WWUTT 2496 The Least Will Be the Greatest (Luke 22:24-34)

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Jesus said to his disciples that the greatest in his kingdom would be a servant of all.

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We can hear that and say amen to it, but doing it, that requires a strength and a will that is beyond ourselves when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ. That we may humble ourselves before the

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Lord, and at the proper time, He may exalt us. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt

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.com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the

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Gospel of Luke, we come back to chapter 22, picking up where we left off last week.

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We just finished reading through the institution of the Lord's Supper, and now a dispute arises among the disciples as to which of them is to be regarded as the greatest.

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Let me begin reading here in verse 24. We'll go through verse 34. Hear the word of the

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Lord. A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

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And Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors.

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But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.

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For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves?

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Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

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You are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assign to you, as my

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Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

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Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.

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But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

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Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.

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Jesus said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you know me.

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So we come back up to verse 24 here. This is right after the

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Lord has just said to them, this is my body given for you.

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Eat this in remembrance of me. And this is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

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The institution of the Lord's Supper is just happened right there with Jesus talking about how he is going to go and die for his people.

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And what happens after that, according to Luke in the narrative that that he is presenting to us here of that upper room discourse, the next thing that happens is they begin arguing with one another about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God.

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So this this illuminates to us how the disciples really did not understand what was going on.

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I said that last week when we were reading through the Lord's Supper narrative. Jesus is passing his body.

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He's passing the cup and saying, this is my blood. And the Roman Catholics want to say that like the disciples knew when

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Jesus said, this is my body, they knew it was his body. They didn't have any sort of notion like that whatsoever.

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They had no idea what he was talking about. They weren't eating that bread thinking, wow, we're actually eating

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Christ's body here. This is pretty amazing. Jesus had not even sacrificed himself yet.

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That bread did not transform into his body. The cup did not transubstantiate into his blood.

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They were symbols of what he was about to do. Now, there's still great fellowship with the

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Lord in these things, unquestionably on a spiritual level that is sometimes, well,

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I won't say sometimes, it's all the time beyond our comprehension, even when we come to communion and we eat and we drink.

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But it is a spiritual truth, a spiritual fellowship that is so profound, we leave it up to the ministry of the

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Holy Spirit that brings us into the presence of God, for we could never wrap our minds around how beautiful and wonderful this is that we fellowship with the

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Lord at his table when we eat of his body and drink of his blood. The disciples did not even recognize the humility in this sacrifice for now they go right into arguing with one another over who is the greatest in the kingdom of God.

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In verse 25, Jesus said to them, the kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.

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Remember, what did the Jews think of the Gentiles? They thought the Gentiles were dogs, like the filthiest animals.

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And you're going to act like Gentiles? The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them.

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I have authority. I am king. I have this supremacy over you,

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Gentile supremacy, and those in authority over them. There's even those that have authority over those

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Gentile kings that are called benefactors. You see that with the Roman occupation that existed there in Judah at that time.

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You had Pilate. Pilate was regarded as a governor or being like a king that had authority not only over the

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Gentiles that he ordered, the Roman armies and so forth, not only to collect taxes from Gentiles, but even from the

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Jews. They had authority over them also, and the Jews hated them. They were repulsed by them.

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The Sadducees and those of the aristocracy, they had a great relationship with the

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Romans. They helped to make us rich. So who are we to argue with their occupation? But for the most part, the

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Jews did not want them there. As I've said before regarding Christ's messiahship, they are thinking of him as the one who is going to set them free of the

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Roman occupation, of this captivity that they are under being ruled over by Gentile kings.

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This is who those Gentile kings are. Are you going to act like them? Are you going to be like that? You want deliverance from them, and you're going to be as they are?

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Even Pilate himself has a king over him. Who has a king over him? So as much as you want to call yourself the greatest, there's always going to be somebody else over you,

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Jesus is pointing out. So this is not to be so with you, verse 26, rather let the greatest among you become as the youngest and the leader as one who serves.

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There was great respect for those who were older in among this people at this particular time.

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We don't really have that as Americans. There's not a lot of respect for those who are older.

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One of the elders here at Providence Reformed Baptist Church is Alan Nambasha, and he's from Zambia.

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And one of the things that I've heard him talk about regarding the difference between living among the people in Zambia and living in among people in the

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United States, the people in Zambia have a greater respect for their elders. And he does not see that as much here in the

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United States. When I was a pastor of the church in Junction City, Kansas, we had a

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Palauan congregation that was part of our church. If you've listened to this podcast for a long time, you've heard us talk about that.

