The King & His Kingdom: #95 - Warning For What's Ahead | Matthew 20:17-19

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Almighty God, you welcome you. [00:00:06] Speaker B: Hey there. If you're new to Restored Church, we want to welcome you and thank you for tuning in. You're listening to a portion of our Sunday worship gathering. We believe the church is not an event, but a family you belong to, so we would love the opportunity to connect with you. If you want to learn more about our church or if we can help you in any way, please Visit our website, www.restoredtemecula.church and click on Contact. With all that said, we can. We hope you enjoy the message. [00:00:35] Speaker A: A couple years ago, [00:00:39] Speaker C: some of you, actually, a lot of you will know this, but a couple years ago, I [00:00:44] Speaker A: got to witness one of the coolest [00:00:46] Speaker C: things I've ever seen in my life. [00:00:48] Speaker A: My wife, she. [00:00:51] Speaker C: Since she was little, she's had really, really poor eyesight. And a couple years ago, because of the generosity of some wonderful people and just God's provision and different things, different things. [00:01:02] Speaker A: She was able to get Lasik eye surgery, which for her, like, that might. Oh, that's cool. No, no, no, no. Like, I watched a doctor perform, like, a surgery on her, and, like, right afterwards, she could see clearly without, like, her glasses. It was spectacular. And it's interesting. [00:01:21] Speaker C: I was just here praying and Micah's [00:01:24] Speaker A: praying for me, and I don't know, I've just. I'm feeling some things for us this morning specifically that I can't fully. I don't know, I'm just. I'm sensing things. I'm like, lord, what do you want to do? I think you might want me to call some audibles. [00:01:35] Speaker C: We'll see. [00:01:37] Speaker A: But the sense that I got, he [00:01:38] Speaker C: brought that picture to my mind just now, and I really believe that there's some of us in the room. I think God wants to perform some surgery on the eyes, your spiritual eyes, [00:01:51] Speaker A: and really help you see Jesus clearly this morning. [00:01:56] Speaker C: Because I think there might be some areas where he's been kind of fuzzy for you, and maybe even in some vulnerable spaces, in some spaces that aren't so much fun to talk about, maybe there's some pains and some wounds associated in today's passage. We're going to look at. [00:02:15] Speaker A: We're going to look at some painful things for Jesus. [00:02:17] Speaker C: We're going to look at some wounds, if you will, literal wounds of Jesus, [00:02:23] Speaker A: both physically, emotionally, even spiritually. And I just. [00:02:29] Speaker C: I don't want to get weird, but I just get the sense that God wants to meet with some of us in some really, really personal ways this morning to help you see the glory and the beauty and the love of God maybe clearer than you ever have. All right, so if you have a [00:02:46] Speaker A: Bible, go ahead and grab it. [00:02:47] Speaker C: We're going to be in Matthew chapter 20 this morning. [00:02:50] Speaker A: We are continuing on in our series, the King and His Kingdom. We'll be going through Matthew's gospel, his account of the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the ministry of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus. It's all about Jesus. And we've been looking at Matthew's Gospel through the lens of. We want to learn as much as we can about the title of the [00:03:10] Speaker C: series, the King Jesus and His Kingdom. [00:03:14] Speaker A: We're going to learn about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. [00:03:16] Speaker C: Those. Those phrases are used interchangeably when I [00:03:21] Speaker A: talk about the kingdom. When the Bible talks about the kingdom [00:03:23] Speaker C: of heaven, the kingdom of God, it's [00:03:24] Speaker A: talking about the rule and the reign of Jesus. What does it look like when God gets his way? The Lord's Prayer, let your will be done on earth. Right? It's that idea of God getting his way, his will being realized on the earth. He's ruling and he's reigning. [00:03:40] Speaker C: And the earth is filled with all [00:03:42] Speaker A: sorts of opinions and battling wills. We want to explore what does it [00:03:49] Speaker C: look like when God's will is done, when his rule and reign occurs, when he gets his way. [00:03:54] Speaker A: So when we talk about the kingdom, that's what we're talking about. It's not just like a place you go to after you die, the Kingdom [00:03:58] Speaker C: of heaven, the kingdom of God. [00:04:00] Speaker A: It's a place that God invites us to experience here and now, partly in [00:04:04] Speaker C: the present and fully in the future when Jesus returns. And so we've been exploring Matthew's gospel for a long time now, actually. But I think that this morning there's something really unique and special for us. And so you can go ahead and flip over Matthew chapter 20. [00:04:18] Speaker A: We're going to start in verse 17, [00:04:22] Speaker C: three verses for you this morning. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Pretty short, but even though there's only [00:04:26] Speaker C: three verses, there is so much gold here for us. And so what I want to do is I just want to pray for us, for our time, before we read God's Word together. So I invite you to join me. Pray together. God, you are so trustworthy. Like we can trust you. And I thank you for the lengths that you've gone to to reveal what you're really like. I know that there's all sorts of things that happen on the earth, things that happen in our own lives that have a way of distorting what you're like, and I think your enemy and our enemy works overtime taking advantage of those types of things to distort what you're like. But I pray right now in the name of Jesus for clear eyes. I pray that you would help each one of us see and experience more of your glory, more of your beauty, more of your goodness, more of your grace, more of your kindness, more of your mercy to us this morning. And I just confess, apart from you, I can do nothing. And so would you, in your grace and in your mercy, reveal the glory and beauty of Jesus to us through your word. Use me. I pray I belong to you, Jesus. Encourage us. Show us the way. Guide us, shepherd us. Lead us. Be our king. We pray in your name, Jesus. We all said together. Amen. All right, so I'm going to read this to you. [00:06:19] Speaker A: If you're not in the Christian standard [00:06:20] Speaker C: Bible, the words will be up there for you. You can follow along there. That's just the translation that I use on Sundays. [00:06:25] Speaker A: But as I read this, I kind of want to invite you to picture the scene like a movie in your mind. [00:06:31] Speaker C: All right. [00:06:32] Speaker A: Try to put your like. [00:06:33] Speaker C: Watch it if you can. Let's read it together. Verse 17. [00:06:37] Speaker A: While going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the 12 disciples aside privately and said to them on the way, see, we [00:06:47] Speaker C: are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of man, that's Jesus, will [00:06:52] Speaker A: be handed over to the chief priests [00:06:54] Speaker C: and scribes, and they will condemn him to death. [00:06:59] Speaker A: They will hand him over to the [00:07:01] Speaker C: Gentiles, the non Jews, to be mocked, flogged and crucified. And on the third day, he will be raised. That's our passage. So I want you to get the picture. [00:07:16] Speaker A: Jesus and a rather large group of people are making their way to the city of Jerusalem. [00:07:22] Speaker C: Okay, they're traveling. Okay, they're traveling by foot. [00:07:25] Speaker A: They're making their way. And on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus, he kind of pauses, takes just his 12 aside privately. And what's he do? He explains to these guys in detail [00:07:39] Speaker C: what's about to happen to him. [00:07:42] Speaker A: Now, if you've been journeying with us or you've ever read through Matthew's Gospel, you know, this isn't the first time in Matthew's Gospel that Jesus has done something like this. This is actually the third time in Matthew's Gospel. He does something similar to this in Matthew, chapter 16, verse 21. And then he does something similar to this again in Matthew, chapter 17, verses 22 through 23. So what he does is he pulls his disciples aside and he begins to explain to them how he's going to suffer. And if. I mean, let's just go through this really quick. Let's do a little Bible study. He says that he's going to be handed over. Now, the Bible. There's brilliant Bible scholars that have spent their whole time studying the original languages that the Scriptures were penned in, and they do their best to translate that. In this case in the New Testament, it was originally written in Greek. [00:08:33] Speaker C: You know this. [00:08:34] Speaker A: And they do their best to translate that original Greek language, in our case, into English. And that's why you have a plethora of different Bible translations. But where it says hand it over, that can also be translated as betrayed. You see, for Jesus to be handed over, it would require a