Jesus Knows Exactly How It Feels To Be A Human - Leland Zehr

Good morning to each one of you, and I too

want to greet you in the name of the one

that was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities,

the name of Jesus. Appreciated so far. The introduction of

the songs the devotionals very well prepared us for the

subject this morning, the special service this morning of remembering,

remembering Jesus a part of his life. You know, we

like as people, most of us anyways, like stories with

good endings, and this story has a good ending. But

the part of the story that we are thinking about

and looking at, especially today, is kind of the in

the harder part art. It's not very pretty, it's not

very maybe in some ways nice to think about, but

it's part of what Jesus did, and the reason that

he did It is sobering as well because it reflects

then upon us. And I guess I feel like each

time I stand up here, I should try to hide

behind the cross of Jesus. But I feel that, especially

on a service like today, that Jesus could be lifted

up and thought about and magnified. And so I want

to do that this morning and draw your minds to him,

just a few verses in First Corinthians twenty three that

will get to that. Jesus said verse twenty three, for

I've received of the Lord that which I also delivered

unto you. That the Lord Jesus the same night in

which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had

given thanks, he break it and said, take eat. This

is my body which is broken for you. This stew

in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also

he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this

is a cup of the New Testament in my blood.

This stew as oft as you drink it in remembrance

of me. For as often as you eat this bread

and drink this cup, you to show the Lord's death

till he come. And so that is kind of the

heart of what we're doing here this morning with what

we call the Communion service, is remembering. And remembering can

have different levels. Can be very surface, and it can

also be deep. It can just be a recollecting of

the past. It can be reminding ourselves remembering again. He

also said here, as often as you eat this bread

and drink this cup of to show the Lord's death.

So what all are we doing here at a communion

service this morning, I think is good to think about.

We are remembering, we are declaring, which means we are proclaiming,

we are declaring in some way the reality of that.

And we're also doing more than that. We're doing more

than having a memorial or a reunion, like Gerald said,

which is true about this, But a.

Couple other things that I think our communion.

Is meant to be for us is it's an act

as his followers. It's an act of a renewed commitment

to him now and going forward. And it's an allegiance

to him. And it's a reminder of our daily need

of him. And it's also a time of worship to him.

So those are all part of what I think communions

should be for us. There's a lot of things that

we could remember about the life of Jesus, and of

course we're especially focusing this morning on the suffering, the death,

the hardship that Jesus faced. That's what he said to do,

he said, is you'd take this bread and drink this cup.

You do this in remembrance of my broken body and

my shed blood. So he's he wasn't just saying to

remember all the stories that I did or my teachings,

but specifically about that part of Jesus. It is what

communion is meant to do or be. There's different aspects

even of suffering and death that we could look at

about the life of Jesus, and we could go different directions.

This morning, I want to invite you to the book

of Hebrews four or this isn't my main text, but

a few verses in Hebrews chapter four, verses fourteen through sixteen.

It says, seeing then that we have a great high

priest that has passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son

of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we

have not a high priest which cannot be touched with

the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points

tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let Us

therefore come boldly into the throne of Grace, that we

may obtain mercy and find grace of grace to help

in time of need. And these verses are to me

even a little bit stumbling and hard to understand in

the old King James version, but what it's saying here,

the part that I want to focus on is saying

that we do have I have a high priest, Jesus,

which can understand and relate to the feelings and the

struggles that we face. And he was tempted in all

points that we are tempted in. And I'd like for

you to think about that just for a minute. I

know you've heard these verses and heard the statement. I

want you to think about that, those verses in that statement,

and I'd like you to ask you a question about

that as you think about your own life, do you

believe that that Jesus actually understands and relates to you

and your struggles and needs that none of us maybe

even know are happening sometimes here in Halsey, Oregon in

twenty twenty six, a couple thousand years later, after Jesus

has been this all happened to him. A world that

looks completely different from the days that Jesus walked on

the earth and lived. With all the changes that we

have with modern inventions and technologies, the landscape has completely

changed in many ways. Our culture is different, the way

we do life the fast pace. So today, is it

still true that Jesus is still touched with the feelings

of mine and your infirmities, and not only that he

understands all our struggles, but that he also, in some way,

in a different culturally moved faced most of those same

struggles in one form or another himself. And so that

might be pretty near to the heart of what I

want to think about this morning, although we want to

go beyond that. But sometimes we think we're tempted to

think subconsciously think that our situation, my situation, my struggles

are unique. They're just yeah, they're similar, but they are unique.

