John 18:2-11 (Missing Jesus - Part 1)

The Shepherd's Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:09

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon We pray that as we declare the

00:16

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

00:22

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

00:27

I don't know about you, but I actually remember what life was like before cell phones.

00:45

I Ran McNally And you had to navigate When I was a kid,

00:52

I was probably 10 years old my family took a trip down to New Orleans or as we would say

00:58

New Orleans and I remember my dad was fussing up a storm

01:05

Like on how there was so much traffic and there was so much of this and so much that my mom was saying

01:10

We're never gonna get out of here because we were lost in French Quarter of New Orleans And I remember my mom just handed me the ran

01:19

McNally map With the big old spread of New Orleans in it and from the backseat at 10 years old

01:25

I was barking to my dad turn left on this street turn right on the end. We finally made it out.

01:31

Praise God but our our accuracy of arriving at our destination was dependent upon my

01:38

Navigation on the streets that I told my dad to turn down if I told him the wrong streets we would end up at the wrong destination there was no such thing as recalculating and Rerouting back in those days if you took the wrong turn you'd end up in the wrong destination.

01:53

You would get lost Well today we're gonna compare that sort of analogy to what knowing

01:58

Jesus is like if you don't know him correctly If you take a wrong turn in your theology and you assume things about Jesus that aren't true.

02:06

You will end up very lost In a place that you don't want to be and that's exactly what we're gonna see today in three different people in the text

02:15

Now next week, we're gonna cover three more people. So this is part one of a two -part Sermon where we're talking about.

02:23

How do you miss Jesus? Well, there's real easy ways. There's 359 ways if you're thinking about degrees to go wrong and there's only one right direction to end where you want to be

02:34

Well, there's a lot of ways to miss Jesus today. We're gonna talk about three next week We'll talk about three more but there's only one way and one truth and one life and Only heading towards him will you find?

02:48

Real life. So if you will join me as we turn to John 18 2 through 11 last week

02:55

We did 1 through 10 now. We've just shuffled one verse forward to 2 to 11 I we're really making progress here

03:04

John 18 2 through 11 if you will The text says this

03:14

Now Judas also who was betraying him knew the place for Jesus had often met there with his disciples

03:20

Judas then having received the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees Came there with lanterns and torches and weapons

03:30

So Jesus knowing all the things that were coming upon him went forth and said to them.

03:36

Whom do you seek? They answered him Jesus the Nazarene and he said to them

03:42

I am he and Judas also was betraying him was standing with them. So when he said to them

03:47

I am he they drew back and fell to the ground Therefore he asked them again.

03:52

Whom do you seek and they said Jesus the Nazarene? Jesus answered I told you that I am he so if you seek me then let these go their way

04:01

Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it and struck the high priest servant and cut off his right ear

04:08

The servants name was Malchus So Jesus said to Peter put your sword into its sheath.

04:15

Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me? So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the

04:22

Jews Arrested Jesus and they bound him. Let's pray Lord.

04:32

Thank you for your word Thank you that in it We have such incredible detail of the sacrifice that you made for us

04:41

How you were a substitute for us in our weakness?

04:47

the perfect sacrifice The one who rescued us in our grave inability

04:56

Lord today as we look at three ways that we can miss you Lord, I pray that what would shine even more clearly

05:04

Is the only way to find you That you are the way you are the truth. You are the life and One can only come by grace through faith

05:14

It's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen Now again, there's three men in this passage that we're gonna be looking at in three ways to miss

05:21

Jesus The first one is Judas and he's the quintessential betrayer we know him as sort of the first centuries

05:30

Benedict Arnold a man who was infamous with backstabbing and infamy and Judas represents the first way that you and I can miss who

05:39

Jesus is Now a little bit of background on Judas. We've talked about this before Judas was considered one of the closest friends of Jesus He was in the inner 12 to say the least and even more than that at the

05:55

Passover meal Judas was the one who was sitting right beside of him We talked about this at our in John chapter 13 how

06:01

Jesus doesn't reach across the table and he doesn't call Judas from another table He hands it right to Judas which meant that Judas was sitting in a place of honor at the table

06:11

If you couple with that with Psalm 41 says about the betrayal of Christ that he was betrayed by his best friend

06:18

We have a man who was very close to Jesus Now this is a terrifying

06:25

Application if we think about this not only was he one of the twelve But he was one of Jesus's closest friends and if Judas could betray

06:34

Jesus, then that means any one of us Could be in Judas's place

06:41

He held a position of prominence. He was in the inner circle He knew

06:46

Jesus well enough to greet him with a kiss and yet he still missed Jesus How does this happen?

