What Do We Do With Jesus (Jake Enns)

What do we do with Jesus? Today is Good Friday and that's

our title this morning. I've often wondered about this

day and asked myself what good was what?

What is good about today? We all know that for Jesus as a

man, as a human being, it was not a good day.

It was not a good day for God. Even if you think about it was

the day of Son Jesus was killed. For Jesus as a man, definitely

it was not good. The night before he prayed in

the garden, didn't actually want to go through with this.

He prayed that God would remove the cup of suffering if that was

his will, but it wasn't. If anything, on that day, the

disciples of Jesus, for them things could not have been

worse. We have no way of even imagining

what it must have been like for the disciples to have this

anticipation. He's the King of the Jews and

he's going to be the Messiah. Extreme to extreme, their hopes

and dreams dash to pieces further than they could ever

have imagined. The Bible tells us that God had

planned this event, the crucifixion, to happen.

God had planned for Son Jesus to come to earth, to live among us,

to teach us, and in the end to give his life as a ransom for

the sins of the world. We're told in Scripture that God

so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever,

whoever, who, everyone who believes in him should not

perish but have eternal life. This is an eternal gift.

It's free to, free of charge to us, given by an act of grace

from God to us, and it's an eternal gift rooted in Christ,

the Son of God. But this gift only has value if

it's received. Any gift has value only if it's

received. A rejected gift doesn't do

anything. And for us to receive this,

there's a condition. We must repent of our sins and

put our trust and faith in Jesus.

When Jesus died, we know he had. He had done nothing wrong.

He didn't die for anything He had done.

He died for what humanity had done wrong, what we had done

wrong. That's why he died.

He had nothing to repent of. His mission was complete as far

as the teaching goes. Now He had to just die yet, and

then that would be finished. The evil people in the world,

they would take his life, true, but the only reason they could

take his life was because he was going to give it.

He's going to lay it down. Jesus says he was the most

humble, kind, patient, loving, forgiving person that ever

walked the earth. But the leaders of his day, they

saw him as a threat to the establishment.

They saw him as an intrusion, as an invasion in their lives.

In their mind, he has to go because if he doesn't go, there

will be problems for us. And so it was either their

system, their structure, their way of things, or Jesus.

And Jesus had to go. One of the things that really

bothered the people of his time so much was he called people out

on their sin. He shed light on the lives of

the people in his time. One particular group especially

were the Pharisees, and they were the ones, the Pharisees,

the religious leaders. They said he's got to go, He's

got to go. That response to Jesus, even

today has not really changed that much.

People today, still in our time, primarily want to do one of

three things with him. One, there's some who want to

follow him. They hear him, they listen,

they're convicted, they're drawn and they want to follow.

Not many of those, but there are those.

There's another group. They don't really care either

way, take or leave, it doesn't really matter much.

They just ignore him, live as if he's not real.

There's a lot of that, a lot of them.

Then there's a third group. Well, they hate them with all

they've got and everyone who follows them and they want this

story, not just these, but the story.

Everything has to be squashed. The truth is it is not myth, it

is fact. It is story.

It's historical reality. What we cannot do is get rid of

the story. History cannot be erased.

The question then again, what do we do with Jesus in the New

Testament? In the story of the crucifixion,

we find many characters, different types of people, all

who somehow had a role in this journey.

I want to read the crucifixion story out of the Gospel of

Matthew this morning, and I'll be reading it out of Matthew

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26 to 27. I'll not read it in its entirety

because it's too much to read for one worship service and one

morning, but I'll take certain parts of it.

And you will be following along in your Bibles.

You see, Jesus knew what was going to happen when he came to

Jerusalem. He told his disciples what the

course of the next number of days would be.

The Passion week as we know it. Jesus was not surprised at was

going to what was going to happen.

Of course, he knew everything. But then his disciples, they

didn't know anything of this. They just, oh, he's going to go

Jerusalem become king. He's going to be the king.

So I want us to start reading in Matthew chapter 26 and we'll

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

read verse. It says verse one to five, and

that is not that's not quite accurate there.

Sorry. It is.

