Podcasts about by jesus

Loving Like Jesus When Jesus Encounters The Hurting Pt3How can we love like Jesus unless we believe we are loved BY Jesus.  How can we love OTHER'S with the love of Jesus if we can't see Jesus IN THEM.  Enjoy this message! Watch today's ‘edited' message on YOUTUBE:  https://youtu.be/PR9rcYLov_Q PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-zenkerWeekly Blog: https://mikezenker.blog/  ***Love what you are hearing?  DONATE TODAY and help keep this going:  Hope Fellowship:   https://hopefellowshipycc.com/donate/ Growing In Grace Canada:  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XHQ9UTBPTKDPW  Hope Fellowship, Your Community Church ContentWeb: www.hopefellowshipycc.com Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/hopefellowshipycc Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelZenker  Growing In Grace Canada ContentYouTube:  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKfv-9uArQHIzcebDIyS8F3nj2MF_FV-H Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growingingraceministriescanada  Web: www.growingingrace.caSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6AvFWO7epyVeIuNf5WHFRD Grace Awakening Network weekly Program 9:30pm EST: https://www.gantv.com/  GAN ‘On Demand': https://watch.gantv.com/categories/102/still-growing-in-grace

Loving Like Jesus Begins With Believing You Are Loved Pt2How can we love like Jesus unless we believe we are loved BY Jesus.  How can we love OTHER'S with the love of Jesus if we can't see Jesus IN THEM.  Enjoy this message! Watch today's ‘edited' message on YOUTUBE:  https://youtu.be/cYfYDpgeOQE PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-zenkerWeekly Blog: https://mikezenker.blog/  ***Love what you are hearing?  DONATE TODAY and help keep this going:  Hope Fellowship:   https://hopefellowshipycc.com/donate/ Growing In Grace Canada:  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XHQ9UTBPTKDPW  Hope Fellowship, Your Community Church ContentWeb: www.hopefellowshipycc.com Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/hopefellowshipycc Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelZenker  Growing In Grace Canada ContentYouTube:  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKfv-9uArQHIzcebDIyS8F3nj2MF_FV-H Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growingingraceministriescanada  Web: www.growingingrace.caSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6AvFWO7epyVeIuNf5WHFRD Grace Awakening Network weekly Program 9:30pm EST: https://www.gantv.com/  

Loving Like Jesus Begins With Believing You Are Loved How can we love like Jesus unless we believe we are loved BY Jesus.  How can we love OTHER'S with the love of Jesus if we can't see Jesus IN THEM.  Enjoy this message! Watch today's ‘edited' message on YOUTUBE:  https://youtu.be/wG81AcsxbnU PODCAST: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-zenkerWeekly Blog: https://mikezenker.blog/  ***Love what you are hearing?  DONATE TODAY and help keep this going:  Hope Fellowship:   https://hopefellowshipycc.com/donate/ Growing In Grace Canada:  https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=XHQ9UTBPTKDPW  Hope Fellowship, Your Community Church ContentWeb: www.hopefellowshipycc.com Facebook  https://www.facebook.com/hopefellowshipycc Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MichaelZenker  Growing In Grace Canada ContentYouTube:  https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKfv-9uArQHIzcebDIyS8F3nj2MF_FV-H Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/growingingraceministriescanada  Web: www.growingingrace.caSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6AvFWO7epyVeIuNf5WHFRD Grace Awakening Network weekly Program 9:30pm EST: https://www.gantv.com/  GAN ‘On Demand': https://watch.gantv.com/categories/102/still-growing-in-grace

Scripture - Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-14, Luke 19:28-44, John 12:12-19, Psalm 118, Zechariah 9:9, Galatians 5:22-23 We explore Palm Sunday – the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of hosanna. It was the 10th day of Nissan on the Jewish calendar. The day when the Passover lambs were herded in and prepared for sacrifice in Jerusalem at the temple. Palm Sunday on Nisan 10 - recorded in these gospels: Matthew 21:1–11 Mark 11:1-11 Luke 19:28-44 John 12:12-19 There are two dates that could be the date of the first Palm Sunday. Those dates are April 3, 30 A.D. or March 29, 33 A.D.  Jesus rides in on an unbroken donkey – one never before ridden on. This is biblically significant – a young animal, never previously ridden on was an animal that could be offered in a sacrifice as a gift to God. Jesus rides in on such an animal. All donkeys across the world have the same markings on their backs. It is a long dark stripe that runs along their spine, along the center of their backs and another stripe that runs across from shoulder to shoulder, forming the sign of a cross. Every donkey carries a cross on its back. When Jesus rode on the donkey into the city of Jerusalem, he was sitting on a cross. in Zachariah 9:9 we read, “rejoice greatly, daughter, Zion! Shout, daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey. “ Jesus fulfill this prophetic word from Zachariah as he enters Jerusalem as a king riding on a donkey coming in peace and offering hope. “Hope for the nations.” (more on this in the coming next weeks.) As Jesus enters Jerusalem on the donkey – it is possible that there were as many as 2.5–3 million people there for the Passover based on ancient writings of Josephus and the rabbis.  The crowds are shouting “hosanna!“ Hosanna means “Lord, save us!“. This is an acknowledgment by the crowd that Jesus is the Messiah. The crowd knew who he was, and this hugely angered the chief priest, upsetting the status quo. BUT it also inaugurates the greatest life anyone can experience and that is a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ.  Palm Sunday Nissan 10 - order of events: Palm Sunday branches John 12:13 Pharisees object Luke 19:39-40 Jesus weeps Luke 19:41-44 Lazarus crowd John 12:17–19 Return to Bethany. Mark 11:11 As Jesus rode into Jerusalem, it is with a heavy heart because he knows what lies had; rejection by the religious authorities, the future for his disciples and believers and for Jerusalem. He knew that many would not receive him for who he is. The Messiah.  The story of Jesus going “up to Jerusalem“ continues on Monday morning Nissan 11 – the next day after Palm Sunday with the story of the cursing of the fig tree.  The fig tree – they shed their leaves in November – new leaves in late March  – paggim (early fruit)on branches in March – paggim come out early in spring. They come first before the figs. – Jesus finds no paggim -summer figs – August – October. Jesus recognizes that not finding the paggim is more than just a biological event – this is prophetic. Fig trees are the symbol of the nation of Israel. Figs are symbolic of the people of Israel. Jesus is hungry and the tree that should've been producing fruit had nothing on it. This is symbolic of the nation of Israel - so many were religious, but there is not spiritual fruit. Jesus curses the fig tree because God desires fruit. This speaks to those then and to us today. We are called to bear fruit. It says Galatians 5:22-23 “but the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.“ These are what God does in the hearts of all who believe. If fruit is not there, it is a warning and a sign that calls us back to him in repentance. We don't want to just “look good” we want to be transformed by Jesus and with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit so we can bear fruit. Jesus goes to the temple and finds money changers and a marketplace in the courtyard and cleanses it by turning the tables over and throwing them out. He says that his house is not a den of thieves, but is to be a house of prayer for all nations. Pastor shares a detailed description of the layout of the temple and the courtyards.  The cleansing of the temple ends with Jesus miraculously healing the blind and the lame. This is prophetic. “Blind and lame“ were not allowed into the temple or its courtyard. Jesus frees those who have never been welcomed into the temple area. In fact, he is announcing to everyone that he is the one who gives everyone access to God. By Jesus' death, he will open the gates of heaven to all who repent and believe, join us next week for the continued story of Jesus going “Up to Jerusalem.” Our website –  https://www.awakeusnow.com Watch the video from our website! https://www.awakeusnow.com/2-year-study-of-the-gospels-upper Watch the video from our YouTube Channel!! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTaaqrC3dMOzMkhPyiNWwlJRpV6Bwpu01 Up to Jerusalem is a study of the final weeks of Jesus' ministry concluding with His resurrection and ascension, using the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together with material from ancient sources and recent discoveries.  Up to Jerusalem is part four of our Two Year Study of the Gospels. Up To Jerusalem is the story of the plan of God to redeem the world, and the story of a Savior willing to obey the Father's plan. As we study Jesus' final days, we will be impacted as we discover the Love of God for each one of us.  This study is great for large group, small group or home group study and can be started at any time.

Mark 1 has already given us several lines of testimony declaring Jesus as Messiah, Son of God, anointed by the Spirit, and baptized to identify with sinners. After overcoming His wilderness testing, Jesus came forth proclaiming that the Kingdom of God is at hand and calling people to repent and believe in the gospel. Last week, in verses 16-20, we saw Jesus call four fishermen to leave everything behind and follow Him. Jesus spoke with authority, calling these men to step out in faith because the kingdom of God is at hand. But does Jesus actually have the authority to promise such things as salvation and entry into God's kingdom? Authority is not real just because someone claims it or even because some people submit to it. True authority is the ability to back up your claim and enforce your words. Mark 1:21-43 (and even into Ch. 2) shows that Jesus has the authority to bring the Kingdom - to the creation and the hearts of sinners. Verses 21-43 give us the events of a single day. A day in the life of Jesus' ministry as He and His new disciples enter the synagogue of Capernaum on the Sabbath. By Jesus' words and His works, we see how the kingdom of God is indeed at hand. Jesus teaches with authority that amazes the people as He announces the kingdom and calls them to repent and believe the gospel. Then, Jesus demonstrates His power to overcome the corrupted kingdom of this fallen world. He has authority over the evil spirits who tremble at His word, and He has authority to banish the sickness and disease that entered this creation through the corruption of sin. In Jesus' words and His works, we glimpse through the keyhole at what the creation will be when the kingdom comes in fullness. There will be no more corruption of sin nor any effect of the fall. No more death, suffering, or evil when the King returns to make everything new. Though we look forward to this day, in Jesus, the kingdom of God is indeed at hand. He has authority over all other kingdoms, and as His gospel goes forth, Jesus' kingdom is overcoming sin in our hearts and all creation. Today, Jesus bears the King's authority and is seated upon His throne until all His enemies are placed beneath His feet. I. Jesus' Authority In His Teaching (v. 21-22) II. Jesus' Authority Over Evil Spirits (v. 23-28) III. Jesus' Authority Over Disease (v. 29-31) IV. Jesus' Authority To Bring The Kingdom (v. 32-34) Subscribe to the Sermon podcast on itunes or search for "jason velotta" in your podcasting app Visit http://www.jasonvelotta.com/for more audio, video, books, and teaching materials https://www.fbcmulvane.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonvelotta

How far did Jesus walk to be baptized by John. By Jesus' baptism, who is He intending to identify with. Who saw the heavens open up during the baptism of Jesus? Is it possible worship God while while actively sinning against Him? For answers to these questions and to learn how to practice our walk, please listen to "Holy Habit" by Pastor Jamie.

Everyday we're planting seeds that grow up in our heart. Katy Berry plants God's Word, cuz that's where good fruit starts! When Basil wasn't feeling well, he thought about being strong in the Lord. But when Whiney Wineberry suggested that he just call his mother, Basil chose to pray God's Word! “By Jesus' stripes, I am healed!” (1 Peter 2:24). What would you do? #biblestoriesforkids, #bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #christiancharacterforkids, #jesuswantsyouwell, #bestronginthelord, #jesushealedthemall, #prayer, #compassion, #faithpleasesgod, #christiancharacter, #letthechildrencometoJesus, #goodseedgoodfruit, #plantgoodseeds, #beeattitudes, #jesusnmeclubhouse, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbitesforkids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

Introducing 'Catholic Kernel of Truth' from TruthPop! Dive into short, digestible, and catechetical knowledge that will help you learn and grow in your Catholic faith. Learn about the 'Anointing of the Sick' in this CKoT.God doesn't always remove our illness and suffering but He does transform and redeem it. Hey it's Cathy, and here's another Catholic Kernel of Truth.The Catholic Church offers hope and grace through the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. CCC states “by the sacred Anointing of the Sick the Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. Freely uniting them to the Passion and death of Christ.”By Jesus‘s passion and death on the cross, He has given a new meaning to suffering: it can configure us to him and unite us with his redemptive passion.The sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is given to those who are ill by anointing them on the forehead and hands with blessed oil saying “through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up”This is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. If a sick person who received the anointing recovers his health, he can in the case of another grave illness receive the sacrament again: if during the same illness the person's condition becomes more serious, the sacrament may be repeated. The effects of the sacrament are that one is given strength, peace, and courage to endure the sufferings of the illness, the forgiveness of sins if the person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance, the restoration of health if it is conductive to the salvation of his soul, and the preparation for passing over to eternal life. In addition to Anointing of the Sick the Church offers those who are about to leave this life the Eucharist which is called Viaticum. These sacraments prepare for our heavenly homeland that complete the earthly pilgrimage. It is beautiful that the Church allows the Anointing of the Sick even when you are not on your deathbed. I have had the opportunity to receive the Anointing of the Sick in my own life and it brought much peace and hope. If you or  someone you know is sick right now, consider encouraging them to receive this sacrament. Even if they have been away from the faith this could be their stepping stone back into the Church. This sacrament reveals that Jesus is the Divine Physician who not only wants to heal our bodies but also heal our souls so we may be with Him in heaven forever. 

Preaching for the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mary Jo Iozzio offers a reflection that challenges us to expand our understanding of Jesus' healing miracles: "Perhaps another direction for the healing was uttered, maybe it was Jesus and the crowd who began to understand the man's manner of communication. The 'Ephphatha' challenges us to welcome the deaf, the mute, the blind, and those with physical and/or developmental disabilities as they/as we are. By Jesus' action in a disability perspective, maybe, just maybe, the 'Ephphatha' freed the crowd from their language barriers such that they began to understand their man." Mary Jo Iozzio, Ph.D. is Professor of Moral Theology at Boston College School's Clough School of Theology and Ministry. She earned her doctorate in Systematic Theology with a focus on Moral Theology in 1994, and a License in Sacred Theology-STL with a focus on disability in 2019 - both from Boston College. Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/09082024 to learn more about Mary Jo, to read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Will Jesus Know You? Jesus said in Matthew 7:23, “Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!'”  As followers of Jesus, we want to know Jesus but “Will Jesus Know You?”  Jenny interviews Jason Butler, Pastor of Harvest of the Silos, Counselor and Author who asks us in his new book, “WILL JESUS KNOW YOU?”: The Blueprint to Mold Your Heart to the Heart of the Father!”  He shares why Jesus said this and how can we be sure Jesus knows us. A humorous guest, Jason's love for Jesus and his transparency make him so appealing. His enthusiasm is reflective of his gratitude for what God has done in his life. Looking at the life of the disciple Matthew, the Beatitudes, and Jason's own redemption story, he helps us apply scripture to our lives. He includes stories like of the Rich Young Ruler, The Ten Virgins and more as he challenges us to examine our hearts and priorities in following Christ Jason's book has application and questions, prayers, and how to overcome strongholds such as anger, lust and unforgiveness. Jason wants us to know Jesus and to make sure we know what it means to be known BY Jesus. His book will guide you into how to have a deeper relationship with Jesus and will bless you. You can find Pastor Jason Butler at Harvest at the Silos Church, followhimwithus.com or email,  followhimwithus@gmail.com. Pastor Jason Butler's book, “Will Jesus Know You?: The Blueprint to Mold Your Heart to the Heart of the Father!” is available for purchase at major retailers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and Walmart, as well as other online platforms.

On Sunday, Mark Nysewander will be sharing about the most faithful followers of Jesus...the women! When everyone else deserted him, they stayed and ministered to Jesus. The heart behind the message they followed was not to be ministered to BY Jesus but instead to minister TO Jesus, a model of how we are called to live our lives!

May 11, 2024 Today's Reading: Psalm 27:1a, 4-5, 10, 14; antiphon: Psalm 27:7Daily Lectionary: Numbers 13:1-3, 17-33; Luke 18:1-17Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:14)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Christianity is a waiting game. Much as you might want immediate results, the Psalmist teaches you that you have to wait. When affliction hits you, when there's suffering among your friends or family, when blessings are coming but they're not here yet, you'd love for God to step in immediately. But most of the time, God does not deliver His blessings, relief, or healing according to your preferred time schedule.So you have to wait for the Lord. You have to bear the affliction. You have to endure powerlessness. You can only anticipate the good that's coming sometimes. That's hard. Not only is that hard, that also can be faith destroying. Jesus' parable of the sower in Matthew 13 teaches that some receive the Word with joy for a time, only to fall away from it in times of persecution or suffering. Our sinful nature does not like to wait. Perhaps that's a good reason why God teaches us that we must sometimes.When God acts, He acts always at the right time. Whenever He withholds blessings, it is so your heart might learn to rely on His Word and promises. Suffering teaches reliance on God's Word for those who are willing to learn that lesson. Whenever God turns His face away in anger, it is so you might offer prayers to God and remind Him of His Word and promises that He has bound Himself to. When God allows suffering, it is so your heart learns that this world is not your friend but a valley of sorrows. But He also promises grace and every blessing to all who trust in His Word and conform their lives to living according to His Commandments.Therefore, Christianity is a waiting game of epic proportions. But as you wait for the Lord to show His mercy, you can be strong. Your heart can take courage. You can be bold. For God has not cast off His people forever. His anger may last a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime. In Jesus, God has acted for your eternal good and blessing. In Jesus' death, God was reconciling the world to Himself. By Jesus' death, the Christians' heart finds all strength and courage. He suffers for your sins so you do not fall under God's eternal anger. Jesus is forsaken by God so that you would never be. Nothing makes a heart so courageous and strong as hearing the Gospel, that Jesus died and rose for you and your sins are forgiven. He also died in the fullness of time. God always acts at the right time. And that's good enough for faith. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O Lord, grant that our hearts do not lose courage as we wait for Your mercy, but instead find strength in Your Word and promises given in Jesus. Amen.- Pastor. Robert Mayes is the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church and Zion St. John Lutheran Church in Beemer and Wisner, NE.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.A Complete Guide to Christian Symbols This collection of over 600 hand-drawn Christian symbols by artist and author Edward Riojas will teach you the extensive history of the imagery of the Church. Each symbol is a beautiful and historical connection to generations of Christians that have worshiped before you. A Complete Guide to Christian Symbols. Now available from Concordia Publishing House. 

There is a cosmic battle being fought in this world— a fight of good and evil, and evil is deceptively trying to destroy all that is good and beautiful. The battle is not just around us though, it is in us. Sin and the resulting shame are causing our spiritual death, and keeping us from relationship with the Creator. But there's good news. Jesus came so that His grace could come and make right all that is wrong. By Jesus' grace, we have freedom from our sin, and an identity that is uniquely crafted to glorify God alone. Listen in as we enter Ephesians 2 to understand that our brokenness and pain are not the end of the story. We are His workmanship, created in Him for good works, and for His glory.

Preaching for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Lisa Mersereau offers a reflection on remaining in God's love from her perspective as a hospice chaplain: "The stories I hear about how a dying person has maintained a prayer life are as amazing as God is. Many reflect upon how God is with them and how they know God is with them in their final illness. There is an unwavering belief that there's mutual love flowing between them and God. By Jesus saying, 'Remain in me, as I remain in you,' we can interpret that as, 'Know that love is present to you now and will be forever as I remain in you and you remain in me.' This is one of the many things I have learned at the bedside of my patients." Lisa Mersereau, CT is a graduate of Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL, with a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies degree. Recently, she became a Certified Thanatologist with the Association for Death Education and Counseling by being certified in Thanatology: Death, Dying, and Bereavement. Lisa is employed at Uni Care Hospice in Escondido, CA as a Chaplain and Bereavement Coordinator and is an active ministry volunteer at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcala. She happily lives in the San Diego area. Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/04282024 to learn more about Lisa, to read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Hosanna to the Son of David St. Matthew 21:1-43 by William Klock That first Palm Sunday, Jesus made his last trip to Jerusalem for the Passover.  In the little town on the hill opposite the city he made arrangement for a donkey, then he rode down into the valley, back up to the city, and fulfilling the ancient prophecy of Zechariah about a humble king who would come to deliver his people.  You and I know where this story is headed.  Just in case we might have forgotten, the long Palm Sunday Gospel gives us an opportunity not just to remember but to put ourselves in the story of Jesus' arrest, his trial, and his crucifixion.  But the people on that first Palm Sunday had no idea that the story was headed in that direction.  Jesus had put two and two together—or maybe we should say that he'd put Moses and Isaiah or the law and the prophets together—and he knew that somehow he was headed to his death, despite the acclaim of the crowd.  I have to think that there were a few others amongst his people, wise people steeped in Scripture and who had heard Jesus preach, who might have suspected what was coming.  But that Good Friday, that the Cross, were just a few days away, would have been a complete surprise to most.  They had heard Jesus preaching good news to the poor; they had seen him heal the sick, the blind, and the lame; they had seen him cast out demons and raise the dead.  These were “Messiah things”.  And even if Jesus didn't always make a lot of sense, even if he was doing other things that didn't fit the narrative they had in their heads, the Lord, the God of Israel, was clearly with him.  And now, here he was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey just as Zechariah had prophesied.  He had to be the long-awaited King. Jesus' timing was perfect.  There couldn't have been a better time for the King to arrive in Jerusalem.  This was Passover.  This was the annual festival where the Jews not only remembered how the Lord had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt, but it was also the time when they looked forward with hope to the day when the Lord would deliver them again.  The people travelling the road with Jesus were on their way to gather with friends and family to tell the story of Moses and Pharaoh, of the ten plagues, of the angel of death and the Passover lambs, the crossing of the Red Sea, and of the Lord meeting them at last in the wilderness.  They were rehearsing a story over a thousand years old, but it was their story.  This was how they became the Lord's people and how he became their God.  It was a story of deliverance in the past and as they retold it each year they expressed their longing for and their faith in God's deliverance in the future.  And now, in Jesus, they see the King finally arriving, and that meant that the covenant renewal and the Lord's visitation and vindication of his people had to be just around the corner. There were a lot of other stories of deliverance in Israel's history, but as they waved their palm branches that first Palm Sunday, the people had to have in mind the story of Judas Maccabaeus.  Two hundred years earlier, he and his army had marched on Jerusalem.  They defeated their Greek overlords and retook the city.  And after retaking the city, Judas cleansed the temple, which Antiochus, the Greek king, had desecrated.  The people of Jerusalem had greeted Judas Maccabeus with palm branches too.  For about a century the Jews lived in freedom under the Maccabees and many in Jesus' day were looking for a King to come like Judas, to once again drive out the oppressors—and this time the Lord would truly be with and stay with his people.  Finally, he would set the world to rights. But Jesus' procession into Jerusalem wasn't the only one.  Pontius Pilate had his own procession into the city.  He lived in Caesarea, down on the Mediterranean coast, but to keep the peace during the Passover as the city was packed with people, Pilate, the Roman governor marched up to Jerusalem with his soldiers.  Pilate would have arrived from the opposite direction as Jesus.  He might have arrived the day before or later that same day, but it's entirely possible that he and Jesus arrived at the same time, King Jesus representing the Lord, the God of Israel, and Pilate representing the great Caesar.  The people caught on.  They were expecting a showdown.  They saw Jesus on the donkey and they remembered Zechariah's prophecy of the coming King.  And in thinking of the King they would certainly also have remembered other prophecies about the King.  They sang psalms on the road to Jerusalem and may have been singing some of the royal psalms about the King coming to conquer the nations, breaking them like a rod of iron and smashing them like pottery.  Jesus looked pretty humble and peaceful now, but many of the people expected him to throw off the humble itinerant preacher disguise to rise up like another Judas Maccabeus.  He would drive out the Romans, the corrupt Herodian sell-outs, and the corrupt priests who governed the temple.  And then he would rule like David and Solomon. So we can imagine the excitement of the people when Jesus headed straight for the temple.  Our lesson from Matthew 21 in the Liturgy of the Palms stops just short of that bit of the story.  Jesus marched into the temple and promptly set about upsetting everything.  He drove out the very people who sold animals and made the sacrificial system possible.  Jesus' problem wasn't so much with the buying and selling.  Sacrifices required pure animals.  Carrying animals all the way from places like Galilee was impractical.  They could escape, get injured, or die on the journey.  The people selling animals were offering a needed service and there was nothing wrong with making a profit—they had to feed their families like everyone else.  The money changers were necessary too, because the temple had its own currency.  No, quoting Jeremiah 7:11, Jesus shouted out that they had turned the temple, God's house, into a house of robbers.  When Jeremiah said these words, he was rebuking people who thought that they could find comfort in God's house while continuing unrepentant in their sin.  By Jesus' time the word for “robber” had taken on added meaning.  The Jews had borrowed the word from Greek and used to refer to violent revolutionaries, like the Zealots, who wanted to overthrow the Romans.  The temple was supposed to be the place where the people came to the Lord in prayer and submitted to his will and his agenda, but instead the people had made it the focal point of their hopes and dreams for violent revolution—of another Maccabean revolt and a violent Messiah like Judas.  And so Jesus did something that disrupted the temple and that stopped the sacrifices.  It was an acted-out prophecy declaring that the temple's days were over and with it the old order.  God was about to do something new.  Jesus had been teaching this all along—and acting it out as well.  Whenever Jesus healed and forgave and declared people clean and bypassed the temple and the system of ritual and purity, he was sending the message that the temple's days were coming to an end and with it the days of the priesthood and the sacrifices.  The Lord, in Jesus, was about to do something new, to offer a better sacrifice, to build a better temple, to make a better priesthood—all centred in him.  So Jesus does it again here in Matthew 21.  Jesus brought the sacrifices in the temple to a halt and then, Matthew says, the blind and the lame came to him and were healed. What kind of King were the people looking for?  Again, they were looking for a warrior like Judas Maccabaeus, but Jesus arrived on a donkey and wept over the city because it did not know the way of peace.  They were looking for a king to come and restore the temple and to once again make it the centre of the world, but Jesus, instead, acted out a prophecy of its destruction and declared that he would tear it down.  They looked for another king like David who would vanquish Israel's enemies, but Jesus instead taught of a king whom the people would reject and murder. Jesus went back to the temple the next day to teach.  Matthew says that the chief priests and elders confronted him to ask by what authority he said and did these things and Jesus threw their question back at them.  They were afraid to answer.  If they admitted that the Lord truly was behind Jesus they'd have to answer for rejecting him.  If they denied it they would lose the respect and obedience of the common people who loved Jesus and, even if they didn't understand him very well, they could see the obvious: God was at work through him.  So the priests and elders simply refused to answer.  They were more concerned with their position of authority than with the truth. Jesus responded with a parable.  This is what he said: “Once upon a time there was a householder who planted a vineyard, built a wall for it, dug out a winepress in it, and built a tower.  Then he rented it out to tenant farmers and went away on a journey.  When harvest time arrived, he sent his slaves to the farmers to collect his produce.  The farmers seized his slaves; they beat one, killed another, and stoned another.  Again he sent other slaves, more than before, and they treated them in the same way.  Finally he sent his son to them.  “They'll respect my son,” he said.  But the farmers saw the son.  “This fellow's the heir!' they said among themselves.  ‘Come on, let's kill him, and then we can take over the property!'  So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  Now then: when the vineyard-owner returns, what will he do to those farmers?”  “He'll kill them brutally, the wretches!” they said.  “And he'll lease the vineyard to other farmers who'll give him the produce at the right time.”   “Did you never read what the Bible says?” said Jesus to them: “‘The stone the builders threw away Is now atop the corner; It's from the Lord, all this, they say And we looked on in wonder.'”   “So then let me tell you this: God's kingdom is going to be taken away from you and given to a nation that will produce the goods.  Anyone who falls on this stone will be smashed to pieces, and anyone it falls on will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:33-44 KNT) This time the priests and elders understood.  We know they understood because Matthew goes on to say that they were angry because they knew the parable was about them.  They would have arrested him then and there if it hadn't been for the crowds.  You see, they knew a similar story that Isaiah had told long before.  In Isaiah 5 the story is about a man who lovingly planted a vineyard, but no matter how well he cared for it, it produced only worthless wild grapes.  In the end the man was forced to tear down the wall protecting the vineyard and to let the wild retake it.  Isaiah himself had said that the man was the Lord and the vineyard was Israel.  But, now, in Jesus' version of the story he makes it plain that the problem isn't just the vines producing bad fruit.  It's the tenant farmers refusing to acknowledge the vineyard's real owner: the Lord. Jesus stresses that they've had warning after warning.  The Lord sent his prophets, but they rejected and murdered them.  Now he's sent his own Son whom they're about to reject and murder too.  This is one of the most explicit statements Jesus makes about both his relation to the Lord and about his mission, his vocation to bear himself the hatred and violence of the very people to whom he was sent.  And here Jesus reminds us of the problem.  Again, the people were looking for a David or a Judas Maccabaeus.  They were looking for a king who could overpower Caesar.  But the King who came will, instead, allow the violence of his own people and of Caesar to crush him.  Somehow, Jesus is saying, God's plan will be worked out by everything going terribly wrong in order to make everything perfectly right.  The King will let evil—will let sin and death—do their absolute worst to him.  He will be rejected and scorned.  But the stone that the builders rejected will somehow end up becoming the cornerstone of a new and better temple.  This is where Holy Week is headed.  It's not until Easter, when we find the empty tomb and meet the risen Jesus, that it all makes sense. In the meantime, we need to ask which King we are following.  The world is a mess.  Violence is everywhere.  Strife is everywhere.  Poverty is everywhere.  And the very moment it seems one situation is improving, things fall apart somewhere else.  The things the world looks to for hope never seem to pan out—often they just make things worse.  Brothers and Sisters, we need to ask: In what or in whom do we place our hope for peace and a better world?  Caesar has failed over and over and over.  Many of us place our hope in mammon, but mammon's track record is no better.  We need to declare with Solomon, “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!  May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!” (Psalm 72:1-2). But then we need to ask a more personal question.  The Palm Sunday crowd was fickle, hailing Jesus as King on Sunday and crying out for his crucifixion on Friday, but they weren't wrong in their hope for the Lord's deliverance of his people.  They longed to see God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  They hoped for the justice and peace of God to set his Creation to rights.  Where they were wrong was in missing, in failing to see the means by which Jesus would usher in God's kingdom, not by violence, but by giving himself.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus calls us to follow him on the road through Holy Week—this road of rejection, and of suffering, and even death.  He demands our all.  That's what it means to repent—to turn aside from everything that is not him, to turn aside from every source of security that is not him, and to turn aside from every plan that is not his and to give our lives to the task of proclaiming this King, who gave his life for the sake of his enemies.  It means that we give our whole selves in faith and in hope to make his kingdom known on earth as it is in heaven in practical and tangible ways, that through us, no matter the cost, the world may see his justice and his peace, his mercy and his grace. Let us pray: Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for mankind you sent your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility:  Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

