["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church.
Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening.
Find the seats and find a note close to you and turn to page number 65.
Song number 65, we'll open service.
We're just over in the glory land, song number 65.
I have a home prepared where the saints abide.
Song number 65, sing it out on the first.
I have a home prepared where the saints abide.
Over in the glory land, and I long to be by my Savior's side.
Just over in the glory land, just over in the glory land.
The happy angel and just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land therein.
The mighty host I'll stand just over in the glory land.
Song number 65 on the second.
I'm on my way to those man-shelf's fairs.
Just over in the glory land, there's a saint God's praise and his glory share.
Just over in the glory land.
In the mighty host I'll stand just over in the glory land.
On the third.
What a joyful thought that my Lord now sings.
Just over in the glory land, and I can't rest safe forever.
Just over in the glory land.
I'll join the happy angel and just over in the glory land.
Just over in the glory land.
Then I'll join the mighty host I'll stand just over in the glory land.
You guys are singing well, sing it out.
On the last.
When the blood was strong, I will shout and sing.
Just over in the glory land.
When the blood was strong, I will shout and sing.
Just over in the glory land.
And when the blood was strong, I will shout and sing.
Just over in the glory land.
Amen.
Great singing.
Welcome to Verity Baptist Church, the most exciting service of the week.
Amen.
We are glad to see everyone here this evening.
Let's bow our heads and open the service with a word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank you for the opportunity again to be back tonight.
Lord, thank you for a great day that we've had so far.
Lord, thank you for everyone that's here.
I pray that you bless the evening.
I pray that you bless the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship to come in.
We love you.
And Jesus, I pray.
Amen.
All right.
It's now time for our favorites, where if you're selected, we will sing a stanza from
the song that you pick.
Go ahead, Brother Moses.
27.
Song number 27.
Is it the old rugged cross?
Song number 27.
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross.
The only ones of freedom's shame.
And I love that old cross, where there's evil so vast.
And the old cross, where there's evil so vast.
And I love that old cross, where there's evil so vast.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Sing it out on the first.
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day.
A day I will never forget.
After our grumbling cries away,
Jesus, my Savior, our King.
Oh, what a tender compassion plan.
He met the need of my heart.
Shadows he spelled with joy,
telling me of all the darkness in the dark.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.
Sing it out on the first.
But at the cross it said,
Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day.
My sins are lost today,
and my night will soon to be.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.
Sing it out on the first.
Heaven came down and glory filled my soul.
Noah, go ahead. Little Noah.
Song number two.
Song number two. Glory to his name.
Song number two. Down at the cross. Let's sing it out on the first.
Down at the cross where my sin will die.
Down where for glancing function I cry.
Dancing my heart once the blood applied.
Glory to his name. Glory to his name.
Glory to his name.
Where to my heart was the one of the light.
Glory to his name.
Um, Abigail?
Twenty-four.
Song number twenty-four.
And can it be that I should gain? Let's sing it out on the first.
And can it be that I should gain?
I'm interested, lost in whose blood
Time before me, who lost this way
For who I am to ever learn.
One thing to love, I'll never be
Like no one else tonight.
Amazing.
Why can't it be?
I will run back to this time of day.
Um, let's go ahead.
Song number two-one-two. Two-twelve.
Song number two-hundred-and-twelve.
Oh, happy day. Song number two-one-two.
Try my best, alright? Song number two-one-two on the first.
Oh, happy day. That makes my choice.
I'll be my Savior and my God.
But may this glory cry rejoice.
Until it's wrapped in all I've got.
Happy day. Happy day.
When Jesus lost, my sins were made.
He taught me how to wash away.
And if rejoicing every day.
Happy day. Happy day.
When Jesus lost, my sins were made.
Miss Patricia, go ahead.
Song number one-hundred-and-forty-five.
Song number one-four-five. This will be the last song for favorites.
Fitting song to end it. Sing it out with some passion, alright?
On the first.
When peace like a river attends in the wind.
When sorrows I see can't hold.
Whatever the love of God has taught me to say.
It is well. It is well.
Sing it out, ladies.
It is well.
With my soul.
It is well.
With my soul and my soul.
Amen. We welcome you to the evening service here at Ready Baptist Church.
We're glad you're with us. Let's go ahead and take our bulletins.
We'll look at some announcements real quickly this evening.
If you do not have a bulletin, raise your hand.
And one of our ushers can get one for you.
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you.
The verse this week, Psalm 62 verses one and two.
Truly my soul waiteth upon God.
From Him cometh my salvation.
He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense.
I shall not be greatly moved.
Good verse there. We like that.
If you open up your bulletins, you'll see our service time Sunday morning service 10 30 a.m.
And we had a wonderful service this morning. We're glad you're back out for the evening service.
And of course, we encourage you to be with us on Wednesday night for the Wednesday night Bible study.
And it is the most encouraging service of the week.
So we'd love for you to show up for the midweek service.
If you look at our sowing times, our main sowing times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
And then we have additional sowing times on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays at 2 p.m.
If you are a soul winner, I just want to remind you a couple of things.
First of all, don't forget to add your salvation on your communication card so we can update the bulletin and make sure we have those numbers.
If you have a map that you did not finish, please clearly mark what was done and what was not done and place it in the bin in the foyer so that we can recycle those and get those back out.
And then of course, if you're running late, you can call us or text us at the number there, 916-868-9080.
Let us know that you're planning on being there but you're running late.
That way we can make sure we have a partner and a map and everything that you need.
If you're a first time guest, your first time here at Verity Baptist Church, we're glad you're with us.
We have a gift we'd like to give you.
As you walk out of the church building tonight, if you go out the main foyer or if you go out our secondary foyer, you'll see a little table set up.
And on that table, you'll see these little gift bags.
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest.
This evening, there are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have.
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made.
It's called Being Baptist.
It's very well made, very interesting.
We think you'll like it.
We want to give this to you as a gift so please make sure you don't leave here tonight without grabbing one of those gift bags on your way out.
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment to fill out the communication card which is inserted in your bulletin.
If you need a pen, just raise your hand and one of our ushers will bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen.
We'd like to have a record of your attendance and we would like to send you a little gift but we need your information to do that.
So please take a moment to fill that card out.
If you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church.
What that means is that children and infants are always welcomed in the church service.
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason.
However, we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience.
All of the rooms have comfortable seating.
They have monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it.
So if you have a child that's been distracted during the service or if you need some privacy, we'd encourage you to please use those rooms as needed.
If you need to be baptized, let us know.
We'd love to baptize you.
You can let us know on the communication card.
On the back, there's a place for you to check off that you'd like information about baptism and we'll follow up with you and talk to you about that.
Or if you've already spoken to somebody, you know you need to be baptized and then all you need to do is at the end of the service while we're singing the last song after the preaching.
If you step out that door, one of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptisms this morning.
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course, today is our vision offering and we've got kind of a lot to go over regarding that.
So I'm going to hold off on that till the end of the announcements and we'll come back to that.