significant amount of disloyalty from his closest friends. So I just. I don't want to, like, gloss over. I want us to really, kind of, with a microscope, really hone in on what's happening here. What Jesus is saying for him to be handed over would require, like I said, intense disloyalty from his closest friends. Being handed over by, like, a complete stranger is very different than you being handed over by the people closest to you. Handed over to the people who want to do you harm. Hand it over to the people who have something against you. Hand it over to the people that you know it would be dangerous for you to be handed over to. [00:09:34] Speaker C: Like, think about this for a second. [00:09:38] Speaker A: So there's deep and profound betrayal that [00:09:41] Speaker C: Jesus is explaining about here. [00:09:44] Speaker A: And it's interesting, the last several weeks, this word keeps coming up in the sermons. And I felt like this morning God [00:09:51] Speaker C: was like, there's something here. [00:09:52] Speaker A: This word betrayal. [00:09:56] Speaker C: Man, oh, man, I can't shake it. [00:10:00] Speaker A: I feel like some of you, I [00:10:02] Speaker C: feel like God wants to meet you [00:10:04] Speaker A: in this space of like, you've tasted what it feels like to be betrayed and it's fresh for you. Or dare I say, I don't know the future. [00:10:14] Speaker C: Okay, I'm not trying to be all [00:10:15] Speaker A: crazy here, but dare I say something like, that might be coming for you. [00:10:18] Speaker C: And I think that God in his [00:10:20] Speaker A: kind, we're gonna get to this in a second. [00:10:21] Speaker C: I think he wants to give you a heads up because he wants to meet you in that space because he cares. I don't say that to freak you out. I say that because I think God's in this for you. I remember sitting with a man, maybe one of the most difficult pastoral moments in my life, of doing my best to walk with someone through their feeling of intense betrayal. I sat with a man who had just realized his wife had been unfaithful to him. This was several years back. And I just. [00:11:09] Speaker A: He cried differently. Like there was just a different, like, like it was just. [00:11:16] Speaker C: It was so intense. [00:11:19] Speaker A: I think that that sting of betrayal, [00:11:21] Speaker C: it's a unique wound. Jesus was handed over, he was betrayed. [00:11:32] Speaker A: And it also says here, I don't know if you caught it, but it says that he's going to be condemned to death. So he tells his disciples, he's going to be handed over, he's going to be betrayed. And he goes, I'm also going to be condemned to death. Now here's the crazy thing about this. That word condemned, like Jesus was sinless. That's a core belief that we have as Christians, as Bible believing Christians. We say like, no, Jesus was sinless. He wasn't just a good teacher. He wasn't just like a rabbi. He wasn't just like this inspiring person. [00:12:00] Speaker C: No, no, no. [00:12:00] Speaker A: He was a. He was the God man. He was God put on flesh. Fully God, yet fully man. He took on human limitations and in the process of his life and his ministry, his time on earth, his incarnation, that he was perfectly sinless. So get this. How does a sinless man get condemned to death? Like, how does an innocent and sinless man get condemned to death? He was sinless. But for an innocent and sinless man to be condemned to death, that would [00:12:30] Speaker C: require some pretty unjust things. And if you know the story of [00:12:38] Speaker A: Jesus, you know his trial, you remember his trial. Like he gets basically, the Jewish leaders at the time, they basically put together this illegal trial. How they did it was illegal. And when they did it was illegal against their own laws, against their own customs. So he experiences this illegal trial, and at that trial, he's then condemned to death. And his death sentence for a sinless man is completely undressed. He's getting a punishment he doesn't deserve. And the way that that punishment is getting carried out is completely unjust. So no matter how you look at it, no matter how you shake it, the God man, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Jesus, him being condemned to death in and of itself is radically unjust on every front. [00:13:23] Speaker C: Can I get an amen? You with me in this? He received a punishment he didn't deserve. [00:13:30] Speaker A: I remember I was praying through this [00:13:32] Speaker C: and I was like, I felt like God brought something. I have a little bit of shame. I'm gonna confess something to you. I have a little bit of shame about this still. It's been a long time. [00:13:40] Speaker A: I think I was 10 years old and God brought this to mind as [00:13:44] Speaker C: I was preparing this sermon. [00:13:46] Speaker A: When I was 10 years old, there [00:13:47] Speaker C: was [00:13:50] Speaker A: a family that was like friends of our family. [00:13:53] Speaker C: And they would watch my brother and I sometimes. [00:13:56] Speaker A: And they had two kids, one of their children, their son. I can remember, I'm 10 years old and I remember we're at their house, we're being kind of babysat, washed by them. And the mom confronts the son and he's younger than me. [00:14:10] Speaker C: I don't remember how old he was [00:14:11] Speaker A: at the time, but I'm 10 years old. Mom confronts the son because one of the toys in the playroom had been kinda like, kinda like broken and messed up. And I don't know what the backstory is, but she confronts him and she's like, did you do this? And he's like, no, I didn't do this. No, I didn't do. She's like, you could tell mom didn't believe her or him. And so she's kind of like, tell me the truth, you know, don't lie. [00:14:34] Speaker C: Did you do this? [00:14:35] Speaker A: Did you break this? And he's like, no, I didn't break this. And here's the thing, I knew he didn't break it. You guys are judging me right now. You are judging me. In my moment of vulnerability. I knew he didn't break it. [00:14:52] Speaker C: Cause I broke it. [00:14:56] Speaker A: And his mom's interrogating him and I'm [00:14:59] Speaker C: just like, do I say something? And I never said a word. [00:15:09] Speaker A: He got punished. [00:15:12] Speaker C: Isn't that gross? [00:15:14] Speaker A: Like I said, I still feel it. I'm like 10 year old Tom with the shame, like, ugh. He got a punishment he didn't deserve. It was totally unjust. Jesus, infinitely more like the sinless one, was condemned to death. Now I'm not sure that there's anything more unjust in the history of the [00:15:36] Speaker C: world than that [00:15:40] Speaker A: condemned to death. Now this didn't just mean injustice. It certainly did. We talked about that. But it also meant something else. Him being condemned to death also meant like rejection. Think about it for a second. Jesus, he's the Messiah, right? He's the promised Savior. His mission, his assignment from the Father, the Trinity, right? The triune God of the universe, Father, Son, Spirit, Their plan to redeem the world, Their plan to save sinners, to reconcile mankind back to God forever to is through the ministry, the life, the death, the resurrection of Jesus, right? He's the Messiah, he's the Savior. He's the promised one they've been waiting for. So Jesus, the Savior, he's come and he has A purpose. He wants to save these people from sin, from Satan, from death, from hell. And it's these people that he's coming to save from those things. It's these people for whom he was condemned to death by. It's like, think about it. The lifeguard wants to save someone, and they're rejected by that very same person who they'd come. This doesn't. [00:16:52] Speaker C: What. [00:16:53] Speaker A: So Jesus, he's experiencing a rejection here that's condemned to death is not just injustice. It's also rejection. It's like, I mean, we gotta think [00:17:03] Speaker C: about this for a second. What they're saying with their actions and even with their words is, we don't want you. That's what rejection is, isn't it? Rejection is I don't want you. How many teenagers in the room raise your hand? You liar. Jamie, you guys are my favorite, unapologetically. I'm so, like, I'm in your corner and I'm really proud of you. But most, if not all of us [00:17:49] Speaker A: in the room, you're either a teenager [00:17:51] Speaker C: or you've been a teenager. And there's something really unique about that season of life. I remember watching peers begin to [00:18:06] Speaker A: start dating relationships. [00:18:08] Speaker C: You know, like, girls would be like, oh, man, I kinda like this guy. [00:18:11] Speaker A: He's cute. And then that guy would get word of that, and so he'd be like, maybe I have a shot. [00:18:15] Speaker C: He'd like, kinda ask her out to a date. And like, there'd be. [00:18:17] Speaker A: You start to see that start to happen in, like, friend groups and things. And I remember this happening. But do you know what I remember seeing as the process of sort of, like, whether it be romantic relationships start to flourish or just the desire to be friends with a specific friend group? You know, like, you just see this season of life as a teenager, you guys, you teenagers. The season that you're in is a really vulnerable