I don't know if this is going to come out as a sermon tonight.
You know, really, I was just thinking about the, you know,
we're going to remember the Lord's death tonight.
We're going to partake of that bread and that grape juice representing his blood.
And it's just important that we focus on something that in the Bible is essentially
quite a simple doctrine that Jesus Christ died,
that he was buried for three days and three nights,
and that he rose again from the dead.
And you know, the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ wants us to remember this,
he asks us to remember his death.
Just, I was just contemplating some of the passages in the Bible
that speak of the death of Christ,
where Jesus himself is predicting of his death to come.
The title for the sermon tonight is,
Jesus Predicts His Death, okay?
Jesus Predicts His Death.
And again, I don't know if this is going to come across like a sermon.
I just want you to be thinking about the fact that
our Heavenly Father would send his son to die a death.
Like he didn't send his son to establish his kingdom
or to be just glorified as far as from a human or an earthly perspective,
but that he came in Bethlehem's manger as a little baby to die.
To die for you and I, actually.
And you know, as a pastor, I was thinking about this.
As a pastor, I'm constantly, you know,
speaking to different people about different topics and issues.
And one thing, you know, I'm just highlighted at how weak man is
and that we all have so many struggles and so many issues.
And it can be various things.
It can be our workplace.
It can be our finances.
It can be illnesses in the bodies.
It can be even just insecurities.
It can be emotions.
It can be competition.
There are so many things that people struggle with, right?
It could be marriage.
It's just so many issues and turmoils that people struggle with.
And then we go and knock someone's door and they say,
I think I can make it to heaven.
I think like we can barely strike deal with the day-to-day struggles
that we have in our life.
And then we think for a moment that man could get themselves to heaven
based on how good they are.
And it's wow, you know, really highlights to me every time
someone is struggling with whatever issue it is,
just how weak we are and how much we depend on our Lord God
for his salvation, his strength, his guidance and his wisdom.
We're there in John chapter two and look at verse number one.
It says, and the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee
and the mother of Jesus was there.
Now when it says and the third day there was a marriage,
if you look at John chapter one, what that third day represents
is three days after his baptism, okay?
Three days after his baptism, he goes to this marriage in Cana.
He performs his first miracle.
And of course, when we look at that,
we know that essentially Jesus Christ began his ministry,
his full-time ministry, you know, at his baptism.
And remember baptism represents when you're standing in the water,
the death on the cross and then the burial under the water
and the coming out of water, the resurrection.
And so from the very beginning of Christ's ministry,
his, you know, by symbolism showing that that will be the climax.
That's the whole purpose, that he came to this earth
to die on the cross and to rise from the dead.
But the point is, I want to show you,
this is just three days after his baptism,
very early in the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Drop down to verse number 12.
After this, so after the wedding,
so we don't know exactly how long after,
it could be a week later, it could be a month later.
Again, my point being, this is very early in his ministry, okay?
After this, he went down to Capernaum,
he and his mother and his brethren and his disciples,
and they continued there not many days.
And the Jews Passover was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem
and found in the temple, those that sold oxen and sheep and doves
and the changes of money sitting.
And when he had made a scourge of small cords,
he drove them all out of the temple and the sheep and the oxen
and poured out the changes money and overthrew the tables
and said unto them that sold doves, take these things hence,
make not my father's house and house of merchandise.
Jesus Christ being very clear, look, coming to God's house
and the God's house in the New Testament is the local church.
For us, it's New Life Baptist Church.
Look, we are not here to make merchandise.
We're not here to make business one of another,
to make profit one from another, to exchange finances here,
running some business, you know, for your own profit.
No, no, we're coming here to serve our Lord Jesus Christ.
And look at verse number 17.
And his disciples remembered that it was written,
the zeal of thine house have eaten me up.
Then answered the Jews and said unto him,
what sign showest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
Essentially, they're asking him like,
what gives you the authority to do this?
You know, to come into the temple, you know, make this whip,
drive these people away, ruin their business.
What gives that authority?
What's the sign of this?
And he says in verse number 19,
Jews answered and said unto them,
destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.
I want to show you this is so early.
Maybe a week into Christ's ministry.
Maybe let's say a month into Christ.
Let's give it a little bit of space.
Let's say it's a month into Christ's ministry.
