WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:02.160 Well, happy Easter, everybody. 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:05.519 Want to say hello to everybody here who is in the room. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:10.560 Everybody who's in overflow, uh want to say a special welcome to you, everybody online. 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:14.640 In fact, uh, wherever you're at, why don't you put your hands together and welcome those who are online? 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:18.160 So glad to have you here. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:26.320 And uh I don't always wear a powder blue suit, but when I do, it means it's Easter, alright? 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:28.160 So don't get too used to it. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:31.199 My wife talked me into this, alright, but I'm here, I'm here. 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:31.760 Okay. 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:33.679 Um, so glad you're here. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:36.719 I I really hope today that you were welcomed in the right way. 00:00:36.880 --> 00:00:46.079 I know some people when they show up to church, they're hoping to meet somebody or make a connection, and others would kind of prefer to maybe be a little incognito, flying under the radar. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.960 And so if you were hoping to meet somebody, I hope you did. 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:53.759 If you wanted to be uh sort of incognito, I hope you were lovingly ignored. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:56.320 And that you don't take offense to it. 00:00:56.399 --> 00:01:01.520 Uh we're trying to read social cues, but we uh please understand we do want you here. 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.840 We're glad you're here, and we hope you have such a good time. 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.280 You come back next week and bring somebody with you, all right? 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:12.799 Um, I'm gonna jump into the message today and uh gonna kick off with the reading of God's word. 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:17.680 We're gonna go to Philippians 3, uh chapter 3, verses 10 and 11. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:19.200 This is the Apostle Paul writing. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.599 He says, I want to know Christ. 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:27.519 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:36.239 I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that in one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:40.560 Uh let's just uh quiet our hearts for a moment and uh pray together. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:47.040 Lord, we open up our hearts to you and we're receptive to what you would want to say. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:59.920 And God, we know that in moments like this you show up and speak to people like us, and you have a way of taking a message that goes out to a collective group of people and you customize it to what you want to say to us. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:02.159 And so our hearts are open. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:05.519 Uh we are fertile soil to receive from you today. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:13.199 And God, we thank you for your ability to tell us what we need, not necessarily what we think we want. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:17.280 We praise you and love you in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen. 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:22.400 Uh, who in this world knows you well? 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:25.520 Who is it in this world that knows you well? 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:30.879 Maybe um when I ask that question right away, it sparks a face of somebody. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:37.840 Maybe you are fortunate enough today to be sitting next to or sitting among people who know you well. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:42.639 You may be one of the fortunate few who has several people who knows you well. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:47.840 Maybe you have a collection of friends or you have a group of people that know you inside and out. 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:49.919 But the reality is there is a spectrum. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:03:01.599 In fact, there's a probably a a group of you today who are here who would say, you know, if I'm being totally honest, I kind of feel alone because I don't know if anybody really knows me. 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:03.360 That's quite possible. 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:04.560 And you're not alone. 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:11.520 There are others who feel that way, and in fact, that may even be true of you that nobody really, really knows you. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:15.360 The reality is you can't know everybody, and everybody can't know you. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:22.319 There's seven billion people in the world, so we're kind of, you know, there are some transactional relationships that make the world go round a little bit. 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:27.919 And so, you know, there's some people, I give you this, you give me that, and we don't necessarily have to be best friends, and we don't need to know everything. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:46.479 And so there is some of that, but yet I do think it's really important that when God puts people around you, when I say around you, I mean people who are your family, your closest friends, and and even sometimes the people that even for a season God has put in front of you, that you go to the effort of trying to get to know them. 