Jesus Even Gave Him A Chance To Repent

On last Sunday's service, in one of the services, I'd mentioned that maybe I would, on Facebook Live each day this week, do a little quick devotion. And so I started that on Monday, and I've been walking through very quickly. I don't know, I think maybe they're might be 10 minutes long at the most, but just taking each each day of the week from from Palm Sunday and walking through the events of this week, and the account that is there for us in scripture in the Gospels. And it's pretty remarkable.

To be fair, it's not an easy thing to take the four Gospels and divide them up into the exact days. Although there are some scholars who make really great arguments. For example, uh the great theologian Charles C. Ryrie from Dallas Theological Seminary was a master at outlines and context in scripture division. He does a great job dividing up the days of this Passion Week. And some may differ on this verse or that verse, but on Monday, just a few days ago, Jesus would have come back out of Bethany, 'cause he, remember, on Palm Sunday, he rode into Jerusalem. We studied that. At the end of that day, he retires 2 and 1/2 miles away. The location is still there today. You can go there. And from Bethany, Jesus stayed that this Passion Week in history, Jesus stayed at what we understand is Lazarus and Martha and Mary's house, the brother and the two sisters. He stayed in their home. He loved their home. He loved them. It was not uncommon for him to be among them.

And I find, I find it interesting that each night of this week, remember, Jesus was not welcomed by the national leaders and the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and Jesus stayed each night outside the city limits, and he retired in the town of Bethany. But each morning, he would get up and he would go in to the temple area. And there's a litany of tremendous teachings that you're so very familiar with that maybe you don't realize that they come from this Passion Week. And so, as the week unfolds, Jesus continues to visit the temple, and various events take place. But in each of the events, every time, every day, there is the plotting and the planning of those who are jealous and hate Jesus to try to destroy him. Plotting and planning to to kill him.

Now, today is a day that we'll talk about Wednesday in a moment, but Monday, he goes, and as he's entering, you guys remember from reading scripture that on Monday, he sees a fig tree and he goes to it to pick fruit from it, but there's no fruit on it. And he curses the fig tree. He says, "Cursed be this tree from this time forward." And the disciples are kind of wondering, "What's that all about?" Uh, and Jesus, in visiting the temple and teaching there, is that confrontation with the religious hierarchy. They're challenging his authority. And then he retires back to Bethany on Monday night.

And then Tuesday morning, he goes back, and the disciples notice, "Wait a minute. That tree he spoke to yesterday, it's all withered and it's just a stick." Wow. Jesus then begins to teach a parable explaining how we as people, even as nations, are to recognize the Lord of all nations and also, of course, the King, the provider of our salvation. And so he's teaching. He speaks to the nation by his parable in announcing yesterday on Tuesday that the kingdom is like a man who is given these responsibilities over to those to keep that which God has given them, and the master goes away. And then finds out that they're plotting and planning to basically commandeer all that God gives and make it their own. In other words, rob God. And that God would send uh his emissaries to them as the master would send his uh ambassadors saying, "He's coming back, he's coming back." But they would turn and kill the very ambassador of the master. And then the parable goes on to announce, "I know what I'll do. I'll send my own son. And and they'll listen to him because the son bears all the authority."

Not in America, it's different. We do it. Maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong. We just do it different in America. I think it's kind of sad in a way, but in the Middle East, specifically Israel, the eldest son has all the authority of the father because the father grants all the authority to the son. By the way, in Israel, you know, things like probate and estate debates and arguments and and all of that. You know, we have a we have a whole industry of attorneys that work that type of law. Not in Israel. One of the brilliant things about Israel is that the father, he reaches a certain age, and he signs everything over to his oldest son. It goes, it goes, it it it it transcends court. It it does. There's no attorneys that can get to it. And the the father is still alive, so he's he's the ultimate authority, but the the ultimate authority hands all the ultimate authority willfully to the son. And so, if you walk into a store in Israel and say, "I want to I want to speak to the owner." And uh, and the the young man behind the counter says, "Uh, you can speak to me." "Well, are you the owner?" "Well, yes." "Well, how can you be the owner when this company's 50 years old and you're only 30 years old?" "Well, because my father started the company." "Well, I want to talk to your father." "You don't need to talk to my father because you're talking to the son." That's how they think. Does that sound familiar? Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you have seen the Father."

