September 20 A Preview of Christ's Passion (Mark 10:32-34)

A preview of Christ's Passion.

A preview of Christ's Passion.

As many of you know, I was in Bulgaria for 12 days and got back week before last.

By the way, when I was there, I had the unique privilege of being able to meet all of our actual missionaries that are on the field now.

I got to visit all of the established churches.

And when I was with Josh and Bea Provo, as some of you know, Josh has got five kids, four biological kids and one adopted.

I'm about to sit down for my first dinner with Josh and Bea and their kids.

And unbeknownst to me, before I arrived at my seat, they were talking about what to call me.

I mean, do we do we do we call him like you know Pastor Jeff, Pastor Manning, just pastor, just preacher, just what?

Guess what they came up with?

J Dog.

J Dog.

Now, I I kind of chose to accept it as a compliment.

I don't think it was they were dogging me.

Now, hold now, for clarity, I'm J-Dog in Bulgaria, not America.

So I don't want our teenagers to think they start calling me J-Dog.

But anyway, so while I was there, uh the trip went well and it was time to come home.

So on Thursday, September the 10th, um, got up at 3:30 that morning, drove about two and a half hours, or I was driven about two and a half hours, got in a plane uh from Varna to uh Glasgow, no, from Varna to um Frankfurt, Germany.

From Frankfurt, Germany, we were supposed to go to Washington, D.C.

About an hour and a half into our flight, the pilot comes on and says there's a medical emergency.

I didn't know it at the time, but it was taking place three seats directly behind me.

And so we land in Glasgow, Scotland.

We're on the ground for about an hour and a half or so when the realization hit.

The man died.

The man died.

How often is it that you're on a flight and somebody on the flight dies?

Once we landed in Glasgow, uh I bet you 10, 15 uh first responders came on.

There were a slew of them back there attending to him.

And then when we found out that he had died, then police came on and they had to file a report.

And because it took place three rows directly behind me, the people who were right around him were giving a report to the police officer, so I got to hear and be more informed than I would have been otherwise.

He used to live in Poland, uh, but had moved to the States living up in uh Pennsylvania for about the last five or six years.

Nobody else was with him.

There was nobody who was you know who was weeping and distressed, etc.

But as a result, we were on the ground for about three hours.

And then the pilot came on and said, Now, folks, I'm sorry to tell you this, but because of our delay, uh we are not allowed to go on to Washington, D.C.

We're gonna go back to Frankfurt, Germany.

And there was just a collective sigh, like, oh no.

So I didn't get to come home on the 10th, I didn't get to sleep in my bed and be with my wife until the next day on the 11th.

And so while I was disappointed, and I'll admit that to anybody, I think all of us were disappointed, I couldn't help but wonder, was that gentleman, was that man prepared for death?

Because I can assure you, he did not board that plane thinking, you know, today's gonna be the last day of my life.

Tomorrow, the next day was gonna be 9-11.

We all know what took place there 25 years ago.

But I guarantee you, he nor anybody else on that plane thought that was gonna be the day of their death.

My question to you is, or my the one thing I wonder, was he prepared?

Because once we had been on the ground in Glasgow for about the three hours, they took his body off the plane.

His family would have to make the arrangements to get his plane shipped to wherever he would end up being buried, whether that was in Poland or in uh Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I don't know.

But his soul, immediately upon leaving, breathing his last breath, his soul went to one of two places.

According to the scriptures, there's not a third or a fourth possibility.

It's only heaven or hell.

Those are the only two options.

And I wondered if if he was prepared, which leads me to wonder right now, are you?

Some of you I don't know.

And by the way, you guys, man, I many of y'all were here last Sunday.

I I don't know what all brought you here, but I'm thrilled that you're here.

I'm glad that you're back.

But I don't know you.

And so, you, along with everybody else, if you drop dead today, we don't know for sure if that man had a massive heart attack or a massive stroke.

If you were to have either, or maybe there's an aneurysm sitting on your aorta, and you don't you don't even know about it, you've had no symptoms to indicate it, but it bursts, and you are dead and in eternity before your body slumps to the floor.

Where would you spend eternity?

Are you prepared to die?

Now, for those of us who know Jesus, then obviously we are prepared for eternity.

And our passage this morning tells us from Jesus' perspective, telling it before it's going to happen, what he would have to do so that anybody could be prepared for death.

So let's jump into Mark 10.

I'm going to read the whole passage and then we'll work our way through it slowly but surely.

Verse 32 of Mark 10.