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:52.400 As you develop the skill of empathy, you give people the gift of being known. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:54.800 And that's a pretty sweet gift. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.319 Uh, God's put some cool people around me, and I try to learn about them. 00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:01.360 You know, probably the number one, for sure the number one, is my wife. 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:03.280 I'm always trying to get to know her better. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:05.520 I'm always studying her, I'm watching her, I'm trying to learn. 00:04:05.599 --> 00:04:10.159 I try to ask her good questions so I get good answers and we discover things together. 00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:16.720 One of the things, uh, you know, my wife and I have a lot in common, but one of the things we don't have in common is my wife is a huge animal person. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:17.199 All right. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:21.439 Now, I as I say that I can feel emails starting to materialize, okay? 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:22.879 Okay, I just want to be clear. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:27.360 I don't have a problem with animals, I'm cool with animals, I'm cool with you having pets. 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:28.639 I don't feel a need for a pet. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.519 I don't feel any need for that, but I'm cool with those who do. 00:04:31.600 --> 00:04:36.480 If you want to lick off the same ice cream cone with your parrot, all right, or your hamster, whatever, that's your business. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:39.680 Like, I don't begrudge you that experience in life. 00:04:39.759 --> 00:04:40.720 Like, go for it. 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:42.800 But for me, it's really not for me. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:47.199 I'm but I'm a bit live and let live when it comes to me in the animal kingdom. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:49.519 Uh, my my wife, though, is all about animals. 00:04:49.680 --> 00:04:51.519 She has two that she's really into. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:54.079 One being the cow, okay. 00:04:54.240 --> 00:04:56.639 My wife really loves cows. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:58.399 She's like, they're such beautiful creatures. 00:04:58.480 --> 00:04:59.839 I'm like, oh yeah. 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:00.800 Uh okay. 00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:02.879 And I'm like, tell me, tell me more. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.279 And you know, she's like, you know, I just love cows. 00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:07.199 She's like, she's told me this multiple times. 00:05:07.360 --> 00:05:10.240 She said, when we retire, I'm buying a cow. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.399 And she's like, I'm gonna name it Daisy. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:18.240 So my wife has named a cow that does not exist. 00:05:19.199 --> 00:05:20.959 But she swears she's gonna buy a cow. 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:28.639 And she's like, when it lays down in the field on a sunny day, I'm gonna lean back against Daisy with a piece of hay sticking out of my mouth, and I'm gonna read a book. 00:05:29.040 --> 00:05:30.560 And she said it many times. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.720 I don't think she's joking, okay? 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:38.560 We we we were driving down the road the other day on a back road, you know, pretty, you know, the speed limit. 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:45.120 And I'm driving down and and I look over and and there is a cow among a bunch of chickens in this farm. 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:47.839 And my wife like has this spiritual experience. 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:49.040 She's like, Did you see that? 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:51.360 I'm like, Yeah, I saw it. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:57.519 Like, but help me see what you see, because I I just saw a cow and some chickens, you know, and she's like, Oh, that's beautiful. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.040 Like, look, look what God's telling us, Greg, you know, about God's diversity. 00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:11.839 And and you've got you've got this cow that's big, but it's not trying to throw its weight around and it's not trying to step on any chickens and and dominate anybody, it's just using all that it has to create safety in the barnyard. 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:14.720 And and I'm like, that's what I saw too, you know? 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:16.240 Totally, totally. 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:17.360 We're right here. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:23.439 And and um, but as she's saying this, okay, if I listen well, she's telling me something about herself. 00:06:23.600 --> 00:06:28.000 She's telling me something about her value system and what matters to her, and it is true. 00:06:28.160 --> 00:06:36.000 I know my wife, and I know that that's how she is, and it's something with that, you know, something about the cow and the relationship to the chicken struck a chord in her. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.240 If I tune her out, I don't get it. 00:06:38.319 --> 00:06:43.360 But you know, I study her and I'm listening, and I'm like, okay, that's something, that's something I can know her a little better. 