So in the parable, the announcement is, "I know what they'll do. I'll send my own son." And they'll listen to him. No. And in giving that parable, he gives an indictment to the leadership. And Tuesday, yesterday, in the New Testament, it was Jesus' longest day of ministry recorded. Scholars speculate that it was somewhere between 18 to 20 hours of ministry. Wednesday is different. We have no evidence that Jesus left Bethany for sure on Wednesday. Seems to be a day of somewhat of respite or reflection, but there's a lot going on on this day this week.

And so I want to have you look to the screens to Luke chapter 22. This is today. "Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near. In fact, it will start tomorrow on Thursday, which is called Passover." So everybody, those of you who want to get technical, this is very, very excellent because John's Gospel, John tells us that the weekend that Jesus is crucified and resurrected from the dead, that it is a special Sabbath because Passover happens on a Shabbat. It's where the weekend aligns with the calendar or the moon regarding Passover. And John's John's the only one who says it's special. That means that the timing is different. It's counted differently. That's why there's a lot of debate and confusion between, "Was Jesus crucified on a Thursday or Friday to get the three days and three nights?" You've ever heard about that debate? It's a very technical debate, and it's all based upon the issue that many people miss the fact that John gives us the answer. It is a special Passover, special Sabbath. Very technical.

There are some great guys who have unpacked that, and I think you guys all know this, that the Jews do not count days like like the pagans count days. Sorry, I didn't mean to call you a pagan, but Gentiles, we count days. We have a 365-day calendar. The Jews have a 360-day calendar. We have a 24-hour day. The Jews have a 12-hour day. It's very interesting. So, uh, we just, we it's just broken up differently. But, it matters over the long haul. So, always remember when you read the Bible, you want to read the Bible through the view of uh the way that God gave it, and God gave it with the focus of the Jewish people. I know that drives a lot of people nuts today, especially if they're podcasters. They get really upset about that, that God actually cares about the Jews. Yeah, well, he does. And everybody, I say everybody, all these big mouths are getting all upset about uh anybody talking about the Jews. Excuse me, uh my Savior chose to be a Jew. Uh, not a Canadian, not even a Californian. If I was writing the book, I would have made him a Californian. Uh, but, it's interesting that that God picks a people group who are the most hated people group on the planet. Or, are they the most hated people group on the planet because he picked them? Which is it? Maybe all of the above. I just think you ought to think about that for a while.

That said, "Now, it's the feast of unleavened bread. As it drew near, which is called Passover, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill him." There's nothing subtle about that, is there? "And they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the 12." Wow. When Jesus called the 12 disciples together, the disciples to be, they they will become apostles, right? Isn't it weird to think, you guys, that when you read your Gospel account, when he sent the 12 out, he told them, "Don't take any money. You don't need to take any any food bag or anything. You go and preach the gospel. Uh, and you preach in my name, and uh, everything will be provided for you." 12 guys. You go out and do it. If you come to a town that doesn't want you to preach the gospel, just don't go past the city limits. Just take your shoe and dust off the dust of that town from off your shoe, uh, which is an act of condemnation. If you don't want to hear the gospel, uh, I dust my shoe off of of your existence. It means it it's going to be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for this city that will not re- that will not receive the truth. Wow.