(Bilingual) このメッセージでは太助牧師が「十字架の決定=救いの決定」について以下の３つのポイントから話します。ディスカッション用の質問はノートの最後に確認できます。In this message Ps Tasuke talks about "The Determination of the Cross = The Determination of Salvation" in these 3 points:Check the questions for discussion at the end of the note.マルコ15:2-15 JCB / Mark 15:2-15 NLTイザヤ53:7-8 JCB / Isaiah 53:7-8 NLTガラテヤ3:13 JCB / Galatians 3:13 NLTローマ8:1-2 JCB / Romans 8:1-2 NLTヨハネ‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭JCB / John 1:11-13 NLTガラテヤ‬ ‭2‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭JCB / Galatians 2:19-20 NLTヨハネ3:16-17 JCB / John 3:16-17 NLT1.イエスによって、自分に値するものが取り去られた By Jesus, What We Deserve Was Taken Away From Us2.イエスによって、自分に値しないものが与えられた By Jesus, What We Don't Deserve Was Gifted To Us3.自分の力ではなく、このイエスを100%信頼して生きよう Let's Live Relying 100% on Jesus, Not on Our Own StrengthQUESTIONS(質問) : ・イエスを罪に問う根拠がないにもかかわらず、なぜピラトはイエスの十字架刑を決定したのでしょう？・今日、イエスが私たちの過ちを十字架で背負ってくれたことは何を意味しますか？ (ガラテヤ3:13)・イエスを受け入れなかった人達のためにも、イエスは自ら命を捧げたことはなぜ重要ですか？ (ヨハネ‬ ‭1‬:‭11‬-‭13‬)・イエスが十字架で払ってくれた犠牲はどのように私たちへの愛を示していますか？ (ヨハネ‬ ‭3:16-17)‬・Why did Pilate decide to crucify Jesus even though he found no basis for a charge against him?・What does Jesus taking the curse for our wrongdoing on the cross mean for us today? (Galatians 3:13 NLT)・Why is it significant that Jesus was willing to die for people who did not accept him? (John 1:11-13 NLT)・How does Jesus' sacrifice on the cross show God's love for us? (John 3:16-17 NIV)Connect with us:Web: mylifehouse.comInstagram: instagram.com/lifehouseglobal/Facebook: facebook.com/lifehouseglobalVideo Messages: ビデオメッセージ: youtube.com/LifehouseTokyoOther Podcasts:Want to listen to our messages in other languages?Lifehouse Messages (English): https://lifehousemessages.captivate.fm/listenLifehouse Hong Kong (Cantonese & English): https://lifehousehongkong.captivate.fm/listen

Gethsemane is the greatest display of the perfect humanity of Jesus in the Bible, it also offers opportunities to ponder the excellencies and perfection of his character. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - One sacred day, God spoke to Moses from the flames of the burning bush. "Take off your shoes, for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground." What does this mean? Since God is everywhere, all at once, holy ground means that God was about to be uniquely revealed, revealed in an extraordinary way, and Moses's knowledge of God was going to be greatly increased by this encounter. "Draw near to listen. Draw near to fall on the ground in fear and wonder in worship and adoration." If that's true at the burning bush, then how much more true is it when we come to Gethsemane? Gethsemane is the greatest display of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ in the Bible. It contains almost incomprehensible mysteries, but also tremendous opportunities to ponder the excellencies of Christ, His glories, the perfection of His character, His courage, His obedience, His trust in His father, His willingness to suffer for us, His love for us, His reversal of the disobedience of Adam, also His frailty and His weakness, His mortality, His emotions. All of this is on display. We will spend eternity in heaven, I believe, pondering these themes and others that flow through this account. This morning, we're going to spend just a little while on them. My desire, my goals with this sermon is first and foremost to exalt Jesus Christ our Savior, based on the words of this account, that we may worship Him with all of our hearts for what He did for us at the cross. Secondly, that we would understand more accurately the humanity of Jesus, His emotions, His submission, His mortality and frailty, His temptations, and yet His sinlessness. Thirdly, that we would understand the power of prayer in facing temptations, in strengthening us to do the will of our Father. Fourthly, to motivate us to trust in Christ's finished work on the cross, more than ever before. Fifthly, to help us understand the proper use of our own will, that we would learn to imitate Jesus Christ every day in saying, "Not my will, but yours be done," no matter what the cost. And sixth, to feel intensely personally, if you are a Christian, to feel intensely personally Christ's love for you. For you. In Galatians 2:20, Paul gives us permission to do this, to say, "Christ loved me and died for me. He gave Himself for me." It is right for us as Christians to say both Christ loved me and gave Himself for me, and Christ loved us and gave Himself for us, that multitude greater than anyone could count, from every tribe, language, people, and nation.[Revelation 7]. But in Galatians 2:20, “Jesus loved me and He drank my cup for me.” Here we're going to walk through all of these themes, and I don't know what the Holy Spirit's going to do in your heart as we walk through, probably a little different than He'll do in mine. But if those things will be achieved in you, then I will have preached for the glory of God in Christ. Let's walk first through the facts of Gethsemane. I. The Facts of Gethsemane All His life, Jesus lived under the shadow of the cross. B.B. Warfield, the great Presbyterian theologian, said the prospect of His suffering was a perpetual Gethsemane to Him. He said, in Luke 12:50, "I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed” or straitened, like in a straitjacket, "I am until it is completed." There is clear evidence in the Gospel. This is very important for us to understand. Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to Him. In Mark 9:31, Jesus said, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days, He will rise." There's no doubt about this at all. He said it again and again. As Jesus comes to Gethsemane on that faithful night, the time had come for Him to face the cross straight on, and make a final decision about what He was going to do. The Lord's supper is over. They have finished the Passover meal. They have sung a hymn. They've crossed the Kidron Valley into the garden of Gethsemane. Verse 32, "They went to a place called Gethsemane." What is Gethsemane? It was a private garden on the Mount of Olives, probably walled off, owned by some rich friend of Jesus, who allowed Jesus and His disciples to frequent the place. It was outside of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley from the city, away from the maddening crowd of millions of pilgrims that had come from all over the settled world for the Passover feast. The word Gethsemane itself means “oil press”, probably included a physical press for making olive oil from the harvest of olives on the mount, and the crushing of those olives produced a reddish, viscous, precious fluid, olive oil, to flow into containers for sale or for use. But this also could stand somewhat of a spiritual metaphor for the crushing pressure, spiritual pressure, that Jesus would experience there, so intense that by the end of the time there, His blood was flowing like sweat, like great drops of blood dropping from His face. Why did Jesus go to Gethsemane? It was a place, a regular place of retirement and prayer, a refuge for Him and His disciples. It was commonly used by Jesus and His disciples. Therefore Judas, who had left by then to betray Him that very night, would know exactly where Jesus was going that night. It was His habit to go there. He made it His habit, because in part He wanted to make it easy for Judas to find Him that night and betray Him. This is evidence, clear evidence of His willingness to lay down His life for us. He was never a victim trapped by external circumstances He didn't foresee or couldn't control. It's not the case. John 10:18, Jesus said, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down freely of my own accord." It's vital to understand that. Jesus comes to Gethsemane for all those reasons, and He gives a command to His disciples, and He separates away from them. Look at verse 32-33, "Jesus said to His disciples, 'Sit here while I pray.' Then He took Peter, James, and John along with Him.” Luke tells us that Jesus separated from His disciples by a distance of a stone's throw, maybe 100, 150 feet, but He also took His closest disciples with Him. They were His best friends in the world, His closest friends, and He wanted to be with them at that point, Peter, James, and John. These are the same three, of course, that had viewed Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. It's amazing that these three saw Him at His most glorious, His most radiantly glorious in the days of His incarnation on Earth, and also would see Him at His most humbled and abased here in the garden of Gethsemane, eyewitnesses of both. He went there, Jesus did, He separated Himself so that He could pray. Jesus' understanding of prayer is infinitely greater than ours, clearly greater than Peter, James, and John's that night. Jesus knew it was only by prayer that He would be able to get through the cross, so He went there to pray. We see the awesome and the overpowering emotional distress that comes upon Jesus. First of all, it's stated in the accounts. Verse 33, “He began to be deeply distressed and troubled.” In Matthew 26:37, “He began to be sorrowful and troubled.” It's not only stated in the accounts, but Jesus says it about Himself. Look at verse 34, "'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' He said to them." "Jesus knew it was only by prayer that He would be able to get through the cross, so He went there to pray." These overpowering emotions, there are two words, we're going to save one of the words for later, but He says He's “sorrowful”. The root word has to do with grief, sadness of an overwhelming nature, usually associated with death. Then “troubles”. It refers to a distracted or anxious state of mind or soul, like someone consumed with anxiety about an impending event. His statement says, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow," as though He's surrounded by it. He's walled in by grief. There's no escape from it except by His own death, right there in the garden. "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, even to the point of death," He says. I don't think this was just a phrase or a metaphor. I think it was literally true. I think He was literally close to dying in the garden of Gethsemane. So the Father has to dispatch an angel to strengthen Him. Luke 22:43, "An angel from Heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him." What an amazing moment that was. Aa amazing picture of His frailty, the frailty of the Son of God in His humanity. This angel that was dispatched from Heaven, was created by Jesus, and yet at that moment, Jesus is so much weaker than the angel. It says in Luke's account, Luke 22:44, "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." This is literally true. We look at that, it's not just an analogy, but it's drops of blood. I would think then that what happened was His blood pressure spiked there in the garden of Gethsemane, the internal pressure so great that it seemed like the capillaries just under the skin burst, they couldn't handle the pressure, and the blood came out of the pores. I mean, not a little, a lot, and it's flowing down His face and dripping to the ground there in the garden of Gethsemane, great drops of blood. It seems quite likely that, had Jesus not been physically strengthened at that moment, He might've died right there in the garden. Then Jesus prays. Look at verse 35-36, "Going a little farther, He fell to the ground, and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. "Abba Father,” He said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will." His physical position, He's on His face, He's prostrate, totally weak, helpless, submissive to God, as low as He can be. As Joseph Hart put in a 1759 hymn, "Come you sinners, poor and needy. View Him groveling in the garden, low your maker prostrate lies." And then the request is, “If it's possible, Abba Father," He said, "Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me." For any parent of a child, this prayer must be the most heartrending you can possibly imagine. “Abba" means “daddy”. He's reduced to speaking like a little child. I can scarcely imagine what this must have done to His heavenly Father, who's the most perfect, compassionate being there could ever be, whose heart goes out to those that suffer, but especially His Son, whom He loved with a perfect love, with a love so complete that we can't even imagine how great that love would be. How much would Jesus's prayer rip the heart of a loving heavenly Father? "Daddy, you can do anything. If it's possible, take this cup from me." What loving father wouldn't do everything he could to alleviate the suffering, this kind of suffering from a child? But Jesus is also probing the limits of the sovereignty of God within the scope of His plan, “If it's possible.” Later, that same evening in Matthew's account, when Peter draws his sword to rescue Him from the cross, He tells him to put his sword away, and says, "How then would the Scripture be fulfilled that says it must happen in this way?" No, it isn't possible. Once it is written, once it is written, and God has made His commitment and signed it in the blood of millions of sacrificial animals, over centuries of history, and specific careful promises laid out in the prophets, there was no other way. What is this cup? How do we understand the cup? In Scripture, the cup in prophetic language frequently represents the judgments of God, the righteous judgments of God on a sinner or on sinful people or sinful nations. It's a regular pattern, the word “cup”. The most potent example of this word cup is in Revelation 14, "God's wrath and judgment poured out on the damned." Revelation 14:10-11, "He too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest, day or night." That's the cup. That's your cup and my cup set before Jesus there in Gethsemane. It's Hell. It's the wrath of God poured out on sinners. Jesus is staring into the cup of the wrath of God, and understandably in His humanity, shrinking back in horror. The wrath of God is terrifying, God is a consuming fire. The wrath of God is His omnipotence focused like a white-hot laser beam on the destruction of His enemies. Jesus is shrinking back from that, from drinking the cup of God's wrath in our place. We could also imagine He's shrinking back from being our sin bearer. We don't understand the purity of the person of Christ. We're just so used to sin. 2 Corinthians 5:21 said, "God made Him, Jesus, who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." It's like having tons of raw sewage poured on a perfectly pure being, spiritual sewage. In the atonement, then Jesus, the only perfectly holy man that has ever lived, would become sin for us. He would bear the defiling sins of all of His people from every generation of history, all the filth and corruption, all the lust and murder, all the covetousness and greed, all of that poured onto Jesus as our substitute. Then we see the submission of Jesus. Verse 36, "Yet not what I will, but what you will." This is the centerpiece of this magnificent moment. This is the center of it. "Not what I will, but what you will." This is the greatest act of submission and courage in the history of the human race. More on this in a moment. Then we have the admonishment of the sleeping disciples, verse 37-38, "He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. 'Simon,' He said to Peter, 'are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.'" Matthew tells us Jesus said this to all three of them, but Mark focuses specifically on Peter. By contrast with Jesus, we have the weakness and the unbelief, really, of the disciples exposed here. Jesus specifically warns them of falling into temptation, not merely being tempted, but being ensnared and overcome by it. That's what it means to fall into temptation. He tells them that the remedy is to watch and pray. He also marvels at their weakness that they're not able to watch and pray with Him for even one hour. Peter in particular should have been getting ready for the most intense spiritual struggle of his life, but instead he's giving in to the weakness of the flesh. That famous expression, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” That was Peter. Amazing also, isn't it, the shepherd heart of Jesus, to break off His intense prayer to His father, which He knew better than any of us, how much He needed, breaks that off to go back and check on His disciples, make sure they're praying, make sure they're getting ready for what they're about to face, to reason with them, to pray, and watch and pray. Then in verse 39, we have Jesus' second prayer, "Once more, He went away and prayed the same thing." Matthew gives a little more detail. "My father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done." It's an evolution of the conversation that He's having with His father on this issue of the cup. Then He goes back, and we have the disciples' second failure, verse 40, "When He came back, He again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to Him." Luke tells us in Luke 22:45, "When He rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow." Then we have Jesus' final prayer. It's assumed in Mark and openly stated in Matthew 26:44, "So He left them and went away once more, and prayed the third time, saying the same thing." Finally the end of the account, verses 41-43, "Returning the third time, He said to them, 'Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough. The hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go. Here comes my betrayer.' Just as He was speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priest, the teacher of the law, and the elders." Jesus has effectively faced His final temptation there in the garden and conquered it, and now He rises from His moment of greatest weakness, and goes forth mightily to conquer sin and death with unflinching courage. II. The Mysteries of Gethesemane Those are the facts of Gethsemane. Now let's talk about the mysteries of Gethsemane. A. W. Tozer said, "If you've never faced mystery in your study of God, I doubt whether you've ever heard a single word from God at all." We will not plumb the depths of Gethsemane here. The issue has to do with Jesus' incarnation, the theological mystery of the incarnation. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is perhaps the most profound mystery in the Bible. How can Jesus be both fully God and fully man? Many over the centuries have questioned this, and sought to deny one or the other. Dualistic philosophies and theologies like the Gnostics early on, and the Docetists, deny the humanity of Christ, saying He only seemed to be human. Gethsemane is a powerful antidote to this heresy. Jesus' humanity is on full display here, especially in His weakness, His frailty, His wavering, His fear, shrinking back, and to some mysterious degree, His limited knowledge. The fact that Jesus in His incarnation can learn things. We’ll get to more of that in a moment. Jesus's emotional life is real and full and perfect. He fully displays the reality of His title, Man of Sorrows. How then can Christ be both omnipotent deity and this weak humanity? How do we understand and explain His stunning fear of death? Lots of people face death more courageously, overtly courageously than this. It's not that rare a story. Soldiers that are willing just to die, so that others may live. That actually is not all that rare. Socrates famously took the cup of hemlock, knowing it was his own death in that cup, unflinchingly drank it to the bottom and died. But Jesus seems different, just a quantum level difference. Martin Luther said, "No man ever feared death like this man." How can we understand this? How can the infinite creator of all things visible and invisible need help from an angel? How can He need strengthening? How can He shrink back like this from death? So, clearly the answers to all these questions is a mystery, but it shows clearly the humanity of Christ. We get to verse 33, and here I want to show you something that, unless you have the KJV, you won't see. The King James Version is the only version that translates the Greek word in the simplest way, the most direct way. "Now, when Christ entered Gethsemane, He knew exactly what was going to happen to Him factually." Factually. He knew He would most certainly die on the cross as a ransom for sinners. But apparently, it seems, there was a dimension of knowing that was withheld from Him by His father until this moment. Why do I say that? There's a shocking word in the KJV translation of verse 33, which accurately translates. It's not a mistranslation, it’s a good translation. "And He taketh with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy." Sore amazed. The word “amazed” stops us in our tracks. The word “sore” just means extremely, like overwhelmed with amazement. So in some mysterious way, Jesus was amazed at Gethsemane. The same word is used of a crowd reaction to Jesus's ministry, or to the apostles healing of the lame beggar in Acts 3. It is frequently translated in those places, “astonished.” It implies some sense of wonder or surprise. Something is hitting Jesus here that He didn't see coming, and hence He is sore amazed. How does that apply to Jesus at Gethsemane? I believe that when Jesus began to pray, the Father revealed to Him in an immeasurably more vivid way, to His soul, to His mind and His soul, what it would actually be like to drink the cup of His wrath on the cross as our substitute. Drinking the cup of God's wrath poured full strength on Him. The revelation occurred within Jesus's mind and soul, and knocked Him to the ground. This kind of showing or display language was essential to Jesus' role and His daily ministry, actually. In John 5:20, Jesus said, "The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. Yes, to your amazement, He will show Him even greater things than these." More in general in the Scripture, this is a regular pattern, that the prophets were shown spiritual visions and realities in the spiritual realm. They had visions and dimensions like Ezekiel, of wheels within wheels and all that. This is prophetic vision. This is common, actually. But Jesus says He openly got His marching orders from the Father daily. He doesn't say any word except what the Father has told Him to say. He doesn't do anything except what the Father is doing. The Father shows the Son what He's doing. What did He show Him in Gethsemane? He showed Him the cup. "Father, what are we doing next?" "Well, today I'm going to kill you. Kill you for the sins of the world. That's what we're doing next, and this is what it'll be like." It's akin to the difference between seeing an old black and white photo of the Grand Canyon and seeing like an IMAX movie or a virtual reality helicopter tour through the ravine itself. It's just a whole different level of impression made to the mind. As Christ began to pray, God turned up the intensity in Christ's mind of what it would actually be like to drink the cup of His wrath, to absorb the lightning of His indignation, to go through Hell in our place as our substitute, and it knocked Him to the ground, it increased His blood pressure so it spiked, He starts bleeding out of His pores. Why did He do it? Why did the Father do this? I think He did it, I believe, to give Christ the ability to make a more informed choice of whether He would do it or not, whether He would go through with their plan. He refrained from doing it earlier, because look what happened to Him. I mean, the human body can only stand so much strain. It would've been too great for Him to bear. I think, in effect, some infinitely mysterious conversation went on between the Father and the Son. The Father shows the Son the cup, and then the Father says, "Son, this is what the cup of my wrath will be like for you to drink." Jesus answered, "Father, is it possible for me to save my people without drinking that terrifying cup?" The Father. "Son, no. There is no other way. Will you do it anyway?" And now comes what I've called the most heroic moment in human history. "If it is not possible to save my people any other way than drinking that cup, may your will be done." If you ever don't feel loved by God, think about that moment. Think about that. That's your cup He drank, mine too. At that moment, Christ put His own will completely under the will of the Father. At that moment, as I said, He overturned the wretched choice made by the first Adam, that he had made in the Garden of Eden. All the wretched choices that the sons and daughters of Adam have made since by their willful sinning, that's yours and mine, all the bad choices we have made, He overturned all of that. Here, Christ showed the proper use of human will, and that is to do the will of God. So, bow your head and worship all generations of Christians. This is the most perfect act of obedience ever. We also have the mystery of Jesus' prayer. Is His will somehow different than the Father's? Are they at cross-purposes? Some have wondered if the wrestling Jesus displayed in Gethsemane, "If it is possible, take this cup from me," was indicative that His will was somehow against the cross, as though He's battling within Himself, as though He and the Father disagreed about this. In general, we just as Christians have to treat Gethsemane like holy ground, and limit your speculation, and don't go too far. Jesus has said plainly in John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." No doubt about that. He wasn't against the Father's will. He loved the Father's will. Isaiah 53:10 says, "It was the Lord's will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer. And though the Lord makes His life a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and prolong His days. The will of the Lord will prosper in His hand." It's so beautiful. It's like the Father wrote a magnificent concerto, and Jesus the soloist played it to perfection. He made it beautiful. The will of the Lord prospers. No, they're not at cross-purposes, not at all. It just shows that the cost to Jesus, and indeed to the Father, was infinitely high, and the Father was willing to pay it. He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up to this for us all. III. The Glories of Gethsemane Finally, the glories of Gethsemane. We've said, the free will of Jesus, properly on display. Jesus went to the cross of His own free will. He was not coerced, He was not forced. Therefore, for those that talk often about free will, this is free will. This is what free will looks like. He had no sin nature holding Him back, no corruption. He was free, and He used it perfectly to do the will of God. That's what it's for. That's what free will is for, to do the will of God. Because the Father has a will, too. Our will is patterned after the fact that the Father has a will. Jesus taught us that the best use of human will is to find its joy and its delight and its fruitfulness in the will of God. He taught us that. From this moment in time on, Jesus will only be able to escape the cross by a direct application of His supernatural power, His wonder-working power, to get out of it. Physical forces will come on Him at the end of this account and seize Him, and the only way He'll be able to get out of it is by using His power. And He could do it, but He was not going to do it. This is His last moment of freedom, and He gave it up willingly. Therefore, we need to understand the significance of this choice theologically, Romans 3:26. Some have blasphemously, I don't even want to say these words, but blasphemously called the idea of substitutionary atonement Heavenly child abuse, as the Father's crushing His son in some way. Rather, in Gethsemane we have God the Father revealing to the Son as much as He possibly could do, what it would be like to drink the cup, and asking Jesus to make a choice, and He did. Therefore, it was of His own free will that He did it. "Not my will, but yours be done." This removes any charge of injustice against the Father concerning substitutionary atonement. Romans 3:25, "God put Jesus forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith." Propitiation is the one who removes the wrath of God by drinking the cup. Romans 3:26, "He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." It is a perfect display of justice, not injustice. Why? Because in part of this transaction that we've been describing here. The willingness of Jesus to do it removes any charge of injustice. We see also the obedience of Jesus versus the disobedience of Adam. I've mentioned it, but the clear parallel is set up in Romans 5:19, "Just as through the disobedience of the one man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man, the many will be made righteous." That's staggering. You know what that means? By Jesus's obedience, He makes you righteous, if you're a Christian. What that means is He makes you obedient, positionally obedient. You are seen by God in Christ at the moment of your conversion to be as obedient as Jesus. How about that? That is our imputed righteousness. It's staggering. This is the righteousness given to you as a gift. God sees you as obedient as Jesus was there in Gethsemane, as a gift. What is that act of obedience? It's His willingness to die on the cross. Philippians 2:8, "Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross." Then Hebrews 5:8-9, "Although He was a son, He learned obedience." What a staggering phrase that is. "He learned obedience from what He suffered, and once made perfect or qualified, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him." Wow. Adam used his free will to rebel against God, and we all died in that. The second Adam, Jesus, uses His free will to make a right choice, and we all live and are seen righteous in that. That's our salvation. "Adam used his free will to rebel against God, and we all died in that. The second Adam, Jesus, uses His free will to make a right choice, and we all live and are seen righteous in that. That's our salvation." Finally, we see the perfect love of Jesus, first for God, and then for His people. In Gethsemane, we see Jesus loving God and us sinners more than He loved Himself. It was the revulsion of the thing that caused Him to shrink back, but it was love, first and foremost love for God, and secondly love for us, that caused Him to deny Himself, first vertically, John 14:31, "The world must learn that I love the Father, and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do." Think about that. "The world must know and learn that I love my Father, and they'll know that when they see me go to the cross." Secondly, love for us. John 15:13-14, "Greater love has no one than this, that he laid down his life for his friends. You are my friends." We see that courage of Jesus, that love that drives out fear. Many people have willingly laid down their lives to save others. It occasionally happens, very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man, someone might possibly dare to die. So, the Congressional Medal of Honor is given to people that were willing to lay down their lives in the battlefield. It happens. But nothing ever in history has been like this incredible moment of courage. IV. Applications of Gethsemane Come to Christ. Trust in Jesus. There is a cup of wrath, of righteous, just wrath, poured out from God on sinners. Either Jesus will drink that cup in your place, or you'll drink it for all eternity. Those are the choices. There's no other option. You can be in denial that there is such a cup, but there is a cup of God's wrath against sin. Jesus is offering in the gospel to drink yours for you. Trust in Him, repent of sin, turn away from wickedness, and turn to Christ in faith, and let Him save you. If you're already a Christian, worship Christ for what He did for you. Thank Him for what He did for you. I don't know how you're made up. I cry basically at one thing, for the most part. It's always the same. It's Christ's love for me as a sinner. It just melts me. I melt every time, and this melts me. This text probably melts me more than any other text. I almost can't talk about it in everyday life without choking up. I never stop thinking about this, my savior drinking my cup. I want to take and sharpen this and apply it on the matter of Christian contentment. When I was studying Christian contentment, I wrote one statement that people who have read the book that I wrote said is the most convicting in the whole book, and that is this: "Has Christ crucified and resurrected done enough for you to be happy today? Or does He have to be a little more?" Let's take it in the language of Gethsemane. Is it enough for Jesus to drink your cup and that's it, so you don't have to drink it and you'll spend the eternity in Heaven? Or does He have to do some more beyond that? I'm not minimizing the things you would pray for. For the healing of somebody that you love and you want to see them heal. I'm not minimizing that. I'm just asking you to put it in perspective, Him drinking your cup for you is the greatest act of love and gift that could ever be. Keep in mind, Romans 8 said He did not spare His own son. God's not holding anything back because He's stingy. He has given the greatest thing He could ever give, His beloved, His perfect son, shattered on the cross. It should be enough, it should be enough for you to be happy. What about obedience? What about free will? This is how you should use your free will the rest of your lives. What do you say? Just choose to say to God, no matter how difficult it is, "Not my will but yours be done." Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for this infinitely deep text. We'll never be able to finish it, to plumb the depths of it, to understand it. I pray that you would take its lessons and burn them into our hearts. Help us to be overwhelmed with thankfulness, with gratitude. Help us to be overwhelmed with love for Jesus. Help us to want to imitate Him and to use our wills the way He used His. Help us to understand that, oh Lord. And God, I pray that no-one that's here today would leave this place still under the wrath of God, but they would just simply transfer that, the sin and the wrath, onto Jesus by faith, by simple faith, and trust in Him that they would know the full and perfect forgiveness of God. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Everyday we're planting seeds that grow up in our heart. Katy Berry plants God's Word, cuz that's where good fruit starts!  When Basil wasn't feeling well, he thought about being strong in the Lord.  But when Whiney Wineberry suggested that he just call his mother, Basil chose to pray God's Word!  “By Jesus' stripes, I am healed!”  (1 Peter 2:24). What would you do? L17 #biblestoriesforkids, #bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #christiancharacterforkids, #jesuswantsyouwell, #bestronginthelord, #jesushealedthemall, #prayer, #compassion, #faithpleasesgod, #christiancharacter, #letthechildrencometoJesus, #goodseedgoodfruit, #plantgoodseeds, #beeattitudes, #jesusnmeclubhouse, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbitesforkids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

