the Man Christ Jesus. “For there is one God and one Mediatorbetween God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all,to be testified in due time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6). Godbless!

Todaywe are continuing to look at Luke 23. In this chapter, we read about the trial,the crucifixion, and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus loves us so muchthat He gave His life on the cross of Calvary. In this chapter, we see mendoing their worst and at the same time, we see God giving His best. I rememberthat verse in Romans 5:20, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound”.In the darkness of that hour, in the darkness of sin all around on planetearth, and especially there in Jerusalem as men are crucifying the Lord JesusChrist, the grace of God is abounding because God is pouring out His lovethrough the death of His Son on the cross of Calvary.  Jesusdidn't just happen to die. In John 10:17-18, Jesus said, “Therefore MyFather loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No onetakes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, andI have power to take it again. This command I have received from MyFather."  Acts 2:23 affirms thatthe crucifixion of Christ was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge ofGod. Jesus was the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world (1Peter 1:20, Revelation 13:8).  Aswe look at the first five verses of this chapter, we see Jesus coming on trialbefore Pilate. He has already faced three trials with the Jews during thenight. Now, somewhere between 6:00am in the morning and 9:00am, when Jesus wascrucified, this trial before Pilate takes place on Friday morning. PontiusPilate is an interesting person. This is the first encounter Jesus has withsomeone in this chapter as far as the trial and His death on the cross areconcerned. Pilate was the governor of Judea from AD 26 to AD 36, after which hewas recalled to Rome and passed out of Roman history. Pilate was hated by theJews, and it appears he hated them as well. When Jesus is hung on the cross,Pilate has a sign put over His head: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”He did this to provoke the Jews, who denied that Jesus was their King.  Jesusis taken inside the Praetorium to be tried before Pilate. The Jews are outsidein the courtyard because they cannot enter without defiling themselves for thePassover (John 18:28). Jesus is in this room, and Pilate interrogates Himindividually, personally. In Matthew 27:18-19, it says Pilate knew that theyhad handed Him over because of envy. In his handling of the trial of Jesus, thegovernor proved to be indecisive. The Gospel of John records seven differentmoves that Pilate made as he went out to meet the people and then went in toquestion Jesus (John 18:29, 33, 38; 19:1, 4, 9, 13). He kept looking for aloophole, but he found none. Pilate has gone down in history as the man whotried Jesus Christ, three times declared Him not guilty, and yet crucified Himjust the same. Itwas obvious Pilate understood some of the situation with Jesus and the Jews,knowing it was because of their hatred for Him, not because He had broken anyRoman laws that would demand execution. While Pilate was sitting on thejudgment seat, his wife also sent a message to him, saying, “Have nothing todo with that just Man, for I've suffered many things today in a dream becauseof Him” (Matthew 27:19).  Pilateis convinced He's not guilty and proclaims this at least three times in thegospel accounts. But the Jews are determined to have Him crucified. In the end,Pilate makes no decision, saying, “I wipe my hands of the guilt of this justMan.” My friend, indecision is the worst decision; it is the fatal choice.Jesus says, “You're either with Me or you're against Me.”  Wemust decide for Jesus even today—whether we'll accept Him as our Savior or denyHim as the Son of God and reject Him as our Savior. What is your choice? Godbless!

Todaywe are moving on to a new chapter, Luke 23. This chapter tells us about thetrial of Jesus and His crucifixion and death on the cross. We believe this isone of the great chapters of the Bible, along with the other Gospel accounts ofJesus giving His life on the cross for you and me. This is the climax of humanhistory where God Himself literally goes to a cross and pays the payment forour sins. Several things stand out as we look at this chapter.  Tounderstand the setting, let's remember Jesus has been up all night long. OnThursday, Jesus prepared for the Passover meal with the disciples. Thatevening, they observed and ate the Passover meal in the Upper Room. In John 13through John 17, Jesus is talking to His disciples, preparing them with somelast words, giving them the comfort of the Holy Spirit who will come after Hehas ascended to heaven. So many things are taking place. Judas goes out intothe night to get the temple guard to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Thenafter Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, they sing a hymn.  Jesusgoes deeper into the Garden, and there He prays those three prayers: "NotMy will but Thine be done." He says, "Take this cup from Me."That cup, we believe, represented the sins of all humanity, and Jesus wouldbecome sin for us. In the middle of the night, Judas shows up at the gardenwith a guard from the temple and arrests Jesus. They take Him to Annas's house,then to Caiaphas's house, and finally, as the sun rises and Peter has deniedthe Lord three times, they take Jesus to the Sanhedrin, where He is triedunfairly for the third time by the Jews.  Nowhere in Luke 23, we read that in the early morning hours, after the Sanhedrincondemns Him, they take Him to Pilate. We know that Jesus was crucified at thethird hour, which would have been 9:00 in the morning. At the sixth hour of Hiscrucifixion, three hours into the cross, the sun refused to shine. It wentdark. For the next three hours, until 3:00 in the afternoon, the sun did notshine. We're convinced that during those hours, Jesus paid the full payment forour sins. Over all six hours, Jesus is paying the price on the cross. We'lltalk about the seven sayings of Christ later, but here we see Jesus paying thefull price for our sin, being the propitiation for them, satisfying the wrathof God against the sins of humanity.  Jesusfulfilled the law as the innocent Lamb of God and fully paid for our sins,declaring in His last words on the cross, "It is finished." All thisbegins at 9:00 in the morning when Jesus is crucified. What we read now in Lukechapter 23, as He goes before Pilate for three different trials, happenssomewhere between the early morning hours of the Sanhedrin trying Him and Hiscrucifixion at 9am.  Canyou imagine how physically, emotionally, and mentally worn-out Jesus must havebeen during this time?  Oh,what a Savior! When we study this chapter, we will see both the evilness of menand the goodness of God. I can't help but think about that tree in the Gardenof Eden, called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God forbadeAdam and Eve to eat from. When they ate of it, they brought sin into the world.Now we are reminded of that tree again because Jesus will die and be hung on atree—a tree that represents the knowledge of good and evil.  Therewe see the great love of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, thewonderful sacrifice of God at that cross. At the same time, we see evil mencrucifying the most innocent, precious, sinless, blameless, stainless Son ofGod on that cross. Oh, what a scene. As we look at Luke chapter 23, I trustyou'll read it through several times and take into your heart all that Jesusdid for you and me. God bless!

Today I want to focus on how Jesus suffered and how He faced that suffering andwhat we can learn from His example. Peter 2:19-24 tells us: For to this you were called, because Christalso suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps:  "Who committed no sin, Nor was deceitfound in His mouth"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return;when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judgesrighteously; Thisshould teach us that Jesus has given us an example and that we should follow inHis steps concerning His suffering. When He was reviled, He reviled not again.He did not open His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. How can wedeal with suffering? I think first we must understand that suffering is a factof life. There is no way to avoid suffering in this world. It's all a part ofthe original sin curse. The curse that came upon Adam and all the fallencreatures, you and I. And we are going to face in this world tribulation andsuffering. It doesn't matter whether we're a believer or not a believer.Suffering is a fact of life. It's going to be there.  Buthow can we face it? How can we deal with it? It comes in so many differentforms: physically, mentally, emotionally, with all the abuse today that goes onin our families, in our world, it's there. So, how do we deal with it? What canwe learn from Jesus. How did Jesus endure His suffering? Here you see them accusingHim. They're mocking Him. They're striking Him, blindfolded Him, and justtotally knocking Him around and speaking blasphemous things against Him, itsays. And then they say, "If You're the Christ, tell us." But He saidto them, "If I tell you, you won't believe." And He said, "Also,if I ask you, you'll by no means answer Me or let Me go."  Andthen Jesus makes this statement here: “Hereafter the Son of Man will sit onthe right hand of the power of God.". This statement reveals how Jesusfaced His suffering. Hebrews 12:1-3 tells us that “we are to look untoJesus, the author, the finisher of our faith. Who for the joy that was setbefore Him, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at theright hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility fromsinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.”  Inthe midst of our suffering we look to Jesus, as He's going through thissuffering, going through this rejection, going through this physical pain atthis point, what does He do? He looks to the time He'll receive the glory ofthe Father's throne. He'll be seated next to Him. And for the joy of sittingnext to the Father and seeing the fruit of His suffering in the salvation ofmillions and millions and millions of redeemed souls, He endures the suffering.He faces it. He goes through it. He accepts it.  Nowmy friend, that's how we do it. We look forward. The Bible says in Romans 8:18,“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to becompared to the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Peter later wouldwrite about it in 1 Peter 5:9-11: “Resist him (the devil), steadfast in thefaith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood inthe world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory byChrist Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen,and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Yes,it is after our suffering, that we are prepared for the glory of God. We lookpast the suffering to the time there will be no more suffering. Oh, what a hopewe have because of Jesus Christ. And we'll be seated with Him in heavenlyplaces. I trust these thoughts will encourage you as you think about our Saviorand the example He set for us. Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat today. It's hard to smile as we begin this chat, thinkingabout what took place this past Friday in Texas with the death of so manychildren and others as those devastating floods hit that state. First, let mejust say I was raised in Texas. I was born in Dallas and lived my first tenyears of life in Texas. All my cousins, aunts, and uncles on both my mother'sand father's sides of the family, which were large families, dozens and dozensof cousins, aunts, and uncles, still live in Texas. It's a dear state. It's awonderful place, and our hearts go out to those who have lost these precious,precious children and other loved ones that have died in this flood. Now,I know we all ask that question: Why would a loving God allow anything likethis to take place? The devil gets on our shoulder and gives us the wronganswers to that question and tells us God doesn't love us. God doesn't care.But that's the furthest thing from the truth. There are so many things wecannot understand. I can't understand when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, andafter He and His parents fled to Egypt, Herod the Great went to the same areaand killed all the male children up to the age of two years old, trying hisbest to make sure he killed the next potential king of Israel. It says thatRachel wailed; all the parents there, great wailing took place as this despotkilled all these children (Matthew 2:16-18). I don't understand that this isallowed to take place and be associated with the birth of Jesus Christ comingto earth to save us from our sins, to give us eternal life.  AsI sat in church on Sunday and thought about what has happened this weekend, Ijust wanted to cry. It affects us. I have four granddaughters who have beenwith us the last several days, and they're precious girls. I can't imaginelosing one of them. And yet, with this tragedy in Texas, so many have beenlost, and we wonder why this would happen. Well, let me just answer thequestion by saying we might not understand why. We might not understand why Godwould allow it, but I can tell you this: God has proven His love to us. For Godso loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Romans 5:8 reminds us ofthis: “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for uswhile we were still sinners.” Thepassage before us today shows us what love God has given us through His Son,Jesus Christ. "Now the men who heldJesus mocked Him and beat Him. And having blindfolded Him, they struck Him onthe face and asked Him, saying, "Prophesy, who is the one who struckyou?" You can imagine this. Here's the Son of God. Here's the perfect Lambof God. Here is a man who never sinned, neither was there any guile in Hismouth. One who loved the people, cared for the children, healed the sick, raisedthe dead, gave sight to the blind, fed the hungry. Someone who laid down Hislife, came from the glories of heaven, became a human being, lived as aservant, washed His disciples' feet, and they're doing this to Him. They'remocking Him and saying, if you're the Son of God, you should know what my nameis. They mocked Him asking “who struck you”, and many other things that wedon't even know about.  Thenthey all said, "Are you then the Son of God?" So He said to them,"You rightly say that I am." Jesus claimed to be the Son of God. So whenyou hear these cults and others tell you Jesus never claimed to be the Son ofGod, they must be overlooking these verses.Jesusis the Son of God. God loves us. Christ died for us. He went through tremendoussuffering because of His love for us. Don't ever question that. Yes, we canquestion why things happen we might not understand, but we can believe and beassured that God loves us today (John 3:16).  Let'sbelieve this and let's be praying for these families that are going throughthis terrible tragedy in Texas. Godbless!