And they, Jesus and the disciples, were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them.

And they, the disciples, were amazed, and those, a different group who followed, were afraid.

And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem.

And the Son of Man, that was his favorite title.

He referred to himself as the Son of Man more than any other title.

It was as though he relished the prospect of being our kinsman redeemer.

The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.

And they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him.

And after three days he will rise.

All right, let's revisit verse 32.

And they, the disciples and Jesus, were on the road going up to Jerusalem.

Jesus was walking ahead of them, and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.

Keep this in mind.

It's hard to recognize this when you're reading the scripture sometimes.

But as we read this in Mark 10, historically, Jesus is about one week from the cross.

Jesus and the disciples, now they're going to Jerusalem in part to celebrate Passover.

And as many of you know, Passover was instituted hundreds of years earlier.

It would commemorate Israel's freedom from Egyptian captivity.

There had been nine plagues.

All the Egyptians suffered the results of those.

There was a tempt.

There will be a death angel.

And the death angel is going to come in every house in Israel or Egypt.

If the blood of a lamb has not been shed and spread upon the doorposts, the firstborn in that home will die.

Well, thankfully, all the Israelites did as they were instructed.

Lamb was sacrificed, blood put on the doorposts.

And when the death angel came, everywhere he saw the blood, he passed over those homes.

Literally, the blood of those lambs spared death from their homes.

What the disciples don't realize as they're making their way to Jerusalem, Jesus.

Jesus is going to be the Passover lamb.

He is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

And the blood that he will shed while making atonement for our sins, that blood saves us from eternal death.

And so Jesus knows all that is about to happen.

And we see that Jesus tells the disciples, we're going up to Jerusalem.

A journey to Jerusalem was often referred to as going up for two reasons.

Number one, because of the venerated view the Jewish people had of Jerusalem.

It was an exalted city, if you will.

But then secondly, I don't care from which direction you came, at some point, you would ascend, the elevation would rise, and you would go up to Jerusalem.

But now notice Mark also tells us that Jesus was walking ahead of them.

That was not the norm, and it may seem like just a passing thing, but I think he tells us this intentionally.

He's walking ahead of them.

Normally, they would all be more in a group, maybe three or four disciples on his left, on his right, three or four behind, so that they were all close enough to hear anything and everything he had to say, but not on this occasion.

In my sanctified imagination, Jesus is 10, 12 feet ahead of them.

And all the other disciples are wondering, why is Jesus not walking with us?

Why is he ahead?

I think Jesus has got a whole lot on his mind.

He knows what's coming.

He knows he's just a few days for walking up the Via de la Rosa, the way of suffering.

And when you've got stuff like that on your mind, it preoccupies your mind.

And so I think, in a sense, Jesus is a little distracted.

He is mulling over what he knows is coming.

And um what happens to you when you dread something?

You think about it, right?

If you know you've got a major surgery coming up, if you've got a major surgery coming up this Thursday, I guarantee you're thinking about it today, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday as well.

If you're facing chemotherapy and you know there's a very real possibility of it having some very adverse effects on you, your hair, and other problems, you're gonna think about that.

For me, if I'm going to the dentist, even if it's for a cleaning, I just cannot stand going.

I hate dentists.

I might as well just be honest.

I hate dentists.

Do we have a dentist in the in the room?

Not hatred.

But I dread going.

I think about it.

Um when when guys or gals are signed up for the military and they go for basic training, I guarantee you they dread that.

Can you imagine being called into war?

Would you dread that?

Sure.

Jesus.

Don't let his deity cloud the fact that he had humanity that would dread something that he knows is coming.

He's not for a moment thinking, how can I get out of this?

But he knows it's coming.

The very purpose for which he was incarnated, that ultimate purpose, to die, to be crucified, to suffer for our sins, it's just around the corner.

And so Jesus is ahead and he's thinking about that.

And so listen to Isaiah chapter 50, verse 7.

Isaiah 50:7

It's actually a prophecy about how preoccupied Jesus would be.

Isaiah 50 verse 7, by the way, given 700 plus years before Jesus would be born, it says, I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

Isaiah 50:7

Flint, that is an extremely hard stone that resists fracturing and was historically used to forge durable tools.

When comparing a face to flint, it turns that picture of hardness into a picture of mental and spiritual toughness.

Listen to the fulfillment of Isaiah 50, verse 7, as revealed in Luke chapter 9, verse 51.

Isaiah 50:7 Luke 9:51

When the days drew near, same context as what we're looking at in Mark, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

Now, folks, I think we can we can glean a take-home truth here.