Nobody quite really understands. Usually that's not true. But even

if it was true, it's not true for Jesus. And

when we feel that way, I think it's important the

way we understand and think and feel about that is

because it has a facts on how we relate in

life and how we feel. We can feel alone and

discourage and start down that road when we believe that feeling,

what is a feeling touched with the feeling? What does

that mean? Well, part of what that means is to

have come passion and to be touched with feeling of sympathy,

be sympathetic, to mutually commiserate with, understand on a deep level.

And sometimes we find friends and we gravitate towards people

that have went through experiences that are similar to what

we have. Whatever they are, good or bad, we have

something in common, and so that makes us attracted to

that person because we just feel like they understand and

they can relate. This morning, I want to look at

some different ways that Jesus experience, not only physical suffering

and mistreatment and death, although we'll maybe get to a

little bit of that later, but I want to mainly

focus this morning. Gerald mentioned my ears perked up when

he said a certain word, and he said it about

three times at least in his devotions. Probably the rest

of you didn't even catch it, but he talked about

emotional relationships or emotional connection.

And I want to think.

A little bit more this morning, for at least the

first part on the emotional, the mental, and the social

suffering that Jesus went through, especially and that he experienced

that and that he understands that. And I don't want

to overlook and minimize the blood and the broken body

and the physical, but I think sometimes these other things

get overlooked, and in a sense, if our main suffering

of Jesus is simply that he got beat by a

whip and got a crown of thorns put on his head,

and he got put on a cross and he died. Well,

that is touching, but you know, none of us have

ever and probably will never actually go through that. We

might but probably not, and so we can't relate in

that same way. But there's a lot of things of

the kinds of suffering that Jesus did go through that

we can and do and are maybe going through and

can relate and connect with. So the title of the message,

I don't know if it's a very good one, but

maybe it'll make more sense at the very end. But

it's simply that Jesus knows exactly how it feels to

be a human. He knows exactly how it feels. And

so for the main passages, if you would like to,

I would invite you again to turn to John chapter six.

So with those thoughts in mind, keep that in mind,

and we'll come back to that. But I'm going to

talk about John chapter six, and just so happens that

it's a really long chapter. I'm not going to read

it all. I want to read part of the last part,

but I want to talk just a little bit, refer

and give some context to this, because we could break

this down, and in some ways it's true into three

different stories in John chapter six. The first one is

about him feeding the five thousand, the second one is

when he was walked on the water and met the

disciples and those miracles, and then the last part is

this long dialogue about Jesus being the bread of life.

And although there are multiple facets here in stories, if

I have if I understand right, I think this whole

chapter spans around a twenty four hour period.

One day in the night the next day.

But I think that this first we often this maybe

the most common story is the one where he feeds

the five thousand people, and that is often given as

just a Bible story. That's amazing miracle that Jesus did,

and it is. But I think that if you look

at this chapter in the right context, that is only

part of a bigger story that happened in this chapter.

It's an interesting story, but it's not finished with just

the feeding of the five thousand, and just a brief

overview of that story we have, and Matt and John

here doesn't say it, but I think in another book,

even a little more background, John the Baptist has just

been killed and beheaded in Jesus who went out alone.

And I'll come back to that later as well. But

here now the people have found Jesus. They found him

because they've heard that he's been healing people, and he's

and he's healing diseases. And of course that drew the crowds,

the needy people, and they went looking for this man,

and they found him, but he was way out in

the country, far from the towns and the cities, by

the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus was not only a

good doctor and a good teacher, but he was also hospitable.

He cared about even the small needs and comforts of

the people. And when all these people came before him

and he'd seen them and they were far from the

cities and the restaurants and their homes, he looked at

his disciples and he said, how are we going to

feed these people? They're hungry? And Philip said, or Philip answer,

He said, well, two hundred pennyworth of bread wouldn't even

fill these people. Everybody would just get a little bit, well,

two hundred pennyworth just for a little bit of interest,

is if I have it right, as about penny's worth

was about a day's wage, and so two hundred penny

worth if you were to think of a day's wage

nowadays for an average two hundred dollars a day times

two hundred is forty thousand dollars. So Philip was saying,

for forty thousand dollars, we couldn't even feed this crowd

the amount that they want. And so that kind of

gave a little bit of the context of the dilemma

that they were in. And it's interesting if you take

forty thousand and divide it by five thousand people, it

comes to about eight dollars, So it converts pretty accurately

even to today as far as per person. But Andrews

spoke up then another disciple, and he said, and I

know this is just a detailing the story, but it

kind of amazes me that he said this out loud

and what he was thinking, except that maybe he was

more faith, had more faith than the others. But he

just said that there's a lad a boy that has

two fish and five loaves, And I just wonder what

the other disciples said when they looked at him. And

he said that, like, well, what is that have to

do with that. We just said it cost forty thousand

dollars to feed these people, and he said two small fishes,

not two thirty pounds salmon. It was like probably too

little blue deal or something just fit in the boys's lunch.

