WEBVTT 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:11.679 Throughout Scripture, God is always at work, accomplishing his purposes. 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.199 Nothing takes him by surprise. 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.879 Nothing is outside of his control. 00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:31.679 From the first sin in the Garden of Eden to the final restoration of all things when Christ returns, God has been in the driver's seat. 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:40.159 His will has been at work all along, predetermined from the very beginning of time. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:46.719 God doesn't have a backup plan because he doesn't need one. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:57.280 Everything he wills is certain, and nothing, no human rebellion, no power on earth, can stop it. 00:00:57.679 --> 00:01:01.280 His plan is always plan A. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:06.400 And yet He calls us to act. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:16.640 He calls us to obey, to trust, and to pray, and to walk by His Spirit. 00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:24.239 We live in the tension between God's perfect plan and our own responsibility. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:31.120 Theologians call this God's sovereignty and human responsibility. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:38.159 We often feel caught between God's control and our own weakness. 00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:42.079 It shows up in our daily lives. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:53.760 If you've ever planted a garden, watered every seed, and weeded day after day, only to watch pests or frost destroy the crop. 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:02.640 Or maybe you've worked tirelessly on a project, given it your best, and still fallen short. 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:10.800 You know what it feels like when your best efforts aren't enough and things are out of your control. 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:25.199 If you've ever prayed faithfully, served consistently, or fought temptation only to fail again, you understand the frustration of human weakness. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.159 You've done your part, but it still isn't enough. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:32.400 And that's exactly the point. 00:02:32.879 --> 00:02:37.360 God never intended his kingdom to depend on our strength. 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:47.759 He calls us to act in faith, to serve, to pray, and to obey, but always by his spirit. 00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:56.240 Salvation, victory, and the success of his kingdom are his work, not ours. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:12.879 Throughout the Old Testament, God gave his people signs, lambs, sacrifices, covenant meals, to show that his plan is sure, and that he provides what we cannot. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:27.120 These signs pointed to a faithful substitute who would act in our place, so we could walk in obedience, trusting not in ourselves, but in him. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:39.919 This morning, as we pick up where we left off in Mark fourteen, we see the shadows of the Old Testament find their true fulfillment in Christ. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:50.240 In the upper room, the Passover finds its fulfillment in the faithful Lamb who is about to be slain. 00:03:51.199 --> 00:03:55.520 A new covenant is established in his blood. 00:03:56.080 --> 00:04:02.960 The old is passing away, and the new is coming with the arrival of his kingdom. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:18.720 In this kingdom, God's people are called to trust, obey, and walk by the power of the Holy Spirit, where our weakness is covered by the faithfulness of Christ. 00:04:20.319 --> 00:04:23.759 So let's open our Bibles to Mark chapter 14. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:27.920 We will be covering verses 12 through 52. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:38.000 Our Advent series has been preparing us for everything we're about to see as we near the end of Mark's gospel. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.720 We already know this truth. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:48.639 Jesus was born to die, to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:55.680 As we move through Mark, we draw closer and closer to the cross. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:02.319 But before we reach Golgotha, we must first pass through Gethsemane. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:07.600 And before Gethsemane, we begin in the upper room. 00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:14.800 So before we turn to verse 12, let's take a moment to go before the Lord in prayer. 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:28.800 Father in heaven, as you have revealed through your word, we know that it was necessary for your Son Jesus to suffer and to die. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:38.879 And this is good news for us, because had He not done this, there would be no way for our sins to be forgiven. 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:48.240 And so as we turn to your word this morning, let us come to you with gratitude. 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:57.920 Let us see your grace this morning and worship you as you deserve. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:00.319 We ask for your help as we turn to your word. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:02.480 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:03.439 Amen. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:10.399 Mark chapter 14, beginning with verse twelve. 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:27.360 And on the first day of unleavened bread, when the Passover lamb was being sacrificed, his disciples said to him, Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? 00:06:27.920 --> 00:06:36.399 And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the city, and a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:37.759 Follow him. 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:48.879 And wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, The teacher says, Where is my guest room in which I may eat the Passover with my disciples? 