And what is he saying?
Destroy this temple and in three days I'll rise it up.
Now what does he mean by that?
In verse number 20, then said the Jews,
40 and six years was this temple in building.
And will thou rear it up in three days?
But he spake of the temple of his body.
When therefore he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them
and they believed the scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
So when Jesus Christ says, destroy this temple,
what is it saying?
My body, okay?
When you kill this body in three days, I will raise it up.
Jesus himself will raise it up.
He has the power to raise up his body.
But I want you to know the title of the sermon tonight is
Jesus predicts his death.
Now he does it literally right at the beginning of his ministry.
Do you see that?
Right at the beginning of his ministry.
He's already saying that he's going to die
and he's going to rise from the dead.
Okay, now the reason I want to make a point out of this
is one of the greatest frustrations that I have with dispensational theology
and I'm sure some of you guys have heard this.
The teaching is that when Christ came to this earth,
he came to establish his kingdom for the Jews.
But because the Jews rejected him,
they did not want him to be the king of the Jews,
then plan B was put into place and then he died for the sins of man.
No, no, I want to show you from the very beginning,
from the very beginning of his ministry,
this is not plan B, you know, his plan A was to die for our sins,
to rise again from the dead.
Christ knew this going into ministry.
Like what blows my mind is just the obedience of the son of God,
knowing that this is the method by which the father would redeem man back to God,
that our one mediator would be Jesus Christ and his sacrifice
to start a work, to start a ministry,
and of course Jesus Christ is God, but don't forget he was also man.
You know, he had the same limitations that we have
Jesus Christ felt hunger like we do,
you know, when those nails were put into his hands,
he felt those pain, that pain like we would feel that pain
if someone were to nail us to the cross,
he was beaten, he was whipped, he was spat upon,
he was embarrassed publicly, shamed publicly.
How would you feel about that?
If God says, hey, I've got a ministry for you,
and they're going to crucify you, they're going to kill you,
they're going to embarrass you, going to shame you publicly,
and we see the obedience of the son,
yes father, this is what I'll do.
And again, just showing you that from the very beginning,
this was the purpose of Christ.
You know, if you go back to John chapter one,
which you don't need to right now,
but even before Christ said these words,
John the Baptist, what did he say?
Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
And so John the Baptist knew,
hey, the whole purpose of Christ was to be a sacrificial lamb,
to die in our place, for his blood to be shed for us.
Now, when I say Jesus predicts his death,
and we're talking about earlier in his ministry,
you know, don't forget that even the prophets of old,
we're going to have a look at this later on,
but even the prophets of old knew the death of Jesus Christ.
Now, did they know all the details?
No, but if you read like Isaiah 53,
you read a chapter like that,
I mean, just a description of the suffering of Christ
is laid out black and white for all to see,
that even under the Old Testament system,
that this was the plan.
This is not some plan B, this was always plan A.
You know, also, when we think about the sacrificial system,
you know, they would, you know,
build the altar and sacrifice the animals and shed the blood.
And of course, before the mosaic system,
people would build an altar and do that.
Then after, when Christ brought in the old covenant,
then he had a proper procedure,
you know, the certain priests that had to do this, etc, etc.
All of that was to communicate to us
that this would be the method by which Jesus Christ would die,
would shed his blood and bring redemption between God and man.
Even, you know, the Passover lamb,
when Israel is stuck in Egypt and God instructs the Israelites
to put the blood on the doorposts, you know,
and when God sees the blood that he would pass over them,
that he would not judge them,
when he saw the blood of the lamb,
all of these is just pictures and lessons and teachings
about what Christ would ultimately fulfill in us.
Even so much with Abraham and Isaac,
Abraham being asked by God to sacrifice his son
to the point where Abraham's about to,
he's picked up the knife and about to thrust his son,
and God says to stop.
You know, God saw the heart of Abraham
and Abraham expected,
you read about this in the book of Hebrews,
expected that his son would rise from the dead.
You know, so even in the Old Testament,
this was always the plan.
And you know this, and I know this.
That's why I said I don't know if there's so much assuming.
I just want to remind us, you know,
that this is the procedure,
the method, the shed of blood
that God would require to save our souls.
And then men, right, I'm good enough.
It's like, what?