And you children, I'd like for you to think about

this little miracle that Jesus did. So once in a

while we have a fellowship meal on the back on

a Sunday morning, or maybe when there's a big crowd

a wedding, maybe five hundred people a tenth of this crowd.

And if you would imagine that we were having a

meal and we said that there's a meal over in

the gym, and everybody make their way through those doors

and go out through the cafeteria. And you come through

those doors, and in the middle of the table would

be two dishes. One had two fish and one had

five little pieces of bread on it, and there was

lines of people. But that's kind of that was how

it was, except the crowds were much bigger, and Jesus

just said, well, sit everybody down, and he prayed. Then

we know the story how he took took that bread

and through the power of God multiplied it and he fed,

and he fed and he fed, and not only were

they full, but then when they picked up all the leftovers,

there was twelve baskets left. Amazing miracle. So that's the

first part of that story. And I'll just say that

in the in the last in the verse of that,

it said when he and he got done with that

and he fed those people, it says kind of an

interesting thing. I'll come back to this later, said he'd depart.

When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take

him by forced to make him a king, he departed

again into a mountain himself alone. These people had seen enough,

he had been healing, he had been feeding, and they

were ready to actually make him a king. And Jesus disappeared.

He went out alone, got away from the crowds. And

then the next part of the story opens up. And

I won't go into this a lot just for the

sake of time, But that night Jesus was out alone

and the disciples, I don't know that they knew necessarily

where he went, but they went fishing, or I don't

know if they went fishing, can't remember. They went out

on the sea. Anyways, And we're rowing across the sea,

and there was a storm and it was nighttime, and

during the night they all of a sudden seen a

man walking on the water, and it was Jesus. And

here it doesn't talk about Peter coming in another place

it does. But there's two miracles that happened in this story.

Jesus is walking on the water, number one, that's amazing.

The second one was he get in the boats. He

combs the sea. That gets them calmed down. And then

he was at the spot where they were headed automatically.

He was instantly on the other side.

And so then we get into.

The last part where the crowds go searching for Jesus.

The ones many that had been fed the day be

four of the bread and the fish are still looking

for him. They lost him in the night, but they're

out finding him. They crossed the sea and they find him,

and then we have this big discussion. And remember, I

think that the feeding of the five thousand was to

prepare them for this other, more deeper spiritual lesson.

I'm going to read this.

It's going to take a little bit, but I'm going

to I think I'm going to jump into verse twenty

five and read at least most of this chapter John six,

verse twenty five. Try to follow along and listen to

this conversation. And when they had found him on the

other side of the sea, they said, unto him, Rabbi,

where camest thou hither? Jesus answered them and said, verily,

I say unto you, ye seek me, not because he

saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the

loaves and were filled labor. Not for the meat which perisheth,

but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which

the son of Man shall give unto you, for him

hath God the father Seal. Then said they unto him,

what shall we do that we might work the works

of God? And Jesus answered and said, unto them, this

is the work of God, that ye believe on him

whom he has sent. They said, therefore, unto him, what

sign ShoWest thou then, that we may see and believe

thee What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat man

in the desert. As it is written, he gave them

bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said, unto them, verily,

I said, too, you, Moses gave you not that bread

from heaven but my Father giveth you the true read

from heaven. And the bread of God is he which

cometh down from heaven and giveth life. Unto the world

then said they, unto him, Lord, evermore, give us this bread.

And Jesus said, unto them, I am the bread of life.

He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he

that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I say

unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe

not all that the Father giveth me shall come to me.

And him that cometh to me, I will in no

eyes cast out, for I came down from heaven, not

to do mine own will, but the will of him

that sent me. And this is the Father's will which

hath sent me, that of all which hath given me,

I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again

at the last day. And this is the will of

him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son

and believeth on him may have everlasting life and raise

him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured

at him, because he said, I am the Bread which

came down from heaven. And they said, is not this Jesus,

the son of Joseph whose father and mother we know?

How is it then that he saith I came down

from heaven. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, murmur

not among yourselves, No man can come to me except

the Father which.

Has sent me.

Draw him, and I will raise him up at the

last day. It is written in the prophets, they shall

be all taught of God. Every man. Therefore that hath

heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me,

not that any man has seen, Not that any man

has seen the Father, save he which is of God.

