WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.520 Would you turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 9? 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:12.480 Luke chapter 9. 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:24.320 If you have ever had the good fortune, and I hope you have, of approaching the Rocky Mountain Range from a distance, you're going to have a little bit of a leg up on my approach to today's message. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:37.759 You see, a long time ago when I was in fifth grade, my parents surprised me and my sister by picking us up from elementary school at 10 o'clock in the morning, the day before Christmas vacation was supposed to start. 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:47.759 We piled into an old Plymouth station wagon and off we went on what for us was a trip of a lifetime to visit relatives in Colorado Springs. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:55.520 I can remember vividly for the first time in my life seeing the Rocky Mountain range come into view. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:05.840 And at 50 miles an hour, right, we drove for hours while it just stood there, occupying the entire horizon. 00:01:06.400 --> 00:01:10.799 Magnificent, unchanging, almost seemingly eternal. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.159 You may have had a similar experience, but in reverse. 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:22.480 You walk an ocean beach, and out of the corner of your eye you see a seashell. 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:32.000 You walk over, you bend down, perhaps you get on one knee, but you stoop down and you pick up that seashell and you begin to examine its detail. 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:41.519 And then as you rise, your eyes once again see the beach and then the waves and then the vast ocean behind it. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:48.319 When we got to Colorado Springs, there was detail within that mountain range. 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:58.959 Man, we visited the Garden of the Gods, we saw rocks and trees and blades of winter grass, things that we could see and feel and touch that were not far away. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:10.000 And I remember that because there's benefit in seeing the big picture, but there's benefit in understanding the detail also. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:18.719 Both complement each other, both are true, both are real, and we gain deeper understanding if we see and understand them both. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:32.400 I'm very well aware of the danger in taking a few words out of Scripture and launching into a sermon of one's own choosing that may just be related to yesterday's newspaper headline. 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.319 Far too much of that kind of preaching goes on in this country today. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:44.319 But I'm also aware that sometimes we can get so buried in detail that we lose sight of the big picture. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.800 And I would like to try to avoid both errors this morning. 00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.199 So we come to our text. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.319 It's very brief. 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:56.240 Luke chapter 9, verse 51. 00:02:57.680 --> 00:03:12.080 The New International Version translates as follows: As a time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 00:03:12.719 --> 00:03:19.919 I will admit to favoring an older translation that reads this way. 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:31.919 And it came about that when the days were approaching for his ascension, that he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:37.120 So it's Easter season, it's upon us. 00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:48.319 And we are in that period of time when we focus on Jesus the Christ. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:54.080 And we will in three short weeks celebrate that day in which he rose from the dead. 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:58.960 Arguably the focal point of human history and scripture. 00:03:59.919 --> 00:04:02.560 We know the Apostle Paul, how he felt about it. 00:04:02.719 --> 00:04:10.639 He said, if Christ is not risen from the dead, then we are of all men most miserable, most to be pitied. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:16.879 In other words, if Christ is not raised from the dead, fellas, we ain't got nothing. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:25.920 We might as well live for today, live for ourselves, pursue every earthly pleasure, and then die. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:28.319 That's all there is. 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:31.279 Thankfully, we know that's not the case. 00:04:31.439 --> 00:04:50.079 But even though the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history, it happened in a sliver of time within the context of eternity, like a seashell with the ocean behind it, or that blade of winter grass in the mountain range. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:05:01.600 This past fall, we spent some time with the youth group in church, and I mentioned the first service that I heard some groans. 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:07.759 We tried to see the birth of Jesus Christ in the context of eternity. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:13.279 In eternity past, we saw that one there was nothing. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:16.160 There was God and nothing else. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:17.519 Nothing. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.519 We tried to wrap our minds around the concept of nothing. 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:22.639 What is it? 00:05:22.879 --> 00:05:26.800 Well, that's not even a proper question to ask because there is no it. 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:40.720 As I mentioned, joked with Webb, we couldn't remember, and he finally found it, who it was that said, it was Aristotle, that said, nothing is what rocks dream about. 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.720 Same thing my mind went through when I took calculus tests in college. 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.439 But we took a look beginning to end. 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:56.079 We looked in Genesis and we saw that it was out of nothing that God spoke. 00:05:56.720 --> 00:06:04.480 And the universe came into being, time and space, and then humankind, us in his image, meant to be in loving fellowship with him. 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:06.959 But of course, we sinned. 