We can't even die for our own sins.
God came down in flesh, manifest in the flesh
to die for you and I.
I mean, just process that for a moment.
You know the wickedness in your heart.
You know the sin in your heart.
You know the wickedness,
even that sometimes transfers in this mind.
God sees it all.
God knows you better than you know yourself.
And God said, I'm going to go down and die for you.
I'm going to die for man.
And Jesus Christ came like God almighty, sinless, right?
Sinless to die such a gruesome death for you and I.
Jesus predicts his death.
Come with me to Matthew 16.
What we're going to do,
we're going to go through a few passages.
And like I said, I didn't really prepare a lesson so much.
I just want us to think, to meditate
on when Christ would predict his death
and what can we take out of that, you know?
Matthew 16 verse number 21.
The Bible says, from that time forth Jesus,
sorry, let me read that again.
From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go unto Jerusalem
and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes
and be killed and be raised again the third day.
Like Jesus Christ is teaching this to his disciples.
Look at verse number 22.
Then Peter took him and began to rebuke him saying,
be it far from thee Lord, this shall not be unto thee.
Again, that's kind of like, well, Peter, hold on.
Like Jesus Christ is telling you he's going to die.
And look again, I can understand Peter.
Like, you know, if I just think for a moment
that Jesus Christ is walking in our midst,
then instead of coming 2000 years ago, he came in 2024.
And I'm there following Jesus.
And Jesus is teaching me great things about God.
You know, showing me the love of God,
teaching me deep doctrines, guiding me, directing me.
And then all of a sudden he's telling me,
I'm going to die.
I'm going to be put to death.
I'm going to be arrested and slain.
I can imagine just within me saying,
Lord, like the son of God to die,
that's too much to think of such a sacrifice.
Like I get where Peter is coming from,
but look at Jesus Christ responds in verse number 23.
But he turned and said unto Peter,
get thee behind me Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me,
for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
but those that be of men.
What do we see what Peter's problem was?
He was savoring.
He desired the things of men,
not the things that be of God.
So it could be that in Peter's mind,
it could be, you know, we don't know exactly,
but it could be that he's thinking,
we're going to overrun the Romans.
You know, Christ is going to set up his kingdom
and we're going to rule on this earth.
But these are things of men.
You see, if we savour the things of God,
we're going to love the fact that Jesus Christ
would lay down his life.
And who's trying to stop that message?
Satan.
Get thee behind me, Satan.
Interesting.
You know, our goal for our church is to preach the gospel.
To preach the gospel to the lost.
We're telling them what Christ has done for them.
And if we're like, Peter, no, no.
Let that be far from me, Lord.
I don't want to talk about his death.
It's too gruesome.
It's Satan putting those thoughts in your mind.
We need to speak of the sacrifice
and death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to tell people what he's done for them.
If not you and I, who?
Who will do it?
If not you and I.
Satan wants to stop this world from hearing
about our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's not done a very good job at that
because most people in this world know
that Jesus Christ died on the cross.
He rose again three days later.
Like Australia, this week,
we'll be remembering that to some extent.
We have the chocolate bunnies and the chocolate eggs,
but to some extent it's going to be on their mind.
You know, what is this Easter?
What is it about?
But so many have been deceived by the devil.
In fact, can we meet to 2 Corinthians, please?
Can we meet to 2 Corinthians chapter 4?
2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse number 3.
Wouldn't you agree that most people know
that Jesus Christ died on the cross
and rose again from the dead?
If they don't believe it necessarily,
they acknowledge that that's, you know,
the common faith or something like that.
You know, but look at 2 Corinthians 4.3.
But if our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost.
You know, Brethren, if we don't speak of the gospel,
if we don't speak of the death of Christ,
it says it's hid to them that are lost.
We're hiding the message of Christ's sacrifice from this world.
Look at verse number 4.
In whom the God of this world, that's the devil,
has blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
You know, our enemy when we're soul winning is the devil.
The devil's goal is to keep these people blinded,
darkened from the gospel message of Jesus Christ.
Say, pastor, you said they know it.
Yeah, they know it.
But they haven't put their faith on the gospel message.
They've not trusted Christ and Christ alone
and His death and His resurrection.
They're still trusting everything else but Jesus Christ.