Readings: Jonah 3:1–5,10 Psalm 25:4–9 1 Corinthians 7:29–31 Mark 1:14–20 The calling of the brothers in today's Gospel evokes Elisha's commissioning by the prophet Elijah (see 1 Kings 19:19–21). As Elijah comes upon Elisha working on his family's farm, so Jesus sees the brothers working by the seaside. And as Elisha left his mother and father to follow Elijah, so the brothers leave their father to come after Jesus. Jesus' promise—to make them “fishers of men”—evokes Israel's deepest hopes. The prophet Jeremiah announced a new exodus in which God would send “many fishermen” to restore the Israelites from exile, as once He brought them out of slavery in Egypt (see Jeremiah 16:14–16). By Jesus' Cross and Resurrection, this new exodus has begun (see Luke 9:31). And the apostles are the first of a new people of God, the Church—a new family, based not on blood ties, but on belief in Jesus and a desire to do the Father's will (see John 1:12–13; Matthew 12:46–50). From now on, even our most important worldly concerns—family relations, occupations, and possessions—must be judged in light of the Gospel, Paul says in today's Epistle. The first word of Jesus' Gospel—repent—means we must totally change our way of thinking and living, turning from evil, doing all for the love of God. And we should be consoled by Nineveh's repentance in today's First Reading. Even the wicked Nineveh could repent at Jonah's preaching. And in Jesus we have “something greater than Jonah” (Matthew 12:41). We have God come as our savior, to show sinners the way, as we sing in today's Psalm. This should give us hope—that loved ones who remain far from God will find compassion if they turn to Him. But we, too, must continue along the path of repentance—striving daily to pattern our lives after His.

Lord, as we end one year and begin another, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for preserving us to this moment, sustaining us by the power of your spirit. And we thank you Lord that you continue to reveal yourself to us. That's what we long for. More than anything else, is your presence. We long to know you. We long to know your will and Lord, as we open up the scriptures and as we look at a text where you emphasize the preeminence of God's law, I pray, make us a people that love your law, love your 10 commandments. Stare deeply, gaze deeply into your law, seeking how we can grow in faithfulness, how we can grow in obedience. And as we do, you will grow us in fruitfulness. Lord, to make our church a church that loves your word, reveres your word. Make Bostonians like the Bereans that eagerly accept your word and on a daily basis, examine to see if it's true.If it's true that you are a God who reveals yourself, a God who guides us, and God who gave us the law to guard us from evil, show us what it means that you sent your son Jesus Christ because we disobeyed the law, we sinned against you. You sent your son to walk in the ways of faithfulness and then to offer himself as a sacrifice in our behalf in order to forgive us. And we thank you Lord that you offer that sacrifice. If anyone is not yet a believer today, Lord, show them where they've transgressed the commandments and show them that sin and the penalty for is eternal damnation and that Christ took all of that on the cross and whosoever believes, repents and turns from sin to Christ is granted forgiveness and eternal life. I pray save many even today and Lord bless our time in the holy scriptures and we pray all this in Christ's name.Amen.We're continuing our servant series through the Gospel of Mark. We've called it Kingdom Come, the Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom. And the idea is that the kingdom has come and Jesus has come to establish the kingdom and we are to be a people that pray. Lord, may your kingdom continue to expand in our life and where we live. And as we end one year and begin another, it's helpful to take account of the year past. Remember lessons learned, consider changes to make and make resolutions that pesky word, pesky, pesky. We don't like that word resolutions, but I urge you, church, I challenge you, make this resolution. If you have never read the Bible cover to cover, resolve that this year you are going to change that. Cover to cover, four chapters a day. There's about 1200 chapters in the Bible, four chapters a day that's got you reading 300 or so days of the year.You've got 65 days off to study the Psalter and the Proverbs and go deeper. But four chapters a day, it's about 20 minutes and that's a tremendous time to spend with the Lord. And I say that because it's not the resolutions that change us, it's the reformation that we make in our life. It's the restructuring of the routine. It's the spiritual disciplines that we welcome in. That's what really changes us. We need not just resolutions or short-term change, we need a reformation. We need to be reformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We're like clay in the potter's hands. He's shaping us, he's forming us, he's reforming us. And this reformation or transformation as Romans 12 puts it happens when our minds are renewed according to the word of God, when our minds are saturated with the word of God. It's the word of God when applied by the spirit of God that leads to true transformation and lasting reformation.One of the great principles that came out of the reformation along with the five solos, if you're not familiar with them, here they are. Sola scriptura, that's scripture alone, Sola gratia, that's grace alone, Sola fide, that's faith alone, Solus Christus, that's Christ alone, and Soli Deo gloria to the glory of God alone.Well, along with those five, there was also the principle of semper reformanda, which is always reforming. The title of my sermon today is always becoming reformed and the idea isn't that we are capitulating to the culture, that we're evolving in order to make the message more palatable. No, the message is that we study the holy scriptures and we long for the holy scriptures to reform us and reform how we live, reform how we worship the Lord. And the church should always be seeking to change in ways that make its testimonies more faithful to God's revelation.The church is formed by the word of God and it's always being reformed by the word of God just as individuals are. And how does reformation happen in our lives and in the churches in our land? When we look into the word of God and to the law of God and say, "Lord, where have I been unfaithful to your word? Where have I added to your word or where have I subtracted from your word?" Deuteronomy 4:2 says, "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you."And you say, "Well, which word is he talking about here in Deuteronomy?" Don't add or take away from which word? Well, in the same chapter in verse nine through 14, he explains, "Only take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children.""How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children also. And so you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain where the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form. There was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, that is the Ten Commandments. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules that you might do them in the land that you were going over to possess."Well, what word do we not to add or subtract from? It's the 10 commandments. And adding to the law of God is legalism and taking away from the law of God is antinomianism and Jesus didn't add to the law of God, but he did uphold the 10 laws to show us primarily that we have sinned against God, therefore we need Christ's sacrifice. And then once we've received Christ's sacrifice and his grace, we are then to out of gratitude, live according to the law that in primarily motivated by love for God and neighbor.Today we're in Mark 7:1-23. As we continue our series, would you look at the text with me?Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat unless they washed their hands properly holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?" And he said to them, "Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me teaching his doctrines the commandments of men? You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.""For Moses said, honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die." But you say, "If a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would've gained from me is Corban, that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do."And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me all of you and understand, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable and he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled?" Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and they defile a person."This is the reading of God's holy, inherent and infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First traditions are not God's commandments. Second God's 10 commandments are God's commandments. And three, the law cuts and Jesus regenerates.First, traditions are not God's commandments. In Mark 7:1 says, "The Pharisees gathered to him and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem." These are the representatives of the big establishment religion.The scribes in the Pharisees did not approve of Jesus. Jesus did not have their stamp of approval as he's doing his ministry. They were furious with Jesus that he would eat with sinners and tax collectors. They became angrier when Jesus rejected their distinctions between clean and unclean. And the scribes and the Pharisees challenged Jesus' view of fasting as well as Jesus' view of the Sabbath observance. And Jesus showed no qualms whatsoever in defying these traditions, rejecting their oral traditions. In many ways, I was sharing the gospel recently with someone. They say, "You know what? Jesus sounds kind of like a rebel, kind of like a renegade." And I was like, "Yes, he's the revolutionary of deregulating religion. He's God, it's his law, it's his word. He's come." And he said, "That's all made up and that's all made up and that's all made up." And he's pointing people to the law of God because it's only the law of God that can show us our need for God's grace.So yes, he confounded the canon lawyers and he sent them into fits of rage. How? By just teaching the plain word of God, God's law, what it says, what it doesn't say with absolute precision. For Jesus the oral traditions were not binding, they were not law, they were just decorum. Jesus rejects the authority of their tradition and therefore he openly contradicted what they taught and practiced. And so he made a lot of enemies and that's what ultimately got him crucified. And these men were sent from Jerusalem indicating that their representatives of the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish ruling body in Jerusalem. Like Herod Antipas, members of the Sanhedrin had heard about Jesus Christ. They perceived him to be someone that can mobilize people, therefore they perceive him to be a threat. And some of the religious leaders even accused Jesus Christ of doing his ministry because he was demon possessed.They said, you cast out demons by the power of Satan. And as a result, Jesus places upon them the ultimate covenant curse that no forgiveness in this age or in the age to come was given to the blasphemers of the blessed Holy Spirit. So the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees, they've sworn to destroy Jesus, they've partnered with the Herodians and they gather to him, the verb used to gather to him here is the same one used in Psalm 2, which is a messianic prophetic Psalm about Christ that the anointed one will come and the rulers of the day will rise against him in opposition. And that's exactly what they're doing. In other Psalms, the same verb is used for the wicked conspiring against the righteous to take his life. For example, Psalm 31:13. "For I hear the whispering of many terror on every side as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life," or Psalm 35:15."But at my stumbling, they rejoiced and gathered. They gathered together against me, wretches whom I did not know, tore at me without ceasing."And the fact that the scribes who interrogate Jesus, they come down from Jerusalem marks that the opposition is coming from the center of power from Jerusalem where Jesus will be eventually executed. In verse two, "They saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches."The hand washing is not a biblical... You should wash your hands. That's not what we're talking.We're talking about what makes you moral. That's what they're getting. What they're doing is immoral. They're sinning. That's the conversation. The hand washing that they're alluding to. It's not a biblical requirement for lay people. In the Old Testament, only the priests are required to wash their hands before offering a sacrifice. And the Pharisees however they thought, you know what, this is a good thing to do. We should have everybody do it. We're going to regulate this on absolutely everyone on the theory that every Jew should live as a priest and every Jewish home should become like the temple. The reasoning sounds very rational. And in this tradition, that's what the tradition forces forms the basis of their challenge. Though this was only a priestly requirement from the law of God, all the pious Jews at the time of Jesus had been doing this for about 200 years.So Jesus shows up and he says, that's not in the Bible, that's not regulation for everybody. And their response is, "Jesus, we've always done it this way. Our parents have always done it this way, our grandparents and they've all done it this way.By Jesus' day it had become firmly entrenched this tradition as a requirement for those that want it to be clean and people wash their hands in the morning before morning prayer. The benediction used by the priest of that time of consecration was now being recited by the people as part of the course of daily life. And many felt that even eating bread without a ceremonial washing rendered the bread unclean. And verse five, "The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?" And the word for walk here is standard metaphor for living a certain way.Why don't your disciples live in the way that our elders taught us to live? In the tradition of the elders, not the law of Moses, but oral and written tradition received from antiquity and honored only because it was from antiquity. Honored as the word of God just because it's old for the Pharisees, the oral tradition was equally binding with the law of God and with the scriptures. And some of them even believed that tradition was more precious and more authoritative than holy scripture. And with this kind of tradition, the gospels record that Jesus always expressed angry impatience. On the surface, this looks like an argument brought about Jesus' disciples watching procedures, but in reality it's a debate about authority. Is oral tradition authoritative over God's people? And the answer is no. The problem was that with the Pharisees and what the Pharisees had to be doing is they'd been controlling people with their religious regulation.They had been requiring demanding that people obey their oral traditions even though this tradition had no biblical support. Put it another way, the scribes and the Pharisees big religion, they were binding people's consciences to things that were not required of them by scripture. And as the scribes saw the matter, it was their sacred duty to teach the people and then enforce this manmade law upon the people. These legalistic religious lawyers force their rules and regulations on everyone and try to adjudicate.Jesus answers on two levels. Those who criticize him first, he answers on their level by showing that their premise, their presupposition is unsubstantiated. And then after doing that, he demolishes their position from within by going deeper. Verse six, "And he said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me teaching us doctrines and commandments of men."On the principle that the best defense is a good offense, Jesus goes on the offense against these guys and he responds to their hostility by not answering their question about hand washing but actually dismantling this false presupposition that their human traditions are on the same level as God's word in terms of binding moral authority calls them hypocrites. In the classical Greek, it was a word to designate actors, pretenders. And he's saying, you guys are hypocrites because you present a religious godly front, but it's a front based on your own regulations. You made up rules, you've been playing according to these rules. You look really wholly according to those rules, but that's not the game. You're playing the wrong game. And he accuses them of a hypocrisy because they're masking God's law with human made regulations. And the Pharisees certainly would not have agreed with Jesus here, with his charge that tradition represented a betrayal of the commandments of God.No, they would've said, "No. Tradition is part of God's revelation to us." Yet God revealed himself to Moses, but he's also been revealing himself through us, through the pharisaical sect of Judaism. This feeling of connection with ancient revelation is what has given rabbinic Judaism the successor of Phariseeism, a great sense of continuity. But what they teach depends entirely on their authority, on people's authority, not on divine authority. And humans, as Jesus makes clear at the end of the text, we're sinners and everything we touch is singe tinged with sin. And even if we try with our greatest attempts of wisdom to add to the commandments of God, those additions are going to be tinged with sin. This clinging to human traditions makes them actually neglect the plain commandment of God, which is what led to their downfall. Not only does Jesus use one of Israel's most widely red prophets, Isaiah, he quotes Isaiah, they knew this was God's word, but in that context, Isaiah was prophesying to the people of God and he says, "You, the kingdom of Israel, you're in shambles because you have left the commandments of God." And what Jesus is doing by quoting that same text to these people, he's saying in the same way that Israel had fallen from glory because they had moved away from the commandments of God, you guys are doing the same thing.And that's why Israel was in the state it was. They've replaced the law of God with laws of humans and that never leads to shalom or universal flourishing. Notice that Jesus does not even attempt to answer their trick question. He doesn't even want to talk about hand washing. These are manmade rules and traditions. They're not binding. Only the law of God is, and these rules and regulations, they may be signs of great zeal, but in actuality they demonstrate this sad fact that they don't know God. Their hearts are far from God because they're spending all of their time living according to their own interpretations of what God said. They're hypocrites because they pretend to love God, but they don't even do what he says. They prefer to do what they say about what he said. And to the people of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees look like holy and godly men, but they're not because they're not worshiping God in the way he said to worship him.These men claim to defend the law of God by arguing, but their humanly contrived rules actually block the word of God. They distort the law of God and they rob the word of God of its power. According to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees have so buried the true meaning and purpose of the law under countless layers of canon law and oral tradition. They've made the law null and void. Their traditions not only bury the law under rules of men that so much that people don't even know what God's law actually says.So that brings us to point too. God's manmade traditions are not God's law, but God's 10 commandments are. Look at verse eight, what Jesus does. He says, "You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." Well, what does Jesus mean by the commandment of God? Well, he explicitly tells us in verse 10 that he's referring to the 10 commandments because in verse 10 he says, "Case in point hears a command that you have nullified with your own tradition." And he goes to commandment number five. So by command he's referring to the 10 commandments. In verse 10, "For Moses said, honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father and mother must surely die."For Moses said here, that's what Jesus says. There's a parallel account where Jesus is having a similar conversation in Matthew 15, four. And there it doesn't say Moses said. There, it just says, for God said. God said this. These are his words. God had written the 10 commandments with his finger. So making the contrast that the commandment of God and it makes the contrast even more direct between command of God and tradition. Matthew 15:4, "For God commanded honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. Their hearts had strayed from God and the people have fallen under the sway of human tradition that emptied the divine word of its force and blinded its possessors to God's true will."And that's why in Mark 7:9, Jesus said to them and he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. They weren't in complete disobedience. Here Jesus adds the word fine as a touch of sarcasm because they had done this so beautifully. No one even noticed that they sidestep the word of God in order to establish their own tradition. But by supplanting and replacing the commandment, they're actually rejecting it.In verse 10 of Mark 7, Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother, whoever reviles father or mother must surely die." That's from Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." And that's repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16. This is the fifth commandment and it does include material support of parents as parents grow older.That's the conversation here and that commandment honor your father and your mother. It was so important that the penalty for breaking that commandment was capital punishment. Exodus 21:17, "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death." In Leviticus 20:9, "For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death, he has cursed his father or his mother, his blood is upon him."Just as being angry or refraining from performing a cure is equivalent to murder. So withholding support from parents is equivalent to cursing them. That's what Christ is saying, that dishonoring of parents is a capital offense according to the Torah. Yet the Pharisees facilitate it by their Corban practice. They're like, "Well, that's what the commandment said, honor your father and your mother." They're getting a little older and you should start thinking about how you're going to provide for them.And they're elderly age. And then the Pharisees come in and they say, that's a lot of money and that's a lot of time and that's a lot of resources. We could actually increase the budget of our ministries, of our synagogues, of our temples by tweaking the commandment a little bit. And children, instead of actually supporting your parents when they're older, just give that money to the Lord so to speak. And that was their Corban stuff. Verse 11, "But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you want, whatever you would've gained from me is Corban that is given to God then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down in many such things you do."Corban was a transliteration from the Hebrew and Aramaic of sacrifice, their offering. And what they're saying is, "Okay, this money I would've given to you mom and dad. I'm going to offer to the Lord therefore making it unavailable for any other use." The person declares that any material support he might have given his parents is pledged to God. Not that he necessarily intends to deliver it to God, but he just wants to remove it from the parents. If you think about it's just incredibly diabolical this rule that they invented. Yeah, they're going to fill their coffers, but you're also actually, you're doing the opposite what the commander said. Commander said, to honor your father and your mother and you're dishonoring them by pretending to honor the Lord. And Jesus here zeroes in on this specific example of Pharisaic tradition that empties the word of God of its force and it did it through a legal fiction maneuver just to avoid the law.And so what begins as a trick question quickly turns into a lesson in biblical hermeneutics or the interpretation of scripture. Jesus here is saying the law is perfect. Any addition or subtraction to the 10 commandments is the incorrect interpretation. Jesus does not set aside the law, he doesn't question its authority or do anything to weaken its demands, but he's saying traditions added to the law of God, they're not morally binding. And for these traditions and the Pharisees, it was actually subversion of the Lord of the word of God, a betrayal of it. And what's fascinating is the word for tradition in the Greek has two meanings. It could be translated as tradition parados, but there's other places where the same exact word means betrayal. When John the Baptist was handed over, this word was used when Jesus was betrayed, this word was used. And when Christians were betrayed and suffering and death, this word parados was used.So you can read this text and say you forsake the commandment of God and hold fast to the betrayal of human beings because by adding to the law, they have betrayed the word of God. You do a good job of annulling the commandment of God so that you may establish your betrayal, thus avoiding the word of God for the sake of your betrayal, parados by means of which you have betrayed. And the word for human here or person is anthropos. It's not the word for men that's used when Jesus feeds the 5,000. It's anthropos, person, human being. When humans add to the word, when they add to the law, they are subverting the commandments. Mark's point seems to be that human traditions, no matter how laudable in their original intention, they end up suffocating revelation because of the basic warp of the human heart of the anthropos.There's evil inside every single one of us that corrupts everything that we touch including the word of God. So whenever you listen to anybody interpreting the word of God, you do have to be like the Bereans. Word of God I welcome you eagerly, but I'm going to examine everything the person says according to the scriptures. Christians are not and indeed cannot be bound by the rules of men. And while many of these rules are based in wisdom, they cannot be used to bind a Christian's conscience to things that God has not forbidden in his word or expressly or implied. When we say we believe in sola scripture, what are we saying? We're saying we are bound to obey the law of God and in our case, the moral law, the 10 commandments, and that we are not bound by any manmade rules or traditions. God's word is our ultimate authority, not human tradition, not the tradition of the church.And this is why we are not Catholic. We understand that the Pope is not infallible. The Pope is actually very fallible and clearly he's adding to the word of God in a way that subverts the word of God. No, we reject that. We keep on reforming. Scripture speaks of the law of God as the perfect law, the law of liberty. And to put it rather simplistically, God gave us 10 commandments, not countless volumes of canon law. And these 10 commandments are for the most part, very simple. Even our children know the 10 Commandments and we do this in our home. You should try doing this in your home. We go through the 10 commandments and as we're doing our devotionals and we call each other out. We're Slavic, we're direct. We call it like, "Which commandments did you break today? I know, I know I live with you."And you're like, "Yes, I have broken the commandments. Lord, forgive me. I need grace. Help me and no longer break them."God binds us to obey his commandments, not to obey the rules of man. It's that simple. And this leads to the second evil that we see in our passage, just the evil of self-righteousness. These Pharisees had invented rules that they added to the commandments, which protects them from the commandments actually revealing their own sin. And then they walk around and they say, "I have the cleanest hands. I have the cleanest hands, I'm undefiled." And they judge everyone else according to these manmade rules. And that's why Jesus didn't spend time with them. They thought they weren't sick and Jesus would rather spend time with tax collectors, sinners who knew that they were sinners in need of a doctor.The 10 Commandments are given to us to show us our need for Christ and then also show us after we've received Christ what it means to follow him. And these are, I think about 10 lanes on a track. You know there's 10 lanes. I know this because I ran track as a kid for a season and my daughter reminded me of this recently. We're going through a trophy case and she's like, "Oh, here's a trophy." And it was for 10th place in track and field. That's how I know there's 10 lanes. Back when they started giving out trophies for absolutely every single person. Terrible. That was the beginning of the end.And it's like 10 lanes, 10 lanes. This is the straight and narrow. This is how we walk in the ways of righteousness. There's no other lanes and people try to add the lanes through ceremonial minutia and stuff. That's not the law.Point three is the law cuts and Jesus regenerates. Mark 7:14, "And he called the people to him again and said to them, hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."And this is the ultimate answer to the question of the Pharisees and the scribes when they said, "Well, why aren't your disciples washing their hands as they are?" The Pharisees thought and their system of theology, they thought that to eat with unwashed hands made you ritually impure because the contagion of impurity was outside of you. So if you ate something that was impure, all of a sudden you become impure. They thought that the evil was outside of them and they had to protect themselves from the evil coming in. And Jesus counters that false idea by saying that external things like unwashed hands have no power to transmit defilement. In Matthew 15:11, "It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that this defiles a person." And this bold statement ran contrary to all of their rabbinic teaching.To the rabbis and to the Pharisees for any defilement to occur, there must be a mother of defilement, an external source by physical contact with that source, you become unclean. That's why they stayed away from the Gentiles, your sinners. Your sin might be transmitted to me that's why they stayed away from anyone with leprosy. They thought this is how the sin or defilement comes upon, and that's why they stayed away from the sinners and tax collectors and they were shocked. "Jesus, how are you spending time with these people? You're going to get contaminated by their sin." And Jesus says, you're false because you're assuming an initially pure state. You're assuming that you are pristine and it's someone else's sin that makes you sin. And this is false. Jesus says, "The source of defilement is not external, but within." It's already existent. We're born with a sin nature, and every mom and dad in the room says, amen.Our children prove the doctrine of total depravity. They're born as little individualistic sinners and we need God's grace and their hearts and our hearts and we need the transformation to come from within. To the Pharisees, lack of ceremonial purity, as in the case of the disciples was sin. And Jesus saying, that's not sin. Don't just throw that word around. They didn't break a commandment. That's not sin. They broke the decorum. Mark 7:17, "When he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable." They didn't understand what's happening so they asked for interpretation of verse 18. He said to them, "Then, are you also without understanding, do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled, thus he declared all foods clean."Here Jesus shows us that he has authority over ritual purity to redefine ritual purity. And he declared all foods clean, meaning that he, by his word and by his authority and by his power, shows that the ceremonial law, which was given by God was to point to Jesus Christ and he has fulfilled the ceremonial law. Therefore, he can redefine ritual purity. Romans 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building. Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats."So we see that Jesus in the same text does not abrogate the 10 Commandments. He actually upholds the 10 commandments, but he is abrogating the Old Testament food laws, the same laws that divided the Jews from the Gentiles and significant that this happens here because Jesus in the next section is going to begin his Gentile ministry. And we see that with the Syrophoenician woman. And then we see that with Jesus feeding 4,000 Gentiles, Gentile men.Ephesians 2:11 says, "Therefore, remember that one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility."So having declared all foods clean and thus having shown that there's no longer anything external to human beings that can defile them, Jesus identifies the real source of defilement. How does sin enter the world? How does sin enter our lives? It's the human heart. It's not what goes into people, what comes out of the human heart that is actually sin. Mark 7:20, "And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within and they defile a person." This catalog of human offenses truly paints a hellish picture. And Jesus says that that's all inside every single one of us.And there's a series of seven offenses in the plural, which he's showing crimes against the law, against the 10 commandments, followed by a series of more sinister things that are the reason or the root causes of the evil action. He says, out of the heart of man, come evil, thoughts, evil as defined by the law. All the other evil flows out of this one. Evil thoughts, the battleground for the soul. It begins with the mind. It begins with thoughts.In Genesis 8:21, "When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, and the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done."The word of God teaches that we're born with the sin nature, that there's sin in this world because we're born as sinners and the sin comes from within our hearts. It begins with the word sexual sin, sexual morality or porneia, which originally meant fornication. The Pharisees didn't want to talk about that. They want to talk about washing hands. Let's not talk about anything deeper than that. And after the sexual sins, he talks about robbery and murder and adultery, all transgressions of the 10 commandments. Then he gives seven singular words that talk about internal disposition that then leads to external action. Mark 7:23, "All these evil things come from within and they defile a person." And that word person anthropos, I've already mentioned it's used over and over and over in our passage, five times in a short passage, anthropo. And he says, this is where the sin comes from within the heart of a person. And that's really why adding traditions to the law of God is so sinister because anything that we add is tinged with our own sin.What the Pharisees could not see is that in their desire for piety and zeal, they were actually covering the law with their sin. These men looked like they were pious and godly individuals, but their hearts were far from God because their hearts were sinful. Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?"And then who can change it? Who can do something about it? And this is the beauty of the gospel. God gives us the 10 commandments like the scalpel. The 10 commandments show us that our hearts are stoned toward God, their hearts are sinful, that their hearts are evil. And the 10 commands, they cut, they cut, they cut, they cut. And then we look to the cross of Jesus Christ and we realized that the Son of God, the perfect Lamb of God, spotless Lamb of God who would never sinned, not one commandment that Jesus ever break in his whole life, and then he offers his spotless record as a sacrifice in our stead on the cross in order to do what, in order to transform us.Scripture talks about this as regeneration, to be born again, be born from within spiritual heart surgery. Jesus has this conversation with a Pharisee, a religious person named Nicodemus in John 3. And Nicodemus said, "Jesus, how do I go to heaven?" And Jesus answered him and said, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time to his mother's womb and be born?' And Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.""Do not marvel at this that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. So it is with everyone who was born of the Spirit.""Lord, I need a new heart." That's what Nicodemus says, and he says, "How do I get it?" He said, "You got to be born again.""How do I do that?"And Jesus' answer, "The Spirit blows where it wishes." The Spirit is the one that converts therefore, church and therefore Christians, we can just proclaim the plain word of God to people and not be afraid, not be ashamed, not try to cover it in these layers to make it more palatable. What he's saying is Nicodemus is like, I want to go to heaven. And Jesus is like, well, hopefully the Holy Spirit converts you. That's his answer. But he tells him the truth.And Nicodemus at that point then what does he do? He starts begging the Holy Spirit, convert me. Holy Spirit regenerate. Holy Spirit, I need this transformation reformation from the inside. And then later on we find out Nicodemus was converted and did become a child of God. So if you're not sure that you are a Christian, if you're not sure that you have a heart that loves God, how does your heart respond when you hear about the 10 Commandments, when you hear about the law of God, the true regenerated believer, Christian child of God, when you hear about the law of God, all you want to do is know more so that you can love God more by obeying the word. And if you hear about the law and you're like, 'I don't want the law, I want nothing to do with God's law," then most likely you still have a heart of stone.Most likely you still are on your path to hell. And therefore we plead with you. I beg you, end the year right. End the year the way you should by repenting of your sins. Say, Lord Jesus, please forgive me for breaking the commandments. Lord Jesus, give me a brand new heart. Holy Spirit, fill me and God will. And that's the promise of God. Ezekiel 36:26, "And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be my people and I will be your God."New heart that desires to do what? Desires to obey God's law, because of God's grace. The law is both the teacher of sin and the rule of gratitude. It is important to see that while Jesus completely rejects the rules of men with equal force, he reaffirms the authority of the law of God. The rules of men are not to be confused with the law of God no matter how much wisdom, how much piety or how much zeal these rules appear to have, it's the law of God, the 10 Commandments which are binding upon God's people. This is because the law of God reveals his will to us. Therefore, as Christians, we define sin in light of God's law, not in light of rules and ceremonies invented by the self-righteous who actually think that they keep these rules, they are righteous. While those who don't keep them as well or not. God has made his will perfectly clear. The rules of men only obscure what God has said.Jesus calls out to us today. He says, repent of your sins and believe the good news. And the moment you do, his righteousness is counted to you. His recorders counted to you. Righteousness covers you. And Jesus loves repentance, sinners, but he has no patience for the self-righteous. So let's look at this text and let's be convicted that often we are like the Pharisees and let's repent of that self-righteousness and repent of our sin, continue to follow Christ. And honestly, may this be the year that we read the Bible. Everybody, everyone's going to read the Bible this year, and that's how revival is coming into the world. In Jesus' name, amen. Let us pray.Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word and we thank you that the word of God, you became incarnate. And I pray, Lord Jesus, by the power of your blood and by the power of your Holy Spirit, make us the people that embody your word. Make us the people that love your word so much. Study your word so much that our hearts are absolutely transformed by your word. That our minds are renewed by the transformation that the word gives us. And Lord, make us a missionary force here in the city pointing people to the word of God, pointing people to the cross of Jesus Christ and pointing people to the fact that the church is God's plan to rebuild this world. Lord, we love you and pray this in Christ. Holy name.Amen.