00:06:07.279 --> 00:06:13.680 We absolutely failed miserably, and God in his love found it necessary to rescue us. 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:19.360 Hence the promise of Messiah to save us from our sins. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:25.279 And then Advent, which we were talking about, the incarnation of Jesus Christ. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:36.560 And then we skipped ahead and we touched on Easter and we looked briefly at Revelation 22, where John writes that someday there's not even going to be a curse. 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:39.600 There's going to be the throne and the Lamb will be in it. 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:46.879 There won't even be any night, because God will illumine them and they will reign forever and ever. 00:06:49.279 --> 00:06:54.399 So our notion was that look, we can read the book cover to cover. 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:56.399 We know how this movie begins. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:06:58.079 We know how it ends. 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:04.000 But man, there was a benefit in seeing both the big picture and the detail up close. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:05.120 They complement each other. 00:07:05.199 --> 00:07:07.920 They are both true and both should be appreciated. 00:07:08.160 --> 00:07:11.600 So I belabor the point, but back to today's text. 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:17.360 What I'd like to do is, if my analogy is making any sense, I'd like to start with that seashell. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:25.439 The life of Jesus the Christ, and look cursorily at some detail and then expand our view. 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:32.240 Thirty years he was with us. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.759 And while he was one of us, he experienced the same things we do. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:41.519 He was an infant, he experienced childhood, youth, teen years. 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:43.040 He learned the trade. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:46.879 The Bible says that he grew in favor with both God and man. 00:07:47.839 --> 00:07:49.040 Sinless. 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.680 He was and he is God. 00:07:52.319 --> 00:07:54.560 And he was and he is man. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:57.439 Completely both, unmixed. 00:07:58.560 --> 00:08:06.480 You know, today's society has great difficulty, doesn't it, understanding and believing that Jesus Christ was and is God. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:15.839 I find it so interesting that the early church dealt often with detractors who refused to believe that Jesus was a man. 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:20.079 That was actually part of what convinced me that he's God. 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.120 But he is man, and he was man. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:27.199 And you know what? 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:30.000 That means some things. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:34.240 That means that he had emotions, he had aspirations. 00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:37.360 He knew hunger. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:38.720 He felt pain. 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:42.960 He was tempted to sin in every point, like as we are. 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:46.320 But never once did he succumb. 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:53.519 I'd venture to bet that there was a time or two the hammer hit the thumb instead of the nail. 00:08:54.399 --> 00:08:59.279 But never once did he fail in any moral regard. 00:09:00.080 --> 00:09:14.159 Now the Bible says that when Joseph and Mary, I'm not telling you anything you don't know this morning, by the way, when Joseph and Mary were in Bethlehem, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:16.960 And Jesus the Christ was born. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:18.639 God became incarnate. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.080 God took upon flesh. 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:22.559 God became also man. 00:09:24.000 --> 00:09:33.360 And in much the same way, after thirty odd years, if I may steal the language, the days were accomplished that he should begin his public ministry. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:44.639 And one day out in the wilderness, a scruffy prophet named John the Baptist spotted him in the crowd and he said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:48.639 And Jesus was dutifully baptized. 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:50.000 You know what? 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:51.679 Then things got busy. 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.080 Because he was on a mission. 00:09:54.480 --> 00:09:56.080 He called disciples. 00:09:56.240 --> 00:09:58.399 He taught about the kingdom of God. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.480 He confronted and exposed religious leaders of the day. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:10.879 Water into wine, lame healed, sight restored to blind, demons cast out, dead raised to life. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:16.240 Thousands fed with five loaves and two fish. 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:26.320 Preaching from a boat, teaching the parables, time with his disciples, time alone early in the morning with his father in prayer, cleansing the temple for crying out loud. 00:10:26.559 --> 00:10:34.240 Back and forth across the countryside, teaching the people, up and down between Galilee and Jerusalem. 00:10:35.919 --> 00:10:48.000 But if we read through the Gospels, it seems there is a time, a couple of years in to his public ministry, when his ministry transitions a little bit. 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:54.399 And he just doesn't do the signs and the miracles with as great a regularity. 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:05.200 It seems that he focuses more and more on the primary reason that he came, and that was to save his people from their sins. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:11.679 Now, that had been his primary objective all along. 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:17.440 And he hinted about it on more than one occasion, did more than just hint about it. 00:11:17.600 --> 00:11:20.799 Think with me of the episode in Mark chapter 2. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:23.039 Jesus is in a house. 00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.519 He's preaching and teaching the word. 