When the People Closest to You Hurt You Most | Mark 14:43–72 | Kevin Queen

Come on Church, whether you need a move of God or a touch from God, He is with us. And we have come for a move of God. We have come for the Holy Word. All we want, all we hunger for is You. Come on Church. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Make us an offering, make us an offering. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Till we encounter You. Make us desperate, tear our idols down. Lord we're repenting, this is still Your house. You sent it, when You said You'd pour Your Spirit out. So we sing Holy Spirit. Fire on the altar, fresh wind blowing through. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Make us an offering, make us an offering. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Till we encounter You. Anybody hungry for the Lord to move today? Come on, He's doing something new every day. We need You Lord. We need a move of God. If you believe it. We need a move of God. Come on, speak it out. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. We need a move of God. In this city Lord. We need a move of God.

In this church. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. We need a move of God. In our family. We need a move of God. In our heart. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. Fire on the altar. Fresh wind blowing through. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Make us an offering, make us an offering. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Fire on the altar. Fresh wind blowing through. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. Make us an offering, make us an offering. We're gonna stay here till we encounter You. We need a move of God. We need a move of God. Lord open our heavens. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. We need a move of God. Today. We need a move of God.

Only You can do it Lord. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. Open up the heavens Lord. We need a move of God. Oh we're ready for You to move. We need a move of God. How we need to encounter You. We need a move of God. We're hungry, we're desperate. Lord open our heavens. Come on, let's sing this out. I know that you will keep your covenant I'm calling on the God of Moses The one who opened up the ocean I need you now to do the same thing for me Come on, every voice, let's cry out to Him today Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh rock of ages I'm standing on your face, Lord On your faithfulness, your faithful Jesus, yes you are I'm calling on the God of Mary Whose favor rests upon the lowly I know with you all things are possible I'm calling on the God of David Who made a shepherd born gracious Time may not face the life But I've got my own child Oh God, my God, I need you now

Oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness Oh God, my God, I need you now Oh rock of ages I'm standing on your faithfulness On your faithfulness You are faithful, Lord I'm standing on your faithfulness We believe You heard your children then You hear your children Come on, sing it Sing you are And you answered prayers back then Come on, he's faithful today You are You are the same, God You are providing then You are providing now You are, you are, yes You are the same, God You moved in power then God moved in power now You are the same, God You are the same, God You were a King God would need you You are a Healer You are the same, God

You are the same, God You were a Savior then You are a Savior now You are the same, God You are the same, God Oh God, my God, I need You Oh God, my God, I need You now How I need You now Oh Rock, Oh Rock of Ages ♪ On your faithfulness, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ You are faithful, Lord, you are faithful, Jesus ♪ ♪ How we need you, how we need you, Lord ♪ ♪ How we need you in the morning ♪ ♪ How we need you in the evening ♪ ♪ Every moment in this day ♪ ♪ You are faithful, Jesus, we need you, Lord ♪ ♪ I'm calling on the Holy Spirit ♪ ♪ Almighty, you ever come and fill me again ♪ ♪ Come and fill me again, come and fill me again ♪ ♪ Oh God, my God, I need you, oh God, my God, I need you now ♪ ♪ I need you now, how I need you now ♪ ♪ Oh rock, oh rock of ages, I'm standing on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ On your faithfulness, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ I'm standing on your faithfulness, on your faithfulness ♪ ♪ Who thought I'd find you at the lowest place? ♪ ♪ Who thought you'd feel me in the crowd? ♪ ♪ Who knew you'd make good on my mistakes? ♪ ♪ You're nothing like I thought you were, you're better ♪

♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ And I thought you'd show up for perfection ♪ ♪ But what kind of God looks for the most? ♪ ♪ And they say it's all before the sinner ♪ ♪ Oh, but you say, no, it's not, no, it's not ♪ ♪ Oh, you say, no, it's not, no, it's not, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God, what a God, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ What a God, what a God ♪ ♪ There's no one like you, Lord ♪ ♪ No, there's no one like you, Lord, what a God, what a God ♪ ♪ If the highest place I reach is at your feet, then I've done it all ♪ ♪ If the best thing that I've seen is your glory, then I've seen it all ♪ ♪ I've seen it all, your love is true, your love is true ♪ God, You are my everything. If the highest place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is at Your feet, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied. God, You are my everything. If one word is the only thing You speak, then I've heard it all. If I feel Your heart and never see Your face, I still have it all. No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. You are my everything. You are my everything.