06:54

Well, I think it happens when your expectation of who Jesus is is Not aligned with his expectation of who he is

07:03

Judas thought that Jesus was something that he wasn't and Because of that he missed it.

07:09

Now again, Judas is not a pagan. He's not Herod. He's not the Roman Caesar He is an inner circle guy.

07:16

He's a church member if you want to think about it that way Jesus Judas was in the club

07:23

And he missed it And he missed it because his expectation was misaligned and in some ways

07:28

Judas was more like a Pharisee Than we even maybe sometimes give him credit for The Pharisees were a purity movement a purity movement to stop idolatry

07:41

They were there to stamp out idolatry in the nation and Judas was certainly concerned about The purity and about the movement that Jesus was leading and under times of stress

07:54

Judas does not retreat to Jesus He retreats from Jesus and we see that he goes to the

08:00

Pharisees when Jesus anointed when Jesus was anointed with oil Judas leaves and that's the night that he betrayed him when

08:08

Jesus is Talking about the one who will betray him Judas leaves and he runs to the

08:13

Pharisees. He runs to the most conservative and the most theological branch of Judaism and in some ways

08:22

He's a lot like us conservative in his politics conservative in his theology running to the authorities of his day

08:34

Theologically correct robust sort of guy and he's running there and I think that's instructive for us

08:42

But in the providence of God we see that Obviously he missed it He was found not with the disciples who were with Jesus But he was found with the enemies of God who would arrest

08:54

Jesus Judas was about religious purity and in his religious purity he missed it

09:00

I Imagine the things that Jesus were saying was starting starting to make Judas nervous in the same way that the

09:07

Pharisees were beginning to get Nervous as well Jesus had just recently in Matthew 24 said that every stone that was at the temple complex was going to be torn down That the city was going to be set on fire.

09:19

He said that Matthew 22 He said that within a single generation God is gonna pour out his wrath upon Jerusalem and you can imagine that the

09:27

Pharisees Didn't like that message. And at the same time you can see that Judas is becoming more and more alienated from Jesus as it continues

09:38

He was like the Pharisees not only in his theology, but he was like the Pharisees in his love of money If you remember the

09:45

Pharisees were said to be lovers of money They they wanted great wealth and it was Judas who was the one who pilfered the money bags within the disciples camp

09:54

He was the one who complained about the ointment that we I can't remember how much we said that it was worth

10:00

But it was thousands and thousands of dollars that was poured out on Jesus and he complained could that money be given to the poor?

10:06

He was sounding like a Pharisee He was like a Pharisee in the fact that he had a theology of Prosperity the

10:14

Pharisees believed that if they could just obey God for a single day The whole nation obey

10:19

God for a single day Then the Messiah would return and if they found out that you were sinning they would punish you they would

10:29

Eviscerate you with their language. They would shame you publicly because you are stopping the

10:34

Messiah from coming They were a purity movement. They wanted to see the entire nation. Obey the law for one day

10:39

That was their their thought if we could obey the law for one day The Messianic Kingdom would come in all the nations on earth would bow down to our sovereignty

10:49

The Lord would lift us up as the highest nation among all the nations all the prophecies the Old Testament They thought would come true if for a single day they could obey the law so they had a prosperity theology in a sense

11:03

They Believed that God if they could obey would give them financial prosperity They believed that they were blessed financially because they were more obedient than the poor people

11:15

They believed that they there would be a kingdom prosperity that they would have nice clothing and notoriety in the community

11:22

So as Jesus's ministry became more offensive to the elite Judas becomes more alienated from him