When you know God's will and the timing is right, obey the Lord with all your might.

Jesus knew that it was God's will for him to be the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.

He knows the timing is right.

It is days away.

And so he set his face like flint.

He was determined to do God's will.

Some of you, you know what God's will is about something and the timing.

God's Spirit has been convincing you that the timing is right.

So if you know God's will and the timing is right, I'm urging you to obey the Lord with all your might.

Um, you know that you need to forgive somebody.

And it's time that you do that and maybe communicate that to somebody.

You know you need to confess and repent of a sin.

Some of you, you know you need to end a romantic relationship.

It's not a part of God's will for your life.

And the timing is right to end it.

You know that God is calling you.

It is very probable that somebody in this room, God's calling you to do something other than what you've been planning to do.

You know it's God's will, and the timing may be right for you to tell your family.

Tell your friends, make it known to your classmates.

You know that you need to have a difficult conversation.

You know you need to step out in faith.

You know you need to release something, surrender something that you have not currently released.

When you know God's will and the timing is right, obey the Lord with all your might.

So, Jesus is in silent meditation, solemn determination.

He walks ahead of his disciples, and then we're told, and they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid.

Now, again, we're not told explicitly why the disciples were amazed, but I think we can figure it out.

So, basically speaking, the last time Jesus was in Jerusalem, this is basically what happened.

Among other things, John's gospel tells us that Jesus said things like, I am the good shepherd, I am the door of the sheep, and all those who come enter through me shall be saved.

When he said that, the religious leader said, He has a demon.

He's insane.

Later in the same conversation, Jesus said, I and the Father are one.

And in response to that, they took up stones.

They were getting ready to kill him, stone him to death.

That didn't happen.

And so they threatened to arrest him.

They wanted to arrest him, but Jesus escaped.

Now, if all of that went down the last time you were in Jerusalem, from the disciples' perspective, they're thinking, and guess what?

The attitude among the religious leaders had not died down, they had not changed their mind.

They are, if anything, harder than ever.

They have conspired together how they can kill him.

And yet Jesus is going to go back.

I think that amazed them.

Even though they didn't fully understand what was going to happen, the very fact to know he's going into enemy territory.

People that hate him and want him dead, him going back, that amazed them.

June 6, 1944.

More than 156,000 American, British, and Canadian troops faced the unthinkable, incredible machine gun fire mines, fortified German positions during the D-Day landings.

And displaying extraordinary valor, these ordinary soldiers overcame horrific odds to secure beachheads that would eventually liberate Europe.

When these men got out of their Higgins boats, stepped into freezing cold water, it would be just a matter of minutes when some of the unit leaders and half of the troops would just be mowed down.

And yet those who survived kept moving forward.

They kept moving forward.

As Jesus approached Jerusalem, he didn't storm a beach.

He climbed a hill and then stormed hell and brought victory over death, hell in the grave, and Satan himself there for us on the cross.

And so Jesus being resolute to go to Jerusalem, it just caused the disciples to be amazed.

Verse 32, those who followed, these are not the disciples, it's another group of people who evidently were just kind of following along.

And they're afraid.

He's going where?

Jerusalem?

I mean, we we heard stories about what happened the last time he was there.

And they're afraid.

They feel rightfully so, something bad is about to happen.

In the verse 32.

And taking the 12 again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him.

If you've been being here on these Sunday mornings through Mark, this is the third distinct time that Jesus has told his 12 disciples about his passion, about what's going to happen to him.

Why three times?

Well, for starters, they didn't understand it from time one or time two.

They fully misunderstood all the suffering servant passages in the Old Testament.

They thought they were going to Jerusalem and we're going to rule and reign.

You'll see evidence of that next week.

We want positions of authority in the kingdom.

And so they didn't understand.

And then thirdly, well, the second reason that he told them a third time, can you imagine what might have happened to those guys if they had no clue whatsoever?

And so Jesus prepares them, guys, for the third time.

I'm telling you what's going to happen to me.

It's going to be ugly.

It's going to be ugly.

And so, with that in mind, I want to share with you in the remainder of our time four staggering truths about Christ's passion.

We commonly refer to that last week of his earthly life before the cross as passion week.

Four staggering truths about it.

Number one, Christ's passion was providential.

It was providential.

Now, listen again to what he told the disciples.

Verse 32 and following.

And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we're going up to Jerusalem.

The Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles, and they will mock him and spit on him and flog him and kill him, and after three days he will rise.