I was talking to a lady just on Saturday, you know,
and I quoted John 3.16.
She quoted it with me.
So I'm like, well, you know it.
She was hung up about being God.
We're all God.
Everything's God.
We all make up God, right?
God is not this personal God that we can know one on one.
Rather, everyone is God.
Everything is God.
But she quoted John 3.16, or at least most of it.
She knew what I was talking about.
She knew.
She's heard of it.
But you see, the devil has come, you know,
and blinded the hearts and the minds of the lost in this world.
Like, and what a responsibility that we have to go and shine the light of the gospel.
Like we're fighting against the forces of the devil, of Satan,
as we go and speak of Christ's sacrifice.
Look at verse number five there.
Second Corinthians 4-5.
For we preach not ourselves.
Yes, don't preach.
Like when you go door to door, don't go,
you know, you're going to really like New Life Baptist Church.
Pastors support is pretty good.
I hope you're saying something like that.
But no, no.
We're not preaching ourselves.
We're preaching Christ.
Because there is none good.
No, not one.
There is none righteous.
For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,
and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
have shined in our hearts to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Come with me to Mark chapter 8.
Mark chapter 8 verse number 31.
This is the same story that we saw in Matthew 16.
Just told from a different author.
But there's something that interests me in Mark 8.
Look at Mark 8 31.
And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things
and be rejected of the elders and of the chief priests and scribes.
And be killed.
And after three days rise again.
Look at verse number 32.
And he spake that saying openly.
And Peter took him and began to rebuke him.
What I want to show you there in Mark 8 32
is that he spoke openly about these things.
He wasn't hiding it from his disciples.
You know Christ was telling them black and white.
I'm going to be hated by this nation.
I'm going to be killed.
But don't worry I'm going to rise again from the dead.
It's really interesting.
Come with me to another part.
You're already in Mark.
So come with me to Mark 9.
Mark 9 please.
Verse number 30.
Mark 9 and verse number 30.
Again the purpose of this sermon tonight
is just to show you where Christ predicted his death.
And how people respond to that.
How the disciples respond to it.
How we ought to respond.
You know with the gospel message.
In Mark 9 verse 30 it says,
And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee,
and he would not that any man should know it.
For he taught his disciples, and said unto them,
The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of men,
and they shall kill him, and after that he is killed,
he shall rise the third day.
Again like we look at that right?
It's so strange.
Like we who have the completed scriptures,
Old Testament, New Testament.
You know we've been so blessed to have the Bible in our hands
even perfect and preserved in the English language.
We go yeah I mean yeah that's the whole reason Jesus Christ came.
But look at verse number 32.
But they understood not that saying.
And were afraid to ask him.
They were afraid.
What blocked their understanding?
Fear, fear that our leader, that our Messiah is going to be killed.
What about the rest of us?
Persecution, hatred of men.
This is what drove fear into them.
And because of fear, they could not understand the same.
It's like what?
Like wow, like it really made me think about,
hold on why is the Bible telling me this?
And then I realize, hold on.
Then fear can stop you and I from preaching the gospel.
Fear can stop you and I from understanding God's word.
You know as I preach through the book of Revelation on Sundays,
I don't want to leave you fearful.
I don't want fear.
Because fear is going to block your understanding of the scriptures.
God has not given us a spirit of fear.
But of power and of love and of a sound mind.
Fear, come with me to Matthew 17.
Matthew 17 verse number 22.
Same story told from a different author.
Matthew 17 22.
Matthew 17 verse number 22.
Matthew 17 22.
And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them,
the son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men.
And they shall kill him.
And the third day he shall be raised again.
Look at this.
And they were exceeding sorry.
So we know they couldn't understand the same.
We saw that in Mark.
We see two aspects that are going to stop you from understanding God's word.
Two aspects that are going to stop you from preaching the gospel even.
Fear and here sorrow, sadness, depression.
You know sometimes when I preach God's word to you,
and I'm not Jesus, I'm just an under shepherd.
I'm doing the best I can with what God has given me.
I might cause sorrow in your heart.
You know and here's the thing you know,
we need to understand like sometimes it's something we may not want to hear about.
It gives grief or it's bothersome.
But I want you to understand that if you have fear and sorrow in your heart
when the word of God is being preached,
even something with such clarity as the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ,
it's going to cause you to not understand the scriptures.