11:31

They Thought that obeying God would give them cultural acceptance That the power brokers of their time would would look with honor upon Jesus so when

11:43

Jesus runs afoul of this when he overturns cultural norms when he Alienates people of influence and he shames the

11:51

Pharisees in Matthew 23, and he calls down seven covenantal woes upon them

11:58

Judas Is being further separated from him because he felt like Jesus's ministry was supposed to accomplish something

12:07

It was supposed to make them successful It was supposed to make them

12:12

Liked it was supposed to make them prosperous And because Jesus's ministry alienated the ones that Judas eventually ran to and Because Jesus spent money differently than Judas thought he should have spent it

12:27

Judas was abandoning ship and betraying Christ Now there's many applications in the modern church

12:36

We can't exhaust them, but there at least are a few that I would like to cover today many sell Jesus out today like Judas if You want to look at the modern church the sin of Judas abounds in so many sectors

12:52

Many sell Jesus out today for financial gain because they want to seek their riches and their treasures apart from him when the only riches the only treasures

13:01

Are from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ Many sell them out today for ministry gain wanting bigger and bigger ministries

13:09

Jumbotron swimming pools in the middle of their congregation. So the Worship services that are bigger and better and higher production while they focus less and less on him

13:20

Many sell out Christ for a show for a carnival and nothing more

13:28

Many sell out Jesus because he runs afoul of the establishment and he has angered the wrong people

13:35

Mainline Christianity has sold Jesus out for this reason and the reason is predicated upon a lie

13:41

The lie that the mainline church believes and I mean mainline Lutherans mainline Presbyterians mainline

13:47

Methodist all of them the lie is that Jesus came so that culture would find him reasonable

13:54

That's the lie So that when we talk about a particular topic, let's talk about sodomy in America the vast

14:02

Acceptance of what's called an abomination in Scripture. We can't criticize it

14:08

Because Jesus came for us to find him reasonable and if Jesus takes a stand against something then

14:14

Jesus is no longer reasonable We can't preach against it. We can't we can't do any of that and I believe that the church is responsible for the culture

14:25

Falling further and further and further away into sin and heresy so that now you have

14:31

Episcopalians with lesbian pastors you have Lutherans with bisexual deacons and you have Methodists with pedophiles who are doing infant baptism when we betray

14:43

Christ for the placation of culture We are acting like Judas We follow him into all sorts of heresies

14:55

And if we follow him long enough, we will end up with a noose around our neck like him If we value money over the priceless

15:03

Savior If we value big church over faithful church, we will follow

15:08

Judas into lostness and death Again, there's all sorts of ways this can happen.

15:18

I've only talked about a couple There's all sorts of ways to portray Christ But the common theme among every one of them is if you betray

15:28

Christ if your expectation of who Jesus is It's not aligned with who Jesus says that he is You end up lost and you end up away from him

15:39

Now again, why is this so terrifying because we expect the Sadducees to betray

15:44

Jesus The Sadducees were the liberals of their day. They were the the main liners of their day.

15:49

We expect them to betray Jesus We expect even the Pharisees to betray Jesus because all throughout the text

15:56

It's clear that they hate him that they're misaligned with him we expect that we expect the Essenes if you ever heard of the

16:01

Essenes the Essenes were a movement kind of like the The Hutterites and the

16:07

Amish today they were like this world is crazy and we're gone and they lived in the deserts and they lived in the caves and Thank God that they lived in the caves because we found lots of biblical texts because of them

16:20

The the whole Dead Sea Scrolls are because the Essenes preserved them But they were a purity movement who said we're not going to engage we knew they rejected him because Jesus wasn't pure enough for them

16:31

According to them we know that the zealots rejected Jesus because he wasn't hard enough

16:36

We know that the those who are in bed with Rome rejected him because he wasn't soft enough But it's it's incredible to me that one of the twelve the one that Psalm 41 calls his best friend is

16:52

The one who betrayed him the one who sat in the seat of honor and the one who fulfilled the

16:57

Psalm is The one who betrayed him with the bread Brothers and sisters this should give us monumental

17:05

Paul's That if not for the Spirit of God at work in our life, we too would betray him