Skeptics.

They read that and they're thinking, yeah, right.

Jesus didn't tell him ahead of time.

No ordinary person can know what's going to happen to them in that kind of detail.

Hold on a minute.

I got two problems with the skeptical opinion.

Number one, Jesus is no ordinary person.

He's the Son of the living God.

He's got personal omniscience.

Secondly, even if he was not omniscient and therefore knows all things, he knew the Old Testament scriptures.

He knew how they painted pictures of a suffering servant, the Lamb who would be slain.

And so just listen to what Jesus says in Luke's parallel passage to ours, Luke 8.31.

And taking the twelve, he said to them, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that was written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.

Everything.

Can I just give you a sampling of what was written hundreds of years before it actually happened?

Psalm 22, it graphically describes Christ's death on a cross, even though crucifixion was not known in Israel yet.

Verse 16, it says of his tormentors, they pierced my hands and my feet.

Obviously talking about crucifixion.

It begins in verse 1 with Jesus' words on the cross.

Verse 18, still in Psalm 22, it prophesied that Jesus' executioners would divide his garments, and they did.

Isaiah 53.

Just Isaiah 53, it prophesied Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection, and glory.

Other prophecies pointed to him being deserted by his friends, betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, none of his bones being broken, his side would be pierced.

Folks, think about it.

Fulfilled scripture is a remarkable confirmation of the Bible's inspiration and authority.

There is no book like this book.

None.

And all of these hundreds and hundreds of prophecies that were perfectly fulfilled in the person of Jesus, not to mention all the other prophecies, that lets us know of the prophecies not yet fulfilled, guess what?

They will be.

This is a remarkable book.

You can trust it.

You can trust God.

God is sovereign, He's in complete control of all the affairs of the universe.

Now, folks, knowing that God is in complete control, even in the worst of times, should help you not lose control even in the worst of times.

When life becomes Chaotic, I encourage you to trust God's sovereignty.

When circumstances spin out of control and you're not sure which ways which, which ends up, trust God's sovereignty.

Resist being anxious, resist being worried, resist being fearful.

Faith.

Faith doesn't mean believing that bad things won't happen.

Faith means believing that when bad things happen, God is still God.

He's on the throne and he's in control.

And if God could take the worst event in human history, the crucifixion of Jesus, and accomplish the greatest good imaginable, the potential redemption of all mankind, imagine what he can do with whatever worse days you might have.

I'm not denying it won't hurt.

I'm not denying it won't be painful.

I'm not denying you won't have questions, but God is worthy of your trust.

He is worthy of your worship.

So Christ's passion was providential.

God was in control of it all.

Secondly, a second staggering truth: Christ's passion was painful.

Oh, folks, it was painful.

It was painful in at least three ways.

First, he experienced disloyalty.

Jesus says that the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priest and the scribes.

Who did that delivering?

Judas did.

It's just that Jesus is the only one among the twelve, or 13 including himself, who knew about Judas being the betrayer.

And in a matter of days, Judas will betray Jesus 30 pieces of silver.

That's all it took.

And he will signify the betrayal with the global sign of affection.

A kiss.

What disloyalty.

Jesus also felt disloyalty from the Jewish people.

He came into his own, and his own received him not.

And therefore, when it came an opportunity for them to say, set him free, he's done no wrong.

What did they say?

Crucify him.

Crucify him.

Such disloyalty.

After his arrest, after his arrest, all twelve.

Nowhere to be found.

All twelve deserted him.

Secondly, he experienced hostility.

Jesus further stated the chief priest and the scribes will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.

Imagine the additional terror that you would experience if someone you dearly love is kidnapped.

And then you're informed they are being delivered over to Islamic jihadists.

Can you imagine?

So, the scribes and the Pharisees, they deliver Jesus over to the Romans.

They wanted to kill him, but they didn't have the authority under Roman occupation, so they delivered him over to the Romans.

We'll let them kill him.

And through crucifixion, that would indeed happen.

The religious leaders who should have welcomed their Messiah with open arms, stiff-armed Jesus, and demanded his death.

Pilate and Herod, they couldn't find any fault with him.

No fault whatsoever.

And yet they sentenced him to death.

The grossest miscarriage of justice ever was carried out on Jesus.

Think about it.

The holy, just, righteous Son of God, falsely accused of sin, sedition, insurrection, and blasphemy.

Jesus further stated, with such hostility, his adversaries will mock him and spit on him.