And um, isn't it weird to think that the 12 went out and they preached, people came to know the Messiah by their preaching, and they cast out demons, and they performed miracles. Here's a test. Who performed the miracles? He Jesus sent the 12 out to preach and to perform miracles, and they did that. How, I'm sorry, how many were sent out? Is Judas numbered among the 12? Did Judas do miracles? Yes, he did. I want that to settle in for a moment. 'Cause we're warned that in the last days, Jesus from 2,000 years ago warned us that in the last days, there will be those that are not true believers. They look like it. They're not true believers, and they will deceive people with signs and wonders, miracles. Isn't it Isn't it amazing to think that Judas preached the gospel? Judas did miracles. Judas was one of the 12. Wow. I don't know how many people that you've miraculously healed lately or opened the eyes of the blind of somebody that you saw that was blind, but Judas did. And look where he is tonight. It's not what you do. It's not what you do. It's who you know.

"Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the 12. So, he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and the captains." So, with the religious leadership and the Roman uh military, or we should say police department. "How he might betray him," that's Jesus, "to them. And they were glad and agreed to give him money." The word "agreed to give him money" means Judas asked for money. They they didn't. This is what it definitely does not mean. It does not mean that they offered Judas money to betray Jesus. It means that Judas was open to betraying Jesus for money. Uh, what's that word that is said that statement is, "Everyone's got their price," or something like this? I don't believe that's true, by the way. I don't think everybody has their price. I think if if you're of the world, you may have your price, but as a as a believer, um, I just read this today uh in Oxford University, not Oxford University, in Oxford, England. Uh, I was reading today that uh that tremendous moment where um the uh I think they're referred to as the Oxford three or four, I can't remember exactly, but it's where these uh reformers who would not bow to Bloody Mary, the the Catholic queen of England. Bloody Mary, you know why she's called Bloody Mary? 'Cause she just she just lopped everybody's heads off if they disagreed with her theology. And these reformers, these these guys, Ridley and others, uh, they wanted they wanted people to have the Bible in their own hands. She didn't want that. And um, under pressure, I think it was, I think it was Ridley. Vladimir, I'm losing. You can look it up later. I should have, I should have actually studied this before I came out here, and I wasn't thinking about it, but looking at this verse, he he he said that he said, "Jesus is the only way. You've got to be born again." And then she really put the pressure on him that if you don't, if you don't change your message, I'm I'm going to have you beheaded. I'm going to have you killed." And he caved in like Peter. He caved into the pressure. And he recanted of what he had said, and he joined her team, and shocked all of his, you know, the his his his peers were shocked. He was so convicted by the Holy Spirit 'cause he didn't believe it. He caved in because of fear of of life. Of of the pressure, like Peter caved into, and he denies Jesus three times. And so, he he when he wrote this letter of, "I I really didn't mean it. Queen uh Bloody Mary's amazing. She's awesome." Uh, he said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I can't take this anymore." He says, "I I am recanting my recantation." What? I'm going back to announce to to this, "Bloody Mary, you're lost. Christ is King. Christ rules. Salvation is in Him and Him alone." And they gathered together great sticks of fire in a in a pole that they were going to tie him to, and they lit the they lit the flame, and he announced, "What part burns first of Ridley is this hand that betrayed Jesus by writing, first of all, that I denounce Christ? Nope. This hand, because it betrayed my Lord, burns first." And he put his hands into the fire and walked into the fire and was consumed. You can go to that spot there in Oxford. The street is marked with a black X where these guys were were burned to death for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They wouldn't give in.

I find it incredibly encouraging that Peter denied Jesus, just like Ridley did, but repented of that. Friend, if you've ever denied Jesus, guess what? If you can hear me right now, you can repent of that. Right now. Isn't that beautiful? And look, thank God, right right now you don't have to put your hand in the fire. You don't have to walk in the fire. There doesn't have to be some little girl yelling at you, screaming at you about, and that rooster crowing three times. That's between you and Jesus tonight. And so, "they were glad and agreed to give him money. And so, he promised and sought opportunity to betray Jesus to them in the absence of the multitude."

