You Will All Fall Away

Today's reading is from the book of Mark, chapter 14.

Mark 14 · chapter mention

And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.

Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not.

And Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

But he said emphatically, If I must die with you, I will not deny you.

And they all said the same.

This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated.

Thanks for joining us this morning.

My name is James Rathman.

I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver.

It's great to be back with you.

We've been sick in my house, and I bet that's true for a lot of folks.

Uh as I've heard, uh other people are sick.

That's why I'd bet that way.

Uh so for those of you who are healthy and gathered together with us this morning, it's great to see you.

For those of you perhaps sick at home watching the live stream, uh like my family, hello, my family.

Um thanks for joining us there as well.

So uh this morning uh we're talking about original sin.

And we're we're getting back into Mark.

Uh big thanks last week for uh Daniel coming in and preaching.

Man, that guy can preach a gospel message, can he?

Yeah, yeah, I thought so too.

I was uh um I texted him afterwards uh because I watched it watched at home, and uh I uh uh texted him, I was like, man, about halfway through your message, I was like, this is too free.

The gospel's too free.

This type of forgiveness that you're talking about is just is just too much.

And then it hit my heart again.

It really is.

Uh that it the gospel is one of those things where when you really get it, you're like, that's too good to be true.

And then it is true.

And that's why we're gathered together today.

Uh, it's why our hearts have been transformed by what we've heard in the truth of the gospel.

Um, so I I hope that in our text today we we hear similarly uh this same truth, although from a different from a different part of Scripture.

So before we move into our text today, uh let's pray together.

Holy Father, you are gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.

Lord, this is the truth of your character, and you have demonstrated it to us, your people, uh, over the centuries.

We have stacks of evidence to trust your goodness and your faithfulness.

Lord, it is hard in our the corruption of our hearts to be able to understand and to receive the depth of love which you have given to us.

But I pray that by your word and our understanding of Jesus Christ that our hearts might soften even more today, that we might see more completely the depth of your love towards us, that that might strengthen our hearts to honor and worship you with our lives.

Lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So today we're looking at uh Jesus when he describes to his disciples that all of them will fall away.

And that will happen on this very night that Jesus is talking to them.

And Peter says, Well, not me, I won't fall away.

Uh but Jesus emphasizes, no, you will fall away, and I'll tell you exactly uh the circumstances, even before the rooster crows, before the morning comes, you will deny me three times.

And so what we're talking about, in a sense, is original sin.

And what it means that we all have this corrupted nature that means we aren't even really able to interpret or understand ourselves.

G.K.

Chesterton says that uh, he says, it is surprising that people have rejected the doctrine of original sin because it is the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified.

That guy can turn a phrase.

But what is it that we're talking about when we're talking about original sin?

In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 18, the question and answer is this.

It says, Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate wherein to man fell?

You know, 17th century, bear with it, it's not how you and I might ask a question, but what where what is the sinfulness of the estate, the condition, into which humanity has fallen in uh what is this original sin that we that we have?

Here's the answer: the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell consists in the guilt of Adam's first sin.

So that means that the sin that we uh live with comes from the first sin of Adam.

It is something like an inherited sin.

When Adam first sinned in the garden, the first man, all of us were in Adam.

And of course, that's true, you know, uh literally speaking, we're we're all descended from Adam, we're all in him.

But we were also, but it's not just true genetically, we're we're also in Adam covenantally.

Adam is the one who God entered into covenant with on behalf of all mankind.

And so when Adam fell, we all fell in Adam.

So our sin consists in his sin.

His sin is our sin.

Goes on, the want of original righteousness.

Now Adam was made righteous before the Lord.

When Adam, the first man, was made, he wasn't made neutral before the Lord, where he could have gone one way or the other.

He was made righteous before the Lord.

That means the dispositions and inclinations of his heart were toward what is true and good and beautiful.

They were toward the goodness of the Lord, to enjoy him fully.

So we have a want of original righteousness.

The dispositions and tendencies of our hearts are towards selfishness and towards a denial of God as God.

And this means the corruption of his whole nature, as the catechism goes on, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin.

So the corruption of our whole nature means that sin is not there's not the sin part of ourselves.

It is not as though, if we, like Plato thought, were to rightly order our minds so that it was our reason which would guide our emotions and our will.