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:46.879 My wife loves sharks, which totally makes one of us. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.319 I don't love sharks. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:55.360 My wife loves sharks so much so she's gone out in literally the middle of the ocean twice, no cage, free diving with sharks. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:07:01.279 They've come up and put their nose on her, and she goes, It's no big deal, you just lovingly push them away and they just swim off. 00:07:01.439 --> 00:07:03.519 I'm like, come on now. 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:09.360 She's like, but she's like, the shark is the most misunderstood creature in the entire ecosystem. 00:07:09.439 --> 00:07:14.800 She said everybody saw Jaws and thinks that they're a big killing machine, and they hear da-da, da. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:18.079 She's like, they're good, good folks, you know, these sharks. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:30.560 And she's she knows all about them, and she kind of feels this burden in life to make sure that people understand sharks and that they don't misunderstand, and this poor animal has been put into a category, and folks don't really get these sharks. 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:32.240 And and what's she telling me? 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:34.399 She's telling me something about herself. 00:07:34.639 --> 00:07:41.040 She's feeling misunderstood, or maybe seeing only what's on the surface, or only what you know, a little bit of reputation. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.199 But who who am I really? 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:44.720 Who am I really? 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.279 You know, sometimes we are misunderstood. 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:49.920 It's not just my wife, it's it's it's me, it's you. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:51.120 We're misunderstood. 00:07:51.360 --> 00:07:59.360 Maybe you're the type of person you have an intense personality, you're fairly aggressive and assertive, and people think you're dominant or mean, or they think whatever, and you've been misunderstood. 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:00.720 You're like, that's not it at all. 00:08:00.879 --> 00:08:01.920 I'm passionate, right? 00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:02.720 And I'm assertive. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:03.120 That's cool. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:06.399 I'm I don't need to mute down my gifts, that's that's who I am. 00:08:06.480 --> 00:08:09.839 Or maybe you're really quiet, and people misunderstand you. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:14.959 They think because you're quiet means you're not thinking about stuff, or you don't have anything to say, and you're like, I got plenty to say. 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:16.480 Just nobody calls on me. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:19.360 You know, and I'm not just gonna wedge myself into a conversation. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:24.639 I have social skills, I'm not gonna just do that, and so you're you're you're misunderstood. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:25.600 Misunderstood. 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:27.040 I watch my son Miles. 00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:31.199 My son Miles is on the autism spectrum, and and so he doesn't tell you things. 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:36.480 You gotta watch, you gotta study him, you gotta get clues, and I'm always I'm always trying to find a clue with him. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:40.159 Miles loves music and he loves Frank Sinatra. 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:44.799 All right, he's a big Frank Sinatra fan, but he didn't know what Frank Sinatra sings about. 00:08:44.879 --> 00:08:46.240 He loves his tone, he loves other things. 00:08:46.320 --> 00:08:56.720 So we go and we buy a record player and some vinyls of Frank Sinatra, and my son Miles will just sit there, you know, and he's like, you know, I mean, he's just like in heaven, listen to Frank Sinatra. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:08:59.279 And sometimes I'll go around the house and I'll go around singing. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:01.759 And if I sing in tune, Miles doesn't get upset. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:06.000 But if I even sing slightly sharp or flat, he asks me to stop. 00:09:07.519 --> 00:09:11.360 And he's telling me something about it, and I study him and I'm watching him, I'm like, what is it? 00:09:11.440 --> 00:09:14.799 You know, maybe he's got perfect pitch, you know, maybe he's got a musical talent. 00:09:14.960 --> 00:09:25.120 We bought him these uh train this train and these tracks and stuff that you can do, and he makes tracks all throughout his room, and he'll he'll use things that aren't part of the train set to make bridges and things like that. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.679 All go in his room and it's like a city, you know. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:30.159 And I'm like, oh man, what's he telling me? 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:31.440 You know, there's something about him. 00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:34.240 Maybe he's an engineer, maybe he's got this creative eye. 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.879 And I want to know because I want to know him. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:38.960 I I don't need more trains in my house. 00:09:39.039 --> 00:09:52.639 I I it's not that I need more music, it's that I want to know Miles, I want to know Shaylin, and so so I study them to try to learn to do the very best that I can in my human limitation to know them better because I want to love them better. 