season. It's filled with so much awesome cool things, but also some really vulnerable things. And one of those things is you position yourself. Whether it's exploring romantic relationships or whether it's exploring new friend groups and trying to make friends, and whether it's where you fit in and all that stuff. It's vulnerable because as you're approaching those relationships, you're faced with certain temptations. And those temptations come up because of every human being's desire to not be rejected. Raise your hand, everybody, if you love that feeling. [00:19:14] Speaker C: The feeling of rejection. Nobody. Right? It's the worst. I don't want you that, oh, my [00:19:22] Speaker A: gosh, I'm unwanted And we will do all sorts of things to avoid that feeling of I'm unwanted. And I remember. I can look back. And I remember being a teenager and watching, you know, honestly, I remember watching young girls make serious compromises. And I had the privilege of, like, I was with the same. I was in the same school district from, like, first grade till graduating high school. So you get to journey with, like, essentially the same group of people for a long time. And I remember, you know, sweet young girls and then, you know, teenage years, and then they'd start exploring romantic relationships. [00:19:59] Speaker C: And I remember watching them start to [00:20:02] Speaker A: make these compromises and me being confused [00:20:04] Speaker C: of, like, oh, that girl's not like that. [00:20:08] Speaker A: And as an adult, I can look [00:20:09] Speaker C: back and go, oh, oh, poor thing. [00:20:10] Speaker A: She was just trying so hard to not be rejected. So she's making these compromises. And it wasn't just her. It wasn't just the girls. I remember the guys being like, oh, man. Like, I want to be accept. I want to be viewed as cool. I want to be viewed as tough. [00:20:23] Speaker C: I want to. [00:20:24] Speaker A: You're kind of stepping into manhood, and there's all these uncertainty again. It's a vulnerable time for boys, too, for young men too. And I remember just, like, I want to be accepted by this group of guys or I'm on this team, and. And the kind of the captains of the team or the influencers of the team, they behave this way. And so I don't wanna be rejected. I wanna avoid rejection. And so now I'm feeling. I have these temptations that are now presented. They're new. And I have these temptations to now compromise in areas of character or behavior or words, or am I the only [00:20:56] Speaker C: person that experienced anything like this? [00:20:59] Speaker A: And the reason it happened again, I can look back, I see it in my own life. It's not just other people. I can see, like, oh, man, I made some serious compromises in this area of my life and that season of my life and that chapter, that grade, whatever. Because we don't wanna feel rejection. [00:21:18] Speaker C: It's a vulnerable time in life. Young people, can I just encourage you [00:21:21] Speaker A: as you begin to explore different relationships [00:21:25] Speaker C: in this season of your life, especially romantic ones, I wanna encourage you and, dare I say, challenge you, invite adult Christians into those. Like, have conversations with them about it. [00:21:38] Speaker A: Because I guarantee you they've walked in [00:21:41] Speaker C: those spaces, those vulnerable spaces, and I guarantee you they have some Holy Spirit inspired wisdom to help you and to [00:21:51] Speaker A: guide you to the degree that you involve them. [00:21:54] Speaker C: You're not gonna like this, especially Mom and dad, especially mom and Dad. But not just mom and dad. [00:22:00] Speaker A: You have aunties and uncles in the family of God that are so in your corner that believe in you, that wanna help you navigate this vulnerable time in your life. [00:22:09] Speaker C: Because I'm telling you, friends, and actually [00:22:11] Speaker A: you don't need me to tell you this. [00:22:12] Speaker C: You know this. We will do all sorts of things to avoid those feelings of rejection. And oftentimes it compromises the person that God has made us to be. You with me in this. No human being enjoys the feeling of rejection. [00:22:30] Speaker A: No human being enjoys that feeling of, [00:22:32] Speaker C: I don't want you. We don't want you. Jesus felt that, man. [00:22:38] Speaker A: He felt that on the deepest level, [00:22:41] Speaker C: in the deepest, most profound ways, the [00:22:44] Speaker A: very people that he vulnerably offers all of himself. He's not just like, he's not just [00:22:49] Speaker C: exploring a romantic relationship. [00:22:51] Speaker A: He's not just maybe investigating a friend group. He's offering all of himself, his body, his blood, laid down as a sacrifice for these people to save them. [00:23:02] Speaker C: We don't want you. The desire to be accepted is big. I think one of the things that amazes me the most is that Jesus actually never compromised. [00:23:21] Speaker A: I look at my life and I [00:23:22] Speaker C: go, all the compromises I made to avoid feeling rejected. And Jesus never did, even when he was faced with the most extreme rejection yet. [00:23:33] Speaker A: Nevertheless, he tells his disciples, he's like, I'm gonna experience injustice and rejection by being condemned to death. [00:23:42] Speaker C: Alright? Now, it wasn't just that. He also outlines more things. [00:23:45] Speaker A: He says he's gonna be mocked. Oh, you wanna really get on someone's like, bad side? [00:23:52] Speaker C: Just mock them publicly. [00:23:54] Speaker A: You want somebody to be like, I, all of us are human beings, okay? [00:23:59] Speaker C: We would all say that we want to pursue. [00:24:01] Speaker A: If you're in this room, to some degree, you wanna pursue the way of Jesus, you wanna yield to his ways, you wanna live a godly life to some degree, I feel like the moment you get mocked publicly by someone, you're like, nope, I'm done with my Christianity. I wanna like attack this person. Because like, there's nothing like being mocked like being hum. You know what mocking is, right? It's like when you are humiliated. There's a public component to this. [00:24:29] Speaker C: Jesus says he's gonna be mocked in front of everybody. [00:24:34] Speaker A: It says he's gonna be flogged. You know what that means? [00:24:36] Speaker C: What? [00:24:36] Speaker A: Flogging is flogging. It's, you're being whipped. But there's a specific kind of whip that they would use. It's got a handle and at the end of that handle, it's got several kind of straps of leather, thin straps of leather. And at the end of those straps were, like, fragments of metal, fragments of, like, bone, things that they would use that maybe you've seen, like, the Passion of the Christ. [00:24:56] Speaker C: If you've seen that movie, you've seen [00:24:57] Speaker A: get flogged, but if you haven't, you'd whip someone on their back. And those pieces, those fragments at the tips of those leather things would dig into the flesh of someone and then you'd pull it out and it would [00:25:08] Speaker C: literally rip out their flesh. [00:25:11] Speaker A: It's intense. So you have this, like, torture. You have this physical suffering. [00:25:16] Speaker C: Jesus is like, this is coming. I'm going to be flogged. And Bible scholars will tell you, like [00:25:24] Speaker A: many people, when they were flogged, they [00:25:26] Speaker C: would die just from being flogged. [00:25:27] Speaker A: They'd bleed out. [00:25:30] Speaker C: And it doesn't stop there. He says he's going to be crucified. I mean, [00:25:40] Speaker A: Crucifixion, I feel like for the Christian, crucifixion's always kind of on the. [00:25:45] Speaker C: Not on the forefront of our mind, [00:25:46] Speaker A: but it's kind of like always there. [00:25:47] Speaker C: Right? [00:25:48] Speaker A: There's the cross. [00:25:48] Speaker C: Like, we wear the cross, we see [00:25:52] Speaker A: the artwork, we see, like, we know that Jesus was nailed to wood. But, like, just for a moment, can [00:25:59] Speaker C: we start to, like, think about the reality of that? [00:26:03] Speaker A: You know, like, actually, like, what it [00:26:04] Speaker C: would feel like to have nails driven through your hands and your feet. [00:26:11] Speaker A: And one of the things I remember [00:26:14] Speaker C: when I was new to following Jesus, [00:26:18] Speaker A: I remember hearing about how most people, when they were crucified, they were crucified naked. [00:26:24] Speaker C: So not only is it this, like, [00:26:26] Speaker A: intense physical suffering, physical pain, it's again, that humiliation thing. [00:26:31] Speaker C: Like, gosh, man, [00:26:38] Speaker A: Unbelievably painful, unparalleled torture. Like, just the most agonizing death. And the unique thing about crucifixion, beyond just the physical suffering was it was reserved for, like, the worst of the worst. Like, it was only the worst of criminals that would actually be crucified. [00:26:58] Speaker C: And yet Jesus, the sinless innocent, we sang about it. Lamb of God, right? He's crucified. [00:27:08] Speaker A: And even non Christian scholars will say crucifixion is arguably the most brutal form [00:27:15] Speaker C: of execution in history. [00:27:20] Speaker A: And so this is what Jesus tells his