Lord, as we end one year and begin another, we thank you for your grace. We thank you for preserving us to this moment, sustaining us by the power of your spirit. And we thank you Lord that you continue to reveal yourself to us. That's what we long for. More than anything else, is your presence. We long to know you. We long to know your will and Lord, as we open up the scriptures and as we look at a text where you emphasize the preeminence of God's law, I pray, make us a people that love your law, love your 10 commandments. Stare deeply, gaze deeply into your law, seeking how we can grow in faithfulness, how we can grow in obedience. And as we do, you will grow us in fruitfulness. Lord, to make our church a church that loves your word, reveres your word. Make Bostonians like the Bereans that eagerly accept your word and on a daily basis, examine to see if it's true.If it's true that you are a God who reveals yourself, a God who guides us, and God who gave us the law to guard us from evil, show us what it means that you sent your son Jesus Christ because we disobeyed the law, we sinned against you. You sent your son to walk in the ways of faithfulness and then to offer himself as a sacrifice in our behalf in order to forgive us. And we thank you Lord that you offer that sacrifice. If anyone is not yet a believer today, Lord, show them where they've transgressed the commandments and show them that sin and the penalty for is eternal damnation and that Christ took all of that on the cross and whosoever believes, repents and turns from sin to Christ is granted forgiveness and eternal life. I pray save many even today and Lord bless our time in the holy scriptures and we pray all this in Christ's name.Amen.We're continuing our servant series through the Gospel of Mark. We've called it Kingdom Come, the Gospel of Mark and the secret of God's kingdom. And the idea is that the kingdom has come and Jesus has come to establish the kingdom and we are to be a people that pray. Lord, may your kingdom continue to expand in our life and where we live. And as we end one year and begin another, it's helpful to take account of the year past. Remember lessons learned, consider changes to make and make resolutions that pesky word, pesky, pesky. We don't like that word resolutions, but I urge you, church, I challenge you, make this resolution. If you have never read the Bible cover to cover, resolve that this year you are going to change that. Cover to cover, four chapters a day. There's about 1200 chapters in the Bible, four chapters a day that's got you reading 300 or so days of the year.You've got 65 days off to study the Psalter and the Proverbs and go deeper. But four chapters a day, it's about 20 minutes and that's a tremendous time to spend with the Lord. And I say that because it's not the resolutions that change us, it's the reformation that we make in our life. It's the restructuring of the routine. It's the spiritual disciplines that we welcome in. That's what really changes us. We need not just resolutions or short-term change, we need a reformation. We need to be reformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We're like clay in the potter's hands. He's shaping us, he's forming us, he's reforming us. And this reformation or transformation as Romans 12 puts it happens when our minds are renewed according to the word of God, when our minds are saturated with the word of God. It's the word of God when applied by the spirit of God that leads to true transformation and lasting reformation.One of the great principles that came out of the reformation along with the five solos, if you're not familiar with them, here they are. Sola scriptura, that's scripture alone, Sola gratia, that's grace alone, Sola fide, that's faith alone, Solus Christus, that's Christ alone, and Soli Deo gloria to the glory of God alone.Well, along with those five, there was also the principle of semper reformanda, which is always reforming. The title of my sermon today is always becoming reformed and the idea isn't that we are capitulating to the culture, that we're evolving in order to make the message more palatable. No, the message is that we study the holy scriptures and we long for the holy scriptures to reform us and reform how we live, reform how we worship the Lord. And the church should always be seeking to change in ways that make its testimonies more faithful to God's revelation.The church is formed by the word of God and it's always being reformed by the word of God just as individuals are. And how does reformation happen in our lives and in the churches in our land? When we look into the word of God and to the law of God and say, "Lord, where have I been unfaithful to your word? Where have I added to your word or where have I subtracted from your word?" Deuteronomy 4:2 says, "You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you."And you say, "Well, which word is he talking about here in Deuteronomy?" Don't add or take away from which word? Well, in the same chapter in verse nine through 14, he explains, "Only take care and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen unless they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children.""How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, gather the people to me that I may let them hear my words so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth and that they may teach their children also. And so you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain where the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form. There was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform, that is the Ten Commandments. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules that you might do them in the land that you were going over to possess."Well, what word do we not to add or subtract from? It's the 10 commandments. And adding to the law of God is legalism and taking away from the law of God is antinomianism and Jesus didn't add to the law of God, but he did uphold the 10 laws to show us primarily that we have sinned against God, therefore we need Christ's sacrifice. And then once we've received Christ's sacrifice and his grace, we are then to out of gratitude, live according to the law that in primarily motivated by love for God and neighbor.Today we're in Mark 7:1-23. As we continue our series, would you look at the text with me?Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat unless they washed their hands properly holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?" And he said to them, "Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites as it is written. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me teaching his doctrines the commandments of men? You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." And he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition.""For Moses said, honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die." But you say, "If a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you would've gained from me is Corban, that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do."And he called the people to him again and said to them, "Hear me all of you and understand, there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him." And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable and he said to them, "Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled?" Thus he declared all foods clean. And he said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these evil things come from within and they defile a person."This is the reading of God's holy, inherent and infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Three points to frame up our time. First traditions are not God's commandments. Second God's 10 commandments are God's commandments. And three, the law cuts and Jesus regenerates.First, traditions are not God's commandments. In Mark 7:1 says, "The Pharisees gathered to him and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem." These are the representatives of the big establishment religion.The scribes in the Pharisees did not approve of Jesus. Jesus did not have their stamp of approval as he's doing his ministry. They were furious with Jesus that he would eat with sinners and tax collectors. They became angrier when Jesus rejected their distinctions between clean and unclean. And the scribes and the Pharisees challenged Jesus' view of fasting as well as Jesus' view of the Sabbath observance. And Jesus showed no qualms whatsoever in defying these traditions, rejecting their oral traditions. In many ways, I was sharing the gospel recently with someone. They say, "You know what? Jesus sounds kind of like a rebel, kind of like a renegade." And I was like, "Yes, he's the revolutionary of deregulating religion. He's God, it's his law, it's his word. He's come." And he said, "That's all made up and that's all made up and that's all made up." And he's pointing people to the law of God because it's only the law of God that can show us our need for God's grace.So yes, he confounded the canon lawyers and he sent them into fits of rage. How? By just teaching the plain word of God, God's law, what it says, what it doesn't say with absolute precision. For Jesus the oral traditions were not binding, they were not law, they were just decorum. Jesus rejects the authority of their tradition and therefore he openly contradicted what they taught and practiced. And so he made a lot of enemies and that's what ultimately got him crucified. And these men were sent from Jerusalem indicating that their representatives of the Sanhedrin, which was the Jewish ruling body in Jerusalem. Like Herod Antipas, members of the Sanhedrin had heard about Jesus Christ. They perceived him to be someone that can mobilize people, therefore they perceive him to be a threat. And some of the religious leaders even accused Jesus Christ of doing his ministry because he was demon possessed.They said, you cast out demons by the power of Satan. And as a result, Jesus places upon them the ultimate covenant curse that no forgiveness in this age or in the age to come was given to the blasphemers of the blessed Holy Spirit. So the Jewish leadership, the Pharisees, they've sworn to destroy Jesus, they've partnered with the Herodians and they gather to him, the verb used to gather to him here is the same one used in Psalm 2, which is a messianic prophetic Psalm about Christ that the anointed one will come and the rulers of the day will rise against him in opposition. And that's exactly what they're doing. In other Psalms, the same verb is used for the wicked conspiring against the righteous to take his life. For example, Psalm 31:13. "For I hear the whispering of many terror on every side as they scheme together against me as they plot to take my life," or Psalm 35:15."But at my stumbling, they rejoiced and gathered. They gathered together against me, wretches whom I did not know, tore at me without ceasing."And the fact that the scribes who interrogate Jesus, they come down from Jerusalem marks that the opposition is coming from the center of power from Jerusalem where Jesus will be eventually executed. In verse two, "They saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed for the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly holding to the tradition of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches."The hand washing is not a biblical... You should wash your hands. That's not what we're talking.We're talking about what makes you moral. That's what they're getting. What they're doing is immoral. They're sinning. That's the conversation. The hand washing that they're alluding to. It's not a biblical requirement for lay people. In the Old Testament, only the priests are required to wash their hands before offering a sacrifice. And the Pharisees however they thought, you know what, this is a good thing to do. We should have everybody do it. We're going to regulate this on absolutely everyone on the theory that every Jew should live as a priest and every Jewish home should become like the temple. The reasoning sounds very rational. And in this tradition, that's what the tradition forces forms the basis of their challenge. Though this was only a priestly requirement from the law of God, all the pious Jews at the time of Jesus had been doing this for about 200 years.So Jesus shows up and he says, that's not in the Bible, that's not regulation for everybody. And their response is, "Jesus, we've always done it this way. Our parents have always done it this way, our grandparents and they've all done it this way.By Jesus' day it had become firmly entrenched this tradition as a requirement for those that want it to be clean and people wash their hands in the morning before morning prayer. The benediction used by the priest of that time of consecration was now being recited by the people as part of the course of daily life. And many felt that even eating bread without a ceremonial washing rendered the bread unclean. And verse five, "The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?" And the word for walk here is standard metaphor for living a certain way.Why don't your disciples live in the way that our elders taught us to live? In the tradition of the elders, not the law of Moses, but oral and written tradition received from antiquity and honored only because it was from antiquity. Honored as the word of God just because it's old for the Pharisees, the oral tradition was equally binding with the law of God and with the scriptures. And some of them even believed that tradition was more precious and more authoritative than holy scripture. And with this kind of tradition, the gospels record that Jesus always expressed angry impatience. On the surface, this looks like an argument brought about Jesus' disciples watching procedures, but in reality it's a debate about authority. Is oral tradition authoritative over God's people? And the answer is no. The problem was that with the Pharisees and what the Pharisees had to be doing is they'd been controlling people with their religious regulation.They had been requiring demanding that people obey their oral traditions even though this tradition had no biblical support. Put it another way, the scribes and the Pharisees big religion, they were binding people's consciences to things that were not required of them by scripture. And as the scribes saw the matter, it was their sacred duty to teach the people and then enforce this manmade law upon the people. These legalistic religious lawyers force their rules and regulations on everyone and try to adjudicate.Jesus answers on two levels. Those who criticize him first, he answers on their level by showing that their premise, their presupposition is unsubstantiated. And then after doing that, he demolishes their position from within by going deeper. Verse six, "And he said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me teaching us doctrines and commandments of men."On the principle that the best defense is a good offense, Jesus goes on the offense against these guys and he responds to their hostility by not answering their question about hand washing but actually dismantling this false presupposition that their human traditions are on the same level as God's word in terms of binding moral authority calls them hypocrites. In the classical Greek, it was a word to designate actors, pretenders. And he's saying, you guys are hypocrites because you present a religious godly front, but it's a front based on your own regulations. You made up rules, you've been playing according to these rules. You look really wholly according to those rules, but that's not the game. You're playing the wrong game. And he accuses them of a hypocrisy because they're masking God's law with human made regulations. And the Pharisees certainly would not have agreed with Jesus here, with his charge that tradition represented a betrayal of the commandments of God.No, they would've said, "No. Tradition is part of God's revelation to us." Yet God revealed himself to Moses, but he's also been revealing himself through us, through the pharisaical sect of Judaism. This feeling of connection with ancient revelation is what has given rabbinic Judaism the successor of Phariseeism, a great sense of continuity. But what they teach depends entirely on their authority, on people's authority, not on divine authority. And humans, as Jesus makes clear at the end of the text, we're sinners and everything we touch is singe tinged with sin. And even if we try with our greatest attempts of wisdom to add to the commandments of God, those additions are going to be tinged with sin. This clinging to human traditions makes them actually neglect the plain commandment of God, which is what led to their downfall. Not only does Jesus use one of Israel's most widely red prophets, Isaiah, he quotes Isaiah, they knew this was God's word, but in that context, Isaiah was prophesying to the people of God and he says, "You, the kingdom of Israel, you're in shambles because you have left the commandments of God." And what Jesus is doing by quoting that same text to these people, he's saying in the same way that Israel had fallen from glory because they had moved away from the commandments of God, you guys are doing the same thing.And that's why Israel was in the state it was. They've replaced the law of God with laws of humans and that never leads to shalom or universal flourishing. Notice that Jesus does not even attempt to answer their trick question. He doesn't even want to talk about hand washing. These are manmade rules and traditions. They're not binding. Only the law of God is, and these rules and regulations, they may be signs of great zeal, but in actuality they demonstrate this sad fact that they don't know God. Their hearts are far from God because they're spending all of their time living according to their own interpretations of what God said. They're hypocrites because they pretend to love God, but they don't even do what he says. They prefer to do what they say about what he said. And to the people of Israel, the scribes and Pharisees look like holy and godly men, but they're not because they're not worshiping God in the way he said to worship him.These men claim to defend the law of God by arguing, but their humanly contrived rules actually block the word of God. They distort the law of God and they rob the word of God of its power. According to Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees have so buried the true meaning and purpose of the law under countless layers of canon law and oral tradition. They've made the law null and void. Their traditions not only bury the law under rules of men that so much that people don't even know what God's law actually says.So that brings us to point too. God's manmade traditions are not God's law, but God's 10 commandments are. Look at verse eight, what Jesus does. He says, "You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men." Well, what does Jesus mean by the commandment of God? Well, he explicitly tells us in verse 10 that he's referring to the 10 commandments because in verse 10 he says, "Case in point hears a command that you have nullified with your own tradition." And he goes to commandment number five. So by command he's referring to the 10 commandments. In verse 10, "For Moses said, honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father and mother must surely die."For Moses said here, that's what Jesus says. There's a parallel account where Jesus is having a similar conversation in Matthew 15, four. And there it doesn't say Moses said. There, it just says, for God said. God said this. These are his words. God had written the 10 commandments with his finger. So making the contrast that the commandment of God and it makes the contrast even more direct between command of God and tradition. Matthew 15:4, "For God commanded honor your father and your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. Their hearts had strayed from God and the people have fallen under the sway of human tradition that emptied the divine word of its force and blinded its possessors to God's true will."And that's why in Mark 7:9, Jesus said to them and he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. They weren't in complete disobedience. Here Jesus adds the word fine as a touch of sarcasm because they had done this so beautifully. No one even noticed that they sidestep the word of God in order to establish their own tradition. But by supplanting and replacing the commandment, they're actually rejecting it.In verse 10 of Mark 7, Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother, whoever reviles father or mother must surely die." That's from Exodus 20:12, "Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." And that's repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16. This is the fifth commandment and it does include material support of parents as parents grow older.That's the conversation here and that commandment honor your father and your mother. It was so important that the penalty for breaking that commandment was capital punishment. Exodus 21:17, "Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death." In Leviticus 20:9, "For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death, he has cursed his father or his mother, his blood is upon him."Just as being angry or refraining from performing a cure is equivalent to murder. So withholding support from parents is equivalent to cursing them. That's what Christ is saying, that dishonoring of parents is a capital offense according to the Torah. Yet the Pharisees facilitate it by their Corban practice. They're like, "Well, that's what the commandment said, honor your father and your mother." They're getting a little older and you should start thinking about how you're going to provide for them.And they're elderly age. And then the Pharisees come in and they say, that's a lot of money and that's a lot of time and that's a lot of resources. We could actually increase the budget of our ministries, of our synagogues, of our temples by tweaking the commandment a little bit. And children, instead of actually supporting your parents when they're older, just give that money to the Lord so to speak. And that was their Corban stuff. Verse 11, "But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother, whatever you want, whatever you would've gained from me is Corban that is given to God then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down in many such things you do."Corban was a transliteration from the Hebrew and Aramaic of sacrifice, their offering. And what they're saying is, "Okay, this money I would've given to you mom and dad. I'm going to offer to the Lord therefore making it unavailable for any other use." The person declares that any material support he might have given his parents is pledged to God. Not that he necessarily intends to deliver it to God, but he just wants to remove it from the parents. If you think about it's just incredibly diabolical this rule that they invented. Yeah, they're going to fill their coffers, but you're also actually, you're doing the opposite what the commander said. Commander said, to honor your father and your mother and you're dishonoring them by pretending to honor the Lord. And Jesus here zeroes in on this specific example of Pharisaic tradition that empties the word of God of its force and it did it through a legal fiction maneuver just to avoid the law.And so what begins as a trick question quickly turns into a lesson in biblical hermeneutics or the interpretation of scripture. Jesus here is saying the law is perfect. Any addition or subtraction to the 10 commandments is the incorrect interpretation. Jesus does not set aside the law, he doesn't question its authority or do anything to weaken its demands, but he's saying traditions added to the law of God, they're not morally binding. And for these traditions and the Pharisees, it was actually subversion of the Lord of the word of God, a betrayal of it. And what's fascinating is the word for tradition in the Greek has two meanings. It could be translated as tradition parados, but there's other places where the same exact word means betrayal. When John the Baptist was handed over, this word was used when Jesus was betrayed, this word was used. And when Christians were betrayed and suffering and death, this word parados was used.So you can read this text and say you forsake the commandment of God and hold fast to the betrayal of human beings because by adding to the law, they have betrayed the word of God. You do a good job of annulling the commandment of God so that you may establish your betrayal, thus avoiding the word of God for the sake of your betrayal, parados by means of which you have betrayed. And the word for human here or person is anthropos. It's not the word for men that's used when Jesus feeds the 5,000. It's anthropos, person, human being. When humans add to the word, when they add to the law, they are subverting the commandments. Mark's point seems to be that human traditions, no matter how laudable in their original intention, they end up suffocating revelation because of the basic warp of the human heart of the anthropos.There's evil inside every single one of us that corrupts everything that we touch including the word of God. So whenever you listen to anybody interpreting the word of God, you do have to be like the Bereans. Word of God I welcome you eagerly, but I'm going to examine everything the person says according to the scriptures. Christians are not and indeed cannot be bound by the rules of men. And while many of these rules are based in wisdom, they cannot be used to bind a Christian's conscience to things that God has not forbidden in his word or expressly or implied. When we say we believe in sola scripture, what are we saying? We're saying we are bound to obey the law of God and in our case, the moral law, the 10 commandments, and that we are not bound by any manmade rules or traditions. God's word is our ultimate authority, not human tradition, not the tradition of the church.And this is why we are not Catholic. We understand that the Pope is not infallible. The Pope is actually very fallible and clearly he's adding to the word of God in a way that subverts the word of God. No, we reject that. We keep on reforming. Scripture speaks of the law of God as the perfect law, the law of liberty. And to put it rather simplistically, God gave us 10 commandments, not countless volumes of canon law. And these 10 commandments are for the most part, very simple. Even our children know the 10 Commandments and we do this in our home. You should try doing this in your home. We go through the 10 commandments and as we're doing our devotionals and we call each other out. We're Slavic, we're direct. We call it like, "Which commandments did you break today? I know, I know I live with you."And you're like, "Yes, I have broken the commandments. Lord, forgive me. I need grace. Help me and no longer break them."God binds us to obey his commandments, not to obey the rules of man. It's that simple. And this leads to the second evil that we see in our passage, just the evil of self-righteousness. These Pharisees had invented rules that they added to the commandments, which protects them from the commandments actually revealing their own sin. And then they walk around and they say, "I have the cleanest hands. I have the cleanest hands, I'm undefiled." And they judge everyone else according to these manmade rules. And that's why Jesus didn't spend time with them. They thought they weren't sick and Jesus would rather spend time with tax collectors, sinners who knew that they were sinners in need of a doctor.The 10 Commandments are given to us to show us our need for Christ and then also show us after we've received Christ what it means to follow him. And these are, I think about 10 lanes on a track. You know there's 10 lanes. I know this because I ran track as a kid for a season and my daughter reminded me of this recently. We're going through a trophy case and she's like, "Oh, here's a trophy." And it was for 10th place in track and field. That's how I know there's 10 lanes. Back when they started giving out trophies for absolutely every single person. Terrible. That was the beginning of the end.And it's like 10 lanes, 10 lanes. This is the straight and narrow. This is how we walk in the ways of righteousness. There's no other lanes and people try to add the lanes through ceremonial minutia and stuff. That's not the law.Point three is the law cuts and Jesus regenerates. Mark 7:14, "And he called the people to him again and said to them, hear me all of you and understand there is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him."And this is the ultimate answer to the question of the Pharisees and the scribes when they said, "Well, why aren't your disciples washing their hands as they are?" The Pharisees thought and their system of theology, they thought that to eat with unwashed hands made you ritually impure because the contagion of impurity was outside of you. So if you ate something that was impure, all of a sudden you become impure. They thought that the evil was outside of them and they had to protect themselves from the evil coming in. And Jesus counters that false idea by saying that external things like unwashed hands have no power to transmit defilement. In Matthew 15:11, "It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that this defiles a person." And this bold statement ran contrary to all of their rabbinic teaching.To the rabbis and to the Pharisees for any defilement to occur, there must be a mother of defilement, an external source by physical contact with that source, you become unclean. That's why they stayed away from the Gentiles, your sinners. Your sin might be transmitted to me that's why they stayed away from anyone with leprosy. They thought this is how the sin or defilement comes upon, and that's why they stayed away from the sinners and tax collectors and they were shocked. "Jesus, how are you spending time with these people? You're going to get contaminated by their sin." And Jesus says, you're false because you're assuming an initially pure state. You're assuming that you are pristine and it's someone else's sin that makes you sin. And this is false. Jesus says, "The source of defilement is not external, but within." It's already existent. We're born with a sin nature, and every mom and dad in the room says, amen.Our children prove the doctrine of total depravity. They're born as little individualistic sinners and we need God's grace and their hearts and our hearts and we need the transformation to come from within. To the Pharisees, lack of ceremonial purity, as in the case of the disciples was sin. And Jesus saying, that's not sin. Don't just throw that word around. They didn't break a commandment. That's not sin. They broke the decorum. Mark 7:17, "When he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable." They didn't understand what's happening so they asked for interpretation of verse 18. He said to them, "Then, are you also without understanding, do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him since it enters not his heart but his stomach and is expelled, thus he declared all foods clean."Here Jesus shows us that he has authority over ritual purity to redefine ritual purity. And he declared all foods clean, meaning that he, by his word and by his authority and by his power, shows that the ceremonial law, which was given by God was to point to Jesus Christ and he has fulfilled the ceremonial law. Therefore, he can redefine ritual purity. Romans 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual up building. Do not for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats."So we see that Jesus in the same text does not abrogate the 10 Commandments. He actually upholds the 10 commandments, but he is abrogating the Old Testament food laws, the same laws that divided the Jews from the Gentiles and significant that this happens here because Jesus in the next section is going to begin his Gentile ministry. And we see that with the Syrophoenician woman. And then we see that with Jesus feeding 4,000 Gentiles, Gentile men.Ephesians 2:11 says, "Therefore, remember that one time you gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one man in place of the two, so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility."So having declared all foods clean and thus having shown that there's no longer anything external to human beings that can defile them, Jesus identifies the real source of defilement. How does sin enter the world? How does sin enter our lives? It's the human heart. It's not what goes into people, what comes out of the human heart that is actually sin. Mark 7:20, "And he said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him for from within out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within and they defile a person." This catalog of human offenses truly paints a hellish picture. And Jesus says that that's all inside every single one of us.And there's a series of seven offenses in the plural, which he's showing crimes against the law, against the 10 commandments, followed by a series of more sinister things that are the reason or the root causes of the evil action. He says, out of the heart of man, come evil, thoughts, evil as defined by the law. All the other evil flows out of this one. Evil thoughts, the battleground for the soul. It begins with the mind. It begins with thoughts.In Genesis 8:21, "When the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, and the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done."The word of God teaches that we're born with the sin nature, that there's sin in this world because we're born as sinners and the sin comes from within our hearts. It begins with the word sexual sin, sexual morality or porneia, which originally meant fornication. The Pharisees didn't want to talk about that. They want to talk about washing hands. Let's not talk about anything deeper than that. And after the sexual sins, he talks about robbery and murder and adultery, all transgressions of the 10 commandments. Then he gives seven singular words that talk about internal disposition that then leads to external action. Mark 7:23, "All these evil things come from within and they defile a person." And that word person anthropos, I've already mentioned it's used over and over and over in our passage, five times in a short passage, anthropo. And he says, this is where the sin comes from within the heart of a person. And that's really why adding traditions to the law of God is so sinister because anything that we add is tinged with our own sin.What the Pharisees could not see is that in their desire for piety and zeal, they were actually covering the law with their sin. These men looked like they were pious and godly individuals, but their hearts were far from God because their hearts were sinful. Jeremiah 17:9, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?"And then who can change it? Who can do something about it? And this is the beauty of the gospel. God gives us the 10 commandments like the scalpel. The 10 commandments show us that our hearts are stoned toward God, their hearts are sinful, that their hearts are evil. And the 10 commands, they cut, they cut, they cut, they cut. And then we look to the cross of Jesus Christ and we realized that the Son of God, the perfect Lamb of God, spotless Lamb of God who would never sinned, not one commandment that Jesus ever break in his whole life, and then he offers his spotless record as a sacrifice in our stead on the cross in order to do what, in order to transform us.Scripture talks about this as regeneration, to be born again, be born from within spiritual heart surgery. Jesus has this conversation with a Pharisee, a religious person named Nicodemus in John 3. And Nicodemus said, "Jesus, how do I go to heaven?" And Jesus answered him and said, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time to his mother's womb and be born?' And Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.""Do not marvel at this that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. So it is with everyone who was born of the Spirit.""Lord, I need a new heart." That's what Nicodemus says, and he says, "How do I get it?" He said, "You got to be born again.""How do I do that?"And Jesus' answer, "The Spirit blows where it wishes." The Spirit is the one that converts therefore, church and therefore Christians, we can just proclaim the plain word of God to people and not be afraid, not be ashamed, not try to cover it in these layers to make it more palatable. What he's saying is Nicodemus is like, I want to go to heaven. And Jesus is like, well, hopefully the Holy Spirit converts you. That's his answer. But he tells him the truth.And Nicodemus at that point then what does he do? He starts begging the Holy Spirit, convert me. Holy Spirit regenerate. Holy Spirit, I need this transformation reformation from the inside. And then later on we find out Nicodemus was converted and did become a child of God. So if you're not sure that you are a Christian, if you're not sure that you have a heart that loves God, how does your heart respond when you hear about the 10 Commandments, when you hear about the law of God, the true regenerated believer, Christian child of God, when you hear about the law of God, all you want to do is know more so that you can love God more by obeying the word. And if you hear about the law and you're like, 'I don't want the law, I want nothing to do with God's law," then most likely you still have a heart of stone.Most likely you still are on your path to hell. And therefore we plead with you. I beg you, end the year right. End the year the way you should by repenting of your sins. Say, Lord Jesus, please forgive me for breaking the commandments. Lord Jesus, give me a brand new heart. Holy Spirit, fill me and God will. And that's the promise of God. Ezekiel 36:26, "And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and you shall be my people and I will be your God."New heart that desires to do what? Desires to obey God's law, because of God's grace. The law is both the teacher of sin and the rule of gratitude. It is important to see that while Jesus completely rejects the rules of men with equal force, he reaffirms the authority of the law of God. The rules of men are not to be confused with the law of God no matter how much wisdom, how much piety or how much zeal these rules appear to have, it's the law of God, the 10 Commandments which are binding upon God's people. This is because the law of God reveals his will to us. Therefore, as Christians, we define sin in light of God's law, not in light of rules and ceremonies invented by the self-righteous who actually think that they keep these rules, they are righteous. While those who don't keep them as well or not. God has made his will perfectly clear. The rules of men only obscure what God has said.Jesus calls out to us today. He says, repent of your sins and believe the good news. And the moment you do, his righteousness is counted to you. His recorders counted to you. Righteousness covers you. And Jesus loves repentance, sinners, but he has no patience for the self-righteous. So let's look at this text and let's be convicted that often we are like the Pharisees and let's repent of that self-righteousness and repent of our sin, continue to follow Christ. And honestly, may this be the year that we read the Bible. Everybody, everyone's going to read the Bible this year, and that's how revival is coming into the world. In Jesus' name, amen. Let us pray.Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word and we thank you that the word of God, you became incarnate. And I pray, Lord Jesus, by the power of your blood and by the power of your Holy Spirit, make us the people that embody your word. Make us the people that love your word so much. Study your word so much that our hearts are absolutely transformed by your word. That our minds are renewed by the transformation that the word gives us. And Lord, make us a missionary force here in the city pointing people to the word of God, pointing people to the cross of Jesus Christ and pointing people to the fact that the church is God's plan to rebuild this world. Lord, we love you and pray this in Christ. Holy name.Amen.