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:55.679 So, who knows you the best? 00:09:55.840 --> 00:09:57.679 Let me ask you a second question. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:00.639 How well do you know yourself? 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:04.559 I mean, the first question, how well do others know you? 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:08.320 But how well, how well do you know yourself? 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:12.799 You know, there is a slight obsession right now with trying to learn ourselves, right? 00:10:12.879 --> 00:10:26.240 You've got like uh 23andMe or Ancestry.com, people trying to figure out their origin and where they came from, you know, personality typologies, be it Enneagram or Disc or Myers Briggs or whatever, trying to understand where do these impulses come from, right? 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:30.159 Because you can look at other people and go, well, yeah, they think I'm quiet, but I do have something to say. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:35.039 But if you go introspective for a minute, you try to figure out why don't I speak up more? 00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:43.759 You know, I do have some things to say, and yeah, I'm quiet, and yeah, I've got social IQ, but on top of that, you know, sometimes maybe I'm holding back because I'm insecure. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:46.240 Maybe there's something to why am I so assertive? 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.519 Why am I so uh aggressive and gregarious? 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:58.080 Is it just personality, or maybe I need to be noticed and I need to be seen, and maybe there's a seed of insecurity, you know, we we dig within ourselves. 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:15.200 Over the last 20 years or so, I've I've had the privilege of being in ministry and a pastor, and and uh I've had people who have often come to me at the lowest point in their life when they made a terrible mistake, terrible mistake, and complicated their life, and and they come in there confessing that. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:19.360 Often when people are in the valley of despair and they have nowhere to turn, they turn to their church. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:28.480 And so so I've I've listened to people and I've seen the anguish on their face as they're coming to grips with the hard, cruel reality of life that you can't undo it. 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:34.320 Like I cannot go back in time, and it hits you like when you do something, you're like, I can't believe I did that. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:38.559 You can't go back in time, and now you gotta learn to live with it. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:45.759 And so I've I've asked people over the years, like more times than I can count, why did you do that? 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:50.399 And you you know what they say, 99 times out of a hundred, you know what they say? 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:53.200 I don't know. 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.759 And they don't know, they're not trying to evade the question. 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.600 I really believe they're not sure why I did that. 00:12:01.759 --> 00:12:02.879 And I can relate. 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:07.200 Have you ever in your head going, don't say it, don't say it, don't say it, don't say it. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:10.000 No? 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:10.559 Okay. 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:14.000 Have you ever been going, don't eat it, don't eat it, don't eat it, and then you're like, ugh. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:16.960 We don't know. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:18.240 I'm trying to know myself. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.000 How well do I know myself? 00:12:20.159 --> 00:12:24.159 There's some of us we because we don't know ourselves, we don't even trust ourselves. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:27.600 How well do you know you? 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:32.240 You can't love somebody without knowing them. 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.399 Do you believe in love at first sight? 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:37.919 No, I don't. 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:39.200 I don't, I don't, I don't. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:41.039 I believe in attraction at first sight. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:44.960 I think there are some people, you know, there's something about their smile, there was something about their aura. 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:47.039 Oh, they had an effervescent personality. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:48.399 You know, you were attracted. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:12:49.519 There was a magnetism. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:50.480 Okay, that's cool. 00:12:50.559 --> 00:12:57.440 That that got you getting going in the relationship, but I don't think you know until you know. 00:12:58.399 --> 00:12:59.519 You gotta know somebody. 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:14.399 And what we realize actually throughout life, if you live long enough and you're in imperfect relationships with imperfect people, that sometimes the more that's known about you causes love to grow, and sometimes the more that's known about you causes people to go. 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.519 I thought I loved you, but I thought I knew you. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:22.879 And now that I know you, I'm not sure I love you anymore. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:31.360 Humans have their threshold, and that's why some people even sincerely make promises about what they're gonna do for the rest of their life. 00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.360 They make promises that they're going to stick around and they mean it. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:36.240 They mean it. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:38.879 I meant it at the time, but but I got deep enough. 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:44.080 And some of you have had that happen to you, and some of you, quite frankly, have had that, you've done that to somebody else. 00:13:44.240 --> 00:13:51.279 You meant well when you said it, but once you got deep enough to have it all uncovered, you went, hey, this isn't for me. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.519 Life's too short, I gotta go. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:58.159 And so all throughout life, we come to this place of going, how do I come to peace with knowing? 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:01.919 And then we have God who knows us. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:12.159 I want to talk to you about Jesus, and I want to talk about what Jesus did, the two big things Jesus did in order to know you. 00:14:12.879 --> 00:14:16.159 The first one is that Jesus took on flesh. 00:14:16.799 --> 00:14:18.240 Bible says he took on flesh. 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:23.840 In John 1.14, it says the word, speaking of Jesus, became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.919 In other words, Jesus took on a body and moved into the neighborhood. 00:14:28.240 --> 00:14:32.799 Philippians 2.7 says he emptied himself of his divine rights. 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:38.000 He emptied himself of being God, uh, of his divine rights of being in heaven. 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:41.360 He didn't consider equality with God something to hold on to, so he let go. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:46.559 He emptied himself, and he took on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:53.039 So, what Jesus did in under in taking on flesh was understanding the weakness of flesh. 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:53.919 Think about this. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:14:57.840 When I say flesh, I'm talking about your body, I'm talking about your humanity. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.519 In your humanity, we know that our flesh is prone to certain things. 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:04.159 Flesh is prone to deception. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:09.679 Okay, there are certain situations you get yourself in, you didn't realize you were going that far. 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:11.840 Nobody wakes up and goes, you know, you know what I'm gonna do? 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:13.360 I'm gonna be an addict. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:15.039 Yeah, I just wanna be an addict. 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.480 It just seems like fun. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:20.240 Nobody wakes up in the morning going, you know, I really want to complicate my life. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:21.200 That's what I want to do. 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:23.039 I want to hurt the people closest to me. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.039 That's why I'd like to do irreparable damage. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:26.639 You know, it's Tuesday, why not? 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:32.720 You know, every everybody who does this irreparable damage, they seem like they're having it seems like a good lot, you know, a good group. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:33.840 No, no one does that. 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:37.679 Often our our flesh is deceptive, is the is deceptive. 00:15:37.759 --> 00:15:45.279 You you get deceived and you end up in some situation, you go further than you want to go, and there's more bondage there than you ever knew. 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:47.440 Flesh is prone to that, being deceived. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:52.159 It's prone to temptation, to temptation, right? 00:15:52.320 --> 00:15:57.120 You are a little bundle of appetites, and so am I, that are never fully and finally satisfied. 00:15:57.200 --> 00:15:59.840 You eat a meal, you feel full, you're hungry again. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.360 You have an experience, you feel pleasure, you want another one. 00:16:03.519 --> 00:16:08.320 So we have these appetites that we have to try to manage, and within our flesh, it often leads to temptation. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:15.120 Trying to satisfy or satiate something given by God, something that's good, but but often we do it through unhealthy means. 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:16.799 Your flesh is prone to that. 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:18.240 Jesus took on flesh. 00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:21.120 In understanding our flesh, he understood all of those temptations. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:26.879 In fact, it says in Hebrews 4 that he was tempted in every way that we are, yet without sin. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.799 In other words, Jesus knew what it felt like to want to sin. 00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:34.080 He knew what it felt like to want to tell somebody off. 