disciples. [00:27:22] Speaker C: He goes, this is what's coming. And here's what I need for each of us. And I've been asking God to help me feel this in a real way this week and this morning. And I want it for all of us, because I think it's important. Here's what I need you to hear. Like, Jesus felt all that. I mean, he felt it. He felt it physically. [00:27:59] Speaker A: God becoming flesh didn't mean that. Jesus was kind of like on autopilot, numbed out, just gotta get through it, [00:28:04] Speaker C: and now it'll take care of the sins of the world. He felt it. He felt it physically, he felt it emotionally, he felt it spiritually. If you're taking notes, my first point for you this morning is this. Jesus suffering was comprehensive. His suffering was comprehensive. [00:28:29] Speaker A: William Barclay. [00:28:30] Speaker C: I really love his stuff on Matthew. He says this quote, it is as if Jesus was going to gather upon himself every possible kind of physical and emotional and mental suffering that the world could infer, end quote. Why? [00:28:47] Speaker A: Like, okay, but why? [00:28:52] Speaker C: Here's one reason, and it's a big one. It means this. [00:28:56] Speaker A: There's no suffering that you or I [00:28:58] Speaker C: will go through that Jesus can't identify with. [00:29:02] Speaker A: There's no pain, there's no suffering. There's no hardship that you and I could ever go through for whom that Jesus would go, man, I don't really [00:29:11] Speaker C: know what that feels like. No. [00:29:14] Speaker A: He can identify with you in anything that you face that is not good. And varying degrees from that was kind of. That was not so good to. That's the worst thing that's ever happened. Everything along the spectrum that you've ever faced and that you ever will face, [00:29:29] Speaker C: Jesus can identify with you. [00:29:32] Speaker A: Like, listen, this is huge. This is so big that Jesus is. He's not this, like, distant deity. He's not just like, absent and removed, kind of, you know, tuning in occasionally. He's not. That's not what he's like. He felt the pain that you feel. [00:29:53] Speaker C: He can identify with you in that [00:29:55] Speaker A: he understands you, in that he understands the pain. He can relate. He knows what it's like, that means to a certain degree, you can trust him. You ever come to somebody and you ever been going through something and you're talking to somebody that you love and trust, and you're coming to the conclusion, [00:30:13] Speaker C: I have to talk to. [00:30:14] Speaker A: Oh, they have no idea what I feel like. It would be like, some of you moms in the room, some of you women, you've given birth, you know what that feels like. And I'm like, oh, I totally get it. Like, it's hard. And you look at me, you're like, you're an idiot. Like, I appreciate maybe the empathy, I appreciate, you know, the encouragement. [00:30:33] Speaker C: But like, bro, you don't know. Jesus knows. He knows he knows it all. The hardships you face, the pain, the suffering. You are never alone in it because Jesus identifies with you in your suffering. His suffering was comprehensive. But there's more than just that. Look back at verse 18. I'm going to read it again. See, Underline that in your Bible. Just those three letters, S, E, E, C. We're going up to Jerusalem. [00:31:11] Speaker A: The Son of Man will be handed [00:31:13] Speaker C: over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. [00:31:15] Speaker A: That word, see, we don't see the [00:31:19] Speaker C: depth of it in English. [00:31:21] Speaker A: Here's the meaning behind that original word. [00:31:22] Speaker C: It means this. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Listen to me careful. Listen to me carefully, you parents in the room. There's times when you, like, give your kids instructions. You give them guidance, and they, you know, in one ear, out the other. And there's times when you go, listen to me carefully. And you get their attention. Jesus is doing. See, it's way more than just see. [00:31:46] Speaker C: It's. [00:31:47] Speaker A: Listen to me carefully. So I want you to get the picture. He's traveling. They're on their way to Jerusalem. He pulls them aside. [00:31:56] Speaker C: Boys, I need you to listen to me carefully. And then he explains the details of [00:32:04] Speaker A: what's going to happen, literally while he's walking to where? Jerusalem. What's in store for him there, all the things that he just said. So you got to get this. He's literally on the way. He's telling them what's going to happen there while he's walking with them on the way, going, listen to me carefully. The trajectory, it gives me chills. [00:32:27] Speaker C: I'm like, whoa, this is intense. [00:32:31] Speaker A: Where all this stuff's about to go down. [00:32:33] Speaker C: That means his suffering. Hear me? It wasn't something that surprised him. [00:32:38] Speaker A: He wasn't ignorant of it. He wasn't shocked. He wasn't surprised. He wasn't unaware. He knew exactly what he was getting himself into. [00:32:49] Speaker C: Hear me. His suffering was something he signed up for. His suffering was something he signed up for. This last weekend, my eldest, amelia, she turned 14. It was really cool. We got to celebrate her with some family out of town, which is wonderful. [00:33:06] Speaker A: But she's getting older. It's like, am I the only parent in the room? I remember hearing adults say this when [00:33:10] Speaker C: I was a kid. [00:33:11] Speaker A: Like, oh, my gosh, they're growing up so fast. I feel it. I know I'm not the only one. [00:33:15] Speaker C: My kids are growing up fast. It's freaking me out. It's bittersweet, but it is what it is. [00:33:21] Speaker A: I can remember the day she was born. Like, I literally Remember, was wonderful and horrific all at the same time. Like, her mom was in labor for 32 hours. [00:33:36] Speaker C: And I remember, like, how much time do I have? [00:33:41] Speaker A: I remember they put us in this room. And because it had been so long, like, I'm tired, okay? Like, [00:33:53] Speaker C: I'm sorry, ladies. [00:33:54] Speaker A: Listen, I didn't complain, but, dude, after, like, a day, I'm like, I haven't. [00:34:05] Speaker C: I'm so tired. And they. [00:34:06] Speaker A: Listen, they gave. There was, like, a chair in the room. And this chair, it reclined. But here's the problem with the reclining is the feet didn't go up. And when it reclined, it only had two. It had, like, completely straight up or completely back. And when it was completely back, it was beyond horizontal. So it was literally like, you have this. [00:34:29] Speaker C: This. [00:34:29] Speaker A: Like, this. The middle part would, like, get in your back, so you'd have to hyperextend your back. So I'm tired. I didn't sleep. It was terrible. [00:34:38] Speaker C: Okay. [00:34:40] Speaker A: But, like, at the same time, I'm watching my wife. I'd never seen her suffer like that before. And I'd seen her suffer. I'd seen her suffer emotionally. I'd seen her suffer physically. I'd seen her go through stuff at [00:34:51] Speaker C: that point in our marriage and in [00:34:53] Speaker A: our life together, but I'd never seen [00:34:55] Speaker C: her suffer like that. And I remember her enduring it. And then, you know, Millie just. Oh, my gosh. Like parents, you know, it's like, wow. Just the miracle, the love, the beauty. And I remember a couple years go by, and we're like, hey, I think, you know, we really want another baby. And so we're trying to have another baby. Couple miscarriages that were really hard. And then finally we get pregnant, and then Vivian comes, our second born. Right, right. [00:35:26] Speaker A: And it always struck me, I'm like, I think every woman kind of has an idea like, oh. Like, no woman is ignorant to the reality of birth. Like, this is what's gonna happen. But the experiential reality, I think, is different. [00:35:39] Speaker C: Right? [00:35:40] Speaker A: So baby number one, E.B. kind of has an idea of what [00:35:42] Speaker C: she's gonna go through. [00:35:43] Speaker A: Baby number two, she knows what's about to go down. And it's always shocked me. [00:35:48] Speaker C: I'm like, you signed up for that again? [00:35:52] Speaker A: And she did. Like, she knew what it would be. Like, she knew the pain, like, the physical pain. She knew the suffering. She knew the toll it would take on her body. She knew the aftermath, the suffering of the sleepless nights and all the things parents, you guys, know. She wasn't surprised by the Suffering. She signed up for it. [00:36:14] Speaker C: All of you moms, you guys remind me of Jesus. You remind me of Jesus signing up for the suffering, knowing what's ahead. Listen, a mom does that. [00:36:37] Speaker A: A mom signs up for the suffering [00:36:38] Speaker C: of giving birth because she loves that baby even before they're born. Tell me that does not sound like your heavenly father. [00:36:52] Speaker A: To an infinitely greater extent, that's what [00:36:54] Speaker C: God did through Jesus. He loved you even before you were born again. Do you see this? The beauty, the poetry of God's creation? He loved you even before you were born again. [00:37:10] Speaker A: He suffered comprehensively on our behalf. [00:37:14] Speaker C: Listen, even