If you look at the other announcements there, of course, all the ladies are invited to a baby shower for Miss Karen Jimenez on Saturday, April 15th at 3 p.m.
And Miss Karen is having a boy.
She's registered on Amazon.
It is a potluck, so if you can, please bring a dish to share.
And if you'd like to attend, you can sign up on your communication card.
And then, of course, we've got Easter and all the Easter events coming up.
And we want you to just be aware of the fact that, of course, we have the Lord's Supper coming up on Wednesday, April 5th at 7 p.m.
So please make note of that.
Put that on your calendar.
We take the Lord's Supper here at our church once a year, and I'll preach a sermon about that the Sunday night before getting us ready for the Lord's Supper.
But we want you to just make sure that you are here for that.
You don't want to miss it.
It is one of the ordinances that we do as a church together, and it's always a very, very special service on Wednesday, April 5th, 7 p.m.
And then the Sunday after that, April 9th, is Easter.
You should have one of these cards in your bulletin.
We hope you'll use it for, first of all, to remind yourself about Easter.
Make sure you're here on Easter Sunday.
And then also make sure that you invite someone to church on Easter Sunday.
And we're having a special, of course, the choir and the orchestra is having special music.
We're having Cadbury eggs for all the kids, gifts for all of the guests.
So make sure that you don't forget about Easter.
Choir is practicing for Easter on Sundays at 5 p.m.
And there's other things there for you to look at.
Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody.
If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of March.
We had Evangelist Matthew and Tans Tucky's anniversary.
That will be on March 28th.
Levi Beville has a birthday on March 29th.
Matthew Vacolcik has a birthday on March 29th.
Brother Keith and Miss Katie Rosenberg have an anniversary on March 29th.
And Valor Roldan has a birthday on March 31st.
Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at.
And then, of course, we've got our vision offering stuff to talk about.
And if you are a guest tonight, if you would just excuse us for a few minutes and let me talk to our church family and kind of let them know about this.
So, of course, today's our vision offering.
Every year here at Verity Baptist Church in the spring, we take a special offering.
We call it our vision offering, and it allows us to be able to accomplish some things that we believe the Lord has laid on our hearts and things like that.
The last several years, it used to be that the vision offering, we do something kind of new every year.
But the last several years, the goals have pretty much been the same.
And one of those is to save for a down payment for a future building, which is obviously a big goal, which is why it's going to take us several years to get to it.
And then, of course, we want to continue to support our missions work.
If you see in the bulletin there, you'll see the goals, or you have one of these vision offering cards there.
We've got the goals there for you as well.
We want to continue to support our missions work.
We've got our evangelist, Matthew Stuckey, who we support full time in the Philippines.
We've got three churches in the Philippines, Manila, Pampanga, and Bicol.
And then we've got another missionary that we support, Dave Gabuntala in Cebu.
And then, of course, the eighth annual Red Hot Preaching Conference.
Today, we were receiving our offering this morning, and we're still receiving it tonight.
Of course, you can give tonight.
You can support the vision offering tonight.
You can still make a commitment.
You can still give online.
And I'm sure that we will have funds that will continue to come in throughout the week, and we will update you with that as we go.
But, of course, for vision offering, what we ask is, if you can, to do a one-time offering on the day of the vision offering.
And then if you'd like or if you prefer, then you can also make a commitment to give over the months of April, May, and June.
We had a goal of raising $100,000 in one offering.
This was the same goal that I brought to you last year, which last year we were able to completely just, you know, hit that goal with no problem.
Last year was the first time that I set a goal like that, and it was a little nerve-wracking whether we were going to be able to hit that goal or not.
But by God's grace, we were able to do it.
This year, we laid – we also had a goal of raising $100,000 again.
Of course, many of you already know this, but I'll just remind you that there was some apprehension as to the fact that things had changed regarding kind of the landscape of our church and finances.
Of course, last year at the vision offering, we had a YouTube channel that had 20,000 subscribers, and that allowed us to get our message out and our word out and let people know about the vision offering.
And since then, YouTube has taken – you know, kicked us off of YouTube.
We're not allowed on YouTube, and so we didn't have that anymore to be able to let people know about the vision offering.
So that, of course, we kind of expected that the online portion of the vision offering would be down.
And then, of course, also since last year, the economy has changed, inflation is up, and things have kind of slowed down.
So I believed and I preached a sermon on the fact that the Lord can do it, and He can do it again, and He can do more with less.
But let me go ahead and give you the numbers for this year's vision offering.
So I'm going to give you the total given so far.
So obviously, this might change. This might change by Wednesday or by Sunday.
We'll have updated numbers for you.
But I'm going to give it to you in kind of different sections.
So the total given online, and then I'll give you the total given in-house.
And the total given online is obviously given through our website.
Total given in-house is what's physically given here at the offering.
I'll give you the total given for today, and then I'll give you also the total committed over the next three months for April, May, and June.
And then I'll give you the grand total for this year's vision offering.
So the total given online, of course, as expected and predicted, was down.
But it was still a very good showing.
Total given online was $47,603 that has came in online so far.
So yeah, let's praise the Lord for that.
Anything that comes in, praise the Lord for that.
So total given online, $47,603.
Our goal is $100,000. That puts us about $53,000 short of that.
Total given in-house this morning, $81,088.66.
So praise the Lord for that.
Our goal was $100,000. Total given so far, $128,691.60.
Praise the Lord.
And this church never ceases to amaze me.
You guys are an amazing group.
Let me give you the total committed over the next three months, April, May, and June.
We have committed to come in over the next three months $29,925, which puts the grand total,
let me just give you the grand total and we'll clap one last time, $158,616.60.
So praise the Lord for that.
I know some of you are already planning on things that we could spend the money on,
but the answer is no.
And the ushers were sure to give me some ideas of where we could spend the money
with very expensive equipment, but the answer is no.
So no, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
This definitely helps us, of course.
It'll go towards all the things.
The vast majority of this is going to go towards our down payment of a future building.
And then, of course, we've got expenses with the Red Hot Preaching Conference
and with the missions and all of that.
But thank you. Thank you again.
And thank you for not making me get up here and say, well, we tried.
Better luck next time.
And you guys are an amazing group.
I do want to say this, that, of course, this was a group effort.
And, I mean, I don't know this for sure, but it seems like there was close to 100% participation,
if not 100% participation.
And it seems like everyone just did their part and everyone stretched themselves to sacrifice
and did what they could.
I will say this, that there were some heavy hitters that kind of stepped up
and really helped us this year, both in-house and outside of our church.
So thank you to all of you who just helped and made this a great success.
Let's just go ahead and give the church a round of applause again.
Praise the Lord for that.
And now I feel a little less stressed and I'd like to go home and go to bed.
But I'll preach and then we'll do that probably.
So let's go ahead and take our Chorus of the Week and we'll sing I'd Rather Have Jesus
as we prepare to receive the offering this evening.
And if you'd like to give to the vision offering, you're welcome to do so.
I'd rather have Jesus singing out on the first.
I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold.
I'd rather be His than have riches untold.
I'd rather have Jesus in houses or lands.