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:54.959 And he himself will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:56.959 Prepare for us there. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:07.360 And the disciples went out and came to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:21.360 This should remind us of how Jesus previously sent two of his disciples to acquire a particular cult for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. 00:07:21.600 --> 00:07:25.600 It's quite possible that these are the same two disciples again. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:36.000 And just as everything that Jesus said about the cult came to pass, we see the same thing happen again with the preparation of the upper room for the Passover. 00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:39.040 And the main point is clear. 00:07:39.360 --> 00:07:45.040 God is fully in control, down to the smallest detail. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:50.240 Nothing surprises him, nothing escapes his plan. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:59.600 The Passover meal commemorated God's deliverance of Israel when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt. 00:08:00.240 --> 00:08:21.279 Each year, families relived the Exodus, walking through the story while eating and drinking specific elements, bitter herbs, unleavened bread, and lamb, to remember hardship, God's provision, and the sacrifice that spared them. 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:26.480 But Passover was more than a historical remembrance. 00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:32.799 It also looked forward with hope, much like Advent does today. 00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:50.480 While celebrating God's faithfulness in the past, the Israelites also anticipated that one day God would free them from future exile and lead them into his kingdom under a messianic king. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:09:00.559 They longed for the day when a new covenant would be established, where sins would be forgiven. 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:12.159 At the time, they could only see in part what God would soon reveal fully in the person and work of Jesus Christ. 00:09:12.879 --> 00:09:27.919 Now, as Jesus leads his disciples into the upper room, he is about to reveal something profound that he is the Passover Lamb, the true Passover Lamb. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:33.039 Let's see this for ourselves as we turn to verse 17. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:51.600 And when it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were reclining at the table and eating, Jesus said, Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me, the one who is eating with me. 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:57.919 They began to be grieved, and to say to him, one by one, surely not I. 00:09:58.799 --> 00:10:04.559 And he said to them, It is one of the twelve, the one who dips with me in the bowl. 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:09.200 For the Son of Man is to go just as it is written of him. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:13.600 But woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:18.559 It would have been good for that man if he had not been born. 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:29.679 And while they were eating, he took some bread, and after a blessing he broke it and gave it to them, and said, Take it, this is my body. 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:36.240 And when he had taken a cup and given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:43.120 And he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 00:10:43.519 --> 00:10:52.559 Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. 00:10:56.159 --> 00:11:08.879 Everything in this Passover meal, God's provision, his deliverance, his covenant faithfulness, now finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. 00:11:09.600 --> 00:11:16.720 Even as Judas moves toward betrayal, God's plan is not derailed. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:30.399 Redemption is advancing, even through human weakness, setting the stage for the greatest gift, his body and blood given for us. 00:11:32.320 --> 00:11:36.720 Here in the upper room, Jesus does something remarkable. 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:44.799 He institutes what we now call the Lord's Supper within the Passover context. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.840 He does not abolish the Passover but fulfills it. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.759 He transforms it. 00:11:52.320 --> 00:12:05.840 The meal that once remembered God's deliverance from Egypt now points to a far greater deliverance, the salvation accomplished through his death on the cross. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:10.879 The unleavened bread now symbolizes his body. 00:12:11.279 --> 00:12:14.879 The wine now symbolizes his blood. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:25.200 He takes the familiar elements of the Passover and he reinterprets them, showing his disciples that the true Lamb has come. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:37.840 What once looked back to the Exodus now points back to Christ's atoning sacrifice, and forward to the blessings of his kingdom. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:48.159 Because of what Jesus has accomplished, God's people no longer need to celebrate the Passover as it was done in Israel. 00:12:48.399 --> 00:12:55.519 The Lord's Supper is the new feast, the ongoing remembrance of redemption in Christ. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:07.360 Through this meal, we look back on his sacrifice with gratitude, and we look forward with hope to the consummation of his kingdom. 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:17.679 When Jesus takes the cup and says, This is my blood of the covenant, he is using unmistakable covenantal language. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:22.639 Every Jewish ear in that room would have known what he meant. 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:26.720 Covenants are ratified in blood. 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:34.639 And here Jesus is not renewing the old covenant, he is inaugurating a new one. 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:41.360 This is the fulfillment of what God promised through the prophet Jeremiah. 