before we accepted him, even before we loved him back. Jesus signed up for the suffering. Why? Because he really loves you. If you've been in the church for any length of time, you've heard this. This isn't new. Have you felt it, though? Have you felt it in your heart, in your mind that he loves you? He signed up for the suffering, not just for the world, but like, for you. That's special. It's meaningful, it's personal. Do you believe that for you, or do you just believe it for other people? I think God wants you to believe it for you. He signed up for the suffering because he loves you just like a mom loves her baby. And I can't move on from this without I look around the room and I see. I know many of you and your stories. But like, for everybody in the room, I don't want to begin to assume. Have you been born again? Have you been born again? Listen to me. [00:38:46] Speaker A: Jesus didn't suffer for no reason. He suffered for a reason, friend. He suffered so that you and I could have a brand new new life. That we'd be literally born again, a new creation. I think Mike referenced it this morning already. A new creation, living a brand new life. Have you been born again? Have you embraced Jesus not just as like the Savior who takes away your sins, but as the Lord of your life, like the leader of your life, the one who calls the shots, the only one trustworthy enough to call the [00:39:15] Speaker C: shots in your life. Because get this, you and I are not trustworthy enough. [00:39:19] Speaker A: We actually think we have our best interest at heart, but oftentimes we do not know any better. Because of selfishness, because of sin. It tarnishes our ability to lead, even ourselves. Have you been born again? [00:39:31] Speaker C: I'm not asking you if you acknowledge [00:39:33] Speaker A: that Jesus is real. I'm not asking if you believe in him, right? James says that the demons believe in Him. They acknowledge he exists. [00:39:41] Speaker C: I'm asking if You've been born again. I'm asking if you've been filled with his spirit. Because you can be. [00:39:49] Speaker A: He's gone to great length. He desires that for us, he desires that for you. And if there's any doubt in your mind, you can leave today. Being 100% sure I'm a brand new creation in Christ. I've been born again. It's a free gift. You don't earn it. You don't earn it. He's offering it to you. And just at the chance there's anybody in the room and you're not born again. Maybe you think you are, but you're not sure you can be. [00:40:12] Speaker C: Please don't leave without receiving Jesus blood and his body on your behalf. [00:40:16] Speaker A: Being filled with the spirit. If you're not sure you have the spirit of God, [00:40:21] Speaker C: you might not be born again. But Jesus went to great land. He signed up for the suffering so that you could be born again. Because just like a mama loves her child, she signs up for the suffering so that child can be born. Jesus signed up for the suffering for you so that you could be born again. Do you see it? Okay, Just for the chance, would love to pray for you before you go. In case you missed it. My point there. Jesus signed up for the suffering. Alright, can I just say one more thing about verse 18? Men, can I talk to just. [00:41:05] Speaker A: This applies to the women too, but [00:41:06] Speaker C: just for the men. [00:41:07] Speaker A: If you ever need like something to fire you up, you need motivation. You need that like stereotypical man, like, yeah, like, do you know what I'm talking about? I'm telling you, verse 18 has been [00:41:21] Speaker C: firing me up all week. [00:41:23] Speaker A: Just look at, See, right, listen to me carefully, boys. We are going up to Jerusalem. That resolve that like he knew what he was getting himself into. Oh my, the verse we. That phrase, I want to get it tattooed on me or something. We're going up to Jerusalem. It's this. Some of the passages in the Bible say he sets his face on Jerusalem like he's got. He's made up his mind. He's resolved to the fact like he's going to save his beloved. You want some motivation? Like Jesus did that for me. We are going to Jerusalem. There's something masculine in this. Sorry ladies, for just a second, I got. There's something masculine in this that I haven't fully discovered, but it's like it's doing something to me. Gentlemen, I wanna invite you to invite Jesus to do that same thing in you because I think that there's things that are in front of you that are hard. There's things that might cause you to be afraid or worried. And you're a man, so you can never really voice those fears or worries because of culture. We're more discipled by culture than we are by Jesus and his Word. Listen to me. There are things that you're gonna face maybe in the next couple weeks, but certainly in the future of your life, where you need to be inspired in the same way that Jesus, the man, the human, needed. [00:42:38] Speaker C: I'm setting my face. We're going to Jerusalem. [00:42:41] Speaker A: That resolve that I trust the Father's will for my life, I don't have what it takes to get through that, but Christ in me, the spirit of God in me, I can. Listen to me carefully. [00:42:53] Speaker C: We're going up to Jerusalem. That resolve, some of you are going to need that. I know I needed it this week, and I know I'm going to need it in the future. So I just want to. Before I move on, I just want to invite you men and you women. Nothing against the ladies, but there's something masculine here. I want to invite you into that space when you need that. Because life will kick you in the nuts sometimes. [00:43:16] Speaker A: When you need that, you feel me when you need it, [00:43:22] Speaker C: there's all sorts [00:43:22] Speaker A: of places that you can look [00:43:27] Speaker C: for strength. I'm inviting you to look to Christ. We're going up to Jerusalem. [00:43:35] Speaker A: So not only did Jesus know what was in store and he shares with them, but he prepares his disciples for [00:43:42] Speaker C: the suffering and the danger that's coming. What's he doing? He's also warning them. [00:43:47] Speaker A: You catch it? [00:43:49] Speaker C: He's warning them. [00:43:54] Speaker A: Several years ago. [00:43:57] Speaker C: I'm going to talk about you, Eric. Pastor's retreat, Laguna House. Remember the word you had for me? How long ago was that? 10ish years. [00:44:14] Speaker A: So this is many years ago on a pastor's retreat. God had already kind of made it [00:44:22] Speaker C: clear the assignment that he had for us to come and plant the church. [00:44:26] Speaker A: This is before Herrick and Heather knew they were coming. They were just kind of like, cool. Tom and EB have this next chapter. This is before that. We're in this time, and we're seeking God in prayer. [00:44:36] Speaker C: And God speaks to Herrick, and Herrick shares this word for me. He goes, hey, man, it's kind of intense. He goes, I'm gonna paraphrase. [00:44:48] Speaker A: He basically describes the Donner Party. So instantly, I'm totally encouraged. You know, I'm like, yes. [00:44:58] Speaker C: You know, if you're not familiar with the Donner Party, you know, they make [00:45:02] Speaker A: their Way out West. [00:45:03] Speaker C: And they basically are pioneers, okay? And it's brutal for them. But the way he described it was. It was very sensitive, very kind, very spirit led, but very honest about what felt like God was showing him. And there was the picture of the Donner party. And then the phrase that came was this. Pioneers pay the price. And he goes, I really get the sense. [00:45:31] Speaker A: And it was this. We were excited. We're like, man, God's speaking. We're getting more clarity. We know where he's sending us next. [00:45:37] Speaker B: Cool. [00:45:37] Speaker A: We want to follow Jesus. He's rallying a team of people with [00:45:42] Speaker C: us to do this. [00:45:43] Speaker A: There's excitement and all that's good. And Herrick's heart, and I don't believe God's heart was to, like, douse the [00:45:49] Speaker C: flame of that, but in wisdom and [00:45:53] Speaker A: in kindness and, dare I say, in the grace of God, God wanted to share something with us, that pioneers pay the price. And this is the phrase that Herrick shared. [00:46:00] Speaker C: He goes, it's going to be really hard, but it's going to be really worth it. I've come back to that word multiple times throughout the years. One, I trust Eric. And two, I believe that. I've watched it happen. Like, real talk. God's done incredible things through our church, guys. Like, it's bananas. [00:46:36] Speaker A: It's him. He's alive, man. His spirit's working. It's crazy. Like, the gospel's true. [00:46:49] Speaker C: We've had some hard assignments in ministry the last almost 20 years. Nothing's been harder than this. Nothing's been more painful. Honestly, nothing's been more dangerous. And I was thinking about it this week, and I'm like, man, oh, man, like, legitimately, this is. [00:47:14] Speaker A: I'm not saying this for sympathy. [00:47:15] Speaker C: I'm saying this for just transparency. It's cost me and my family a lot, and not just us, but it's cost a lot. But I believe God spoke through my friend that day. But what was God doing? [00:47:33] Speaker A: What he was doing was. [00:47:34] Speaker C: He was