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Picture the people around Jesus on the night he was arrested. A friend betrayed him with a kiss, one follower swung a sword, another ran off naked into the dark, and the religious leaders put him on trial with lies. It’s easy to think, “I wouldn’t have done that.” But the truth is we have done such things. What is more, the one arrested will be unjustly condemned on our account.
Series: The Gospel of Mark
Speaker: Cor Chmieleski
Hope Community Church - Downtown
For more resources or to learn more about Hope Downtown, visit hopecc.com/downtown.
A weekly message from Hope Community Church, located in Downtown Minneapolis, MN.
Morning. My name is Cor. I'm on the pastoral staff here at Hope Downtown. Super excited to be with you this morning. My joy this morning is matched by my joy last night scrolling through social media and seeing, all of the cuteness online that you guys posted, maybe of your kids, your grandkids, your nephews, your nieces, or of yourself, all dressed up. I had a pair get dressed up in my home. Some of you might know the reference, maybe not all of you. Is that? It's pretty good. If you know the reference, it's pretty, it's a little eerie how close of a match those two are to Napoleon and Kip. My wife, she stayed back at home with me. We didn't get to go to the costume party. She handed out candy. And the second trick-or-treater of the night, six years old, seven years old, with a judgmental tone, looks over her display of candy and says, Why is your candy so organized? Do you want a piece of candy or not, kid? Move along. Hilarious. But my wife closes the door and she's just like, I win. I win at Halloween. I organized the candy. It was acknowledged. We can turn off the lights and be done for the night. It's a little bit of her personality coming through. And I, I chose to get dressed up as Russian writer and Soviet army officer Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Anybody? Anybody? That's, I look just like him. You can't even tell the difference between me and him, can you? So, this gentleman in, what's what? The hair came back this morning, yeah. It's all good. It's all good. Appreciate that. Checking in on me. He was actually arrested for criticizing Stalin in private letters and then sentenced to eight years in the labor camps known as the Gulag. He would later write about these things and receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970. This gulag archipelago was the title of the book, Exposed Soviet Prison Camp System to the World, and the government expelled him from the country for him to land in all places in the world, Vermont, rural Vermont. And so I'm like, yes, that's my guy. I want to dress like him. No, I didn't actually address it. Why do I bring him up? You're like, with this connection, this connection is strained here. He imagines, as part of his writing and as part of kind of reflecting on his life and the experience in the labor camps, how much simpler life would be. how much simpler it would be for you and for me if we could just acknowledge evil out there that all the villains are out there, and now all we have to do is kind of round up all of those villains all of the evil all the enemies and and and destroy them or get rid of them that's what he hypothesizes. But he doesn't stay there. Why? Because he concludes that ultimately the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. As he reflects on his life, he says, you know what? If this detail had changed, and that detail had changed, I likely would have become a Russian officer presiding over these labor camps. Rather than becoming a prisoner within one. And so for him, he was sobered as he reflected and said, wow, how my life could have been different. And how easily, easily I could have been one of the culprits, one of the villains in the story. But yet, even as somebody in the labor camp, that line of good and evil, it's not always so obvious. It's tempting to want to make clean lines, but yet he says, I can't do it. Friends, that is an apt illustration, an apt character, an apt figure, an apt quote for today's passage in the Gospel of Mark. We are in the section of the Gospel where it is heavy. We are in the last week of Jesus' earthly life. He is on his way to the cross. And as we considered these things early this week together, we read the passage and then we just sat in silence because everything we're talking about now is heavy. Everything between now and Christmas is heavy. We're looking at the gospel, Mark. This is one of the four accounts of Jesus' life, and it is going to speak to darkness and to suffering and to pain, betrayal. And amidst all that, God-lover Olivia, our Senior Director of Operations says. Isn't this so, and I was just going to be like, haunting, dark, heavy. She says, isn't this so great? And I was like, whoa, where's she going with this comment? Isn't this so great that we get to spend these weeks looking directly at Jesus? She said, you know, when we do the Good Friday service, I'm thankful for it as we come together on Easter. It's worthwhile to do that, but we just get a glimpse that that 45 minutes that hour that we're together it's not sufficient to look squarely at Jesus, in his death in his going to the cross and she said I'm I'm thankful that we're drawing these passages this this account of the end of Jesus light drawing it out over weeks so that we can get time, time time to look more deeply at his suffering And I thought, wow, what a great perspective to have as we open up the gospel and we continue to preach the gospel at the end of Jesus' life here and see