Yeah. It came to pass when Jesus had

finished all these things he said to his disciples, you know,

that after two days is the Passover and the Son of Man will

be delivered up to be crucified. Then the chief priest describes

and the elders of the people assembled at that palace of the

high priest who was called Caiaphas and plotted to take

Jesus by trickery and kill him. But they said not during the

feast, lest there be an uproar among the people.

So here's the the the top guys, the guys at the top, the leaders

plotted to kill Jesus. That's their approach to these.

Let's kill him. Let's get rid of him.

Jesus as a human being, flesh and blood, as we are also the

Son of God on that side. He knew all of this was going to

take place, but he did not look forward to it.

He didn't want to die an understandably soul, but the

religious leaders, they did very much want Jesus to die.

In fact, they needed him to die. They had to have him die.

And as we know in the garden, Jesus did not look forward to

this. But Jesus informed his disciples

this was going to take place. And these leaders, how they plan

to do it. Well, they've tried trick they

were going to do with trickery and evil deed carefully planned

and again not doing the feast. They didn't want to riot.

In other words, they want to do it no follow, no consequences.

They were going to play it safe, but this was an evil plan that

God was going to turn around to his own use for the point of

saving people from their sins. From this point on, Matthew

gives a clear rundown on who did what in this tragic story of

Jesus last days on earth. So we see the leaders plan and

plot on how to get rid of him. Well, let's continue reading

Matthew chapter 626 verse 6 to 13.

And when Jesus was in Bethany at the House of Simon the leper, a

woman came to him having an alabaster flask, a very costly

fragrant oil, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the

table. But when his disciples sought,

they were indignant, saying, why this waste?

For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to

the poor. But when Jesus was aware of it,

he said to them, Why do you trouble the woman?

For she's done a good work for me.

For you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have

always. For in pouring this fragment oil

on my body, she did it from a burial.

Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached

in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told

as a memorial to her, the woman she anointed Jesus.

So we have the Pharisees, the religious leaders, we've got to

kill him. This woman, I got to anoint him.

You see the contrast? We we don't even told who she

is. Some writers say that she was

the woman recorded in John chapter 12 verse verse 1 to 8

John 12 · chapter mention

Mary anoints to Jesus feet and they say the stories of a

difference the same woman. We're not sure.

Regardless, it's not her name that carries the weight, it's

her character. I would say it this way.

It's better to be a nameless St. than a popular hypocrite.

This woman was a woman who had come to realize and understand

who Jesus was. She knew Jesus was someone

special. She wanted to show her love and

appreciation, loyalty for him. So she poured this expensive oil

over him. It was a huge cost.

Different writers have had their comments about that, but it was

a it's an enormous sum of money. Jesus recognized and valued what

she did for him. The disciples, they were

indignant. This is waste could have been

sold and given to the poor, but the woman had it right.

She did what she could for Jesus.

She did not know at the time that there for the rest of

history over the world her act of kindness would be proclaimed.

She just wanted to anoint Jesus body, not knowing even that that

he was going to be killed. When we do something for Jesus,

we may not know the ramifications of that or the

outcome of that, and we should not even expect to be

understood. I'm sure she heard what the

disciples were saying here. She's anointing Jesus with oil,

pouring it over from the disciples there.

What a waste, what a waste. This should be sold for the

poor. She probably heard that.

Let's not expect it. Let's expect to always be

understood when we do something good.

It's only later sometimes that the real value of something

comes out. This woman, out of the good

character of her heart, did something good for Jesus.

She honored Jesus, showed her love for Him.

We can learn from her. Well, next in the story is

another character. He's the opposite of this woman.

His name is Judas. Let's keep reading.

Matthew chapter 2614 to 16. Then one of the 12 called Judas

Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, what are you

willing to give me if I deliver them to you?

And they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver.

So from that time on, he sought opportunity to betray Jesus.

So he's the third character. He sells Jesus.

We do not fully know what was in his heart.

What we do know is he was not loyal to Jesus.

He made it look as though he was, but in the end, his sin

caught up with him. Judas had a mindset that he

wanted to be in control. Different commentators mentioned

different things about him. But one thing we can say with

certainty is that Judas, when Jesus called Judas to follow

him, Judas was thinking, yeah, I'm going to betray that guy one

day. I'm going to sell him.

That's not what he was thinking. There was a series of events and

experiences that happened, and he came to that conclusion one

day. It's not working out the way I

thought. I'm going to betray him.