You're welcome in the clubhouse where KC and his friends learn how to share God's Word. In this episode, kids learn that when Jesus died for our sins, He also provided for our healing. 1 Peter 2:24, "By Jesus' stripes, I am healed." L9 #christiankids, #kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bedtimestoriesforkids, #jesusourhealer; #storiesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #roncarriewebb, #ronandcarriewebb, #jesushealedthemall, #puppets

Are you working to stand among the top people in your industry sector? In your community efforts? Is your work impactful and deserving of headlines? Will you be remembered fruitfully in the eyes of history? By Jesus? Join Kevin as we delve into the topic of every Christian's reachable life of greatness!  // Download this episode's Application & Action questions and PDF transcript at whitestone.org.

One of the questions in front of us as people following Jesus is - How do we stay focused ON Jesus, long enough to be guided BY Jesus? In the difficulty of all the distractions that we deal with all the time, We need to orient around Him. Join Pastor Josh Yerton in the continuation of our current sermon series, Live the Adventure.

We believe the gospel, the good news, as three major components – the cross, the resurrection and the Kingdom. THE CROSS Romans 5:8-21 By Jesus' death, we are now justified, saved from God's wrath, reconciled, and saved for eternity. Jesus, the second Adam, did right what the first Adam did wrong. 2 Corinthians 5:21 By His death, we have become the righteousness of God. Ephesians 1:7 Through His blood, we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:11-14 THE RESURRECTION Acts 2:22-37; 3:12-26; 4:5-12 1 Corinthians 15:1-24 Jesus is the first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15:45-58 Ephesians 1:18-23 The ascended Christ is above all except for Yahweh. CHRIST'S RETURN TO ESTABLISH GOD'S KINGDOM Matthew 5:3, 10, 19, 20; 6:10, 13, 33; 7:21-24; 9:35 Acts 1:11; 8:12; 28:23-31 He is coming back! The gospel of salvation includes Christ's death for our sins, Christ's resurrection from the dead, and Christ's return to establish the Kingdom of God.

We believe the gospel, the good news, as three major components – the cross, the resurrection and the Kingdom. THE CROSS Romans 5:8-21 By Jesus' death, we are now justified, saved from God's wrath, reconciled, and saved for eternity. Jesus, the second Adam, did right what the first Adam did wrong. 2 Corinthians 5:21 By His death, we have become the righteousness of God. Ephesians 1:7 Through His blood, we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:11-14 THE RESURRECTION Acts 2:22-37; 3:12-26; 4:5-12 1 Corinthians 15:1-24 Jesus is the first fruits. 1 Corinthians 15:45-58 Ephesians 1:18-23 The ascended Christ is above all except for Yahweh. CHRIST'S RETURN TO ESTABLISH GOD'S KINGDOM Matthew 5:3, 10, 19, 20; 6:10, 13, 33; 7:21-24; 9:35 Acts 1:11; 8:12; 28:23-31 He is coming back! The gospel of salvation includes Christ's death for our sins, Christ's resurrection from the dead, and Christ's return to establish the Kingdom of God.The post The Gospel first appeared on Living Hope.

Confessions Three Christ in me is the hope of glory.  I am filled with hope.  I take my thoughts captive and align them with God's thoughts. His ways are higher.  My hope cannot be deferred when it's rooted in Christ.  I die daily so Christ can live through me.  I deny myself and carry my cross.  I run the race to finish strong.  God will complete the work he began in me.  He sent out his word and healed me; he rescued me from the grave.  I will not die but live, and will proclaim what God has done.  God's word is health to my body.  By Jesus stripes we were healed.  No germ can come near my body and live!  My eyesight does not grow dim.  With long life God satisfies me!  I am a new creation. I am no longer a sick person trying to get well. I am a whole and healed person resisting sickness!  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  I am blessed.  I have awesome friends.  I assume the best about others. 

When God Makes Us Go “Wow!” Psalm 24:1-2; Genesis 1:22, 28-30; Psalm 19; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1; Colossians 1:15-20 Introduction State of creation.  Does God care? Ps 24:1-2 - belongs to him! Is it our problem?  Do we care? God blessed the earth (water creatures and birds), Gen 1:22 God blessed us, Gen 1:28-30 We have been gifted this earth, Gen 1:29ff To ‘rule' it (1:28) - but like God rules - benevolently, for all 1. Creation Exists to Speak God to the World, Ps 19  v1 - what glories of God's creation do you value?  vv2-6 - When you see nature in all its glory, how do you feel and what is your response to God?  Valuing creation is participating in God's direct evangelism campaign vv7-9 In what ways have we ignored God's precepts in our use of the world's resources?  We have abused his gift: Destroying; Not caring; Nor renewing; Some unrecoverable  V12 - The Psalmist admits that he did not realise he was doing wrong. How does that apply to our generation?  Fossil fuels - not clear at start. Clear now; Since 1850s; Eunice Foote  v13 What might be ‘ruling over us' that we need to change?  Consumer mindset; Exploitation masquerading as growth mindset; Did we learn anything from slow down of pandemic? v14 - The Psalm ends by reminding us that God is our Rock and our Redeemer. There is hope 2. Followers of Jesus Care for Creation Because He Has a Vision of a Renewed Creation, Colossians 1:15-20 God has a vision for his creation — natural world & the people  2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1 - ‘new' = ‘renewed' (neos/kainos).  How will this be achieved?  By Jesus.  Why does this matter now? Because we are called to help usher in this kingdom by the way we live. V15 — He is in charge of creation vv16-17 — He is creator & sustainer: Heb 1 V18 — He is in charge of his church (family on earth) Vv19-20 — He is the restorer (reconciler) of all things, bringing peace and healing through his blood. Jesus is the re-creator.  Bringing the ultimate new creation, and starting it now through his newly recreated people – us!  We live in the already-but-not-yet.  The way we treat people and creation is a foreshadowing vision of what is coming. Jesus did this while here on earth, now he does it through his family.  We show people where we are going by how we live now. That is why we care about the vulnerable and the lost.  To follow Jesus is to honour him and that includes what he made and sustains and will renew Two reasons we care about creation: It is God's evangelism campaign - in partnership with us Jesus is renewing it - in partnership with us Conclusion Lord's Supper:  Jesus is renewing all things, including us & our world.  We are thankful, but do we bless creation in the same way we are blessed?  Let the world know that God is worthy of awe by preserving and healing his awe-inducing creation. We have peace with God because of Jesus Let us bring peace to the earth where we can “…making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Colossians 1:15-20 Please add your comments on this week's topic. We learn best when we learn in community.  Do you have a question about teaching the Bible? Is it theological, technical, practical? Send me your questions or suggestions. Here's the email: [malcolm@malcolmcox.org](mailto:malcolm@malcolmcox.org).  If you'd like a copy of my free eBook on spiritual disciplines, “How God grows His people”, sign up at my website: http://[www.malcolmcox.org](http://www.malcolmcox.org/).  Please pass the link on, subscribe, leave a review.  “Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.” (Psalms 100:2 NIV11)  God bless, Malcolm

If you've driven across America much, you might have seen a sign at one point that says "Wall Drug Store." It's in Wall, South Dakota. They advertise all over the country. I was even in Singapore years ago. I saw an arrow pointing West. It said something like "Wall Drug Store 10,000 miles." This once little drug store in an unknown town grew into a major tourist attraction. On some days I've heard they'll draw like 20,000 people! But it wasn't always that way. In 1931 a young pharmacist and his wife bought the drug store in Wall, a dusty little town on the edge of the Badlands. And for five years, they barely eked out a living. They were on the verge of giving up, and then the druggist's wife had an idea. Because of the new Mt. Rushmore attraction, lots of cars were going by but they weren't stopping. Her idea? Advertise the one thing those travelers needed after driving across that hot prairie in the 1930's - ice water. So they put out signs for free ice water and people began to stop. The rest is history. Here's what the couple said looking back over the years at the amazing things that had happened. No matter where you live; you can succeed because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something they need! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Why Customers Aren't Coming." People weren't coming when all the drug store did was sell their products. But people started pouring in when that store identified a need those people had and started doing something about it! Jesus was doing that with people 2,000 years ago. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4:6. Jesus was giving the Samaritans a chance to know Him as their Savior. And believe me, it was going to be a hard sell. He's a Jew and the Samaritans don't like Jews. They're very into their religion. As Jesus enters the area, He meets a hardened Samaritan woman at a well where they both stop for a drink. Does He come up and say, "How do you do? I'm the Messiah." It says this: "When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'" Verse 10: "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." He starts by talking about a need she has - water. That's why she's at the well. Not necessarily ice water in this case, but water. In verse 13 Jesus says, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." Her reaction? "Sir, give me this water." Jesus ends up talking about eternal life and this woman's endless search for love in her relationships with men. Then He gently leads her to deal with the sin in those relationships. Eventually, this woman gets her whole village to come out and meet Jesus. How did it all start? By Jesus identifying a need that the woman cared about and using it to turn her attention to a Savior. Question: How can there be so many Christians and so few lost people coming to Christ or even coming to church or to Christian meetings? We're selling our product - the good news of Jesus. But they drive right on by. They don't care about sin so they don't care about what Jesus did for sin. But would they start coming if we identify the need they feel and started doing something about it? If we began helping them be a husband or a wife or a parent, offering services that would meet the needs of local teenagers. And in our personal witness, would more people listen if we took an interest in their felt needs? If we told them what a difference Jesus makes for our loneliness, our emptiness, our brokenness, the pain of our past? It's not about changing the Gospel. No, it's about changing our starting point to get to the Gospel. Jesus knew that closed hearts open when you start with a need that matters to people. When it comes to interesting people in the Savior who died for them, you really can succeed wherever you are - if you reach out to them with something they need!