Oh God, You are my everything. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. What a God, what a God. If the highest place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied. God, You are my everything. If one word is the only thing You speak, then I've heard it all. If I feel Your heart and never see Your face, I still have it all. No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. You are my everything. You are my everything. God, You are my everything. You are my everything. If the highest place I reach is at Your feet, then I've done it all. If the best thing that I've seen is Your glory, then I've seen it all. Your love has changed my life, forever satisfied. God, You are my everything. If one word is the only thing You speak, then I've heard it all. If I feel Your heart and never see Your hand, I still have it all.

No treasure of this life could ever satisfy. God, You are my everything. You are my everything. You are my everything. You are my everything. You are my everything. You are. You are. My everything. I declare that today, Jesus, that you are everything. That you and you alone are enough. That nothing in this world would satisfy the love that you can give, Jesus. Nothing in this world would satisfy the things that you are doing and the way that you are working, Lord. You are enough. And we praise you and we thank you that you are enough. That at your feet we have everything that we need, Lord. So I pray that we would lay down whatever we're carrying right now, Jesus, at your feet. We love you and we praise you, Lord. Amen. You guys can have a seat. Amen. ♪♪ Welcome to Crosspoint. It is so good to be with you. And I'll tell you, my heart is still stirred by Cameron's story. Ten-year-old out of the Hendersonville campus. Cameron, I just want to let you know how proud we are of you. The story of how you invited your baseball team and their families, 31 people. You saved seats, and I just want you to know

you are making a difference. And so grateful for how God is using what we're seeing Him do in the next generation, just to motivate us as a church to continue to share this heartbeat, to help people find and follow Jesus. I was talking with Andy, who attends the Nashville campus. He let me know about his daughter, Juliana. She's eight years old. And every night before she went to bed during the month of February, she made her awaken list. She made her list, her Oikos list, of eight to 15 people that she was praying for. And he said before the end of the month, she had all the names memorized. And so she didn't even need the list. And she was just praying for all of her friends to come to know Jesus. And I just love what God is doing in this next generation and how He's using them to set our hearts on fire for what God's heart burns for. It's for people that don't know Him yet to know Him. And so as we enter into this Easter season, as we're 21 days away, we have an opportunity to reach out to, we've prayed for the month of February, but to reach out with invitations and to see what God is going to do. I am, I'm so excited for what is in store for us as a church on Easter. And then also want to let you know,

I'm excited for what's coming afterwards. Some of you have asked the question, well, what's after we go through the gospel of Mark? We've been on this journey from the beginning of Mark to the end, and we will finish up at Easter. And then what's going to happen next? Well, I'm glad you asked that question. The week after Easter, we have author and leadership expert, just psychologist, Henry Cloud is going to be with us that week after Easter. He's one of my favorite authors, and he's going to be with us the week after Easter to talk about relationships. And then the week after that, we begin our brand new study. We're going to study through the book of Acts. We're going to go through the book of Acts over the next year. And I heard some of you say yes. And then some of you are like, where's the book? You'll find out, we'll talk about that. And really Acts tells the story of the church. You know, if you've ever wondered how we went from Jesus and a handful of disciples to this movement of 2.6 billion people in the earth as followers of Jesus, we're going to talk about that story together. If you ever wondered who is the Holy Spirit and what does it mean to live life in the Spirit? If you ever wonder about prayer, we're going to be talking about these things,

what God had in mind when he started the church. And so we are fired up for this series. And I've just, my heart has been so moved. And it's been one of my favorite things we've ever done, going through the gospel of Mark. And we've been in this series together. We're in this series called the final hours. And we're looking at these last few hours of Jesus' life. In fact, as you look at the gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, they're all tell the story. The last few chapters of each book tell the story of the passion. It's called the passion narrative. And the word passion means to suffer. And so it got me thinking about this story back. I remember when our oldest daughter, Raleigh, when we had just moved, it was a little over eight years ago, we'd just moved to Tennessee, left all of our friends and family in Georgia, moved up here, didn't know anybody. And Raleigh was in eighth grade. And it's a hard move for anybody, but especially an eighth grade girl to make that kind of move in middle school, difficult move. And so she kind of went through the season of trying to figure out who she was and her identity. And I remember I went on Amazon and I was looking on Amazon