I'd rather be led by His name or His hand,
than to be the king of the vast domain,
and be held in sin's grand strain.
I'd rather have Jesus anything this world affords to me.
Sing it out on the second.
I'd rather have Jesus that lends applause.
I'd rather be faithful to His earfalls.
I'd rather have Jesus and hold my faith.
I'd rather be true to His holy name,
than to be the king of the vast domain,
and be held in sin's grand strain.
I'd rather have Jesus singing this world affords to me.
Amen. Good singing.
We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time.
Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank You for the vision offering.
We thank You for just the generous, sacrificial giving of our church.
Lord, I pray that You would, as we receive this offering again,
that You'd bless the gift and the giver.
Lord, we ask that You would continue to bless our church
and just every single person that participated and took part in this.
Lord, I pray You'd bless them as a result.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen.
Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 22.
Luke chapter 22.
If you do not have a Bible, raise your hand, and an usher will bring you one.
Luke chapter 22.
This evening we'll read verses 35 through 53.
Just keep your hands up and an usher will bring you a Bible.
Luke chapter 22, verse 35.
The Bible reads,
And he said unto them,
When I sent you without purse and script and shoes,
lack ye anything?
And they said, Nothing.
Then said he unto them,
But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script,
and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me,
and he was reckoned among the transgressors,
for the things concerning me have an end.
And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords.
And he said unto them, It is enough.
And he came out and went, and as he was wont, to the mount of olives,
and his disciples also followed him.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them,
Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast,
and kneeled down and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing,
remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in agony, he prayed more earnestly,
and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples,
he found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto them,
Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
And while he had spake, behold a multitude.
And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve,
went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to kiss them.
But Jesus said unto him, Judas, Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
When they which were about him saw what would follow,
they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.
And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far.
And he touched his ear, and healed him.
Then Jesus said unto the chief priests and captains of the temple,
and the elders which were come out to him,
Be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves?
When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me.
But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
Let's pray.
Father God, thank you for this day.
Thank you for this opportunity to gather together.
Please bless Pastor and the message.
Let this bring glory and honor to you.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.
Amen.
All right, we're there in Luke chapter number 22.
And as we've been talking about, we are back in our Luke series,
and we're making our way towards the end of this book.
And tonight we're going to look at this passage, Luke 22 verses 35 through 53.
And of course, this morning we talked about Peter's denial.
And this morning we looked at verses 31 through 34,
and then we skipped on to verse number 54 and went from 54 to 62 or something like that.
And we actually skipped this portion of scripture that was kind of in between that.
We're dealing with Peter's denial and the story of Peter's denial.
But in between that story, we find this passage in which the Lord Jesus Christ is in the Garden of Gethsemane.
So we skipped that this morning.
We're going to cover it tonight and be continuing our way through the Gospel of Luke.
And I want you to notice that the context that we find ourselves here in Luke 22,
and specifically in verse 35, is that things are about to change.
Things are going to change for the disciples.
Things are going to change for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you notice there in verse 35, the Bible says this.
And he said unto them, this is Jesus speaking to the disciples,
he says, when I sent you without purse and script and shoes, lack ye anything?
And he's asking a question, and they said nothing.
Now, we took a break from the Gospel of Luke for several months.
So just to kind of refresh your memory, what he's referring to here in Luke 22, 35,
when he talks about the fact that he sent them out without purse, script, shoes,
and he's asking if they lacked anything and they said nothing, is actually back in Luke chapter 10.
In fact, if you wouldn't mind, just go back to Luke chapter 10 and we'll look at that real quickly.
Luke chapter 10 and verse 3.
Remember when Jesus first sent out the disciples on a missions trip, Luke 10 and verse 3,
he said to them, go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
Verse 4, he said, carry neither purse, and a purse is a reference to a small bag or a wallet.
He said, carry neither purse nor script, and again, a script would be like a bag or a backpack.
He says, nor shoes and salute, no man.
He says, don't get distracted.
By the way, he sent them out there and he said, don't worry about anything.
I'm going to provide for your needs.
He said, just go out there, and he's sending them on a short-term missions trip.
So he wasn't sending them out to go live somewhere long-term, but he said, just go out there,
don't take a purse, don't take a script, don't take your shoes, extra pairs of shoes or extra clothes.
He said, don't take your wallet, don't take your backpack, don't pack anything.
Just go out there, and I'm going to take care of you.
Look at verse 7, Luke chapter 10 and verse 7.
He says that in the same house remain.
He's talking about when they get to where they were going.
He said, if someone invites you in, in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give,
for the laborer is worthy of his hire.
Go not from house to house, and that's not referring to soul winning,
that's referring to if people are taking care of you, don't go shopping around.
He said, whoever offers to bring you in the house and take care of you, he said, stay there,
let them take care of you, verse 8, and in whatsoever city you enter and they receive you,
eat such things as are set before you.
So he is telling them that in Luke 10, you just go out there by faith,
believing I'm going to take care of you, and I will.
And that was an exercise of faith that he wanted them to trust him,
that he could take care of them if they just went out and did the work.
That is what Jesus is referring to in Luke 22.
If you go back to Luke 22 and verse 35, he's reminding them,
hey, do you remember the lesson I taught you in Luke 10?
That I'm going to take care of you.
I'm going to take care of your needs, and you don't have to doubt.
He says to them in verse 35, and he said unto them,
when I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, lack ye anything, and they said nothing.
And he says, good, before I taught you this lesson on faith,
I'm going to take care of your needs, you just get out there and do the work,
and I will make sure you are okay.
But now, things are changing. Look at verse 36, Luke 22, verse 36.
Then said he unto them, but now.
So remember, in verse 35, it was before, and now Jesus is preparing them,
and he says, but now he that hath a purse, let him take it.
And likewise his scrip, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
So Jesus is preparing the disciples and telling them, look, things are about to change.
And the major difference is that in Luke 10, they were still like in a training phase.
They were going on a short-term mission strip, and he was telling them,
don't worry about packing your bags, don't worry about taking money, don't worry about it,
I'm going to take care of it, you just go and get the training you need.
But now, Jesus is telling them, things are about to change.
Obviously, he's about to be arrested, he's about to be crucified,
he's going to be buried for three days and three nights,
and his ministry, as far as the disciples is concerned,
and his interaction with the disciples is going to be over.
He's going to die, be buried, yes, he will resurrect,
but after the resurrection, though he will spend 40 days on earth,
it will not be as it was before. He will have interactions with them sporadically.
He won't be with them every day, and he's not going to be there to meet their needs.
So he is telling them, now you need to prepare.
He that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip,
and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.
And I'm not preaching on this, but I want you to notice that Jesus is not against
self-defense. He's saying, look, the world's about to get a little more hostile towards you,
and you might want to have a weapon. If you don't have a sword,
go ahead and get a sword, and buy a sword, and make sure that you've got your purse,
that you've got your scrip, that you're ready to go, you've got to prepare,
because things are about to get a little more difficult.
Now, he's not telling them, let's start a militia.
And that's going to become clear in the context in which we are looking,
but he is telling them, defend yourselves. Be ready to defend yourselves.