17:15

You are not master of your own destiny You are not the one who pulls yourself up by your bootstraps when you walk out of here today

17:24

And you walk back in here next week as faithful. You are indebted to the grace of Almighty God Every breath that you take is under the canopy of his grace and mercy

17:37

The only reason we can't have any pride We can't look at Judas and say if I were there

17:44

I would have been different you would have been worse and I would have been The only reason that we boast at all is we boast in Christ and what

17:56

Christ has done We would be no different Judas again, he had his expectations

18:04

Misaligned on who Jesus was that's why he betrayed him, but he's not the only one who betrayed him Judas misunderstood who

18:11

Jesus was the next group of people the temple guards are gonna misunderstand who their leaders are

18:16

So Judas is looking at Jesus and he misunderstands Jesus the temple guards are looking all around them and they're misunderstanding

18:24

Who and what they are this is what it says in 18 verse 3 Judas then having received the

18:30

Roman cohort and the officers from the chief priest and the Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and Weapons we talked about this last week from a typological standpoint today

18:40

I want to go back and talk about it from a historical standpoint who were these temple guards? Well at the time in the first century, they were an appointed position

18:51

That Devolved into a political office, but it found its root all the way back in the law of God in the

18:58

Torah They were the Levitical priest if you are the Levitical helpers if you remember back in the

19:03

Torah It was the Levites who were the ones who were supposed to maintain and take care of the tabernacle

19:09

They were the ones who were supposed to care for the furniture men did if it was broken They were the ones who were supposed to pack up the tent the tent and move it and then set it back up again

19:17

They were the officers of the tabernacle and then when the temple was built They were the officers of the temple.

19:23

That was their original job. But what happened was is after the Maccabean Revolt The priesthood was abrogated at least from the

19:33

Aaronic line It became a political appointee from that point forward and not only was the priesthood

19:40

Abrogated from the line of Aaron, but also the Levitical system became a political appointment

19:46

It became an appointment of who do you know and whose? Patuckas that you're willing to smooch and it happened that way because as Rome took over Palestine that Rome began appointing their own people and instead of appointing a

20:09

Jewish king They appointed an Itamian who is an Edomite if you remember Esau and Jacob Esau's line is the

20:16

Edomites King Herod is an Edomite and he's reigning over the people of Jacob and Because he has no foundation for the law of God He appoints whoever he wants whoever makes him happy whoever loves him and sings his praises the most and you have temple guards

20:34

Who don't even? respect the temple law Again their function was to maintain the temple and they had an added function at this time because Jerusalem now

20:46

During festivals like Passover and if you remember that's the festival we're in right now Jesus is being arrested in the middle of Passover Jerusalem would swell to a million 1 .2

20:58

million people something like that Jerusalem was filled full of people would be like Chelmsford reaching 500 ,000 people on a weekend.

21:05

It would be crazy Well They were the crowd control agents at the temple

21:12

They were the ones to make sure that if you were a Gentile that you did not enter into the

21:18

Jewish courts They were the ones who made sure that if you were a woman you didn't enter into the court of the men they were to make sure that that the men didn't enter into the

21:26

Temporal proper they were the ones who maintained crowd control they were also the law enforcement agents at that time so that if there was any larceny or any

21:35

Any sort of Sabbath violations or any sort of laws that were being broken then they would apprehend you and Take you in to custody

21:44

Now what's so fascinating about that is that the timing of all of this It's Passover time, you know during Good Friday if you work at at a retail store

21:57

You're on shift on Good Friday. Everybody is on shift on Good Friday or not

22:03

Good Friday What is the Black Friday? Yeah, what am I talking about? Well, Good Friday was dark too, but On Black Friday during the

22:14

Christmas season. They've got their entire staff almost working crazy hours So you would never see someone during the

22:21

Christmas season or during Black Friday if they're in retail away from their store Well in the same way you would not see a temple guard away from the temple during the

22:29

Passover season They would have been leaving their post. They would have been leaving the temple vulnerable But yet here they are chasing after Jesus and that tells us something about what they thought about Him tells us something about the threat level that they actually assessed