Then if we just got rightly ordered so that we were guided by reason, then we would have dealt with that sin part of ourselves, and the sin part would be brought under control.

That's not the case, because if our reason is in control, well, our reason, as well as our emotions and our will, is corrupted.

So you can find no part of yourself that is not corrupted.

You are corrupted in your whole nature.

Now that doesn't mean that you are as corrupt as you could possibly be.

So there's always room for improvement, is what I'm saying.

You can always break bad.

It doesn't mean that what it means is that in every part of yourself, you're to use Lewis' term bent.

We're bent out of shape.

We're we're twisted out of the direction of our ultimate purpose, which is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

And so in all of our parts, that means in our minds and our intellects, we we are bent in our wills, in the things which would uh our volition, we we are bent.

In our emotions, the way that we the way that we respond to things, they're they're bent, out of shape.

And this is what is commonly called original sin.

That is the nature of what we are born into as descendants of Adam.

And this is together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

So this is this means that uh that estate, that condition of original sin, also it doesn't is it isn't merely that we are born into this corruption, but it's also that we play it out with actual transgressions, the particular sins that you and I commit.

And so we realize the condition of our heart in reality.

So what is that like?

You know, it's it's sort of like uh uh these are hard things to catch because it's like, okay, well, if that's just the way I am, how am I gonna come to an understanding of just the way I am?

How could I possibly have that proved to me or believe it?

Well, it's kind of like this.

Um, did any of you have to read The Catcher in the Rye in high school?

Yeah, a couple of you did.

Um do any of you read it repetitively?

Like do any of you carry it around with you and are obsessed with the catcher in the rye?

That's good, because if you did, then you're probably an assassin.

Tends to go together for some reason.

So The Catcher in the Rye, it's a book about a boy who loves a hat.

And it's written in the first person.

He's telling you his own story.

The character's name is Holden Caulfield, and he's telling you his own story.

And you realize while you're reading his story that he's not really trustworthy.

He will say things, he'll he'll describe characters like his parents or other folks, and then and then he'll tell stories about them, and then you and then he'll run into those people later, and you're like, well, this isn't what I expected those people to be like.

And and you realize that you're reading uh this person's story as he's telling it to you in the first person, and you have actually an unreliable guide as to what is actually taking place in the story.

But as a reader, you have a problem because it's not as though you're able to say, like, yeah, yeah, this is what Holden Caulfield said happened here in the story.

But if I just kind of peek behind the pages, or if I look behind the book somewhere, then I'll be able to tell what actually happened.

I'll be able to get an objective read on the event, and I'll be able to see, oh yeah, this is this is the reality of the situation.

And now that I know the reality of the situation, I can tell where Holden is telling the truth, or I can tell where he's telling a lie.

Well, that's not the way books work.

You don't get to peer behind them.

The only way you can see is through Holden Caulfield's eyes.

That's the only perspective on the reality that you get while you're reading it.

Well, this is what it means to be in original sin.

You yourself are only looking out your own eyes.

And you are an unreliable narrator.

You have opinions and perspectives on yourself which are not necessarily true.

You have reads on stories that do not map on to the reality of the event.

Well, then how do you solve a problem like that?

Because perhaps you could just then step outside of your own eyes and plainly look at the situation and say, oh, he, oh, okay, I understand now.

That's what was really happening.

That was the uh, you know, I thought this person was uh uh being short and and curt with me uh out of some desire to hurt me, but the reality was that they were being short and curt with me because they were wrestling with these words and they were trying desperately not to hurt me more than they wanted.

Well, you don't get that perspective.

All you get to see out of is your own eyes.

And what the scriptures teach us is that you are, at this fundamental level, an unreliable narrator.

That means that our own interpretations of ourselves are not necessarily true.

So then how can we assess ourselves in such a way which would allow us to do something like make a promise or make a commitment, enter into a real relationship?

How can we enter into such a place like that?

Well, in our story today, we see Peter assesses himself and he considers that he will not fall away from Jesus.

And he makes the the highest vow he could make to Jesus, which is that he would die before he fell away from Jesus on this night.

But we see that Peter, in the corruption of his own nature, he he's he's not able to assess himself in reality, the reality that Jesus is giving to him.

And this poses the question well then what do any of us do?

What hope is there for any of us if we now know we can't make any promises because the one making the promise is not trustworthy?