Thequestion I have today is, what will it take for the Lord to bring you torepentance, to call you back to Himself, for you to recognize your failure justas Peter did? Well, God used a rooster to get Peter's attention after he haddenied the Lord three times. You might remember in the Old Testament, God useda donkey to talk to Balaam to get his attention and remind him he was going inthe wrong direction. What will the Lord use to get your attention to say,"Hey, you're headed in the wrong direction. You need to listen to Me andremember My word." Well, that's what we find here in these last verses 54-62. AtPeter's third denial he used an oath and said, "I don't know the Man! Idon't know what you are talking about!" It was then that the roostercrowed for the second time and the Lord's prediction was fulfilled (Mark14:30). At that moment, Jesus, being led away to the next trial, turned andlooked at Peter; and His look broke Peter's heart. While the bystanders werewatching Jesus, Peter slipped out and went off and wept bitterly. It is toPeter's credit that all the Lord had to do was look at him to bring him to theplace of repentance. Forone rooster to crow at the right time while the other birds in the cityremained silent was certainly a miracle. But the crowing of the rooster wasmuch more than a miracle that fulfilled our Lord's words; it was also a specialmessage to Peter, a message that helped to restore him to fellowship again.What encouragements did the crowing of the rooster give to the Apostle Peter? First,it was an assurance to him that Jesus Christ was still in control of thingseven though He was a prisoner, bound and seemingly helpless before His captors.Peter could recall witnessing his Lord's authority over the fish, the winds,and the waves, and even over disease and death. No matter how dark the hour wasfor Peter, Jesus was still in control! This is good for us to remember too, especiallywhen we have fallen so far away from the Lord back into the world, Jesus isstill on His throne and has total control of everything that concerns our lifeand future. Second,the crowing of the rooster assured Peter that he could be forgiven. Peter hadnot been paying close attention to the Word of God. He had argued with it,disobeyed it, and even run ahead of it, but now he "remembered the wordof the Lord" (Luke 22:61), and this brought him hope. Why? Becausewith the word of warning was also a promise of restoration! Peter would beconverted and strengthen his brethren.  (Luke 22:31-32). We should remember that “theLord ever lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25). We also shouldbe encouraged with 1 John 2:1. Finally,the miracle of the rooster told Peter that a new day was dawning, for afterall, that is what the rooster's call means each day. It was not a new day forJudas or for the enemies of the Lord, but it was a new day for Peter as herepented and wept bitterly. "A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thouwilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). On Resurrection morning, the angel senta special message to encourage Peter (Mark 16:7), and the Lord Himself appearedto Peter that day and restored him to fellowship (Luke 24:34). Eachone of us, at one time or another, will fail the Lord and then hear (in one wayor another) "the crowing of the rooster." Satan will tell usthat we are finished, that our future has been destroyed, but that is not God'smessage to us. It was certainly not the end for Peter! His restoration was socomplete that on the Day of Pentecost he was able to say to the Jews, "Butyou denied the Holy One and the Just!" (Acts 3:14) Peter did not have1 John 1:9 to read, but he did experience it in his own heart. So the question,what will it take to get your attention? The rooster crowed and Peterremembered the word of the Lord. Will you? Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at Luke chapter 22:54-62. Here we see Peter's steps to failure. Wecan look at what he did and how he got to where he would deny the Lord and evencurse and swear. And then we can apply these things to our lives and learn howwe can stand strong in the face of temptation by looking at his steps tofailure. Remember, a couple days ago we said Peter's first step was pride.Peter had just said, "Though all these others fail you and though theystumble and though they deny you and run from you, not me. I'll die withyou." What pride to say that in front of the other disciples? Can youimagine how they must have felt when Peter said that as he compared himself tothem?  Secondly,we see that Peter in the garden failing to heed the warning of Jesus to “watchand pray”. Instead of watching and praying, Peter was sleeping. When we getpride in our heart, we don't think we need to pray like we should. We can skipprayer. We can skip Bible reading. We can skip church. We can choose otherthings over those things that keep us close to the heart of God in our worship.And so the second thing is he did not watch and pray. He was sleeping. That'sthe problem with America today. Too many Christians are asleep at the wheel.They're asleep. They're not committed to doing those things that keep themclose to the heart of God.  Thethird thing we see is Peter has now developed a wrong attitude. He decided toattack the mob with a sword when they grabbed Jesus. He tried to fight thespiritual battle in the flesh. And he had the wrong weapon. My friend, ourweapons are not carnal, but they're mighty through God to the pulling down ofstrongholds. Yes, if you fail to pray, it won't be long till you have a wrongattitude. Remember Jesus had just said in the Upper Room a few hours earlier, “Thatwithout Me you can do nothing. Abide in Me and let My words abide in you. Youcan ask what you will and it'll be done unto you.” But of course Peterforgot about that.  Pleaseread the above verses again (vv. 54-62). The fourth thing we see is that Peterfollowed at a distance. That's the fourth thing we see is that “Peterfollowed at a distance” (v.54). When you have pride in your heart, whenyou fail to watch and pray, and when you have a wrong attitude, it won't belong till you follow Jesus at a distance. from afar.  Thefifth thing we see is Peter sitting by the fire of the enemy (vv. 55-56). He'swarming himself at the enemy's fire. It's interesting how as we go down thesesteps away from the Lord, and begin to follow Him at a distance, that we then expectthe world to give us the comfort we need and the protection we need. And he'swarming himself at the enemy's fire. We try to use the things of the world tofind comfort and warmth in our heart and satisfaction, but that's the wrongplace to look.  Nexta little servant girl confronts and accuses Peter and he responds “Woman Ido not know Him.” Then a man accuses Peter of being with Jesus with Him, butPeter said, "Man, I am not." Then after an hour had passed,another confidently affirmed, saying, "Surely this fellow also was withHim, for he is a Galilean." But Peter said, "Man, I do not knowwhat you're saying."  Let'slook at this closely in our own lives and make sure that we're not following ata distance, warming ourselves at the enemy's fire, have pride in our hearts,depending on the wrong weapons. Matthew's Gospel tells us that Peter then beganto curse and swear (Matthew 26:74). Peter goes back to his old ways. And that'sexactly what happens when we get away from God. We begin to sound like and looklike the world.  Maythe Lord help us and save us from these steps of failure.  Godbless.

Happy Fourth of July. I pray today that you'll have theopportunity to celebrate America with millions of other people. We have been soblessed to be able to live in the greatest nation in the course of humanhistory besides the nation of Israel. An America that was founded on Bibleprinciples. An America that believed, as it was being founded by ourforefathers, that we were created by God.  InGod we trust is still on our coins and on our dollar bills and other bills. Myfriend, we are blessed and yet we live in a time when America is sick. We mighteven say, “America is terminally ill.”  TodayI just wanted to take the opportunity to say a few things about America and ourresponse as believers and what it should be as we pray for our country. Today, it'shard to pray, “God bless America”. You can't pray blessings on a country or anation that has wandered away from God and has taken God out of our schools andout of our media and out of our social life and out of our politics.  Itappears that we decided that we would exchange God for the things of thisworld, for material gain, for money, for prosperity, for success, for business,for bigness and all those things. My friend, God will not be set on a shelf. Iwant to remind us what the Scripture says in several verses: Psalm 33:11, "Blessedis the nation whose God is Jehovah, Yahweh." And Jehovah is none otherthan the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing Him, having a relationship with Him. Morethan anything else America needs God.  ThroughJesus Christ, we can know God, experience God, worship God, and put God firstin our lives. We need God. Blessed is that nation. The Bible says in Psalm9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations thatforget God."  Thereligion of America today seems to be humanism. The worship of man, the worshipof man being a better person, doing good things and even having prosperity andbeing taken. It's all focused on man and finding the answers to our problems inscience and psychology. But when we begin to focus back on God, wonderfulthings can happen in our land and in our country. In Proverbs 14:34 we are toldthat: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”. Whenwe are doing right things according to the word of God, living by the truth ofGod's principles and His precepts, the Ten Commandments, God, it says He exaltsthe nation. But when we allow sin, that's the transgression of God's word,transgression of God's law. It is a reproach to any people.  Acouple things I want to close with as we think about what can we do. In Psalm11:3, it says, "If the foundations are destroyed, what can therighteous do?" You know, I used to think and read that verse and say,"Wow, we've destroyed the foundations of our country. What can we do? Shouldwe just throw up our hands and quit?" No, my friend, in the last coupleyears the Lord put in my mind and heart we can do something! What can therighteous do? Well, there's another answer.  Wecan pray. We can seek the face of God. We can call on His name. We can turnback to Him. We can pray for America to have a revival, for America to repent, forAmerica to come back to God. That's what we can pray. That's what the righteouscan do when the foundations are destroyed. We can turn back to God. Ephesians5:16 tells us to be "Redeeming the time." “Be wise. Don'tbe unwise, but redeeming the time because the days are evil”. And thatmeans we buy up the opportunities more than ever before.  Wehave great opportunities to help people, to love people, to care for people, toshare the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is that day to buy up thoseopportunities. People are broken because of sin. And only Jesus can fix them. Today,let's pray for America.We can pray and we can live righteous, holy livesourselves. And may God answer our prayer and bring this country back toHimself.  

Today we're continuing in Luke 22:54-62. In verse 54 it says,"Having arrested Him, they led Him, Jesus, and brought Him into thehigh priest's house, but Peter followed at a distance." So, we'regoing to look at this passage of Scripture over the next several days and talkabout how Peter fell into the temptation of denying the Lord at a time whenJesus crucially needed him to stand up for Him. And we're going to find out whywe, you and I, so often with all the determination of our heart to stand up forJesus, to love Him, to live for Him, yet we still fail. And we're going to seethese steps that led to Peter's failure as we look at this passage ofScripture.  Firstan overview of the next events. Jesus has been arrested in the garden. AfterHis arrest over the next several hours, Jesus actually endured six differenttrials before He was condemned to be crucified: three before the Jews and threebefore the Roman authorities. First, He was taken to Annas, the former highpriest who was an influential man in the nation and who still retained hisformer title (John 18:12-13). Then Annas sent Him to Caiaphas, who was hisson-in-law and the official high priest (Matthew 26:57). Finally, at daybreakon Friday morning, He was tried before the Sanhedrin and found guilty (Luke22:66-71).  TheJews didn't have the right for capital punishment (John 18:31-32). So they thentook Jesus to the Roman authorities to get Him crucified. First, they took Himto Pilate (Luke 23:1-4), who tried to avoid a decision by sending Him to Herod(Luke 23:6-12). Herod sent Him back to Pilate (Luke 23:13-25). When Pilate sawthat he could not escape making a decision, he gave the Sanhedrin what theyasked for and condemned Jesus to die on a Roman cross. Now,it was during the second Jewish trial, the one before Caiaphas, that Peter inthe courtyard denied the Lord three times. So how did it happen? Where did itbegin? How did Peter come to a place where after he had boastfully said,"I will die with You. Though everyone else fails, I won't fail. I'llfollow You even to death. I will not stumble"? (Matthew 26:33). First, letme just tell you, the first step for you and me to go in the wrong directionwith the Lord is to get a heart of pride. Can you imagine Peter amongst the elevenother disciples at this time, making the statement that though all these otherguys around here forsake You and leave You and stumble, I will not stumble?  Myfriend, the first step to falling into temptation and to following the worldand leaving the Lord is pride. The Bible says, "Let a man take heed whenhe thinks he stands, lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). Pride enters ourheart. We think we're stronger than we are. We think we can do it ourselves,and we then we start comparing ourselves to others and think we're better thanthem. That is a terrible condition to get in. It all started with pride. So, wesee Peter's first step of pride.  Secondly,Peter didn't take the word of Jesus seriously when He said, "Watch andpray." Peter failed to pray. He failed to watch. The hour oftemptation would come and Jesus had warned him that, "The spirit iswilling, but the flesh is weak." The spirit will say, "Oh, I'llnever leave church. I'll never quit reading my Bible. I'll always be the bestChristian ever. I know all these other people, they're not disciplined like Iam. They don't have the commitment and surrender I have to Jesus."  Whenwe have this attitude, we are headed for big failure. Jesus says, "Watchand pray." But instead of watching and praying, we find in theScripture here that Peter was sleeping. Three times the Lord came and woke himup. Yet He continued to sleep. We tend to sometimes forget we can't make itwithout the Lord helping us.  Tomorrowwe will continue to look at the other steps that led to Peter's stumbling anddenying Jesus. May the Lord help us to keep our eyes focused on Jesus all thetime.