00:13:41.840 --> 00:13:50.799 Behold, days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 00:13:51.200 --> 00:14:04.879 Not like the covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, but I was a husband to them, declares Yahweh. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:12.480 But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yahweh. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:21.840 I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 00:14:22.879 --> 00:14:43.039 And they will not teach again each man his neighbor, and each man his brother, saying, No Yahweh, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares Yahweh, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more. 00:14:45.600 --> 00:15:02.320 This new covenant isn't written on tablets of stone, but on the hearts of God's people, no longer requiring repeated sacrifices, but one that brings full and final forgiveness. 00:15:03.120 --> 00:15:10.879 Under this new covenant, God's people are not defined by birth or ethnicity, but by grace. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:21.679 They are a people who know the Lord, not merely outwardly, but inwardly, because their sins are remembered no more. 00:15:22.799 --> 00:15:30.879 The new covenant is good news, because it is not founded or sustained by our obedience. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:37.279 It is founded and sustained entirely by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. 00:15:38.159 --> 00:15:42.559 His blood secures what our obedience never could. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:54.960 And this covenant will stand forever, because he stands forever, reigning on an eternal throne, the same yesterday, today, and forever. 00:15:56.240 --> 00:16:01.600 One of the first things we learn about this new covenant is that it creates a new people. 00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.519 Not a perfect people, but a redeemed people. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:21.440 A people whose standing before God doesn't rest on their own faithfulness and righteousness, but on the faithfulness and righteousness of another, the perfect mediator, Jesus Christ. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:25.279 Let's continue with verse twenty six. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:45.759 And after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, because it is written, I will strike down the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:51.519 But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:58.159 But Peter said to him, Even though all may fall away, yet I will not. 00:16:58.799 --> 00:17:11.920 And Jesus said to him, Truly I say to you, that today, this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will deny me three times. 00:17:13.119 --> 00:17:19.440 But Peter kept saying insistently, If I have to die with you, I will not deny you. 00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.839 And they all were saying the same thing also. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:30.960 Mark tells us that immediately after the meal, they sang a hymn. 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:47.119 Jewish sources from the Second Temple period tell us that this would have been the Halel Psalms, Psalms 113 through 118, songs of praise celebrating God's redeeming power. 00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.400 Let's think about that for a moment. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:18:06.079 After announcing his betrayal, after instituting the Lord's Supper, and knowing the cross lay directly ahead, Jesus leads his disciples in praise. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:18.000 As Jesus transforms the Passover into the Lord's Supper, it is fitting that God's people continue this pattern. 00:18:19.039 --> 00:18:36.480 Here at Hillside, we often sing after coming to the table, typically the first verse of Amazing Grace, a reminder that what we've just proclaimed in the meal is the grace of God that saves us through the cross of Christ. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:42.799 But the singing doesn't mean the struggle is over, as evidenced in this passage. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:51.440 As soon as the new covenant is announced and praise is offered, the old pattern reappears. 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.480 Jesus tells his disciples, they will fall away. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:04.720 Peter boasts of his loyalty, and once again, the flesh proves weak. 00:19:05.440 --> 00:19:09.200 But here's what makes the new covenant so profound. 00:19:09.839 --> 00:19:15.440 Even when God's people fail, the covenant itself doesn't fail. 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:16.960 Why? 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:22.240 Because it doesn't depend on God's people holding up their end. 00:19:23.119 --> 00:19:27.839 The old covenant said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:35.839 But in the new covenant, God says, I will forgive, I will write, I will remember no more. 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:40.160 The old covenant was a covenant of works. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:43.920 The new covenant is a covenant of grace. 00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:49.759 And in this new covenant, Christ Himself is our faithfulness. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:58.640 The Apostle Paul captures this tension beautifully in 2 Timothy two verses eleven through thirteen. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:01.119 Listen carefully to his words. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:07.599 It is a trustworthy saying, for if we died with him, we will also live with him. 00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:11.839 If we endure, we will also reign with him. 00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:16.400 If we will deny him, he also will deny us. 00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:24.240 If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:33.200 That statement, if we will deny him, he also will deny us, is not a contradiction of grace. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:36.880 It is a warning against false faith. 00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:45.759 Scripture is clear that there are those who deny Christ, not in weakness, but in unbelief. 00:20:46.559 --> 00:20:51.279 John tells us that some were among us, but not of us. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:59.440 They walked with Christ outwardly for a time, but never truly belonged to him inwardly. 