How can we even make commitments to ourselves if we know that those aren't trustworthy?

Well, we're pretty bound up.

And give away the answer to the question you need to be saved by Jesus is what needs to happen.

And there's a whole new way of living on the other side of that.

And that's what Jesus does for Peter in our story today.

So let's look at this text.

Mark 14, 26 through 31, it says, And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

So the eleven disciples now, because Judas has left, come into uh out of the upper room, and they walk to the Mount of Olives that overlooks the temple complex.

And they conclude their Passover meal with a hymn that they sing together.

And then while they're walking out, Jesus drops this bombshell once again, just as he did in the room that they were in the upper room during the Passover meal.

Only this time, he isn't, he doesn't just say, one of you will betray me.

He tells them, You will all fall away.

So he tells the eleven disciples, you will all fall away.

Now that's a shocking thing after they just sung a hymn together.

Jesus says this and he supports this argument.

He doesn't say it just because he knows what is in humanity, just because he knows the condition of original sin of man's heart.

He could have said it because of that.

In John 2, 24, actually after another Passover meal, uh others are committing to him and they're believing in him.

And it says, He did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people.

And it goes on to say he didn't need anyone to tell him what was in man, because Jesus knew what was in man.

And so, because of that, Jesus does not entrust himself to their faithfulness towards him.

He doesn't entrust himself to the crowds, because he understands, I know what's in you, and you will all fall away.

But that's not the line of argument that Jesus takes here when he's talking with his disciples.

What he's saying here is he understands exactly the story that God has written for him, and he knows the scripture that applies to this exact moment.

And so he takes that scripture and he applies it to himself and the disciples in this moment.

And the scripture is Zechariah 13, 7, which says, Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

I will turn my hand against the little ones.

That's a weird text.

It's especially a weird text if we don't have Jesus as the cipher that comes in and explains the Old Testament to us.

Because who is doing the talking here and who is being struck?

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd.

Against the man who stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts.

Who is the man who stands next to the Lord of hosts?

He is the Son of God who has the right to stand next to the Lord of hosts, to stand at the right hand of the Father in all glory and power.

Jesus knows that is him.

And the sword is commanded by God to strike this shepherd who stands next to him.

Why is God striking the one, the shepherd who stands next to him?

Well, when he is struck, strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.

Saying that when the shepherd is struck, this person who held the sheep together, their rallying point.

When he is struck, there will be nothing to hold the sheep together, and they will scatter.

You notice that during Jesus' time in his earthly ministry with his disciples, he is not constantly trying to keep his disciples together.

That's not really the shape of it.

We don't actually have until the very end here, till the shepherd is about to be struck, we don't have a story of a stray disciple that wanders away and then comes back.

When Jesus is there, he holds his people together.

But when he is struck, they are left to their own nature, and they all scatter.

We hear this in a similar passage, which is Isaiah 53, 6, which says, All we, like sheep, have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

What does it mean that Jesus is being struck?

Why does the Lord of hosts command the sword to fall upon Jesus?

It is because the Lord is laying on Jesus the iniquity of us all.

But in that moment, when that happens, the shepherd is struck and the sheep will fall away.

And Jesus understands precisely the story that they're in.

He understands that he is being struck for the satisfaction of their sins, but he understands that by their very nature, when he is struck, they will all fall away.

But that is why he is taking the burden of their sin.

It is because of the depth of his love towards them, towards us, his people, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That's why to Jesus, this announcement that he will be struck and they will all fall away.

Is not the end of the story.

You would think it would be.

You know, what's the end of a flock?

The shepherd being struck, so there's no shepherd, there's no rally point.

And then the sheep all being scattered.

We would say that's the end of the story.

There will be no more rally point after that.

But Jesus understands that this is not the end of the story.

Because what's happening is he is taking on their iniquity, he will be raised again so that he might bring them back together, a new people, cleansed of their sin, cleansed of this nature which drives them away from him, so that they might be held together in him again.

So to Jesus, right in the middle of it, he places this hope.

I will be struck, you will all fall away, but I will be raised up.

And after I am raised up, you'll actually rally to me again.

And the place that I will meet you is the place that I first called you to me, Galilee.

They would have called it home.

And he will meet them again at their home.

And he will rally them together with him again in a new way, a way where they can never fall away again.