and I saw that somebody had ordered a skateboard. Somebody had ordered a skateboard on Amazon. I thought, that's strange. And it showed up at our house. And I asked our kids, who ordered the skateboard? And Raleigh said, I did, it's my passion. And I'm thinking, you have never ridden a skateboard before in your life. You've never skated a day in her life. She actually, she graduates from college this year. I still don't think Raleigh has ever ridden a skateboard, but it's her passion. And so it got me thinking about that word, passion means to suffer. And Chip Dodd gives a definition of passion. He says, passion is a willingness to be in pain for something that matters more than pain. Passion is what keeps us going. It's what causes us to endure. It keeps us pressing ahead. It's why we persevere. So my question is, what's your passion? What is your passion? What is the thing in your life that is worth suffering for? You know what? Jesus' passion was. Well, his passion was you. You are the reason that he suffered. He suffered for you. He suffered for the Father's glory, it was his mission.

But ultimately, what held Jesus on the cross was not three nails. What held him on the cross is his love for you. His passion for you, that you were worth dying for, you were worth laying his life down for because he didn't want to spend eternity without you. So Jesus laid down his life for you. His passion is for you. And so these four gospels give us these passion narratives and all four gospels are written from four different authors with four different messages to four different audiences. In fact, when you go back and you look, Matthew was written to the Jews to show that Jesus is the Messiah. Luke was written to the outsiders to show that the gospel is for Gentiles too. John was written to Jews and Gentiles to show that Jesus is the divine. He is the son of God. And Mark is written to believers in Rome to show that Jesus is the suffering servant. And in Mark 14, the suffering begins. Mark 14, if you've got a Bible, you can turn there with us. In fact, if you'll remember last week, Pastor Dustin preached a phenomenal message talking about how the suffering actually began in the garden as Jesus, as he surrendered, as he surrendered his will. He said, not my will, but yours, yours be done. You have phenomenal message on disappointment.

If you missed it, I wanna encourage you to go back and listen to that. But the suffering continues in chapter, Jim chapter 14 with what we might call relational grief. None of you ever heard that phrase, those words, relational grief. I heard this, I was listening to a pastor talk about this and he said, relational grief is the emotional and spiritual and psychological distress that comes from losing a close bond. And this pastor was talking, he said, the average person loses five to seven significant relationships in a lifetime. So the average pastor loses five to seven a year, unless it's 2020, then it's like five to 700. But it's not just pastors that experience relational grief, it's all of us. It might be a move, or maybe it's a job change, or maybe a divorce, or Alzheimer's, or dementia, or a child leaving home, or maybe losing a loved one. And those are painful, it's painful relational grief, sorrow that's a part of life, but the sadness only increases, the sorrow increases when there's sin involved, like gossip, or betrayal, or lies, or abandonment, or abuse. And we're gonna see all of those things in the text today. And when you experience those things, then it can be disorienting, going to what have I done? What did I do to cause this?

Or where did I go wrong? Or who can I trust? And it can leave you feeling all alone. Have you ever been there? I'm like, I have. You've probably been there too, and what I want you to see today is that Jesus was there. And before Jesus ever carried the weight of the sin of the world on his shoulders, cross, he carried the pain, the relational grief of people who were close to him, who abandoned him, who left him. Isaiah prophesied this 700 years before, says he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. So 700 years before Jesus carried out his mission, this was prophesied by Isaiah. So it's got me thinking, Jesus knew the relational grief he would suffer. He knew the pain that he would experience. He knew the sorrow that would take place, and he said yes to the mission. That Jesus, knowing what he would enter into, he entered into this for us. He knew he would experience the heartache, the betrayal, and he did it anyway, because you are his passion. He suffered it for you. And what we're gonna see today is that he responds