He's already told them, I want you to be a wisest serpent and harmless as doves.
And he said, be harmless, but don't be an idiot.
He said, if you don't have a sword, get one.
Look at verse 37.
For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me,
and he was reckoned among the transgressors for the thing concerning me have an end.
We're going to come back to verse 37 here in a minute, but look at verse 38.
And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords.
And he said unto them, it is enough.
So I want you to notice again, the emphasis when he tells them to get a sword,
he's not telling them, we've got to raise a militia, we've got to buy a whole arsenal.
They said, hey, we've got two swords.
He said, two swords is enough.
And I'm not preaching against you guys that have like a million guns or whatever,
but what I'm saying is that was not Jesus' thing.
He said, look, you got two, that's plenty.
We're good to go.
Now, Jesus is preparing these guys because he's about to be arrested.
In fact, when we get to the end of our text tonight,
Jesus will be in the hands of the enemies.
He will be arrested.
And what I want to do tonight is just kind of walk you through this passage of Scripture
and point out some things for you and make some applications.
And we're going to look at it under two different headings tonight.
And if you want to jot these down for your notes and you can do that,
the first thing we're going to see is the prophecy of Christ's crucifixion
in verses 37 and 38.
And then we're going to see the prayer before Christ's crucifixion in verses 39 through 46.
We'll look at this passage in these two different headings in two different sections.
And we'll begin tonight by seeing the prophecy of Christ's crucifixion.
You might have missed it when we read there verse 37,
but I'd like you to see it again.
Luke 22 and verse 37, he says to them,
Remember, he's preparing them for things things are going to change.
He said, before you could go out there with no script,
you could go out there with no shoes,
you could go out there without your backpack and you'd be fine.
He said, but now things are going to change.
Verse 37,
For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me.
Jesus brings up the fact that there is a prophecy written about him that needs to be accomplished.
The prophecy is regarding the death and crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He says, For I say unto you that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me.
And I want you to notice the prophecy.
It's there in verse 37.
And he was reckoned among the transgressors.
So he said, this was written about me, Jesus says,
and it's about to be accomplished.
What was written?
That he was reckoned, the word reckoned means to number or to be accounted with,
that he was numbered among the transgressors for the things concerning me have an end.
He is telling the disciples, this is about to come to an end.
The way that you know life and the way that you've had life with me is about to come to an end
because this prophecy about me is about to get fulfilled.
He was reckoned among the transgressors.
I'd like to show you where this prophecy comes from in the Old Testament.
Some of you may have already recognized it, but go to the Old Testament book of Isaiah,
Isaiah chapter 53, if you would.
In the Old Testament, you've got those major books of the prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Isaiah chapter 53.
Now Isaiah 53 is a prophecy of, it's a messianic prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 53 is one of the most descriptive prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ
and it is quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ here in Luke 22 when he said,
hey this prophecy is about to be accomplished about me that he was reckoned among the transgressors.
Now Isaiah 53 is an amazing passage and the prophecy that Jesus,
the part that Jesus quotes is actually not till the end of the chapter,
but it's such a short chapter and it's such an amazing prophecy
that I can't really bring myself to just start at any one place.
I just want you to see the prophecy that Jesus is quoting
and that he's telling his disciples this is about to happen.
Isaiah 53, look at verse number 1, the Bible says,
who hath believed our report. Isn't it amazing how consistent the Bible is?
I mean what do we ask today when we go out soul winning? Do you believe?
What does it take to be saved? You must believe. Believe on who? The Lord Jesus Christ.
Here we have a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ and the question is asked,
who hath believed our report? To whom is the armor of the Lord revealed?
Notice how Jesus is described, for he, referring to Jesus the Messiah,
shall grow up, meaning that he would come to this earth as a babe
and he would grow in front of this culture that he was going to be crucified in.
He would grow in front of this society. He came as a child and he would grow to adulthood
for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant.
The idea is that he came humbly, no throne, no grandeur.
There was no great wealth when he came. He was born in a manger.
He grew up as a tender plant and as roots out of the dry ground.
He had no form nor comeliness. What does that mean?
That means that there was no attractiveness to Jesus.
And that doesn't mean that he was ugly necessarily,
but the idea is that he was not exceptionally good looking.
He was just a, if you would have seen his facade and seen him,
you would have just thought he's just a normal guy, a normal man.
In fact, we're going to see that later on in Luke.
There was no form nor comeliness and when we shall see him, notice what it says,
there is no beauty that we should desire him.
Verse 3, he is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows.
We're going to get into these passages in Luke and we will see how he was despised and rejected,
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid, as it were, our faces from him.
He was despised and we esteemed him not.
The word esteem means to think highly of, to admire or to respect.
And here the prophet tells us about this suffering servant that would one day come,
that he was despised and we esteemed him not.
Surely he had borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.
We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
And here's what I want you to understand.
I'm going to go ahead and give you the punchline to Isaiah 53 before we finish the chapter.
And it is this, the teaching, the primary teaching of this chapter is on the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You say, what does that mean? It means that he came to die in our place.
He came to take our place. He substituted on our behalf.
What happened to him should have happened to us, but he came and took that place.
That's why it says in verse 5, but he was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed.
Notice verse 6, all we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
We'll see that later on in Luke as well.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers is done.
So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment.
We will see that on Wednesday night.
And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living.
Referring to his death.
For the transgressions of my people was he stricken.
The substitutionary atonement of Christ.
And he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.
And again we will see all of this in the book of Luke.
But of course you already know that when he was crucified, he was crucified in the midst of two thieves.
That's what the Bible means when it says that he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death.
We know that he was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.
A rich man who volunteered and donated his tomb for Jesus to be laid in.
This is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Extremely descriptive, not vague. It's very on point to what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold, the Bible says, because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Verse 10, and that meaning is this, that there was nothing in him that they could find him guilty of.
We will see it on Wednesday night when Pilate says, I find no fault in him.
You say, then why did he die? Verse 10, yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
He had put him to grief, when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.
And he shall see his seed, and he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous servant justify many.
That's you. That's me in Isaiah 53. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant, Jesus, justify many.
You, me. For he shall bear their iniquities.
And in verse 12, we find the verse that Jesus actually quotes in Luke.
He says, therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with the strong,
because he had poured out his soul unto death. Here's the quote.
And he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Do you see the substitutionary atonement of Christ there?
I mean, Jesus said, keep your place there in Isaiah. Go back to Luke 22.
Jesus said to the disciples, he said, there's a prophecy that he was reckoned among the transgressors.
He was counted among the transgressors. He was put there, and we dealt with him as a transgressor.
But when you look at Isaiah 53 in verse 12, it says, and he was numbered with the transgressors.
Why was he numbered with the transgressors?
And he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
It's the intercessory. It is the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Jesus begins here, and I want you to understand it, because things are about to get really chaotic for the disciples.
In fact, they're not only going to get chaotic, they're going to become very confused.
And really, there's no other word that I can think of to describe them, at least not that would be
separated with the words confusion and chaos, other than this word, they're going to look like a bunch of clowns.