him go to the cross. We have gone through the entirety of the gospel. If you wanna go back and speak to his birth and his early ministry and his teachings, you can do that. We have those online, but we are nearing the end. And today, it's probably too much text to read through. And so we'll just read and comment, read and comment. We are breaking it up into roughly three different, I don't know, anecdotes or characters or kind of different movements within the story. We'll consider the kiss of death. We'll do fight or flight. We get kind of a couple different examples, ways to respond, and then we'll get the verdict dealt out by religious leaders. And I think what you'll see in the midst of this is you're going to find maybe sympathetic characters and unsympathetic characters. You might see characters that you identify with and others that you're like, I could never, I would never be like that. There are actors, there's bystanders, there's some who instigate, others who just join in. And so it's going to be tempting to point a figure at all of those villainous characters out there and yet as we shared that line of good and evil, it's always it's not always so clear and it's not always so obvious that line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being so, let's go to mark's gospel in chapter 14 beginning in verse 43. Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the 12, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them. The one I kiss is the man. Arrest him and lead him away under guard. Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, Rabbi, and kissed him. And so if you remember the conclusion of last week's setting and sermon, previously jesus is in the garden of gethsemane, he is praying he's asking for this cup to be taken from him and that cup is the wrath of god poured out upon him for the sin of many he goes to the cross he takes that wrath. He takes that judgment, judgment that was rightly due us. And he says, he concludes by saying, not what I want, Father, but your will be done. And he's decidedly going to the cross to drink that cup, to bear that wrath, wrath that we deserve. He's praying. He's asking his disciples to pray with him, to keep watch. Three times they fall asleep, which I don't think I'm the only one who can identify with falling asleep while praying. I didn't hear anybody come up afterwards and say, that's me too. But so maybe I'm alone in that experience. But by the end of that passage, he says, rise. Here comes my betrayer. The son of man is delivered into the hands of sinners. And now we get to see that carried out here. In this, physical realities point to spiritual realities. And I love that expression. I don't know where I came across it, but it's so helpful. Things that happen physically, visibly, in the narrative can communicate some things spiritually. Judas and the others are cloaked in darkness. They come in the middle of the night. That's a physical description of a narrative. And yet, friends, we can conclude that spiritually, right? Narratively, they're up to no good. Darkness envelops this scene in spiritual ways. Darkness of heart, darkness of purpose, darkness of action. And yet he comes to him and gives him a title, an honorable title, this rabbi, teacher, right? And describing that relationship of teacher and student, and then he gives him a kiss, a greeting of love and warmth. I didn't actually know. I apologize. I didn't actually know that this is where the expression kiss of death came from. You guys know, I didn't know that. And to, thank you for, yeah, no, I didn't. I've studied these things. I probably should know that. I just thought like, I don't know, some fairy tale or the Godfather. I thought like, your end is near if you get that kiss of death. But no, this is where the expression arose from. And so in this, you know, classic betrayal, this is the Brutus to Julius Caesar, right? Et et tu Brute, et tu Judas here? Are you betraying me in the midst of all these things? And the answer is yes, yes. He's this... Unexpected villain that was counted amongst the 12. That was there at the Last Supper. That was like, Jesus is like, one of you is going to betray me. And all of them are like, is it me? Is it me? Is it that person? Is that person right? It's Judas. Judas betrays Jesus. And yet it is not without precedent. This is something that has been forecasted in Jesus' ministry, but then going back to the Old Testament, this idea, this principle, this duplicity that we see with Judas is at the heart of every person. As it is written, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. That is the human struggle. The human condition is saying one thing, but doing another. Acknowledging God with lips, but yet hearts falling headlong into to darkness. And how compelling then, friends, for us to know that there's reversals that happen in this story. That even though this is true, even though this darkness is present within, that somehow God is able to turn this for our good and for our light. Just consider the cross. We have this back and forth of a narrative happening in darkness, right? And it's like, How can light come out of that? Go to the cross. Go to the narrative of the cross. In the middle of a noonday sun, darkness comes over the land. On Good Friday, darkness comes, but not in this manner, not in evil in the human heart. Rather, during the light of day, darkness falls with judgment on the sinless one, on the light of life. Maybe you're here this morning thinking Jesus dies for the good guys. Dies for those who are kind and charitable. Those who are consistent in their spiritual practices. Maybe