He has seen the Father. Verily, Verily, I say unto you,

he that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. I am

the bread of life your father's did he man in

the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which

cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof

and not die. I am the living bread which came

down from Heaven. If any man eat of this bread,

he shall live forever. Heed. And the bread that I

give is my flesh, which I give for the life

of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying,

how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then?

Jesus said, unto them, very verly, I send ye, except

ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and

drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso

eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life.

And I will raise him up at the last day.

For my flesh is meat, indeed, and my blood is

drink Indeed, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my

blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the

Living Father has sent me, I live by the Father.

So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

This is that bread which came down from heaven. Not

as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He

that eateth of this bread shall live forever. These things

saith he in the Synagogue, as he taught in Caprinium.

Many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said,

this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? When

Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it,

he said, unto them, doth this offend you? What? And

if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up

where he was before, it is the spirit that quickeneth

the flesh profeteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,

they are spirit, and they are life. But there are

some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from

the beginning who they were that believed not, and who

should betray him? And he said therefore, and he said

therefore said I unto you, that no man can come

unto me, except it we're given unto him of the Father.

From that time many of his disciples went back and

walked no more with him. Then said Jesus, unto the twelve,

will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord,

to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of

eternal life, and we believe in are shore that thou

art the Christ, the son of the Living God. Jesus

answered them, have not I chosen you twelve? And one

of you is a devil? He spake of judas Is Scariot,

the son of Simon, for he was that should betray him,

being one of the twelve.

Stop there, So again, this is the day.

There's a lot of back and forth here in a

little bit of all most repetition, it feels like, in

this conversation. But this is the day after Jesus had

did this other miracle of the loaves and the fishes,

and on, these people came and followed him, And we

might say that these were fish and loaves Christians. We

hear about that some today. They were very much interested

and intrigued with the social program that Jesus seemed to have,

the benefit that was in it for them, the free food,

the free health care. They felt that he would make

them a great king, and so that they wanted to

set him up. They were impressed with what he had done.

But when Jesus took this very thing and started talking

about bread and flesh and eating of an eternal life,

then the people didn't seem to understand. They didn't seem

very They got very frustrated. I don't blame them, honestly,

there's a side of me that wonders I would have

probably done maybe done the same thing, sadly, like what

were you talking about? Like do you really mean that?

Because and then so they started asking these follow up questions.

But Jesus just doubled down. He didn't back down and say, well,

what I actually mean is no. He said you must

eat my flesh and drink my blood and I must

be one with you as my father is with me.

But he did clarify later on. He said that the

words that I speak into you, they are spirit and

they are life. But it was a very deep spiritual

principle that went beyond actually eating his blood or flesh

and blood. But I find it interesting that the risk

you might say of all these people being misunderstanding or

turning away or all those things that Jesus, I guess

could have simplified it a little bit more and explained

it to where they weren't so offended. But I think

he understood the depth of commitment, the need of the cross,

and all that would go with that, and he didn't

back down. He stuck to it. He said that I

am the bread of life. And these people that twenty

four hours earlier were trying to find him to make

him their king, were now frustrated and upset and trying

to minimize his whole who he was. He said, is

this not Joseph and Mary's son? We know him, we

know their family, and like public opinion, can it changed quick?

Within twenty four hours, they went from wanting to make

him a king to being done with him, completely done

with him. And the Bible says that many of them

left and walked no more with him. They didn't change

their mind, they left and never came back. And so

I want to luck, like I said at the beginning,

just a few things, and I can't take a lot

of time at each of these. I hope it's not

too surface, but I wanted to talk about different things emotional, mental,

and social suffering that Jesus went through, especially in those

last years of ministry. I would just say that, you know,

I think Jesus enjoyed a lot of life growing up.

It wasn't the light he came to life in all

thirty Some of his years were just a misery, but

at the peak of his ministry, and the purpose of

why he came was to suffer and die and rise again,

and that's what we're focusing on. The first thing is

just simply he was misunderstood. I think that that happened

a lot to him. Many times. People probably weren't malicious,

just there was just a it was a misunderstanding. And

in a way that sounds like a trivial thing. Well,

that's not great damaging to be misunderstood, but being understood

is more important to us than we might think about

until we're being misunderstood, especially by someone that we care about.

When someone gets you, when someone understands what you mean,

when someone gets your humor and different things like that,

there is a a safeness, a trust, a camaraderie, a piece,

and a soothing that all is well. You're connecting and

you're not completely off your rock, or so to speak.

But when someone is puzzled.

And doesn't get you, and doesn't even understand you in

any way, it can it can be very you might say,

lonely and disturbing. You feel agitated. At least that's how

I feel when someone that I care about doesn't even understand.