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:04.319 Their denial reveals what was always true. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:10.319 We see a clear and sobering example of this in Judas. 00:21:11.599 --> 00:21:14.480 But that is not the same thing as Peter. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:22.079 Peter denied Christ out of fear and weakness, not out of settled rebellion. 00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:28.960 And because Peter belonged to Christ, his denial was not the end of the story. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.880 He wept, he was restored. 00:21:33.359 --> 00:21:35.839 God's grace pursued him. 00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:39.279 But the warning Paul gives is real. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:41.839 Apostasy is real. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:45.039 Denial has consequences. 00:21:45.759 --> 00:21:47.680 But so is this promise. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:52.640 If we are faithless, he remains faithful. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:54.000 Why? 00:21:54.559 --> 00:21:59.680 Because Christ cannot deny himself, and those who truly belong to him. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.319 Him are united to him. 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:10.000 Under the new covenant, God's people place their entire confidence in Jesus Christ. 00:22:10.480 --> 00:22:14.160 We die with him, and so we live with him. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:21.839 We endure, not because of some strength in ourselves, but because Christ endures in us. 00:22:22.720 --> 00:22:34.160 We will reign with him, not because we are worthy, but because we have been made heirs according to the promise, that we may also be glorified in him. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:47.759 Our faith may falter, our obedience may stumble, but Christ remains faithful, and because he stands, the covenant stands. 00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.160 Let's continue with verses thirty two through forty two. 00:22:55.680 --> 00:23:03.200 Then they came to a place named Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, sit here until I have prayed. 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:10.559 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:16.640 And he said to them, My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:19.279 Remain here and keep watch. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:29.440 And he went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground, and began to pray that if it were possible the hour might pass from him. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:36.000 And he was saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. 00:23:36.400 --> 00:23:41.680 Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:49.440 And he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, Simon, are you sleeping? 00:23:49.759 --> 00:23:52.480 Could you not keep watch for one hour? 00:23:53.279 --> 00:23:57.759 Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.400 The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:14.799 And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words, and again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:20.319 And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and resting? 00:24:20.960 --> 00:24:22.240 It is enough. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:23.920 The hour has come. 00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:29.759 Behold, the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 00:24:30.079 --> 00:24:31.759 Get up, let us go. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:35.440 Behold, the one who betrays me is at hand. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:45.119 Here in the Garden of Gethsemane, we see one of the clearest portraits of Jesus' humanity. 00:24:45.839 --> 00:24:52.240 As the hour approaches for him to suffer and to die, he is in deep anguish. 00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:57.359 He is not calm and collected the way that we might expect. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:09.359 Jesus is so troubled and distressed that he looks for comfort in the presence of his disciples, but they can't stay awake to be of any help. 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:18.079 Luke's gospel adds the detail that his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:25.680 The weight of what lies ahead presses down upon him as his hour draws near. 00:25:26.240 --> 00:25:30.480 Jesus is already getting a taste of being alone. 00:25:31.359 --> 00:25:37.519 As his disciples sleep, he persists in prayer as his only comfort. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:44.720 He pleads with his father, saying, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.119 Remove this cup from me. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:53.279 But even in this prayer, Jesus knows what must be done. 00:25:53.599 --> 00:26:09.039 This cup, this cup of his father's wrath and judgment must be poured out upon him, so that he would carry out his mission to save his people from their sins. 00:26:09.759 --> 00:26:16.000 And yet Jesus is not like the disciples who fail under the pressure. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:23.359 He remains obedient, even as his flesh feels the full weight of weakness. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:31.839 In the same breath of his prayer to the Father, he declares, yet not what I will, but what you will. 00:26:33.359 --> 00:26:40.160 Some have wondered how Jesus could speak of his will in distinction from the Father's will. 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:48.240 Scripture doesn't present this as a conflict of purpose, but as the costly submission of the Son. 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:52.960 In his humanity, Jesus recoils from suffering. 00:26:53.440 --> 00:26:57.920 In his obedience, he submits fully to the Father's will. 00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:10.880 As one theologian has rightly said, prayer consists not in changing God's mind, but in finding our own alignment with God's will. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:14.720 And that is exactly what we see here. 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:24.720 Where Adam failed in Eden, and where the disciples failed in Gethsemane, Christ obeyed. 