to this betrayal with such grace and such mercy and courage in his heart. And just to let you know, if you've ever been the one to cause relational grief, I have too. If in your lifetime you've ever hurt somebody that you cared about, I believe that today there is healing for you, that Jesus wants healing for your heart as well. So we're gonna pick up in verse 43, verse 43, chapter 14. We'll begin, pick up in the garden. And just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the 12, appeared, and with him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests, the teachers of law, and the elders. And now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard. And going at once to Jesus, Judas said, Rabbi, and kissed him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your love for us. We thank you that your love is on display for us on the cross. We thank you that you have sent your spirit to comfort us so that we can comfort others. And I pray for today, I pray that there would be healing for hearts.

I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would comfort us, and at the same time, that you would make us uncomfortable in places that we need to grow, in places that we need to grow in Christlikeness, and in places that we need to heal, that you would move us to places of healing. We thank you, Jesus, for how you suffered for us, or how you stood for us. I pray today that we would receive courage and strength from you to stand, and that you would form in us, that you would give us a new heart, a heart that is like yours, that you give us grace and mercy, both for ourselves and for others. We pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. Now, what we just read is perhaps the most famous betrayal in history. Here's Judas, who was one of the 12. Here's Judas, who was a disciple. He went everywhere with Jesus. He listened to the teaching. He heard the teaching firsthand. He saw miracles with his own eyes, and yet he is the one who leads these soldiers to Jesus. He sells him out, and so the question is, why would he do this? I mean, we know it was for the 30 shekels of silver. We know it was for the money, but scholars tell us that there was likely

something more going on. See, it was believed at this time by the Jewish people that when the Messiah comes, that he would overthrow the Romans, that would lead to their freedom, and so they say that it's likely that Judas didn't like how long it was taking Jesus to do the deal. He didn't like how long it took to overthrow the Romans, and so his betrayal is like a kickstart to the rebellion. It's kind of this kickstart because God wasn't operating on his timeline, so he figured he would help God out. Jesus, the Messiah, wasn't the Messiah that he was looking for. It didn't show up the way that he wanted him to, and so Judas figured that he would just kind of help God, get things moving, and so he took matters into his own hands, and before he ever betrayed Jesus, the first person Judas had to betray was himself. He had to betray his own conscience. How many of us know that we have an inner lawyer that can argue, that can justify just about anything? We've got an inner lawyer that will stand and begin to argue for us, and so betrayal, what betrayal is, is it's an act of selfishness. It's choosing our own interest at the expense of somebody we were supposed to be loyal to, and betrayal in the kingdom of God is when one believer seeks their own benefit at the expense of another believer. It can happen in marriage, where there was this show, and it was supposed to be our show.

It was supposed to be the show that we were gonna watch, that we were gonna watch together, and then what happened is, is one day you sat down and you turned on Netflix, and somehow it skipped ahead two shows, and you're like, what just happened? It's disorienting. You're like, I thought we had an agreement. This was our show. Now, we can kind of laugh at that. Some of y'all aren't laughing right now. You're jabbing, but there are more serious and more painful forms of betrayal, like there was a friend that you shared some details with. You shared details and confidence, and then you find out they shared it with the group, or there was a spouse who broke their vow. and broke your heart, or a business partner that took the book of the business and then left the company, or a co-worker that undermines you when you're not in the room, or a sibling that changes the documents when handling the family estate, or a spiritual leader who abuses their authority, or a parent that over-promises and under-delivers again, or a child that you poured your life into that now blames you for everything and cuts off the relationship. And have you noticed this, that the closer the relationship, the deeper the pain? The closer the relationship, the deeper the pain. And so here we have Judas, who's a close friend of Jesus for three years, went everywhere with him. One of his closest, who was a disciple who betrays him with a kiss. Now, why would Judas betray Jesus with a kiss? Well, that was a formal greeting in that day, it was a customary greeting in that day, but also because Jesus, like the soldiers, wouldn't have known which one was Jesus. It was in the middle of the night, in the garden, there weren't street lights, there weren't lights to be able to see, and Jesus didn't have an Instagram. So there was no Facebook, so they would not have known which one was Jesus, and so Judas gives him a kiss, and he greets