Jesus sees that end of the story, that them falling away, because of the nature of what's happening when he is struck, is he's being struck for their salvation.

Now they can't see this yet.

So they understand that for us to fall away means this whole story is over.

But they do not have his perspective.

So Peter hears this, and of course, not having Christ's perspective, he considers I would never fall away.

So he says in Mark 14, 29, Peter said to him, which might have been uncomfortable for the group, even though they all fall away, I will not.

They'll I get it.

I've spent the last couple years with these turkeys.

But I will not fall away.

Now what has Peter received?

He's been told by Jesus, so that's sufficient.

If Jesus tells you something, it's settled.

But he hasn't just been told by Jesus that he will fall away.

He's also heard from Jesus the word of God, which describes his present moment and guarantees that he will fall away.

He is one of the all.

He is not the exception.

And he sees these two pieces of evidence.

Jesus has said, I will fall away.

He knows what's in man.

And the second piece of evidence, the word of God, testifies to the fact that I will fall away.

And he sees those pieces of evidence, and then Peter searches his own heart.

And when he searches his own heart, he considers the hymn that they had just sung, his feet that had just been washed, the new covenant he had just heard introduced, the miracles of healing that he had seen take place over the past several years, the truth in the soundness of the teaching of Jesus.

And he searches his own heart and he says, How could I fall away from something like that?

How could I possibly fall away from this Jesus?

What type of person would I be if I fell away from this Jesus?

And as he searches his heart, I think that he considers, I couldn't be that person.

That's not me.

That's not who I am.

That's not what I'm like.

I could not find myself in a position where I would do that.

That's not me.

And then therefore, Peter says, I will not fall away.

And I think it's important to recognize here that I don't think Peter is, I don't think Peter thinks he's lying.

I don't think within Peter's heart he's thinking, I know I probably really will fall away.

But for the sake of saving face amongst the group right now, I'm gonna say that I wouldn't fall away.

I don't think what's happening in Peter's heart is as thin as that.

I think what's happening is Peter is assessing his own heart.

And the fact of the matter is it lies all the way down.

That as deeply as he searches his own heart, it's it he considers what I find here is what I'm going to present to the world.

I think he's doing that process of seeking his own heart and saying, the truth of what I find in my heart I'm going to present to the world.

And he's doing that.

He's not being hypocritical or inauthentic.

But the fact of the matter is it's lies all the way down.

This is the point of the darkness of our hearts that Scripture teaches us is that we can be radically self-deceived.

In Jeremiah 17 9, Jeremiah famously says, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?

Now this is perfectly counter to the theory of our age.

Because the theory of our age is one where our perhaps our most ultimate morality or our greatest sin is something like seeking the truth in our own hearts and then conveying a falsehood to the world.

That's probably the worst sin.

It's living inauthentically, it's living counter to your truth.

And of course, there is the real sin, of course, of hypocrisy.

You know, there is the truth of who you are inside, and there is uh something that you would hold fast to or consider yourself to hold fast to, and then you lie to the world.

That's a reality that we that it that is wrong.

But our age is greatest virtue of if we seek what is true in ourselves and we present it to the world, then you are an honest, authentic, virtuous person.

But what this neglects is that if you seek within your heart, it can be lies all the way down.

So that even if you are conveying the uttermost truth of who it is you think you are to the world, that very well may be a lie.

Such is the corruption of all of our parts.

So what if the story, as often the stories that we tell, often the stories that we tell are there is a pure heart in a twisted and contorted world.

And the courage and strength is for that pure heart to manifest itself over against this twisted and contorted world.

That's our hero story.

You deny the procrustian bed of society and its norms, and you express the truth of who you are in your heart.

That's the hero.

But you can always tell a secular narrative as compared to a Christian narrative.

Because a secular narrative is always reductionistic to some part.

You can spot this.

It always reduces, it is unwilling to say that there's corruption in all the parts.

Because the truth of the story that we find ourselves in that scripture describes to us is that you have a twisted heart that is operating within a twisted world.

And I think the reason that a secular narrative could never possibly press itself to such extremes is because how do you resolve a story like that?

How do you possibly resolve a story of twisted hearts in a twisted world?

Where do you stand to be able to see what the truth is?

To be able to see what is good, to be able to see what is beautiful.

There's nowhere to stand.

And secular stories can only imagine salvation from within the story.