How can he do that? It's one of those things that

people come to over a period of time, incremental choices, and

Judas had reached a point where he's actually going to betray

his master. You see, when we start going

down the wrong path, you never know where that's going to catch

up to us. It's never right to start

rationalizing sin and thinking I got this under control.

We don't know what Judas really thought, but we know that he

came out on the wrong side of things.

He's a stark warning for us in Scripture about sin in our

hearts. Well, the, the Pharisees,

they're going to kill him. The woman, she anoints him.

Judas, what he sold him. Well, let's keep going.

Let's read verse 31 to 35. Then Jesus said to them.

Now this is a little bit further down.

I'm skipping passages here. All of you will be made to

stumble because of me this night.

This is during the Passover meal, for it is written I will

strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be

scattered. But after I've been raised, I'll

go be before you to Galilee. Peter answered and said to me,

Even if all are made to stumble because of you, I will never be

made to stumble. Jesus said to me, assuredly.

I say to you that this night before the rooster crows, you'll

deny me 3 times. Peter said to him, Even if I

have to die with you, I will not deny you.

And so said all the disciples. Now we're into boasting.

The disciples boasted in themselves.

They did not see this happening yet.

It had not yet registered what was going to happen.

They did not know yet. They're very confident of

themselves. Oh never, we never deny Jesus.

Oh come on, what are you talking about?

Especially Peter here to be set straight.

They did not get it. They've been told, but their

hearts were not there yet. They were not getting it.

And let's not be too hard on these guys.

We're not getting it either. So folks, there's so many things

we don't get. They just knew we're never going

to do that. And then they did.

You see? It's always the other guy who

stumbles and falls, right? It's always the other guy.

I would never. No, I would never.

It's always the other guy who makes the mistakes.

I'm better than that. How?

How? How Can you believe I would do

something like that? And do you think they were lying

in their hearts? Of course not.

They did nothing. OK, we're going to say no.

We're actually going to do it. They were not thinking that

either. They were not thinking.

OK, yeah, probably we will, But we're just going to say no now.

No, they were convinced they were not going to deny him.

They knew they were not going to.

Jesus knew they would. And unless God protects us, we

all fall. They would soon learn.

Well, Jesus left the city, went to the Mount of Olives.

There in the garden he begins to be sorrowful in deep agony.

He wants his disciples to watch with him.

Let's see what actually happened.

Now we come to the garden. Matthew chapter 26, verse 36 and

Matthew 26:36

on. Then Jesus came with them to a

place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples,

sit here while I go pray over there.

And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and he

began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Then he said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful even to

death, stay here and watch with me.

He went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed,

saying, Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from

me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but

as you will. Then he came to the disciples

and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, What could

you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter

into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the

flesh is weak. Again.

The second time he went and prayed saying My, Oh my Father,

if this cup cannot pass from my unless I drink it, your will be

will be your will be done. And he came and found them

asleep again for their eyes were heavy.

So he left them, went away again and prayed The third time the

saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples

and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting?

Behold the hours at hand. The Son of man is being betrayed

into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going.

My betrayer is at hand. Commentators say, and I agree

with this. This was the pivotal moment of

Jesus earthly journey. The cross was horrible.

That's true. The cross was, was, was awful.

The physical pain unimaginable. But here's where that deciding

moment happened. Will I or won't I?

And of course we know he was destined for this.

And, and, and, and God had told him and he said not, he said if

it's possible as a man, he still wanted it.

He still didn't want to die. And what was the side was doing?

What were they doing when he needed them the most?

They slept. You see, when it comes to making

promises and commitments, talk is cheap.

Anybody can say, Yep, you can count on me, I'll be there.

I'll do it when it gets critical.

No, I'm done. I'm out.

They meant well. They didn't go to the garden

yet. I'll fall asleep and Jesus would

pray. That's not what they thought.

That's not what they thought. They just did it.

We do what's inside of us. Before we judge them too

harshly, let's remember we're not better than they.

How much do we pray when we should be praying?

Let's be serious about this. I'm not trying here to say that

we as a congregation don't pray and that our prayers are of no

value and God doesn't listen to our prayers.

But when there's pain and sorrow, too often we have not

prayed and maybe not physically slept, but spiritually,

emotionally. Well, let's keep moving on.