I was just thinking about that.
I was just meditating on this.
Like why is this in the bible for us?
There must be a reason.
Like we see the heart of the disciples
and they're struggling to understand something that should be straightforward.
I mean Jesus Christ is teaching this openly.
But it's causing sorrow.
It's causing fear and they can't understand.
And these are saved men.
They've already believed on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so I guess the takeaway that I have out of this Brevin is that
when we approach the bible, you know we all to,
we come to church and we hear preaching.
We ought to have the attitude.
We ought to be walking in the spirit of course
and have the attitude Lord whatever it is.
It might invoke a bit of fear but you know what?
I don't want that to be you know,
a hindrance to my understanding of the scriptures.
I don't like what the pastor preached today.
I don't like that topic.
You know if it was up to me,
I'll try to preach the topics that everybody's just happy with.
But then I'll be Joel Osteen.
That's probably right.
I'll just be Joel.
I'll just be one of these other people
that just want to scratch your ears and make you happy.
My goal as a pastor when I preach
is try to be as balanced as I can be,
as balanced as the scriptures are.
Like as often as the scriptures hit on a topic,
I want to have roughly that kind same type of balance.
You know whether it's the love of God,
it's the judgment of God,
if it's about the end times,
if it's about salvation,
if it's about creation,
if it's about history,
and whatever it is,
like I want to be able to be as balanced as I can be,
as balanced as the Bible is.
And sometimes there are scriptures that do cause a bit of fear,
cause a bit of sorrow,
a bit of grief,
a bit of anguish.
But you need to remember that if you're going to come to a church like this,
you need to be ready to receive all of God's Word.
Don't block your understanding.
Don't say I don't want to hear that if it's from God's Word.
We need to hear it.
We need to understand.
We need to hear it openly taught,
like Christ taught his disciples.
You're in Matthew, come with me to Matthew 20.
Matthew 20, verse number 17.
Matthew 20, verse 17.
He even knows like I'm going to be betrayed, guys.
And they still don't understand that, right?
When Jesus says like it's Judas.
Judas is going to betray me.
And they're like, what?
Is that right, Lord?
But look, you know, it's the understanding that's strongly there.
He goes, um, sorry,
betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes,
and they shall condemn him to death,
and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock,
and to scourge, and to crucify him.
And the third day he shall rise again
to mock our God, our Savior.
Laugh at him.
You see the thieves on the cross mocking our Lord.
You know, he can save others,
but he can't save himself.
Chief priests laughing,
like he's doing the greatest work that's ever been done.
He's redeemed our souls and saving us,
and taking our sins on his body.
And they're laughing at him and mocking him.
Ow.
And he did that for you and I.
He did that to save us.
Um, Luke 18, please.
Luke 18.
What a hatred people have for God.
Like, what a hatred for Jesus.
Someone who's so righteous, so perfect, so good,
healing the sick, making the blind to see,
taking upon our sins on his own body.
They mock him, they scourge him, they attack him.
You know, that's why it's so important
that we have the Lord's table from time to time,
that we just remember this for a moment.
Just what did Jesus go through?
I mean, who wants to go through this?
And to go through this for people who have sinned
and offended against the Lord God Almighty,
what a love, what a love of our God.
What a sacrifice.
And Luke 18, 31.
I want to just point this out again.
Then he took unto him the 12.
This is the same story that we saw in Macca 20.
Then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them,
Behold, we go up to Jerusalem.
Now this is so important.
And all things that are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.
What is Jesus saying right there?
When he says the prophets, the writers of the prophets,
what is that to us?
What is that to them?
The Old Testament scriptures.
He says, look, the Old Testament scriptures
was prophesying that I will go and die in Jerusalem.
So I just can't understand, I can't comprehend
that dispensational teaching.
I was just plan B, that wasn't God's plan.
Jesus says, this is what it's all been about.
This is even what the Old Testament is about.
Verse number 32, and he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles
and shall be mocked and spitefully entreated
and spits it on.
And they shall scourge him, let's whip him
and put him to death.
And the third day he shall rise again.
And look at verse number 34.
And they understood none of these things.
And this saying was hid from them,
neither knew they the things which were spoken.
What do we see again?