him Rabbi, which was a formal title, it was a title of respect. What's interesting is that Judas calls him Rabbi and he doesn't call him Lord. He calls him Rabbi, which means teacher, and he kisses him. And once the signal is given, chaos ensues. Verse 46, it says, the men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. And my leading rebellion said Jesus, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me. Every day I was with you teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest me, but the scriptures must be fulfilled. Now John gives us a detail, he lets us know that it was Peter, that it was Peter who pulled out the sword. Peter, the one that Jesus said would deny him three times. Peter is the one who told Jesus, even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you. And so he pulls out the sword, likely the sword that they use for the Passover meal. He pulls out the sword and he cuts off the ear. He cuts off the ear of Malchus, who was the servant to the high priest. And Luke tells us what happens. Luke gives us this perspective that Jesus answered no more of this, and he touched the man's ear and healed him. So Luke tells us that Jesus goes and he picks up the ear. So Peter cuts off the ear. Dude's ear falls down. Jesus reaches down, picks up the ear, just puts it back on. Now we're going to act like that didn't just happen. And God's like, what just happened? And in doing so Jesus probably saved Peter's life. Definitely saved that guy's ear. We'll come back to that. Verse 50, and then everyone deserted him and fled. A young man wearing nothing but a linen garment was following Jesus. And when they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. Guess you didn't have streakers in the text on your bingo card today. What's going on? Here's cool. What many scholars will tell us is they think this was John Mark. John Mark, Mark, the one who wrote this gospel, that he's writing himself into the text as a way of saying I was there. Picture it with me. Remember the upper room in his house was where Jesus and the disciples, where they shared their last meal together. They're sharing the last meal together. Judas leaves and he goes to betray Jesus to go get the temple guard and he brings them back. Now Jesus and the disciples, they've gone to the garden to go pray. John Mark, around 12 to 13 years old, he's asleep. There's, sorry to wake you up. You should have been sleeping anyway, but they woke him up. Some of you jumped. Okay. Knocks at the door. Wakes up John Mark. John Mark hears what's happening and he goes

to this, this kid, puts on his pajamas, covers up, puts on a linen garment, goes to the garden to go warn Jesus and the disciples. And when he does, he gets there and the chaos is going on and all of the chaos, one of the guard, one of the temple guards grabs his pajama and he takes off naked, which would have been like a huge sign of like shame in that, in that day. And so John Mark is saying, I was there. Judas betrayed him. Peter fled. All the disciples fled. I left too. Jesus was standing there all alone. Have you ever been there? Have you ever felt all alone? Have you ever felt like in that moment of betrayal or in that moment of abandonment or that moment where you looked around and somebody who said they were gonna be there is not there anymore? Somebody who promised that they wouldn't leave, they've left, have you ever felt all alone? And so Mark presents this, the details that we would know that in those moments when we feel like nobody knows how I feel that we would know Jesus knows exactly how we feel. Hebrews says it this way, it says, "'For we do not have a high priest "'who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, "'but we have one who has been tempted in every way, "'just as we are, yet he did not sin.'" So our high priest knows exactly how we feel. He knows exactly how we feel, and yet he did not sin. See, there's this lie out there that if I'm good enough, if I do all the right things, if I honor God, and if I make good choices,

then I will not be hurt in relationships. But Jesus is the one who is righteous. He did not sin, and yet he experienced the utter depths of the relational grief that these people that he poured his life into for three years, that none of them were with him, and he stood all alone. And in that moment, they took Jesus to the high priest. So they took our high priest to the high priest. In verse 53, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together, and Peter followed him at a distance right into the courtyard of the high priest. And there he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. And the chief priests in the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death, but they did not find any. And many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. And then some stood up and gave a false testimony against him. And we heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with human hands, and in three days, we'll build another not made with hands. Yet even their testimony did not agree. And then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men