22:44

Jesus to be We read back in John 7 that the that the guard said no one has ever spoken like this before these same guards now are coming after him to kill him and It's because that they had a sinful allegiance to their leadership and Not to the truth

23:06

They were less concerned with what God says and more concerned with what their leadership says

23:11

Now if you think about it if they knew the law of God when God himself came to the temple

23:17

They would have rolled out the red carpet for him Jesus is the one that they should have been

23:23

Serving that was their job is to serve God in his temple. So when

23:28

God comes to his temple That's a big deal. We're here to serve you and yet here they are to arrest him because they've prioritized the opinions and the fancies of man over the opinions and the

23:41

Word of God and Many miss Christ in this way today Many miss

23:48

Christ because we've put the Opinions of sinful elites in our society above the

23:55

Word of God just like they did in theirs We've listened to wicked leaders instead of listening to God just like they did

24:02

By upholding wicked systems that are contrary to the teachings of God. I remember

24:09

When it became socially acceptable to lock down our churches How many churches said but the government told us to do it?

24:18

It doesn't matter if the government told us to do it because God said that we meet that we gather

24:26

Yes, we obey the government when they tell us to do things that are good Yes, we obey the government when they tell us to do things that are a diophora

24:34

And what I mean by that is they're not good or bad like speed limits the government said it I want to go 80, but it said 55.

24:40

I'm gonna obey it to the best of my ability I Should obey it better than I do

24:50

And yet when the government tells us to do something that disobeys the Word of God, we have no right to obey them

24:58

We must defy them and they are going to hate us for this

25:03

I watched a clip just this week where one of the political pundits said and you know those

25:09

Christian Nationalist and because now Patriarchy and white nationalist has sort of lost its flavor

25:15

Nazis lost its flavor racist has lost its favor now. It's Christian nationalist Well, those

25:21

Christian nationalists. They believe that that they're that their rights as people don't derive from any government but from God and I watched this lady say that and I was like Dear sister.

25:32

Do you realize that your Constitution says that? That quite literally that our rights don't derive from any government it's almost a direct quote

25:43

What they will do to you today If our government and our society doesn't change

25:49

Is they're not gonna immediately bring you out in the streets and flog you they're gonna label you as Christian nationalist

25:56

They're gonna say that. Oh, they're allegiances to Christ over government. And you know what? They're right it is

26:01

I Don't mind if anybody calls me Christian nationalist because I'm a Christian and I want my nation to be

26:08

Christian Take the insult and turn it against them. It's because it's not an insult at all

26:14

I want my nation to bow the knee to Jesus I want my nation to be transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ if they want to call me

26:22

Christian nationalist Well, they've just typecast me in a way that I can agree with them. You're right I want you to be replaced by Jesus and when that happens the world will be a better place

26:35

Government is gonna tell us all sorts of things to do. They pushed in 2020 they pushed to see if the church would respond in a certain way and Thousands if not tens of thousands caved there was no backbone.

26:49

There was nothing but cowardice There's still churches that are meeting on zoom

26:58

We're like the temple guards More concerned with what the elites have said instead of more concerned with what

27:05

Jesus Christ has said and When we do that and not us we as in the larger church when we do that We end up betraying

27:14

Christ like they did and we end up absolutely lost We must always obey

27:22

God and we must always defy tyranny. That's the second way That you can disobey or that you can betray

27:29

Christ the third way is the way of Peter And I'm calling

27:35

Peter the blowhard in this passage. You've got the betrayer. Who's Judas? You've got the brood who's the temple guard and now you've got the blowhard

27:44

John 18 10 through 11 says Simon Peter then having a sword drew it and struck the high priest slave and Cut off his right ear and the slaves name was

27:54

Malchus So Jesus said to Peter put the sword into its sheath the cup which the father has given me shall

28:00

I not drink it When government overreaches, you know where people are at Peter grabbed the sword and he was like Lancelot at a wedding.