Let's look at the next account. This is Luke's account. Let's look at Mark's account. "Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12, went to the chief priests to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money," 'cause we know from Luke that that's what he wanted. That was his price. "So he sought how he might conveniently betray Jesus." Ouch. Conveniently betray Jesus. Notice this. How can I betray Jesus? It's in my heart to do. How can I do it in such a way that it's the least path of resistance? How can I do it in such a way that it's not scandalous? How do I do it in such a way? I got to get away with this somehow. How can I manipulate the situation to where maybe everyone's going to pat me on the back for it? I don't know if this is still true, but I used to have a quote on the internet that was actually attributed to me. It is a quote I made up, but I don't I don't think it's there anymore, but it it was this: "If you typed in, 'Never underestimate a man's ability to justify himself.'" That was attributed to me. And it it is something that God gave me. Now on the internet today, who knows who it belongs to. That said, that is a true statement. I think God gave me that little bit of word where, "Never underestimate a man's ability to justify himself." Isn't that what didn't Adam do that in the garden? Doesn't that Isn't that what your 5-year-old does when they get caught in trouble? We have this profound ability to justify our actions. Why? For convenience. I don't want to look bad. It's your fault. I don't want to look bad. That's what he said. Let him pay the price. It's very amazing to me. Convenient. Conveniently betraying the Son of God. That doesn't work.

Next verse. Matthew chapter 26 verses 14 to 16 covers this Wednesday. "Then one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver him to you?' And they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. 30." Remember that for a moment. Verse 16. "So from that time, he," that is Judas, "sought opportunity to betray him."

Here's another word, "opportunity." Isn't it creepy to think that right in the middle of this week, you guys, just a few days ago, Judas is hearing what Josephus says is over a hundred thousand people are shouting, "Hosanna, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." He heard it, but he didn't believe it because by Wednesday, he's already fulfilling his desire that's within him to betray Jesus. Question is, and we don't know the answer, is how long had Judas felt this way about Jesus? There's nothing more hurtful than to to love somebody and to be involved in their lives and to be even doing life together and then find out that their feelings were never real. That's called betrayal. Paul wrote to Timothy and called it defrauding one another. When you defraud somebody, you mislead them into a commitment and then you take advantage of them and you leave them completely ruined. Uh, wherever there's a high price to be paid and a great beautiful expectation of return, you have to be fearful, concerned, watchful of being defrauded. We mostly think of that in business, but how many men and or women have gotten into a relationship and have said to her or to him, uh, "I love you, uh, this, that, and the other. I'm all in," and only to discover later that they were just experimenting or they they were just trying to figure out their own life, and you were part of the tools in the prescription for their own pursuit. You were just one of the ways to establish the means. Judas somewhere along the way saw that Jesus would be an opportunity for him to make money from. Even to this day, the Bible warns us, "Watch out for those who believe that preaching the gospel is a way to get rich." Did you know that's in the Bible? You say, "No, wasn't that in the headline news?" Yes. But it's in the Bible. The Bible says, "Watch out for those who proclaim the gospel for their own belly." Yikes.