00:27:25.440 --> 00:27:30.000 The new covenant is secured through his faithful submission. 00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:35.200 Let's close out with verses forty-three through fifty-two. 00:27:39.039 --> 00:27:52.640 And immediately while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, and with him was a crowd with swords and clubs, who were from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:28:02.480 Now he who was betraying him had given them a signal, saying, Whomever I kiss, he is the one, seize him and lead him away under guard. 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:09.279 And after coming Judas, having immediately gone to him, said, Rabbi, and kissed him. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:13.200 And they laid hands on him and seized him. 00:28:13.599 --> 00:28:21.119 And one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the slave of the high priest, and cut off his ear. 00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:30.079 And Jesus answered and said to them, Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me, as you would against a robber? 00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:41.039 Every day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but this has taken place in order that the scriptures would be fulfilled. 00:28:41.359 --> 00:28:44.000 And they all left him and fled. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:55.839 And a young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen sheet over his naked body, and they seized him, but he pulled free of the linen sheet and escaped naked. 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:08.160 The key verse in this passage is when Jesus says, This has taken place in order that the scriptures would be fulfilled. 00:29:08.799 --> 00:29:10.799 Think about that for a moment. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:13.680 Let that sink in. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:31.039 Even as Jesus is betrayed by one of his own disciples, even as he is arrested by his own people, even as everything seems to be unraveling, none of this is outside God's control. 00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:34.640 Nothing takes him by surprise. 00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:38.880 The mission is never truly in danger. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:49.359 Every step of this dark night unfolds exactly as God had ordained, in order that the scriptures would be fulfilled. 00:29:51.039 --> 00:29:55.440 What man intends for evil, God intends for good. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:29:58.640 Notice what happens next. 00:29:58.880 --> 00:30:03.279 When the pressure finally comes, they all flee. 00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:05.200 Every disciple. 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:10.160 Not one stands firm, not one remains faithful. 00:30:10.799 --> 00:30:12.880 But Jesus doesn't flee. 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:18.480 He doesn't resist, he doesn't call down legions of angels. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:23.200 He stands alone as the faithful son. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:29.119 This doesn't interrupt God's plan, it confirms it. 00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:36.880 The new covenant isn't built on the courage of disciples, but on the obedience of Christ. 00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:42.799 In the darkness of this moment, we learn the greatest comfort of all. 00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:48.079 When everyone else fails, Christ remains faithful. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:55.519 As we come to the end of this passage, the message is unmistakable. 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.640 God's plan has not failed. 00:30:59.039 --> 00:31:08.480 The disciples have scattered, the flesh is proven weak, but the covenant stands because it rests on Christ. 00:31:09.200 --> 00:31:14.720 The old covenant was written on stone and broken by sinners. 00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:21.200 The new covenant is written on hearts and secured by the faithful Son. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:26.720 Christ is our Passover, Christ is our faithfulness. 00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:37.920 And by the Holy Spirit we are being formed into the people of God, not by our strength, not by our might, but by his grace alone. 00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:46.880 As God's people, we respond to His grace with trust, prayer, and obedience. 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:54.319 Trust by not relying on ourselves, but walking in dependence on God. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:32:03.920 Pray rather than panic, in weakness, going to the Father, just as Jesus did in Gethsemane. 00:32:04.640 --> 00:32:12.640 Obey even when the way is hard and others fail, following Christ faithfully. 00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:28.640 So as we prepare to partake of the Lord's Supper in just a few moments, let us be encouraged and strengthened, not in ourselves, but in the one who stood faithful when all others fell away. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:31.519 Christ is our faithfulness. 00:32:32.160 --> 00:32:33.359 Let's pray. 00:32:36.960 --> 00:32:44.720 Heavenly Father, so often we rely too much on our own strength. 00:32:46.000 --> 00:32:54.319 Even as Christians, we confess that we often fail to go to you in prayer. 00:32:55.039 --> 00:32:59.759 We often fail to depend on your strength in and through us. 00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.759 God, would you forgive us? 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:11.680 And would you equip us through your Holy Spirit to always depend on you? 00:33:13.119 --> 00:33:27.759 God, we're so grateful that you have given us the new covenant, a covenant not based on our works, but based entirely on the faithfulness of your Son Jesus. 00:33:28.799 --> 00:33:50.640 And as we partake of the Lord's Supper, we remember what He has done for us through His suffering on the cross, His precious blood that was shed for us, the mark of the new covenant, for the forgiveness of sin, not just in general, but forgiveness of our sin. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.119 God, we thank you, we praise you. 00:33:55.359 --> 00:33:57.119 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 00:33:57.440 --> 00:33:58.079 Amen.