28:10

He was hacking left and right Those who know the reference know You imagine

28:17

Jesus Jesus has just finished his prayer He's ended up in the garden and then this brute squad comes and they're there to arrest

28:25

Jesus and the way that it's so fascinating the way that it happens Judas comes in the book of Matthew and he gives a sign that he's gonna betray

28:32

Jesus. He kisses Jesus You can imagine Peter's blood -boiling. How dare you kiss the Lord in that culture?

28:39

That's a greeting It's not like it is today. I would say the same thing if you kissed one of your brothers men, but not for the same reasons

28:47

In the book of Luke the disciples ask a question they see this happen They see Judas kiss

28:53

Christ in betrayal and the disciples in the book of Luke ask this Lord It should we strike with our swords

29:00

At least they asked now the book of John says before Jesus could even answer them.

29:06

Peter is like Which I love Peter so much Yes Jesus said to them in Matthew Jesus said to him in Matthew 26 52 through 54

29:22

Put back your sword into its place For all those who take up the sword shall die by the sword

29:29

Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my father and he will at once put my put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels

29:36

How then will the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way?

29:42

Jesus looks at Peter and says put your sword away. You live by the sword. You're gonna die by the sword That's not the way that you respond to government tyranny

29:50

That's not the way that we respond to it today either Jesus responds to the crowds. He says have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as you would against a robber?

30:00

Every day I was with you in the temple teaching and you did not seize me But this has taken place to fulfill scriptures

30:08

The reason that Peter did this is because he was confused about the mission He was confused about prophecy and he was confused as a conservative on how to deal with government overreach

30:19

He looked at the temple guards and he said I need to take matters in my own hands So he pulled out his little sword.

30:24

It looks like a hobbit sword. It was a personal sword It was it was a sword for personal protection It was not a sword that we go to war with but it was sharp enough to cut off an ear

30:33

And he ran after Malchus and Peter did his worst and It's because he failed to see that the kingdom is not ushered in through violence

30:44

But it's ushered in through the gospel of peace It's not ushered in through murder

30:52

It's ushered in through resurrection The kingdom is not advanced with weapons of this world, but it's advanced with the spiritual weapons of prayer

31:04

The gospel and faith It's ushered in by announcing to the entire world who has authority and Then if they hate us and if they attack us and if they arrest us and if they murder us or whatever comes

31:20

Let the consequences come we don't pull out our swords. We pray

31:27

We don't pull out our M16s we preach We don't pull out our tanks and or whatever else

31:37

We have faith in what Christ is going to do and we share his gospel. That's how the kingdom advances

31:45

Judas was marked by an idol of success The guards were marked by an idol of obedience

31:50

Peter missed it because of an idol of victory brothers and sisters We preach a lot about the victory of Christ.

31:57

We preach a lot about Jesus is going to have victory We preach a lot about how this world is going to be filled with worshipers before Jesus returns

32:05

And I believe that with all of my heart, but do not be mistaken This is not a triumphalistic

32:12

Beat your chest run outside and roar kind of let's conquer the pagans.

32:17

This is not an Inquisition This is not a crusade. This is not a holy war. This is not jihad this is a

32:24

Spiritual war that we fight in the heavenlies with prayer with the Word of God and with the preaching of the gospel and I believe with all my heart that the church will have victory and The church will be filled with worshipers and God will get the glory that not a single sword was drawn

32:43

The gospel is good news of great joy It is not hot air for blowhards with bullhorns

32:54

The kingdom is built Not by cowards, I'm not saying that but the kingdom is also not built by combat combatives

33:04

The kingdom is built on our knees The kingdom is built in evangelism. The kingdom is built in discipleship.