A lack of understanding, right?
They're struggling to understand this.
I mean, you know, their best friend is about to die.
He's telling them, look, I'm going to die.
They're struggling to understand this.
Their leader, their teacher.
But what I love about that passage
is another principle that's very important
with your Bible reading and your understanding.
Jesus is telling them, trying to help them
with their understanding.
He says, look, this is what was written
by the prophets concerning the Son of Man.
What I take out of this brethren
is that we must use the New Testament
to shed light on the Old Testament scriptures.
That the Old Testament isn't something
that we just turn around and say,
ah, it's a bit hard to read through.
It's a bit hard to understand.
God was angry back then.
I don't know, it's just as important
to help our understanding.
And just as Christ is teaching New Testament truths,
he's showing them how in the Old Testament
this has already been covered.
He's trying to help their understanding.
Look, we live in the New Testament.
I'm a New Testament believer, okay?
But don't be so New Testament
that you forget the Old Testament
because even the Old Testament spoke of Christ.
The Old Testament teaches us wonderful things about God
and his saving plan and his redemption
and the necessity of the shedding of blood
for the forgiveness of sins.
Say, pastor, I struggle to understand the scriptures.
Compare scripture with scripture.
You know, when you read for the New Testament,
let me encourage you,
anytime it says, as it was written
or as it was spoken by the prophets
or something like that,
you go, oh, I want to know where that is.
Like this was one of my biggest ways
of learning the Bible.
I just said every time in the New Testament,
because I was just reading the New Testament,
I found the Old Testament hard to understand.
I didn't understand the purpose behind it.
Like I'm not establishing a nation of Israel today,
so maybe I don't need it.
I taught when I was young in the faith, right?
You're trying to understand things.
And every time the Bible, the New Testament said,
as it is written, I'd be like, you know what?
I want to go and find where that is written.
And you go back and you look
at the Old Testament scriptures
and sometimes it doesn't even look like
it's about Jesus, but yet it is, right?
And this will help further your understanding
of the Word of God.
Come with me to John chapter 12.
John chapter 12.
John chapter 12 in verse number one.
This is so important.
And anointed the feet of Jesus.
Mary just takes this perfume,
very costly, says there.
This was her prized possession.
And she says, you know what?
I'm going to give my prized possession to Jesus.
She begins to pour it on his feet
to anoint his feet.
It says,
and wiped his feet with her hair.
And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment.
Could you imagine like,
now she's using her hair just to clean his feet.
Jesus Christ has been walking,
there's dirt on his feet.
And she says, no, my Savior needs clean feet.
I want him to smell nice.
You know, I want his feet to be clean.
And I'll even use my hair to clean those feet.
Like, look at her love.
Look at her.
Obviously, Christ, she knows that's her Savior.
Christ has raised her brother from the dead.
You know, she's obviously very thankful.
Verse number four,
You know what?
There's always going to be people that criticize you
when you serve Jesus.
I've had to learn that as a pastor.
Whatever decision I make,
I'm going to receive criticism.
You just want to serve Jesus.
You just want to tell people about his saving grace,
about his sacrifice, his free gift.
You just want to win souls.
All right, I mean, I can't get perfume
and clean my Savior's feet.
I can't do that.
Jesus Christ is not walking in my midst
physically right now, okay?
But one thing I can do
is to tell people about the wonderful sacrifice of my Savior.
You want to serve the Lord,
you're going to be criticized.
There's always Judas Iscariots out there.
Or there's just some disgruntled person all the time.
If any men want to get into the ministry,
let me tell you, it's always, it's always.
But you have to get used to it.
It's just part of life.
You're going to be criticized, you know?
And this poor woman is being criticized.
Why is she doing this?
You know why?
You should have just sold that and given it to the poor.
Verse number six, this he said,
not that he cared for the poor,
but because he was a thief
and had the bag and bear what was put there in.
He didn't care for the poor.
He makes the excuse that it's about the poor,
but it's never that.
When people criticize you for serving Jesus,
they're going to throw all kinds of accusations
and issues at you,
but there's always something deeper.
For this man, he was a thief.
He'd rather her sell it,
so he puts the money in and then he can steal from it.
He wants it for himself, not for Jesus.
Verse number seven, then said Jesus,
let her alone.