Things are going to get very difficult over the next few days for the disciples, but Jesus is reminding them that all of this was planned.
All of this was already ordained. He was numbered with the transgressors, and I don't know about you,
but I'm thankful that he is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
None of this caught Jesus by surprise.
The disciples are going to go into a little bit of turmoil and chaos, but not Jesus.
So we see the prophecy of Christ's crucifixion, and then I'd like you to notice the second section we'll see tonight is the prayer before Christ's crucifixion.
Go back to Luke 22, look at verse 38.
And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords, and he said unto them, It is enough.
Verse 39.
And he came out and went as he was wont to the mount of olives, and his disciples also followed him.
Now, just for your own notes and for sake of study, go to Matthew 26 real quickly.
In Luke 22, we're told that he went to the mount of olives, and that is true.
In Matthew and in the other gospels, we are told specifically what place in the name of the location where he went, Matthew 26.
If you go to Matthew, if you go backwards, you go past the book of Mark, into the book of Matthew,
and then do me a favor, put your finger or ribbon or bookmark or something there in Matthew,
because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it.
Matthew 26, 36, Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane.
And saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder.
I want you to notice that Jesus enters, not by coincidence,
enters into this garden on the mount of olives by the name of Gethsemane.
This is where we see Jesus as he is arrested. This is where he is arrested from.
I want you to notice what he does there.
Keep your place here in Matthew. Go back to Luke 22.
And we see Jesus in prayer.
Several months ago, or maybe even a couple years ago, I can't remember now,
I preached a series called The School of Prayer.
And we were with the Lord Jesus Christ in the school of prayer,
and here we are going to enter into the school of prayer with the Lord Jesus Christ again.
We see him pray in verse 39, the Bible says,
And he came out and went as he was wont to the mount of olives, and his disciples followed him.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray.
I want you to notice, let me just give you quickly three thoughts regarding prayer from this passage.
The first one is this, where there's an exhortation for prayer.
Jesus is about to leave. He's about to be arrested and crucified.
And this is what he tells his disciples.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray.
He said, Pray.
He's exhorting them, encouraging them, telling them you should pray.
Why should we pray?
Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
The idea there where it says enter into temptation means to succumb to, to fail to resist.
He says pray that you don't fail.
Pray that you don't succumb to temptation.
Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
He exhorted the disciples to pray.
We're about to see what they did with that exhortation.
But then he also, we see here an example of prayer.
And Jesus, if you study the Gospels, you'll notice a characteristic about him is that he's constantly praying.
Notice there verse 39 again,
And he came out and went, notice this phrase, as he was want.
The word want means to have a habit of, to have a manner of.
As he was want means that he went to this place, Gethsemane, to pray.
And this was not the first time, this was not the only time.
He was not just doing this because he was about to be crucified.
This was a habit of his, this was a manner of his, this was a place that he went to pray as he was want.
And here's what I'm saying, is if Jesus felt the need to pray, then you and I better realize that we need to learn to pray.
I want you to notice a couple of things when we consider the example of prayer here.
First of all, I want you to notice that there's a place of prayer.
Look at verse 40.
And when he was at the place.
At what place?
At the place where he was want to pray.
At this garden of Gethsemane.
This garden in the mountain of Olives, he had a place, Jesus had a place where he would routinely go and pray.
And when he was at the place, he said unto them, pray that ye enter not into temptation, verse 41.
And he was withdrawn from them.
I want you to notice that Jesus was a great prayer warrior because of the fact that he had a place and he had a private place where he would pray.
I just want to ask you the question and I don't want you to answer it out loud, but I do want you to consider it in your heart.
Do you have a place where you pray?
Is there a private place, a closet, somewhere you go to get alone?
The Bible says he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast.
He went to the certain place as he was want and he went there to pray.
As we consider the example of prayer from the Lord Jesus Christ, what we learn is that there's a place where he would go to pray.
And you and I would do well to find a place where we can pray.
I want you to notice, secondly, as we consider this example, not only do we see a place of prayer, but I want you to notice the posture of prayer.
Look at verse 41.
He was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast.
It's just when you consider the context of everything that's happening here and when you consider the character of who we're talking about.
We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, about ready to allow himself to be taken to die for the sins of the world.
And the Bible tells us that as he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, notice the wording.
I mean, just get the picture in your mind's eye, and kneeled down and prayed.
And I've got to ask the question, is there ever a time you get on your knees and pray?
Now, you don't have to get on your knees and pray.
In fact, all throughout the Bible, we see different people praying at different postures, and all of them are acceptable.
The Bible teaches that you can pray like Jesus prayed here on your knees.
There's many examples of that in the Bible.
We often see people praying standing up, and there's nothing wrong with that either.
The Bible talks about men praying and standing up and having their hands lifted up to heaven, and there's nothing wrong with any of those postures.
But I do want to identify just this quickly for you, that the idea here when Jesus would kneel down and pray is this idea of humility.
The idea that, Lord, I am coming to you, this is God the Son, praying to God the Father, submitting himself, humbling himself, kneeling down and saying, I need your help.
And look, you don't have to get on your knees to pray, and that's not something that you have to do in order for the prayer to count.
But every once in a while, it's good to humble ourselves and just put ourselves on the floor and remind ourselves that, God, we are in need of you.
We need you.
We see the place of prayer, we see the posture of prayer.
We saw the exhortation from Jesus to pray.
Pray, he tells the disciples, that you enter not into temptation.
We see the example of Jesus of prayer.
We see him find the place, withdraw from them, kneel down, his place and his posture.
And I want you to notice, thirdly, the effect of prayer.
What was it that Jesus was doing?
And I preached the whole series on this not too long ago, but I think it's good for us to be reminded.
Because I think sometimes we have the wrong idea of prayer.
And we think that prayer is simply getting God to grant our wishes.
And there's a sliver of truth to that because it is true that God wants to answer our prayers.
The Bible says you have not because you ask not.
And I definitely believe that God answers prayer.
I think God answered a prayer for us today at the vision offering.
Praise the Lord for that.
And God wants to answer prayer and we should bring our prayers to God.
And we should make our request known unto God.
There's nothing wrong with that, but please don't misunderstand the purpose of prayer.
The purpose of prayer is not to get God to do what we want him to do.
But the actual purpose of prayer is to line ourselves up with the will of God.
I mean we're here, we have the Lord Jesus Christ, praying.
Notice what he says, verse 42.
We see him in this garden, private, about a stone's cast, in his place of prayer, in his private prayer.
We see him in the posture of prayer, kneeling on his knees, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
So what are we reading here?
You know, Jesus was God in the flesh, we believe that.
And you may not understand this, but as much as he was 100% God, he was also 100% man.
And here we really see the humanity of Christ.
In his humanity, he says, I don't want to go through this.
He says, remove this cup from me.
Throughout the Old Testament, the word cup or the illustration of a cup often referenced the judgment of God.
And he says, remove this cup from me.
He says, I don't want to drink this cup.