30 pieces of silver. Why not 20 pieces of silver? I mean, come on, Judas. If you're going to go big, go. If you're going to betray the Son of God, 30 pieces of silver? Do you guys see this? Think about this. Think of the Think about how depravity gets a hold of someone and turns them into a slave. Judas is the only. Watch this. Judas is the only one who we don't know about when it comes to his background of career or education. There's a reason. I mean, there's there's there's a a a popular thinking of this. For example, Peter, James, and John. What was their occupation? Fishermen. Um, we've got various uh participants in the 12 where their background is a little bit jaded. Uh, we've got Simon uh the Zealot. Right? Wasn't it Simon the Zealot? So what is that? The Zealot? Simon the terrorist. The Zealots were ones who lived in the wilderness and they believed that they were to be militants to overthrow the Roman government. They would create all kinds of troubles to throw off the Roman Empire. They were uh, you know, they were troublemakers. Isn't that interesting? Jesus invites a troublemaker to be part of the 12. Fishermen. Um, I'm sure I'm missing some of the others, but uh, Matthew. Of course, how could I forget Matthew? Matthew, the turncoat Jew. Matthew Levi, working for the Roman government to rob his countrymen because Rome, Rome wanted this much. Rome told Matthew, a tax collector, "You, I we need uh, you know, a shekel for every person that goes through this on this toll road." All the Roman toll roads. That's where they come from. When they go from Capernaum to Magdala, that's going to cost them a shekel. They can't. They got to pay. And Matthew, we want you to do that. And so, here's the here's the deal. Rome only wanted a shekel per person. But Rome gave no restrictions to the tax collector on what he would charge for his own income. So, if it's if Rome wanted one shekel for you to go from Capernaum to Magdala, Rome got their shekel. But you could charge five shekels. For every shekel Rome got, you got four. Matthew was rich. Matthew was hated. Matthew was a turncoat. What's interesting is Judas, we don't know anything about. He was none of those things. Some have even gone on to say Judas may have been the only one that had some form of higher education. Now, this is not a slam on the California public school system. >> [laughter] >> But scholars for a couple thousand years have thought Judas, number one, the disciples trusted Judas. It says so in the Bible. Trusted him with what? Money. The thought is he was educated, maybe I'm making this part up, maybe from the University of Jerusalem, had his degree in accounting. He was the professional. We're a bunch of fishermen. Give him all the money to the ministry of Jesus. He'll manage it, he'll take care of it. Jesus, the Bible says, held the money bag. And his hand was always in it. That's not my opinion. The Bible says the disciples say his hand was in that bag. They didn't figure that out till later.

Why is 30 pieces of silver important? Why didn't Judas? Don't you think he knew? Know he, you know, he knew this. What price would these priests and scribes and Pharisees pay to get Jesus out of the way? If you're a businessman, the scribes and Pharisees, they don't have the upper hand. Who's got the upper hand in the deal? In the transaction, it's Judas. Judas could have come to them and say to them, "Listen, I've got my price, you've got yours. Let's hear what you're willing to offer for me to turn Jesus over to you." Let's start somewhere. Where does the Hey boys, where does the bidding begin? You're Listen, you're interested in somebody betraying Jesus. I'm your man. How much? How important is it to you that you destroy Jesus? All of you know who know your Bibles, those horrible human beings that drape their hypocrisy in religion, you could almost see them almost like Gollum. Do you know who Gollum is? Smeagol. Precious. You could see them like that. They're just like, "Ooh." >> [laughter] >> Judas, name the price. They would have paid anything. 30 pieces of silver.

Look at this verse. Zechariah chapter 11 verse 12. "Then I said to them, 'If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.' So they weighed out for my wages 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me, 'Throw it to the potter. Give This is filthy. Get it out of here. That princely price they set on me, it's disgusting.' Throw it to the potter." The Lord is saying that princely price they've set on me. In other words, this is the the God. Look at this. The Lord is saying, "That's That's That's their estimation of me?" I want everybody to look at this. If you're not a Christian tonight, you got to figure this out. This is written about 650 years before Jesus was born. You got to figure this out. The prophecy says that the Lord says before Jesus was ever born, when he's betrayed, he's going to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and that's all you think I'm worth? I don't think Judas got up that morning and said, "I know that I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to fulfill Zechariah chapter 11. I'm only going to ask for 30 pieces of silver to fulfill the scriptures." He didn't care about the scriptures.