It's one thing if they don't agree, like, okay, we

understand what you're saying, but I just think the solution

is different. But when there's no understanding, and I think

Jesus face that a lot. In his ministry. He was

trying to kind of draw these earthy minded people and

these hiss years of deep rooted cultural religious tradition into

a life, into life, into spiritual life, and into a

different way, and it was often misunderstood. Another thing in

verse sixty six, I already mentioned this many of the

disciples went back and walked no more with him. Jesus

faced rejection, and we as human beings, are social human beings.

We might think that we're pretty tough and withstand a lot,

can take the way ourselves and we don't need people's approval,

and we can to some point, but we have a

longing again to be accepted on some level with some people.

And rejection is it's to be dismissed, it's to be

turned away from, not wanted, maybe ignored. There's different ways

to reject people. But when we're rejected, we feel, especially

when it's someone that matters, there is a physical feeling

of pain and burden in your heart, like it affects

you e motionally and physically. To be rejected by people

that shouldn't be rejecting you, those that are close to you. Especially,

rejection can cause intense loneliness and sadness and can although

you can't see it. You can't see rejection like you

can't big open wound. It often can be more damaging

than a big open wound. That wasn't Jesus only time rejected.

He experienced it over and over, and I thought about

even in Jesus' birth, he was rejected and he went

to remember this, but his mom and dad would have

They were born in a barn, and then the king

of the land felt threatened and wanted to kill this baby,

and so right off the bat they were refugees. They

had to leave and flee and get out of there.

And that was the life of Jesus first couple of years.

And although Jesus was probably too young to remember it,

I'm sure he would have heard stories of it as

growing up as a child from his mother and father

and what they did and when they were hiding because

someone was after them. So he was a he was

a refugee.

And one of the things about.

Rejection is, well, now I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I'll get to that in a little bit. One thing though,

that Jesus did not do with rejection. And there's ways

to respond correctly and incorrectly to rejection. And it's a

real temptation when we are rejected to create a lot

of or to just give into a lot of self pity,

self centeredness, thinking and tell people and talk about it

and think about it and how rejected I am. And

it is not healthy. It's not how Jesus. Did We

see that Jesus in his life, he turned to his

heavenly father for his acceptance when the people that should

have accepted him weren't accepting him, and he found the

source and foundation of his worth there. Jesus was misunderstood

by his own family. We see that in the next chapter,

Chapter six seven, Verse six or No. Five, for neither

did his brethren believe him. Those were who would have

been his half brothers. And that's you know, that's hard

when your own flesh and blood rejects you, your own DNA,

the ones that are made up in a natural sense

the most like you and me, and they want nothing

to do with us. That's what happened to Jesus. But

I will say because I probably won't get back to

you later. Later they repented, it seems like, and came

back and became followers of Jesus. But in this moment,

in this time of trying.

To figure out what Jesus was saying, they they.

Too were like, nah, that isn't they didn't believe it.

The next thing we've seen in verses seventy and seventy one,

he talks about.

He talks about the one that.

Is that should betray him. Betrayal. And we've talked about misunderstanding,

We've talked about rejection, and I would say that betrayal

is the next step of depth of emotional suffering. To

be misunderstood is lonely. To be rejected is hurtful, but

to be betrayed as much worse. Betrayal is a violation

of a often a deep trust. It's often somewhat calculated

and intentional, kind of a form of backstabbing from a

close friend, someone you trust, that you had opened up to,

that you are vulnerable with, shared deep things with, and

then deliberately deceives and hurts you. And we know that Judas,

one of jesus twelve disciples for three years, was the

one that betrayed Jesus in this way. And when we

get glimpses of along the way, here's one of them

that Jesus knew before it happened. And in a way,

I think that would have made it harder. Some of you,

all of us probably are many of us, have been

betrayed on some level. And after they betray us, and

we know it, and it all comes out and it's

all real. You know, to know how to relate to

that person is very difficult. But do you actually be

living in real time knowing it hasn't happened yet, but

knowing it's going to happen, and they're being your close

friend and they're being with you, and they're confiding in you,

and they're asking questions. Jesus somehow handled that, and it

doesn't seem like he was bitter. It seems like he

was very courteous to Judas through those times. The heart

of the kiss of betrayal, of all things, a kiss

meant to show friendship and love and loyalty was had

to when Jesus got that kiss, his heart must have

been broken for Judas more than himself. When we're betrayed,

there's all kinds of again, negative emotions that flow through us.