Now, there's an epidemic in this country of people mocking and showing hostility to persons of authority.

And I hope and pray none of you are one of them.

But I mean, we some of us who look at reels and stuff or just listen to the news, what, read the news, position people of authority, especially like police officers, and they're making a lawful arrest.

Such hostility to people of authority.

And sometimes, I've seen clips, and you have too, just spit right in their face.

And then think about it, Jesus with ultimate authority.

And they treated him like that, mocked him and spat on him.

So when we had the medical emergency on the plane, from the moment the pilot announced it, and we landed, and for the next two and a half, three hours, the whole time there was solemnity in the whole cabin.

People were still conversing, but there was a quietness.

It's almost like there was a respect.

We don't know how this person's gonna do.

And then when we found out that he had died, there was respect.

Here's Jesus.

Of all people on the planet who should have been treated with such honor and respect and dignity and worship and praise, and they would do that to him.

Mock him.

The hostility continued when Jesus hung on the cross.

Luke tells us the Jewish leader scoffed at him, saying, He saved others.

Let him save himself if he's the Christ.

The soldiers, they mocked him, offering him sour wine and saying, Hey, if you're the king of the Jews, why don't you save yourself?

One of the criminals hanging on either side of Jesus said, Hey, if you're the real Messiah, why don't you save yourself and us too?

Just mockery.

He experienced cruelty.

He experienced cruelty.

Jesus also says that when the Son of Man gets to Jerusalem, they will flog him and kill him.

Many of you know something about Roman flogging, Roman scourging.

It was a brutal form of corporal punishment.

It was used as a legal preliminary to execution or a standalone punishment.

So, folks, Jesus stripped naked, tied to a post, arms stretched up, hands tied, back and muscles and skin tied tight, and they take that cat of nine tails, and with bits of glass and rock and stone and whatever else they could come up with, it was brutal.

Just brutal.

Some people did not survive the scourging.

But Jesus, being a man's man and having worked hard, he did survive it so he could go with the Via della Rosa and then be killed.

As detailed as Jesus is about all of his sufferings, he does not here tell us the why.

You know, if if you're here, and it's possible maybe you're hearing this story for the first time, and you're you're probably wondering why?

Why, why, why did they kill him?

We don't find that answer here in Mark's text.

We're gonna bring in some other scriptures and notice a third staggering truth about Christ's passion.

Christ's passion was provisional.

It was provisional.

God the Father provided us with substitutionary atonement through Jesus.

Jesus took our place on the cross so that God could provide us with grace and mercy, forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, 3.

Paul says, for I deliver to you as of first importance.

I mean, folks, there's a lot of things that are important, but this should be of first importance.

That Christ died.

Why?

For our sins, for your sins and mine.

Christ died for your sins, for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.

Christ, absolutely sinless.

He who knew no sin became sin.

He didn't become a sinner, but a sin bearer.

He became our kinsman, redeemer.

He was killed because in the process of killing him and him dying, he made atonement for our sins.

Listen to Romans 3, verses 23 to 25.

Romans 3:23–25

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and are justified.

The word justified there means declared righteous.

It means to be right with God, to be at peace with God.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.

Look, you can't earn it, and you certainly don't deserve it.

Are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forth.

Ultimately, the whole plan of salvation was God's idea.

Sovereign in control of everything, and yet it was God's idea.

And God put forth Jesus as a propitiation.

When's the last time you used that word?

Not exactly a word we use in our Christians, but God put forth Jesus to be a propitiation for, by his blood to be received by what's the propitiation?

God's response to sin, God being holy, his response to sin is anger.

It's wrath.

And look, before you're thinking to yourself, really?

When you hear about something on the news where somebody has grossly mistreated somebody else, not to mention if it was your own family, what would your response be?

Let me tell you something.

Somebody mess with my family, it is going to make me angry.

And I'm going to want justice.

I'm flawed.

I can have a tendency to want revenge.

God is holy.

And so, with perfect response, perfect anger, perfect wrath, that's what God has towards sin.

And either Jesus provides a way for God's demand for justice to be satisfied, or you're going to pay for it.

Somebody's going to pay for sin.

Either you put your faith in Jesus, and he's the appeasement of God's wrath toward your sin, or you're going to experience God's wrath in hell.

Christ's passion was provisional, made it possible to provide salvation to anybody who believes.

And then find a number four, a fourth staggering truth about Christ's passion.

Christ's passion was pivotal.

It was pivotal.

Now, back in Mark 10, verse 34, Jesus also said, and after three days, he will rise.