I find it awesome to see that he that God says, "Throw it to the potter. Give it. Go buy Here. This is This is blood money. Get it out of here. This is the price of a slave, by the way, in the Old Testament. The price of a slave was 30 pieces of silver. Somebody who's disposable. They're 30 pieces of silver. And God is saying, 'That's what you value me at?' Throw it to the potter. Let him Let him buy a field uh uh to to get his dirt to do his work. Just wow." And so, "they took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them to the house of the Lord for the potter." 30 pieces of silver. This is Wednesday. The gears of betrayal are moving and grinding. And yet, everything that is transpiring, we can scarcely begin to scratch the surface of understanding. Jesus knows what's coming. He knows what he's about to experience. Is Look. If he's If he's God in human flesh, and he and he is, he was and he is. You know, listen, have you ever heard the term uh "ignorance is bliss"? Like Like if you're If you're going to go in for brain surgery and your doctor sits you down and says, "Listen, before I go in, we're going to shave your head." And then I thought, he opens up his desk and he brings out this sawzall that's stainless steel and he says, "Don't worry, this thing is completely sterile. I'm going to We're going to just cut all the way around the top of your skull and then we're going to lift the lid off of your head." And um, I said, "Excuse me, Doc. Can you just just absolutely shut your mouth right now? And don't tell me this. I don't want to know this. I'm glad you know this. All I want to see is your degree on the wall. I want to see if it's real. So, I want to see it." By the way, do you know how many times we let people touch our bodies and we don't even look at their degrees? When's the last time you went into the doctor's office and said, "Before you touch me, I want to see that thing on the wall. I want to see your grades." >> [laughter] >> By the way, you do know this. This is free. This is has nothing to do with Bible study. If you're looking for If you're looking for a good doctor's referral, ask ask a doctor. In other words, if you have If you need brain surgery, ask your cardiologist who he would use for his to have to have his brain worked on. If your doctor says, "Well, listen, uh, I would If I had to have my brain worked on, I would have uh Dr. Goldman work on it." And then you go see Dr. Goldman, and he's not a very nice guy. He walks in, slams his door on your finger, doesn't even say sorry. Uh, looks at your uh your chart and stuff and says, "Yeah, I can do this. Get out of my office." I don't know about you, but that doesn't bother me at all. You want to know why? Because I don't I have no plans of being his friend. I don't care if I ever see the man again. And uh, we're not We're not going to have Thanksgiving together. Well, he doesn't have very nice bedside manners. I don't care. I want him to be the best brain surgeon that there is. Qualifications.

Jesus tonight, friend, is completely qualified. And in that qualification, he knew all things. He knew what was coming. I wonder in his humanity if he wished he didn't know. But because of the terror and the pain of what you and I go through, he willed to know. He didn't He didn't keep that from him. He knew it. In In graphic detail, he knew what was coming. He knew. Isn't it amazing that Jesus will later this week say to Judas, which by the way, if you study this carefully, it's a tremendous study. This simple event in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus says, "Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the Son of Man?" Do you know what Jesus was doing to Judas? Je- Jesus was saying to Judas, "You can repent of this any moment." You say, "Jack, wait. No, all the the Bible's written out. It's all done." I understand that. I understand that, and yet then I don't understand it. I understand what's written. I understand what's happened. But it doesn't change the truth that Jesus gave Judas the last minute to repent of this act. You guys, and don't tell me later that you know. Because no scholars know. This is beyond us. It's It's in the realm of God's foreknowledge that you and I know nothing about. Jesus turns to him and says in the garden, "Is it with this kiss you betray me?" You think Jesus said that in a way that was like arrogant? Did you think Jesus said that in a way that was condescending? I don't think so. I think that "with this kiss you're betraying the Son of Man" is [clears throat] equal to Adam, "Where are you? Where are you? Where are you, Adam?" Did God know where Adam was? What was God doing? If Adam and Eve, if they would have they were standing in the bushes completely covered in leaves, and all God wanted was for them to step out of the landscape and say, "We're here. We thought we could pull this off. We were wrong. We blew it. We sinned." I think God would have forgiven them. I don't know how that would have worked because we know the mind of God. There would have blood would have had been required. But I'm just putting the suggestion out there. I think if Adam and Eve would have repented of their sin, I think there would have been a little lamb in the Garden of Eden that would have been sacrificed for the sins of Adam and Eve, and we all would have been having a great time right now without any clothes on, and it would have been holy. >> [laughter] >> Now that's how far we have fallen. To uh, so Jack, I I don't know what I want to see. I I I don't want to see that either, but I'm talking, but we would have been, thank God, we would have been clothed in light.