But notice he says, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
He's saying, Lord, I'm asking if there's any way that I can get out of this, if there's any way that I don't have to do this.
If this can be done without me having to drink the cup of your judgment, he says, please remove it.
But then he says, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
You say, what is the purpose of prayer?
The purpose of prayer is to line up our will to God's.
The purpose of prayer is not to try to change God's will, but it is to change our will to line up to God's will.
That's why Jesus already taught.
Go back to Matthew if you kept your place there.
Matthew chapter 6, there in that famous Lord's Prayer, which Matthew chapter 6 is really not the Lord's Prayer.
I don't mind people calling it that.
I call it that.
But it's really not the Lord's Prayer.
It's Jesus teaching his disciples to pray.
If you want to know what the Lord's Prayer is, it's here in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And we don't even get all the details.
You can go to John chapter 16 and actually hear the prayer that Jesus prayed.
We won't do that because we're not studying that book.
We're just looking at Luke tonight.
But Jesus already taught his disciples that when they come to God and they come in prayer, that they were to pray this way.
Matthew 6, 10.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
And here's what I'm saying.
And as you and I pray, we should pray, Lord, this is how we should pray.
If thou be willing, will you do X, Y, and Z?
If it's your will.
And if it's not your will.
Not my will, but thine.
The purpose of prayer is to line ourselves up to the will of God.
Prayer has more to do with lining up your wants to God's will than trying to get God to line up to your wants.
But there's a hint in this passage that I think is interesting about prayer that I want you to understand, and it is this.
If you go back to Luke 22, it's interesting to me when we talk about prayer and we talk about answered prayer and God definitely answers prayer
and I believe in answered prayer and God has answered many prayers for me and for us and praise the Lord for it.
But it's interesting to me when you see the two greatest characters in the Bible, and this might be up for debate, I mean not the first one.
Obviously the first, the greatest character in the Bible is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The second greatest character in the Bible may be up for debate, but maybe if we say the second greatest character in the New Testament,
and I think most of us would probably agree, that it's the Apostle Paul.
And what's interesting to me is that when we see these two pray, the example we're given of their prayers is unanswered prayer.
Or prayer that's answered with a denial.
Jesus said remove this cup from me, but the answer was no.
God the Father said no, I can't remove you, this is the plan.
This is what we have to do, this is what needs to be done.
If you remember Paul prayed, the Bible tells us he said that he came to the Lord three different times,
praying that he would remove the thorn of the flesh that he had.
And the answer was no.
And oftentimes what Christians will do is they'll say well if the answer is no,
and if what Pastor is saying is true, and prayer is not about changing God's will to match up my will,
but to change my will to match up God's will, then I don't want to pray.
Because I don't like God's will.
And I don't want what God wants for me.
And if he's not going to change to line himself up with me, then what's the purpose of prayer?
But here's what you need to understand.
Not only is prayer meant to line up your will to God's will, but there is, and I can't explain this to you,
I can only just show you what the Bible says and make the application,
but I believe that there is a spiritual strengthening by God when you and I pray.
You say when the answer is yes, when the answer is yes, but even more when the answer is no.
What did Paul say?
Paul said, will you remove this thorn in the flesh?
What was the response?
No, but my grace is sufficient for thee.
For my strength is made perfect in weakness.
See, the truth is that whether Paul would have prayed or Paul would not have prayed,
the answer was no, either way he was going to have the thorn in the flesh, but because he prayed.
God said, I'm going to give you grace to get you through it.
Why don't you notice what happens here with the Lord Jesus Christ?
He prays.
Verse 42, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
The answer is no, but look at verse 43.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
See, the purpose of prayer is to line up our will with God's, but it is also to be strengthened by God in doing his will.
You say, what happens if prayer doesn't get you out of the difficulty for which you are praying?
Well, here's what you need to understand.
Pray.
What if I'm praying and I'm not getting the answer?
What if I'm praying and it keeps being delayed?
What if I'm asking him to remove this thorn in the flesh to not make me drink the cup?
What if I'm praying for these things and he keeps saying no?
You just keep on praying because if prayer does not remove the difficulty, then the prayer will get you through the difficulty.
God will supernaturally strengthen you.
He says to Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
Now, you won't see the angels.
I hope you won't.
Jesus saw them because he was God.
But I wonder how often you and I are missing out on the spiritual strengthening that God wants to send.
The answer is no.
I'm talking about prayers that you and I know the answer is no.
God says no.
I'm not removing the thorn in the flesh.
No, you're going to take the cup.
You're going to die on the cross.
But he says, there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
See, you're missing out.
When you and I don't pray, we're missing out.
Even if the answer is no, you're missing out on the supernatural strengthening of God.
And I'm just saying, you say, why should I pray during difficulty?
He's not going to take the difficulty away.
But you might be shocked how the prayer helps you get through the difficulty.
You say, why should I pray?
Well, you should pray because it'll get you through the difficulty.
But you should also pray because often prayer can do for you what others cannot.
Look at verse 45.
And when he arose from prayer and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping.
He found them sleeping for sorrow.
They were depressed.
They were discouraged.
They've already heard Jesus say all these negative things.
He's telling them to get swords and stuff.
Remember, they enter into the garden and he tells them, he says,
pray that you enter not into temptation.
He says, pray, will you pray with me?
In other passages and other gospels, he asked the question, will you pray with me one hour?
They enter in to pray.
He goes to pray.
He's full of agony.
He's stressed and distressed.
He's praying.
The Bible says that his sweat were as drops of blood.
God is sending angels to strengthen him.
And then he goes to see the disciples and they're asleep.
And you know, sometimes it feels like people just let you down.
But God never lets you down.
You say, why should I pray?
Because God is the only one that will never let you down.
Even when the answer is no, it's no because it's the right answer.
Verse 46, and said unto them, why sleepy?
Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.
Now in verses 47 through 53, we see the arrest of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I want to break this up for you just quickly in sections of questions
we see three different questions that are asked.
And I'm going to show you that here in a minute.
But let me just, before we move on from the Garden of Gethsemane,
let me make one application.
It was in the Garden of Gethsemane, it was in the garden,
that Jesus Christ, the God-man, the sinless Son of God,
chose to submit himself to the will of the Father.
He'd already made that decision, but it's reaffirmed,
and it is exemplified for us in this passage.
He's telling the Father, I don't want to do this.
If thou be willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
He humbled himself to death, the death of the cross.
And I have to make the application, and I have to just connect the dots,
that it is interesting to me that the first man, Adam,
in a garden chose to not submit to God, chose to sin,
and follow the direction of his wife.
And the first man, Adam, in another famous garden,
the Garden of Eden, damned humanity.
And the second Adam, the sinless Son of God,
in this other garden of Gethsemane,
chooses to be the sacrificial lamb, the atonement for mankind,
to replace Adam, and to bring salvation to mankind.
In Luke 22 and verse 47, we see a series of questions.
Let me just point them out to you real quickly.
The first is a question for Judas.
The Bible says there in verse 47,
And while he yet spake, behold a multitude.
And he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them,
and drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
I want you to notice the first question that's asked here.