warning us. He was preparing us for something. [00:47:39] Speaker A: Pioneers pay the price so that others don't have to. It's going to be really hard, but it's going to be really worth it. And I think it's true. And like I said, I've come back to that time and time again. It's not a discouraging word. It's an encouraging word. How is it an encouraging word? Because I'm not ignorant to what lies ahead. I'm able to. What does the Old Testament say about guarding your loins, girding your Loins. It's this stuff. Like, I know what's ahead. I gotta get prepared if I'm gonna endure that. But what I'm about to endure, just not in the same way, but similarly, like, labor is gonna be worth it. [00:48:18] Speaker C: The moms get it. The men are just looking at me like I'm stupid. It was encouraging. [00:48:24] Speaker A: And, like, this is not. That's not the only time. I wish I had more time, guys. I wish I had more time to share more examples with you about the very specifics. The very specific examples in my own life where God has warned me of stuff crazy enough. The location that Eric shared that word with me in fast forward a couple years, me and Ebony are in that same space. A retreat, just the two of us. And I have one of the most intense encounters with God I've ever had in my life. Like, I can't get into all the specifics. I can just tell you God, like, [00:48:59] Speaker C: downloaded things into my mind. [00:49:01] Speaker A: It was crazy. It was not. It was supernatural. And he literally, like, spoke to me. And he was warning me about things that Ebony and I would be faced [00:49:14] Speaker C: with spiritually in the years to come. [00:49:16] Speaker A: And what's crazy about it is I've [00:49:18] Speaker C: watched it happen, [00:49:21] Speaker A: and it's still unfolding. There's still things that he shared with me. This is over. This is like, seven years ago at this point. There's still things from that day in my journal. I'm, like, checking it off. [00:49:36] Speaker C: And there's still things that aren't checked off yet about warnings, about him preparing [00:49:42] Speaker A: fathers in the room. You warn your children, don't you? [00:49:47] Speaker C: Why do you warn your kids? Cause you love them? [00:49:50] Speaker A: Not because you want them to be all afraid? [00:49:53] Speaker C: No. Because you love them. God's the same. He warns a person, he prepares a person, so they're not surprised when the [00:50:07] Speaker A: warning shows up, when the danger shows up, when they're faced with the suffering. [00:50:12] Speaker C: Right. [00:50:14] Speaker A: Why? [00:50:14] Speaker C: To empower his child to endure what's [00:50:19] Speaker A: ahead and to persevere through that difficulty. [00:50:22] Speaker C: Right. So hear me. [00:50:23] Speaker A: Whether it's big life decisions or even [00:50:26] Speaker C: just, like, small, everyday decisions, my next [00:50:29] Speaker A: point for you is this. We see it in this passage. [00:50:31] Speaker C: God will warn you. [00:50:35] Speaker A: He will graciously, and lovingly, fatherly warn you. [00:50:45] Speaker C: But you know what I found, and [00:50:47] Speaker A: I know it's not just in my own life. [00:50:49] Speaker C: I. I found this. We don't always hear the warnings, do we? Last weekend, really generous family member made it possible. We went to celebrate Millie's birthday, but we went to Whistler, British Columbia in Canada. Anybody ever been there? Dude, is there any place more spectacularly beautiful? [00:51:14] Speaker A: It is. It is off the. It's like. It's on that, like, Mount Rushmore tier. Not that Mount Rushmore is pretty. I mean, like, the four, like, top. [00:51:21] Speaker C: It's so spectacularly beautiful. It's amazing. [00:51:24] Speaker A: If you're not familiar with the area, you have to fly into Vancouver. [00:51:28] Speaker C: Hopefully you're familiar. Think, like, just north of Seattle on the west coast of Canada, British Columbia. [00:51:33] Speaker A: And you have to drive up from Vancouver up the mountain to Whistler. [00:51:40] Speaker C: And the highway up there is called the Sea to Sky Highway. [00:51:46] Speaker A: Has anybody ever heard about this? [00:51:50] Speaker C: Okay, allow me to just tell you about the Sea to Sky Highway. It is unbelievably beautiful. [00:52:02] Speaker A: Like, I highly recommend you don't drive. I highly recommend you take the bus, [00:52:09] Speaker C: you take the shuttle, and you allow someone else to drive so that you [00:52:15] Speaker A: can literally just look out the window for two hours. [00:52:19] Speaker C: It's spectacular. Massive rock faces, pine tree forests, streams and creeks and rivers and lakes. Like, the sound, you know, it's like where the ocean comes in. [00:52:34] Speaker A: My words can't do it justice before you die. [00:52:37] Speaker C: If you can, you need to not [00:52:39] Speaker A: make that drive, but be taken on that route, because it is. It will blow your mind. [00:52:45] Speaker C: It's that beautiful. [00:52:47] Speaker A: And we're driving back. So we're on the shuttle bus with, [00:52:51] Speaker C: like, 100 other people, and we're going [00:52:53] Speaker A: back to, like, the airport. [00:52:54] Speaker C: The day we're leaving, actually, we're going back to Vancouver. [00:52:57] Speaker A: And if you've ever been on one of those big buses, like, the side windows are huge, and so you can, like. I have this almost panoramic view of [00:53:06] Speaker C: the Sea of Sky highway and all [00:53:08] Speaker A: the beauty in the nature. And I'm just like. [00:53:10] Speaker C: I'm having one of these, like, beautiful moments. [00:53:13] Speaker A: I have headphones in. [00:53:16] Speaker C: I have instrumental music, like, just my prayer playlist going. And I'm literally just looking out the window going, this is unbelievable. And I'm looking around at the other people on the bus. [00:53:31] Speaker A: They're in the same. They're taking the same route that I am. They're on the same bus. They have the same view out the window. And I'm not exaggerating. If there's 100 people on the bus, [00:53:41] Speaker C: 90% of them are staring at a screen [00:53:47] Speaker A: and no judgment. I just. But part of me wanted to just be like, look out the window. Like, it's better than what could possibly be on your screen. It's spectacular. Like, it really will take your breath away. It's so beautiful. But 90% of the bus, totally distracted from the incredible beauty all around them. Distracted by, hear me, lesser things. [00:54:17] Speaker C: You see it? [00:54:20] Speaker A: I don't think we hear God's warnings because we're so distracted. [00:54:23] Speaker C: Hear me, by lesser things, friends. [00:54:26] Speaker A: And I'm not just saying people on the bus. I'm saying me because I'm tired and I get weary and I just want to check out for just a bit. I just want to rest. Like we're distracted by lesser things. That's why you don't pray straight up. Because you're distracted by lesser things. That's why you don't read your Bible. [00:54:46] Speaker C: Because you're distracted by lesser things. Not bad things, just lesser things. Not evil things necessarily. Sometimes they are just lesser things. I'm here to tell you, your Father in heaven wants to share things with you. He wants to share things with you. Good things, spectacular things, beautiful things. Hear me important things, [00:55:18] Speaker A: like warnings. [00:55:24] Speaker C: Why? To prepare you. Because he cares about you. [00:55:28] Speaker A: He cares about your future. [00:55:29] Speaker C: He cares about your present. You know what I think of when I think about Jesus warning his disciples? How kind of him to do that. You ever felt unprepared in your life? [00:55:53] Speaker A: That sucks. [00:55:56] Speaker C: Jesus is like, I don't want you to be uninformed. I don't want you to be unprepared. How kind of God to prepare us. My point, if you pay attention, God will warn you. So Jesus, he prepares his disciples for [00:56:19] Speaker A: the suffering that was coming, right? [00:56:20] Speaker C: But that's not the only thing he prepares them for. [00:56:22] Speaker A: Look again back at verse 18. See, listen to me carefully, boys. We're going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death. [00:56:35] Speaker C: Verse 19. [00:56:36] Speaker A: They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified. [00:56:42] Speaker C: And there it is. [00:56:43] Speaker A: And on the third day, he will [00:56:46] Speaker C: be raised whoever said, amen, I love you. [00:56:52] Speaker A: So get this. [00:56:53] Speaker C: This is where it gets really cool, okay? [00:56:55] Speaker A: Jesus, he doesn't just prepare them for the suffering. He prepares them for the glory of the resurrection. It's not all, like, spooky, like, everything's gonna be bad. He doesn't want them to be ignorant of the suffering. But you know what else he doesn't want them to be ignorant of? The glory, baby. The glory of the resurrection that's coming. Now. Listen, I feel very privileged that God has called me to do what I [00:57:22] Speaker C: do vocationally as a pastor. I'll be honest, it's really hard, but it's really beautiful. Okay. [00:57:29] Speaker A: One of the things that makes it especially hard is the volume of witnessing