So Wednesday evening, pretty still, pretty quiet. But seemingly calm while those that are working darkness are busy in the shadows crafting a betrayal that they themselves will be responsible for. God didn't put them up put them up to this. Friends, don't leave this building tonight thinking, "Well, poor Judas, he didn't have a choice in the matter." Oh, yes, he did. This is what Judas wanted. That's why Judas was the man. Well, what about all those betraying and conspiring to pay the money? It's what they wanted. Well, when did God know that? Before time ever began. Well, what about who they were? He knew who he knew exactly who they were and who they would be. He didn't make them that way. >> [clears throat] >> Based on his foreknowledge, he saw in advance what they would do when given the chance. I just made that up. He saw in advance when they were given the chance of what they would do. That's God's foreknowledge. You and I cannot tamper with that. Before there's predestination, there's foreknowledge. So that when time is unfolded, it's all known to God, and God only. That's why he's sovereign.

So how does this end for you? In the middle of the week, where are you? In the middle of the week, what's your price? I had a precious, I don't want to embarrass her, but I just uh met a young woman today in the courtyard, and she was sitting down. I noticed that she was sitting down, she was looking at her phone or something, but she was by herself. And Matt and I were walking here to the sanctuary, and um, I went to her and I said something like, uh, "I I don't know," or something about, "I don't know, it doesn't matter." I said something like hello to her, and I startled her, and then she she screamed and scared me, and I said, "Hi." She jumps and screams. I I may have screamed. I'm not conf- I'm not saying I did. I jumped, and Matt, I scared Matt. He thought I was dying or something. But then she began to share what God had done in her life, and I told her, I said, "You know, you just made my day." She made my day. She just made my day with what she said. I'm not going to tell you what she said, but it was precious. It was between her and the Lord, and how God brought her through a a challenging season.

Friends, listen. In the middle of this Passion Week Wednesday, God brings us through challenging seasons, okay? When things happen to us, if the if that stuff sticks to us, it's because we've allowed it to stick to us. And for some of us, we need to pull off the the gel or the web that has been shot at us by the enemy to to entrap us. We need to pull it off. Not that we pull it off, but in Christ, we pull it off. And this night is a night for you to just really check where you're at. Are you in the crowd shouting, "Hosanna," but now in the middle of the week, you're having second thoughts? "I thought Jesus was going to make me happy. I thought Jesus." Last Sunday, I thought that he was going to make me rich. I thought last Sunday he was going to bring in a new government. But he's the King. And away with this Roman Empire. How come that's not happening? I've had nothing but hardship in this world, and it seems like all the cards or the stars are aligned against me. Where's Jesus? Jesus is where he's always been. He never moves. Life's tough. Brutal. Unfair. Can we just get that down once and for all? Life is unfair. That's not fair. I can't believe that happened to me. I can't believe it didn't happen to you sooner. Let's be honest. Life's not fair. Come on, life's not fair. This world would eat us alive if it had a chance. Every day you and I make it through, it's by God's grace. It's amazing. He's amazing. >> [applause] >> Check your heart. It's Wednesday. There's still time. We'll get together on Friday. Have a tremendous time together. And um, we'll follow that day through. And Saturday, we will hide out. And then at 5:30, uh, we're going to fake it and have a sunrise service inside the building. I'm really You have to pray for me. It's the first time we've ever had to do it inside of inside a building. It's just wrong. Right? You're supposed to be outside at 5:30 in the morning. But um, we tried everything, you guys. We tried the fairgrounds. We tried Ayala Park, which was crazy 'cause it we had a great commitment going. We had, I think, 10,000 seats. We everything was just going great, and then the plug got pulled on that, not not by us, but it because out of our control. Um, we tried all these kind of things. We were going to be, we looked into the, I don't know what that place is in Ontario, you know, that big center. Whatever it's called. The Citizens Center or whatever. Toyota Honda, all that stuff. Not No, no. The Honda isn't still the highest at the Honda. It's nothing worked out. Um, next next year, Lord willing, right? We'll be in heaven, and we won't have to have a sunrise service.