Here we have the story of how the betrayal went down and how

Peter to try to save Jesus in a sense.

Let's continue reading Matthew 26, verse 47 and on.

Matthew 26:47

And while he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the 12

with a great multitude of swords and clubs came from the chief

priests and elders of the people.

Now his betrayer had given them a sign saying, whomever I kiss,

he's the one sees him. Immediately he went up to Jesus

and said, greetings Rabbi, and kissed him.

But Jesus said to him, Friend, why have you come?

Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took him.

And suddenly one of those who were with Jesus stretched out

his hand and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high

priest, and cut off his ear. We know from the other gospels

this was Peter. So he did take action, continued

verse 52. But Jesus said to him, Put your

sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by

the sword. Or do you think that I cannot

now pray to my Father, and he will provide me with more than

12 legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be

fulfilled, that it must happen thus in that our Jesus said to

the multitudes, Have you come out against the robber with

swords and clubs to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in

the temple, and you did not seize me.

But all this has was done that the scriptures of the prophets

might be fulfilled. And then that last line in verse

56. Then all the disciples forsook

him and fled. What have they just said a few

hours ago? We will never run away, Lord,

No, we're not going to run away. We'll die with You.

In fact, this was our surprise to the disciples.

And it was Peter who started swinging the sword.

He really wanted to defend Jesus because he's going to be king

after all. You know what is Noteworth is

how the arrest went down. Even though it was Jesus was

arrested. He was the only guy in control.

He was the only guy who had it together.

Not the disciples. They ran away.

Not Judas. He was a betrayer.

Not the Pharisees, the the gang they brought with him.

Jesus was the only one in control.

You see what's happened? The dominoes are toppling one

after another. The leader plots his death, the

plot his death. The woman anoints and Judas

betrays and the disciples misunderstand and they sleep and

they should be praying. They run and hide.

When Jesus gets arrested, it's not going so well.

The disciples, they fled. The crowds thought they had this

under control. In reality, they were just pawns

under the power of the Prince of Darkness who were doing what He

wanted them to do to get rid of Jesus.

And God was orchestrating this. He's going to use it for

redemption. See, no matter how well we may

think we stand, we do not stand if we're not rooted and grounded

in Christ. They all forsook him and fled.

See, first, they're not going to deny him.

Second, they couldn't even watch Him pray with him.

And 3rd, they all run. It's pretty tough.

The saying is pretty tough. Where did well, where did it

take him? Let's keep going. 26 or 57 and

on says and those who laid hold of Jesus led him away to

Caiaphas. The high priest were the scribes

and the elders were assembled. But Peter followed him at a

distance to the high priest courtyard.

See, Peter ran away, but OK, he's in the distance now.

I still want to see what's going on.

And he went in and sat with the servants to see the end.

How's it going to pan out now? The chief priests and elders and

all the council sought testimony, false testimony

against Jesus to put him to death, but found none.

Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none.

But at last two false witnesses came forward and said, this

fella said, I'm able to destroy the temple of God and build it

in three days. And the high priest rose and

said to him, do you answer nothing?

What is it? These men testify against you?

But Jesus kept silent. You see, that's the interesting

thing about Jesus. He doesn't need to talk.

Solid people seldom need to defend themselves.

And the high priest answered and said to him, I put you underoath

by the living God. Tell us if you're the Christ,

the Son of God. Jesus said to him, It is as you

said. Nevertheless, I say to you,

hereafter you will see the Son of a man sitting at the right

hand of the power and coming in the clouds of glory.

Then the high priest tore his clothes and saying he has spoken

blasphemy. What further need do we have of

witnesses? Look, now you've heard his

blasphemy, What do you think? They answered and said, he's

they're deserving of death. And they spat in his face and

beat him. And the others struck him with

the palms of their hands, saying, prophesied to us Christ,

who's the one who struck you? Well, they put him through a

mock trial. The men should have expected the

men Jesus should have expected fairness from.

He got the least of it, none of it where he should have got

expected justice from. It was injustice.

There was no foundation to anything that they had said or

they just hated Jesus. That was it.

They had to come up with something and a false charge

brought up. And As for the statement then

when he was challenged, are you the Son of God?

He said yes, knowing full well this would be used against him

to get the death sentence from the Jewish leaders.