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A Palauan population, yeah, like the Pacific Islanders. And yet there was a population of them in Junction City, Kansas.

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And in order to minister to those Palauans, we had to have a pastor who spoke their language. But among the

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Palauans, they had great reverence for those who were elderly.

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In fact, it was like whenever someone who was older, an older person, whenever they stood up, everybody else had to stand up.

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And nobody could be sitting higher than a person who was older in age.

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Everybody had to be lower than the person who was greater in age.

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So that's kind of the reverence and respect that they had for their elders. Now here,

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Jesus is saying that the greatest among you must become as the youngest.

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So it's not by your age that you're going to gain prestige in the kingdom of God.

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It's going to be your humility. You're going to act as one who is not greater than anybody else.

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I have no greater wisdom over anybody. But you would humble yourself and even be as the youngest.

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You're not expecting respect from everybody else who is younger than you.

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Rather, you would show respect to others. And the leader among you,

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Jesus says, is the one who serves. Leaders aren't typically seen as the one who serves.

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A leader is the one who gets served. But if you want to be as great in the kingdom of God, and if you want to be seen as someone who leads in the kingdom of God, then you must become as the youngest, as the lesser known, as the lesser respected.

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And you must be the one who serves. You would even serve those that you might expect should be serving you.

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You're not gaining positions of prestige here. And remember, with this in verse 24, with the disciples disputing among themselves as to which one is to be regarded as the greatest, again, what kind of kingdom do they think that Jesus is establishing here?

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They think it's going to be an earthly kingdom. They think we're kicking out the Romans and we're kicking out the Herods, and Christ is going to reign from Israel again.

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We're going to have that great empire state like Solomon's kingdom was. And so when our

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Messiah right here is reigning like that, which of us is going to get to be the greatest in that kingdom? Which of us gets to rule in the highest position?

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They are still thinking in such fleshly ways when this dispute arises among them.

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But Jesus is saying to be the greatest in my kingdom, you must be a servant of all.

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And Jesus asked this question in verse 27, for who is the greater, one who reclines at table or the one who serves?

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Is it not the one who reclines at table? Right. Because the servants come and serve the one who's reclining at table.

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The servants have to stand around and wait for when the one reclining at table wants his drink refilled or the next course of the meal.

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Then the servant is going to come and bring it and tidy up the leftovers and that sort of a thing. The one who reclines at table is considered by earthly means to be the greatest.

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And here Jesus says to them, but I am among you as the one who serves.

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I am serving you. So that had to be a very embarrassing revelation for the disciples.

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Because are you going to sit there reclining at table and therefore say that you're greater than me?

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I'm the one serving you. Do you think you're greater than me? And that was a humbling moment.

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A lesson that Jesus gives to his disciples that here I have set forth for you this example.

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I've been serving you. And the disciples know that in the kingdom they're expecting,

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Christ is the greatest. And here he is serving his disciples. And so they are to serve others.

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Verse 28, you are those who have stayed with me in my trials. And I assign to you as my father assigned to me a kingdom that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

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So Jesus doesn't just leave it to the disciples to embarrass them, to say to them, you have no idea what you're talking about with regards to this kingdom.

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In fact, he promises them even greater things than they were expecting.

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You're going to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. You're going to sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

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And that is to say that these thrones are all equal in authority. There's 12 disciples there.

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You will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.

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Well, actually, by this point, there would have been 11 disciples there. That's one thing that's missing from Luke's narrative of this upper room discourse is there's not a moment when

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Judas goes out from them. So there isn't anything in Luke's narrative where Jesus says something to the effect of the one who dips the bread with me in the cup is the one who's going to betray me.

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And it turns out to be Judas. And Jesus says to Judas, what you're going to do, go and do quickly.

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We've read that previously in Matthew and Mark, but we don't have that in Luke. So at this point,

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Judas almost said Judah, Judas is not really with them anymore. So he's gone out from this place at this particular time and may very well be to the unnoticing of the disciples.

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They haven't seen that Judas has left. So when Jesus is saying that you're going to sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel, they're hearing 12 disciples, 12 thrones, and we get to judge the 12 tribes.

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Now, this will play out later in the book of Acts in Acts chapter one, when Judas's seat, having been vacated because he betrayed

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Jesus, will be filled with somebody else. So there will still be 12 apostles.