Father. >> [applause] >> Father, it is awesome to know You. It's awesome to know Your Word. It is an amazing time, too, because the more we know Your Word, the more firm and and confirmed we are and confident we are in You. And uh, and the more unsettling our faith is to the world. They can't handle it. But it's not their faith. What They don't need to comment. Uh, we love them, but we frankly don't care about their opinion about what we believe. But they get upset of what we believe. And we're asking You tonight, Father, in the middle of this Passion Week. Our Our nation is in great peril. And I am not talking war. I am not talking economics. I am not talking terrorism. I am not talking lawlessness. Our nation is in great peril because we have offended You. We are aborting babies, yes, at record numbers right now. Our nation is turning away from our Judeo-Christian foundation. Our own state, right now, this week, in Sacramento, is crafting two bills to enshrine Islam in the California culture. Not Christianity, not Hinduism or Buddhism or Judaism. We've offended You. We have erred. We ask You to forgive us tonight, Almighty God. Forgive us, Lord. In Jesus' name, we pray that we would be a people so in love with You for all that You've done for us, for all of Your mighty, wonderful works and deeds, Your generosity. And Lord, if we were all stripped of everything, like the men and women's ministries are learning from the book of Job, if we had nothing but sores upon our body and we sat on an ash heap and scraped the pus from our wounds with a broken piece of pottery, and we, like Job, would say, "Naked I have come into this world, and naked I shall leave. Blessed be the name of the Lord." May we have that type of faith in You that no matter what this world does to us, that we would be faithful representatives of the kingdom of God, that we would trust the Lord Jesus Christ, our salvation, who was crucified on the cross and resurrected from the dead for our salvation. That faith and faith in Him alone is the only thing that You will accept. No morality, no works, no other identity, but Christ alone. Will You send revival, true revival, to America? Lord, I ask this personally. Lord, tomorrow night, I am grateful. I pray that it does happen. But Lord, tomorrow night, I'll have a chance to give the gospel to a couple of million people tomorrow night on Fox News. I pray that that would happen. I pray that nothing would stop it. And Lord, that You would cause people who don't even watch Fox News to tune in for that moment, 'cause it would be a divine act, and people would hear the gospel, and that You would use the words, the the few seconds I've got to say it, Lord, may You be the one saying it. And from coast to coast, border to border, everyone's going to hear it at the same time if if they if they tune in, and I pray that they do. And Lord, who's to say that there might be someone in Albuquerque, someone in Seattle, someone in Des Moines, someone in Omaha, whose heart catches fire and stands for Jesus. And like embers across this nation, faith explodes. And this country repents before You, Almighty God. Lord, I want to end this tonight by thanking You for having Your people everywhere. I thank You tonight, Lord, that this beautiful commander of the Artemis space mission that was launched, the four of them, just a few hours ago to the moon. How that beautiful black man, the commander of the project, the commander of the mission, puts out there, I think it was on X, right before he left Earth, "Everybody needs Jesus." Oh my gosh. I've never met this man. I love this man. And Lord, keep him and and the entire crew safe. Lord God, as they go around Your moon, show them something. Bring them back safe. But Lord, help I mean, I'm really excited about this guy for a lot of reasons, but then just to find out moments moments before service tonight that this guy, this guy grew up just across the freeway over here in Pomona. And You've blessed this man because he's blessed You. And Lord, now he's commanding our return to the moon. To God be the glory. Lord, may we all return to You and give You all the glory because You alone are worthy. We pray in Jesus' name, and all God's people said, Amen.