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:30.960 And the house became so crowded that no one could get in or out. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:37.279 But there were some fellows that were convinced that Jesus could heal their paralyzed friends. 00:11:37.360 --> 00:11:38.000 So what did they do? 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:44.799 They climbed up on the roof of the house, they dug a hole in it, and they let the man down on a pallet in front of the Lord Jesus. 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:48.399 What did our Savior do? 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:53.759 He looked at the man and he said, Son, your sins are forgiven. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:06.159 Now, parenthetically, think of those guys laying on their bellies up on the roof of the house, looking through the hole, and they'd say, that's not where we brought him. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:08.320 We brought him to get healed. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:15.039 But more to the point of the text, there were teachers of the law in the audience that day, and they were not impressed. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:23.279 They took great umbrage at what Jesus had said, and they muttered to themselves and thought to themselves, this is blasphemy. 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:26.559 Only God can forgive sins. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.960 And of course, Jesus knew exactly what they were thinking. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:44.960 And I would love to have been a mouse in the corner and watched as Jesus turned and met their eyes as if to say, hey guys, we all know talk is cheap. 00:12:45.679 --> 00:12:48.000 Let's play a little game of chess here. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:56.000 And then he asked aloud, guys, what's easier for me to say? 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.639 Your sins are forgiven? 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:02.720 Or get up, take up your bed and walk. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:12.639 And these guys think, well, he can't possibly heal this guy, so he might as well say your sins are forgiven, because who's ever gonna know? 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:14.080 How can he prove it? 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:15.279 Check. 00:13:17.039 --> 00:13:27.360 And then Jesus spoke again, and he said, But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:32.879 And he turned back to the paralytic and he said, Get up, take up your bed and go home. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.039 Of course, the man did. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:36.879 Checkmate. 00:13:38.399 --> 00:13:44.000 Jesus the Christ came to save his people from their sins. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:55.039 So from the beginning, the signs that Jesus did and the miracles that he did were meant to establish him and his authority. 00:13:55.360 --> 00:13:58.240 But for the most part, they served their purpose. 00:13:59.360 --> 00:14:02.000 Else, why did he only save some? 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:10.080 Surely there were plenty more lame and blind and demon-possessed that could have used his touch. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:19.759 But Jesus was more interested in teaching the people about true righteousness and about the kingdom of heaven. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:34.559 In fact, if you read through Luke and you get to chapter 11 or Matthew and you get to chapter 16, our Lord pointedly says, it's a wicked generation that continues to seek after a sign. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:44.960 More and more his intent, his focus, was on his coming, death, and burial and resurrection. 00:14:45.440 --> 00:14:46.080 Where? 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:49.039 Jerusalem. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:14:56.480 Now, Jesus had been to Jerusalem before. 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:01.440 Man, he was there when he was 12 years old, amazing the teachers in the temple. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:07.039 And I would venture to say over his 30-odd years he'd been there again a time or two. 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:12.480 We know, reading the Gospels, that he'd been there at least twice more during his public ministry. 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:18.799 And that is what has always made this verse so intriguing to me. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:28.639 When the days were approaching for his ascension, he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:36.320 What was it about this trip to the city that compelled Luke to comment? 00:15:37.279 --> 00:15:40.159 In particular, about Jesus' resolve. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:47.519 Well, as usual, Scripture is its own best commentary. 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:54.320 And virtually every reliable commentator sees the link between Luke 9.51 and Isaiah chapter 50. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:57.600 Just listen to what Isaiah wrote. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:10.480 I gave my back to those who strike me, and my cheeks to those who tore out my beard. 00:16:10.879 --> 00:16:19.759 I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting, for the Lord God helps me, and therefore I will not be disgraced. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:28.480 Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:33.840 Jesus Christ set his face resolutely to go to Jerusalem. 00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.360 But why did Jesus need to refocus? 00:16:41.679 --> 00:16:47.039 Why did he, as we say today, find it necessary to dig down so deep? 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:50.559 I'll tell you why. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:17:00.159 It's because our Messiah knew what lay ahead of him. 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:06.400 And don't ever, ever forget that Jesus the Christ was fully man. 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.920 And the Son of Man knew what lay ahead of him. 00:17:14.240 --> 00:17:16.160 It was daunting. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.559 It was overwhelming. 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:21.200 It was downright frightening. 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:33.039 He knew that he would soon be welcomed into Jerusalem by an adoring mob that was so deluded. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:44.000 He knew that after all the time he spent with his disciples, they would just end up in a bicker about who was going to sit next to him and what they perceived to be his kingdom. 