33:11

The kingdom is not built with power plays The kingdom is built by appealing to the only one who has power in the first place and that's

33:19

Christ That's how Peter missed it. That's why Jesus rebuked him Instead of drawing his sword

33:27

He should have been looking to Christ Now no matter the betrayal that we fall into today maybe some of you have betrayed

33:37

Jesus like Judas and You've betrayed Jesus by running after wealth and status instead of running after him

33:45

Maybe some of you have been like the guards and you have followed Authorities that aren't

33:51

God and his word or maybe you're like Peter and you're an impulsive person like me and you run forward

33:58

Without thinking or any other way that you can betray Jesus. I want to pronounce to you

34:05

That for all those who betrayed Christ, there's hope For all of us who end up turning our back on him in some way or another because we all do

34:14

There is hope in the gospel of Christ for all of those who are like Judas Who betrayed

34:20

Christ for riches, you know that there is no treasure that can be found apart from Jesus Christ He is the true treasure

34:26

So that your bank account doesn't matter how big your house is doesn't matter the size of your vehicle your 401k your investments

34:33

None of that all of that is what moth and rust destroy because true treasure is found in Jesus if you put your faith and you put your hope in Material wealth or in prosperity or in people's opinion of you all of those things fade

34:49

If you put your hope in your body, it will sag if you put your hope in anything other than Jesus It will be taken from you.

34:57

But if you put your hope in the Lord, Jesus Christ, it will last forever It will be treasures that you lay down at Jesus's feet

35:08

If you're like the temple guards And you're prone to cowardice or you're prone to Listening to the authorities.

35:15

I want you to remember there is no authority, but Jesus Christ there is no one who speaks truthfully like Jesus Christ and Obeying him might cost you

35:26

Obeying him if the temple guards would have obeyed him. They would have been arrested too. They would have been crucified as well sometimes in the course of history

35:34

The church has to be okay with the consequences when there are periods of time where the world comes after the church

35:42

Do not cower brothers and sisters be like Christ Because that's how he was for you

35:47

The gospel says not that Christ went and hid in his darkest hour. It says that in his darkest hour

35:54

With the joy that was set before him. He marched up the hill of the cross for you

36:00

He had no cowardice he had only courage and in his courage He ransomed you out of the hands of the enemy and he made you a part of his family and because now he has

36:11

Made you in union with him brothers and sisters live with great courage Don't live with fear and cowardice revelation says that there is no place in heaven for the coward

36:21

So trust in the Lord Jesus Christ For all of those who are like Peter the gospel also brings sobriety and self -control self -control is a

36:33

Discipline that is greatly lacking in America in a country of great excess in a country where all of our wealths and treasures are right at our feet self -control is on short supply and Yet, it's a fruit of the

36:48

Spirit Look at Jesus who in the garden when he's weeping tears of blood is

36:56

Demonstrating for us a self -control and Sobriety a

37:01

Focus that now in Christ. We're called to imitate Brothers and sisters are not going to be given everything you want

37:10

But be self -controlled in the gospel be sober in the gospel and you can do that because he first did that for you

37:17

You can grow in that because the Holy Spirit is now in you We all from time to time are going to betray

37:25

Jesus for shiny things for the approval of man And because we've been impetulant once again but let us repent and Realign our hearts to the gospel and remember that Christ is the one who died to set us free

37:41

So that we would live free for freedom Christ has set you free. So no longer go on living in the bonds of slavery

37:49

Don't miss Jesus for that Remember he is the way he is the truth and he is the life run to him.

37:57

Let's pray Lord there's so many different ways that we can miss you

38:03

There's so many different ways that we can become lost and separated from you Lord I pray that that the gospel would be our

38:12

GPS That Lord we would remember who we are whose we are and what you did to make it so Lord, I pray in this season, especially in Easter time that we would remember what it cost

38:26

Lord I pray that we would not be flippant with our faith But Lord that we would be faithful in our faith Lord I pray that that we would look to the author and the perfecter of our faith the one who who?

38:35

Ascended to the hill with great joy the one who died with great joy and the one who rose in victory Lord I pray that that you would cause us to look at Christ to stare at Christ to adore

38:45

Christ Lord, I pray that you would fill our hearts with the joy of Christ Lord I pray that that you would cause us to grow in Christ He would give us the mind of Christ that you would take over every rebel aspect of our life with the obedience of Christ Lord, I pray that we would be gospel rooted gospel defined gospel

39:06

Developed people and that Lord as we walk into the world, we would no longer walk like Judas's the temple guards or Peter But we would walk with Christ as our great treasure

39:19

Christ is our courage and Christ is our sobriety in all things. It's in Jesus name.