Maybe at first there's a shock, and then there's grief,

and then there's this vulnerability and fear and pain, anger

and revenge. That all just kind of works its way

through the process. And I'm sure Jesus struggled with those temptations.

He says he was tempted in all points as that

we are. Yeah, Jesus was so kind to Judas, and

that impresses me, especially you think about the Last Supper

and this thing is coming to a head. Jesus is

getting into his last days, he has his last Supper,

and there's Judas still acting like everything's normal, being at

the supper and taking partaking and trying to pretend that

he's a faithful, loyal follower, and Jesus just gets down

on his knees and washes his feet and doesn't do

it in a heaping calls of fire revengeful way. I

think Jesus felt sorry for Judas.

Often.

Another thing that comes with these things of misunderstanding, rejection,

and betrayal is loneliness. And I just I don't want

to say a lot about loneliness, but I know I'm

sure that Jesus faced loneliness in his ministry, especially.

As he entered into that. Even though he had.

Twelve disciples that were loyal and beside him and supporting

him for the most part, they didn't really understand. They

still were at least a lot of the time thinking

of this earthly kingdom and probably what was in it

for them. And he brought them along, and the whole

time he just loved them.

And he appreciated them, but.

He was alone in knowing what was really happening. And

one of the things about loneliness I'll just mention a

little bit is that makes us very, very vulnerable emotionally

and spiritually.

And loneliness is not an excuse to sin.

Loneliness, though, is we need to remember that when we

enter into loneliness we need to do something with that,

We need to go somewhere. If you just drift in loneliness,

you will lie fall into sin in one way or another.

Loneliness should draw us to God the Father, and that's

what Jesus did when he was lonely or when there

was something too big for him to process. Another thing

Jesus faced was mocking. And I'm not really trying to

get these in in order, but in a way so

far I would say maybe they kind of are mocking.

Is mocking is very open open defiance, open belittling, publish.

There's all kinds of ways that we can mock or

people can mock, and it can be cruel sarcasm and

trying to highlight the flaws in another person, the weaknesses,

to humiliate them, to dismiss the seriousness of them. All

is done by mocking, trying to just discredit that person

in a joking and disdaining way. And you know, the

mocking that Jesus faced in those last days didn't come

from what maybe we would think of in our world

today of rebellious teenagers, but it came from the chief

priests and the scribes and the elders, the religious men

that were the ones that were supposed to be leading

people to God, and those were the very men that

were mocking Jesus, and they were supposed to be leading

people to men, but unbeknownst to them, they were mocking

the very son of God. Jesus was falsely accused, he

was lied about. There again, another very hard thing. When

it is hard, a hard thing to do to hear

a rumor, to hear something come back, an accusation that

is just simply not true about yourself, some personal smear,

some personal twists to a fact that you said or

did that you know, oh, was not true, and to

just not retaliate, not go set the record straight. It's

just a lot harder than we think until we've been

in it. And yet Jesus says he opened not his

mouth in those moments, He just let it play out

the truth was the truth, and he he didn't feel

the need to speak up, at least when it came

to his own self justification. Jesus suffered grief and sorrow,

and you know many of you and us have in

some former another, some more than others. But Jesus he

was faced with that, and we don't know all that

he was faced with. But one thing that I think

about a couple things times was when his good friend

and cousin and contemporary, John the Baptist was killed. John

and Jesus were cousins, and I believe they were close.

That is where Mary went to Elizabeth when at that

one point before they were, before Jesus was born, she

was pregnant with him, and so they had a relationship.

And I'm sure that relationship carried on as they had

these two little boys together and they grew up were friends.

I'm sure they did a lot together, knew each other well,

and as they got older and entered into the ministry together,

John was a preacher and John was preparing the way

for Jesus, and I suppose they had many good times

and good talks and sobering talks. But eventually John was

arrested for speaking the truth to Herod about the woman

he was with, and he was put in prison, and

as it unfolded, out of revenge, his head was cut

off in a gruesome form of murder. The Bible doesn't

say a lot about jesus response, but it does say

when Jesus heard, he departed into a desert place and

he just went alone. And I'm sure he wept and

he prayed, and he grieved for his friend. We know

also that at the tomb of Lazar, although Jesus knew

that he would raise Lazarra's back to life, when he

looked at all these people and they were so sad,

and they were so heartbroken, and they were just weeping

and crying, he couldn't help himself. He wept. It says

that Jesus wept when he's seen the grief of those

Gerald read the verses and I fifty three. He is

despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and

acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were our

faces from him. He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

He bore our griefs, and so on carried our sorrows.