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.799 He knew that Judas was going to betray him. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:18:01.359 He knew that in the middle of the night an armed cohort of soldiers was going to arrest him without cause and bind him and lead him away while his disciples fled the scene. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.960 He knew that Peter was going to deny him three times. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:14.799 He knew about Annas and Caiaphas and Herod and Pilate. 00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:24.319 He knew about the cat of nine tails that was going to rip his back to bloody ribbons. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:34.000 He knew that soon he would be shouldered with all the sin of all mankind. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:41.920 And more than that, he would be shouldered with the true moral guilt of every one of those sins. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:49.440 He knew, in fact, that he was going to be for a time forsaken by his father. 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:53.519 He knew that he was going to descend into hell for me and you. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:28.559 Hint, hint, incarnation. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:33.599 With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:36.240 Then I said, Here I am. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:39.279 It is written about me in the scroll. 00:20:39.519 --> 00:20:42.559 I have come to do your will, my God. 00:20:43.839 --> 00:20:47.599 Jesus went to Jerusalem out of obedience to his Father. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:21:00.799 We will never understand everything about the Trinity, that perfect, harmonious relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through all eternity. 00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:13.119 But here, in this little sliver of time within eternity, God the Son is being uniquely obedient to God the Father. 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:19.440 Because from the beginning, it was God's plan to redeem his lost creation. 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:26.079 And the only course of redemption was to inflict the punishment upon himself. 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.160 That is, upon Jesus the Christ. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:36.480 In that sliver of time within eternity, and Jesus knew that. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.079 And so as an obedient servant, he set his face. 00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:50.240 Secondly, why did Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem? 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:52.960 Because he loves us. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.200 Understand love. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:03.680 We write books about it. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:04.720 We read books about it. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.319 We go to seminars on it. 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:12.720 How often don't we hear someone say or even say ourselves, boy, I'd do anything for so and so. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:14.160 I love them so much. 00:22:17.440 --> 00:22:18.400 Anything? 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:20.799 Really? 00:22:21.200 --> 00:22:22.000 Would you? 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:28.319 But Jesus said, I have come to do your will, my God. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:31.200 I love them so much. 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:33.680 I'll go to Jerusalem. 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:39.680 He went to Jerusalem and set his face in that direction because he loves us. 00:22:39.920 --> 00:22:43.039 Don't ever, ever forget that fact. 00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:47.039 John 3.16, for God what? 00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:51.279 So loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:57.519 Galatians 2.20, I've been crucified with Christ, and it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.720 And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by what? 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:07.920 Faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. 00:23:10.240 --> 00:23:11.599 Ephesians 5.2. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:21.440 Walk in love just as Christ loved you and gave himself up as an offering and a sacrifice to God. 00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.599 Or 1 John 3.16. 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:27.759 We know love by this. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:28.559 By what? 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:32.400 That he laid down his life for us. 00:23:34.559 --> 00:23:48.400 So we've stood up halfway and we ask this question why, and bam, we get hit frontal in the face, broadside with the great love of our Savior. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:51.839 But you know what? 00:23:52.240 --> 00:23:54.240 We've got to stand up all the way. 00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:55.759 Because there's more. 00:23:56.240 --> 00:24:15.519 When we stand up fully and we see the entire horizon, eventually we get to Revelation chapter 13, verse 8, which says, John wrote, written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:28.319 In other words, in the mind of God, Jesus the Christ had been slain from the foundation of the world. 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:38.480 From the beginning through eternity, there has never been a time when we have been outside of his love. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:46.640 He set his face resolutely to go to Jerusalem. 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:51.440 Passing comment that we could easily overlook. 00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:54.559 A seashell we could just walk on by. 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:04.559 But when we see the detail in the context of God's plan for the ages, we come upon a God. 00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:05.759 No, no, no. 00:25:06.160 --> 00:25:07.920 We come upon our God. 00:25:11.359 --> 00:25:20.079 Who has loved us so much that from eternity He planned to die for us to save us from our sins? 00:25:20.960 --> 00:25:21.920 Oh my. 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:41.599 Doesn't the question just beg itself, how should I respond to this great love? 00:25:42.799 --> 00:25:44.640 A couple of thoughts. 