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But this analogy is used with the disciples so that they understand that their thrones are equal.

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There's not one that is above another. So you will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes.

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There won't be any one who is greater in the kingdom of God. The amazing part of this should be that you get to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.

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Jesus will say later in Revelation chapter three. That to the one who conquers,

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I will give to him to sit with me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.

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So even more than just getting our own thrones, we sit with Christ himself on his throne.

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So this is symbolic here. It's not that there are literally 12 thrones from which the disciples are literally judging the literal 12 tribes of Israel.

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Okay, that's not what Jesus is referring to here. But that is his kingdom, as he has already said, is greater than anything that would be established in this world.

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It's not going to come in ways that can be seen and observed, as Jesus said to the Pharisees.

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But behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you, but in the fullness of that kingdom.

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When coming into the presence of the father, Jesus had teased that out in even in the institution of the

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Lord's Supper, when he said, I tell you, I will not eat of this meal again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

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So in that day, when we are with Christ in his glory, in the fulfillment of that kingdom, then we will reign with him.

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We are fellow heirs with him of that kingdom, everything that gets given to the son gets given to those who are in the sun as well.

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And what a glorious promise and glorious day that will be. But then to Simon, Jesus singles out

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Peter and says, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you that he might sift you like wheat.

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But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

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Now, this goes right along with what Jesus has just been saying to his disciples.

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You don't even have a break in the quotation. There's not a break in the dialogue at all.

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He began speaking in verse twenty five and verse thirty one is still him speaking the same thing.

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So if you read this in the English standard version, these sections are broken up as who is the greatest. And then

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Jesus foretells Peter's denial. But there's no break here. This is still Jesus speaking to his disciples and now singling out

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Simon. You guys think you're so great and you're arguing with each other over which one is going to be the greatest.

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Satan has demanded you, Simon, that he might sift you like wheat.

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But I've prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, when you have come back into faithfulness to your savior, that you would strengthen your brothers in their time of grieving over what's about to happen, which, again, the disciples just really don't understand this.

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They don't understand that Jesus is going to be arrested and put to death. But once all of this happens and it happens before their very eyes,

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Peter is going to weep over his his denial. And when he has returned to the

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Lord, that he would strengthen his brothers in that because they would all run away as well. Now, Peter says to him, verse thirty three,

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Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Because Peter has has that much belief that Jesus is the

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Messiah, even if he should be imprisoned. He's going to he's going to rise right back up again so that he can assume the throne.

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That's what we're all expecting him to do. But Jesus says to him, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day until you deny three times that you even know me.

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As much as you guys are boasting among yourselves as to which one is the greatest. You're even going to go and deny me.

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When the time comes, as Jesus says to the disciples in the garden prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, he says to them that the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

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And that's the case with us many, many times. We may talk about how faithful we would be to the

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Lord no matter what, and we even read these passages like we've read here about the servant is the greatest of all.

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The one who serves must be a servant of all. And we read that and go, yes, I'm ready to do that until the time comes for us to have to serve somebody.

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And then we start going, oh, man, do that person, do I really have to serve that person?

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And we need to be humble before the Lord and we need the strength of his spirit to do the things that God has called for us to do.

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It is not for us in our flesh to fulfill these things, but by the Holy Spirit of God that dwells in us, that we would even humble ourselves before the

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Lord and before one another. That we might serve just as Jesus has served us.

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Yes, he's even served us, not just serving his disciples at the table, but right now he is serving us in the way that he goes before the

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Father. And advocates on our behalf and in giving us his spirit that we might be sanctified.

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The Lord is serving us even now. The ultimate sacrifice that Christ made, of course, was dying on the cross for our sins, rising again from the dead so that all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

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So as the Lord has humbled himself in ways we will never even be able to humble ourselves, but as the

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Lord has humbled, so we must be humbled. And as said through the apostle

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Peter, because Peter would eventually learn his lesson, as said through the apostle Peter, he will exalt you at the proper time.

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Let's come to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, I pray that we would have the strength to endure, that even when we are so confident that we would never deny

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Jesus, I pray that your spirit would keep us so that we would never deny Jesus. And even when it comes to serving one another, that we would indeed serve because we know it is honoring to our

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Lord who has served us. Forgive us our sins and lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

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We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes.

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If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the

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Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we understand the text.