The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity: New Creation! Galatians 6:11-18 by William Klock We all know the experience of working hard to make something nice.  Maybe it was all the time you invested in it.  Maybe it was all the money you invested in it.  Maybe it was all the emotion you invested in it.  But it was so nice.  And you were so happy about it.  Maybe you were even proud of it.  And all it takes is thirty seonds for someone else to come along, undo all your hard work, and to make a mess of it all.  My parents painted the house and before the paint was even dry, my sister and I ran down the hallway with crayons on the wall.  You pour your heart and your expertise into building a business, then you retire and the people who take over run it into the ground.  It's even harder when we're talking about people.  A few months ago I was talking with a pastor friend.  Decades ago he worked with a group of people to plant a church.  He loved those people and faithfully shepherded them for years and they were a thriving gospel-centred church.  I know he was happy to see them thriving in the gospel from afar in the years after he left them.  But the last couple of years were painful.  The church got a new pastor who did not have the same gospel commitments.  He had capitulated to the culture, especially on issues of sexuality.  People left.  Earlier this year he tried to take what was left of the church into a more liberal jurisdiction and the whole thing imploded and the church is gone.  I think my pastor friend has shed many tears over the situation. Paul was in that sort of position when he wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia.  He had travelled through Galatia, proclaiming the good news about Jesus in A.D. 47 or 48.  People there, both Jews and gentiles, heard and believed, they were baptised in Jesus, and pretty soon Paul was helping them to establish churches.  He spent time with them, he preached the good news, he discipled, he helped them find leaders for the churches.  Now it's about a year later.  He's back in Antioch or maybe on his way to Jerusalem, and he starts hearing reports of what's going on in the Galatian churches.  It wasn't good.  Some other people had come to them in those intervening months.  We have to read between the lines a bit to figure out who those people were, but it sounds like missionaries, probably from Jerusalem.  And those missionaries had led the Galatian Christians to compromise the gospel.  Faith in Jesus wasn't enough, they claimed.  Faith wasn't, for them, the key thing that marks out the people of God.  Obedience to torah, to the Jewish law, that, they said, is what marks out the people of God—so, yes, believe in Jesus, but if you're a gentile, you'll also have to be circumcised.  I fully expect that Paul wept when he heard this.  And he tried to correct them, but they wouldn't listen.  And so, in his letter to them that we have in the New Testament, we get a real sense of the tension as he writes.  He was hurt.  He didn't know how they would respond.  It doesn't have the usual friendly greetings that are in his other letters.  It's very to-the-point and it gives us a sense of his frustration.  And this really comes through in his closing words, which we read for our Epistle this morning: Galatians 6:11-18. It starts in verse 11 with with what might seem like an odd thing to say: See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.   In the First Century most people were illiterate, or at best, barely literate.  If you wanted to send someone a letter, you hired a scribe to write it down for you.  But even a literate person like Paul would use a scribe to write his letters.  It's a bit like being able to hand-write a letter today, but typing it instead to ensure it looks neat and professional.  The scribe would write down the letter in his impeccable script, then Paul would write a personal bit at the very end in his own hand.  And that's what he does here, but instead of the usual personal greetings, he summarises and reiterates his gospel message to them again, this time in his own imperfect hand-writing.  It was that important.  Even as he's made his argument through the letter, he can't just leave it at that.  What matters above all—and it's the heart of his argument, but just in case they missed it—what matters above all is the cross of Jesus. There are all sorts of things in the world that differentiate and divide us.  We divide the world up into nationalities.  We divide the world up by ethnicity and race and language.  We divide the world up by our politics.  We divide ourselves up by our economics…by status, by colour, by culture, by language, by our likes and by our dislikes, by what we eat and what we don't eat, by whether you're a man or a woman—and now even by what we think a man or a woman is.  Paul grew up in and was steep in a culture where the vital distinction was whether you were a Jew or a gentile, but after his encounter with the risen Jesus, Paul realised that the great division—the one thing that not only divides the Church from the world, but that divides those who are willing to count the cost of following Jesus and those who are not, what marks out that great divide is the cross of Jesus.  Some of those other things that divide us matter, some don't, some are just plain silly, but at the end of the day the one thing that really does matter, the one thing that divides the human race into two distinct groups is the cross of Jesus.  Look at what Paul writes in those big, clumsy letters of his in verse 12: It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.    What was going on?  And what did whether or not these gentile believers in Galatia were circumcised have to do with whether or not these “missionaries” were persecuted?  This was before the time of Roman persecution.  The problem was the Jews.  Paul writes earlier in the letter about his own past as a persecutor of the Church and he has implied that the present problem is similar.  Again, we have to do a little bit of historic research to get behind all of this, but what was most likely happening was that the predominantly Jewish Church in Jerusalem was coming under pressure from a rising tide of Jewish nationalism.  The Zealots were on the rise.  Eventually they'd revolt against the Romans and trigger the judgement that Jesus had prophesied.  In the meantime, the Jewish Christians were coming under fire for associating with uncircumcised gentiles.  There probably wasn't much of that going on in Judea, but word was getting back about these churches popping up around the empire, many of them full of gentiles and this didn't make the Jesus movement look good in the eyes of unbelieving Jews.  So “missionaries” were being sent out from Jerusalem to get these gentile believers straightened out—which meant getting them circumcised and, therefore, basically making them Jewish converts—so that they would look more respectable to people like the Zealots back in Judea. It was dumb.  The problem for people like the Zealots wasn't really the gentiles, it was the gospel.  But when trouble, persecution, and opposition face the Church, there are, sadly, always some folks who think that if we compromise on whatever the problem issue is, we can placate our enemies.  In this case, unbelieving Jews were upset at the inclusion of unclean gentiles in the mostly Jewish church, so they thought they could solve the problem by, even if only superficially, they first made those gentiles into Jewish converts.  But this undermines the gospel, because the gospel isn't just good news for Jews.  It's good news that by its very nature makes the distinction between Jews and gentiles obsolete.  In trying to placate non-believers, these folks were losing that good news, that gospel. If anyone understood the awfulness of persecution for the sake of the cross of Jesus, Paul understood it.  Think of the list he would go on to write in 2 Corinthians 11: Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:24-28) Plenty of that lay in his future, but already, Paul knew what it meant to count the cost of discipleship and when we read that list written a few years later we see that he was no hypocrite when he called the Galatians to count the cost.  He also knew how foolish this insistence on circumcision was.  After all, Paul had been a Pharisee—and not just any Pharisee, but one of the greatest and a member of the Sanhedrin.  Paul knew what it meant to keep the law.  As he'd write years later to the Philippian Church, when he was a Pharisee, he had been blameless before the law.  And that's just it.  Circumcision makes sense—at least after a fashion—if you intend to keep the whole law.  But that's not what these Judaising missionaries were demanding the gentiles do.  They didn't expect these gentiles to actually keep the law.  It was all for show.  And it wasn't even for the benefit of these gentile brothers.  It was for their own benefit.  “We need you Greeks to cut off your foreskins so that our own skins will be safe back in Jerusalem.”  And so Paul rebukes them: For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.   And that's the other thing.  It's not just the hypocrisy involved, but that these folks will go back to Jerusalem and boast about the converts they've made.  They'll try to make the Zealots think that Church is really all about making Jewish converts of the gentiles.  The Zealots would never have believed it, but these folks were willing to try in the hopes of avoiding persecution.  And where is faith in that?  I think Paul makes a subtle but important point here.  He writes about keeping the law, which he wrote earlier is and always has been about faith.  And he knows that these folks are going to end up boasting about all the guys they got circumcised amongst the gentiles…but boasting always stands opposed to faith.  Boasting is about what we've done.  Faith is about what God has done through Jesus and the cross.  He goes on in verse 14: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.  (Galatians 6:14-15) Paul had been captivated by the gospel.  Here was a man who could boast about his accomplishments.  A Hebrew of Hebrews and a Pharisee of Pharisees.  But in light of the cross, it was all nothing.  No Jew had ever had any reason to boast.  The Lord's covenant had always been about mercy and grace and it was there in the scriptures all along.  Jeremiah had written centuries before, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (Jeremiah 9:24).  But the cross drew this truth out for Paul.  The cross is God's work, not ours, and to boast in the cross of Jesus is to acknowledge that nothing we can do will ever lead anywhere but death.  Our faith, our confidence can only ever rest in the grace of God who gave himself for the life of the world.  And, of course, the cross where Jesus gave his life for the sake of his sinful and rebellious people, for the very people crying out for his death, that cross is the central act of God's grace. Paul wrote earlier in the letter that if we are in Jesus—if we have identified with him by faith—we have been crucified with him.  So not only has Jesus been crucified.  And not only have we been crucified with him.  But now Paul goes so far as to say that the world—the kosmos—has been crucified with him.  Jesus took this fallen, broken, sin- and death-filled world to the cross.  It was crucified with him.  Pontius Pilate thought he was sentencing Jesus of Nazareth to death that first Good Friday, but in fact it was sin and death that stood under that sentence.  The old cosmos died that day and when Jesus rose from the grave, God's new creation was born.  It's not done yet.  It's not consummated.  But it's been inaugurated and like yeast, it is making its way through this world and bringing transformation as the gospel spreads and as God's Spirit works in his people.  And so Paul can boast that his old self died with Jesus on the cross along with the rest of the world, not because of anything he had done, but despite him and only because of the glorious grace of God.  Those old division—like the Jew-gentile divide that so concerned those Jewish believers in Jerusalem—those old divisions no longer matter in light of the cross, because the old world has been crucified with Jesus and God's new creation has begun.  The sentence structure in Paul's Greek—which our translations smooths over—is telling.  He writes that “neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision”…and then he just breaks off and blurts out “new creation!”  He does the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:17.  “So if anyone is in the Messiah—new creation!  Everything old has passed away, everything has become new.”  He lays out the old divisions and distinctions and then just sort of shouts over the top of them “New creation!”  Those things just don't matter any more. Brothers and Sisters, new creation!  Remember that.  These folks were getting bogged down in something that no longer mattered—and it was undermining the cross, the very thing, the most important thing!, that does matter and it's like Paul just shouts over the top of their argument: new creation!  It's his way of sort of dramatically reminding them (and us) what matters and what doesn't.  God's new creation was born that first Easter morning and it continues in every one of Jesus' people through the life that God's own Spirit gives us, and it will go on—Paul stresses this in Romans 8—it will go on until the whole creation is one day set free from its bondage to share in the freedom of God's children.  The life of the Spirit is the down payment, the earnest, the foretaste today of that future day and that future day will come as Jesus' people go out into the world to proclaim the cross and its transforming and life-giving power—God's new creation. That—at least in part—is why this was such a big issue for Paul.  It wasn't just that the cross is the most important thing ever; it's that the message of the cross as the most important thing ever and its power to transform the world is dependent on us living the life of the Spirit in faith and proclaiming to the world that the cross of Jesus is the most important thing ever.  Brothers and Sisters, if we let other things get in the way of that—the way these folks let their fear of the Jews and this irrelevant matter of circumcision take centre stage—if we do that, it undermines our very ability to be the people God has made us in Jesus and it undermines our gospel mission.  This is why those churches that capitulate to the culture around them always and inevitably become irrelevant, dwindle, and eventually die. This is why Paul is always taking his readers back to Jesus and the cross.  This is why we need always to be brought back to Jesus and the cross.  This is why our liturgy brings us back to Jesus and the cross.  This is why we celebrate and eat the Lord's Supper every Sunday.  Because Jesus and his cross are everything.  It's how the world is set to rights and how each of us is born anew.  New creation!  And yet somehow we forget.  And so we need Jesus and his cross always before us, because you just can't see Jesus and his cross and at the same time hold onto the things of the world that were crucified with him at the cross.  Years later Paul would write to the Ephesians: He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.  (Ephesians 2:15-16) What sets apart the Jew from the gentile and the gentile from the Jew no longer matters.  What matters is the cross, by which God has unleashed his mercy and grace into the world and through which he invites us all to share in his promise of forgiveness and of being set to rights and of living in his presence. Then he writes in verse 17: And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.   Paul closes with a very Jewish benediction for those who have been listening and who take all of this to heart.  Peace and mercy.  Hebrew blessings announced shalom and chesed.  One later synagogue benediction goes this way, “Bestow peace, happiness and blessing, grace and loving-kindness and mercy upon us and upon all Israel, your people.”  Paul's not-so-subtly saying, “If you want to be part of the people of Israel, if you want to know the Lord's blessings—his peace and mercy—keep your eyes on the cross of Jesus the Messiah.  It's not about circumcision or Sabbath or any of those other things.  By Jesus, his death and resurrection, God has created a new people for himself. Brothers and Sisters, keep Jesus and the cross before your eyes, at the centre of your faith, and let him be the hope you proclaim.  Nothing else ultimately matters.  Do not be distracted and do not be tempted to compromise the message.  Circumcision is no longer an issue for us, but there are plenty of others.  We're tempted to water down or to compromise the gospel in other ways.  Our culture likes to think that it's not what you believe that matters, but simply that you're sincere.  The gospel confronts that with the exclusivity of Jesus and reminds us that he is what matters.  Our culture tells us that we are what's important and that we are enough in and of ourselves, but the gospel confronts that and reminds us that nothing we can be or do is ever enough and it's Jesus who matters above all else.  Our culture calls us to invest in a million things, and the gospel confronts us with the fact that Jesus is what matters and that God has given our time and our talent and our treasure for his glory.  Our culture insists that we can do whatever we want, but the gospel confronts us with a call to holiness and purity, reminding us that in Jesus and the Spirit we are part of God's new creation.  And that may be the best way to look at all of this: new creation.  The gospel is God's promise to set this broken world to rights and by the gospel he makes us part of that new creation—and it's his new creation, it exists on his terms, he defines what is good and true and beautiful, not the world and not the people who stand opposed to Jesus and his cross and who sneer at the promises of the gospel. And that brings us to Paul's final note.  He writes: From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.   Let “no one”, not meaning the world, but these people who claim to belong to Jesus.  Paul knew that the world would be out to get him, because he would never compromise his proclamation of the good news of Jesus and the cross.  That was to be expected, because he knew he was challenging the systems and the values, the kings and the gods of the old world, and he knew they would fight back.  Paul was martyred some fifteen years later at Rome.  He knew first-hand the cost of discipleship and his body showed it.  Scars from stoning and beating and all the other abuse he took for the sake of the gospel.  He new the cost of discipleship.  He never compromised.  He knew that to domesticate the gospel to the culture was to lose its power to give life, was to strip it of it's promise of hope.  He never watered down the message, because he knew that above all things, what really matters, the one thing that is the only hope this world has, is the cross of Jesus the Messiah.  Brothers and Sisters, may the same always be true of us. Let's pray: Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy; and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall, keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

What if you could love as if you've been hurt before? What if God healed your heart completely from all your past hurt, disappointment and rejection? By Jesus' power, this is possible for you. Join Riley & Jack as they close the singleness series with a powerful discussion on forgiveness, sin and healing.  --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/a-little-more-courage1/support

The leprosy of Naaman gives God an occasion to demonstrate his power and love. By Jesus' wounds we have been healed.

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas' website.Mark 10:2-3, 10-12Jesus is quizzed. Where does he stand on the divorce issue?Mark indicates absolutely no exceptions!Don't read through filter of other passages (like 1 Cor or Matt). Mark was writing for a Roman audience. It is doubtful they had access to Matthew—if Matthew was even written yet—and the Jewish issues addressed in Matthew would not have been all that relevant to them.Matthew gives more information, alluding to the “any cause” divorces common in the 1st. Notice how Matthew differs from Mark 10:2-12: “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery” (Matt 19:9).See a parallel in Mark 8:11-12 / Matt 12:39, where Mark indicates to exception, but Matthew does.Just as Mark doesn't give the whole story, neither does Matthew. We need to get behind the scenes. It's easy to draw incorrect conclusions if we don't realize the nature of gospel writing—abbreviation, arrangement, simplification. It won't do to just quote a passage and claim the Bible "means what it says." Rather, we need to be careful interpreters.It turns out that what appears to be both simple and absolute (Jesus' words on divorce in Mark 10) turns out to be neither absolute—there are exceptions—nor as simple as we may have thought. Back in those days, there were no law firms such as Jensen Family Law, and that is why topics such as divorces resided in grey areas.Matt 19:3-11Here's the backstory Matthew leaves out—as it would have been of little benefit to his readership.House of Shammai (50 BC – AD 30)Limited grounds for divorce to the four in Deut 24 and Exod 21.“The indecency of the matter” (the wording in Deut 24) they took to mean sexual infidelity.Their influence was waning in Jesus' day, though divorce for broken marriage vows (once the infidelity was proven in court) was still practiced up to 70 AD (when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, along with its temple).By Jesus' day, no-fault divorce (“any cause”) was predominant. What's that?House of Hillel (110 BC – AD 10) – grandfather of Gamaliel, tutor of the apostle Paul.“Any cause” divorce. If your wife burned the dinner, or you no longer found her attractive, you can get a new one.This "no fault" divorce was often considered more righteous than Shammai's stricter ruling, since it brought less shame on the family.It was in the ascendant in Jesus' day. “Any cause” divorce was the new normal.Listen again to the question: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” Is the question about legality of divorce? Of course not, since divorce is lawful—it's in the Torah. Or is the question about “divorce… for any cause”? No quote marks in original ancient languages.NET: “For any cause.” NJKV: “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just any reason?” NASB: “for any reason at all.” NIV: “for any and every reason” (helpfully paraphrased) NLT: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” “Just any reason” shows better understanding of the ancient disagreement than does “for any cause.”Asked where he stands on divorce issue: Liberal, any-cause? or Conservative, grounds-required?Jesus agrees with Shammaites (divorce must have grounds) and repudiates Hillelites.Yet he goes farther, pleading for return to spirit of God's original plan.“Jesus used the same terminology as the Shammaites, in the same context, at the same period, and in a debate where Shammaites or their rivals the Hillelites were present. We may therefore confidently conclude that… when the Shammaites said ‘except… for a matter of indecency' in the context of this debate about ‘any matter' divorces, they meant that Deuteronomy 24:1 allows no type of divorce except that for indecency. They did not mean that Scripture allows no divorce except that for indecency—because they allowed other divorces on the grounds in Exodus 21.” (David Instone-Brewer)Also, in commenting on Deut 24, Jesus is not ruling out remarriage.He does not explicitly state that a person can remarry after divorcing someone for marital unfaithfulness. Perhaps this is because it was assumed.In 1st C Judaism, if a person divorced another person for any reason (Hillel) or only for cause (Shammai), they were allowed to remarry. Shammaites disagreed with Hillelites, but recognized their marriages as valid, even if lamentable.No 1st century Jewish group prohibited remarriage after divorce. In the Roman world, remarriage was mandatory after 18 months; not to remarry was to break the law. Thus it would be quite strange if Jesus and Paul taught against remarriage.Nor is Jesus explicitly ruling out other grounds for divorce.Keep in mind:The language of Matt 19 is compact and simplified: all grounds v. specific grounds. That is the debate—whether no-fault divorce is allowed, not whether divorce is allowed.Mark 10 and Luke (16:18) are even more compact—no exceptions at all. In the Roman (Mark) and Greek (Luke) worlds, divorce was separation. It was easy and it did not afford protection to the vulnerable. The Jewish world (Matthew) was different.The Bible is easily misunderstood if we fail to take into account the nature of biblical language, or if we don't read these texts with an understanding of the background situation.Does this make us uncomfortable: the claim we need history, geography, and language to understand the text?Goal: to understand issues like the original recipients of the Scriptures.There are significant gaps in our knowledge of ancient world. Are we surprised there are some things in the ancient world we don't understand?Similarly, there are gaps in the theology of the Bible.In Scripture we don't have a developed theology of the afterlife, or the communion meal, or how often Christians assembled. The Bible has nothing directly to say about marijuana.And there's no comprehensive doctrine of marriage, divorce, and remarriage—which means we have homework to do if we want to come to informed conclusions.ConclusionI'm not saying we can't understand scripture unless we are theologians, or must know the biblical languages, or that the scriptures are generally murky, or self-contradictory.Quite the contrary: We can understand them, some quite easily and quickly, but others only with serious spadework.

I was talking with a friend this week about how the most terrifying stage with kids is when they learn to say “no.” He followed that up by expressing how his kids would typically say “no” about either seemingly irrelevant things or just super dangerous things. When he would ask them, “Please do not walk into the street,” his toddler would respond with a resounding, “No,” and would then dive headfirst into traffic. We laughed, and then we cried because it was too true.    Unfortunately, for many of us, our desire to say “no” to authority does not go away after our toddler years. Most people, myself included, do not like submitting to authority. I believe that it is our inability to submit to an authority that actually has us worn down and tired all the time.    In Matthew 12:1-7, Jesus makes one of His most scandalous claims in all the scriptures. “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” This comes after the Pharisees rebuke his disciples for plucking heads of grain to eat on the Sabbath.    The Sabbath is a very important commandment and a commandment that God cares deeply about. By Jesus' day, the Pharisees had taken this commandment and added so many rules and regulations to it that it completely missed God's original intention for giving it. God's heart behind the Sabbath law was that of mercy, rest, and worship.   Jesus did not come to revert us back to a more original version of the Sabbath law, He came to bring a new Sabbath reality that all started on that Sunday morning when the stone was rolled away, and the tomb was found empty!    Because of the work of Jesus, we do not have to wait 6 days every week for the opportunity to enjoy God's Sabbath rest. As Christians filled with the Holy Spirit, we have access to Sabbath rest, all day, every day. However, our biggest roadblock to enjoying this rest is our own desire to control our lives. This week let us take Jesus' words seriously and acknowledge that He alone has authority over our lives, so we can rest, trusting that He is ultimately in control.

 Audio recordingSermon manuscript:Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” What is an abundant life? This is a big question. What is an abundant life immediately brings up other questions: What is life for? How should we live our lives? Big questions like these have been asked and answered in countless ways. Philosophy and religion are two enormous fields of study that work with questions like these. Countless lifetimes could be spent reading the books that have been written to answer the questions of what life is for, how we should live it, what is an abundant life? Jesus, though, seems to be quite certain despite all the books. You heard what he said: “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus knows what life is. He knows how it is to be had abundantly. He is talking about these things when he says, for example, in our reading: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep… if anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus says similar things elsewhere. He says, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst.” In that same place he also says, “My flesh is true food. My blood is true drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” Eating and drinking and living—this is to be had in Jesus. He says that he is the bread of life, he is the light of the world, he is the door, he is the resurrection and the life. Jesus doesn't mumble when he says these things. He says them very plainly and with authority. Although Jesus is very confident that he brings life, and even an abundant life, that doesn't mean that everybody is going to believe him. We know this, if nothing else, just by reading the Gospels. That time that I just mentioned—where Jesus talked about his flesh as true food and his blood as true drink—that didn't go over very well. Many thousands had been following him because he had fed 5,000 of them with bread, but when they heard Jesus say that he himself is the bread, that they should eat his flesh and drink his blood—all of a sudden they weren't so interested anymore. “This is a hard saying,” they said, “who can accept it?” The falling away was so bad that Jesus even asked his disciples, “Are you going to go away too?” To which Peter responded, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” We sing those words in the Alleluia before the Gospel reading. So Jesus is clear and assertive. In him is life and abundant life. There's your answer for what is the abundant life—it's in Jesus. But you should not expect that Jesus's words are going to be persuasive to everyone who hears them. Some are going to believe that Jesus is their Lord and the Christ—that in him is abundant life; some are not. Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.”  But even for those of us who hear his voice and want to follow him his words can be a little puzzling: “I am the door; I am the bread; I am the light”—what does stuff like that mean exactly? And when he says “I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly,” what does that mean? It's hard because we already have our own ideas about what an abundant life should look like. Maybe all I need to do to find out what you believe is an abundant life is to ask you: “What do you want?” I want to be popular. I want prestige. I want money. I want looks. I want never to get sick, never to grow old, never to die. I want to have the most and be the best—aren't these and similar thoughts what we can't help but think when we hear about abundant life? If that's what we think an abundant life is (and we probably do), then we can't help but wonder how we can use Jesus to accomplish these plans of ours. But then, what Jesus says, doesn't seem like it's going to work at all for getting what we want (“I am the door. I am the bread of life,”—how can these things help?) so our mental cogs kind of get jammed up. But there is an assumption here that we know what is good. We know what life is. We know how to have it abundantly. It's not very profound or subtle. We can easily sum it up by saying that whatever is good for me must be the abundant life. What Jesus has in mind is something different. We can see that in Jesus's cross. In a way the cross looks like it is the very opposite of life. Suffering. Death. Who wants that? Think of Jesus even. He doesn't seem to want it even. In his prayer in the garden he prayed that if it were possible that this cup would pass from him. Think about what actually happened though. By Jesus's death and resurrection a new life dawned. Death and decay were defeated—something utterly unheard of. More life than we have ever known or ever can know—an abundance of life—arose. Jesus fell into the earth like a grain of wheat and died, but then he sprang up and bears much fruit. Jesus's words, “I have come so that they may have life and have it abundantly,” are true, but we must learn almost a new vocabulary to understand what he means. He doesn't mean that we should have everything and that everybody else should have nothing. He doesn't mean that we should be the greatest and everybody else should be the least. Jesus turns these things on their heads. One time the disciples were arguing with one another over which of them was the greatest. Jesus said to them: “In this world the kings and great men lord it over other people. It is not to be so among you. Those who are to be great among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a slave. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? It's the one who sits at the table, not the one who is serving. But look at me! I am among you as one who serves.” Or take another saying of Jesus. He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Whenever you see or hear that word “blessed” in the Scriptures, you should think of the word “happy.” Everybody wants to be happy right? So how can you be happy? Jesus says you will be happier when you give than when you receive. This is not just money. It's also forgiveness, care, effort, and so on. You will be happier when you give than when you receive. Don't we all have a lot to learn with just that one simple statement? Jesus says this so it must be true. You'll be happier if you give than if you receive. That's a promise that Jesus give us. “Lord I believe, help Thou my unbelief!” And that's how it must go as we learn from the voice of the Good Shepherd what life and an abundant life is. It requires faith. Faith is required to believe that him being the bread of life, the door, the resurrection and the life, and so on is what we need the most. If we don't feel like we need him to be the bread, the door, and so on, that's because our feelings are wrong. Our desires are not directed towards life. What comes naturally to us is to live for ourselves and for what is best for us. We don't care too much about others so long as we have as much as we can get for ourselves. Christ and the way of life that Jesus brings about is very different from this. You can see this from our first two readings that we heard this morning. In our reading from Acts you heard about the Christian congregation that came about right after Pentecost. The members sold their property, held it in common, and gave to whomever was in need. They did this, not because they were forced to, but because they were free. They were set free from the compulsion to always get more and be the best. They learned that it made them happier to give than to receive. And notice how they received their food. It says they received simply their food “with glad and generous hearts.” They didn't need Cadillacs and Ferraris to give them a bump. They had joy at the humble dinner table. The Lord opens his hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing. And notice the advice that Peter gives in our second reading. He says, “This is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly.” It is good when you suffer unjustly, when you suffer patiently and with kindness. Whenever someone else is suffering unjustly we must immediately come to their aid. Love requires that we look out for our neighbor. But when it comes to us, it is a gracious thing if we endure sorrows even though we don't deserve it. This means that you don't have to get back at everyone who does you wrong. You can forgive them. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” So when Jesus talks the way that he does about life, and an abundant life, we should not have the expectation that we will immediately understand him perfectly. Our thoughts are not God's thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. What we think is good, especially what we think is good for ourselves, may very well not be good, because none of us are as loving as we should be. Jesus's understanding of an abundant life is full of love. It is full of God's love toward us. We, as a consequence of God's love toward us, are also to have love for one another. It can be scary, it can be painful, it can be hard for us to love, to forgive, to suffer unjustly. Therefore it is good for us to listen to the voice of our Good Shepherd. Jesus always speaks the truth. So if he says we will be happier if we give than if we receive, we should believe that. We should believe that even if our feelings tell us something totally different. I challenge you: Try it out. Try it out, with faith in our Good Shepherd's words. It is the way to have life, and to have it abundantly.

Today, you will hear the BEST THING ABOUT YOUR BODY that you probably have never thought of: Your body is transformable.  By Jesus' power, citizens of heaven will have their failed, decayed bodies TRANSFORMED to be like God's glorious body.  So this will be fit to function in a new heavenly world.You will also hear the BEST THING about your residence. Every single person that goes to heaven goes there on purpose.  God makes no mistakes.  Everybody there is a CITIZEN there.  Non-citizens go someplace else, away from Jesus, for He is residing IN HEAVEN too.Listen 7 minutes and get a TASTE for heaven.  You won't want to miss it. To that end, subscribe at bewithme.us or google podcasts to discover with me some more wonders  that He wants to tell us.

If you appreciate this work, consider supporting it - https://www.patreon.com/seekgodtogether Today we will read John 12:23-25 which says, “Jesus replied to them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.'” This is Holy Week which began with the Triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. Holy Monday commemorates the cursing of the fig tree, and the cleansing of the temple. Today is Holy Tuesday and observes Jesus predicting His own death. Christians vary in how specifically they celebrate Holy Week, but there is value in understanding the ancient traditions. And even now, in setting out to say something of value concerning Christ's work leading up to the cross, I personally want to clasp my hand over my mouth and say nothing for fear of getting it wrong. Like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips and we are looking upon the most holy things of God. And yet we've been invited to look on in worship at our incredible Savior. And so we'll venture in further. Jesus' had become infamous. And His entry into Jerusalem, especially around Passover, had created quite a stir. Some Greeks wanted to see Him. But when asked if they could, Jesus seems to answer a question no one asks and says, “The hour has come.” Jesus predicts His own death.  To illustrate His death, He appeals to the principle of sowing and reaping. By Jesus dying, He (like a seed) lays the groundwork for exponential returns. His death is not the end of the story but rather just the beginning. His eyes are on His impending death yes, but more so on the crop it will yield later.  And He includes us in on the picture. Often the passion of Jesus is seen as something He does alone. And that's true. But here Jesus sees an obvious if/then. Since He will die and produce a crop, in the same way, you and I will produce a crop leading to eternal life. But how? By hating our lives. This passage has often disturbed readers. And understandably so. Let's not attempt to soften the blow of His words. But let's also consider. Did Jesus hate His life? Did He want to lose it? No. He asked that the cup of suffering be taken from Him if possible. Jesus never had a death wish. But He passionately wanted to redeem people, and please God, and accomplish His task, and fulfill scripture, and reconcile all creation. You could say these far outweighed His all-too-human instinct for self-preservation. And in the same way, we are invited to participate. In the suffering, yes. But far more in the glory. Jesus - You amaze me at every turn. I've seen You suffer. And I've seen some of the return. I want to see more. And I hardly even know what I'm asking, but I want to play the role You have for me in it. 

In Acts 13, we get a glimpse of the missionary “tactics” of Paul and Barnabas. They go to the synagogue and preach the “word of the Lord.” By Jesus' death and resurrection in place of sinners, God provided salvation for anyone who will believe. Though some believe and some reject, God uses that message to produce growth. God grows the church as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all people.