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:54.160 The first is we know that it was the collective sin of all mankind, including mine and yours, that put Jesus on the cross. 00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.519 But we don't get saved collectively. 00:25:58.880 --> 00:26:01.920 Jesus saves sinners one by one by one. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:06.880 He doesn't save this congregation or that congregation or this membership. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:18.000 He told a parable about a good shepherd that went out into the mountains and looked for one lost sheep. 00:26:19.759 --> 00:26:23.279 And he seeks us out one by one by one. 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:39.200 Which means that each of us need to come to that point where we admit that it was my sin that put Christ on the cross, and I need to believe on him and trust him to save me from my sin. 00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:50.400 Look, if you're here this morning and you've never come to that point, that's what should be your response. 00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:54.720 That should be your first order of business before you leave this building. 00:26:57.200 --> 00:26:58.559 Then you know what? 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:02.640 There is nothing that would please the Savior more. 00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:09.039 Because that is exactly why he set his face to go to Jerusalem, isn't it? 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:21.519 There's also a very proper and continuing response that's in order for those of us who have been saved and are being saved. 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.160 John wrote, We love because why? 00:27:24.319 --> 00:27:26.079 Because he first loved us. 00:27:27.119 --> 00:27:33.519 And Jesus himself said, You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.599 Well, come on, how do you love God? 00:27:37.039 --> 00:27:39.599 Jesus answered that question too. 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:46.400 He said, He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.200 So we ought to love him. 00:27:49.759 --> 00:27:57.119 We ought to love him in return, and we show our love for him by our obedience to him. 00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:00.799 Folks, this is not rocket science. 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:03.440 There's no secret code necessary. 00:28:03.839 --> 00:28:10.240 I don't have to know how to parse the Hebrew and Greek to find this application. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:26.880 Jesus the Christ's great love drove him to Jerusalem and onto the cross, and he offers what he did there in that sliver of time as the only means for our salvation. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.000 What does he ask in return? 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:38.480 That we admit it and that we trust him to save us from our sin and then just love him and obey him. 00:28:39.680 --> 00:28:44.400 And by the way, not in our own strength. 00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:49.119 The Bible's very clear that there is an adversary out there. 00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:57.200 He prowls the earth like a roaring lion, and he will devour us if we think we can love God in our own strength. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:00.240 We need the Holy Spirit, don't we? 00:29:00.400 --> 00:29:03.920 Who was given to us, who lives in us to be our strength and our guide. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.319 But that's a topic for another day. 00:29:08.160 --> 00:29:10.079 So Easter season. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:22.400 Boy, there are so many things that we could talk about, contemplate, study about Jesus the Christ, about sacrifice, about God's redemptive plan, all of this. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:31.440 But just for this morning, let's concentrate on this one thing, this resolve and great love of our Savior. 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:42.720 It's a love that was so fierce that despite the fact that he knew it was coming, he set his face and he continued on to Jerusalem for me and for you. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:48.000 You know, there are folks that have said this so much better than I ever could. 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.400 I'm grateful, I'm grateful for being as old as I am. 00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:57.920 Because I got to grow up in a period of time when we sang the old hymns with great regularity. 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:02.880 Trevor Francis wrote of this great love. 00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:05.920 Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. 00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:16.559 Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free, rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me. 00:30:16.960 --> 00:30:25.519 Underneath me, all around me is the current of thy love, leading onward, leading homeward to my glorious rest above. 00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:32.960 Or Isaac Watts, man, alas, and did my Savior bleed and did my sovereign die? 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:37.920 Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I? 00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:42.000 Was it for sins that I had done he groaned upon the tree? 00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:43.599 Yeah, it was. 00:30:44.559 --> 00:30:50.799 Amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond degree. 00:30:52.960 --> 00:30:54.720 Were of course Wesley. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:03.440 And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:07.759 Died he for me, who caused his pain? 00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:10.799 For me, who him to death pursued? 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:16.400 Amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me? 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:30.319 Or, with respect to our response, back to Isaac Watts again, were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:37.359 Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. 00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:39.839 Oh man. 00:31:41.279 --> 00:31:47.359 So let us believe in him, trust him to save us from our sins. 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:52.240 And let us love him in return with obedient hearts. 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:53.359 Why? 00:31:54.000 --> 00:32:02.079 Because he resolutely set his face and he went on to Jerusalem for you and for me out of his great love for us. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:03.519 Amen.