Mark 10:34

And that's what Easter's all about, the resurrection of Jesus.

But again, Jesus just tells, here's what's going to happen, but he doesn't give us the significance here in Mark about why his resurrection would be so important.

For that we turn to other scriptures.

Romans 4, verse 25.

Romans 4:25

Jesus was delivered up for our trespasses, our sins.

He was delivered up on the cross, crucified, killed because of our sins, and he was raised for our justification.

If Jesus suffered and bled and died, and God's wrath was poured out on him, and he was buried and stayed there.

And when Jesus rose from the dead, it was as though God screamed.

Payment has been made.

My wrath against sin has been satisfied.

And anybody who puts his or her faith in my son Jesus, oh, my wrath is turned, and I'll treat them with grace and mercy, and I will forgive every one of their sins.

So I started to have an actual basketball, but I was afraid you might think I have object lessons every time I preach.

But imagine I've got a basketball.

And for those of you who've played, guys and girls alike, you know that when if you've been dribbling and you stop, that don't mean you can't move.

It's just you've got to have a pivot foot.

And when I played basketball, my left leg was almost always my, it's just that's just what felt comfortable.

My left with a pivot foot, as long as you keep that foot planted, you can turn.

And so I can be facing my defender and I can pivot and be turned completely away from him.

Folks, Jesus' death on the cross allowed God to pivot, to keep one leg, as it were, in his holiness, and yet, and yet grant forgiveness to rebels like you and me.

That's the truth that is taught in Romans 3.26.

God, because of what Christ did on the cross, God can be just, that is, he can be holy and righteous, his pivot foot planted in his holiness, and the justifier, the one who declares anybody forgiven, cleansed, made holy.

God is just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The cross was God's great pivot.

So, final question.

What should your response be to all of this?

For those of you that again might not know Christ, you might be religious, and that's why you're here, but you don't know Jesus.

You know what your response should be?

Repentance and faith.

I would urge anybody who doesn't know Jesus, turn from your sin, acknowledge how sinful you are, ask for cleansing, ask for forgiveness.

Ask the lover of your soul, you might not even know that, but ask the lover of your soul to become the Savior of your soul.

Ask him to forgive you.

And then for those of us who know Jesus as our Savior, what should your response be?

God forbid that we'd ever get tired of the old, old story of Jesus and his love for you and me.

So what should our response be?

I would submit to you that our response as believers should be continual consecration.

Continual consecration.

I draw that from 2 Corinthians 5 verse 15.

2 Corinthians 5:15

It tells us that Christ died for all, so that those who live, that is, those who continue living life in Christ, might no longer, no longer live for themselves, but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.

Folks, God forbid that you and I be selfish and self-centered.

After all that God has done for you to save your soul, to give you eternal life.

I get so aggravated with myself when I see selfishness rear up.

I get so aggravated when I know that I've responded to Jennifer or somebody else out of self-centeredness.

That frustrates me.

I don't like seeing that in me.

And you shouldn't like it in yourself either.

I mean, we no longer live for ourselves, but for him.

Continual, ever-increasing consecration.

Jesus paid it all.

All to him.

You and I.

Okay.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the reminder of what Jesus would experience, even though he told it to us a week or so before it happened.

It's so incredibly impactful.

And Father, my heart's desire for anybody of any age who doesn't know Jesus, whether they're in this room or whether they're watching online, if they don't know Jesus, oh, how I pray the Holy Spirit would A convict them of their sin, B, convince them that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

And right now, in the quietness of the moment, or if you're watching online, if you don't know Jesus, you just cry out, oh Lord, I'm a sinner.

And I want salvation.

I want forgiveness.

I want eternal life.

Please forgive me.

Please save me, Lord.

If you cry out like that and you mean it from, and He knows whether you mean it, the Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

For those of you who know Jesus, maybe today needs to be another day of renewal, another day of dedication, sanctification, rededication, whatever term you want to put on it.

Stop living for yourself and live for the one who died for you and rose again.

In the quietness of these final moments, would you pray that way to the Lord?

Confess any evidences of selfishness, self-centeredness, and ask him through the power of his spirit to help you live for him.

Ask the Lord to help consecration, dedication, to be themes of your life.

And so, Father, I do pray that for our people, members and regular attenders alike.

I don't really care about that part right now.

If we know you as Savior, I pray that we will live for you, the one who died for us.

And may our lives be a reflection of humility and gratitude for all that you have done.

And all God's people said, Amen.