But as we shall see, the statement here to get the death

sentence, that was a different statement than they used for

Pilot. That's what people like that

always do. They use this here and that over

there. Here it's about are you the

Messiah? Pilot couldn't care less about

that. But for Pilot, they said

something different. Well, let's see how Peter's

handling all this. Peter's watching, you know.

Now Peter said, continuing on 69 they were 74.

Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard and the servant girl

came to him saying, You also were with him, with the Jesus of

Galilee. But he denied it before them

all, saying, I do not know what you're saying.

And when he had gone out of to the gateway, another girl saw

him and said to those who were there, this fellow also was with

Jesus of Nazareth. But again he denied with an

oath. I do not know the man.

And a little later those who stood by by camp by came up and

said to Peter, surely you're also one of them, for your

speech betrays you. Then he began to curse and

swear, saying, I do not know the man.

Immediately a rooster crowed, and Peter remembered the word of

the word Jesus had said to him before.

The rooster crows, You deny me three times.

So he went out and wept bitterly.

He didn't plan on denying Jesus, he just did it.

He said. Peter denied Jesus three times.

It's bad to fail once, to fail the same test three times.

That's worse in our culture. Three time failure to strike

out. I don't know what three times

meant in that ancient history. I'm sure there's something to

it, but I haven't studied that. But nonetheless, there's

significance there. It's not just one time Peter

denied Jesus. He denied him 3 * 3 times Peter

failed. There's something else here.

Who was challenging him? Girls.

I'm not saying anything against women and girls, OK?

It's not the point. But these are the people he had.

Leads to fear. If you fear me.

If you're a soldier, some some fighter.

But girls, they won't harm a man.

And it's just the words of 2 girls who get him to deny him.

Where's Peter? And then he curses and swears he

doesn't know him. But of course we're better than

Peter, right? I mean, we wouldn't do that,

would we? Come on, would we?

Would we be like Peter? No, we wouldn't do that, would

we? Do we?

Do we deny Jesus or when do we deny Jesus?

You know, sometimes it takes so very, very precious little for

us to just take a little bit of a detour, a little bit of an

excursion, just a little bit of an avoidance.

And we don't have to maybe say something about Jesus or we, we

can compromise. And, you know, Peter had reason

to fear because he gets killed. I might get killed.

Well, he had Hacked Off the servant's ear before.

Now he cowered in fear, he denied Jesus.

Let's continue reading chapter 27 verse 15 now.

Now Jesus before Pilate, not the feast, the governor was

accustomed to releasing the multitude to the multitude 1

prisoner whom they wished, and at the time they had a notorious

prisoner called a Barabbas. Therefore, when they had

gathered together, Pilate said to them, whom do you want me to

release to you? Barabbas or Jesus who's called

the Christ for he knew they had handed him over because of envy.

Pilots are right through the whole charade.

He knew everything. While he was sitting on the

judgement seat, his wife sent to him saying have nothing to do

with that just man, for I've suffered many things today in a

dream because of him. But the chief priests and elders

persuaded the multitudes they should ask for Barabbas and

destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said

to them, which of the two do you want me to release to you?

They said Barabbas. Pilate said to them, what then

shall I do with Jesus who's called the Christ?

They all said to him, let him be crucified.

Then the governor said, what? What evil has he done?

They all cried at all the more, saying, let him be crucified.

When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather

that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands

before the molar did, saying, I'm innocent of the blood of

this just person, you see to it. And all the people answered and

said, his blood be on us and our children.

Then he released Barabbas to them, and when he had scourged

Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

What did Pilate do? He was no better than anyone

else. He condemned Jesus to be

crucified. We have a number of people in

this this section here. First there's Pilate.

He has the power to set him free, but he has to answer to

Rome. The emperor in Rome might not

like if something goes wrong in Jerusalem.

So he's got to think, got that to think about.

He's got to keep his job neat and tidy, make sure Jerusalem

stays in order. He can't risk an uprising.

But he also knows Jesus is innocent.

But then he's got these pesky Jews to deal with.

Then there's his wife. She's made her decision.

She says set the man free. I dream bad things about him,

and they're religious leaders, relentless.

They're the worst of the worst. Then there's this mob.