Leave her alone, like we would say it.
Against the day of my burying have she kept this.
For the poor always ye have with you,
but me ye have not always.
So again, the title is, you know,
Jesus predicts his death.
And here we have it again.
He's saying, look, this is for my burying.
She's prepared this to anoint my body
so that, you know, because bodies decompose
and all this and, you know,
well this was part of that process
of making sure that as he dies,
he at least smelt nice.
He's beaten.
You know, when Christ was taken,
he was arrested, beaten, spat upon, whipped.
It says his beard was plucked off.
He was bleeding from head to toe,
but he smelt nice.
At least, you know, his face smelt nice.
You know, something that Mary could do
to honor him, to remember him,
to be thankful for his very sacrifice for her soul.
How can we give thanks to the Lord today?
Well, right now we're going to be giving thanks.
We're going to be enjoying a meal together.
And it's always nice to have a meal and fellowship,
but let's remind ourselves
as we enjoy our brother and sister's company,
just remember, hey, this brother and sister,
the reason he's my, or she is my sister
or he's my brother is because of Jesus.
Like he died for me and he died for you.
How good is it that we can share together?
We can minister and serve one another
because of the sacrifice of our savior.
You know, and then we'll come together
when we take part of that bread and that juice,
just remembering that Jesus Christ
was willing to lay down his body
and to die such a death for you and I.
It's just, to me, it's overwhelming.
I don't know about you, brethren.
It's overwhelming.
We can serve one another.
As we serve each other, we serve Jesus.
And as we preach the gospel, wherever it is,
Australia, Philippines, Fiji,
wherever else the Lord will lead us in the future,
we do it for Jesus.
We do it for his honor.
We do it for his service.
We do it for his love.
You know, we remember a woman like Mary.
I can't take my most valuable perfume
and put that upon you,
but I can take my valuable time and serve you
with the most precious gift
that you've given mankind.
Can you come with me to Hebrews 10?
Hebrews 10 verse four, please.
Hebrews 10 verse four.
The Bible says in Hebrews 10 four,
for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
It's not possible.
So when people tell you in the Old Testament,
they had to do the sacrifices
or they die in their sins.
No, no, it's not possible for that to happen.
It says,
Wherefore, when he cometh into the world,
he saith,
Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body has thou prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin,
thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, lo, I come,
in the volume of the book it is written of me,
to do thy will, O God.
Above, when he said,
Sacrifice and offering,
and burnt offerings and offering,
for sin thou wouldst not,
neither has pleasure therein,
which were offered by the law.
So the law represents the Old Covenant,
right, the Old Testament.
That did not please God.
The sacrifice of the animals,
the shedding of the blood,
it did not appease God.
It did not satisfy God.
In verse number nine,
Then said he, lo, I come,
to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first,
take away the first covenant,
that he may establish the second,
or the new covenant,
as we know it today,
by the which will we are sanctified,
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ,
once for all.
Once for all.
So again,
what was the point of all those animal sacrifices?
A constant reminder,
that one day Christ would die for all.
This is what was written by the prophets.
This is an Old Testament truth,
just as much as New Testament truth.
Salvation has always been by the shared blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But tonight we come to remember
the body of Jesus Christ.
Like how beautiful.
By the which will we are sanctified
for the offering of the body of Christ,
of Jesus Christ once.
I love it.
For all.
For every body.
Every body.
Jesus Christ offered himself.
He died.
He bore the sins of every single human being ever to live.
And that that will ever live.
Like that is overwhelming.
Overwhelming.
Who wants to stand before God today
in their sins unforgiven?
My Lord, my goodness can get me through.
I think I've done enough.
I think I've repented from my sins enough, Lord.
Can you accept me?
We can't die for ourselves.
We can't die for our own sins.
We can't pay it.
It's unpayable.
By man, what is impossible for God.
So what is impossible for man
is possible for God.
When we think about human beings,
like, you know, I love you guys
because you're my brother and sister in the Lord.
We're a church where the body of Christ
gathered here tonight together.
But we have a community.
We're the Sunshine Coast
and they're part of the All, aren't they?
They're part of the All.
Down in Caboolture.
Down in Brisbane.
Down in the Gold Coast.
They're part of the All.
How many people need to hear
the gospel message of Jesus Christ?