Jesushas been praying with His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane when Judasshows up with a “multitude” of the temple guards to arrest Jesus. To get thefull picture of this event, I highly recommend that you read all four Gospelaccounts. John tells us that Jesus “went forth” to meet Judas and those withhim and asked, “Whom are you seeking?” They answered, “Jesus of Nazareth” andJesus said, “I am He”. At those words, God released the radiance of His glory,and it literally knocked Judas and all the mob to the ground (John 18:1-12).  Matthewtells us that this is when Judas gets up and greets Jesus saying, “Hail Master”and then kisses Jesus. Jesus calls him “Friend” and the officers came and “laidhands on Jesus and took Him” (Matthew 26:47-56).Itwas then that the disciples remembered (and misunderstood) His words about thesword (Luke 22:35-38), so they asked Him if now was the time to make use oftheir two swords. Without waiting for the answer, Peter rushed ahead andattacked a man who turned out to be Malchus, a servant to the high priest (John18:10, 26-27). Whydid Peter do this? For one thing, he had to back up the boastful words he hadspoken in the Upper Room (Luke 22:33) and again on the way to the Garden (Matt.26:30-35). Someone rightly said, “Peter had been sleeping when he should havebeen praying, talking when he should have been listening, and boasting when heshould have been fearing. Now he was fighting when he should have beensurrendering!” Petermade a number of serious mistakes when he attacked Malchus with his sword. Tobegin with, Peter was fighting the wrong enemy with the wrong weapon. We mustalways remember that our enemies are not flesh and blood, and they cannot bedefeated with ordinary weapons (2 Cor. 10:3-6; Eph. 6:10-18). In His wildernesstemptations, Jesus defeated Satan with the Word of God (Matt. 4:1-11), and thatis the weapon we must use (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). Peteralso revealed the wrong attitude and trusted the wrong energy. While Jesus wassurrendering, Peter was busy declaring war! This reveals that he was dependingon "the arm of flesh." His whole approach to the situation was not atall Christlike (John 18:36) and stands as a good warning to us today. The lostworld may act this way, but it is not the way God's servants should act (Matthew12:19; 2 Timothy 2:24). Jesus had taught His disciples and us that: “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may besons of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:38-45). Itis just like Jesus to act in grace when others are acting in malice (Psalms103:10). He showed grace to Peter by rebuking his presumptuous sin andrepairing the damage he had done. He showed grace to Malchus, a lowly slave, byhealing his ear, and He showed grace to the whole world by willingly yieldingHimself to the mob and going to Calvary. He did not come to judge but to save(Luke 19:10).  John 3:16-17 reminds us: “For God did notsend His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world throughHim might be saved.” OurLord's last miracle before the cross was not a big flashy thing that attractedattention. It is likely that very few of the men who were there that night evenknew what Peter and Jesus had done. Jesus could have summoned twelve legions ofangels (Matthew 26:53), one legion (6,000 soldiers) for each of the elevendisciples and one for Himself, but He did not. Instead of performing somespectacular feat, He lovingly healed the ear of an obscure slave and thenpresented His hands to be bound. Eachof us must decide whether we will go through life pretending, like Judas; orfighting, like Peter; or yielding to God's perfect will, like Jesus. Today, willit be the kiss of betrayal, the sword of the flesh, or the cup of surrender tothe will of God?Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today we continue to look at Luke chapter 22. At this point,we're with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's been praying with three ofHis disciples—Peter, James, and John. They've been sleeping while He's beenpraying. Interestingly,one version says that Jesus said, “Then cometh he to his disciples, andsaith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand,and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us begoing: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” (Matthew 26:45-46, KJV). I always wondered why Jesus would say,"Sleep on now, rise, let us be going." One of my devotionals pointedout that Jesus is saying, "Okay, wake up. Let it rest. You've beensleeping when you should have been praying. You can't reverse that. You shouldhave been seeking the face of God, watching for the temptation that was goingto come. Now it's too late to do that, so leave it behind you. Rise up, let'sbe going."  Wehave many failures in our lives. We need to let them sleep on, forgetting thethings which are behind and reaching for those things which are before. WhileHe was still speaking to the disciples and encouraging them to get up, Luketells us, "Behold, a multitude, and he who was called Judas, one of thetwelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him." But Jesussaid to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"  I'veentitled this devotional "Betrayed with a Kiss." It makes me thinkabout the fact that here is Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Psalms 41:9,tells us that the Psalmist is referring to Jesus when He says, "My ownfamiliar friend who ate bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me."So here is Jesus, a friend of Judas. In fact, one of the Gospels tells us thatHe actually called him friend when he came to betray Him (Matthew 26:57). Jesushas given Judas every opportunity to repent. Yet Judas, with a deceitful heart,with a hypocritical kiss—a sign of affection, love, and respect, which was howa student would greet their rabbi to show honor—comes and betrays Him.  TheGospel of Matthew tells us that Judas had told the group of soldiers and thechief priest, that he would give them a sign saying, “Whomsoever I shall kiss,the same is he, hold him fast" (Matthew 26:48).  He planned on betraying Jesus with a kiss. Howhypocritical is that? He would look like the friend and disciple of Jesus. "Faithfulare the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful"(Proverbs 27:6). Jesussays, "Are you going to betray Me with a kiss?" Don't youthink the Lord says that to you and me today in many ways? We go to church,sing the songs, lift up our hands, praise the Lord, worship with otherbelievers, and maybe even go to the altar and pray. But then we leave thechurch and live for self, the world, or the devil. We are betraying the Lordwith a kiss.  WhenJudas went and asked the chief priest, "How can I betray Jesus?" theyoffered thirty pieces of silver. It was as if he sold his soul to the devil. Weknow that at the supper with Jesus, Satan entered into him. He sold his soul tothe devil. When we make a choice to exchange Jesus for the world, you becomeservants to whom you yield yourselves to obey (Romans 6:16). Jesus on anearlier occasion had said, “This people draw nigh to me with their mouths,and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Matthew15:8).  So,my friend, we don't want to be in the position of a Judas. Make sure that ourkiss for Jesus is truly genuine from our hearts, honoring Him. Let's cling toJesus, just as Ruth did to Naomi. Orpah kissed her and went the other way, backto her gods in Moab, but Ruth clung to Naomi (Ruth 1:14-18). May we cling toJesus today and show Him our love with our life every moment of every day.  Isyour heart close to Jesus today or is it far away?Godbless!

The Garden of Gethsemane is a beautiful, awe-inspiringplace, a place of holy ground, we believe. There, our tour group will gatheraround an old olive tree that I'm sure does not date back to the time of Christ2,000 years ago. The Romans probably destroyed the Garden when they destroyedJerusalem in AD 70 when Titus invaded the city and no doubt destroyed all thetrees around it. But this tree could have grown from the roots of the treesthat were in the garden when Jesus was there.  Todaythe Garden of Gethsemane is next to the Church of the Nations. It is still avery special and holy place. We might not be able to go to Jerusalem today and physicallyenter the Garden of Gethsemane, but by going into the Word of God and lookingat these scriptures that we're studying now we can still experience the realityof a loving and courageous Savior and enjoy His presence wherever we are. Aswe've gone through this passage, and also read the other Gospel accounts ofthis scene, so many things stand out that grab my attention, but one that's standsout is from Dr. Luke. Remember, Luke was a physician writing the Gospel ofLuke. His is the only gospel that mentions an angel strengthening the Lord, buthe's also the only gospel that mentions what we read in verse 44, "Andbeing in agony, Jesus prayed more earnestly."  I'mbelieving this is probably the third time that Jesus, after being strengthenedby the angel, goes back to that place, that rock where He's praying, kneelingbefore the Father, and He's praying more earnestly in great agony. Then Lukepoints out, "Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling tothe ground." When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God put a curseon the ground and told him, By the sweat of your brow, you will have to work theground to bear any fruit, to eat (Genesis 3:17-19). Now Jesus, the second Adam,is in the garden, and He is submitting to the will of God, where the first Adamwas disobedient and brought sin and death into the world. Jesus is obedient,and He's bringing life and the Holy Spirit into the world. So, what we see herein verse 44 is this mention of sweat and blood falling to the ground fromJesus.  Sometell us that there's a rare physical phenomenon known as hematidrosis, undergreat emotional distress, tiny blood vessels can rupture in the sweat glandsand produce a mixture of blood and sweat. We're not sure exactly if this issymbolically written here or if it's literal. I tend to believe it was literalbecause the blood of Jesus testifies to who He is, and the blood of Jesus hadto be shed. There's a verse in Hebrews 9:14, that says, "How much moreshall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himselfwithout spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve theliving God."  Theblood of bulls and goats could only cover sin temporarily in the Old Testamentas a sacrifice, showing that we're looking forward to the sacrifice of JesusChrist. Hebrews says that through the eternal Spirit, and by His Spirit, oh myfriend, you and I need to grasp the meaning of the Holy Spirit being a part ofJesus giving Himself, yielding Himself and shedding His blood. If we are tolive a life that honors God, we need the anointing, the moving, the fullness,and the filling of the Holy Spirit upon us to do what we need to do every day.  Weeither live after the flesh or we live after the Spirit (Romans 8:1-11;Galatians 6:8). The flesh is weak, the Spirit is willing. God's Holy Spiritempowers our spirit to do the will of God. Jesus, through the eternal Spirit,gave and shed His blood that you and I might be cleansed by His blood.  We need to have cleansing of sin every day (1John 1:7-9). I trust you'll trust Him for that today.  Theseare wonderful lessons from the mysteries of Gethsemane. I trust you'll applythem to your life today.

Today,we're continuing to look at the mysteries of Gethsemane in Luke 22:40-46. Jesus is preparing for that hour, the hour that He willlay down His life on the cross for the sins of the world. Literally, when Satandoes everything he can to keep Him from the cross. But what the devil means for badand evil, the Bible tells us, God often means for good.   The first Adam, who should never have sinned, sinned andbrought sin into the world. But the second Adam, Jesus Christ, as 1 Corinthianschapter 15 tells us, is the only One who is able to take away the sins of theworld, as John chapter 1 states. HereJesus is in the garden, and this passage, unique to Luke's gospel, says that anangel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. Jesus is praying,He's facing a tremendous trial—mentally, emotionally, physically,spiritually—it's overwhelming. Yet Jesus, the Son of God, has an angel helpHim, strengthen Him. I can't help but meditate and think about this but admit Idon't understand it totally. Jesus was all God; yet at the same time, He wasall human, and His humanity needed strengthening as He faced the cross, thecruelties, and the slander. He came to His own, but His own received Him not.He was rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He said alreadythat He was overwhelmed with sorrow.  Tomorrowwe are going to talk about the prayer where He prays and then the sweat and theblood seem to flow from Him. But today, Jesus is there at the cross, goingthrough this ordeal of great sorrow. He's pouring out His soul to the Father, "NotMy will, but Thy will be done. Take this cup from Me." He's facingthat trial, that temptation that we face as human beings to do our will, to dowhat we want to do. But Jesus was committed to the will of God. He always wascommitted. "I came to do Thy will, O My Father." I love how even thisprayer begins with "Father." Jesus often referred to God asFather, and you find that one of the most popular words in the gospel of Johnis "Father." Interestingly,as a side note, John doesn't mention this prayer in the garden of Gethsemane.He mentions the high priestly prayer on the way to the garden somewhere. MaybeJohn chapter 17 is a prayer that Jesus prayed in the garden, but John doesn'ttell us that because after that prayer, it says they left the upper room andwent to the garden nearby, in John 18, and then he goes directly into Judascoming to betray Jesus.  Luketells us that Jesus has an angel come and strengthen Him in the gardenof Gethsemane. Jesus needed that strengthening, and you and I need to bestrengthened. God has many different ways to do this. We need the strength ofother Christians praying for us. We need the strength, comfort, andencouragement of fellowship with other Christians in the church. We definitelydo. But there are times that no one can help us but God Himself, and God cansend ministering spirits, angels, that will take us through that trial, thathard suffering, whatever it is.  I'llnever forget a time when I was in the depths of despair in my life, and I knowthat night I was strengthened by an angel. I don't want to go into the detailsof that, but it was definitely an angel who spoke to me, encouraged me, and Iknew that I heard him say that there were more with me than there were againstme. That's what he told me, and I'm telling you, my friend, God will strengthenyou, and if He needs to do it miraculously with an angel, He will.  That'show He did it with Jesus, and I'm thinking if Jesus needed it, I need it too attimes. I've learned by experience that whenever I am obedient to the will ofthe Father and yield my life to Him and the Holy Spirit, in some wonderful andmiraculous way at the moment I receive His energy and grace for the challengeI'm facing!    Itrust you will continue to meditate on these things and be in awe of your greatGod and Savior Jesus Christ and Father in heaven.