people that you love and their suffering. [00:57:36] Speaker C: We all. [00:57:37] Speaker A: Everybody in this room, you are around people that you love all the time that are suffering. So this is the same for all of us. We all see this. We all experience people we love in ourselves, but people we love suffering. The difference pastorally is just you get it at a different volume. So I'm not trying to dismiss your experience. I'm just saying, like, I'm just trying to put it in front of you. One of the things that's unique about this and makes it hard is the volume of suffering of people that you get to experience. And, like, the deep pain that you [00:58:05] Speaker C: see people go through. [00:58:07] Speaker A: Like, the deep relational pain. Real talk, the deep marital pain that happens. Anybody who's been married for more than five minutes knows, like, oh, this is beautiful. And it's painful. Deep marital pain. Like, divorce happens. The suffering of divorce, the suffering of, like, abuse, it happens. We live in a fallen world. So whether it's relational pain or marriage pain or divorce or abuse or health, watching people wrestle and experience suffering with their health is so hard, you can feel helpless. Jesus, please intervene. Listen to me. I've prayed for people and seen them get miraculously healed, and I've prayed for people and seen them die. One of the ones that I've only had to deal with this a handful [00:59:10] Speaker C: of times, but watching a parent experience the suffering of witnessing their child walk away from Jesus, whether it's a grown child or not, just a unique flavor of ouch and the pain that they have with that. [00:59:27] Speaker A: But above all of the things, the relational stuff, the health stuff, the prodigals going, like, all that stuff's terrible. [00:59:37] Speaker C: But you know what the worst one [00:59:38] Speaker A: is, like, unparalleled gold medal of suffering. [00:59:47] Speaker C: It's walking with someone when they lose someone they love dearly to death. It hurts like nothing else. And yet it's part of the human condition in a fallen, broken world, isn't it? It's the worst. Listen, there's a lot of suffering that we can go through. There's a lot of loss that happens in life, but a lot of it, you can, like, you can to some degree, replace what was lost. You can't replace a lost loved one. It just leaves this, like, hole in you, doesn't it? It's the worst. And I'm looking around the room. [01:00:49] Speaker A: I know so many of your stories, and I'm not trying to poke at [01:00:53] Speaker C: wounds right now, but I am trying to Sober us up just a little bit. [01:01:03] Speaker A: Nothing hurts like that. [01:01:11] Speaker C: I want you to see what Jesus is doing here. It's important. What does he do? He warns his disciples of the pain, right? He warns them of the suffering and the death. And then he comforts them with what? [01:01:30] Speaker A: You'll be fine. You could get through this. Everything happens for a reason. All those things might be true, huh? [01:01:40] Speaker C: What does he say? How does he comfort them? With the resurrection. He comforts them with the resurrection because [01:01:50] Speaker A: hear me, that is what will sustain a person through intense suffering. Not, please hear me. Not like well meaning, but empty words, catchphrases that you find on a coffee cup. Like, I know I've said stupid things before. Like, let's just be candid. One of the things I've just been around, this has happened more often than I'd like to admit. Death happens. It's awful. People gather at the home, I find out, I show up at the house. I'm there to just love and to be present and to pray and to cry. And sure enough, maybe I've done this in my life. Maybe you've done this too. Where you care so deeply and you love the people so deeply that are hurting that you find yourself wanting to comfort them so bad that you say something, well meaning, good intentions. [01:02:38] Speaker C: But isn't actually something you should probably say? I've seen it happen a hundred times. Hear me, that's not what Jesus does here. How does he comfort them? With the glory. The glory that's coming. [01:02:56] Speaker A: The glory that's coming. Guys, listen to me. All of us, all of us. Do you have any idea what tomorrow holds? [01:03:04] Speaker C: I don't either. [01:03:06] Speaker A: What about next week? [01:03:07] Speaker C: Next month? [01:03:08] Speaker A: We have no idea. But one thing I can assure you of, there's going to be beautiful things that take place in your life over the next month. Beautiful things. Things that you're like, I don't deserve this. This is grace. This is amazing. I want to enjoy this. Yes and amen. Embrace that there's commands to celebrate all throughout the scriptures. Celebrating God's goodness, celebrating his grace, celebrating his provision, celebrating his love. Absolutely do it. But that's not all that's in store [01:03:37] Speaker C: for the human being throughout their life, is it? [01:03:40] Speaker A: Every single one of us, all of us. We will face tremendous suffering of our own in our lifetimes. Tremendous discouragement, hard things. Hear me. [01:03:50] Speaker C: When you do, not if you do. When you do, I need you to hear me say this. God will comfort you. It's who he is. We see it in this passage. We see it in The Old Testament. [01:04:02] Speaker A: We see it in the New Testament. When you do, when you suffer, when you encounter hardship, God will come for you. Not with lame empty words, slogans on a coffee, no, but with the glory that's coming for you. If your faith is in Christ, that your heart knows this is not the way it's supposed to be. It hurts so bad, you know this is not the way it's supposed to be. Jesus goes, I know it's not the way it's supposed to be. Not only can I identify with you in that suffering, I agree this is not the way it's supposed to be. But I've gone to great lengths. I've signed up for the suffering so that this eternal glory, things the way it's supposed to be, you can experience that that's coming. [01:04:40] Speaker C: That's what will sustain us. [01:04:42] Speaker A: That's what will help you endure. [01:04:45] Speaker C: You with me in this. [01:04:46] Speaker A: I want you to see the kindness of Jesus here. That's what I think it is. Hear me. This is what all the whole morning has been about. I told you this morning. I said, I told you the story about Ebony's eyes. Some of you need to see the fuzziness. God wants to give you new eyes. He wants you to see himself more clear. I feel like he wants you to know the kindness of Jesus. And it's not the way the world describes kindness. It's the way heaven defines kindness. That he loves you enough to tell you the truth, but he loves you enough to do something about it, to intervene. His saving grace. Do you see it? I need you to see it before I get out of here. Yeah. [01:05:22] Speaker C: The kindness of Jesus for you. It's all over this passage. [01:05:28] Speaker A: It's all over the scriptures. And I feel like God wants you [01:05:30] Speaker C: to see it in a fresh way for you this morning, in ways that [01:05:33] Speaker A: are personal for you, some of you. He's already starting to bring things up to your mind right now. I can see it. He's already starting to remind you of things in your past where he's been unbelievably kind to you. And you thought it wasn't kindness. [01:05:44] Speaker C: You thought it was the opposite. He's doing stuff. How does he comfort them? He comforts them with the glory to come. [01:06:01] Speaker A: That there's gonna be no more relational pain, that there's gonna be no more evil, there's gonna be no more sin. The day's coming when there's no more abuse, there's no more cancer, there's no more divorce, there's no more disease, there's no more poverty. There's no more human trafficking. There's no more murder. There's no more suffering. There's no more death. That's what you were made for. Can I get an amen? Like, that's what your heart craves and your heart longs for. And that's why it hurts bad. When you experience suffering, can you see [01:06:31] Speaker C: the kindness of God in Christ? Because when the sting of death comes, [01:06:39] Speaker A: you're going to get through this. [01:06:40] Speaker C: It's not good enough, man. When terrible things happen, nothing is as comforting as the resurrection life that's coming for you. That's how Jesus comforts his disciples. And you're suffering. He will comfort you. All right, I'm out of time. Ben, would you come up, please? If you're on the prayer team, would you get prepared as well? I'm going to close with this. Here's my question. I've already answered it once, but there's more to it. Why is Jesus telling all his disciples this? [01:07:24] Speaker A: One of the best things you can do when you read your Bible is read something and if you're not 100% sure, ask questions. [01:07:29] Speaker C: Why, how, when, why, like, ask questions. It's so good for you. Why is Jesus telling his disciples all this? If you study Jesus life in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, so much goes down. Like the last day of his life, the last night of his life. [01:07:55] Speaker A: I think my favorite book in the [01:07:57] Speaker C: entire Bible is John's Gospel. One of the reasons it's my