But the Christian story is willing to push this to its to its uttermost extremes.

Where we realize, and I hope you realize today, how bound our hearts are.

I hope you see that that the uttermost depths of confusion is actually a right read on reality.

It is not a pure heart up against the twisted world.

It is a twisted heart in a twisted world.

In Mark 14, 30, Jesus hears Peter's response and then he gets pretty particular.

And he says, And Jesus said to him, Truly I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.

So Jesus, his response to Peter is something like, Peter, I'm not guessing.

You know, you said when I said you will fall away, you will all fall away, this isn't, don't, don't talk to me.

Jesus didn't talk this way.

But if I were Jesus, don't talk to me like I'm one of the other disciples.

When I tell you things, this is not a it I'm not wondering what may come in the future.

I'm not wondering how this story that I'm walking down may unfold.

I don't experience I'm not like you.

I have a true perspective.

And I can tell you that before the rooster crows, tonight, Peter, you will deny me three times.

Before the morning comes, this very night, you will deny me three times.

Jesus is showing Peter this thing which feels like this this uh this trap.

But it's actually mercy.

It's this thread of hope that he is giving to Peter.

Because here is the hope that Peter has when he is standing next to Jesus and he is hearing him explain exactly what will happen, even within the depths of Peter's own heart, he's explaining exactly what will happen.

What this shows us is that there is someone in the story who sees truly.

You know, when we're reading Holden Caulfield's book, when we're reading in his first person perspective, we can't peek behind the book and say, what actually happened here?

When you're looking out your own eyes, you you're trying to assess your own soul.

You can't peek, there's not a stone you can uncover and say, finally, it's all clear now.

I'm utterly salient to myself, and I know exactly who I am and what I can be trusted with and what I can't be trusted with.

There's no such place.

But there's a friend who's standing next to Peter, who sees all of those things.

He knows perfectly well exactly what will happen.

And when he tells Peter, I read one commentary that said this beautifully, and so I want to share it, he said what he is doing to Peter is he is tying a rope to Peter's conscience, which when the rooster crows will be tugged and it will ring the bell of Peter's conscience.

And he'll remember that Jesus is trustworthy.

I may not be.

I've shown that I'm not, but Jesus is trustworthy.

And then as the story goes on, he will know Jesus came back from the dead and he'll meet me in Galilee.

My iniquity fell on him.

He's trustworthy.

Mark 14, 31, Peter makes it more emphatic, and he says, If I must die with you, I will not deny you.

And then all of the disciples said the same thing.

They all say the same thing.

When Jesus is struck, in just like 20 more verses, and he's arrested, they all fall away.

Precisely as Jesus said, they will all fall away.

Peter is unconvinced of the truth of his own heart, although it's been conveyed to him by Christ.

And all of the disciples, they sort of agree with Peter's assessment.

They agree with it of themselves.

But I hope your question is, and the question of yourself, is okay, well, if what Peter did wrong here was not believe Jesus when he said that he would fall away, then would the right thing for Peter to have done just been like, okay, I'll fall away?

That's weird, isn't it?

Okay, Jesus, when you strike me, I'll I'll fall away.

Because there's a hopelessness to that, isn't there?

Like, isn't there this hopelessness to being told you're stuck in original sin?

And you will act in accord with it, and the world will continue on in its utter confusion, and you will continue on in your utter confusion within the world.

I think part of the purpose of this story is to show ourselves, to show you the utter hopelessness we are bound up in outside of Christ.

What if you are trapped in a world of corruption, the depths of original sin?

How could there be any hope of righteousness?

How could you have any hope of understanding your own life if you are the unreliable narrator and your life is taking place in first person?

You can tell because of this perspective.

Well, don't you see this is why Jesus Christ wrote himself into our story?

Here's the hope.

And the hope that's actually staring Peter in the face.

The one who knew, the one who had the true perspective, the truth himself, came into Peter's story.

And he said to Peter, entrust yourself to me.

You can entrust yourself to me, because I know what is in man, and that sinfulness which is in man is not in me.

You can entrust yourself to me because I know I'm the one friend who actually knows the depths of your heart in the way that you've always wanted someone to, or hoped they never would.

Jesus is the true friend of Peter, who really knows.

It's like if into the catcher in the rye, like a like a wise older brother was written.

He wrote himself in.

Salinger writes himself in.