Verse 48, But Jesus said unto him,
Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
Of course, we see Judas Iscariot here,
who has conspired against Jesus to betray him.
In fact, just real quickly, look at verse 1 of the same chapter,
Luke 22 and verse 1.
We didn't cover these verses yet, we'll cover them at another time.
But in Luke 22 and verse 1, the Bible says,
Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover.
Now the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill him,
for they feared the people.
Then entered Satan into Judas, surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve,
and he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains
how he might betray him unto them.
And they were glad and covenanted to give him money.
That's why the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil.
And he promised and sought opportunity.
Notice, he promised and sought opportunity,
that's what we're reading about in the Garden of Gethsemane,
to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.
What they needed Judas for was not to get to Jesus, Jesus was famous.
The problem was that every time they got to Jesus, there was a crowd.
And if they were to arrest him in front of the crowd,
then people would know that Jesus had done nothing wrong.
They needed to find Jesus in the absence of the multitude.
And this is why Judas was brought in, one of the twelve, to betray Jesus.
He was given money, because he would know where Jesus would be.
Remember where he was want to pray?
He would know where Jesus would go at night.
And Jesus, knowing this, like Daniel, knew that people had conspired against him.
Yet chose to continue to pray where he had always prayed.
Remember Daniel? He just opened the window like he always had.
And he just prayed like he always had, even though they changed the law.
Judas here comes to Jesus and betrays him.
The Bible tells us in other passages, and we see it here as well,
that they had already made a plan.
Obviously this is at night time, it is dark,
and we already saw in Isaiah 53 that Jesus looked like everyone else.
He looked just like a normal man.
They needed help identifying Jesus.
So Judas said, I will greet him.
And this was a common greeting at the time, to greet each other with a kiss.
That's not something we do in our culture today.
It would be the equivalent of a handshake.
But Judas told them, I'll go straight to Jesus, I'll greet him.
It would be like us saying, I'll go straight to the person you want.
When you see me shake his hand, that's the guy, get him.
Judas said, I'll greet him with a kiss, and then you will know who he is.
And again, just a couple of thoughts regarding this.
This tells us a couple of things, that Jesus looked like everyone else.
So don't believe these movies about Jesus.
Because in the movies of Jesus, you've got the 12 apostles,
they just look like normal guys.
And then Jesus is like Leonardo DiCaprio or something.
And I mean, why did Judas have to point them out?
Because he looked like everyone else.
And by the way, Jesus didn't have long hair.
Because if he had long hair, he could have just said,
look, throughout history, men have not had long hair.
And in this culture at this time, it was not common for men to have long hair.
So if Jesus had long hair, why didn't he just say, the guy with the long hair?
You see the hippie there with the long hair? Get him.
Why didn't he say, the blonde guy with the blue eyes? Get him.
It's because that's not what Jesus looked like.
He looked like a normal guy in a garden with other men.
They needed help to identify him.
So Judas said, I'll greet him. When I kiss him, you'll know who he is.
So he came, he drew near unto Jesus to kiss him.
And look, be careful about putting too much in the Bible.
When I read this, I put some emotion into it.
And I can just feel the heart of Christ breaking as he says,
Judas betrays thou the Son of Man with a kiss.
I just want you to know, if you've ever been betrayed, Jesus has been too.
If you've ever had your heart broken, maybe by a spouse, maybe by a son,
maybe by a daughter, maybe by circumstances of life,
maybe there have been enemies who have conspired against you,
who have stabbed you in the back,
there's a reason why he is the high priest who has felt our iniquities.
He knows our pain.
And in the humanity of Christ, you can almost feel his heart break as he says,
Judas betrays thou the Son of Man with a kiss.
So we see the question for Judas.
But then I want you to notice there's a question for Jesus.
Verse 49,
When they which were about him saw what would follow,
they said unto him, Lord,
here's the question for Jesus, this is the disciples asking the question,
Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
The sword comes back.
Because remember he told them, get a sword to protect yourself.
But now that they're here, they're at the garden,
the guards show up, this crowd shows up, this multitude,
they're going to arrest Jesus.
Jesus asks a question to Judas, he says,
betrays thou the Son of Man with a kiss.
But now the disciples ask a question to Jesus.
They said, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
And they're asking, should we raise up a militia?
Should we fight this? Should we get weapons and fight this?
And look, the answer when it comes to Christianity is no.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
Our war is a spiritual warfare.
But I want you to notice, and you love the disciples and I love the disciples,
but we're going to see them here at a very low time in their life.
They have this clownish, klutz type of mentality.
They got two swords.
And they're going to put on some sort of military defense or offense to protect Jesus.
And look how it goes, verse 50.
And one of them, we're told in another gospel that this is Peter.
One of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
I mean, this guy, it's just chaos.
I mean, Jesus comes, Judas shows up and he kisses Jesus.
And Jesus says to him, you're betraying me with a kiss.
And then the disciples get all riled up and said, you want us to fight?
And Peter just takes the sword and he starts swinging.
Keep in mind, he's a fisherman, so he's not very good at this.
He's trying to cut the guy's head off and he cuts off the ear.
I mean, the whole thing is a mess.
He has one disciple that betrayed him.
He's got another disciple that's going to deny him.
He's got these disciples that are trying to start a fight.
They're all about to just go off into the night and desert him, except for one, John.
And you got to ask yourself, if you put yourself in the story, what'd that look like?
Did all 12 just kind of go together off on their way?
Well, I guess we got to go home now.
Or was it just kind of this shameful thing, just kind of one by one, just, okay, I got to go.
It's chaos.
But I want you to notice Jesus' composure.
In verse 50, and one of them smote the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
And Jesus answered and said, suffer ye thus far.
He says, stop, just stop.
And he touched his ear and he healed him.
And again, we see Jesus just under control, calm, and composed.
None of this caught him by surprise.
And I just think it's funny, the guy just gets his ear cut off, he heals the guy.
And they just continue, you have a right to remain silent, everything you say can and be used against you in the court of law or whatever.
They just continue on.
But they ask this question of Jesus, Lord, shall we smite with the sword?
And in other gospels, we're told that he says to them, look, I could pray and ask for a legion of angels to come.
I don't know, I don't need you to protect me.
I don't need you to defend me.
Actually, if you remember, this is all planned.
This is what's supposed to happen.
So he says, just knock it off.
I told you to get a sword to protect yourself.
I didn't tell you to get a sword to fight against the government.
And he touched his ear and healed him.
We saw the question for Judas, we saw the question for Jesus.
I want you to notice, lastly, a question for the Jews.
Verse 52, then Jesus said unto the chief priests and captains of the temple and the elders which were come to him.
And I want you to notice this group that's gathered against Jesus.
This is not just a random mob.
It's not villagers with pitchforks.
It's not like some drunken sheriff went into town and said, let's go get Jesus and a bunch of drunk, let's go get him.
This is a very precise and elite group.
These people were chosen for a reason. Look at verse 52.
Then Jesus said unto the chief priests and the captains of the temple and the elders,
the elders of the Jewish community, the political leadership,
the chief priests and the captains of the temple, the religious leadership of that culture.