Today,we're continuing to meditate and look atthe scene of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. Remember, Heleft eight of them somewhere—we're not sure where—but took three of them,Peter, James, and John, a little further. Then immediately He told them inverse 40, “Pray that you enter not into temptation.” Now Matthew'sGospel tells us that He also said to them at that time, “Stay here and watchwith Me.” And then He went a little further and fell on His face andprayed.  Weknow that Jesus, when He prayed the first time, said, “Not My will, but Thywill be done,” to the Father, He came back and found the disciples sleeping.Jesus is praying and He asked them to pray. He needs the comfort and assurancethat the disciples are there with Him during His time of trial—His time oflaying down His life, of accepting the cup of sins of the entire humanity. Heneeds that support in prayer. If Jesus needed support in prayer, how much moredo we need support in prayer? Now,these three disciples, instead of praying, all fall asleep. Luke also tells us inverse 45, that He came after He prayed the last time and found them sleepingfrom sorrow. They're overwhelmed with sorrow. Jesus, as He shared the cup ofthe Lord's Supper with them had been telling them, “I'm going to die. This isMy flesh, this is My blood,” and reminded them that the Lamb had to die, and thatHe was the Lamb who was going to die. They're overwhelmed with sorrow. Theyexpected Him to set up His Kingdom, and He's talking about dying. That's why Jesustold them in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God,believe also in Me.” Jesus saw the trouble in their hearts, the sorrowthat's overwhelming them. But now, instead of praying, they're sleeping becauseof sorrow.  Twoof the Gospels tells us that their eyes were heavy with sleep (Matthew 26:43;Mark 14:40). They were also overwhelmed with just physical tiredness. Andthat's a bad place for us to get into—where we're emotionally, physically,mentally, and spiritually worn out to the point that we cannot pray. The secondtime when He came and found them sleeping, He said to them, “Watch andpray.” In Matthew 26:41, we read that Jesus also said, “that you enternot into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” RememberPeter's declaration just minutes earlier? “If I have to die with You, I willnot deny You.” (Matthew 26:35). Okay—the spirit is willing. Especially whenwe go to church on Sunday morning and hear the message or the Sunday schoollesson, and we get around God's people, we feel strengthened. We feel strong.And we leave saying, “Man, I'm going to serve Jesus this week. I'm going tolive for Him. I'm not going to go back to those old habits and sins that takeme away from Him, keep me from praying, and keep me from getting up andspending time in the Word with the Lord in the morning.” Andyet, as willing as the spirit is on Sunday, Monday morning comes, and the fleshis weak. Or when the trial and the time of temptation comes—my friend, theflesh is weak. It's weaker than we ever imagined. Peter didn't know himself aswell as he thought he did. And neither do we.  Fromthis experience, Peter later writes in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant;your adversary the devil goes about like a roaring lion.” I'm convinced thedevil was out to kill Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane—to keep Him fromthe cross. I mean, the bastions of hell surrounded Jesus as He goes to thecross (Psalm 22:12-13). But Jesus is prepared, He prays three times. He praysand yields in obedience to the will of the Father. The disciples? What are theydoing? Sleeping.So,when the moment of temptation comes, what happens with Peter and the disciples?They all forsake Him and flee. Jesus stands strong, yields Himself as a Lambgoing to the slaughter, and goes with the soldiers to be crucified.

Jesus kneels to pray, saying, "Father, if it is Yourwill, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, bedone."  Thenan angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, Heprayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood fallingdown to the ground. When He rose up from prayer and had come to His disciples,He found them sleeping from sorrow. Then He said to them, "Why do yousleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Twice He tells themto pray that they avoid falling into temptation and listening to the lies ofSatan and doing what he wants rather than what God would want. Matthewtells us that He took these three men with Him into the garden. He said tothem, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here andwatch with Me." Matthew's gospel provides more detail about whathappened as Jesus was with these disciples in this time of prayer in the gardenbefore He was arrested by the crowd that came with Judas.  “Hewent a little further and fell on His face and prayed, saying, "O MyFather, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, notas I will, but as You will." Then He came to the disciples and found themsleeping and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with Me one hour?Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing,but the flesh is weak." Again, a second time, He went away and prayed,saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless Idrink it, Your will be done." He came and found them asleep again, fortheir eyes were heavy. So He left them and went away again and prayed the thirdtime, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them,"Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and theSon of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.See, My betrayer is at hand." (Matthew 26:36-46) Thisis a powerful passage of Scripture, reminding us of Jesus as He would drink “thiscup” in Gethsemane. The question for many has been: what does this cuprepresent? In my mind, this cup represents the cup of the sins of the world. “Thiscup” represented Jesus receiving and taking sin upon Himself. The Biblesays in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For God made Jesus to be sin for us, whoknew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."  Inother words, Jesus was at this hour where He would literally take upon Himself thesin of all the world. He became that sin. The sinless Son of God, the pure Sonof God, the holy Son of God, was now going to take the sin of the world. Wecan't even fathom what and all of this means, but Jesus took that sin. Hebecame that sin, and of course, His holy divine nature would say, "Please,I can't even begin to comprehend taking this sin."  Yet,Jesus never said, "Take away the cross and it's suffering." No, Heknew He came for this hour. This was the hour that He would pay the price forthe sins of the world. We see this is the cup of suffering spiritually,emotionally, and physically. “This cup” of sin that Jesus says,"Take from Me, but not My will." In other words, He learned obediencethrough suffering as the Scripture says in Hebrews. Philippians 2:8 says, “Andbeing found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient tothe point of death, even the death of the cross.  Jesuswas obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." Why? Because Hehumbled Himself. He laid aside His divine powers. The angel came andstrengthened Him. These are powerful passages reminding us what Jesus did foryou and me.  Itrust you'll take them into your heart and live a life of thankfulness,gratefulness, and service to Him as you meditate and think about “thiscup” and what Jesus did for you. Godbless!

When Jesus gets to the garden, He takes three of the inner circledisciples—Peter, James, and John—and goes a little further. Jesusleft eight of the other disciples somewhere else in the garden, and He takesthese three a little further. What's interesting is that this is the third timethat Jesus has shared a special occasion with these three men. The first waswhen Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead in Luke 8:41-56. The secondis when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration and was transfigured beforethem in Luke 9:28-36. Youunderstand that even on this third occasion in the garden, there's somethingconnected spiritually with all three of these occasions, and that is death.Jesus raised Jairus's daughter from the dead when James, John, and Peter werein the room with Him on that occasion. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, a great Biblepreacher, a British expositor, pointed out that each of these occasions hadsomething to do with death. In Jairus's house, Jesus proved Himself to bevictorious over death. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus was glorifiedthrough death. There, He, Moses, and Elijah were talking about His decease, Hisdeath in Jerusalem, and, of course, His resurrection. Now here in the garden,Jesus is surrendering His life to death. Youremember also that James was the first apostle to die in Acts 12:1-2. John wasthe last to die, probably on the Isle of Patmos or maybe after He got out ofexile and came back to Ephesus. Peter experienced great persecution andeventually was crucified, they tell us, upside down in Rome. These threelessons were no doubt practical for them as they themselves prepared for deathand faced death as they did later. Sowe see Jesus is with these three disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane. I wouldreally encourage you to read Matthew 26:36-46. Matthew's gospel, on thisoccasion in verse 37, tells us that He took with Him Peter and the two sons ofZebedee and began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. He said to them,"My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch withMe." Then it says He went a little further. Here in chapter 22 of Luke'sgospel, in verse 41, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw. Ifyou think about that, a stone's throw was basically saying as far as it wouldtake to throw a stone. When the Jewish people were about to kill someone,Jewish execution always took place with a stoning. Luke giving us the distance,“a stone's throw”, was his way of telling us that Jesus was preparing for thatstone's throw, but it wouldn't be a stone's throw; it would be a crucifixionbecause Old Testament scripture prophesied that Jesus would be crucified. Hewould be hung on a cross; He would die in a cruel way; His blood would be shedthat way. SoJesus went about a stone's throw and He knelt down and prayed. Very interesting,Jesus had said to the disciples, "Watch and pray. I need your help; I needyour support during this hour. Watch and pray; be alert; be on the watch. Satanis out to destroy you; Satan is out to hinder us and keep us even from going tothe cross."  Jesusbegan to be very sorrowful. So Jesus asked them to watch and pray. In Matthew'sgospel, He actually did this two times, came back the third time, and said, "ThenHe came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping andresting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed intothe hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."(Matthew 26:45-46) Soyou see this whole picture unfolds, Jesus is in Gethsemane, pouring out His heartin prayer. Tomorrow we'll talk about what He prayed concerning that cup, thatcup that He prayed, "Take this cup away from Me, nevertheless not My will,but Yours, be done." Today,I trust that instead of being asleep spiritually we are alert, watching andpraying during our trial of temptation! God bless!

On Thursday evening that we're looking at here in Luke chapter 22,Jesus has the Passover meal with His disciples, and there He institutes theLord's Supper. Somewhere between the Passover meal and the institution of the Lord'sSupper, Judas leaves to go gather the soldiers that will arrest Jesus. It is aroundthis same time, Jesus told Peter, "You're going to betray Me threetimes." Now, it is at that point, John 18:1 says, “When Jesus hadspoken these words, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, wherethere was a garden, which He and His disciples entered.” In Matthew 26:36, Matthewgives us the name of the garden. “Then Jesus came withthem to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit herewhile I go and pray over there." That'swhat we're looking at in verse 39 of Luke 22: “Coming out, Jesus went to theMount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him”.No doubt, Judas knew that He was going to this place each evening, and that'swhy he went there with the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus after he had betrayedHim. Youmight ask why is this garden such a significant place for the story of Christ betrayal,arrest and crucifixion? Why did Jesus go to this garden, and why does thisgarden become a place that we need to know about? I think there are so manywonderful things we can learn from this. We must remember that the history ofmankind began in a garden; that's where God created Adam and placed him in agarden in Genesis 2:7-25. Read through that passage and circle the word"in the garden" or "the garden". It'sin the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3 that sin enters the world. There yousee Adam and Eve disobeying and rebelling against known will of God and eatingof the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and sin enters theworld. But we also know here we have the Son of Man, Jesus Christ, the Son ofGod, who is the second Adam, according to 1 Corinthians 15:45-47. The firstAdam was disobedient and ate of the fruit that was forbidden, and sin comesinto the human race. It was the second man, Jesus Christ, who submitted to thewill of God. He became obedient even unto the death of the cross, and there inthe garden of Gethsemane, He accepts the cup, the cup of our sins, the cup ofsufferings, and He is willing to go to the cross and die for us and give useternal life. The first Adam brought death in a garden, but the second Adam,Jesus Christ, is the one who brings us life as He submitted to the will of theFather. Howinteresting is that, that it all begins and ends in the garden? Maybe John hadin mind, when he said that Jesus crossed the brook Kidron, he was thinkingabout David in 2 Samuel chapter 15, when Absalom rebelled against him, andDavid loses his throne and leaves Jerusalem with a small remnant of followersand goes across the brook Kidron, fleeing from his son Absalom. Here we seeJesus Christ, the King of the Jews, literally the King of heaven, the King ofeternity; He is rejected, and He leaves Jerusalem and goes across the samebrook Kidron, which means “murky, dark. and enters the garden of Gethsemane. Theword Gethsemane means “olive press”, where the olives would be pressed, and outof it would come the oil that would be used for healing and cooking and for somany different things. In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus Christ drank the cupof our sins; He was pressed; His life was pressed out of Him there in prayer asHe prayed, and willingly laid down His life for usWhatan interesting passage. I trust you'll meditate on these words, and you'll evenmore than ever love your Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave His life for you. Godbless!