Another thing Jesus experienced was abandonment. Now this, you know,

some of these kind of overlap a bit, I suppose,

but here is maybe the focus. He was rejected by

the crowds earlier, but at that point, when all those

crowds laughed, Jesus turned to his twelve disciples and he said,

are you also going to leave me? And Peter spoke

up and said, where would we go? You know, maybe

they didn't understand Jesus either, maybe they had questions, but

Jesus was a friend, and they were emotionally bonded with

Jesus and had spent a lot of time together, and

there really was another place to go. That was kind

of their life then, and they liked Jesus, and they said,

we're going to stick with you. There's nowhere else that

we know of better to go at this point. But

when Jesus was physically arrested in the garden that night,

and all the chaos and the clashing of the swords

and the Roman soldiers and the flames and the shadows,

and jesus life was at risk, and possibly the disciples

life felt at risk. Even jesus closest friends scattered into

the night, brave Peter denied that he even knew Jesus.

He was abandoned by the last of his friends. He

was again alone. Another one I'll just mention. I'm not

going to say a lot about it was stress. I

don't know if any of you ever have stress in

your life and anxiety, but Jesus did, and I think

we all do as we get older. We have to

cope with it. We need to deal with it in

a proper way. But as Jesus is in the garden,

we get that picture again, that is he prayed, and

is he looking death in the near future and all

that was before him.

It said he sweat.

Great drops of blood the stress that he was going

through at that moment, and he was on his knees,

was where he was, how he was dealing with that stress.

Jesus also experienced physical suffering, and I want to just

mention that a little bit. And some of these were combined.

We think about like the program shows the crown of

thorns that was roughly shoved on his head, all mixed

in with the mocking and the scoffing, representing a king

with a crown thorns jabbed into the tender scalp of

our head with thousands of nerve endings and ruffed around

and mocked, slapped in the face with spittle running down

his face. Just again just kind of the mix of

physical but very disrespectful treatment. The beatings across the back,

unprotected back with a whip that had leather straps and

bone or flint or rock or something, and just whipping

him across the back. And the slashes and the lacerations

and the intense bruising. We're all part of those that

last day or two and after that, being forced to

carry that heavy cross. And that might not see much,

but you got a head that's throbbing with all kinds

of cuts and needles poking into it. You have a

back that is beaten and bruised, and then you're supposed

to be carrying this big, hard, rough, heavy cross on

your own. And then as they got there, they led

him on his rob leading back and laid it on

that rough cross and pushed him into position and nail

big nails through his hands. And then they picked up

that cross, and I'm sure they weren't gentle. They just

put it into that hole, dropped it in, jarred it in,

and there he hung pitiful helpless sight, half naked, half alive, mocked, shamed,

crucified between two criminals to try to associate him with

some kind of evil. And in that moment we know

the good ending of the story. But in that moment,

from a human perspective, jesus whole mission, his whole words,

his whole teaching, the kingdom that he had talked about

all looked like a complete and utter failure. The crowds

of people had given up on him and went home

long ago. His most loyal friends were gone and scattered

and confused and scared. It looked like he had better

put on a trial to see if he was guilty,

And yep, he was found guilty. It looked like the

Jews that had been playing this cat and mouse game

for some time of trying to capture him, had finally

caught him and silenced him, and they had won. And

it looked like Satan had triumphed over God in that moment.

It's a pathetic ending. I don't know what the people thought,

after all, he said he as they looked at him.

I have to wonder, speaking of temptations and mental battles,

if one of the hardest tests for Jesus, and all

of this was to not use the power at his disposal.

A man that could walk on water, a man that

could rise it rise a dead person, a man that

could multiply food, hung up on the cross and challenge, now,

come down, if you're the son of God, prove it.

Come down for him with the power.

To stay on the cross for him. When John the

Baptist was in prison, not to just make the doors

open and let us friend out, to set pilots straight,

and to dismiss Judas at least before the feet washing.

And yet Jesus resisted all that mental temptation and anguish

and he stayed on the cross. Well why did he

do that? And I just want to touch on that

a little bit. Why did Jesus go through all this

emotional and mental and social physical anguish? And you know,

there's probably a lot lot more that we don't know about,

you know, and John at the end of the book

it says, and there are also many other things what

Jesus did, the which if they should be written everyone,

I suppose that even the world itself could not contain

the books that should be written. That's interesting. There's a

wonder it makes me wonder what all else Jesus did

and faced in his life that we have no idea about.

But did Jesus want to come to earth? Did he

want to come here and do all that? I don't

know what you think, And maybe there's different Bible verses

that would reflect different But for today, I'm going to

say no, he didn't want to come and in a sense,

and I get that from the verses we already read.