He's probably not a wise older brother.

I think he was a recluse and lived in the cabin.

That's all I know.

You can't know much more about recluses.

It is their nature.

And he writes himself into the story, and he says, you know, Holden, your parents aren't that bad.

I actually just saw what took place there, and they they weren't trying to get in your way.

They're trying to help you out.

You're actually kind of a jerk.

And Holden would say, Oh man, I think you're right.

This is actually wonderful to have this perspective.

Could you walk around with me for the whole rest of the story and help me get a read on what's going on here?

Well, Jesus is that friend.

The truth that comes in.

Oh, but then he's more than that.

He's more than that.

Because he's also the one who writes the story himself.

And he is the one who took on the punishment for our original sin and then is able to give us his righteousness.

So that our hearts of stone are replaced with hearts of flesh that can feel and understand things as they ought to be felt and understood.

Our wills are transformed by Him.

So that the salvation that He has accomplished for us reaches to every part of you.

Because He Himself took on every part of what it means to be a man.

Every part of what it means to have this humanness that has been corrupted, He took on, so that we might be made new.

So that your heart, your heart might be changed, might be untwisted.

Progressively.

You know, it's justified in a moment.

He works this process of sanctification in us.

In Titus 3.5, it says, we have been washed with regeneration.

We have been renewed by the Holy Spirit.

Well, why can the secular story never go so far as to describe the reality of the situation that we're in, which is that you are corrupted and everything else is corrupted.

Instead just make some carve out little some pure part.

Well, it's because it can't imagine that God, who is outside of all things, who is the creator of all things, over all things, would take it upon himself to come into the story so that he might save us, so that he might transform our hearts, that we might be washed and made clean of this sin, so that we might be transformed, renewed by his Holy Spirit.

How could you describe a reality which requires the Holy Spirit's action for our salvation if you don't believe in a Holy Spirit?

But the Christian has the courage to say, it's far worse than you think.

But the Holy Spirit has been sent by Christ, purchased by him, to come into our hearts so that we might be transformed.

In 2 Corinthians 5, 17, it says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.

The old has passed away.

Behold, the new has come.

We have been made new because of what Jesus has done.

So that means that this torment of sin and this blindness of sin, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

I was lost, then I was found.

I was blind.

Now I see.

This is the hope of our salvation.

This is what Jesus has accomplished for us.

Do you see how it could be done no other way?

You cannot find your way out of this.

You need a friend to draw close to you who can say, that's not really what's going on here, man.

But that's not enough because you need to be able to hear that and get it.

And so you need the Holy Spirit to come and work in your heart.

And the promise and the hope of Christ is that Christ has come.

He has atoned for our sins.

He has sent the Holy Spirit to us to transform and renew us so that we are no longer entangled by this, but we can come in Him, come to Him and trust Him.

What is this hope on the other side?

The Holy Spirit himself, the Spirit of God, who knows the mind of a man but the Spirit of a man?

Great question.

But who knows the mind of God?

You have the Spirit of God.

And what does the Spirit of God do?

What is the Holy Spirit coming to us to do?

It comes to teach us the things that Jesus has taught us to lead us into all truth.

So now, how do we live then?

Because we have this new heart and it's been transformed, but sin wages war in our members and it wages war in our flesh.

And so we're stuck in this battle, and oftentimes we feel taken advantage of and deceived by it.

Well, we pray like David prayed, because we we have someone to turn to who can lead us into the truth, who can lead us into the light and out of the terror of the confusion that we live that we find ourselves in.

In Psalm 139, David prayed, Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Jesus will.

Jesus will lead you.

You have someone to turn to.

The someone to turn to is Jesus.

In Psalm 43, verse 3, he prays again, send out your light and your truth, and let them lead me.

Psalms 43:3

There is the one who has the true perspective.

It is Jesus.

He will send out his light and his truth that we might be led by them.

And so the way that we live, so that we might be drawn out of this confusion into the hope that we have in Christ, is to recognize that we can entrust ourselves to Jesus.

He is there for you.

He was there for us to the uttermost.

While we were yet sinners, he showed his faithfulness towards us.