Today,we will go back to Luke 22:17-20. It was when the Passover meal was drawing toa close (Matthew 26:25; Luke 22:20) that Jesus instituted the ordinance thatthe church calls "The Communion" (1 Cor. 10:16), or "The Lord'sSupper" (1 Cor. 11:20), or "The Eucharist," from the Greek wordwhich means "to give thanks." ThePassover feast opened with a prayer of thanksgiving, followed by the drinkingof the first of four cups of wine. We believe that this wine was diluted withwater and was not intoxicating. Next they ate the bitter herbs and sang Psalms113-114. Then they drank the second cup of wine and began eating the lamb andthe unleavened bread. After drinking the third cup of wine, they sang Psalms115-118; and then the fourth cup was passed among them. It is likely thatbetween the third and fourth cups of wine, Jesus instituted the Supper. Paulgave the order of the Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23-26. First, Jesus broke apiece from the unleavened loaf, gave thanks, and shared it with the disciples,saying that it represented His body which was given for them. He then gavethanks for the cup and shared it, saying that it represented His blood. It wasa simple observance that used the basic elements of a humble Jewish meal. Jesussanctified the simple things of life and used them to convey profound spiritualtruths. Jesusstated one of the purposes for the Supper: "in remembrance of Me" (v.19: also see 1 Cor. 11:24-25). It is a memorial feast to remind the believerthat Jesus Christ gave His body and blood for the redemption of the world.There is no suggestion in the accounts of the Supper that anything"miraculous" took place when Jesus blessed the bread and the cup. Thebread remained bread and the wine remained wine, and the physical act ofreceiving the elements did not do anything special to the eleven disciples.When we partake, we identify ourselves with His body and blood (1 Cor. 10:16),but there is no suggestion here that we receive His body and blood. Asecond purpose for the supper is the proclaiming of His death until He returns(1 Cor. 11:26). The Supper encourages us to look back with love and adorationto what He did for us on the cross and to look forward with hope andanticipation to His coming again. Since we must be careful not to come to theLord's table with known sin in our lives, the Supper should also be an occasionfor looking within, examining our hearts, and confessing our sins (1 Cor.11:27-32). Athird blessing from the Supper is the reminder of the unity of the church: weare "one loaf" (1 Cor. 10:17). It is "The Lord's Supper"and is not the exclusive property of any Christian denomination. Whenever weshare in the Supper, we are identifying with Christians everywhere and arereminded of our obligation to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond ofpeace" (Eph. 4:3). Forus to receive a spiritual blessing from the Supper, it takes more than merephysical participation. We must also be able to "discern the body" (1Cor. 11:29), that is, see the spiritual truths that are inherent in the breadand the cup. This spiritual discernment comes through the Spirit using theWord. The Holy Spirit makes all of this real to us as we wait before the Lordat the table. Followingthe instituting of the Supper in the Upper Room, Jesus taught His disciplesmany of the basic truths they desperately needed to know in order to haveeffective ministries in a hostile world (John 14-16). He prayed for Hisdisciples (John 17); then they sang a hymn and departed from the Upper Room forthe Garden of Gethsemane. Judas knew they would go there and he would have thearresting officers all prepared. Asyou review this passage, you cannot help but be impressed with the calmness andcourage of the Savior. It is He who is in control, not Satan or Judas or theSanhedrin. It is He who encourages the Apostles! And He is able even to sing ahymn before He goes out to die on a cross!  

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today, we're continuing in Luke chapter 22, looking at verses35 through 38. Jesus is with the disciples in the upper room, or in the processof leaving for the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas has already gone to gather Romansoldiers to arrest Jesus and take Him to trial. It's Thursday evening, but inthe Jewish calendar, it's Friday, and Jesus knows He will be crucified. He ispreparing His disciples for this time, having already warned them ofpersecution and tribulation in John chapter 16, saying, “Don't let your heartbe troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. I'm going away, but I'llcome again, and I'm sending the Holy Spirit.” These things were said in theupper room, as recorded in John's Gospel. Now,Jesus is preparing His disciples for spiritual warfare in a new dispensation.After telling Peter in verses 31-34, “…Satan has asked for you, that he maysift you as wheat…. And before the rooster crows you  will deny three times that you know Me”, Jesusnow says in verse 35, “When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, andsandals, did you lack anything?” They replied, “Nothing.” He's referring towhen He sent the twelve to preach the gospel of the kingdom to the lost sheepof Israel, proclaiming, “The King is here; Jesus the Messiah is here—receiveHim, trust Him, believe Him.” They lacked nothing because God miraculouslyprovided as they preached throughout Israel. ThenHe says, “But now,” signaling a shift to a new time. He's going away, andthey'll be left to take the gospel of grace to the world, not just to Israelbut to the Gentiles. “He who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise aknapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For Isay to you that this which is written must be accomplished in Me: ‘And He wasnumbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end.”  Jesusis quoting Isaiah 53:12, saying, “I'm numbered with the transgressors. I'mgoing to the cross to pay the price for the sins of the world. Somethingdifferent is coming—I'll be resurrected and leave, but you'll take this gospelto the world.” All things concerning Him will be accomplished; on the cross,His final words, “It is finished,” marked the completion of Hissubstitutionary, atoning work. Jesus is signaling the end of the dispensation ofOld Covenant as He fulfill all the prophesies and the demands of the Law bybecoming the final sacrifice for the sins of the world. He is about to finishthe Old and bring in the New! The disciples, still not grasping His meaning,say, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” Jesus responds, “It is enough,” notmeaning that two swords are sufficient to fight the Roman soldiers inGethsemane, but rather, He was saying, “We're done talking—you'll understandlater.” It was only, after 40 days of studying the Word, and spending time withthe Lord between the resurrection and His Ascension, and 10 more days in  prayers in the Upper Room, and after the HolySpirit came upon them on Pentecost, did they begin to comprehend what Jesus wastalking about.  What Jesus is basically saying to them was,“Set aside the message of the gospel of the kingdom for another time. Now youwill go forth with the sword of the Spirit. You cannot fight this battle in theflesh—it must be through the power of prayer and the Word of God, with the HolySpirit working in and through you.” Whata powerful passage. Remember how Paul said it in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “Forthe weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling downstrongholds.”  And in Philippians3:1-11, Paul proclaimed that he had no confidence in the flesh but in the resurrectionpower of Jesus Christ! Today,let's make sure that we are serving Jesus in the Spirit, not in the flesh. Godbless!

Welcometo Pastor's Chat. Today, we're continuing in Luke chapter 22. The Lord has beenin the upper room with His disciples, sharing the Passover supper. As we'll seetomorrow, He also instituted the Lord's Supper for future generations like youand me. Now, the Lord is leaving the upper room with His disciples and headingto Gethsemane. Judas has already left, as Jesus had just told the disciplesthat one of them would betray Him. Now, the Lord speaks to Peter in verses 31-34. Itis interesting that this word of warning followed the dispute over who was thegreatest! Imagine how the disciples must have felt when they heard that notonly would one of their number betray Him, but that their spokesman and leaderwould publicly deny Him! If a strong man like Peter was going to fail the Lord,what hope was there for the rest of them? Theword you in Luke 22:31 is plural; Satan asked to have all the disciples so hemight sift them like wheat. These men had been with Jesus in His trials (Luke22:28), and He would not forsake them in their trials. This was both a warningand an encouragement to Peter and the other men, and our Lord's prayers wereanswered. Peter's courage failed but not his faith; he was restored tofellowship with Christ and was greatly used to strengthen God's people. Jesusnot only reveals that Judas will betray Him, but He also tells Peter that hewill deny Him. This is a significant passage of Scripture. Here is Peter, thespokesman for the disciples, the strong leader, as seen throughout the Gospelsand the early chapters of Acts, boldly proclaimed his faith, saying that evenif everyone else denies Jesus, he would not.  Severalkey points emerge here. First, Jesus said, "I have prayed foryou," noting that Satan sought permission to sift all the disciples aswheat, to cause them to fail. Satan is after every one of us, wanting us to beineffective as leaders and to deny knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. He would tossus like wheat to be blown away with the chaff, rendering us ineffective in ourwitness, though not losing our salvation. Peterresponds with confidence, saying, "Though all others forsake You, Iwon't—I'll die with You." But Peter didn't know himself as well as hethought. The book of Jeremiah tells us “the heart is deceitful above allthings and desperately wicked; who can know it”? (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesusdidn't pray that Peter would not fail but that his faith would not fail. Satantempts us at our strongest points. Peter's strength was his courage, yet helost it, though he did not lose his faith because the Lord prayed for him.Jesus told him, "When you have turned around, strengthen yourbrethren." Peter'sbold statement reveals his pride and self-confidence, implying he understoodwhy others might forsake Jesus but believed he never would. Yet, as the Lordpredicted, Peter not only forsook Him but denied Him three times. It all beganwith Peter's pride and overconfidence in himself. Again, Peter didn't knowhimself as well as he thought. Satan wants us to fail and often tempts us atour strongest points. Abraham's strength was his faith, yet he faltered, goingto Egypt and lying about his wife, Sarah. Moses, the meekest man on earth, losthis temper with rebellious Israel and forfeited his entry into the Holy Land. Wemust be careful, but remember that Satan cannot tempt us without permission, asseen with Job. We need to remember that our Lord is praying for us, and He willsee us through. And when we turn back from our failure, we have the opportunityto strengthen our brethren, just as Peter did. The main way we can “strengthen ourfellow believers”, is to pray for them like the Lord. And not pray they won'tfail, or not have trouble or persecution, but pray that their faith will not failwhen they falter and stumble.  Godbless!

Today,we're looking at Luke chapter 22:24-30. Jesus has just revealed that Judas isHis betrayer, who went out to gather men to arrest Him and take Him to the highpriest to be crucified. Now, Jesus is still at the table with His disciples,and an astonishing thing happens next. In verse 24, a dispute arises among themabout which of them should be considered the greatest. Thiswas not the first time the disciples had committed this sin (Matt. 20:20-28;Mark 9:33-37; Luke 9:46-48), but in the light of what their Lord had said anddone that evening, this latest exhibition was inexcusable. Perhaps the argumentgrew out of their speculating over who would betray Him, or there may have beensome jealousy over the way they had been seated at the table. When you areinterested in promoting yourself, it doesn't take much to start an argument. It'sremarkable that after Jesus washed their feet, shared the Passover, andannounced His betrayal, the disciples are arguing over who will be the greatestin the kingdom. It still hasn't dawned on them, despite Jesus telling themseveral times—back in Luke chapter 9—that He would be crucified. Their disputebegan even then, on the way to Jerusalem, about who would be the greatest. Ican imagine, with Judas among them, they were all thinking, "I'll besitting next to Jesus in His kingdom, ruling over others." They weretrying to position themselves above one another as disciples of Christ. It'ssad that this happens even in our churches today. As Jesus heard themdisputing, He taught them a lesson: "We're not to be like the Gentiles. Inthe Roman Empire, people promote themselves, legally or illegally, doinganything to gain places of honor, power, and authority." It almost soundslike today—people lie, cheat, steal, and act corruptly to get to the top, evenin the corporate world. Jesus said, "That might be the way of theGentiles, who are called benefactors and given titles of honor, striving to berecognized, to be somebody, to be famous. Yet when they get there, they findit's not what it seems." Jesuscontinued, "It's not going to be that way among My people. I'm theexample—I'm the one who serves." He pointed out that those who sit at thetable are honored, part of the authority, but He had just washed their feet,serving them. "That's how it's to be among you," He said. "In Mykingdom, the greatest is the one who serves."  OswaldChambers put it beautifully, saying we are to be doormats for people. Nobodylikes someone rubbing the dirt off their feet onto you, but Jesus said that'swhat we're to be. I've always thought, if someone rubs their dirt off on me,hopefully they're cleaner now, and thank God I have the opportunity to serve.It's not always easy to have that attitude, but we look to Jesus as ourexample. In His “Sermon on the Mount of Beatitudes” in Matthew 5:44, Jesus taughtus what our response should be to those who step on us: “But I say to you,love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you,and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”.  Jesusclosed this lesson on servanthood by reminding them of their future reward inthe kingdom (Luke 22:28-30). In spite of their weaknesses and failures, thedisciples had stood by Jesus during His earthly ministry, and God would honorthem for their faithfulness. We should not mind being servants today, for weshall sit on thrones in the future kingdom! For that matter, our faithfulservice today is preparing us for the rewards we shall receive. Jesus has setthe example: first the cross, then the crown. Wehave something to look forward to, but for now, we are servants—doormats forJesus. I trust you'll be one for someone today as you serve them.  Godbless!