In John sixth he says in verse thirty eight, he says,

I came down from heaven not to do mine own will,

but the will of Him that sent me. Now he

agreed to it.

He wanted to.

Come down in that sense. But there was a side

of Jesus and his will as a man, especially that

I think recoiled and resisted that task. But he obviously

was willing and.

To do it. And it says that he came to

do his father's will.

And this is the will of him that sent me,

that everyone which seeth the sun believeth on him may

have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at

the last day. And that is why Jesus endured all that,

so that we could see and believe and have everlasting life.

Jesus submitted his will in that moment to the will

of his heavenly father, and I think about the Father

in this too. You just think about God the Father

and maybe a comment on that as an earthly father.

You know, I don't like suffering. I'm kind of a whimp.

I don't like pain, but I think, especially certain moments,

the only thing worse than suffering yourself is to watch

your child suffer, and to watch him be mistreated, to

watch her be rejected, to watch them be put to death,

to be kidnapped, to be you know, those things are

like at the height of terrible in the mind of

a parent. And so this was not a casual thing

for God the Father, I think, to have him his

son go there could have been a side where he

struggled with that more than his own son Hebrews he

left two fourteen four. As much then, as the children

are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise

took part of the same, that through death he might

destroy him that had the power of death, that is

the devil, and deliver them through fear of death, who

were all their lifetime subject to bondage for verily he

took not on him the nature of angels, but he

took on him the seat of Abraham. Wherefore, in all

things it behooved him to be made likened to his brethren,

that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest

in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the

sins of the people. So through the power and that

image of complete failure was actually the victory over death

that all the people did. Most of the people didn't

have any ideas they looked at that poor, bleeding human

being on that cross. But it was the triumph over death,

followed of course by the resurrection. Some closing thoughts here

and versus the fact that Jesus Christ experience and understands

all our struggles. The emotional mental social is a wonderful comfort,

but the purpose is more than just to make us

feel good. In Hebrews two eighteen and four sixteen, it

says in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he

is able to sucker them that are tempted. And let

us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace, that

we may obtain mercy and find grace in help of

time of need. And I'd like to just stress that

point and closing just a tiny bit here that he

not only understands that wasn't really the purpose just to

experience it, but to sucker means to help to aid

all those that would follow after through the difficulties and

to deliver us in the moment of temptation.

So that one of the things.

That happened when Jesus died was the veil in the

temple between the Holies and the Holy of Holies was

ripped in half, symbolizing an entrance of the people to

the throne of God. And he says that here let

us come boldly to the throne of Grace. And that

doesn't mean casually, that doesn't mean arrogantly, that doesn't mean

like me and God are buddies. But it means to

come in humble confidence that our hope and our salvation

is in Him, and he covers us, and he forgives us,

and he doesn't want us to have communion. And do

you ever have communion anxiety? Any of you not have it?

And I don't know where all that comes from. I

think coming in the fear and sobriety of fear of

God reverence is good and there is implications. If we're

living in blatant and sin, then we have reason to

be have anxiety. But I would just say that I

don't think that is God's purpose for his people, for

us as children to be living with this kind of

spiritual and moments of communion anxiety. Jesus said many times

to his disciples, be not afraid, fear not different places

throughout He wanted to comfort them in hard times. And

maybe it's our maybe we have too much performance oriented something,

but not to lower the bar of holiness, but to understand.

God wants us to come boldly and to have peace

and to have a relationship with Him. And I think

how one of the key things to that is I'll

just highlight, is that Jesus took time to be alone

with his heavenly Father. That is where he regrouped when

he got frazzled, when someone died, when they tried to

make him king, when the good times and the bad times,

whatever they were, he went alone to regroup with his

heavenly Father. And that is important for us today as well.

It was a secret to the source of jesus focus

and strength in the good and the bad times. I'm

going to read the verses that I started out with

in Hebrews fourth fourteen through sixteen, and this time I'm

going to read them in the amplified inasmuch, then, as

we believers have a great high priest who has already

descended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,

let us hold fast our confession of faith and cling

tenaciously to our absolute trust in Him as our savior.

For we do not have a high priest who is

unable to sympathize and understand our weaknesses and temptations, but

one who has been tempted, and this is title of

the message, knowing exactly how it feels to be human

in every respect we are yet without committing any sin. Therefore,

let us, with privilege approach the throne of Grace, that

is the throne of God's gracious favor, with confidence and

without fear, so that we may receive mercy for our

failures and find His amazing grace to help in time

of need, an appropriate blessing coming just at the right moment. God,

bless you. Let's spell our heads for prayer