Who's willing to use their valuable time
to see souls saved?
To one day start new churches
where different areas can be reached with the gospel.
I don't know about you and I,
but this is what I'm here on the earth for.
To glorify Jesus.
To speak of his sacrificial body
once for all.
That's my goal.
That's my heart.
That should be our hearts tonight.
Come with me to Matthew 26.
Matthew 26, 26.
You know, I'm no perfect pastor
and this ain't no perfect church
because we're made of imperfect human beings
and I might say something to upset you one day
and I'm sorry if I do.
And I might step on your toes sometimes.
I'm sorry if I do.
But when you look at New Life Baptist Church,
I want you to say, you know what?
Yeah, the pastor wasn't the greatest,
but at least he loved souls.
At least he loved the Lord Jesus Christ
and his sacrifice,
his payment for our sins,
his resurrection,
so much so that the drive
and the heartbeat of the church
was to see as many people
come to know Jesus as their Savior.
I'm happy at that point.
I'd rather be a hopeless preacher
than can barely preach out of a wet paper bag
or something, right?
As long as this church has a heart for winning souls
and glorifying Jesus Christ
and using our valuable time
to speak of his great sacrifice for us.
That's the most important thing, brethren.
What a Savior.
To die for you, to die for me,
to give us everlasting life.
And that's just the start of us.
What about eternity to come?
Being called a child of God forever.
Wow, new heavens, new earth, no sin.
Bodies that can never sin.
What a problem.
I don't even know what the future holds,
besides what the Bible briefly gives us a glimpse of.
And even the brief glimpse
that the Bible gives us is so wonderful.
How much more will be revealed to us
in eternity to come?
But Matthew 26, 26,
because as we, after this service,
we're going to have our dinner together
and participate.
Let's just remind ourselves what it says
in Matthew 26, 26.
And as they were eating,
Jesus took bread and blessed it
and break it
and gave it to the disciples
and said, take, eat.
This is my body.
What did he do?
He took it.
He blessed it.
It's kind of like Mary Mag, Mary,
who blessed Jesus Christ at his feet.
But then he was broken for us,
representing his broken body.
He's, you know,
he was like whipped and crucified and beaten.
The blood, crown of thorns on his head
and the nail prints in his hands and his feet.
That body was broken for you and I.
And it says, take, eat.
This is my body.
God, Jesus Christ says,
look, I'm offering my body.
Like, you know, this is symbolism, of course,
but this is his body,
the broken body for you and I.
And as we participate with that tonight,
I want you to just remember,
you know, not so much the dinner,
not so much even the sermon so much,
but this is representation of my Lord's body.
Boy, he died for me 2000 years ago.
He came.
I believe that.
Like, that is so clear to me,
you know, in the eyes of faith
that my Jesus died on the cross.
And I can't even imagine
what he may have looked like,
as he was just bleeding and dying for me.
Then he says in verse 27,
he took the cup and gave thanks
and gave it to them saying,
drink ye all of it.
For this is my blood of the New Testament,
which is shed for many,
for the remission of sins.
Not the blood of bulls and goats,
his blood, his blood is shed
for the remission of sins.
And so when we take part of that grape juice,
I want you to just think about
the blood that was shed.
Okay.
I mean, have you ever lost blood
and felt dizzy and Christ bled?
And I don't know,
it's the blood of God, the Bible says.
He bled and that blood
is what cleanses us from our sins.
The darkness of sins that we have in our hearts,
when the blood of Christ is applied,
it's pure white in the eyes of our heavenly Father.
We stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
What a glorious message.
What a story that God would do.
Such a,
I don't even know what to call it.
A sacrifice, love.
It's his love to us.
As I said, the title of the sermon tonight
was Jesus Predicts His Death.
Again, it's not so much teaching new things there,
but just meditating on what Christ will do.
This was always plan A.
He came to this earth,
he knew from the very beginning
that he would die on the cross.
He knew from the beginning that he would suffer.
He knew from the beginning that he'd bear
our iniquities and our sins
and our burdens upon his own body.
He knew from the beginning
that he'd be crucified to a cross.
You know, that he'd be forsaken by the Father.
He knew this
and he went ahead and did it
out of love for you and I.
Okay, brethren, let's pray.