you're of the mindset like that could never be to my benefit or my welfare. Jesus goes to the cross on behalf of faithless ones, betraying ones. The very ones who will say one thing and do another. Jesus rescues. Jesus goes to the cross for duplicitous ones. He tastes the kiss of death so that you might feel a kiss of God's love. Friends, that's the gospel. That's what Jesus does that we cannot. Let's keep going. It says the men seized Jesus and arrested him. Then one of his crowd, his posse, then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. So we have a defiant follower of Jesus. We don't have a name in this account. He's named elsewhere. But this kind of sympathetic, I don't want to see harm come to my rabbi, to my leader. I want to protect. I want to stand with, stand up for Jesus. We get this kind of sympathetic figure. He's trying to save the day. This guy is like, you want to go? Let's go. Draws his sword and, misses. How do you, you cut off the ear. Is that, what is that? That's just like an inability or was that just like a warning shot and like, hey, it's going to get worse If you keep, you should flee. Like, it's an interesting description, right? What happened here? And I think one of the things that we can theologically take away from this account and from others is that Jesus is not looking to meet force with force. Jesus is not trying to overcome a show of strength with a greater sign of strength. That's not the gospel that he's bringing about today. Even here, physical realities point again to spiritual realities. As it says in Isaiah 53, Isaiah 52 and 53 speak of a suffering servant, one who will suffer, one who will come. And we've associated that with Jesus, that he is that suffering servant. He is that promised one that comes. And it says this servant will be cut off from the land of the living. And so just a small admission to this, this cut offness, that ultimately the Messiah, the suffering servant will be cut off. Not unlike this one, cutting off the ear of another. Continuing on here, it says, Am I leading a rebellion? That you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me. Every day I was with you teaching in the temple courts and you did not arrest me. But the scriptures must be fulfilled. And so Jesus looks at that mob, brandishing club and weapon and sword and says, Am I coming out? Like to lead a rebellion? He's like, well, one of your followers wields this sword. And Jesus is like, yeah, not well. So how much of a rebellion is it if that's our greatest heroic figure there? And in this, he says, why now? Why cloaked in darkness with clubs? I was with you in the light of day. You saw me you heard me teach and that why not approach me then in that situation there, you didn't arrest me when it was available to you at all these other times when the crowds, and others were attending the temple and the synagogue you had an opportunity amongst your own people to come and to grab me, but you didn't. I was right there. Additionally here. Might be a little hard to make out, but it says in verse 48 that Jesus is identified with a word that's comparable to bandit, insurrectionist, criminal, the same language is used of those who would hang beside him in chapter 15, verse 27. And this fulfills an Old Testament promise, a prophecy that says Jesus would be numbered with the transgressors. He'd be counted like a criminal, like an insurrectionist. He'd be counted amongst sinners. He is treated as the rebel is treated. Are things getting out of control? Is this mob kind of carrying Jesus to a fate that he doesn't want? No, it says scripture is being fulfilled. Every point along the way, this is God bringing forth events. God bringing forth a great salvation. Jesus willingly going to the cross. And so on one level, you can say, this thing's getting out of hand. In another sense, we have to say, Scripture is being fulfilled. Promises are being fulfilled. Jesus is in control of this scene. Time to turn up the weird a little bit here. Then everybody deserted him and fled. A young man wearing nothing but a linen garment was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.", Huh? Like, what? What? Why? So this is, this is an, I've maybe been touting this a little bit, too much over the past couple of weeks, but like, if that didn't happen, what value is there in adding it to the story? I think it speaks to the historicity. I think it speaks like this, this did happen. We can trust God's word as communicating clearly, accurately, events, realities, things that happen. So if it happened, the next question becomes, why did we choose to include it, in God's holy Bible, in God's word? Why the significance of this? So what we can take away is it's possible that, you know, this is some of the conjecture and where commentators like to spill a lot of ink, but just, was this Mark? Was the one who wrote these things, is this his way to write himself into the story, right? Authors will do that, okay? I don't know if this is how I would do it, but could it be a nod of like, hey, I was there. I was a part of this story. Why might some believe this? Well, Mark's mom is wealthy and could have been the one that hosted the Last Supper. It's possible that this reference to a linen garment would have indicated like he just ran more impulsively to these things that were happening. So that would kind of speak to that. And in the midst of being seized, he's like, I'm not going to fight. I'm going to choose flight here and get out. And even with some of that, being in the realm of like, that's possible, that could be. There's still this like unique, why? Why include this? Why