are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? I am, said Jesus. And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his clothes. Why do we need any more witnesses, he asked. You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? And they all condemned him as worthy of death. And then some began to spit at him. They blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, prophesy. And the guards took him and beat him. So Jesus stands before the Sanhedrin. It would have been about 70 people in a semicircle. And as he stood there, he took their lies, their slander. They're trying to cook up these false charges against him that would ultimately enable them to put him to death. And how does Jesus respond to their lies? What does he do? He just, he stands there in silence. And his silence is not weakness, it's trust in his father. So he doesn't defend himself. He allows even the chaos and the confusion of all their lies to even break down their own arguments, which Isaiah prophesied this.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus didn't defend himself, but when he was asked the question, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? He answers, I am. Now, it's hard for us to wrap our minds around is how explosive this statement is in the Gospel of Mark. When Jesus said these two words, I am, what they would have understood is that it was a reference back to the Exodus when Moses asked God, who should I tell them sent me? In Exodus three, and God says, tell them I am sent you. And Jesus says, I am. And just in case there was any confusion about what's going on, he continues and says, and you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. Now, this is a well-known messianic prophecy from Daniel chapter seven that they would have known. So Jesus just essentially said, I am God, and you think you're judging me, but one day I will judge you and I will judge the world. And at this, the high priest, he tore his clothes, and they began to beat him. and to blindfold him, to spit upon him, and to mock him. Now, the irony is that Jesus is blindfolded, yet they're the ones who cannot see who he is. And Mark lets us know there's another trial

that's going on outside. Peter is warming himself by the fire. Verse 66, and while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. Now, in that day, a teenage servant girl would have been about lowest rung on the social ladder. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him. You were with that Nazarene Jesus, she said, but he denied it. So Peter, this disciple who said, Jesus, I'm with you, ride or die. Jesus, I'm the one, I will die for you. I will never disown you. He's afraid to admit that he's a disciple to some random teenage girl. I don't know or understand what you're talking about, he said. And then he went out into the entryway. So see, he's trying to distance himself from the situation. But this girl is not giving up. Verse 69, and when the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, this fellow is one of them. And again, he denied it. So now there's a crowd. Now there's more pressure. Now there are more people watching. And Jesus, Peter denies Jesus a second time. And after a little while, those standing near said to Peter,

surely you are one of them for you are a Galilean. Now, Galileans had distinct accents. And they were looked down upon by the religious establishment for being uneducated, unsophisticated. And at this, Peter loses it. He begins to call down curses and he swore to them, I don't know this man you're talking about. Essentially just swears that if I knew him, may I be cursed. And he doesn't even say the name Jesus. He says this man. And immediately the rooster crowed a second time. And then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him. Before the rooster crows twice, you will disown me three times. And he broke down and he wept. And he just, he realized, he remembered what Jesus said. John gives us a detail that Peter, Jesus made eye contact, that Jesus looked at him. At that glance, the weight of the decisions, of the denial, of the rejection, of the abandonment that Peter felt in that moment, he was just overwhelmed. The word used here is he sobbed uncontrollably. Have you ever been there? Where the weight of the decisions and the choices that you made, where you feel the guilt and you feel the shame and you're just undone in that moment. That's where Peter is in this moment.

Let me ask you a question. How did we get this story? Here we have this story in the text of Peter's failure. Where did we get this story? I mean, John Mark wrote the gospel. Mark wrote the gospel, but who was his source? Who was his source? Try it again, who was his source? Peter, very good, because we've asked that question about 40 times throughout this whole series, and I was like, we're gonna have to go back and do the book of Mark all over again, but like, Peter was the source. So think about it, the whole reason we have this story is because Peter shared his failure. The whole reason that we have this story is because Peter shared from his regret. He had the courage to share, this is where I failed. Now remember, who is this gospel being written to? It's written to those believers in Rome who are facing the persecution of Nero, and to encourage them in their faith to say, stand firm, hold tight to the gospel, don't give up on Christ, but if you do, you have one who stands for you. If you do give up on the faith, just know Jesus doesn't give up on you. That even the leader of all the disciples, the one who is leading the church, Peter failed. And so we draw strength and courage from the grace of God