What is he supposed to do? He must have wished he was on

vacation or something. But to ease his conscience, his

inner agony over what's going on, he relinquished control to

the crowd and let the people have their way.

And he hands these over, has him whipped and sent off to be

crucified. And that's what they do.

Let's continue reading. Now we're into math the chapter

27, verse 39, 35 and 39, it says in verse 35.

But then they crucified him. They've let him out to the to

Golgotha, now to to Calvary. And there they crucified him and

divided his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled,

which was spoken by the prophet. They divided my garments among

them and from a closing cast lots jumping down to verse 39.

And those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their

heads and saying, Who you who destroy the temple and build it

in three days, save yourself. If you're the Son of God, come

down from the cross. Likewise the chief priest, also

mocking with the scribes and elders, said He saved others

himself. He cannot save if he's the King

of Israel. Let him now come down from the

cross and we will believe him. He trusted in God, let him

deliver him now, if he wills have him.

For he said, I am the Son of God.

Even the robbers who were crucified with him reviled him

with the same thing. The crowd mocked Jesus at the

cross. The soldiers on duty.

They too had their fill of making life difficult for Jesus.

They humiliated him, mocking him and torturing him, then nailed

him to a cross. That bypasser by people

blasphemed him, using words against him.

Interestingly enough, the chief priesthood followed them there

as well. They had to watch the whole

thing go down. The suffering Jesus endured from

humanity that day was total. There was no level of suffering

that was spared on that day at all levels.

Emotionally, verbally, socially, physically, at every level from

those who most trusted to those who most hated him at every

level. It wasn't over yet.

There was one more coming, He experienced abandonment was 45

to 50. Now from the 6th hour until the

9th hour there was darkness over all the land.

In about the 9th hour Jesus cried in a loud voice Ellie,

Ellie Lamasabatani with means my God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? Some of those who stood there

when they heard that said this man's calling for Elijah.

Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled it with

sour wine and put it on a Reed and offered him to drink.

The rest said, leave him, let him alone, let's see if Elijah

will come to save him. And was 50 And Jesus cried at it

again, and with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.

God gave his Son over to death. First Second Corinthians 521

says, For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we

may become the righteousness of God in him.

Even God could not look at his own Son when the sin of the

world was on his shoulders. Jesus took it all.

There was nothing left. Jesus traded places with us, the

shame, the ridicule, the mockery, the punishment, the

humiliation. We deserved all of it.

And he took it and gave it, took it on himself.

Some theologians comment, well, did God actually forsake him?

Well, we don't need to argue. We know God cannot look on sin.

He destroys it in his infinite love.

He took this path for us people. And because Jesus was perfect

and holy and blamed this, He took that punishment on our

behalf. Because he was holy, He didn't

die forever. He died for three days and the

God raised him back to life. And that's the story.

We're looking forward to listening on Sunday morning.

When we come back here Sunday morning.

Let's summarize this. The one main point of all of

this is Jesus walked the path of suffering that we deserved.

You see, first the leaders plotted to kill him.

The woman she anointed him, Judas, what?

He sold him. The disciples boasted to him

about their loyalty. The disciples slept when they

should be praying. When Jesus was arrested, the

disciples fled. The religious leaders unjustly

accused and condemned him. Peter denied him, Pilate had him

crucified, the soldiers mocked him, the crowd mocked him, and

God turned his face away from him.

It was either him or us. So the question what will we do

with Jesus? Well, I would do nothing.

That's a response. You can only do that for so

long. So one day we will answer in

this life, for a time it's possible to avoid him, to just

push him aside. We can do that, but there's

words and scripture that teach us that's what's going to

happen. Isaiah 45, verse 23, this

Isaiah 45:23

prophet writes, I've sworn by myself.

God says the word has gone out of my mouth and righteousness

and shall not return that to me. Every knee shall bow, every

tongue shall take an oath. What happened in the story of

Jesus? Everything that happened to

Jesus was for a reason. Jesus experienced rejection so

we could experience acceptance. God is holy, He's just, and he

rejects sin. We don't have what it takes to

measure up. We can't meet the standard.

We can't measure up, so we need him.

Doesn't matter who we are. This gift stands today to

everyone who repents and believes and surrenders their

life to Jesus. Jesus died so you and I could

have eternal life.