favorite book in the Bible is because it [01:08:04] Speaker A: spends multiple chapters just on that last night. We get an insight into the heart of Jesus, his relationship with the Father and the Spirit in ways that the other Gospels don't provide. [01:08:14] Speaker C: It's spectacular. But Jesus says something in John, chapter [01:08:19] Speaker A: 16, verse 33, that is so unbelievably [01:08:23] Speaker C: applicable to what we just went through. Will you guys throw that verse up there? I want you to see this. [01:08:28] Speaker A: This is the last night of Jesus life. Like, the cross is literally hours away. Remember I told you that our passage today, that's the first time that Jesus has warned his disciples about what's on, going, coming. It's not the first time that he's prepared them. It's not the first time that he's gone. But I needed to comfort you with something because you got to endure this. It's intense. The glory's coming. Look at what he says hours before he goes to the cross. [01:08:52] Speaker C: Verse 33. I've told you these things for a reason, boys. So that in me, you May have what? [01:09:03] Speaker A: Peace. [01:09:09] Speaker C: Some of you don't have peace right now. I'd be willing to bet my life Jesus wants you to have it. How do I know? Because he's still got holes in his hands. I've told you these things so that [01:09:23] Speaker A: in me you may have peace. He goes, you will have suffering in this world. Like, you're gonna experience stuff. I'm warning you. It's coming in love and kindness. [01:09:40] Speaker C: It's coming in this world. And then what does he say? Be courageous. [01:09:50] Speaker A: Listen to me, boys. We're going up to Jerusalem. Be courageous. [01:09:55] Speaker C: Why? Because I've conquered this world. There's another world coming. [01:10:05] Speaker A: Do you know the Bible teaches you [01:10:06] Speaker C: don't go to heaven. Heaven comes to earth. Another world is coming. [01:10:11] Speaker A: Your real home is coming. The place that you were built for, the place that you were made for, the environment that you. You were designed for. Where things are the way they're supposed to be, where sin, Satan and death die. [01:10:29] Speaker C: Real life. Why is Jesus telling his disciples about what's going to happen? [01:10:36] Speaker A: Why, to give them peace in the midst of their suffering and to give them the courage that they need to endure it. Do you need peace and courage to [01:10:45] Speaker C: endure some of the suffering in your life? [01:10:47] Speaker A: Even the small stuff? Do you lack peace? Do you lack courage? Here's how you know. Doubts are piling up. How could you? Gods are piling up. I feel so unsettled. I feel so isolated. I feel so alone. I feel broken. I feel like. I feel like I'm by myself. I feel like I'm losing my faith. [01:11:07] Speaker C: I feel [01:11:09] Speaker A: it's the enemy. It's the enemy. [01:11:14] Speaker C: And Jesus goes, is what he wants you to hear. [01:11:17] Speaker A: I'm warning you. It's coming. But I'm telling you so that you can have peace. I'm telling you so that you can [01:11:23] Speaker C: have courage, that your home is coming for you, so that you can endure this present and momentary affliction. Because what empowered Jesus to endure his suffering can empower you to get through your own? What empowered him was the love of God, the love of the Father for him, and the glory that was coming. The same is true for me. The same is true for you. So listen, if you're here and you, [01:12:00] Speaker A: you know, like you're in a season [01:12:01] Speaker C: where you would say, like, I'm suffering right now. Maybe you're suffering physically. Maybe you're suffering relationally. Maybe you're suffering emotionally. [01:12:09] Speaker A: Maybe practically, I don't know. But if you're here and you're like, I'm in a season and you like, let's not even die. Don't even self diagnosis. If you're here, you're like, I need God. I need you to comfort me. The other forms of comfort, they're just not working. They're temporary. They only last a little bit. I need you to comfort me. Jesus. I need you to comfort me. If you're in that space and you're like, I need comfort. I need peace, and I need a transcendent comfort. I need a transcendent peace that can only come from him. If that's you. [01:12:39] Speaker C: If you need to just be reminded [01:12:40] Speaker A: of his love for you. If you need to be reminded that he signed up for that supreme suffering because he loves you like a mom in labor. Some of you, that's all you need this morning. Some of you are like, I desperately need supernatural touch. If that's you, I want to just [01:12:56] Speaker C: invite you right now boldly to stand to your feet. Prayer team. These are your people. Will you go to them? Like now stay standing. If you need. We're not going to have people come forward. Go to them. If you guys wouldn't mind, please. Beautiful. Hey, God's going to meet you in this space right now, Okay? We're going to change things up a little bit. If you're near somebody standing and you're not on the prayer team, what I want you to do is I just want you to. If you're comfortable, if they give you permission, would you just lay hands on them and would you. Silently, not audibly yet. Prayer team, you guys are gonna be empowered to audibly pray, but if you're not on the prayer team, I'm ask you to just silently be praying over them right now. Invite God's spirit to lead you in praying blessings over them silently in your heart. I'll deploy prayer team. I'll let you guys get started once the music gets going. But that's not all. I feel like there's a little bit [01:14:12] Speaker A: more work to do if you. I know we're running late on time, [01:14:14] Speaker C: but just, Just bear with me. If you're in a season where, where you can kind of feel it, like, you know you're missing out on God's warnings in your life. [01:14:23] Speaker A: Like, you know that there's. [01:14:24] Speaker C: There's. He's. [01:14:25] Speaker A: He wants to warn you of things and you're missing out on it because [01:14:27] Speaker C: you're distracted by lesser things. [01:14:29] Speaker A: Maybe you're distracted by entertainment. [01:14:31] Speaker C: Maybe you're distracted by your finances or [01:14:34] Speaker A: your phone or a screen or the drama on social media or the news. I just wanna challenge you. Give him your attention, and let's. Let's do it right now. Like, give him your attention. [01:14:44] Speaker C: I think he wants to warn you in love of some things. I think he wants to do some fathering. Huh? Okay. The rest of the room, will you stand with me? If you're able. I want to make sure we have time to praise him for his goodness. And just one more. [01:15:08] Speaker A: I know I already mentioned it, but [01:15:09] Speaker C: listen, if you're not born again or [01:15:12] Speaker A: you're not sure, like, if you're not sure that when you stand before God at the end of your life, you're not sure whether he would embrace you into the glory of eternity or he would cast you away from him into the wrath of God for sin. If you're not sure. If you're not sure whether you're born again, you're not sure whether you're filled with the spirit you can be. Jesus has gone to great lengths. He's offered his body, his perfect body, his perfect life in. In your place that you could never live. He did that for you. He laid down his life. He opened his veins on the cross. He spilled his blood. He shed his blood, the Lamb of God, to take away the sins of the world. The sacrifice. He did that for you. Why? So that you could be born again into a new life, a new way of living, with a new Lord and a Savior. His name is Jesus. If you're not born again, and you can be today, if you want to receive Jesus, we'd love to help you with that. If that's you, please don't leave. I want to pray for you before you. [01:16:03] Speaker C: You go. [01:16:03] Speaker A: I want to see you filled with God's spirit today. Here's what we're gonna do. We need to sing. [01:16:07] Speaker C: We're running out of time. [01:16:09] Speaker A: We're gonna fill this room with praise. Prayer team. You guys can start praying for people who need it. I know it might get loud. That's okay. We can trust the spirit of God to do the work that he wants to do. I'm gonna pray for us quickly. The band's gonna lead us. We're gonna fill this room with praise for the next five minutes. If you would let them know we gotta go. Okay, great. We're gonna go a little bit long. If you need to slip out, that's fine, but I. I'm not about to get in the way of what the [01:16:29] Speaker C: f. Father wants to do. [01:16:30] Speaker A: Father, we invite you now. [01:16:32] Speaker C: Father, us, Spirit. [01:16:34] Speaker A: We invite you now. Comfort us. You are the comforter, Jesus. We invite you now. Be the Lord. [01:16:40] Speaker C: Save us. [01:16:42] Speaker A: Wash us clean. People in this room need forgiveness. Help them not leave without experiencing your forgiving love. Your body and your blood in our place. [01:16:50] Speaker C: That's our hope and we praise you for it. [01:16:53] Speaker A: We're going to fill this room with praise. We're going to put pray for each other. We love you Jesus. [01:16:56] Speaker C: Have your way among us. In your name, amen.