because we know from continuing to read the book, we know from the gospel of John that Jesus restored Peter, that he reinstated Peter, that on a beach there in Galilee, his faith was restored, and Jesus asked him three times, do you love me, do you love me, do you love me, next to a fire, and the only two times that we find that specific fire in scripture, a charcoal fire, the only two times is the one on the beach and the one right here. Jesus makes the same kind of fire for Peter. Peter, and he feeds him fish tacos. You think I'm telling, you read the book. He feeds him fish there on the beach, he makes breakfast for him. And he says, Peter, you're reinstated, you're restored, I haven't given up on you. And Peter goes to receive the Holy Spirit, and he stands up, we'll read in the book of Acts, and he proclaims the gospel, and 3,000 people are saved on one day. This one disciple who rejected Jesus and ran from him, and denied three times that he knew, is now sharing the gospel boldly to the same people that he hid from. And this is the power of the grace of God. Aren't you glad? I mean, this is an argument for me, like, for me, like, that the humanity in the scriptures, I mean, if I'm writing this book, I'm covering that stuff up.

I don't want other people to know that. But it's from God. God moved the men, and the men moved the pen. And gave us the humanity of their stories, so that we would know this is the kind of God that we have. A God who heals, a God who restores, who can take even our greatest failures from our past, and use them for his glory. You thought I was getting into the application, but we're just getting started. Let me give you three, three encouragements from the teaching today. You can write these down. The first one, if you're taking notes, make Jesus your primary passion. And make Jesus your primary passion. Listen, we are all going to suffer in this life. None of us make it through this life without suffering. We are all going to experience suffering. Might as well suffer for the one who suffered everything for you. To say, Jesus, you are my primary passion in life. And let me tell you what I've learned, is that when I make Jesus my primary passion in life, and not ministry, and not family, and not money, and not all the things, the other things, even good things in this world, when I make Jesus my primary passion in life, that's when I have such peace, and that's when I have joy,

that's when I have love, and that's when I have something to give. When I make anything else my primary passion in life, that's when anxiety increases, that's when worry increases, that's when fear and control. And so I just wanna encourage you, make Jesus your primary passion in life. Jesus said, if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. To take up our cross means to willingly choose to suffer for, to deny ourselves. To suffer for, to experience pain for the thing that matters more than pain. It's that other people would see Christ, that know Christ, that we would know Christ, that Christ would be glorified in and through our lives. Before Peter ever denied Jesus three times, he followed him at a distance. Think about it, and we can go back through the regrets in our own lives. Before we ever went down those trails, we probably followed him at a distance. And to make Jesus our primary passion in life is to pursue him, to chase him, to put him first in our lives. And when we do, then he takes the suffering of our lives and he uses it for his glory. And that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope,

and hope does not disappoint. To make Jesus your primary passion. Number two, if you have been betrayed, bring your pain to Jesus. If you have been betrayed, bring your pain to Jesus. Relational grief is real, and you can hide it, and you can mask it, you can try to cover it up, you can suppress it, you can try to drink it away, or you can bring it to Jesus. Listen, only Jesus can heal the soul. Only Jesus can heal the soul. And some of you have been betrayed, you've been lied to, you've been abandoned, you've experienced abuse, somebody hurt you that you trusted. I was just thinking about this this week. Jesus died on the cross, not just to forgive us of our sin, but to give us a new heart. To give us a new heart. Jesus wants to give you a new heart. And with a new heart comes the grace to forgive others. We can't forgive in our own power. We can't forgive in our own strength. We need to receive his forgiveness for our own sin, and we need to receive the grace to forgive. And here's the reality, God wants to grow something in you. but so does the enemy. God wants to grow grace, he wants to grow love, he wants to grow maturity, he wants to grow forgiveness and compassion,

but the enemy wants to grow bitterness and hatred and cynicism. And we can tell ourselves, I'm never gonna trust again. And you know what? That might protect us from being hurt again, but it will also keep us from being loved again. Because what I've learned is that the way that God heals the heart is through the Holy Spirit and healthy people. See, God heals us from betrayal through other relationships, through healthy people. This is why it's so important that we take steps toward community because we don't heal alone. We heal in the context of relationships and in the context of community, of gospel friendships and relationships. Just because you're wounded doesn't mean that you have permission to stay offended. God wants to, you know, if you take your hand like this and you clench it tight and you hold it, hold it tight, eventually it's gonna cut off circulation. I'm not gonna prove it to you, I'm just, just take my word on it. Eventually it's gonna cut off circulation. And that's what the enemy wants to do, to cut off circulation to your heart. And God wants you to allow the great forgiver to begin to do a work in you so that you can open up and let go