Today,we're continuing to look at Luke 22. We are now in the upper room on Thursdayevening with our Lord Jesus Christ and His twelve disciples. In verses 14–16, theyhave sat down at the table to eat the Passover meal with Jesus the night beforeHe will be crucified. According to John's Gospel (John 13), Jesus had risenfrom the table and washed all the disciple's feet which would have includedJudas before they went through the eating of the Jewish Passover. It is afterthis that Jesus reveals the disciple who has already betrayed Him and made adeal with the chief priest (Matthew 26:14).  Ona number of occasions Jesus had already hinted to His disciples that one oftheir number was not truly with Him (John 6:66-71), but now He openly spokeabout a traitor in their midst. However, He did not do this just for the sakeof the disciples, but more for the sake of Judas. Jesus had kissed Judas andwashed his feet, and now He was giving Judas another opportunity to repent. Itis most significant that Jesus did not openly identify Judas as the traitor butin a sense had protected him until the very end. Aquestion we all ask is that if Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, why didHe choose him in the first place? And, if somebody had to betray the Lord, whycondemn Judas? After all, he simply did God's will and fulfilled the OldTestament prophecy in Psalms 41:9; 55:12-14; 69:25; 109:8; Acts 1:15-20. Youmight remember that before Jesus chose His 12 Apostles, He spent a whole nightin prayer (Luke 6:12-16), so we must believe that it was the Father's will thatJudas be among them (John 8:29). But the selection of Judas did not seal hisfate; rather, it gave him opportunity to watch the Lord Jesus closely, believe,and be saved. God in His sovereignty had determined that His Son would bebetrayed by a friend, but divine foreknowledge does not destroy humanresponsibility or accountability. Judas made each decision freely and would bejudged accordingly, even though he still fulfilled the decree of God (Acts2:23). Thefact that the disciples were puzzled by this strange announcement reveals thatthey did not know Judas' true character, their own hearts, or the prophecies inthe Psalms. It appears that they all ask the question after Jesus made thisannouncement, “Is it I?” (Matthew 26:22-25). Nor did they remember the Lord'sstatements that He would be betrayed into the hands of the enemy (Matthew17:22; 20:18). If Peter had fully understood what was happening, he might haveused his sword on Judas! Thereis much about Judas that remains a mystery to us, and we must not speculate toomuch. Judas is certainly a witness to the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, for ifanybody could have given witness against Him, it was Judas. However, theauthorities had to find false witnesses in order to build their case againstJesus. Remember when Judas went back to the chief priest and gave them back theirmoney admitted that he had "betrayed innocent blood" (Matthew27:4). Itis at this point that Judas left the Upper Room to go to the religious leadersand get ready for the arrest of Jesus in the Garden. Judas went out "andit was night" (John 13:30), for he was obeying the prince of darkness(Luke 22:53). Jesus had said, “Woe to that man by whom He is betrayed”.  That man was Judas, and for him it was night,and is still night, and always will be night! Wemust also remember that Satan can still appear as an angel of light, and like Judas,sit in our church, stand in the pulpit, serve on the leadership team, and deceiveeveryone as he destroys the church. Paul warned the church about these peoplein 2 Corinthians 11:13-15.  Oneday Jesus will expose these people for who they really are! In the meantime, weshould be aware!  Godbless!

Lukedoesn't go into detail about the different aspects of the Passover lamb beingeaten, or the different cups that they drink representing certain aspects ofthe Exodus and redemption, but we know several things took place at this time.The Gospel of John tells us in John 13, before the feast of the Passover, whenJesus knew that His hour had come—remember, in verse 14 of Luke 22, alsomentions when the hour had come—"Jesus knew that this hour had comethat He should depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own, Heloved them to the end” (John 13:1). This was an expression of the love ofthe Lord Jesus Christ to the twelve disciples, who had left all to follow Him.But who still can't seem to get along with each other, and still had so much tolearn. Jesusis going to teach them a lesson about love, humility, and forgiveness. John 13:2-10goes on to say; “Supper being ended, the devil having already put it intothe heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing thatthe Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come from Godand was going to God, rose from the supper, laid aside His garments, took atowel, and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and beganto wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel with which He wasgirded. He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washingmy feet?” Jesus answered, “What I'm doing you do not understand now, but you'llknow after this.” Peter said, “You're never going to wash my feet.” Jesusreplied, “If I don't wash you, you have no part with Me.” Peter responded,“Well then, wash me all over.” Jesus said, “You don't need to be washed allover; only your feet are dirty, and you're clean, but not all of you.”  Jesuslater said to the disciples, “I've given you an example that you should do asI've done to you. Blessed are you if you do these things” (John 13:17). Whatwas the Lord teaching them? The Lord was teaching them the power of love,humility, and forgiveness. Jesus knew He was going to a cross, and no matterhow these disciples acted, deny Him, fail Him, or go the wrong way, He would lovethem to the end. They were going to find cleansing and forgiveness of their dailysins through His blood. And as He forgave them, they were to forgive oneanother.  Thisis very important. Jesus didn't mean that we are supposed to have a ceremony inour churches or go home and literally wash each other's feet, wash theneighbors' feet, or other believers' feet. He's speaking of the fact that ourfeet get dirty as we walk through this world. How do they get dirty? Thingshappen with people. People say and do things that offend and hurt us. We sayand do things that hurt others. And daily and we need to ask for forgivenessand give forgiveness. Ibelieve that this is what Jesus is teaching: to get rid of our pride, be humbleand love and forgive others the way we want Him to love and forgive us. At thispoint in the supper, Jesus could have displayed His glory and could have askedthe disciples to fall at His feet and worship Him, but He didn't. He took offHis garment, put on a servant's garment, washed their feet, and said, “NowI've taught you a lesson. You don't understand it now, but you'll understand itlater” (John 13:7). Later, when Jesus went to the cross and they heard Himsay, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” they knewit was about forgiveness.  Godforgives them through Christ, and they were to love and forgive one another. Andas we do that, we keep our feet clean, and honor and glorify the Lord as we loveand forgive those who hurt us. In doing this we display Jesus' love, humility,and forgiveness to the world that desperately needs it! Itrust as you look at this upper room experience, it will transform your life asyou do what Jesus has taught us by His own example. Godbless!

Today,we're focusing on verses 14–16, which say, "When the hour had come, He,Jesus, sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, 'Withfervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in thekingdom of God.'" Most Bible scholars believe that the following verses17–20, which describe the institution of the Lord's Supper, take place at theend of the supper, so we'll come back to those verses. Toget the full glimpse of what is taking place we remember that that it is Thursdayevening, which would have been the Jewish Friday, because sundown begins thenext day for the Jewish people. We also believe these events took place in theupper room in the city of Jerusalem. Whenever I have visited Israel we always goto this location I Jerusalem, not the same building, but an upper room where wetake the Lord's Supper with our tour group. Webelieve that's what takes place in verses 17–20. But before Jesus institutedthe Lord's Supper, the Lord has the Jewish Passover supper with His disciples. Rememberthat Jesus sent Peter and John ahead to prepare for this supper. The lamb hasbeen slaughtered and roasted. Some tell us that the lamb was roasted with apomegranate stick stuck through the middle and another crossway through thelamb, then roasted over the fire for the Passover meal—a picture of the crossof Christ, suffering on a cross, crucified for our sins and your sins. Inverse 14, it says, "When the hour had come," and we've talkedabout the hour that Jesus knew would be on that day, an hour that He would goto a cross and suffer. During this time, the Passover supper takes place inthis upper room. If you want to read the details of what was said in the upperroom, go to John chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and possibly even chapter 17, whereJesus prays His High Priestly Prayer. We know that prayer could have takenplace in the upper room or on the way to Gethsemane when He left, because John18:1 says, “When Jesus had spoken these words, He went out with His disciplesover the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciplesentered.” Somethingelse to notice in John chapter 13: the first thing Jesus did when they enteredthe room, as the host of the Passover dinner, was kiss each of the disciples,which means He would have kissed Judas, whom He knew would betray Him. Somebelieve Judas sat on His left and John on His right, as described in John12:23. In the upper room, Jesus washes the disciples' feet giving them anexample of humility. Which apparently the disciples didn't learn from it. Becauselater, after the Passover meal, the disciples argue over who's going to begreatest in the kingdom (Luke 22:24-30).  InJohn 14, Jesus tells the disciples not to let their hearts be troubled and givesthem the promise of heaven, the promise that He will come again, and thepromise of the Holy Spirit. In John 15, Jesus gives the message of abiding inHim—He is the vine, and we are the branches. In John 16, He goes into detailabout the Holy Spirit, the Comforter who will come and be with them. Jesusknows the hour has come and says, “I will no longer eat of it until it isfulfilled in the kingdom of God."(v.16). Jesus no doubt said this because He knew this Passover time would fulfillall the Old Testament scriptures of the Passover Lamb. Jesus, that PassoverLamb, is the last Passover. In verses 17–20, we see the institution of theLord's Supper, which is now left for us, the church. Theseare very interesting scriptures. I trust you will get a glimpse into thesuffering of our Lord and understand what He did for you and me in a specialand unique way. Godbless!

Today, we're looking at Luke chapter 22. This chapterdescribes the events that took place on Thursday of Passion Week. Remember, onThursday evening, when the sun went down, it was actually the beginning of theJewish day, Friday. This is the day the Passover lamb would be killed. Twothings stand out in this passage to me that I've noticed over the years, and hascaught my attention. I'd love to share it with you today. In verse 7, it says, "Thencame the day of unleavened bread when the Passover must be killed."Now, remember, from the beginning of time, Jesus Christ is the Lamb that wasslain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). God's plan was that oneday His Son would take our place on an old rugged cross in Jerusalem. Yearsago, I had my attention drawn to the passage in Job 1 that tells us ithappened on a day when Satan appeared before God and accused the brethren.God said, "What about my servant Job?" Satan got God's permission totake Job's wealth and to cause his ten children to be killed in a wind storm(Job 1:6-22). In Job 2, it begins again, "Now there was a day” whenSatan got permission to take away Job's health. Job went on to say, "NakedI came into the world, and naked I'll leave the world. Though the Lord slay me,yet will I trust Him." My friend, this all happened on a day. Everythinghappens on a day. It happened on a day when you were born. You were born in aweek, but it happened on a day. It happened on a day when we trust Jesus Christas our personal Lord and Savior. The day Luke 22:7 is speaking of, is a daythat all eternity looks forward to and looks back to—the day when the Passover,Jesus Christ, the precious Son of God, the Lamb of God, would die on a cross, beingcrucified for our sins. Alsointeresting, in Luke 22:14, it says, "When the hour had come."Not only was it a day, Friday, when Jesus would be killed as our Passover Lamband crucified on a cross, laying down His life voluntarily for you and me, butthere was the hour when this would take place—an exact time that God hadplanned from eternity past.  Didyou ever notice how John points out that up to this hour, Jesus could not beharmed or killed. It says in John 7:30, "No one laid a hand on Himbecause His hour had not yet come." In John 8:20, again, itsays they did not lay a hand on Him; they would have liked to stone Him in thatchapter, but “His hour had not come”. Buy then, in John 12:28,just as Jesus goes into the upper room with His disciples, the Scripture says,"The hour has come that the Son of Man should beglorified." Jesus knew when that hour had come. Herein Luke 22:14, when the hour had come, He sat down with the twelve apostles andsaid to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passoverwith you before I suffer. For I say to you, I'll no longer eat of it until itis fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Jesus knew when His hour hadcome. In John chapters 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17, it describes what happened inthat hour in the upper room with His disciples and the hour that He would go tothat cross and die in our place for our sins. In John 17:1, in His HighPriestly prayer, Jesus said, "Father, the hour has come." Oh,my friend, Jesus knew the exact time that He would die and be glorified for oursins in our place.Today, you can trust Jesus totake away your sins. Today is the day of salvation. “Behold, now isthe accepted time” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2), the hour for you and me to makethat decision to live our lives for Jesus Christ. I trust you'll do that today.Everything happens in a day and in an hour. Ilove these Scriptures: “The day of Passover came, the hour hadcome”, and Jesus gave His life and was glorified!  Godbless!