Transcript:Hello, this is Pastor Don Willeman of Christ Redeemer Church. Welcome to The Kingdom Perspective.An argument could be made that the most critical quality of a truly Christian life is humility. Jesus said that the kingdom of God belonged only to those who were “poor in spirit.” The kingdom of God belongs to those that mourn over their sin. By Jesus's estimation, only the meek shall be able to inherit, and so, rule the earth.Humility is not some ancillary attribute for the Christian. It is not the icing on the cake, but the quality that characterizes every aspect of the “cake.” This is why you see the repeated commands to humble oneself.“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” (James 4:10)“Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another” (1 Peter 5:5)“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6-7)“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21)“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3)Why does God make such a big deal out of humility? The reason for this is simple:“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).In God's kingdom there is room for only one deity, and you are not Him.Something to think about from The Kingdom Perspective.1 Peter 5 (ESV)5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Scripture Reading: John 18:1-27 [originally the post read “John 18:1-40,” but we could not cover all the material] When he had said these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. There was an orchard there, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, knew the place too, because Jesus had met there many times with his disciples.) 3 So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. They came to the orchard with lanterns and torches and weapons.4 Then Jesus, because he knew everything that was going to happen to him, came and asked them, “Who are you looking for?” 5 They replied, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He told them, “I am he.” (Now Judas, the one who betrayed him, was standing there with them.) 6 So when Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they retreated and fell to the ground. 7 Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” And they said, “Jesus the Nazarene.” 8 Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these men go.” 9 He said this to fulfill the word he had spoken, “I have not lost a single one of those whom you gave me.”10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his right ear. (Now the slave's name was Malchus.) 11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”12 Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders arrested Jesus and tied him up. 13 They brought him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed them as they brought Jesus to Annas. (Now the other disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard.) 16 But Peter was left standing outside by the door. So the other disciple who was acquainted with the high priest came out and spoke to the slave girl who watched the door, and brought Peter inside. 17 The girl who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You're not one of this man's disciples too, are you?” He replied, “I am not.” 18 (Now the slaves and the guards were standing around a charcoal fire they had made, warming themselves because it was cold. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.)19 While this was happening, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20 Jesus replied, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret. 21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said.” 22 When Jesus had said this, one of the high priest's officers who stood nearby struck him on the face and said, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?” 23 Jesus replied, “If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?” 24 Then Annas sent him, still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.25 Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard warming himself. They said to him, “You aren't one of his disciples too, are you?” Peter denied it: “I am not!” 26 One of the high priest's slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him?” 27 Then Peter denied it again, and immediately a rooster crowed.28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor's residence. (Now it was very early morning.) They did not go into the governor's residence so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal. 29 So Pilate came outside to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” 30 They replied, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”31 Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!” The Jewish leaders replied, “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” 32 (This happened to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken when he indicated what kind of death he was going to die.)33 So Pilate went back into the governor's residence, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” 34 Jesus replied, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others told you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and your chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” 37 Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world—to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate asked, “What is truth?”When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders and announced, “I find no basis for an accusation against him. 39 But it is your custom that I release one prisoner for you at the Passover. So do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?” 40 Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.)Main ThemesThe Passion NarrativeChapter18 puts us squarely within the “passion narrative.” As one website summarizes:The term “passion narrative” is used primarily to refer to the accounts given in the canonical gospels of the suffering and death of Jesus. Generally, scholars treat the passion narratives as beginning with Jesus' agony and arrest in Gethsemane and concluding with his burial. The sections to which these narratives are typically assigned consist therefore of Matthew 26:30–27:66, Mark 14:26–15:47, Luke 22:39–23:56, and John 18:1–19:42.The passion narratives (plural, to refer to the different passion narratives in each gospel) are quite unique in their literary genre. The Gospels resemble the genre of ancient biographies. Ancient biographies ending with the subjects' deaths were not unusual, but they rarely ended with the subjects' martyrdom. If considered on their own (not within the larger context of each gospel), the passion narratives resemble martyr stories but even this comparison is not perfect. The shared elements with ancient martyrdom narratives include a righteous person's unjust death, betrayal, refusal to compromise, and sentencing. However, the passion narratives do not include other distinctive elements of martyr narratives, such as sensationalistic details, interpretive speeches, and vengeful threats. The passion narratives are also different from the typical Greek apotheosis stories. Jesus is not promoted into divinity (e.g., like when Hercules turns “shiny” in the animated Disney movie); Jesus returns to his preexistent glory with the Father. All this has led at least one scholar (Theissen) to claim that, “There is no analogy to the Passion narrative in all of ancient literature.” To whatever extent this is an overstatement, it is not far off the mark.The High Priest and the SanhedrinThe High PriestThe High Priesthood was a religious office instituted in the Old Testament by God (see, e.g., Exodus 28). By Jesus' day, the office was quite different. According to the Old Testament, the office was held for life and was hereditary. In the first century, the office was appointed and held at the pleasure of the emperor and his political delegates. Thus, Quirinius appointed Annas, Gratus appointed Caiaphas, and Vitellius retired Caiaphas. In the Old Testament, only one person was referred to as the High Priest. In the first century, the High Priest and his sons were commonly referred to as high priests. Finally, the High Priest was meant to hold an incredibly important religious role, which was a linchpin of the Israelite's religion. As such, we might expect the high priests in Jesus' day to be Pharisees, given their religious fanaticism. Surprisingly, however, the office was dominated by Sadducees.The SadduceesWho were the Sadducees? As one Christian website explains:The Sadducees were an aristocratic class connected with everything going on in the temple in Jerusalem. They tended to be wealthy and held powerful positions, including that of chief priests and high priest, and they held the majority of the 70 seats of the ruling council called the Sanhedrin.The Sadducees worked hard to keep the peace by agreeing with the decisions of Rome (Israel at the time was under Roman control), and they seemed to be more concerned with politics than religion. Because they were accommodating to Rome and were the wealthy upper class, they did not relate well to the common man, nor did the common man hold them in high opinion. The commoners related better to those who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. Though the Sadducees held the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin, history indicates that much of the time they had to go along with the ideas of the Pharisaic minority, because the Pharisees were more popular with the masses.Not all priests were Sadducees, but many of them were. The Sadducees preserved the authority of the written Word of God, especially the books of Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy). While they could be commended for this, they definitely were not perfect in their doctrinal views. The following is a brief list of Sadducean beliefs that contradict Scripture:1. The Sadducees were extremely self-sufficient to the point of denying God's involvement in everyday life.2. They denied any resurrection of the dead (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18–27; Acts 23:8). Due to this belief, the Sadducees strongly resisted the apostles' preaching that Jesus had risen from the dead.3. They denied the afterlife, holding that the soul perished at death and therefore denying any penalty or reward after the earthly life.4. They denied the existence of a spiritual world, i.e., angels and demons (Acts 23:8).Notice what an odd bunch the Sadducees were. They used the biblical tradition as a set of societal rules but denied the underlying spiritual realities. Without an after life, the resurrection of the dead, or even a spiritual world, the Old Testament is rendered nearly meaningless. Judgment, atonement, and the eschaton become, at most, symbolic. God, if real at all, ought to be followed to avoid his wrath, have a pleasant life, and a prosperous nation. When I think about it, the Sadducees don't sound that odd. In fact, they sound oddly familiar.Sadducees were rarely concerned with purity rules, particularly the extrabiblical ones followed by the Pharisees. They were much more concerned with politics. And these were the people that dominated the priesthood, the high priesthood, and Jerusalem's ruling council—the Sanhedrin.The SanhedrinThe Sanhedrin was a municipal aristocracy. Large cities in the ancient world often had their own senates or ruling councils. They would be comprised of the wealthy elite. In the case of the Sanhedrin, although a municipal group, its power influenced national affairs. Because the group was dominated by Sadducees, it was more of a political council with a religious veneer than a religious council with political power. Tradition indicates the group had 71 members, although this may have been more of an average rather than an exact number. Some or most of the members may have been appointed by the local rulers, such as Herod. Also according to tradition, the group met in the Chamber of Hewn Stone on the Temple Mount.The Romans were glad to interact with and delegate to local councils. The Roman justice system worked with a system of delatores instead of prosecutors. A local individual or group would accuse and then testify against an alleged criminal. Local councils could also issue sentences and administer punishments themselves, without involving the Romans. The Romans, however, reserved the power of capital punishment. Part of the reason for this limitation on local councils was to prevent them from executing fellow provincials for being pro-Roman.Betrayal and ArrestAfter Jesus concludes his speech (recall chapters 13 through 17), he goes out with his disciples to the Kidron Valley. This valley is east of Jerusalem and separates the Temple Mount from the Mount of Olives. A creek is found at the bottom of the valley, but it is dry much of the year. The valley runs all the way to the Dead Sea. The Old Testament refers to part of this valley as the "Valley of Josaphat." The location is relevant to some eschatological prophecies.Jesus reaches an orchard or garden, depending on the translation. At the time, gardens were often enclosed by walls, but that may not be in view here. The word orchard may be a better translation considering that the Gospel of Mark calls the place Gethsemane, which means “olive press.” So, Jesus probably reaches an olive orchard with an olive press as part of the agricultural unit.Judas knew this place because Jesus often met there with his disciples. Judas guides a “squad of soldiers” and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. The term translated as “squad of soldiers” is literally “cohort.” As translators' note 6 in the NET explains:Grk “a cohort.” The word σπεῖραν (speiran) is a technical term for a Roman cohort, normally a force of 600 men (one-tenth of a legion). It was under the command of a χιλίαρχος (chiliarchos, v. 12). Because of the improbability of an entire cohort being sent to arrest a single man, some have suggested that σπεῖραν here refers only to a maniple, a force of 200. But the use of the word here does not necessarily mean the entire cohort was present on this mission, but only that it was the cohort which performed the task (for example, saying the fire department put out the fire does not mean that every fireman belonging to the department was on the scene at the time). These Roman soldiers must have been ordered to accompany the servants of the chief priests and Pharisees by Pilate, since they would have been under the direct command of the Roman prefect or procurator. It is not difficult to understand why Pilate would have been willing to assist the Jewish authorities in such a way. With a huge crowd of pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Passover, the Romans would have been especially nervous about an uprising of some sort. No doubt the chief priests and Pharisees had informed Pilate that this man Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, or in the terms Pilate would understand, king of Israel.However, the matter is not quite as straightforward as the translators' note may lead us to believe. Although the term cohort is certainly a Roman one, such military terms had long been transferred to Jewish soldiers. It is more historically probable that the arrest did not involve Roman authorities, which have not been alerted yet in the story. Neither the Synoptics nor John's Gospel seem to involve the Romans at this point in the story.Notice that the soldiers come with lanterns and torches. Although this could simply imply it was dark, it may also suggest that the authorities expected Jesus to run and a chase to ensue. That did not occur. Jesus turns himself in since “he knew everything that was going to happen to him.”In the Synoptics, Judas identifies Jesus with a kiss. In the Gospel of John, the author omits that detail and jumps straight to the dialogue.I Am HeThe dialogue between Jesus and the arresting authorities has a seemingly strange moment. Jesus asks, “Who are you looking for?” They reply, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus responds, “I am he.” Upon saying this, “they retreated and fell to the ground.” Why? As translators' note 16 to the NET explains (quoted only in part):When Jesus said to those who came to arrest him “I am,” they retreated and fell to the ground. L. Morris says that “it is possible that those in front recoiled from Jesus' unexpected advance, so that they bumped those behind them, causing them to stumble and fall” (John [NICNT], 743-44). Perhaps this is what in fact happened on the scene, but the theological significance given to this event by the author implies that more is involved. The reaction on the part of those who came to arrest Jesus comes in response to his affirmation that he is indeed the one they are seeking, Jesus the Nazarene. But Jesus makes this affirmation of his identity using a formula which the reader has encountered before in the Fourth Gospel, e.g., 8:24, 28, 58. Jesus has applied to himself the divine Name of Exod 3:14, “I AM.”Jesus identifies himself with a formula that sounds like he is calling himself God. Everyone present certainly takes it as such and reacts to the deadly blasphemy. They drop to the ground almost as if to avoid the lightning that was sure to strike from the sky—so grievous was the offense.Peter's ResistanceThe Synoptics do not tell us who reacts violently during Jesus' arrest. The Gospel of John does: Peter. It even tells us the name of the victim, Malchus. Perhaps the earlier gospels omitted this information to protect Peter from arrest and prosecution. John, writing years later, can provide people's identities without problem.Peter's brave attack creates a striking backdrop against his impending abandonment of Jesus. As Craig Keener points out, “Loyalty with a weapon in one's hand and hope of messianic help is not the same as loyalty when self-defense is impossible . . . .”Why Peter harmed only Malchus' ear is unclear. The chances that Peter was confident and dexterous enough with a blade to do so on purpose are slim to none. Peter may have meant a much more serious wound to the face or neck, and Malchus may have partially moved out of the way.Jesus rebukes Peter and insist Jesus must “drink the cup” that the Father has given him. What is this “the cup?” The cup is a symbol of judgment often employed in the Old Testament. For example:May he rain down burning coals and brimstone on the wicked! A whirlwind is what they deserve. (In Hebrew, the literal text says, “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.”) Psalm 11:6You have made your people experience hard times; you have made us drink intoxicating wine. Psalm 60:3You will be shocked and amazed! You are totally blind! They are drunk, but not because of wine; they stagger, but not because of beer. For the Lord has poured out on you a strong urge to sleep deeply. He has shut your eyes (you prophets), and covered your heads (you seers). Isaiah 29:9-10Wake up! Wake up! Get up, O Jerusalem! You drank from the cup the Lord passed to you, which was full of his anger. You drained dry the goblet full of intoxicating wine. Isaiah 51:17Annas and CaiaphasAnnas and the Corrupt TrialUpon arrest, Jesus is first taken to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas “who was high priest that year.” Please recall the discussion of the high priesthood above. According to Jewish law, the high priest was to serve for life. Now that the Romans had conquered the Jews, the high priest could be changed at the whim of the Roman authorities. That was the case with Annas. He had been appointed high priest by the Romans and was later deposed by them. However, there are strong indications that Annas held on to the powerful office albeit unofficially. After Annas left office, all five of his sons followed in office. In all likelihood, Annas remained the powerful figure pulling the strings of his children. Also, Annas was probably still viewed by the people of Israel as the true high priest. John outright refers to him as the high priest while also acknowledging that technically Caiaphas was the high priest that year. All this explains why Jesus was first brought to him although officially Annas held no office.Beginning with Annas, the Jewish trial of Jesus shows evidence of corruption. For example, Pharisaic tradition prohibited a single individual from acting as judge. Perhaps Annas, who was a Sadducee and not a Pharisee, could be excused from such a requirement. There were other irregularities, however. To the extent that later rabbinic sources give us insight into Jewish first century practices, judges were meant to conduct capital trials during daylight (this may explain the brief meeting with Caiaphas early in the morning), trials should not occur on the eve of or during a Sabbath or festival (although emergency situations could justify doing so), Pharisaic tradition required a day to pass before issuing a verdict of condemnation (Sadducees may not have felt bound to this tradition), and the Sanhedrin was supposed to meet in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. Most importantly, Jewish law forbade false witnesses. The penalty for a false witness in a capital case was death. Although not found in John, the other gospels mention such false witnesses (e.g., Matthew 26:59).The original audience of John's Gospel would have picked up on the irregularities. Yet, they also would have never expected otherwise. The law in the first century unabashedly favored the wealthy and powerful. There was no expectation of fairness.Annas Questions JesusAnnas questions Jesus regarding his disciples and his teachings. Although the text does not say, we can make an educated guess that Annas probably focused on statements like Jesus' threat against the temple (“Jesus replied, ‘Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again.' Then the Jewish leaders said to him, ‘This temple has been under construction for 46 years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?'” John 2:19-20); Jesus' blasphemous claims (“‘The Father and I are one.' The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. Jesus said to them, ‘I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?' The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy because you, a man, are claiming to be God.'” John 10:30-33); and the violent or sacrilegious behavior of Jesus' disciples (“Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the high priest's slave, cutting off his right ear.” John 18:10).Jesus does not directly address the accusations. There might be a legal strategy at work. There is some indication (although from later sources), that a Jewish tribunal could not condemn a prisoner based solely on his own testimony in a capital case. Another possibility is that since Jesus had been confronted by the authorities in public and been vindicated in public (e.g., “The officers replied, ‘No one ever spoke like this man!'” John 7:46), this trial was inappropriate, in a similar way that we prohibit double jeopardy. Regardless of whether the author intends us to pick up on such legal tactics, Jesus certainly does not display the submissive behavior expected of him. Most prisoners brought before an aristocratic tribunal would have known to act self-effacingly and highly adulatory of the authorities.Jesus' response to Annas' questioning makes perfect sense. (“I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. They know what I said.” John 18:20-21) Whatever the accusations may be of him, why is an investigation required (i.e., a trial with testimony and evidence)? Jesus taught publicly. There is nothing to discover. Surely if Jesus said anything worthy of death in public, there would have been public opposition. Both Jews and Romans were highly suspicious of secret religious groups—a prejudice on which Annas' questioning is predicated. Jesus makes clear he is not part of a secret sect. Moreover, Jesus' response has an implied accusation. He taught in public. The religious elite, however, arrested him in secret.Annas strikes Jesus because of his disrespect. In Annas' mind, Jesus ought to beg not challenge. Striking the prisoner during questioning would have violated Jewish law, but as I discussed above, no ancient listener would be surprised by a member of the elite taking certain liberties. Jesus' response to the strike is another challenge. (“If I have said something wrong, confirm what is wrong. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me? John 18:23) If Annas has struck Jesus without reason, then the one who has broken the law is Annas while Jesus remains blameless.Caiaphas Takes Jesus to the RomansAnnas sends Jesus to Caiaphas. Caiaphas is the one to turn Jesus in to the Romans. There are a few reasons this was the case. Primarily, we must remember that Caiaphas was technically holding the office of high priest that year. Annas could pull the strings in the background, but Caiaphas' rubber stamp was still required. Also, and this is much more speculative, Jewish law may have required a daytime trial in a capital case. A brief, early morning hearing with Caiaphas may have technically fulfilled this requirement.Peter's DenialsPeter denies Jesus three times. The first denial is found in verses 15 through 18. An anonymous disciple introduces Peter into the high priest's household. The level of acquaintance between the unknown disciple and the high priest is not described. It could range from a person who regularly supplied the high priest's household (for example, of fish) and had therefore met his servants, to a person who was a true friend of someone in the high priest's household. One could speculate regarding the identity of this disciple, but there is no indication that he was even one of the twelve. The options are too many.In verse 17, the slave girl at the door asks, or perhaps the better word is accuses, “You're not one of this man's disciples too, are you?” Perhaps she remembered having seen Peter with Jesus. Maybe Peter's Galilean accent gave him away. Peter, now surrounded by the high priest's slaves and guards, responds, “I am not.” Given the value of honor towards one's teacher, Peter's behavior would have been seen as bringing shame not only upon himself but upon Jesus as well. Peter fails to do what Jesus requires, “The one who loves his life destroys it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards it for eternal life. If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow me, and where I am, my servant will be too. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.” John 12:25-26Peter's second and third denials are described in verses 25 through 27. In verse 25, “they” recognize him—probably servants of the high priest. Again we are not told how he is recognized. Peter emphatically denies being one of Jesus disciples, “I am not!” Finally, a relative of Malchus—the man Peter attacked and cut off his ear—recognizes Peter. Then the most damning accusation is made, “Did I not see you in the orchard with him?” Peter had attacked (with probable lethal intent) a servant of the arresting officials. If Peter were identified, he could have been properly sentenced. Peter denies Jesus one more time and the rooster crows.The rooster crowing marks the climax, though not the end, to Peter's story. The words of Jesus are fulfilled. Recall John 13:31-38:31 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him right away. 33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,' now I tell you the same.34 “I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.”36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.” 37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? I tell you the solemn truth, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times!Notice that Peter's denials are interspersed with Jesus' fearless responses to the high priest. This literary device creates a stark comparison between he who is willing to lay down his life and he who is not. Notice as well that Peter's later restoration (John 21:7-ff) provides hope for all those who have faltered.[The blog post section that follows was not covered during the session and was copied to the following session.]PilateThe Jewish authorities sentence Jesus. Jesus' apostles—most notably Peter—desert him. Then the time comes for the Romans to get involved.The first question we ought to ask is: why? Why must the Romans be involved at all? I have discussed this already, so I will be brief. The Romans depended on delatores—accusers—to bring criminals to justice. These accusers could be individuals or councils, such as the Sanhedrin. In particular, the Sanhedrin was composed of the aristocratic elite of the most important city in Israel. The Roman governor would certainly cooperate with such a group.The Jews deliver Jesus to Pilate “very early in the morning,” probably around 6 am. For Romans, “late morning” in the summer months was before 8 or 9 am. A Roman governor would probably end his public transactions around noon, leaving some time for leisure. In fact, Romans rarely slept in; doing so could carry the implication of drinking or partying the night before.When the Jews deliver Jesus, they avoid entering into the “governor's residence”—the praetorium. There is some debate whether the praetorium was Fortress Antonia, adjoining the temple courts, or the old palace of Herod the Great. The lavishness of Herod's old palace, which would have been preferred by a Roman governor, along with confirmation from other ancient writings seem to support the latter alternative. Either way, why did the Jews not enter the praetorium? Because houses of non-Jews were ritually impure and entering them would render a Jew impure as well, keeping him from fully participating in the Passover festivities. This concern for ritual purity serves as evidence of the aristocrats' hypocrisy: they spent the night ignoring the weightier matters of the law, such as justice and fairness, to then show concern for more superficial rituals. Recall Matthew 23:23-24:“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law—justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others. Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel!Notice Pilate's attitude. From Josephus' writings (an ancient Jewish historian) we know that originally Pilate was quite unsympathetic towards the Jewish customs. In John, we find a Pilate much more willing to avoid unnecessary friction. He comes out to meet the Jewish elite, accommodating of the fact that they could not enter the home. However, Pilate also shows some annoyance with the situation. He asks, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” The response is, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.” If we read between the lines, Pilate's question does not seem like an honest request for information. He seems to be aware of the accusation but remains unconvinced that this is a matter worthy of his involvement. The Jews insist they would not seek audience before Pilate if Jesus was not really a criminal.The Jewish elite finally speak truly when they say, “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” As I explained above, only the Roman governor could order a person killed—particularly by crucifixion. Notice, therefore, that the only way in which Jesus' words could be fulfilled (e.g., “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32) was if the Jews involved the Romans. This was expected, indeed planned, by Jesus.Roman citizens could not be legally crucified, but slaves and provincials could be, generally for rebellion against Rome.Pilate was known for his brutality. He had sometimes executed Jews without trial. The Jewish elite knew that if they wanted Jesus dead, they were asking the right guy. They may have expected no hearing at all, even if Roman law technically required one. But there were politics at play. An overly cruel governor could give rise to revolts by the provincials. In fact, later in his life, Pilate's excessive use of capital punishment cost him his office. We also have other reasons to believe that Pilate may have been trying to be more careful than usual. His patron, Sejanus, was executed in the year 31 AD. If the crucifixion happened in the year 33 AD, then Pilate found himself in a precarious situation with little political support. Even if the crucifixion happened in the year 30 AD (the other widely argued for date), Pilate may have already been feeling the mounting opposition to his patron. Pilate himself was only an equestrian, a class lower than senators. Finally, there is likely some personal animosity at work as well. Pilate had gained some political savvy by this point, but he probably strongly disliked the Jews. Pilate may have been fair to Jesus simply to spite the Jews.Pilate Questions JesusAccording to normal judicial procedure, the accuser spoke first. So, Pilate had to already be aware of the charge of treason when he begins Jesus' interrogation. The question Pilate asks is, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Ain't that the million dollar question! In classic Johannine fashion, this moment drips with irony. Pilate is probably employing sarcasm, perhaps even mockery. But the gospel audience understands that the question is serious—the most important question ever, in fact. Is Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, the High Priest, the King, God himself?Notice that Pilate's question is strange in one regard: so far no one has used his exact terminology. Jesus' detractors do not calling him king of the Jews. Jesus himself does not make the claim with those exact words. The title is not even a traditional Christian confession. Christians will call Jesus Messiah, Christ, Lord, or perhaps even King of Israel or King of Kings, but generally not King of the Jews. There is irony in the fact that a Gentile is one to speak with such insight, even if he spoke more than he knew.Jesus' reply plays on the irony of Pilate's question. Jesus retorts, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others told you about me?” Allow me to rephrase it as, “Oh, so you can tell? You figured it out on your own or someone told you?” Pilate's response makes perfect sense, “I am not a Jew, am I?” In other words, “How would I know? I am not a Jew.”If up to this point the conversation had a mocking tone, it becomes serious as Pilate asks, “Your own people and your chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?” This is a hefty question. Paraphrased, Pilate says, “Your people wish me to have you killed. Why?” There is also some legalese at play here. If a defendant failed to offer a defense, the judge would ask about the charge three times before convicting the defendant by default.Jesus explains that his kingdom is not of this world. He offers a simple proof. If his kingdom were of this world, his followers would be fighting to free Jesus; they would probably be fighting against Jews to establish Jesus as King and fighting against the Romans to liberate Israel. They are not. “As it is,” meaning, “look around, there is no fighting,” Jesus' kingdom is certainly not political. But Jesus does not deny the charge against him. Jesus affirms he has a kingdom: “my kingdom is not from here.” If Jesus were trying to win his trial, this was not a wise move.Pilate picks up on Jesus confession. “So you are a king!” To whatever extent Pilate is following standard trial procedure, notice that this is the third time the charge is brought up to the defendant. The defendant's lack of defense will result in a conviction by default. (Although, perhaps the conversation simply developed this way and the governor is not thinking in terms of legal procedure.) For the last time, Jesus fails to defend himself. “You say that I am a king.” This statement can be taken in a few different ways. Jesus may mean it as, “You say I am king because I am.” As an older commentary puts it, “Thou sayest; for I am a king.” Another alternative is that Jesus bypasses the title and instead affirms the substance of the accusation. Then we could rephrase Jesus response as follows: “Is King the proper title for someone like me? I came into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me. Does that make me king?” However we interpret Jesus' response, it is not a denial of the charge against him. Jesus may have sealed his fate.Pilate ends the conversation with another million dollar question, “What is truth?” The true tone and intent behind his questions is hard to discern. Maybe Pilate is mocking Jesus' and his commitment to truth. After all, Pilate lived a life of Roman politics and military prowess. Truth? Who cares. Power—that's what really matters. We can almost hear his argument: “Do you think a man is convicted because he is guilty? He is convicted because he is weak. Do you think the powerful escape justice because they are righteous? Don't be naïve! Do you think only the wicked are conquered and enslaved? We conquer devils and saints alike. Do you think the righteous rule the world? The strong rule over all. Do you think that kings speak only truth? If not, go ahead and disagree with them and see what happens. Do you think truth matters at all? Don't be a child.”Maybe Pilate means his question earnestly. The other gospels tell us that Pilate knew Jesus to be innocent. Moreover, Pilate's wife had received a vision confirming Jesus was blameless and should not be convicted.So after they had assembled, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you, Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Christ?” (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) As he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent a message to him: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man; I have suffered greatly as a result of a dream about him today.” Matthew 27:17-19We can imagine a corrupt ruler of a corrupt nation being asked by a corrupt ruling council to brutally crucify a man he knows to be innocent and asking himself: “What is truth? Is there anything worth fighting for? Anything worth sacrificing for? If so, what is that truth? Where does it come from?” These could be the questions of a wicked man who is beginning to see that what is right and wrong is not simply a matter of power.Pilate Attempts to Release JesusPilate finds no (legal) fault in Jesus and attempts to release him. Pilate follows a custom of releasing one prisoner during Passover (as scholars call it, the “paschal amnesty custom”). A Roman governor was free to issue amnesties. We have record of Romans sometimes releasing prisoner en masse on local feasts. During their own festivities, Romans usually delayed punishments. So, the custom described in John would not have seemed odd in the ancient world.Pilate gives the Jewish people a choice: Jesus or Barabbas? To Pilate's surprise, the people exclaim: “Barabbas!” There is irony upon irony here. Jesus was accused of being a revolutionary but found to be innocent. Barabbas was an actual revolutionary! Technically, the word used in verse 40 is “robber,” but that was a euphemism for revolutionary. As the NET's translators' note 118 explains:Or “robber.” It is possible that Barabbas was merely a robber or highwayman, but more likely, given the use of the term ληστής (lēstēs) in Josephus and other early sources, that he was a guerrilla warrior or revolutionary leader. Moreover, the Jewish leaders allegedly acted against Jesus to prevent a revolution that could destroy Israel. John 11:49-50:Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.”Yet, they requested the release of the very type of person who would bring demise to the nation just 40 years later.