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:36.559 He knew what it felt like to want to do something wrong. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:37.919 He felt that temptation. 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:46.399 So he gets and understands that your flesh is weak, your flesh gets tempted, your flesh is prone to being deceived. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:51.120 You see, Jesus went to such lengths to understand our flesh. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:52.720 I'm gonna show you how far he went. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:58.720 If you if you read Matthew 27, it's Matthew's account of Jesus going to the cross, the crucifixion. 00:16:58.960 --> 00:17:00.480 We need to understand about crucifixion. 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:09.920 Crucifixion was an instrument of death and torture that was that the Romans used, the Roman government used for certain types of crimes. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:17.279 Okay, they didn't just crucify everybody, they crucified people who did something that they wanted to make sure no one else did. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:20.079 So, especially those who posed a threat to Rome. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:25.680 So, what would be the greatest threat to the Roman government would be a coup or a revolutionary. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:26.240 All right. 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:34.799 So, whenever there was someone who tried to be a revolutionary, who tried to overthrow them, they could have just taken them out back and put them to death, but they didn't do that. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:40.240 They crucified them, which was they created a massive scene of humiliation. 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:44.160 This is why, by the way, when Jesus went to the cross, he went to the cross nude. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:46.880 He was naked, they stripped him, he was totally naked on the cross. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:47.279 Why? 00:17:47.440 --> 00:17:48.640 Part of the humiliation. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:18:01.359 Because they want, if there's anybody in the crowd who's thinking about maybe striking up a revolution, okay, who's maybe feeling, you know, tough, who's maybe feeling uh motivated, and they go, uh, that's a deterrent. 00:18:01.440 --> 00:18:02.640 I don't think I want to do that. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:06.240 So what they did was they went through great lengths to humiliate. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:09.039 This is why Jesus, you know, he says he's king of the Jews. 00:18:09.119 --> 00:18:12.000 Well, they put a crown of thorns on him, like, here's your crown, man. 00:18:12.160 --> 00:18:14.240 They actually took a very expensive robe. 00:18:14.319 --> 00:18:16.079 It was a crimson robe, not cheap. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:21.759 And they put this crimson, expensive robe on Jesus while he's bleeding out, he's feeble. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:22.240 Why? 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:30.880 Because they they want to have a mockery, they they want it to be almost a sadistic irony that you go, this is where you'll end up. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:35.680 It says at one point in Matthew 27, they put a stick in his hand and said, Here's your scepter. 00:18:35.759 --> 00:18:39.279 And in verse 31, it says, When they got tired of mocking him. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:42.960 In other words, they mocked him so bad they got sick of it. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:49.039 And it said, when they got tired of mocking him, they snatched the scepter out of his hand and beat him over the head with it. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:59.359 So now you have Jesus who is fully humiliated, fully exhausted, mind, body, soul is at its absolute limit. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.839 We see his body giving out because he's carrying his cross and he can't do it anymore. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.839 If you ever come to that place, your body's like, it ain't going, it's done. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.000 And so he's he can't do it, so they give his cross to Simon of Cyrene. 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:13.039 Then watch this. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:22.799 In verse 34, in verse 34 of Matthew 27, it says, at this point, after all of that had happened, the soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with bitter gall. 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:24.079 Okay, why bitter gall? 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:25.839 Because they didn't want it to taste good. 00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:27.119 Why wine? 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:30.559 Because wine was a numbing agent, it's a numbing agent. 00:19:30.640 --> 00:19:33.599 You drink some of it, it numbs your mind and your body. 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:36.079 So they're going, this man's body's giving out. 00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:39.599 He's he's at his breaking point, he's at his boundary. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:45.519 And so at least we'll give him some wine to numb the pain a little bit, to get him up on the cross so we can keep humiliating him. 00:19:45.599 --> 00:19:46.799 I want to keep him alive. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.440 And look, and look what it says within the scripture. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:55.119 When they offer him uh this wine, it says, But when he tasted it, he refused to drink it. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.240 Jesus spits it out. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:56.640 Why? 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.160 Jesus spits out the wine because he did not want his senses numbed. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:10.559 Jesus wanted to go to the cross with a sound mind and with his body, his his full senses. 00:20:11.200 --> 00:20:15.279 He wanted to understand the extent of suffering. 00:20:16.319 --> 00:20:26.000 Mind, body, and soul on every level to go to the human capacity to suffer so that there was no box unchecked, no category unchecked. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:27.599 Jesus understood suffering. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:31.759 Listen, I know there are some of you, you have been through things, you've hit your breaking point. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:35.519 You are at a place of suffering that you're going, I I don't know. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:36.880 I I can't go anymore. 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:44.400 I can't go any physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally, I'm I'm I I'm I'm done. 00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:45.359 I I can't go. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:49.119 Jesus walked through of that with no numbing. 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:50.559 No numbing. 00:20:50.640 --> 00:20:50.960 Why? 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:53.839 To fully understand flesh. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.920 That's the length he went through to get flesh. 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:02.240 So the first thing he did to know you was he took on your flesh. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.440 The second thing he did was he took on our sin. 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:10.000 Second Corinthians 5.21 says, God made him who had no sin. 00:21:10.160 --> 00:21:10.720 Look at this. 00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:18.640 He made him who had no sin to be sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:21.119 Look what it says in 1 Peter 2.24. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:24.240 It says, He himself bore our sins. 00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:27.519 Look at this, in his body on the cross. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:29.519 In his body. 00:21:30.079 --> 00:21:39.680 So often we think about Jesus taking on the sin of the world, we almost think of him up there on the cross, like uh and yet what it says is it says that he he it was in his body. 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:53.359 Even though Hebrew says Jesus was tempted, but he didn't sin, he experienced and understood what it was to sin by taking on our all of our sins plural. 00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:59.759 Now, I want you to get the relationship between these two things flesh and sin. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:02.079 Flesh and sin. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:05.920 Jesus took on the two because there's a relationship between flesh and sin. 00:22:06.079 --> 00:22:13.279 As I said a moment ago, none of you, me, you, none of us, wake up and go, you know, I'd like to complicate my life, but we end up in this position. 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:13.680 Why? 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.240 Flesh. 00:22:14.319 --> 00:22:17.599 And our flesh leads us into sin, which leads us into bondage. 00:22:17.839 --> 00:22:20.000 And we don't know how we got there oftentimes. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:21.759 Others don't know how we got there. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:29.279 And yet, Jesus, in the understanding those two relationships, flesh and sin, all of a sudden now understood. 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:42.799 By the way, this is why we tend to put up walls with human beings, because if I only told you what I did and you didn't understand why I did it, it would make me feel more shame. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:44.559 I would create more distance. 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:50.160 Have you ever done something and you're trying to explain, you're trying to tell somebody, well, here's why I did it, and they're just not getting it? 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:55.839 You're like, for some reason, I don't know if it's their ability to comprehend or the fact that I'm not articulate enough. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:22:59.839 I'm not, I'm not communicating in a way that, but but there's just they're not catching it. 00:22:59.920 --> 00:23:04.319 And so you're going, you know what I did, but you don't understand, you don't understand why I did it. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:08.400 And as much as I try to tell you, it there's a distance there. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:19.279 And so what you need to understand about Jesus, what you need to understand is how well he understands the relationship between your flesh and between your sin and mine better than we do. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:24.079 Maybe the best place we see this in narrative form is in John 4. 00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:31.599 John 4, Jesus makes friends with a woman who's been divorced five times and just moved in with her boyfriend. 00:23:31.839 --> 00:23:34.799 All right, been divorced five times, moved in with her boyfriend. 00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:36.480 Jesus goes up, starts talking to her. 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.640 They make friends, they start building a friendship, and Jesus starts telling her, you know, yeah, yeah. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:42.799 So what about your five exes, you know? 