When we entrust ourselves to Jesus, he transforms our hearts so that even in the midst of the confusion that we still experience of our own hearts, and the confusion that we still experience in the midst of the world, we know that his light and his truth will illuminate his word so that we might see things more and more plainly, more and more truthfully, be able to discern things more and more how they really are in the light of his goodness and his glory, that the levels of confusion that we find ourselves trapped in, we will know this is not forever, because the truth and goodness of the Lord has been purchased for me on behalf of Jesus.

So I may not be able to stand and say, now that I'm in Christ, I can see everything perfectly and clearly, and I'm able to discern myself and discern everyone else, but I know that that right has been purchased for me, and that Jesus by his Holy Spirit is transforming me such that I can trust him.

And the more that I trust him, the more that I'm able to trust myself, the more that I'm able to trust myself, the more that I'm able to enter into real trusting, loving relationships with other people, because I'm entrusted to the one who is trustworthy to the uttermost.

He knows what is in man, he does not entrust himself to us.

We know what is in him.

We can entrust ourselves to him.

He is our hope, your hope.

Come to Jesus.

At least at this point in the story, when others have died for lesser causes throughout history.

I think that what's being exposed here is the particularity of what they are being called to die for, which is, of course, Jesus, the name of Jesus.

Now, why is it that there are able to be other martyrs?

But it and these men will become martyrs.

Why is it that at this point they aren't able to follow through?

And the answer is because what this is a recreation of, this is the point of every human heart that cannot hold.

This is the recreation of the garden, where Adam, their father and our father, denied his covenantal relationship with God.

And so within our hearts, we cannot, of our own strength, hold to our covenantal relationship with our God.

This is the nature of original sin.

They cannot.

They're already dead in their trespasses and sins.

And so this is being brought to such a fine point, such a sharp point narratively, because it's like these sons of Adam are brought back into the garden with this new Adam.

And it's like they stand as these witnesses, or more likely, they stand as this evidence of what all humanity will do when faced with that decision in the garden again.

And we see that all humanity, that our nature, all humanity will fall away in the garden again.

But there's a new Adam because there's one Adam in the garden, this new second Adam, Jesus Christ, who in the garden, when called to fall away from his God, with the certainty of death on the other side of remaining faithful, remains faithful.

There's only one who can't fall away in that moment.

That was Jesus.

Our hope is that we are in him, no longer in Adam.

But by faith we are in this second Adam, Jesus, who accomplished our salvation.

I hope that answers the question a bit.

So in 1 Corinthians 11, starting in verse 23, Paul writes, For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you.

That the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

So on the night before he was betrayed, he took the bread and he broke it, and he said, This is my body.

And he took the cup, and he said, This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood.

And it is in his blood, because he took on the iniquity of us all.

It was laid on him, so that we would rally to him again as our true shepherd.

The true shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.

In him we're saved.

And so we remember that this true Adam went before us, and he was righteous where we couldn't be.

But because he was, he gives us his righteousness, transforms our hearts, so that we might no longer live bound by sin, no longer slaves to sin, no longer destined to be trapped in utter confusion.

But now we have the true friend who can help us.

We have the hope of salvation which he has purchased for us.

We have the Holy Spirit which renews our hearts and our minds.

And we gain his eternal reward.

So, especially for those of you that feel lost and confused or lost and confused, maybe even particularly with regards to yourself, having done things that you couldn't imagine that you would, you can turn to Jesus.

Because while you were yet a sinner, he died for you.

He wasn't unaware that Peter would leave him before he went to the cross on Peter's behalf.

He told him he would.

Such is the depth of his love towards us.

You can entrust yourself to him.

Holy Father, we praise you for your loving kindness towards us.

We praise you that you did not spare your own son, but delivered him over for us all.

If you didn't spare your son, how will you not also with him freely give us all things?

God, if you're the one who justifies, who is the one who can condemn?

Lord, we trust that we will remain faithful to you, not because we have searched our hearts and know what is in ourselves, but because you have made that promise to us.

That the work that you have started in us, you will see through you to completion at the day of Christ Jesus.

That you have done the work to hold us.

So, Lord, in that, let our hearts hold fast to you, because you have transformed them, that we might no longer be slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness, that we might seek to know you in the wonder of your presence, the joy of your guidance.

Father, we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit now, Lord, to soften and transform our hearts.

Send out your light and your truth.

Let them lead us.

Let them bring us to your holy hill and to your dwelling.

Lord, where else would we rather be?

We praise you and lift this up in Jesus' name.

Amen.