Today,as we look at Luke chapter 22, we need to remember the setting behind thischapter, focusing on what was happening in Jerusalem during the week ofPassover, what we call Passion Week. Therewas tremendous excitement this week in Jerusalem as the Passover was takingplace. Over 100,000, perhaps 300,000 or more, Jewish pilgrims had come to thecity. They had been looking for the Messiah for centuries and were expectingthat Jesus, who performed miracles and proclaimed Himself to be the Messiah,might be the one. John the Baptist had proclaimed that He was the Messiah, andmany had repented and followed John. After John the Baptist was killed, Jesuscontinued His ministry of teaching the people, proclaiming the message of theKingdom, healing people and doing miracles, for a total period of three and ahalf years. Jesus Christ was now back in Jerusalem during this week forPassover Week knowing He would be sacrificed as the Lamb of God to take awayour sins. TheJews were excited, but the Romans were scared and worried, thinking this mightbe a time for an uprising. This is likely why Pilate and Herod were both inJerusalem, though Herod would normally be at Caesarea in his palace, and Pilatewould be relaxing in Tiberias. As Roman rulers over Jerusalem and the Jews atthe time, they were present, knowing there could be a riot or uprising. Theywere responsible to Rome to keep peace in the land. As you can imagine, it wasa very electric time. Inthe first six verses, Judas went to the chief priest, elders, scribes,Pharisees, and religious leaders, making a deal to betray Jesus secretly. Theywere afraid that an open betrayal would cause issues with the people, and theyknew the Romans needed to be involved to make it appear as though the Romans,not the religious leaders, were responsible for putting Christ to death. Thereligious leaders were already struggling with their integrity andaccountability, especially since Jesus had publicly called them hypocrites. “Thencame the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb must be killed” (v 7). We believe this day wasThursday, as the Jewish day begins in the evening. (The evening of this daywould have been considered Friday, the day the Passover Lamb would be killed,and the same day Jesus would be crucified.) Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Goand prepare the Passover for us that we may eat." Jesus already knewwho Judas was. He knew from the beginning that Judas was a thief and wouldbetray Him. Jesus knew Judas had already gone to the chief priest and betrayedHim, and He knew a plot was underway to have Him crucified. He knew becausethat's why He came to Jerusalem; He knew what awaited Him there. So,He sent Peter and John secretly, because if Judas knew, he might have hadpeople come to arrest Jesus in the upper room. Only Peter and John knew theplan. When they asked Him where to prepare, He said, "Behold, whenyou've entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water;follow him into the house where he enters." This was unusual becausemen typically didn't carry pitchers of water; women did. Seeing a man with apitcher would stand out, signaling, "That's the guy." He must havebeen a believer. They were to say to the master of the house, "TheTeacher says to you, 'Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover withMy disciples?'" This man, likely a believer already preparing for thePassover, would show them a large, furnished upper room. They went and found itjust as He had said and prepared the Passover. Peterand John purchased the Passover lamb, took it to the chief priests, had itsacrificed and roasted, and waited in the upper room on Thursday evening forJesus and the rest of the disciples to come. Jesus knew what was going on, yetHe still gave His life as a ransom for you and me. Oh, what a Savior! What aSavior!Godbless!

Todaywe're looking at Luke chapter 22. We believe this chapter describes the eventsthat took place on Thursday of Passover Week and what we also call PassionWeek. This is the day that Jesus would prepare for the Passover with Hisdisciples because He knew He was the Passover Lamb. Remember the story of theExodus when the Passover lamb was killed, the blood was sprinkled on thedoorpost and lintel, and the firstborn would be spared. The death angel would “passover” that house because the blood had been applied. Whata beautiful picture when Jesus shows up three and a half years earlier and Johnthe Baptist said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of theworld." The next day John sees Jesus coming again and simply says, "Beholdthe Lamb of God." (John 1:29-35). Today I pray that you and I willbehold Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God, submissive and obedient to His Father andis led as a lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7 - “He was oppressed and Hewas afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to theslaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not Hismouth”). And Who takes away our sin, gives us forgiveness, heals us, andgrants us eternal life.  ThenI pray that you will behold Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God, in His beauty,courage, strength, death, burial, and resurrection. What a beautiful picture wehave of Jesus in His great love for us, fulfilling John 3:16: "For God soloved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Himwould not perish but have everlasting life." My friend, that word"whosoever" includes you and me.  I'mconvinced Jesus Christ and God love every person on planet Earth with aneternal love, and He sent His only Son so that “whosoever—anyone”—can be saved.No one is predestined to be saved or lost; we are all called to salvation. Thedifference is we must choose whether we will believe in Jesus as the Son ofGod, the Lamb of God who alone can take away our sin. When we repent, believeand receive Jesus as our only hope, we discover we are the chosen ones who believed,chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, according to Ephesianschapter 1. We have an eternal choice that everyone has: to trust Christ orreject Him. He is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Jesusknows all this. He knows why He came into the world—"not to condemn theworld but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-21). We knowmen love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. ThePharisees, scribes, and chief priests rejected Christ because of hypocrisy, andas Pilate points out, because of envy and jealousy. They loved the darkness of theirreligion and sin. And Jesus was infringing on their religious business. Jesusalways challenges religion and religious business. He came to seek and savethat which was lost. Today, trust Him. Duringthis time of Passover, some 100,000 to 300,000 Jewish pilgrims would flood intoJerusalem. Historian Josephus said 250,000 lambs would be slaughtered for apopulation of 500,000 to a million Jewish people. On this Thursday, Jesus ispreparing for the Passover while the scribes, Pharisees, and chief priests areplotting to kill Him. Judas, filled with Satan's animosity and hatred forChrist and God, is led to betray Jesus. This is all taking place as Jesusprepares to be that Passover Lamb. We see the preparation for the supper takeplace in verses 7 through 13 as they prepare for this special commemorative meal!Today,let us remember to get rid of the leaven of sin and bitterness in our heartsand come cleanly to the feast of the Passover with our hearts open, rememberingthe death of Jesus Christ till He comes.Godbless!

Webelieve the events in this chapter take place on Thursday of Passion Week, theweek that Jesus Christ will be crucified. Thiswas the time of Passover. There were three major feasts on the Jewish calendar:Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. All Jewish men were expected to go toJerusalem each year to celebrate these, as stated in Deuteronomy 16:16. ThePassover commemorated the time when the people of Israel left Egypt, when thelamb was killed, and the firstborn could live when the blood was sprinkled onthe doorpost and lintel. God had ordained that every year the people of Israelwere to commemorate and celebrate this time of deliverance out of Egypt. Duringthis time, the leaven was taken out of the houses, and the houses were cleansedfor Passover and the Passover meal. This meal will take place on Thursday withJesus and His disciples, and then He'll be crucified on Friday. TheFeast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called Passover, as noted inverse one of chapter 22. In verse two, the chief priests and scribes sought howthey might kill Him, for they feared the people. The very people who shouldhave accepted Christ and acknowledged Him, understanding the Scriptures andthat He was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah,were full of hypocrisy. Remember that Jesus warned His disciples of the leavenof the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Their hypocrisy is revealed: theycleansed the leaven in their houses but not the leaven in their hearts. TheBible says in John 8:44 that the devil is a murderer from the beginning, didnot abide in the truth, and there is no truth in him. My friend, these peoplewere motivated by satanic powers to do what they did. Inverse three, “Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered amongthe twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests andcaptains about how he might betray Jesus to them. " The Pharisees, scribes, and chiefpriests were delighted when Judas was going to do it secretly, and they gavehim money. Judaswas motivated and energized by Satan (John 13:2, 27), for he never was a truebeliever in Jesus Christ. His sins had never been cleansed by the Lord (John13:10-11), and he had never believed and received eternal life (John 6:64-71). Yetnone of the other Apostles had the least suspicion that Judas was a traitor. Wehave every reason to believe that Judas had been given the same authority asthe other men and that he had preached the same message and performed the samemiracles. It shows how close a person can come to God's kingdom and still belost (Matt. 7:21-29). Whydid Judas betray the Lord Jesus? We know that he was a thief (John 12:4-6) andthat money played a part in his terrible deed. But thirty pieces of silver wasnot a large payment for such a great crime, and there had to be something moreinvolved. It is possible that Judas saw in Jesus the salvation of the Jewishnation and, therefore, he followed Him because he hoped to hold an office inthe kingdom. Keep in mind that the Twelve often argued over who was thegreatest in the kingdom, and Judas, the treasurer, surely participated in thoseimportant discussions. WhenJudas understood that Jesus would not establish the kingdom but rather wouldsurrender to the authorities, he turned against Him in bitter retaliation. The"leaven" in his life grew quietly and secretly until it produced"malice and wickedness" (1 Cor. 5:6-8). When you cooperate withSatan, you pay dearly, and Judas ended up destroying himself (Matt. 27:3-5).Satan is a liar and a murderer (John 8:44), and he reproduced himself perfectlyin Judas. Today,we need to beware of the leaven, the unconfessed secret sins and the proud anddeceitful motivations that lie hidden in our hearts. Only the blood of Jesuscan cleanse us as we confess our sins ask forgiveness (1 John 1:7-10).Godbless!

This is the chapter that has Jesus'Mount Olivet discourse, His prophetic message of the end times that He gives toHis disciples. As wefinish the chapter, He gives some admonitions and has a wonderful closing tothis chapter, showing how Jesus continues at the temple to teach. Jesus,as He told about the things that will be happening in the tribulation period,mentioned that there will be false messiahs, false prophets and teachers, butdon't be deceived. There will be wars and commotions, but don't be terrified orfearful.  There will be great persecutionbut don't be worried, this will be your opportunity to give a great witness andtestimony of His love, grace, and salvation. And, He will give you the words tospeak.  Isn'tit interesting that even right now, as we went to bed last night, we heard newsthat Israel is attacking Iran and bombing their nuclear capabilities? So, thereare wars, as Jesus said there would be. We believe all these things intensifyjust before the tribulation period begins.  The message, even though it's to the Jewish people in the tribulation period, is amessage for us today. Listen, the time is drawing near, and we're not to becaught up with carousing, drunkenness, and the cares of this life. The cares ofthis life are legitimate things that we would do, like making a living,working, taking care of our food, housing, children, and so forth. But Jesus said,as it was in the days of Noah, as it was in the days of Lot. life will be goingon as usual for most people ignoring the Gospel message and the warnings ofcoming judgment.  But, my friend, thetime of the end is drawing near, and that Day should not catch us unaware. Wehave so many warnings. So,what do we do? Do we fear, worry, or be terrified? No, we look up, we listenfor the trumpet, and we believe with all our hearts that Jesus will take careof us. We do what Ephesians 5:16 says: "Redeeming the time, because thedays are evil." The world's a mess, there's anarchy in our streets,there's violence, chaos, corruption, wickedness, and evil everywhere; and it'snot getting any better. We need to remember that the Bible tells us it's notgoing to get better. It's going to get worse before the end comes. Instead ofthrowing up our hands, quitting, and throwing in the towel, saying, "Well,what can we do”? So, we are to redeem the time. That means we buy up theopportunities. Welive in a broken world; people are more empty than ever before. Severalgenerations are terribly biblically illiterate and have no clue what the Biblesays or who God is. But that means there's an empty void in their lives, andthey know something is missing. That's our opportunity to tell them there'sonly one answer to their need, and that's Jesus Christ. It doesn't matter whatreligion they are—Hindus, Muslims, Christians, religious as can be—it doesn'tmatter. What we all need is Jesus Christ. Jesuscontinued to teach in the temple, and at night, He'd go stay on the Mount ofOlives. He'd come back in the morning, and this is Passion Week. Jesus isgetting ready to go to the cross, but what is He doing? He's teaching thepeople. That's what we're supposed to be doing until the end comes—tellingpeople about the wonderful Word of God and the message of the gospel thatthere's hope in Jesus Christ. So, let's make sure we're doing that.  Aswe finish this chapter, I couldn't help but think about what Paul wrote in Romans13:11-14; “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awakeout of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. Thenight is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works ofdarkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in theday, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strifeand envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for theflesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