have this there? I'll give you one of the possibilities. And I really think that as we get connected to our Bibles and we're learning to read the Bible, as the Bible reads itself, as we're trying to interpret these things, as the Bible might help us interpret these things, the cross is for us the great interpretive lens. If something happened, it's like, okay, does the cross help us in any way? Does God's word and kind of narratively how these things come about, does it help us? And I think this idea of nakedness is the connecting point through different parts of the Bible. For sure, Jesus gets stripped naked, right? And bears all matters of shameful regard, mocking, and scoffing. And I think if you take that and you add in maybe one other significant element of nakedness, that'll go back to the Garden of Eden. What happened after Adam and Eve sinned. It says their eyes were opened and they realized they were naked. So they had been naked, but in their sinlessness didn't associate nakedness, physical nakedness, and it is any sort of negative reality. But all of a sudden they sin, they do what they're told not to do. And it says their eyes were opened and they realized They were naked. And there's an aspect of that. Physical speaking to spiritual. Visible speaking of invisible. There's something of sin that brings about shame, this kind of idea of a spiritual nakedness. Spiritually being exposed, maybe as fraudulent or duplicitous. Lacking courage for the things of God. All of us know that type of experience. I don't have to convince you of this. Just you did something and you felt dirty. You felt off. How did God respond to this in the case of Adam and Eve? What did God do? How did God respond to them? He gave them a certain talking to, right? For sure that was present. And yet he ultimately would cover them. He would cover their nakedness. Something's happening physically that's communicating something that God wants to do spiritually. Let me cover your nakedness. Let me cover the shame associated with your sinfulness. Let me clothe you. And we can interpret these things spiritually, that God is in the business of clothing us. In the midst of whatever you might have come to your mind, come to your heart as you think about shame, embarrassment, just red-faced, I'm in the wrong. And God says, I didn't create you to experience that. I didn't create you to feel that way. And so I am in the business of covering, caring for, attending to you as you feel shame, as you feel exposed. I want to address that. And so for all the things that the cross communicates, one of the things that it must, that we must hear it communicate is, let me cover you in your feelings of exposure. Let me wrap up your sin and your shame like a linen garment. The gospel says we are spiritually clothed on account of Jesus' exposure. He bears the shame associated with physical nakedness so that we might have that shame of our spiritual nakedness covered, taken for us. You might not be familiar with thinking about such accounts like this, but they have to get accounted for somewhere within God's economy. I mean, I think the cross says, you know what? That is, that's a unique, that's a spiritual feeling that we have. That's not unique to any one of us, this idea of being exposed and fleeing. And Jesus says, yeah, let me address that. To theologize these things is for Jesus to say, let me cover you. Our passage continues here with this verdict. It's over the course of several, slides here, but it says, They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law, came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire. We're going to leave poor Peter to next week. He's got a lot more coming. So we'll just keep going here. The chief priests, the whole Sanhedrin, were looking for evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. But they did not find any. Many testified falsely against him, but their statements did not agree. Then some stood up and gave this false testimony against him. We heard him say, I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days will build another not made with hands. Yet even then their testimony did not agree. Amen. So there is this comment, it references, it's not exactly a great quote of Jesus. You could find this in John chapter two, I think. Essentially the body, the temple that he's speaking of is his own body, right? I'm gonna die, be buried in three days, be raised. That's the reference here. They get it wrong. There's false testimony. I think three different ways they try to say, Mark tries to communicate. They testified falsely against him. And interestingly enough, In Deuteronomy 19, Old Testament book, brings about some laws that says this is right, this is wrong. One of the wrongs that's articulated there is judges are called to make a thorough investigation if somebody brings a charge. And if the witness proves to be a liar, which Mark is saying, these guys are all liars, right? Sanhedrin, religious leaders, okay? Chief priests, elders. after a thoroughness, if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, somebody of their own kinsmen, of their own family, of their own tribe here, then do to the false witness as the witness intended to do to the other party. What should happen to all of these that prove to be false in their testimony, in their lying? It says several different times, they intend to find cause to put them to death. And if they can't find proper cause, they then should have that charge put on their own head. This is where kind of classically, or maybe you've heard this even if you're not a Bible reader or part of the church, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. That is the context of that more common expression. So by their law, every single person and who shared this, deserves death. Is the law severe? Yes. Does it intend to bring forth justice? Yes. And protect against injustice? Absolutely it does. Is that what happens in the case of Jesus? No. Instead, what will end up happening is the one they lied about, he's going to receive the death sentence. The passage continues. Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent and gave no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the promised one, the anointed one, the son of the blessed one? I am, said Jesus. And you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. The high priest tore his clothes. Why do we need any more witnesses? He asked. So Jesus here is condemned on account of what? telling the truth. He so rarely answers a question. If you remember so many times they try to trap him right and ask him these questions and he just doesn't straight up answer. He answers this one. Are you the Messiah, the promised one, the anointed one? Are you the one that was foretold about that we should believe in? I am. Are you the son of the blessed one? Are you calling God your father and that you are his son. I am. And he says, let me turn this up even more. The one you associate in Daniel chapter seven and some of these other references of this great and powerful one, that's me. Of the one who will come to judge, that's me. I sit at the right hand of the almighty. That's me. As it stands, the high priest will declare, you're the villain, Jesus, not us, you. You're the villain in this story and we need to snuff you out. This kind of thinking, this line of thought is bore out in John's gospel. It says, chief priests, Pharisees, call the meeting of the Sanhedrin. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation. The religious leaders believe that they can squelch this man out. It will prevent a riot from the Jews and oppression of the Romans or a loss of power on account of the Romans. Caiaphas appears to be more aptly suited to the role of villain. As a power hungry, unwilling to share, unwilling to acknowledge who Jesus is and what he's come to do. This passage concludes, then one of them named Caiaphas, the high priest, spoke up. John will then give a little bit of a commentary, a little end note or footnote that says, Caiaphas did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied Jesus would die for the Jewish nation and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God to bring them together and make them one. Scripture is being fulfilled. Prophecies are being fulfilled through the voice of a guy who's just clueless in understanding the spiritual consequence and ramifications of these things. One will die on behalf of many. One will come and save. The one you have treated as the enemy is ultimately the rescuer, the savior, the Messiah. Amen. Our passage concludes with this. You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think? They all, the mob, right? Armed with club. They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him. They blindfolded him. They struck him with their fists and said, prophesy. And the guards took him and beat him. Hatred, scoffing, mistreatment. They mock him. They strike him. They ask him to prophesy. And he has, friends, just consider a couple of these. Has he not said that the shepherd will be struck and the sheep will be scattered? He prophesied that and it's happening. Has he not been given into the hands of sinners and the betrayer as predicted? He has. Is he not suffering and being rejected by the religious leaders as predicted? He is. And so as we consider these various characters, sympathetic and unsympathetic, Like, whether instigators or bystanders, I think we all want to just take a deep breath and say, wow, so glad I'm not like them. And I say that tongue in cheek. Why? Because given the right set of circumstances, given the right sorts of pressures, we are. When we were studying this early this week, Pastor Paul from our North Lakes location and said, I'm having a hard time not pointing a finger at them. Right? Isn't that the impulse? Just like, I'm not like Judas. Huh. I'm not like that guy. I wouldn't have fled. If I was there with Jesus, I would have stood with him. I wouldn't have fled. I certainly would have picked up a club and joined the mob. So glad I'm not like that. Right? And yet I think we need to take these things and consider how do we interpret them spiritually? These things that happen physically, you and I may not this week pick up a club, and join a mob to tear down Jesus, but how do we understand some of these things spiritually? Do you fight with God, in an attempt to defend yourself, in an attempt to control a narrative? Is there an impulse to make excuses about why you did what you did why you said what you did is there that impulse to reject the things of god is it possible that you, in being exposed hide shrink back cringe try to cover your tracks and. Do we honor God with our lips and yet have hearts that are far from him? What is your hope? What is my hope? What is our hope downtown amidst our own Judas-like struggles? Claiming to live in light, yet playing with darkness, judging the faults of others, while covering our own sinful tracks. Souls and eats and imagines how simple things would be if evil people were somewhere out there, those who do evil were out there not not us in here we're the church, we get dressed up come on a sunday we well we get dressed and we come up on a sunday here at downtown, right? And we look pretty