and begin to allow him to bring life to your heart again. And sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. When you fail, remember Jesus stands for you. Peter's failure is not the end of the story and your failure is not the end of yours. So don't put a period where God has put a comma. In the book of Acts, we read about Peter going on to be a leader in the church. There is more that God has for you in your story. I keep thinking about that ear. I mean, Peter cut off that guy's ear, his ear falls on the ground and Jesus reaches down, picks it up, puts it back on. What is going on there? Was Peter just a bad aim? I mean, was he going for the jugular, was he going, and he just missed? I think there was something more going on. I think Peter knew exactly, it's just my theory. I think Peter knew exactly what he was doing because in Leviticus chapter 21, it says that no person with a deformity could serve in the temple. So Malchus, the servant of the high priest, that Peter, when he took off his ear, he was taking his job. That Peter was taking out his ability to serve. He's taking his dignity, he's taking his job. And so when Jesus restores him, he's not just restoring his ear, he's also restoring him to his ministry in the temple.

He's also restoring him to serve the temple system that would soon be abolished by the cross. But Jesus is restoring him, he's saving Peter's life, he's saving this guy's ear because we have a savior who loves to restore. He loves to restore hearts, to restore families, to restore relationships, to restore ministry. He loves to restore. And that as scripture says that we are a kingdom of priests and that today he wants to bring you back into your ability to serve with a passion that's for Jesus so that we might have compassion for others. And so I wanna lead us in a prayer together. You just begin, as I'm just gonna read this verse, just let this verse wash over you. For we do not have a high priest who's unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help each other and to help each other. Amen. us in our time of need. Would you just open up your hands with me? You can just whisper a prayer. You can just confess your need to him. You can say, Jesus, I need you. Would you just thank him for standing for you, even when you couldn't stand, even when you were too weak, even in your moments of failure or rejection, that Jesus stood for you? Just thank him. Now, if there's anything else in your hands that has become your primary passion in life, the thing that you think about the most, the thing that you concern yourself with

the most, the thing that sits on the throne of your heart, the thing that calls the shots, the thing that you find your sense of identity or security, the thing that if you didn't have that thing, then maybe life wouldn't be worth living. If there's anything that's in that place, we're just going to dethrone it right now. Say, Jesus, you are my passion. You are the one that I'm going for. I don't want to follow at a distance. Just even whisper, Jesus, be the passion of my life. I don't want you to just clench your fists. Just ask your question, is there any bitterness or resentment or hurt or pain that you're holding on to? Any wrongs that were done to you, that you need the great forgiver to do a work in your heart. He will give you grace and mercy in your time of need. If you want to begin that process, I just want to watch you just open up your hands. Jesus, I pray that circulation of the heart, of the new heart would flow today. God, I pray that we would begin this process of forgiveness. I pray for freedom of our hearts today. Pray for new life, fresh hope, that you would break off any cynicism, that we'd be able to love again and to receive love again. Pray for new relationships, gospel friendships that would give us truth and love and grace so we can heal. And Holy Spirit, would you do the work of healing in our hearts? And then God, I pray where we need healing today in our own hearts, would you just put your hand over your heart? If you did it with Peter, you can do it with us. If you did it with Peter, you can do it with us. We receive your grace. We receive your mercy. We receive your love. We thank you for the forgiveness that comes from the cross. All of our sin, all of our guilt, all of our shame, you took upon yourself so that we could have a new heart, so that we could be free. So we leave, we leave our guilt, we leave our shame. We repent and we come back home to you. Thank you for the forgiveness. Thank you for the new heart that comes through the cross. Father, I pray that you would pour out your spirit, that Jesus, you would be our passion and that you would fill us with compassion, that we would be able to suffer with others, that others might know this hope, the help and the hope that comes from you, that Jesus, you would be glorified in and through our lives, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen, church. Thank you for worshiping with us today. We're going to have our prayer teams down front. Be glad to pray with you. You guys have a great weekend, Lord. We'll see you back next week.