Today, we will be focusing on verses 29-38. Jesus finishes thisprophetic discourse with a parable about the “fig tree, and all the trees”.  First,let's summarize what we've learned. This message primarily applies to theJewish nation, and deals with the events that will take place in the Seven-YearTribulation, but it has many practical applications for each believer today aswe near the end of the age. The church age has been ongoing for 2,000 yearssince Jesus ascension into heaven and the Day of Pentecost.  Myunderstanding of prophecy and this passage, though Bible scholars may offerdifferent viewpoints, is that the next event on God's agenda is the rapture ofthe church. Jesus comes in the air for His bride, as described in 1Thessalonians 4:13-18, and 1 Corinthians 15. Also, in Revelation 2 and 3, Jesushas John write the seven letters to the seven churches in Asia, which appear topicture the characteristics of the different periods of the church age.  Thenin Revelation 4, John hears a voice like the sound of a trumpet say, "Comeup here," which we believe pictures the catching away, the rapture, ofthe church. Then, the seven-year tribulation begins when the Antichrist signs apeace treaty with Israel, as mentioned in Daniel 9, marking the start of Daniel's70th week, which is also called the time of Jacob's trouble in the OldTestament. Onlybelievers are raptured to heaven, leaving no believers on earth immediatelyafter. Both believing Gentiles and Jews will be raptured. The Seven-Year Tribulationbegins with no believers anywhere on planet earth. However, Jesus sends His twowitnesses to preach the gospel (Revelation 11), and 144,000 Jews—12,000 fromeach tribe—are sealed (Revelation 7), respond to their message and get savedand they begin proclaiming the gospel throughout the rest of the Tribulation.Millions upon millions of people will be saved during the Tribulation. But ifthey don't take the “mark of the beast” they won't be able to buy or sell andwill be hunted down like animals and be killed. (Revelation 13:16-18).  Ipersonally believe that this passage in Luke 21:29-38 applies primarily to the believersin that period. In Scripture, the fig tree usually represents Israel (Hosea9:10), and here Jesus indicates that it comes back to life. Some studentsinterpret this parable to mean that the emergence of the State of Israel on May15, 1948 was the "sign" that the Lord would soon return. Surely it isa significant thing that Israel is now a free nation after so many centuries ofpolitical bondage. But Luke added "and all the trees" (Luke 21:29),suggesting that more than one nation is involved. Perhaps Jesus was saying thatthe rise of nationalism around the world is the thing to watch. In recent yearswe have certainly seen the growth of nationalism and the emerging of newnations, and this may be a "sign" that the coming of the Lord isnear. However,the basic idea here is that of knowing what is going on. As the budding of thetrees indicates that summer is near, so the occurring of these signs indicatesthat the Lord's return is near (see Luke 12:54-57 for a similar passage). Theimportant thing is that the believer knows that God is keeping His promises andthat His Word will not fail (Josh. 23:14).The term "this generation"may refer to the nation or race of Israel, which Satan has always sought todestroy. The Jews are the greatest witness that the Bible is God's Word, thatJesus is the Messiah, and that God keeps His promises. Duringthe tribulation, especially the last three and a half years, Jesus is encouragingall believers both Jews and Gentiles that they should keep looking up and avoidthe temptations of the world (vv. 33-36). Jesus is coming with great power toset up His kingdom.  Heavenand earth will pass away, but His Word will not (v 33). Trust this, and don'tget confused trying to figure it all out. Just keep looking up, as Jesus iscoming soon.

Today,we will be looking at Luke 21:25-28. In this passage, Jesus continues to giveHis great prophetic message concerning future events to His disciples from theMount of Olives as they overlook the city of Jerusalem. He's answering theirquestion: what will the signs be of the end of the age, and when will thathappen? Here, Jesus describes what we've already discussed as the greattribulation period, the seven years between the time of the church age, therapture of the church, and the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.  Inverses 8-19, Jesus described some of the things that will happen in theseven-year tribulation. There will be great deception, great chaosinternationally with wars and rumors of wars, great earthquakes in variousplaces, along with famines and pestilences, and great persecution of the Jewsand Christians alike. In verses 20-24, Jesus describes the destruction of Jerusalemand the temple. Luke's account refers not to a distant event to occur duringthe Tribulation, but to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Romanarmy in 70 A.D., just forty years from that time that Jesus is explaining theseevents to His disciples (see Luke 19:41-44).  Nowin verses 25-28, Jesus is revealing what will happen in the last three and halfyears of the Tribulation jus before He returns. Revelation 15-19 also describein great detail the frightening judgment signs that God will send on the earthduring the last half of the "time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah30:7). When these things occur, it will be evidence that the Lord's coming isdrawing near. The image of "waves roaring" describes nations risingand falling like waves in a storm (Psalms 46:1-6; Revelation 17:15). It will bean awesome time, and the population of the earth will tremble with fear, butmen will not repent of their sins and turn to God by faith (Revelation 9:20-21;16:9-11). Matthew24:29 informs us that the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will fall(Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15). Matthew 24:30 states that "thesign of the Son of man" will appear in' heaven. We do not know what this"sign" is, but it will produce fear among the nations of the earth.However, then Jesus Christ will appear, and every eye will see Him (Revelation1:7). The nation of Israel will at last recognize their Messiah, repent,believe, and be saved (Zechariah 12:10-14; and see Mark 14:61-62). Theseawesome signs will bring terror to the lost people of the world, but hope tothose who have trusted the Lord during the Tribulation period (Revelation 7),for these believers know that the Lord's coming will be soon. Believers todaylook for the Savior, not signs. However, as we see "coming events castingtheir shadows," we believe that the Lord's return is near. Christ'sappearing will be sudden, glorious, and with great power (Luke 21:27). Theimage here is taken from Daniel 7:13-14, a messianic passage that must havebeen familiar to the disciples.  Thereare those who ignore and even ridicule the doctrine of the return of Christ.After all, the church has been waiting for the Lord for 2,000 years, and He hasnot returned yet! Peter answered that accusation in 2 Peter 3. He pointed outthat God keeps His promises whether we believe them or not, and that Godmeasures time differently from the way men measure it. Furthermore, the reasonHe waits is so that unsaved sinners may repent, be saved, and be ready whenJesus comes. While His seeming delay is a trial to the church, it is anopportunity for the lost. Havinganswered the disciples' questions concerning “the end of the age”, the Lordthen "applied" the message to their hearts by giving them this closingadmonition in verse 28: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up andlift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." Today,we should also be waiting, watching, and working! Jesus is coming again!

Today,we will be looking at Luke 21:20-24. In this passage, Jesus gives His greatprophecy concerning future events to His disciples from the Mount of Olives asthey overlook the city of Jerusalem. He's answering their question: what willthe signs be of the end of the age, and when will that happen? Here, Jesusdescribes what we've already discussed as the great tribulation period, theseven years between the time of the church age, the rapture of the church, andthe millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.  Nowin verses 20-24, Jesus describes the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Thispassage is peculiar to Luke; there is no parallel description found in Matthewor Mark, in spite of the similar language in Matthew 24:16-21 and Mark13:14-17. However, it is clear that both Matthew and Mark were referring toevents in the middle of the Tribulation when "the abomination ofdesolation" would be set up in the Jewish temple and the Antichrist (theworld ruler) would begin to persecute Israel (Dan. 9:24-27; Rev. 13). That iswhere Jesus warned the Jewish people, to flee and go into hiding, for"great tribulation" was about to fall. Luke'saccount here in verses 20-24 refers not to a distant event to occur during theTribulation but to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Roman army in 70A.D., just forty years from that time that Jesus is explaining these events toHis disciples (see Luke 19:41-44). This terrible event was in many respects a"dress rehearsal" for what will happen when Satan vents his anger onIsrael and the believing Gentiles during the last half of the Tribulation (Rev.12:7-17).  Whenthis event in verses 20-24 historically took place in 70 A.D., the Jewishhistorian Josephus claimed that nearly a million people were killed by theRomans, and over 100,000 taken captive, when Titus captured the city. And theJewish people and nation was scattered throughout the world. Butthis was not the first time Jerusalem would be "trampled by theGentiles," for the Babylonians had destroyed the city in 586 B.C. andtaken the people captive to Babylon. This is basically when, what is called "thetimes of the Gentiles" began. The Jewish people went back into their homelandin 1948 at the end of War World 2, and in 1967 recaptured and occupiedJerusalem in the Six Day War.  Butwe believe that this significant time period of the Gentiles did not end then. Becausein the middle of the Tribulation the Antichrist will break his peace treatywith Israel and again take over Jerusalem after he kills to two witnesses in Revelation11. In God's plan, the “times of the Gentiles” will end when Jesus Christreturns to the earth, destroys all Gentile power, and sets up His own righteouskingdom (Daniel 2:34-36, 44-45; Revelation 19).  TheApostle Paul also spoke of this time of the Gentiles ending in Romans 11:25-27.He called it the “fulness of the Gentiles”, speaking of the time at the end ofthe Tribulation when Jesus comes again and there is a national spiritual salvationfor the Jewish people.  Todaywe need to remember that believers are looking for their Lord's return shouldnot apply Luke 21:20-24 to their own situation. Jesus was talking aboutJerusalem in 70 A.D.. In Matthew 24:15-28 and Mark 13:14-23, He was speakingabout Israel's situation at the middle of the Tribulation. Since our Lord'scoming for the church will take place "in the twinkling of an eye" (1Cor. 15:52), no one will have time to go back home for a coat; nor will we haveto worry about traveling on the Sabbath or caring for nursing babies. Myfriend, we are getting closer every day to the return of Jesus Christ! Makesure you are ready!

Today,we will continue looking at Luke 21:8-19. In this passage, Jesus gives Hisgreat prophecy concerning future events to His disciples from the Mount ofOlives as they overlook the city of Jerusalem. He's answering their question:what will the signs be of the end of the age, and when will that happen? Here,Jesus describes what we've already discussed as the great tribulation period,the seven years between the time of the church age, the rapture of the church,and the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.  Remember,this is primarily a Jewish prophecy for the Jewish nation, but there areapplications we can make for the church today. As we see these events and signsintensify, it simply means it's getting closer. In the book of 2 Timothy 3:1-5,it says as you see these things approaching, in the last days perilous timeswill come, men will be lovers of themselves, blasphemers, lovers of pleasure.And so, there are indications that we're getting close to the end of the age.  Wealso need to remember that the second coming of Christ happens in two stages:the first stage is when He comes back in the air to rapture the church (1 Thessalonians4:13-18), and the second stage is when He sets His feet down on the Mount ofOlives and establishes His kingdom (Zechariah 14:4-5). Before that is aseven-year tribulation, described here in Luke 21:8-19. Jesussays during that age, "Take heed that you do not be deceived, for manywill come in My name, saying, 'I am He,' and the time has drawn near.Therefore, do not go after them." False teachers, false prophets, andfalse messiahs will come and claim to be Jesus or the Messiah. Even now, inplaces like Israel, there are signs on the back of buses and billboardsclaiming the Messiah is almost here, pointing to a rabbi who they believe willbe that Messiah.  Inverse 9, Jesus says, "When you hear of wars and commotions, don't beterrified, for these things must come to pass first, but the end will not comeimmediately." Wars and chaos will happen and are already happening,but they will intensify in the first part of the tribulation period. This iswhy the Antichrist, the man of peace, will be able to bring peace amid theseevents. Jesus continues, "Nation will rise against nation, kingdomagainst kingdom." There will be international chaos, but in verse 11,He adds, "There will be great earthquakes in various places, famines,and pestilences, and there will be fearful sights and great signs fromheaven." Not only will things take place on earth with pestilences andearthquakes during the tribulation, as described in the book of Revelation, butthere will also be signs in heaven, indicating that the seven years of tribulationare nearing their end. Inverse 12, Jesus says, there will be tremendous persecution during this time. Jesusspeaks of the abomination of desolation, when the Antichrist breaks his peacetreaty with Israel and persecutes them. He tells them they will have to flee tothe mountains, but He assures them they will be given words to speak as theyare brought before courts, the Antichrist, and the rulers he sets up. This willbe an occasion to be a great witness. I believe thousands and millions ofpeople will come to know Jesus Christ during the tribulation period, thoughthey will be persecuted for their faith. Thisis Jesus' description of what it will be like in the tribulation period,especially for the Jewish nation. God bless you as you think on these things,and remember the application for us today: God gives us the words to speak whenwe are persecuted in this age, through the Holy Spirit giving us the thoughtsof God through His Word.