good. We seem to have it all together. Spiritual people coming to a spiritual place, and yet what's happening spiritually, within you and within me? How simple it would be to say, you know what? The problem, it's out there. It's not in here. It's not in here amongst us. The world's messed up, but we got our stuff together. How great it is for us to point the finger and find the devil in somebody else. Not me. Not you. The line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. Do you believe that? Do you believe a line of good and evil going through you, piercing your heart? No. And if we accept that, that is helpful. But then Solzhenitsyn adds one more thought, one more comment, one more question. It's just so close to the kingdom. He says, if that's true, that that line goes through every human heart, dividing good and evil, who is willing to destroy a piece of their own heart? Are you willing to have that part within you be put to death, because friends that's that's what jesus is gonna urge invite beg is, die that that is a declaration that begins at the cross and is swept through the last 2,000 years of church history, when he beckons someone to follow him, he says, come and die. Why? Because there's parts of you that need to die. There's parts in me that need to die. Why? You and I will wrestle every day, every day with the villainy of our own hearts. We might choose to fight it, flee from it. We might experience betrayal. We might clutch for power. Like every one of these characters, right? The dividing line of good and evil running through my heart, running through your heart. Who is willing to destroy a piece of themselves, a piece of their own heart The answer is none of us. None of us can. If left to our own devices, none of us will. And yet every one of us is the one who should have been in the dock, who should have been called into the courtroom. The hope of the gospel is not that we pick up a sword and fight or we flee to save our skin. It's this. In my place, condemned. condemned, he stood. In your place, condemned, he stood. He is the only figure in the story who is no villain at all. Utterly innocent. And he died the death that the villain in me, the villain in you, deserved. So we don't pick up a sword. And we don't scatter. But rather, we recognize that bearing shame and scoffing rude. In my place, condemned he stood, sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah. What a Savior. Some things to consider as we close with worship. Do you believe that Jesus stood condemned in your place, in my place, in our place, which means that we no longer stand condemned? That's the gospel that we wanna preach to you this morning. Look to Jesus. Look to the one who was condemned so that you no longer will feel that sting of judgment and justice because you know, Friends, we all know the villainy that lies within. And even for those of you who have experienced this time and again, sat in these pews time and again, perhaps has there been a thought that's crept in that just says, yeah, I kind of know that. I'm ready to go on to advanced learning here. Ready to get my master's in this Christianity thing. Like, no, no, no, friends. Time and time again, this is the foundation. This is the heart of Christianity. If you walk away from this, you walk away from the heart of our faith. It is Jesus in his death, Jesus in his resurrection. That is our hope. That's the only thing that's gonna allow us to deal with the villainy and the evil within. To face it on our own is to be overcome and overwhelmed, to start fighting or fleeing from this. With Jesus, we can say, okay, you've accurately assessed this in me. And so Jesus, will you take this? Will you kill this in me by your gospel? That's our hope, friends. That's our desire for you this morning. I'm gonna invite the worship team forward where we're gonna get a chance to sing this out, to sing these truths before God. The things that are shared here this morning aren't given in order for you to fall back into betrayal or condemnation, judgmentalism, hatred, fighting, fleeing. They're shared so that you'd remember Jesus and look to him afresh this morning. The cup is his blood shed for you and the cracker, his body broken for you. You don't have to be a member of our churches. Have you said yes? Not just like in a abstract way, but like in a personal spiritual, heart-level, faith-level way say, Jesus, I need this, like David did, right? In that testimony, he says, I move toward him. That's what you're doing physically to speak to something spiritually. I'm moving towards Jesus spiritually this morning. We'll have people that are available if you need prayer, if it's just heavy, if you're experiencing the heavy, and people that have come in and pray, sometimes it is heavy, sometimes it's light. Regardless, we'd love to pray for you about anything going on in your life. And if you don't have anything specific, just say general prayer, and we'd love to pray for you. Hear this. Jesus sealed your pardon with his blood. Free from sin. Free to live. Hallelujah. What a savior. Let's pray. Jesus, we see ourselves in this story. Each of us knows what it's like to honor you with our lips while our hearts were far away. And we cover ourselves. We grab loincloths to cover ourselves, whether it be under the banner of control, fighting, fleeing. But Jesus, you stood. You stayed. You faced the condemnation in our place. And so we say, thank you. Clothe us in your righteousness alone, our savior, our rescuer, the one shown to be Messiah and Lord over all. We look to you. We worship you afresh. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.