Everyday we're planting seeds that grow up in our heart. Katy Berry plants God's Word, cuz that's where good fruit starts! In this episode, Jasmine learns how to receive healing by believing and speaking God's promise of healing, “By Jesus' stripes, I am healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 #kids, #storiesforkids, #biblestoriesforkids, #bedtimestoriesforkids, #seedtimeandharvest, #plantgoodseeds, #byJesusstripesIamhealed, #persistence, #choices, #whatwillyouchoose, #believeGodspromises, #believeGodsWord, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

Everyday we're planting seeds that grow up in our heart. Katy Berry plants God's Word, cuz that's where good fruit starts! In this episode, Jasmine learns how to receive healing by believing and speaking God's promise of healing, “By Jesus' stripes, I am healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 #kids, #storiesforkids, #biblestoriesforkids, #bedtimestoriesforkids, #seedtimeandharvest, #plantgoodseeds, #byJesusstripesIamhealed, #persistence, #choices, #whatwillyouchoose, #believeGodspromises, #believeGodsWord, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

By Jesus' stripes, we are healed. 1 Peter 2:24

Several weeks ago, as we were preparing for this sermon series, I got an email from Pastor Jonathan. He said that the goal for this sermon series was to preach the heart of the gospel, but to do so from passages of Scriptures that we hadn't really covered yet as a church.I instantly knew which passage I wanted to cover, it took me about 0.7 seconds to determine which passage I wanted to preach. However, I didn't know, or couldn't remember, if we had ever done the passage I wanted to do, so I ran to my laptop, pulled up the Cities website and looked it up. And to my joy, I discovered that we had not ever preached this text on a Sunday morning, which meant that I would get to preach from this text this morning. Legitimately, I was very excited.The reason why I'm so excited is because this verse summarizes a doctrine that I hold very dear. And that is the doctrine of the imputation of righteousness. If you're not familiar, the word “imputation” simply means “transfer.”So, when we're talking about imputation, we're talking about something being transferred. And when we talk about the imputation of righteousness, we're talking about righteousness being transferred from one person to the next—mainly from Jesus to us.The reason why I get so excited to preach this doctrine is because I am convinced that this doctrine will set your heart ablaze for Jesus.I am convinced that if you understand this doctrine, if you could wrap your minds around this truth, that it will cause your heart to erupt with joy and gratitude. I'm convinced of that.It was the re-discovery of this doctrine in the 16th century that sparked the Reformation. When Martin Luther and others got their minds around this doctrine, it transformed them, it set their hearts ablaze, and it sparked the Protestant Reformation, which transformed Europe and changed the world.And I am convinced that if you understand this doctrine, it will cause Reformation in your own heart as well. I'm not the only one convinced of this, here's a quote from John Piper… he says, “I have watched this doctrine [i]gnite both storms of controversy and great awakenings. So with a passion for reformation and revival, I long to see this precious truth… [the] imputed righteousness of Christ… defended, known, and embraced.” I agree with Piper. I long to see Reformation and revival in the hearts of God people… which is why I passionately embrace and defend the doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness. Let's pray and then we'll dive in.Father in heaven, you are so kind. You are merciful, and gracious, and slow to anger. You are rich in love. I praise you. Now I ask, God, that you would use the truths from your Word, this morning, to transform your people; Please mold us to be more like Jesus, I ask. And may this truth, this doctrine of imputation, may it set hearts ablaze this morning; would you be pleased to do that this morning I ask. Amen.I would like to start this morning by recounting somethings I said in a previous sermon, and I intend to even use a sermon illustration that I previously used. Listen, there's no laws against that, right? Haha! Here's the thing, the illustration just fits so well, I feel like I had to bring it back, but I'll give a condensed version. Okay, back in February, I was preaching from Galatians 3. Many of you were probably there. And in Galatians 3 Paul says that Abraham believed God and was counted as righteous. And he's quoting from Genesis 15. Paul is leveraging a moment in Genesis 15 to make his point.If you don't remember, in Genesis 15 God promises Abraham that he would have children. This seemed highly unlikely because of his wife's age. But Abraham took God at his word. Abraham believed God, Abraham chose to believe that God would do what he said he would do.And God responds by declaring Abraham righteous. God's like, “Abraham, since you trusted me, I spoke and you believed me, so I will now count you as righteous.” That's Genesis 15, and the apostle Paul is quoting from Genesis 15 in Galatians 3. There is this theme of righteousness. So, I covered that in a sermon back in February. Well, in that sermon I used an illustration where I talked about report cards.All of us have a spiritual report card. In the ledgers of heaven, we all have a report card. We have grades, there are records for how we live in this life. The bad news is that all of us, if we were to hold up our spiritual report cards, they would all be straight Fs.All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All of us fail to meet God's righteous expectations. If you were to have a report card to reflect your spiritual record, it would be straight Fs.Now, let's imagine Jesus has a report card too. He came to planet earth. He lived a perfect life. His report card would be straight A's right. But then Jesus makes an offer. He says, “If you believe in me, if you would put your trust in me, here's what I'll do, I'll swap with you.” Jesus says: “I'll take your report card and I'll put my name over top and I'll take my report card and I'll put your name over top and I'll swap them.”So, here you get a report card with straight A's and Jesus gets the report card with straight F's. And now you stand before God with a report card of straight A's and you inherit all the benefits of having straight A's, and Jesus is before the father, he has a report card of straight Fs and he is punished. In the 1500s Martin Luther called this the “wonderful exchange.”It is through this action of imputed righteousness that we are justified. When we talk about “Justification” or being “justified” that refers to the forgiveness of sins, or being declared not guilty, and having our record wiped clean. The way God justifies is by transferring his righteousness to us. In our natural state we are sinful, by nature and by choice. We have a record of sin. But God mercifully allows us to enter in the exchange, our record of unrighteousness is transferred to Jesus, and his record of righteousness is transferred to us. So now we have a record that is clean, pure, innocent.By undergoing the wonderful exchange, by being imputed with the righteousness of Christ, I am justified. My spiritual report card is straight As. Now that's a cool illustration, but I don't want to give you a cool illustration, I want you to see this doctrine in Scripture. We're going to look at some Old Testament passages and then we'll make our way back to 2 Corinthians.Rewind with me all the way back to Exodus 12. Leading up to this chapter, we've seen the first nine plagues in Egypt. Moses has made an appeal to Pharaoh to let God's people go. Pharaoh refuses. God has sent nine plagues. And they're about to experience the 10th plague. The 10th plague, as most of you know, this where the death angel is going to sweep through the land overnight and kill the first-born son of each family.But in Exodus 12, God tells each Jewish family to kill a lamb, a spotless lamb, a lamb without defect. They are to slaughter the lamb and then to take the blood of the lamb and put it on the doorframe overtop and on the doorposts. And when the death angel swept through the land, he would not enter any home covered by the blood, and that family would be spared—death would Passover them—this is the Passover. But any home that was not covered by the blood of a spotless lamb would suffer the consequence. Here we see blood being shed to cover God's people so that judgment would pass over them, so that they would not face the wrath of God.This, of course, foreshadows what's to come, many centuries down the road, when Jesus shows up on the scene and John the Baptist sees Jesus, and John the Baptist says to Jesus, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”Jesus is the lamb of God. He is the lamb that God has provided. He is the lamb without defect, without spot or blemish, and his blood was shed to cover us and protect us from the wrath of God.Okay, fast forward with me now to Leviticus 16. By this point, the Jews have been rescued from Egypt, a few years have passed, they're in the desert. The tabernacle has been built. The sacrificial system is being established. And in this chapter, in Leviticus 16, this chapter gives us details about an event that will take place once a year, an event known as Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement). This is the day where the High Priest would offer sacrifices for the sins of the people.This involved two goats. The sins of Israel is dealt with in two ways, which foreshadows how God intends to deal with us.The first goat would be killed, and its blood sprinkled on the altar in the Holy of Holies. Symbolically the guilt of the people of Israel was placed on that altar and the blood is being poured over the altar to cover their guilt.Then there's a second goat. And this is the first time we see a real hint, strong hint toward the idea of imputation. Leviticus 16 tells us that Aaron, the high priest, was to place his hands, on the goat's head. And then he would confess the sins of the people, he would confess the sins of the nation of Israel. And as he's confessing those sins, they would be transferred to the goat.All of the sins of the nation of Israel are placed onto this goat. And then this goat would be exiled into the wilderness, out into the darkness, banished far away, never to be brought back again. We see the idea of imputation here. Okay, fast forward 700 years, to the book of Isaiah 53. Isaiah echoes the language from Leviticus. In Isaiah 53, the prophet Isaiah, he's talking about Jesus, he calls him the Suffering Servant, he says that the Suffering Servant has “born our griefs and carried our sorrows.” And he says this, “he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace.”There was a chastisement that was on Jesus that led to our peace, specifically our peace with God. We were at odds with God, we did not have peace with God, we were hostile toward God. But Jesus made it possible for us to be at peace with God. To be on his ‘good side.' To be invited into his royal family.Later in Isaiah 53:11, it says this, “out of anguish of his soul. He shall see and be satisfied. But by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous.” Jesus, the righteous one, through his anguish he will make it possible for many to be accounted righteous. Then, in Isaiah 53:12, in the second half of verse 12, it says that this Suffering Servant, Jesus, will be “numbered with the transgressors.” He's going to be treated as if he's one of them, one of the sinners.Jesus, the righteous one, being treated as if he is unrighteous, so that we, who are unrighteous, might be treated as if we are righteous. He was counted as a transgressor, so that we could be counted righteous.All right, fast forward 200 years to the prophet Zachariah, turn to chapter 3. The prophet Zachariah has a vision of Joshua, the high priest, standing in the presence of God. He is standing in the presence of God wearing filthy rags. The language to describe these garments is the same language often used to describe excrement. So, the high priest is wearing excrement-stained garments, polar opposite of what he's supposed to be wearing. He was supposed to be wearing a very specific outfit, comprised of clean linens and particular garments, but here's wearing this filthy outfit.God could have condemned him right there, but God doesn't. God shows mercy. And in the vision God directs the angels to remove the soiled garments and then to give him “pure vestments.” By examining this vision, you see that these pure robes where in God's presence, they belonged to God, but God swaps with Joshua in this vision. There's an exchange that takes place. Joshua gets rid of this filthy robes and exchanges them for pure garments.The prophet Isaiah actually prophesized of this exchange, in Isaiah 61, he says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”Garments of salvation. Robes of righteousness.Okay, fast forward now to the New Testament. We go to Romans 3:21, in essence, Paul says that there is a “righteousness” that is now made available “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Then, in Romans chapter 4, he outlines how someone might receive this righteousness, and he does this in a familiar way. In Romans 4, Paul is making the same case that he made in Galatians 3. Remember, in Galatians 3 Paul was quoting from Genesis 15, well, he's doing the same thing in Romans 4.Here in the first few verses of Romans 4, Paul is explaining how someone is counted righteous, which is the same point he makes in Galatians 3. Paul makes it clear that Abraham was counted righteous by his belief, Abraham trusted God, and that was enough, God declared Abraham righteous. Abraham was COUNTED righteous.And then Paul takes it step further, he says that's not just for Abraham, but for us too. In Romans 4:23-24, the apostle Paul says, “the words ‘it was counted to him' were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him.”Paul making it clear, this is for us too. If we believe in God, the same way Abraham believed, then we will be counted righteous, just as Abraham was counted righteous.Okay, jump to Philippians 3. The apostle Paul says, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”Paul makes it clear, he has not acquired a “righteousness of his own.” He's not righteous by obeying the law or fulfilling the law, no, he says that his righteousness comes through faith in Christ. He alludes to this “righteousness” which is “from God.” This righteousness is not native to him. It's from outside of him. We call this an alien righteousness. It's from outside of Paul, from God, dependent upon his faith. God brings this righteousness to Paul. Paul receives it by faith. Paul is fully justified, the report card is clean.And that brings us, finally, to our primary text this morning: 2 Corinthians 5.I'll give you a little background of this letter. In the chapters and verses leading up to this chapter, the apostle Paul is, in essence, defending his apostleship. As we examine this letter, 2 Corinthians, we discover that some of the Corinthians had questioned Paul and dismissed him as a leader. Some, apparently, had even asked Paul for letters of recommendations from other Christian leaders.Absurd, right?This is ridiculous to me because their church wouldn't even exist if Paul hadn't started it. Most of them wouldn't be Christians if not for Paul's ministry. The fact that their church exists proves his apostleship.In the opening chapters of this letter, he's helping them to see that they are easily impressed by wealth and eloquence, and that this is actually a betrayal of Jesus. They've totally distorted their values, what they seemingly think is important actually is not important. Paul then makes clear to them that there are more important things to be concerns about than the things they've been concerned about, mainly the mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.Look at 2 Cor. 5:19, he says that “in Christ God [is] reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them…”Paul's like, you guys are squabbling about ridiculous things, questioning me, and being easily impressive by wealth and good public speakers. Paul's like, come on friends, don't ya know, there's people headed for hell, there are people far from God, they need to be reconciled, let's focus on the task at hand.Paul makes it clear that God is in the business of reconciling people, and Paul explains how God does this, by “not counting trespasses against them.” God made a way for your trespasses not to count against your record. God made a way for your trespasses not to show up on your report card. Paul then continues his appeal; look at verse 20: “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us…”God is making his appeal to the world through us, believers, we are the ones he has entrusted.There are people in this world whose trespasses, currently are counting against them… it's our job to go preach the good news; to spread the new that there's a way for our trespasses not to count against us.In Romans 10:3, the apostle Paul tells us that there's people ignorant of the “the righteousness of God” so it's our responsibility to tell them.God is making his appeal to people in your family through you. God is making his appeal to these Twin Cities through us. God is making his appeal to sinners through us, those who have been counted righteous.And then Paul reminds them of the heart of the gospel, look at verse 21:“For our sake he [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin [Jesus] so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”Jesus became sin.God hates sin. Jesus became the very thing that God hates. Now, Jesus' nature didn't change, he was still truly God and truly man, but in some sense, Jesus became sin. He was counted as if he was sin. Jesus was treated as if he was sin itself.Jesus became sin for us, Jesus, the man who knew no sin, the man who had never been acquainted with sin, he became sin. He was counted among the transgressors, so that we might become the “righteousness of God.”The “becoming” language is interesting, it's a similar sentiment that the apostle Paul expressed in Galatians 3 when he said Jesus “become a curse for us.”And there's also some parallel language here… in the same way that Jesus “became” something, we also “became” something. Jesus became sin! We became the righteousness of God.The apostle Peter says it this way, 1 Pt. 3:18: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” Christ died to bring us to God!“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”Two final notes and then one pastoral exhortation for you.First, it's important to mention that the imputation of righteousness, it's not progressive. You don't become more righteous over time. Once you believe, the moment you trust in Christ, you are declared righteous! The 19th century theologians AW Pink put it this way:“The justification of the Christian is complete the moment he truly believes in Christ, and hence there are no degrees… The Apostle Paul was as truly a justified man, [declared righteous] at the hour of his conversion as he was at the close of his life. The feeblest babe in Christ is just as completely justified as is the most mature saint.”The moment you believed in Jesus, you were fully justified, you were declared righteous, your sin was imputed to Christ, his righteousness was imputed to you!Second, this doctrine is essential and you cannot hear it enough times. It's not too often to even hear it daily. Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century Baptist preacher, was challenged on this. Apparently people were saying he talked about this doctrine too often, so he brought it up in a sermon and said this:“I think, dear friends, some of you will be saying, ‘There is that same old doctrine again that we are so continually hearing.' I make no excuse. The doctrine of justification by faith through the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ is very much to my ministry as what bread and salt are to the table. As often as I come to the table these things are needed. I regard this doctrine the same, one that must be preached continually, to mixed up with all our sermons. Indeed, it is impossible to bring it forward too often. My soul has been counted righteous. This soul-saving doctrine is the foundation of foundations—the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”Final thought. I don't know how many of you deal with this, but I often get down on myself. I feel guilty. When I sin or disappoint someone. Even if I make a mistake that isn't sinful, I still feel this, I get down on myself. I have a tendency to really beat myself up, to feel unworthy or dirty before the Lord.In that moment, that's the moment to remind ourselves of this truth. In just a moment, during communion, we're going to sing “Before the Throne of God Above.” Here's a few of the lyrics.When Satan tempts me to despair,And tells me of the guilt within,upward I look, and see Him there,Who made an end to all my sin.Because the sinless Savior died,My sinful soul is counted free,For God the just is satisfied,To look on Him and pardon me,To look on Him and pardon me.God was satisfied to look on Jesus, to view him as if he was sin, and to allow his sacrifice to be enough.Cities Church, the sinless savior died, now your sinful soul is counted free. You are free from the punishment of your sin that you so richly deserved. He took on your sin, and now you are counted free.Jesus knew no sin, but became sin, so that we might become righteous.And Jesus settled this at the cross. There ain't nothin' you can do about it, you cannot undo it. It's done. For you. By Jesus.You have been justified. Jesus became sin for you, so that you might become the righteousness of God. Church, that is a reason to celebrate! And that's why we come to the table each and every week, to celebrate what Christ has done.

We're talking about unconditional love; how to recognize it; how to give it; how to receive it; and most importantly, how to give it to OURSELVES.Today's episode is the last part of our ongoing conversation about obstacles that impede our spiritual journey. Don't panic if you've jumped into the series here. There is no right or wrong at Curious Cat! Why is this a key to your spiritual pursuit? Put simply, you are loved unconditionally. By the Universe. By Jesus. By Buddha. By God. By the God that dwells inside of you! If you bar that love from flowing through you and back to others, then you are blocked from all things spiritual.The episode ends with a simple, but powerful exercise, which allows you to send love back to your younger self in a moment when you hurt, felt alone, and needed a hug. Show Creator Links:Curious Cat on TwitterCurious Cat on InstagramHost, Jennifer Hotes, on TwitterArt Director – Nora HotesLink to audio engineer—Aidan ConnersMaterials and Resources:How to Change Your Inner VoiceIf You Think Love Is Always Uncontrollable, You Don't Understand Love article

Believers Voice of Victory Video Broadcast for Thursday 5/5/2022. By Jesus' stripes you were healed, and you are healed now! Watch Believer's Voice of Victory as Kenneth Copeland reveals the mighty force of the prayer of faith for healing. God's good grace has already given you your healing, but your faith is what takes it!

The Choice is Yours Luke 23:39-43As we reflect on the great sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, most of us know the conversation that occurred between the two thieves that were on either side of Jesus.Both men were convicted criminals who were punished for their crimes. One of the thieves says to Jesus, “If you are Christ (the anointed Messiah) then save yourself and us.”  The other thief rebukes him and says “Don't you fear God? We deserve to die for what we have done, but this Man has done nothing wrong!” That thief addresses Jesus and says, “Jesus, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.” Jesus replies, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”The one thief asked Jesus to remember him. By Jesus' statement, the thief was saved from that point on and went to Paradise/heaven when he physically died. That thief  had enough faith to ask Jesus to remember him as he was dying and in his last moments before death. The other thief had the same opportunity after mocking Jesus and being rebuked by the saved thief, but chose not to reconsider and ask Jesus to remember him as well. Two men, with the same opportunity, make different choices. You may think that if you live a good life, unlike these thieves, you will go to heaven when you physically die. The Bible says that “all  have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” or have fallen short of God's standard. The only one who was sinless and met the standard was Jesus. We can never meet God's standard even if we think we are good people. The Word of God says,  “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” (James 4:17) The Bible also says that hating your brother/sister is like murder (I John 3:15) and “whatever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). What about things that are in your heart but you don't act on them? Jesus Christ said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery;' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matthew 5:27)The point is, whether you think you have lived a good life or deserve punishment like the thieves, you have a choice to make to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior or to reject Him. If you were born into this world you are automatically a sinner no matter how good or bad your behavior is. When you receive Jesus, you are reborn in your spirit-being and God sees you through the blood of Jesus which has cleansed you of all sin. In God's eyes you have met the standard because of Jesus. Does this mean you will never sin again? No, your spirit is reborn in Christ and God sees you righteous (in right standing with God) but you still have a body with fleshly desires, a soul with a mind, will, and emotions that need renewing by the Word of God each day. (Romans 12:2)  Once you have received Jesus, as long as you are not on your deathbed, you have a great earthly journey ahead of you. You are a baby Christian who has an exciting life ahead to grow each day and become stronger in your faith. God has a promise “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29: 11) If you haven't made that decision yet, don't wait until you are physically dying, today is the day of salvation. (Hebrews 3:13; John 3:16)Read the rest at https://litwithprayer.substack.com/p/the-choice-is-yours

Day 76 Today's Reading: John 8 In Christian Letters to a Post-Christian World, renowned English writer, Dorothy Sayers, aimed some powerful words at religious people who have watered down the Son of God and made Jesus accommodating: The people who hanged Christ never accused Him of being a bore; on the contrary, they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with the atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him “meek and mild,” and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. As we have seen throughout our 260 Journey so far, Jesus is anything but those things. Four times in today's reading, Jesus refers to Himself by using a common Old Testament title used only for God: I AM (see verses 12, 24, 28, and 58). That's why this chapter opens with the religious wanting to stone a woman caught in adultery and end with them wanting to stone Jesus. Look at the ending of the chapter with me: The Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:57-59) By Jesus using that phrase for Himself, He clearly meant for them to understand that He was saying that He was God. And the religious were not having it—thus the stones. They needed the stones to “declaw” the Lion of Judah and make Him a manageable kitty cat, as Sayers said. Consider this revelation U2's lead singer Bono offered: “Religion can be the enemy of God. It's often what happens when God . . . has left the building.” Or to say it another way . . . religion is what is left when God leaves the room. That is the truth! Many years ago, a woman entered a Häagen-Dazs store in Kansas City to buy an ice-cream cone. After she'd ordered she turned and found herself staring directly into the face of Paul Newman, the famous actor who was in town filming Mr. & Mrs. Bridge. He smiled and said hello. His blue eyes were even bluer in person, which made her knees buckle. She finished paying and quickly walked out of the store. When she'd regained her composure, however, she realized she didn't have her cone, so she turned to go back in and met Newman who was coming out. “Are you looking for your ice cream?” he asked her. Unable to utter a word, she simply nodded. “You put it in your purse with your change.” When was the last time the presence of God made you forget what was going on around you? Made you forget the dishes? Made you forget the ballgame? Made you forget the bank account? Made you forget . . . where you put your ice cream cone? Christian writer Donald McCullough writes on how cavalier we treat the privilege of standing in God's presence Sunday after Sunday: “Reverence and awe have often been replaced by the yawn of familiarity. The consuming fire has been domesticated into a candle flame, adding a bit of religious atmosphere, perhaps, but no heat, no blinding light, no power for purification.” Author Annie Dillard echoes the sentiment: Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should latch us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us out to where we can nev

If you appreciate this work, consider supporting it - https://www.patreon.com/seekgodtogether Today we will read John 12:23-25 which says, “Jesus replied to them, ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I assure you: Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop. The one who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.'” This is Holy Week which began with the Triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. Holy Monday commemorates the cursing of the fig tree, and the cleansing of the temple. Today is Holy Tuesday and observes Jesus predicting His own death. Christians vary in how specifically they celebrate Holy Week, but there is value in understanding the ancient traditions. And even now, in setting out to say something of value concerning Christ's work leading up to the cross, I personally want to clasp my hand over my mouth and say nothing for fear of getting it wrong. Like Isaiah, I am a man of unclean lips and we are looking upon the most holy things of God. And yet we've been invited to look on in worship at our incredible Savior. And so we'll venture in further. Jesus' had become infamous. And His entry into Jerusalem, especially around Passover, had created quite a stir. Some Greeks wanted to see Him. But when asked if they could, Jesus seems to answer a question no one asks and says, “The hour has come.” Jesus predicts His own death. To illustrate His death, He appeals to the principle of sowing and reaping. By Jesus dying, He (like a seed) lays the groundwork for exponential returns. His death is not the end of the story but rather just the beginning. His eyes are on His impending death yes, but more so on the crop it will yield later. And He includes us in on the picture. Often the passion of Jesus is seen as something He does alone. And that's true. But here Jesus sees an obvious if/then. Since He will die and produce a crop, in the same way, you and I will produce a crop leading to eternal life. But how? By hating our lives. This passage has often disturbed readers. And understandably so. Let's not attempt to soften the blow of His words. But let's also consider. Did Jesus hate His life? Did He want to lose it? No. He asked that the cup of suffering be taken from Him if possible. Jesus never had a death wish. But He passionately wanted to redeem people, and please God, and accomplish His task, and fulfill scripture, and reconcile all creation. You could say these far outweighed His all-too-human instinct for self-preservation. And in the same way, we are invited to participate. In the suffering, yes. But far more in the glory. Jesus - You amaze me at every turn. I've seen You suffer. And I've seen some of the return. I want to see more. And I hardly even know what I'm asking, but I want to play the role You have for me in it. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Sunday was message 2 in a new series Vision Month @ JCI. The message is called “Glory Story”. Vision Month is to remind us of who we’ve been called to be IN Jesus and what we’ve been called to do BY Jesus.