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:44.000 And she's like, What? 00:23:44.160 --> 00:23:47.200 And he's like, Yeah, and so he knew what she had done, and it comes up. 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.319 He's a pretty sensitive topic to bring up, but he brought it up anyway. 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:56.559 And they end up having this conversation, and and um, and he says, you know, I get it, I get it, I get it. 00:23:57.279 --> 00:23:58.960 I think I know why. 00:23:59.200 --> 00:24:01.119 I think I know why you did that. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:04.079 I think I know why you have five ex-husbands. 00:24:04.400 --> 00:24:05.200 She's like, why? 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:06.880 He's like, you're thirsty. 00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:13.039 I mean, it fits, right? 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.839 She's like, what do you mean? 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:17.039 He's like, no, no, no. 00:24:17.440 --> 00:24:19.759 No, I don't, I mean, I'm not trying to be nasty. 00:24:19.839 --> 00:24:24.000 He's he's saying you just want to be loved. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:25.839 I get it. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:29.039 You have an urge that's not wrong. 00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:34.000 Your urge to be loved is right, just like your urge to drink water is right. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:35.279 It's God given. 00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:37.119 You want to quench the thirsting of your soul. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:38.079 He's like, I understand it. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:42.000 And you were pretty sure the first guy was gonna do this, so you drank him and he did you were still thirsty. 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:47.440 And you drank the next guy, and you just keep drinking dudes, trying to quench your thirst, and it's not working for you. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:52.559 And he said, if you drink the water I give you, you'll never be thirsty again because I want to give love. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:54.160 I want you to understand love. 00:24:54.400 --> 00:25:09.039 And she's sitting there going, Yes! Finally, somebody understands because back in the community, back in in my neighborhood, everybody just thinks I'm a complicated lady with complicated relationships and I'm damaged goods. 00:25:09.119 --> 00:25:12.000 And who wants to be number six and who wants to be number seven? 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:14.000 And they're they're going, Oh, oh, yeah, no, no, no. 00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:18.000 You don't want it, nobody wants me marrying their son, nobody wants me marrying their grandson. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:19.359 Nobody wants me in the family. 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:25.039 I've I've I've got a complicated, convoluted life, and that's all they see, but you get it. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:27.039 I'm just trying to find love. 00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:28.000 All right, sir. 00:25:29.839 --> 00:25:30.960 He understood her. 00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:32.079 So, what does she do? 00:25:32.240 --> 00:25:34.880 She goes back to her hometown and she goes, You got to meet this guy. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:37.039 He told me everything I ever did. 00:25:37.759 --> 00:25:39.440 Well, that wouldn't encourage me. 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:43.759 If somebody said to me, I'd be like, I don't know if I want anybody to tell me everything I ever did. 00:25:44.160 --> 00:25:45.359 What was the difference? 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:51.839 The difference was he told me everything I ever did, but he understood why I did it. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:53.119 Well, how did he understand? 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:58.640 Because he took on flesh and he took on sin and he knew the relationship between the two. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:08.400 You see, it's impossible for God to be disillusioned with you because he never had any illusions about you to begin with. 00:26:09.440 --> 00:26:15.359 He knows exactly why you keep going from job to job, he knows exactly why you keep picking the wrong lovers. 00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:23.200 He knows exactly why why you can't hold down a good relationship, why you keep sabotaging things, why you keep trading one addiction for the other. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:32.720 He understands why you can't sleep at night and you can't find rest and why you don't enjoy your work and why you try to lie your way out of every situation. 00:26:32.880 --> 00:26:37.039 He he knows why you keep going further and further in debt, even though it's bad math. 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.759 And you know it's bad math, but you keep doing it anyway. 00:26:39.920 --> 00:26:48.000 He knows where these impulses and these instincts and where the anxiety comes from and the nervous breakdowns come from and why you isolate all the time. 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:49.440 He knows all of it. 00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:50.400 He knows all of it. 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:56.400 This is why you never need to be ashamed around God, because he doesn't just know your sin, he knows your flesh. 00:26:57.599 --> 00:26:59.359 He knows how you got there. 00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:01.359 He knows how you got there. 00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:13.519