Then said Jesus unto the chief priests and captains of the temples and the elders which were come to him.
He says, be ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves?
We saw the question for Judas, we saw the question for Jesus.
But then we see Jesus ask a question to the Jews.
He says, why have you come out against me as a thief with swords and staves?
Verse 53, when I was daily with you and the temple, ye stretched forth no hands against me.
He says, why are you coming out in the middle of the night with your mob, with your swords, with your staves and you're trying to attack?
He said, I haven't been hiding.
When I was daily with you and the temple, you stretched forth no hand against me.
He says, why are you doing, like I'm some sort of common criminal, why are you doing this?
But then notice Jesus answers his own question.
Verse 53, he says, but this is your hour.
He says, you want to know why you came out at night?
First of all, because what you're doing is wrong.
Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil.
That's why they didn't arrest him in the temple, why they didn't arrest him in the middle of the day.
That's why they're going to have these mock trials all night.
They'll beat him and they'll have these illegal trials and then they'll try to structure it and justify it in the daytime by taking him to Pilate and taking him to Herod.
He says, you're coming out like I'm some sort of common criminal, but I've been with you daily with the temple, but Jesus answers the question.
He says, I know why you're doing it and I want you to understand that I know why you're doing it.
And he's telling the disciples, you need to understand why they're doing this because this is your hour and the power of darkness.
And there's power there. There's power in that statement.
Years and years and years ago, Pastor John Cowles preached a sermon called, This is Your Hour.
And he taught this principle from this passage and it's what Jesus was saying.
He was saying, this is your hour.
Jesus says, I'm fully aware of what's going to happen.
I'm going to be arrested.
They won't even bring a proper accusation against him. They'll just try to get him to incriminate himself.
Then they'll take him to Pilate and try to pressure Pilate into putting him to death.
Pilate will waver and try to get Herod to do it and Herod will send him back and Pilate will finally give in.
And Jesus is telling them, I understand that I'm going to get beaten. I'm going to be mocked. I'm going to be humiliated.
I will eventually be crucified and I will be put to death. And he said, I want you to understand something.
This, this is your hour and the power of darkness.
But there's an idea that Jesus has.
There's a reason why he says, this is your hour.
And what he's telling them is, yes, this is your hour and the power of darkness, but Sunday is coming.
And though you might crucify me today, though I might be in a grave for three days and three nights,
this is your hour, but Sunday's coming. The resurrection's coming. It's not over yet.
This is what Jesus told his disciples as they were getting ready to lose him.
And the lesson that you and I can learn today is that, yes, now, right now, this time that you and I live in,
it seems dark. It seems grim. It seems bad. They're trying to hurt us. They're trying to attack us.
They're trying to keep us from getting our message out. They're shutting us down on Google and shutting us down on YouTube.
They're shutting us down everywhere. You say, why is it? Because it is their hour.
Let me tell you something. Sunday's coming. The sun will rise. Jesus will return and it won't last.
So Jesus asks a question. Why are you coming out like I'm some sort of a thief?
Be come out as against a thief with swords and staves? And then he answers it.
Oh, I know why. Because this is your hour and the power of darkness. But Sunday.
And some day is on its way. That's why our heads in that world of prayer.
Heavenly Father. Lord, we love you.
We thank you for these portions of scripture.
Lord, we pray that you'd help us to learn from them.
And help us to remember, as we enter into this Easter season.
The great sacrifice on the cross that. Our savior.
Volunteered himself for. On our behalf.
Help us to love you and serve you as a result. In Jesus name, we pray.
Amen. All right. Well, on Wednesday night, we're going to pick up right where we left off here in Luke chapter 22.
We'll finish chapter 22 and actually get into chapter 23. I want to just take a minute to just thank you again.
Thank you very much. We'll have Brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song.
But just regarding the vision offering. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
All of you for the great. Just the sacrifice. And like I said, I'm always just impressed by this church.
I'm amazed by this church. And, you know, I'll be honest with you.
I had my doubts. And I you know, who never doubted you as your pastor's wife.
I mean, this whole week I've been you know, we've been talking. I was like, you think you think we're going to reach our goal?
And I I've had my doubts. But though every time she kept saying they'll come through, they're going to come through.
And I and I and I appreciate for that. This is an amazing church.
It's an amazing group. And I'm just I mean, I'm impressed by you.
Just this this afternoon, I was sitting in my office and I look over on the screens.
And of course, the choir is practicing and they do a great job.
And I look over and I look at the orchestra and Brother Andrews over there leading the orchestra.
And I just think to myself, you know, these are amazing people.
The choir, the orchestra, the safety team. I mean, just everything. The ushers.
We just had a usher training on Friday night.
These guys, you know, they're they're an interesting group, these ushers.
They look all sophisticated and they're nice coats, but you take those coats off of them and get them all together.
They're they're a rowdy bunch, I'll tell you. But I asked Brother Vladi, are they always rowdy?
He said they're rowdy and they like to ask questions. But I just want to say God bless you and thank you.
I know that we we push hard around here and we work hard.
And it's been it's been you know, we had the youth rally, we had the vision offering and, you know, we're going to catch our breath.
And we've got Easter right around the corner after that.
You know, maybe we'll take a day off. I don't know. But I just appreciate you.
And I just on behalf of my myself and my wife, thank you for letting us serve you and for serving with us.
And I'm excited about what the Lord will do and will continue to do through us.
So just God bless you. And we appreciate you as a church family.
Why Brother R.J. come up and lead us in a final song.
Let's grab our song and turn to page number 15.
Song number 15.
We'll let service lead me to Calgary.
Lest I forget, get 70. Let's sing it out. Song number 15 on the first.
King of my life, I crown it out.
Thine shall my glory be.
Lest I forget my own power.
He leads my worry.
Lest I forget, get 70.
Lest I forget my agony.
Lest I forget my love for you.
He leads my glory.
Show me the tomb where thou art slain.
Tenderly worn in flesh.
Angels in the light array.
Dark in the clouds now set.
Lest I forget, get 70.
Lest I forget my agony.
Lest I forget my love for you.
Lead me to Calgary on the third.
Let me life in me through the years.
Come when the years are free.
Show me the tomb where thou art slain.
Lead me to Calgary.
Lest I forget, get 70.
Lest I forget my agony.
Lest I forget my love for you.
Lead me to Calgary.
You guys are singing well. Sing it out on the last.
May I be willing more to live.
May life not cost more.
Be when thou cometh free to share.
Thou that's been gone through the years.
Let out.
Lest I forget, get 70.
Lest I forget my agony.
Lest I forget my love for you.
Lead me to Calgary.
Amen. Great singing.
If anyone here has questions about salvation, baptism, or church membership,
the pastor will be at the door. He would love to talk to you.
Or direct you to someone who's trained to do that as well.
Brother Nate, would you mind dismissing us with a word of prayer?
Here we are, Lord. Thank you for the night.
Thank you for the sermon, Lord.
I really hope that you do.
I hope that they travel home.
I hope that they travel back.
Amen.